AP

By SALLY ABOU ALJOUD Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Syria’s foreign minister arrived in Lebanon’s capital on Friday as the two neighbors attempt to reset relations which have been tense for decades. Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani held talks with his Lebanese counterpart, President Joseph Aoun, and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam. It was the first high-profile

By ABDEL KAREEM HANA, WAFAA SHURAFA and MELANIE LIDMAN Associated Press WADI GAZA, Gaza Strip (AP) — Tens of thousands of Palestinians headed back to the heavily destroyed northern Gaza Strip on Friday as a U.S.-brokered ceasefire came into effect in a deal that raised hopes for ending the Israel-Hamas war. All the remaining hostages

By MIKE PESOLI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump was passed over for the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday despite jockeying from his fellow Republicans, various world leaders and — most vocally — himself. Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado was awarded the prize. The Norwegian Nobel Committee said it was honoring her

By MELINA WALLING Associated Press Arctic seals are being pushed closer to extinction by climate change and more than half of bird species around the world are declining under pressure from deforestation and agricultural expansion, according to an annual assessment from the International Union for Conservation of Nature. One bright spot is green sea turtles,

By SAM METZ Associated Press RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Morocco’s elusive King Mohammed VI inaugurates parliament Friday in a speech with far higher stakes than his annual addresses as anti-government protests have swept the nation’s cities and questioned the government’s spending priorities. He’s the country’s highest authority, but Mohammed VI rarely addresses the public and

By KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean investigators on Friday indicted the 82-year-old leader of the Unification Church, Hak Ja Han, over allegations that she instructed church officials to bribe the wife of jailed former President Yoon Suk Yeol and a conservative lawmaker close to him. Han, widow of the

By FRANKLIN BRICEÑO Associated Press LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peru’s Congress voted early Friday to remove deeply unpopular President Dina Boluarte from office as a crime wave grips the South American nation. Lawmakers had set up a debate and impeachment trial late Thursday in the 130-member unicameral Congress after voting to accept four requests for

By FLORENT BAJRAMI and LLAZAR SEMINI Associated Press PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — A U.S. peace plan has propelled former British Prime Minister Tony Blair to the forefront of efforts to end the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. While his legacy in the Middle East is controversial, especially given his role in taking the U.K. to war

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV encouraged international news agencies on Thursday to stand firm as a bulwark against the “ancient art of lying” and manipulation, as he strongly backed a free, independent and objective press. History’s first American pope called for imprisoned journalists to be released and said

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian drone and missile strikes wounded at least 20 people in Kyiv, damaged residential buildings and caused blackouts across swaths of Ukraine early Friday, authorities said. A child also was killed in separate attacks in the southeast of the country. In the heart of the Ukrainian capital, rescue crews pulled more

By KEN MORITSUGU and SIMINA MISTREANU Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan will accelerate the building of a “Taiwan Shield” or “T-Dome” air defense system in the face of the military threat from China, its leader said Friday. President Lai Ching-te also pledged to raise defense spending to more than 3% of GDP and

By KOSTYA MANENKOV, REGINA GARCIA CANO and GEIR MOULSON Associated Press OSLO, Norway (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for her struggle to achieve a democratic transition in the South American nation, winning recognition as a woman “who keeps the flame of democracy burning amid a