AP

By CHRISTINE FERNANDO Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — Growing up in the former Soviet Union, Pedro Spivakovsky-Gonzalez’s father and grandparents would listen to Voice of America with their ears pressed to the radio, trying to catch words through the government’s radio jamming. The U.S.-funded news service was instrumental in helping them understand what was happening

By NICOLE WINFIELD and GIOVANNA DELL’ORTO Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV called for a genuine and just peace in Ukraine and an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, in his first Sunday noon blessing as pontiff that featured some symbolic gestures suggesting a message of unity in a polarized Catholic Church. “I, too,

By MOHAMMED JAHJOUH Associated Press KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — It cost a fortune, she said, but Asmaa Fayez managed to buy a few zucchinis in a Gaza market. She cooked them with rice and brought it to her 4-year-old son, who has been in the hospital for the past week. The soup was

By SAMYA KULLAB and DASHA LITVINOVA Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday challenged Russia’s President Vladimir Putin to meet him personally in Turkey on Thursday, the latest move in a weekend-long exchange of proposals from both sides on the next steps in the U.S.-led peace effort. Zelenskyy said that

By JAMEY KEATEN, WILL WEISSERT and CHRISTOPHER BODEEN Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — The lead U.S. negotiator in trade talks with China cheered “a great deal of productivity” in resolving differences between the world’s two leading economic powers, after officials wrapped two days of bargaining in Switzerland following President Donald Trump imposing steep tariffs and

By WAFAA SHURAFA, ZEKE MILLER and SAMY MAGDY Associated Press DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas said Sunday that the last living American hostage in Gaza, Edan Alexander, will be released as part of efforts to establish a ceasefire, reopen crossings into the Israeli-blockaded territory and resume the delivery of aid. Two Hamas officials

By MOLLY QUELL Associated Press AMSTERDAM (AP) — The fire that caused significant damage in April to historic buildings in Suriname’s capital city was not the only threat facing the nearby Neveh Shalom Synagogue. As firefighters battled to save the historic city center of Paramaribo — a UNESCO World Heritage site — the synagogue’s volunteers

By LLAZAR SEMINI Associated Press TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albanians voted Sunday in parliamentary elections after a boisterous campaign dominated by the country’s uphill effort to join the European Union and Prime Minister Edi Rama’s bid for a fourth term in office. Polls closed at 7 p.m. Sunday and vote counting is expected to conclude

By GIOVANNA DELL’ORTO Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — For thousands of Catholic pilgrims in Rome, it’s the unmissable Vatican appointment: the midday Sunday blessing the pope delivers from a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square. The new pope, Leo XIV, is scheduled to deliver his first such prayer on Sunday from the loggia where he

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer Nowhere is the border-crossing nature of cinema more evident than the Cannes Film Festival, which kicks off Tuesday in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump’s vow to enact tariffs on international films. Cannes, where filmmakers, sales agents and journalists gather from around the world, is the Olympics of

PANAMA CITY, Panama (AP) — Former Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli left the Nicaraguan embassy in Panama City where he had sought refuge more than a year ago after the courts upheld a money laundering sentence against him and headed to Colombia where he has received political asylum, the government said late Saturday. Panama’s foreign ministry