International News

Weather the latest thing to go wrong in Tokyo

How Fukushima looms over Tokyo Olympics

Russia's campaign against Jehovah's Witnesses

Duterte to give last speech to Philippine Congress

More rain to hit flood-ravaged China province

Mexico's most ardent anti-masker is ill with COVID-19

London cleans up after flash flooding

Verdict due in Hong Kong's 1st case under stern security law

Russian PM visits Pacific islands claimed by Japan

Residents say flood-hit German towns got little warning
With the death toll and economic damage from last week’s floods in Germany continuing to rise, some residents are asking why systems designed to warn people of the impending disaster didn’t work
July 24, 2021

18 minutes ago

Volunteers pitch in to fight Russia's raging forest fires

Authorities say that forest fires this summer in Siberia and parts of far northeastern Russia cover an area so vast that over half of them aren't being fought at all

18 minutes ago

A member of volunteers crew mops up spot fires at Gorny Ulus area west of Yakutsk, Russia, Thursday, July 22, 2021. The hardest hit area is the Sakha Republic, also known as Yakutia, in the far northeast of Russia, about 5,000 kilometers (3,200 miles) from Moscow. About 85% of all of Russia's fires are in the republic, and heavy smoke forced a temporary closure of the airport in the regional capital of Yakutsk, a city of about 280,000 people. (AP Photo/Ivan Nikiforov)

39 minutes ago

Human Rights Watch: Israeli war crimes apparent in Gaza war

Human Rights Watch has accused the Israeli military of carrying attacks that “apparently amount to war crimes” during an 11-day war against the Hamas militant group in May

39 minutes ago

1 hour ago

Verdict due in Hong Kong's 1st case under stern security law

A verdict is due to be delivered in the trial of the first person charged under Hong Kong's controversial national security law

1 hour ago

Police officers stand guard as they wait for Tong Ying-kit's arrival at a court in Hong Kong Tuesday, July 27, 2021. Hong Kong High Court will deliver verdict in the afternoon for the first person charged under Hong Kong's National Security Law. Tong was arrested in July 2020 after driving his motorbike into a group of police officers while carrying a flag bearing the protest slogan “Liberate Hong Kong." He was charged with inciting separatism and terrorism. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

1 hour ago

Samoa's 1st female PM takes office after constitution crisis

More than three months after winning an election which sparked a constitutional crisis, Samoa’s first female prime minister was finally able to take office on Tuesday

1 hour ago

Then Deputy Prime Minister of Samoa Fiame Naomi Mata’afa speaks with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and the Australian High Commissioner to Samoa Sue Langford as they arrive at Faleolo Airport in Apia, Samoa on Sept. 8, 2017. More than three months after winning an election which sparked a constitutional crisis, Samoa's first female prime minister was finally able to take office on Tuesday, July 27, 2021. (Lukas Coch/AAP Image via AP)

2 hours ago

Koreas restore communication channels, agree to improve ties

North and South Korea have restored suspended communication channels and agreed to improve their ties despite a 2 1/2-year stalemate in U.S.-led nuclear diplomacy

2 hours ago

A man holds up a banner to demand the peace on the Korean peninsula near the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, July 27, 2021. South Korea says the leaders of North and South Korea have agreed to restore suspended communication channels and improve ties. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

2 hours ago

Pakistani army: Afghan soldiers flee attack, cross border

The Pakistani military says dozens of Afghan security forces slipped across the border into northwestern Pakistan after their security post was overrun, apparently by the Taliban

2 hours ago

July 26

Duterte to deliver final speech to Congress amid crises

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has unabashedly renewed a threat to kill drug dealers in his final state of the nation speech, while defending his nonconfrontational approach in the country’s territorial dispute with China in the South China Sea

July 26

A protester stands beside a caricature of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte before marching towards the House of Representatives where he is set to deliver his final State of the Nation Address in Quezon city, Philippines on Monday, July 26, 2021. Duterte is winding down his six-year term amid a raging pandemic and a battered economy. (AP Photo/Gerard Carreon)

July 26

Seoul says leaders of North and South Korea have agreed to restore suspended communication channels and improve ties

July 26

Cuba says its Paris embassy targeted by gasoline bombs

Cuba's foreign minister says the country's embassy in Paris has been attacked with gasoline bombs

July 26

Haiti arrests top security official in slain president probe

Authorities in Haiti have arrested a top official who served as general security coordinator when President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated

July 26

Jimmy Cherizier, alias Barbecue, a former police officer who heads a gang coalition known as "G9 Family and Allies," blesses an image of slain Haitian President Jovenel Moise during a rally to demand justice in Lower Delmas, a district of Port-au- Prince, Haiti Monday, July 26, 2021. Moise was assassinated on July 7 at his home. (AP Photo/Joseph Odelyn)

July 26

Mexico's most ardent anti-masker is ill with COVID-19

A Mexican politician whose refusal to wear a face mask has interfered with official events during the pandemic has confirmed he is ill with COVID-19

July 26

FILE - In this Jan. 4, 2017 file photo, Mexican politician Gerardo Fernandez Norona, speaking in Spanish, holds up a map of the U.S. with the southwestern U.S. shaded in red with the text "Mexico in 1830," in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York, before being escorted out of the lobby. Fernandez Norona, whose refusal to wear a face mask interfered with official events has confirmed on Monday, July 26, 2021, that he has COVID-19. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

July 26

Tunisia on edge as president suspends parliament, fires PM

Troops surrounded Tunisia’s parliament and blocked its speaker from entering after the president suspended the legislature and fired the prime minister and other top members of government

July 26

Tunisian police officers stand in the smoke of a flare during a demonstration in Tunis, Tunisia, Sunday, July 25, 2021. Violent demonstrations broke out on Sunday in several Tunisian cities as protesters expressed anger at the deterioration of the country's health, economic and social situation. (AP Photo/Hassene Dridi)

July 26

Peru's new first family leaving behind rural, Andean home

The humble two-story, adobe home of the Castillo family, located in one of the poorest districts of Peru deep in the Andes, feels a little empty now

July 26

Pedro Castillo celebrates with his running mate Dina Boluarte after being declared president-elect of Peru by election authorities, from the balcony of his campaign headquarters in Lima Peru, Monday, July 19, 2021. Castillo was declared president-elect more than a month after the elections took place and after opponent Keiko Fujimori claimed that the election was tainted by fraud. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Prado)

July 26

Warring drug cartel factions in north Mexico announce truce

Apparently, even the most bloodthirsty drug gangs in Mexico can get tired of aimless killing

July 26

Karadima, priest defrocked for sexual abuses, dies in Chile

Fernando Karadima, a Chilean priest who was at the center of a sexual abuse scandal that shook the Catholic Church in Chile and who was eventually defrocked by the pope, has died

July 26

FILE - In this Nov. 11, 2015 file photo, Rev. Fernando Karadima sits in court before testifying in a sex abuse case that three of his victims brought against the country's Catholic Church in Santiago, Chile. Karadima died on Sunday, July 25, 2021, according to his death certificate. (AP Photo/Luis Hidalgo, File)

July 26

Bosnian Serb politicians decry outlawing of genocide denial

Bosnian Serb political leaders have pledged to block decision-making in the country's institutions to protest a recent move by the top international envoy in Bosnia to outlaw genocide denial

July 26

People walk by a mural of former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic vandalized with red paint in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, July 24, 2021. The Bosnian Serb wartime political leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commander Ratko Mladic were both convicted of genocide in Srebrenica by a special U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague. Valentin Inzko, the outgoing head of Bosnia's Office of the High Representative, or OHR, imposed changes Friday to the country's criminal code, introducing prison sentences of up to five years for genocide denial and for the glorification of war criminals. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

July 26

UN: Migrant boat capsizes off Libya, 57 thought dead

A U.N. official says a boat carrying migrants has capsized off Libya's coast, leaving at least 57 people presumed dead

July 26

Russian authorities block dozens of Navalny-linked websites

Russian authorities have restricted access to the website of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny

July 26

FILE - In this Saturday, Feb. 20, 2021, file photo, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny looks at photographers standing in the Babuskinsky District Court in Moscow, Russia. Russian authorities have restricted access to the website of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the politicians team said Monday July 26, 2021, that dozens of sites run by his close allies were also blocked, in the run-up to Russia's parliamentary election in September.(AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

July 26

Wildfires rage, Olympics, flood cleanup: World in Photos, July 26

A look at the top photos from around the globe.

July 26

Hungarians protest over alleged government spying

Around 1,000 protesters in Hungary’s capital have demanded answers to allegations that the country’s right-wing government used powerful spyware to secretly monitor critical journalists, lawyers and business figures

July 26

People hold banners show Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, reading: "We have to say no for observation!'' and ''Do they already stole our private life?", left, and "It was enough! Fly!" during a protest against the government's alleged use of powerful spyware to spy on opponents, Budapest, Hungary, July 26, 2021. A report released more than a week ago by investigative journalists suggested the government used the software to monitor critical journalists, politicians and businesspeople through their smartphones. (AP Photo/Anna Szilagyi)

July 26

UN official says boat carrying Europe-bound migrants capsizes off Libya, 57 presumed dead

July 26

Weather the latest thing to go wrong in Tokyo

Weather is the latest element to not go right for the Tokyo Olympics.

July 26

Max Studer, of Switzerland, is tended to after collapsing along with several other athletes, after finishing the men's individual triathlon at the 2020 Summer Olympics, July 26, 2021, in Tokyo.

July 26

'No magic wand:' Lebanon's new PM-designate urges unity

Lebanon’s newly appointed Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati is urging unity in order to begin recovery from a devastating economic and financial meltdown roiling the country

July 26

Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati, speaks to journalists after his meeting with Lebanese President Michel Aoun, at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, July 26, 2021. Aoun appointed Mikati, a billionaire businessman and former prime minister as the next premier-designate Monday, after Saad Hariri earlier this month gave up attempts to form a Cabinet amid an unprecedented financial meltdown roiling the country. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

July 26

One of Mexico's few Black politicians dies of COVID-19

One of Mexico's few Black politicians has died after contracting COVID-19 in April

July 26

FILE - In this Feb. 8, 1999 file photo, Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) candidate Rene Juarez speaks to reporters after winning the gubernatorial election in Guerrero state by a slim margin, in Chilpancingo, Mexico. Juarez, one of Mexico’s few Black politicians, has died after contracting COVID-19 in April 2021, leaders of his party confirmed Monday, July 26, 2021. (AP Photo/David de la Paz, File)

July 26

Kosovo mourns 10 compatriots killed in Croatia bus crash

Kosovo has observed a day of mourning with flags at half-staff and parliament postponed its session Monday in memory of 10 Kosovars who died when their bus crashed in Croatia

July 26

People come to the house of one of the drivers, Naser Sylmetaj (on picture, right), who also died in Sunday's road accident in Croatia, in Gjakove, 100 kilometers (60 miles) west of the capital Pristina, Monday, July 26. 2021. Kosovo is in a mourning on Monday with flags at half-staff and the parliament postponing its session due to the death of 10 Kosovars in an accident of their bus swerving while driving in Croatia. A bus with 67 passengers, including children, and two drivers, was driving from Frankfurt, Germany to Kosovo. (AP Photo/Zenel Zhinipotoku)

July 26

Plane carrying Turkish defense chiefs makes forced landing

Turkish state media reports say a plane carrying the country's defense minister and other top military officials was forced to make an emergency landing after hitting a bird

July 26

Botswana sends troops to help Mozambique fight insurgency

Botswana has sent military troops to Mozambique and become the first country of the 16-nation Southern African Development Community to deploy soldiers to help battle an Islamic extremist insurgency in northern Cabo Delgado province

July 26

Tobacco CEO sees end to cigarettes in Britain in 10 years

The CEO of Philip Morris International was quoted by Britain’s Mail on Sunday as saying that the tobacco company foresaw an end to its sales of traditional cigarettes in Britain within 10 years

July 26

FILE - In this July 17, 2012 file photo, Marlboro cigarettes are displayed in Montpelier, Vt. The chief executive of the company that makes Marlboro cigarettes was quoted by Britain's Mail on Sunday, July 25, 2021, as saying that the tobacco company foresaw an end to its sales of traditional cigarettes in Britain within 10 years. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot, File)

July 26

London cleans up after flash flooding drenches homes, subway

Londoners are cleaning up after torrential rain left homes, roads and several subway stations flooded, the second unseasonal inundation in as many weeks

July 26

A woman stands in the rain in Horse Guards Parade in central London, Sunday July 25, 2021. Thunderstorms bringing lightning and torrential rain to the south are set to continue until Monday it is forecast. (Victoria Jones/PA via AP)

July 26

Police: IS sympathizers behind attempt on ex-Maldives leader

Maldives police say a local group that sympathizes with the Islamic State group carried out an assassination attempt in May on former President Mohamed Nasheed

July 26

FILE - In this Feb. 14, 2019, file photo, former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed takes a seat before delivering a lecture on climate change in New Delhi, India. A local group that sympathizes with the Islamic State group was behind the assassination attempt on former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed last May and its leader had been arrested in 2017 for suspected bomb making and was let off without explanation, police said. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)

July 26

900 evacuated in Sardinia wildfires; Greece, France send aid

Italian firefighters say raging forest fires in central Sardinia have forced the evacuation of 900 people as flames threaten some residential areas and others are engulfed by dense smoke

July 26

Suspect in attack on Mali's president dies in custody

Mali's government says a man detained for attempting to stab the transitional president has died in a hospital while in custody

July 26

Belgian party calls for investigation into deadly floods

A political party in Belgium has requested the appointment of a parliamentary commission to investigate the deadly floods that ravaged several towns this month

July 26

Two girls carry a bucket after dumping household debris in a pile after flooding in Vaux-sous-Chevremont, Belgium, Saturday, July 24, 2021. Residents were still cleaning up after heavy rainfall hit the country causing flooding in several regions. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

July 26

North Macedonia: 4 jailed over 2017 parliament attack

A court in North Macedonia has sentenced the country’s former parliamentary speaker and three other senior officials over a violent attack against parliament in 2017

July 26

Pakistan plans to refloat ship that ran aground near Karachi

Pakistani authorities say they are working on plans to refloat a cargo ship that ran aground off the coast near the southern port city of Karachi last week amid bad weather

July 26

A Pakistan Navy officer stands near the stranded Heng Tong 77 cargo ship at Sea View Beach near the southern port city of Karachi, Pakistan, Monday, July 26, 2021. Pakistani authorities said they are working on plans to refloat the cargo ship that ran aground last week amid bad weather en route to Istanbul from China. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)

July 26

Strong undersea quake shakes Indonesia; no tsunami warning

A strong, shallow underwater earthquake has shaken central Indonesia, but no serious damage was immediately reported and no tsunami warning was issued

July 26

Huge sandstorm engulfs China city

A sandstorm over 300 feet high enveloped the Chinese city of Jiuquan on Sunday.

July 26

Videos show march in Iranian capital amid water protests

Online videos show dozens of Iranians marching down a major street in Tehran amid ongoing protests over water shortages in the country’s southwest

July 26

AP Interview: PM says Iraq doesn't need US combat troops

Iraq’s prime minister says his country no longer requires U.S. combat troops to fight the Islamic State group

July 26

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi poses in his office during an interview with The Associated Press in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, July 23, 2021. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

July 26

Palestinian teen dies of wounds sustained in May clashes

Palestinian health authorities say a 17-year-old Palestinian youth has died, two months after he was wounded in the neck by Israeli gunfire

July 26

Senior US diplomat calls on China to look beyond differences, work with US on global issues as responsible great power

July 26

Russian PM visits Pacific islands claimed by Japan

Russia's prime minister is visiting Pacific islands claimed by Japan and said the government is considering setting up a special economic zone there

July 26

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin visits the Gidrostroi's fish processing plant, on the disputed Pacific islands claimed by Japan, known by the Russians as the Kuril Islands and the Japanese as the Northern Territories, Monday, July 26, 2021. The Soviet Union took the islands in the final days of World War II, and the dispute has kept the countries from signing a peace treaty ending their hostilities. (Dmitry Astakhov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

July 26

UK police investigate Speakers' Corner knife attack

London police are looking for witnesses after an attacker slashed a woman with a knife at Speakers’ Corner, the historic spot in Hyde Park where people have gathered to speak and debate for more than 150 years

July 26

Typhoon dumps rain on Shanghai, leaves roads waterlogged

A typhoon is blowing heavy rain across Shanghai, filling roads with water and felling signs

July 26

A municipal worker clears a blockage in a roadside drain as Typhoon In-fa sweeps through Shanghai in China Sunday, July 25, 2021. Typhoon In-fa hit China's east coast south of Shanghai on Sunday after people living near the sea were evacuated, airline flights and trains were canceled and the public was ordered to stay indoors. (AP Photo/Chen Si)

July 26

More rain to hit China's flood-ravaged Henan province

Forecasters say heavy rain is expected in China's flood-ravaged Henan province.

July 26

Vehicles, some ferrying supplies, arrive in Xinxiang in central China's Henan province on Sunday, July 25, 2021. Trucks carrying water and food on Sunday streamed into the Chinese city at the center of flooding that killed dozens of people, while soldiers laid sandbags to fill gaps in river dikes that left neighborhoods under water. (AP Photo/Dake Kang)

July 26

How the Fukushima nuclear disaster looms large over Tokyo Olympics

Japan has plans to release more than a million tons of wastewater into the sea.

July 26

This handout photo shows the smoking No. 3 reactor building (C) and buildings of reactors No. 2 (L, front) and No. 4 (R, back) of the quake-hit Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, March 21, 2011, in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan.

July 26

Rain brings crucial help against wildfire in Northeast Spain

A soft rain is bringing respite to firefighters and Spain’s army working to quench the flames in a major forest fire that has burned over 1,600 hectares (4,000 acres) in the northeastern Catalonia region

July 26

Sant Martí de Tous residents look at wildfire near Tarragona, in the northeastern region of Catalonia, Spain, Sunday, July 25, 2021. Firefighters in northeast Spain are battling a wildfire that has consumed over 1,200 hectares (3,000 acres) of woodland. High temperatures and winds fanned the flames in the rural area. (AP Photo/Joan Mateu Parra)

July 26

German business confidence sinks as virus clouds outlook

A closely watched survey finds that German business confidence has dipped unexpectedly this month as increasing coronavirus infections help cloud businesses’ outlook for the coming months

July 26

UN: Women, children casualties on the rise in Afghanistan

The U.N. says in a new report that more women and children were killed and wounded in Afghanistan in the first half of 2021 than in any year since the United Nations began keeping count in 2009

July 26