AP World News

By MARK MENGONFIA, MONIKA PRONCZUK and WILSON MCMAKIN Associated Press MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump’s praise of the “beautiful” English of Liberia’s President Joseph Boakai drew confusion Thursday in the English-speaking African country and umbrage over what many considered condescending remarks. “Such good English,” Trump said to Boakai during an event at

By JOHN LEICESTER and JEFFREY SCHAEFFER Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Sketched out on an air sickness bag, the first Birkin handbag — the prototype for fashion’s must-have accessory — sold for a staggering 8.6 million euros ($10.1 million), including fees, on Thursday in Paris to become the second most valuable fashion item ever sold

By ARMIN DURGUT Associated Press SREBRENICA, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Broken glasses, watches, combs and crumpled, faded identification documents. They were among the personal items belonging to the victims of the 1995 massacre in Srebrenica that were displayed at an exhibition on Thursday before the 30th anniversary of Europe’s only acknowledged post-World War II genocide. More

By JULHAS ALAM Associated Press DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A special tribunal indicted Bangladesh’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday by accepting charges of crimes against humanity filed against her in connection with a mass uprising in which hundreds of students were killed last year. A three-member panel, headed by Justice Golam Mortuza Mozumder,

By The Associated Press A U.N. special rapporteur has been sanctioned by the United States over her work as an independent investigator scrutinizing human rights abuses in the Palestinian territories, with Washington decrying what it called a “campaign of political and economic warfare” against the U.S. and Israel. Francesca Albanese is a high-profile member of

By WAFAA SHURAFA, SARAH EL DEEB, MELANIE LIDMAN and SAM MCNEIL Associated Press DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — European officials reached a new deal with Israel to allow desperately needed food and fuel into Gaza, the European Union’s foreign policy chief said Thursday, hours after an Israeli airstrike killed 14 people, including 9 children,

By MARIA CHENG AP Medical Writer LONDON (AP) — Years of American-led investment into AIDS programs has reduced the number of people killed by the disease to the lowest levels seen in more than three decades and provided life-saving medicines for some of the world’s most vulnerable. But in the last six months, the sudden

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australian universities would lose government funding unless they address attacks on Jewish students and potential immigrants would be screened for political affiliations under recommendations to the government made public on Thursday aimed at curbing antisemitism. Antisemitic incidents including assaults, vandalism, threats and intimidation had surged more

By JON GAMBRELL Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Rescuers found four more crew members Thursday who went missing after Yemen’s Houthi rebels sank a ship in the Red Sea as the United States alleged the group may “have kidnapped” others on board. The Houthis released dramatic footage of the sinking of the

By JOHNSON LAI and CHRISTOPHER BODEEN Associated Press HSINCHU, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te watched live-fire drills with U.S.-made Abrams M1A2T tanks Thursday, as part of major annual exercises aimed at boosting the island’s ability to fend off threats from China. Four of the tanks fired individually, in pairs and as a group

By LORNE COOK Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen comfortably survived a vote of no confidence on Thursday, as an overwhelming number of European Union lawmakers rejected a censure motion against her. The motion contained a mix of allegations against von der Leyen, including text messaging privately with the

By VASILISA STEPANENKO and HANNA ARHIROVA Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia pounded Ukraine’s capital with another major missile and drone attack overnight into Thursday, killing at least two people and causing fires across Kyiv a day after the heaviest drone attack so far in the more than three-year war, Ukrainian officials said. In

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press ROME (AP) — European leaders urged private business and equity on Thursday to invest in rebuilding Ukraine now, even as Russia accelerates its war, as they opened an annual recovery conference with announcements of a new equity fund and public-private partnerships amid uncertainties of the U.S. commitment to Kyiv’s defense.

By MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Forty years ago, the legendary Live Aid concerts aimed to do a lot of good — helping to raise over $100 million for famine relief in Ethiopia and inspiring worldwide awareness for a cause it might otherwise have ignored. Simulcast from Philadelphia and London on

By JILL LAWLESS and DANICA KIRKA Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Britain and France agreed Thursday to a pilot plan that will send some migrants who cross the English Channel on small boats back to France as the U.K. government struggles to tamp down criticism that it has lost control of the country’s borders. U.K.

By MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday that the U.S. and Russia have exchanged new ideas for Ukraine peace talks after he met with his Russian counterpart in Malaysia Thursday. “I think it’s a new and a different approach,” Rubio told reporters after

By MOLLY QUELL Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Europe’s top human rights court delivered damning judgments on Wednesday against Russia, finding Moscow responsible for widespread violations of international law in Ukraine and the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in 2014. Judges at the European Court of Human Rights issued judgements in

By JON GAMBRELL Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A Liberian-flagged cargo ship attacked by Yemen’s Houthi rebels sank Wednesday in the Red Sea, and a European naval force in the Mideast said only six of the 25 people who were on board have been rescued. The attack on the Eternity C, which

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — More than 17 million people in conflict-torn Yemen are going hungry, including over a million children under the age of 5 who are suffering from “life-threatening acute malnutrition,” the United Nations humanitarian chief said Wednesday. Tom Fletcher told the U.N. Security Council that the food

By FARNOUSH AMIRI Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Trump administration announced Wednesday that it is issuing sanctions against an independent investigator tasked with probing human rights abuses in the Palestinian territories, the latest effort by the United States to punish critics of Israel’s 21-month war in Gaza. The State Department’s decision to impose

By ABBY SEWELL Associated Press DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — A U.S. envoy said Wednesday that Syria’s central government and the Kurds remain at odds over plans on merging their forces after the latest round of talks, a persistent obstacle as the new authorities in Damascus struggle to consolidate control after the country’s yearslong civil war.

By TIA GOLDENBERG Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — As Israel and Hamas move closer to a ceasefire agreement, Israel says it wants to maintain troops in a southern corridor of the Gaza Strip — a condition that could derail the talks. An Israeli official said an outstanding issue in the negotiations was Israel’s desire to

By MONIKA PRONCZUK and DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump promised West African leaders a pivot from aid to trade during a White House meeting Wednesday as the region reels from the impact of sweeping U.S. aid cuts. Trump said he sees “great economic potential in Africa” as the leaders of

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The jailed leader of a Kurdish militant group renewed Wednesday a call for his fighters to lay down their arms, days before a symbolic disarmament ceremony is expected to take place as a first concrete step in a peace process with the Turkish state. In a seven-minute video message broadcast on

By ILLIA NOVIKOV Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia fired more than 700 attack and decoy drones at Ukraine overnight, topping previous nightly barrages for the third time in two weeks as Moscow intensifies its aerial and ground assault in the three-year war, Ukrainian officials said Wednesday. Russia has recently sought to overwhelm Ukraine’s

By WAFAA SHURAFA, KAREEM CHEHAYEB, and MELANIE LIDMAN Associated Press DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli airstrikes killed at least 40 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including 10 members of a family sheltering in a tent, hospital officials said Wednesday. The strikes came as U.S. President Donald Trump pushed for a ceasefire that might

By KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean court early Thursday approved the new arrest of former President Yoon Suk Yeol on charges related to his brief imposition of martial law in December, accepting a special prosecutor’s claim that he poses a risk of destroying evidence. The arrest warrant issued

By JOHN LEICESTER Associated Press ECAULT FOREST, France (AP) — Isaac stared down at his sandals and wondered out loud how suitable they’d be for the ordeal ahead: A perilous crossing of the English Channel, where scores of desperate people before him have drowned trying to reach the U.K. The 35-year-old from Tanzania never expected,

By EILEEN NG Associated Press KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim warned Wednesday that global trade is being weaponized as Southeast Asia’s foreign ministers held annual talks ahead of the looming threat of U.S. trade tariffs. Concerns about U.S. tariffs have jolted the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a 10-member bloc

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan on Wednesday launched annual military exercises intended to guard against Chinese threats to invade, including using so-called “gray zone tactics” deployed by China that stop just short of open warfare. This year’s 10-day live-fire Han Guang drills are the longest yet and follow the delivery