Month: June 2022

By VALENTINA PETROVA, STEPHEN MCGRATH and SAMUEL PETREQUIN Associated Press SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgaria’s parliament has voted to lift a veto that has long blocked European Union membership negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania. The move raises fresh hopes that the bloc can now press on with its expansion plans in the Western Balkans

By MUNIR AHMED Associated Press ISLAMABAD (AP) — The U.S. Defense Department says an Afghan prisoner held in U.S. custody for nearly 15 years has been released from the Guantanamo Bay detention center. Friday’s announcement on the release of Asadullah Haroon Gul came hours after the Britain-based Reprieve and the Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iranian state media is reporting that authorities have detained five people accused of organizing a skateboarding event where dozens of teenagers mixed freely and girls didn’t wear headscarves. A video of the “Go Skateboarding Day” held off a boulevard in the southern city of Shiraz went viral on social

BRUSSELS (AP) — A day after endorsing Ukraine’s candidacy to join the European Union, the bloc’s leaders turned their attention to the severe economic turbulence from Russia’s war in the neighboring country. The EU’s 27 leaders gathered in Brussels to grapple with surging inflation, energy shocks, dwindling business and consumer confidence, and growing budget pressures.

GENEVA (AP) — Swiss customs authorities are tracking about 3 tons of gold of Russian origin that entered Switzerland from Britain last month to watch for potential violations of economic sanctions against Russia following the invasion of Ukraine. The gold is worth 194 million Swiss francs ($202 million). The Federal Office for Customs and Border

By SYLVIE CORBET and BARBARA SURK Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Emmanuel Macron appears weakened at home after parliamentary elections forced him into political maneuvering. But abroad, the French president has the resources to remain one of the most influential world leaders. France’s foreign allies closely watched Sunday’s elections that gave Macron’s alliance the most

BERLIN (AP) — The head of the United Nations warned Friday that the world faces “catastrophe” because of the growing shortage of food around the globe. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the war in Ukraine has added to the disruptions caused by climate change, the coronavirus pandemic and inequality to produce an “unprecedented global hunger

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A man has been found guilty of murder and attempted murder for killing five people and wounding four others in southern Norway when he attacked strangers with a bow and arrows and knives. Thirty-eight-year-old Espen Andersen Bråthen was sentenced Friday to compulsory mental health care in line with what the prosecution

By DAVID KEYTON, JOHN LEICESTER and YURAS KARMANAU Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — After weeks of ferocious fighting, Ukrainian forces have begun retreating from a besieged city in the country’s east to move to stronger positions, a regional official said Friday, the four-month mark in Russia’s invasion. The planned withdrawal from Sievierodonetsk, the administrative

By IGNATIUS SSUUNA Associated Press KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) — Leaders of Commonwealth nations are meeting in Rwanda’s capital  to tackle climate change, tropical diseases and other challenges deepened by the COVID-19 pandemic. The summit for Commonwealth heads of state in Kigali culminates meetings this week that officials said yielded some success. The group of 54

By EBRAHIM NOROOZI Associated Press GAYAN, Afghanistan (AP) — An aftershock took more lives Friday and threatened to pile even more misery on an area of eastern Afghanistan reeling from a powerful earthquake that state media said killed 1,150 people this week. Among the dead from Wednesday’s magnitude 6 quake are 121 children, but that

By ASHOK SHARMA Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — India is sending family tents, blankets and other relief supplies for a team to distribute in eastern Afghan villages where a deadly earthquake collapsed thousands of timber and stone homes to rubble. Close to 3,000 homes were destroyed or badly damaged, and the death toll rose

By STAN CHOE and ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writers Stocks racked up more gains on Wall Street Friday, as the S&P 500 had its best day in two years and just its second winning week in the last 12 to provide a bit of relief from the market’s brutal sell-off this year. The benchmark index

By HARUKA NUGA Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — The U.S. Navy’s top commander in the Pacific and the Japanese defense minister say that close cooperation between their naval forces is more important than ever in the region amid rising tensions over China, North Korea and Russia. Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi told U.S. Pacific Fleet commander

By LAURIE KELLMAN Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — There’s no plaque on the gate of the U.S. ambassador’s new residence in Jerusalem, no Stars and Stripes visible, no official listing as a notable overseas property. The official residence of the American envoy is a rental and temporary, officials said, secured after two years of house-hunting

By ALAN FRAM Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The House has sent President Joe Biden the most wide-ranging gun violence bill Congress has passed in decades. The bill that passed the House on Friday is a measured compromise that at once illustrates progress on the long-intractable issue and the deep-seated partisan divide that persists. The

By DEEPTI HAJELA Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — LGBTQ Pride commemorations that sometimes felt like victory parties for civil rights gains are now grappling with an environment of ramped-up legislative and rhetorical battles over sexual orientation and gender identity. There are also fears that a Supreme Court ruling on abortion opens the door to

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s leadership of the Conservative party has suffered a heavy double blow as voters rejected the Tories in two special elections. In the southwestern constituency of Tiverton and Honiton, the Liberal Democrats overturned a 24,000 Conservative majority to win, while the main opposition

By JENNIFER McDERMOTT Associated Press PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The Supreme Court’s decision overturning a gun-permitting law in New York has states with robust firearms restrictions scrambling to respond on two fronts — to figure out what concealed-carry measures they might be allowed to impose while also preparing to defend a wide range of other

By PHILIP MARCELO Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — He was the uncle I never met. But in my family’s origin story, Emmanuel “Manny” Yap always loomed large. The life of great potential cut short. The cautionary tale. But also the reminder of doing what was right, no matter the cost. A rising leader in the

By MEG KINNARD Associated Press CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Two days after losing a bitter primary to a rival she once deemed a “sellout” for occasionally working with Democrats, Katie Arrington appeared at a “unity rally” to urge South Carolina Republicans to come together and back Rep. Nancy Mace in the fall general election. Republicans,

By KEN RITTER, GABE STERN and SCOTT SONNER Associated Press RENO, Nev. (AP) — Counties across Nevada on Friday certified the last outstanding results of the state’s June 14 primary election after critics questioned the tallies by describing their own experiences at the polls and repeating conspiracy theories that nearly derailed certification in New Mexico

By ZEINA KARAM and DAVID RISING Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon and Sri Lanka may be a world apart, but they share a history of political turmoil and violence that led to the collapse of once-prosperous economies bedeviled by corruption, patronage, nepotism and incompetence. The toxic combinations led to disaster for both: Currency collapse,

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — China’s ambassador to Australia says the then-Australian government fired the “first shot” in its deteriorating relations with China four years ago when it banned Chinese-owned telecommunications giant Huawei from rolling out the country’s 5G network due to security concerns. Ambassador Xiao Qian gave a rare public