AP

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday welcomed Japan’s determination to accelerate its ongoing military buildup and defense spending. During a visit to Japan, Hegseth said he hopes to see those pledges implemented as soon as possible, noting China’s increasingly assertive military activity. “The threats we face

By ARIEL FERNÁNDEZ, ANDREA RODRÍGUEZ, JOHN MYERS JR. and EVENS SANON Associated Press SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba (AP) — Hurricane Melissa left at least dozens dead and caused widespread destruction across Cuba, Haiti and Jamaica, where roofless homes, toppled utility poles and water-logged furniture dominated the landscape Wednesday. A landslide blocked the main roads of

By RAJESH ROY Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — Cyclone Montha was weakening Wednesday after battering India’s eastern cost with torrential rains and gusty winds as relief teams raced to restore power and clear debris across southern Andhra Pradesh and neighboring Odisha state. The storm made landfall with top sustained winds of 100 kph (62

By MIKE CORDER and MOLLY QUELL Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — An exit poll published immediately after voting ended Wednesday in the Netherlands’ general election suggested the result was too close to call, with the center-left D66 narrowly ahead of the far-right party of anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders and tough coalition talks likely

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Polling stations across Tanzania opened Wednesday for an election marked by concerns from human rights organizations and the detention of opposition members. President Samia Suluhu Hassan is seeking a second term. He belongs to the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party, which has governed the country since it gained independence in 1961.

By BEN FINLEY and KONSTANTIN TOROPIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s decision to shift the nation’s most advanced aircraft carrier to South America in his campaign against drug cartels is pulling the ship out of the Mediterranean Sea at a time when a tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has been threatened

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Messages in a bottle written by two Australian soldiers a few days into their voyage to the battlefields of France during World War I have been found more than a century later on Australia’s coast. The Brown family found the Schweppes-brand bottle just above the waterline

By KIM TONG-HYUNG and HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press GYEONGJU, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Wednesday that it has conducted successful cruise missile tests, the latest display of its growing military capabilities and one that comes while U.S. President Donald Trump visits South Korea. Trump has repeatedly expressed a desire to meet North Korean

By The Associated Press U.S. President Donald Trump continues his trip throughout Asia Wednesday where he’s set to meet with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in Gyeongju, a historic city playing host to this year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. After a charm offensive during Trump’s visit to Japan that culminated in $490 billion in