AP World News

HAVANA (AP) — Caribbean correspondent Dánica Coto returned to Cuba in late January, more than three years after her last visit to the island. The landscape and lives in Cuba are now very different, and more changes are anticipated since the fallout of the U.S. attack on Venezuela, Cuba’s strongest ally, has yet to be

By JIM GOMEZ and JOEAL CALUPITAN Associated Press CEBU, Philippines (AP) — A peace plan agreed on by Southeast Asian leaders five years ago has failed to end Myanmar’s civil war but it could still serve as a basis for working with the new government that will emerge from recent elections there, Thailand’s top diplomat

By SAM METZ Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel said Friday that it will reopen the pedestrian border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt over the weekend, marking an important step forward for U.S. President Donald Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan. COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of coordinating aid to Gaza, said in

By HOGIR AL ABDO Associated Press QAMISHLI, Syria (AP) — The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces announced a new agreement on Friday with the country’s central government in Damascus to stabilize a ceasefire that ended weeks of fighting and to lay out steps toward integrating the two sides. The development is the latest as Syria’s new

By SAMUEL GETACHEW Associated Press ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Ethiopia’s national carrier canceled flights to and from the troubled northern region of Tigray, as fears grow of renewed fighting between federal troops and regional forces. For a second day, Ethiopian Airlines wasn’t flying to Tigray on Friday, with customers receiving messages that cited “unplanned

By JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr. AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — At a pre-Grammy event celebrating Black music’s cultural power, Pharrell Williams used the Recording Academy stage to deliver a prayer — not for himself, but for U.S. leaders. “I want to pray for the leaders of this nation and the powers that be,” Williams

By MARK BANCHEREAU Associated Press DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The Islamic State extremist group on Friday claimed responsibility for an attack in Niger on an air force base in the capital that wounded four soldiers and damaged an aircraft. The claim of responsibility was contained in a statement on Amaq News Agency, the group’s propaganda

By SUSIE BLANN Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The terms of a Russian commitment to U.S. President Donald Trump to temporarily halt its bombardment of Ukraine during one of the country’s bleakest winters in years remained unclear Friday, as Ukrainians braced for even worse conditions to come next week. Trump said late Thursday that

By HOGIR AL ABDO Associated Press ROJ CAMP, Syria (AP) — Foreign women linked to the Islamic State group and living in a Syrian camp housing more than 2,000 people near the border with Iraq are hoping that an amnesty may be on the horizon after a government offensive weakened the Kurdish-led force that guards

By RODNEY MUHUMUZA Associated Press KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Uganda’s army chief accused U.S. Embassy officials of helping opposition leader Bobi Wine as he went into hiding, in an escalation of political tensions that have alarmed Ugandans days after a disputed presidential election. Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, President Yoweri Museveni’s son and presumptive heir, wrote on

By KEN MORITSUGU Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrived in the Chinese financial center of Shanghai on Friday in his bid to boost business opportunities for British firms in the world’s second-largest economy, just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump signaled a possible opposition to any deal between Beijing and

By ALMA SOLÍS Associated Press PANAMA CITY (AP) — Panama’s president moved to assure the public on Friday that critical ports at both ends of the Panama Canal will continue to operate without interruption — a day after the country’s Supreme Court ruled that the concession held by a subsidiary of Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison

By MICHELLE L. PRICE and MEGAN JANETSKY Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order that would impose a tariff on any goods from countries that sell or provide oil to Cuba, a move that could further cripple an island plagued by a deepening energy crisis. The order would

By REGINA GARCIA CANO Associated Press CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez on Thursday signed a law that opens the nation’s oil sector to privatization, reversing a tenet of the self-proclaimed socialist movement that has ruled the country for more than two decades. The reform will undoubtedly be her government’s signature policy

By WAFAA SHURAFA and TOQA EZZIDIN Associated Press DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel turned over the bodies of 15 Palestinians on Thursday, just days after recovering the remains of the last Israeli hostage, a Gaza Health Ministry official said. It marks the last hostage-detainee exchange between Israel and Hamas carried out as part

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum reiterated that operations on Mexican soil are always carried out by Mexican forces, in her latest attempt to assuage concerns of U.S. encroachment on Mexican sovereignty. The comments made at her daily press conference Thursday come after questions surrounding the case of a former Olympic snowboarder accused

By AAMER MADHANI and SUSIE BLANN Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that President Vladimir Putin has agreed not to target the Ukrainian capital and other towns for one week as the region experiences frigid temperatures. There was no immediate confirmation from the Kremlin that Putin has agreed to

By MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Foreign leaders and governments presented to former President Joe Biden, his wife, U.S. Cabinet members and other senior officials tens of thousands of dollars in gifts in the last year of the Biden administration, including a $19,000 painting, an $11,000 necklace, a $5,000 bracelet and in

By MUNIR AHMED Associated Press ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan is in good health after undergoing a medical procedure for an eye ailment at a government hospital, an official said Thursday. Khan remains widely popular in Pakistan, and the government’s acknowledgment of his hospital visit has raised concerns about his

By EDITH M. LEDERER and FARNOUSH AMIRI Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — President Donald Trump’s latest attempt to sidestep the United Nations through his new Board of Peace appears to have inadvertently backfired after major world powers rejected U.S. aspirations for it to have a larger international mandate beyond the Gaza ceasefire and recommitted

BEIJING (AP) — The top U.S. envoy to China called Thursday for fair and reciprocal trade between the world’s two largest economies and expressed concern about projections that China’s dominance of global manufacturing will grow even further in the years to come. U.S. Ambassador David Perdue told business and government leaders in Beijing that China

By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Human-caused climate change worsened recent torrential rains and floods that devastated parts of southern Africa, killing more than 100 people and displacing hundreds of thousands, researchers said Thursday. A study by the World Weather Attribution, which analyzed the recent heavy rainfalls that caused severe flooding in parts

By SAM McNEIL and JON GAMBRELL Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union agreed Thursday to list Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization over Tehran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests, the bloc’s top diplomat said, in a largely symbolic move that adds to pressure on the Islamic Republic. The EU’s foreign policy

By ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL Associated Press HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnam and the European Union on Thursday upgraded ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership, Vietnam’s highest diplomatic level, as both recalibrate trade during disruptions to global finance driven by U.S. tariff pressure. The upgrade places the EU on the same diplomatic footing as the United States,