AP World News

By LORNE COOK and ILLIA NOVIKOV Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine and its European allies accused Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday of feigning interest in peace efforts after five hours of talks with U.S. envoys at the Kremlin produced no breakthrough. The Russian leader “should end the bluster and the bloodshed and

By LORNE COOK and SAM MCNEIL Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union on Wednesday revealed details of its plan to use billions of euros in frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine’s needs over the next two years, but Belgium rejected the scheme and insisted that it poses major financial and legal risks. European

By BINSAR BAKKARA and NINIEK KARMINI Associated Press BATANG TORU, Indonesia (AP) — Rescue teams raced Wednesday to reach communities isolated by last week’s catastrophic floods and landslides in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand as over 900 people remained missing and the scope of economic damage became clearer. Over 1,400 were killed: at least 780

By ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL and ANTON L. DELGADO Associated Press HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Southeast Asia is being pummeled by unusually severe floods this year, as late-arriving storms and relentless rains wreak havoc that has caught many places off guard. Deaths have topped 1,400 across Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, with more than 1,000 still missing

By SAMY MAGDY Associated Press CAIRO (AP) — An international rights group on Wednesday accused the paramilitary group fighting against Sudan’s military of committing war crimes during its attack earlier this year on the country’s largest displacement camp in the Darfur region. The Rapid Support Forces, which is at war with the Sudanese military, rampaged

By DANICA KIRKA Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Britain’s royals welcomed German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to the U.K. on Wednesday for a state visit that will celebrate the close ties between the countries while also remembering the scars of the past. Britain rolled out the red carpet of pageantry led by two of its most

By REBECCA SANTANA Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is pausing all immigration applications such as requests for green cards for people from 19 countries banned from travel earlier this year, as part of sweeping immigration changes in the wake of the shooting of two National Guard troops. The changes were outlined in

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia’s transport ministry said Wednesday that a private firm will resume a deep-sea hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 later this month, more than a decade after the jet vanished without a trace. The search will be carried out by Texas-based marine robotics firm Ocean Infinity, which signed a new

By SYLVIE CORBET Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Emmanuel Macron heads to China on Wednesday for a three-day state visit focusing on trade and diplomatic talks as the French president seeks to enlist Beijing in pressuring Russia toward a ceasefire with Ukraine. Macron will advocate for an agenda of cooperation in economic and trade matters

By NAYARA BATSCHKE and ISABEL DEBRE Associated Press SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Chile’s Atacama Desert is one of the darkest spots on Earth, a crown jewel for astronomers who flock to study the origins of the universe in this inhospitable desert along the Pacific coast. A rare confluence of factors makes the Atacama an ideal

By AAMER MADHANI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he did not want Somali immigrants in the U.S., saying residents of the war-ravaged eastern African country are too reliant on U.S. social safety net and add little to the United States. Trump’s contemptuous description of the entire immigrant community is

By WAFAA SHURAFA and MEGAN JANETSKY Associated Press KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Eman Hassan Lawwa was dressed in traditional Palestinian prints and Hikmat Lawwa wore a suit as they walked hand-in-hand past the crumbled buildings of southern Gaza in a line of other couples dressed in exactly the same way. The 27-year-old Palestinians

By REGINA GARCIA CANO Associated Press CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — U.S.-operated flights returning deported migrants to Venezuela will continue despite President Donald Trump’s assertion that the airspace of the South American country should be considered closed. The government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced Tuesday that the twice-weekly flights will go on following a request

By LORNE COOK Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte brushed off fresh concern Tuesday about the United States’ commitment to the military organization on the eve of a meeting of allied foreign ministers focused on Russia’s war against Ukraine. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was expected to miss Wednesday’s meeting, which

By SCOTT BAUER Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Eugene Hasenfus, who played a key role in unraveling the Iran-Contra affair after his CIA-backed supply plane was shot down over Nicaragua in 1986, has died. Hasenfus died on Nov. 26 in Menominee, Michigan, after a nine-year battle with cancer, according to his obituary from the

By The Associated Press U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff was meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Tuesday, taking a draft peace plan that Washington hopes can bring about an end to the nearly four-year war in Ukraine. Putin, however, ahead of the talks accused Ukraine’s European allies of sabotaging U.S.-led efforts to

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) — Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday shared for the first time what he was thinking when the votes started going his way during the conclave that elected him, saying he resigned himself to the inevitable and put the rest in God’s hands. “I took a

By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN and MIKE CATALINI Associated Press TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández, sentenced last year to 45 years in prison for his role in a drug trafficking operation that moved hundreds of tons of cocaine to the United States, was released from prison following a pardon from President Donald

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Haiti’s transitional presidential council has backed an electoral law in the latest step toward holding a general election for the first time in nearly a decade. The approval late Monday means that the government can finally publish an official and long-awaited electoral calendar, after fears that the council would

By VESELIN TOSHKOV Associated Press SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgaria’s government said Tuesday it is withdrawing a controversial budget proposal after an evening demonstration drew tens of thousands of peaceful participants that was later marred by clashes between a much smaller group of masked men and police. Opposition and business groups have warned that plans

By The Associated Press Talks between Russia and the U.S. on ending the nearly four-year war in Ukraine were constructive, but much work remains, Yuri Ushakov, a senior adviser to President Vladimir Putin, told reporters on Wednesday. Putin met U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner in the Kremlin in talks

By CHAN HO-HIM AP Business Writer HONG KONG (AP) — Uncomfortable questions are being raised over who is to blame for Hong Kong’s deadliest blaze in decades. As the territory mourns over the high-rise apartment fire that killed at least 156 people, anger and frustration are mounting over building safety lapses, suspected construction corruption and

By NICOLE WINFIELD, KAREEM CHEHAYEB and BASSEM MROUE Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Pope Leo XIV prayed Tuesday at the site of a deadly 2020 Beirut port explosion that has become a symbol of dysfunction and official impunity and called for justice to prevail, as he offered words of consolation to Lebanon’s people — including

By WAFAA SHURAFA, MEGAN JANETSKY and SAMY MAGDY Associated Press DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel on Tuesday said it had received remains handed over by Palestinian militants in Gaza to the Red Cross. They were believed to be one of the two hostages still in the territory: an Israeli and a Thai national.

By BINSAR BAKKARA and NINIEK KARMINI Associated Press BATANG TORU, Indonesia (AP) — Emergency crews raced to reach survivors and recover more bodies Tuesday as the death toll from last week’s catastrophic floods and landslides surged past 1,300 in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand, with nearly 1,000 people missing. Days of heavy monsoon rains inundated

By JULIA FRANKEL Associated Press TURMUS AYYA, West Bank (AP) — The fear is palpable in this Palestinian village. It’s clear in how farmers gather their harvests quickly, how they scan the valley for movement, how they dare not stray past certain roads. At any time, they say, armed Israeli settlers could descend. “In a

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) — Behind the hoopla over the promise of artificial intelligence lay difficult realities, including how such technology might affect people already disadvantaged in a data-driven world. A new report by the United Nations Development Program notes most of the gains from AI are likely to be reaped

By CHAN HO-HIM and KEN MORITSUGU Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong will set up an independent committee headed by a judge to determine the cause of a deadly apartment block fire that shocked the city, and to make recommendations to prevent a similar tragedy from happening again, its leader said Tuesday. John