Month: August 2021

By SALLY FRENCH of NerdWallet Preparing and packing for a trip is a different ballgame with all the changes in the travel world since the pre-pandemic days. For example, you’ll want to start thinking about masks like you do about packing clothes, so bring multiple ones with you. Plus, be prepared to prove your vaccination

By MEHMET GUZEL TATVAN, Turkey (AP) — Fearing a new refugee crisis, Turkey is reinforcing its border with Iran to stop a potential influx of Afghans fleeing the Taliban insurgency. Irregular arrivals are already up as Afghans who fled weeks and months ago show up at the rugged border area after a long trek across

By DANIEL COLE and SYLVIE CORBET Associated Press BORMES-LES-MIMOSAS, France (AP) — A wildfire near the French Riviera has killed two people and is still burning out of control. Over 1,100 firefighters were battling flames fueled by wind and drought in the forests of the popular tourist region and over 7,000 people have been forced

By VANESSA GERA Associated Press WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland has deployed hundreds of troops and is laying barbed wire along its border with Belarus amid a surge of migrants seeking to enter the country. The defense minister said Wednesday that more than 900 Polish troops are involved in the operation. It’s believed that most

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Helaina Alati was browsing the spice aisle of an Australian supermarket when she came face-to-face with a huge snake. The head of the 3-meter-long (10-foot-long) non-venomous diamond python emerged through a space in a shelf above the spice jars in the Sydney store. The trained snake

By CARA ANNA Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Small children are among those held amid a new wave of detentions of ethnic Tigrayans suspected of supporting Tigray forces in Ethiopia’s growing war, one detainee says, while witnesses and a human rights watchdog describe fresh disappearances in recent weeks. In an interview with The Associated

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A major wildfire burning northwest of the Greek capital is devouring large tracts of pine forest for a third day and threatening a large village. The blaze in the Vilia area broke out Monday shortly after another wildfire started to the southwest of Athens. Several other villages and a nearby nursing

By MARK CARLSON Associated Press KORTRIJK, Belgium (AP) — A Belgian-British teenager has started the first leg of her quest to become the youngest woman to fly around the world solo. Zara Rutherford set out Wednesday from an airstrip in western Belgium in gusty, overcast conditions. The 19-year-old aviator is looking to break the record

By FIRDIA LISNAWATI Associated Press DENPASAR, Indonesia (AP) — More than a hundred Australian citizens have left the Indonesian tourist island of Bali aboard a special repatriation flight organized by the Australian government. Many Australians have been stranded on Bali because flights connecting Indonesia to Australia have been limited since the spread of COVID-19 in

By PAN PYLAS and SYLVIA HUI Associated Press LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has faced accusations of needlessly abandoning Afghanistan to the whims of the Taliban and of undermining Britain’s position in the world. During a heated emergency debate Wednesday in Parliament, lawmakers, including many from Johnson’s Conservative Party, voiced their regrets

By AHMAD SEIR, TAMEEM AKHGAR, KATHY GANNON and JON GAMBRELL Associated Press KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Taliban militants have attacked protesters in eastern Afghanistan who dared to take down their banner and replace it with the country’s flag. At least one person was killed in the attack that fueled fears about how the insurgents would

By ANNABELLE LIANG Associated Press SINGAPORE (AP) — Asian stock markets are retreating after U.S. central bank policymakers made no firm decision on when to unwind their support measures for the economy. This follows broad losses on Wall Street. Tokyo slipped 0.7% and Hong Kong was down 1.6% on Thursday. Benchmarks in Shanghai, South Korea

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s health minister has criticized the Roman Catholic Church for its refusal to bless same-sex unions but says his religious faith remains strong. Health Minister Jens Spahn married his husband in 2017. German news agency dpa reported Wednesday that Spahn described his relationship with the church as difficult at times but said

By SOPHENG CHEANG and DAVID RISING Associated Press PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Prosecutors are arguing the former head of the Khmer Rouge shared joint culpability for the regime’s atrocities in Cambodia in the 1970s, rejecting defense arguments that he should not be held responsible. Khieu Samphan is appealing his 2018 conviction on charges of

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — The world held its breath 30 years ago when a group of top Communist officials ousted Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and flooded Moscow with tanks. But instead of bringing a rollback of liberal reforms and a return to Cold War confrontations, the August 1991 coup collapsed in

By AGNIESZKA PIKULICKA-WILCZEWSKA Associated Press TERMEZ, Uzbekistan (AP) — As the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, thousands of Afghans looked for ways to escape what they see as a return of a ruthless fundamentalist rule. A 30-year-old man who operated a cross-border oil company still had a business visa that allowed him to enter neighboring

By The Associated Press KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The head of the U.N. food agency in Afghanistan says a humanitarian crisis is unfolding with 14 million people facing severe hunger following the Taliban takeover of the country. Mary Ellen McGroarty, the World Food Program’s country director, said the conflict, severe drought and the COVID-19 pandemic

HONG KONG (AP) — Police say four members of a Hong Kong university student union have been arrested for allegedly advocating terrorism by paying tribute to a person who stabbed a police officer and then killed himself. Local media say those arrested Wednesday include the president and council chairman of the University of Hong Kong’s

BEIJING (AP) — China’s ruling Communist Party has expelled a leading internet censor and accused him of a range of crimes and rule breaking from corruption to failing to properly guide public opinion. Peng Bo had been deputy head of a body set up after the party launched a sweeping crackdown against the Falun Gong

By ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON Associated Press BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A South Florida suburb holds deep ties to the town in southwestern Haiti that was hard hit by Saturday’s 7.2 magnitude earthquake. Many residents of Boynton Beach have been worried about their loved ones. Some are already mourning cousins and uncles who died while

By KATE BRUMBACK Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s State Election Board has taken a step toward a possible eventual takeover of elections in the state’s most populous county. Fulton County is a Democratic bastion that includes most of the city of Atlanta. It has long been the target of Republican lawmakers’ ire and their

By TOM HAYS and JIM MUSTIAN Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A prosecutor has introduced a jury to the sex abuse claims against R&B star R. Kelly, saying the criminal trial was “about a predator” who used his fame to manipulate children and women. Defense attorney Nicole Blank Becker countered Wednesday during opening statements

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — A prominent Cambodian labor union leader has been sentenced to two years in prison for inciting social unrest with sensitive comments about the country’s border. Rong Chhun was arrested last year after he spoke to U.S. government-supported Radio Free Asia about farmers in eastern Cambodia who complained their land was

By BRIAN MELLEY and TERENCE CHEA Associated Press POLLOCK PINES, Calif. (AP) — California’s top fire official says blazes raging across Northern California are wiping out forests that are central to plans to reduce carbon emissions and are testing projects designed to protect communities. Cal Fire Chief Thom Porter said Wednesday fires are exceedingly resistant

BY ALAN FRAM Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Top Democrats are planning House votes next week on a budget resolution that would clear a path for future passage of the party’s ambitious plans for social and environment programs. And that suggests a showdown ahead with rebellious party moderates. Nine centrist Democrats have said they’ll vote

By BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Robert Durst said he deeply regretted telling his life story to filmmakers in hopes of restoring his reputation. The New York real estate heir may wish he hadn’t decided to appeal directly to jurors at his murder trial if a Los Angeles prosecutor keeps exposing a

By EILEEN NG Associated Press KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia’s king says the new prime minister he picks must swiftly test his leadership in Parliament as the deadline for lawmakers to submit the names of their preferred candidates passed. Based on the lawmakers’ choices, Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah said he will pick a

By MATT SEDENSKY AP National Writer Just a week before Afghanistan’s collapse, things looked staggeringly different, but even for a country scarred by generations of war, the weeklong string of victories by the Taliban stood out as a remarkable turn of events. A stunning rout, in just days, seemed to declare two decades of American

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST and JAMES ANDERSON Associated Press TOOELE, Utah (AP) — Tens of thousands of wild horses roam the American West, their power and beauty a potent symbol of rugged freedom central to the mythology of the range. But the region is also in the clutches of a megadrought worsened by climate change, and

By MARK STEVENSON and EVENS SANON Associated Press LES CAYES, Haiti (AP) — Pressure for a coordinated response to Haiti’s deadly weekend earthquake is mounting as more injured trickle into hospitals already overwhelmed with thousands of patients. Bodies are still being found in the rubble five days after the disaster. Angry crowds massed Wednesday at