5 hours ago

Pope honors Barcelona's sacred monuments on death centenary of Sagrada Familia designer Gaudí

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Pope Leo XIV honored Barcelona’s most sacred and beautiful monuments Wednesday by first leading a noontime prayer at a mountain-top abbey, hours before he was due to give an evening Mass at the famed Sagrada Familia Basilica on the centenary of the death of its architect, Antoni Gaudí.

7 hours ago

Multiple attackers kill 12 people and wound 9 in a late-night shooting in South Africa

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A group of armed attackers drove into a poor neighborhood in South Africa's biggest city, got out of a minivan and opened fire at residents in a late-night attack in Johannesburg that killed 12 people and wounded at least nine, police said Wednesday.

6 hours ago

Stabbing suspect appears in court after anti-immigrant protests in Northern Ireland

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) — A 30-year-old man from Sudan appeared in a Belfast court Wednesday charged with attempted murder over a stabbing attack that left a man seriously injured and triggered anti-immigrant violence in several parts of Northern Ireland.

10 hours ago

Insider tour of the Sagrada Familia reveals 5 divine enigmas and hidden treasures

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — The Sagrada Familia basilica features sandcastle-like spires, stone carved to look like lush flora, a kaleidoscopic interior and a trove of treasures, some hiding in plain sight. Even regular worshippers at Barcelona’s world-famous landmark find themselves dumbstruck with wonder.

1 day ago

UK leaders call for calm as protests break out after Belfast street stabbing

LONDON (AP) — U.K. leaders called for calm Tuesday after the arrest of a Sudanese man accused of trying to kill a man in a vicious stabbing on a Belfast street sparked fiery anti-immigration protests because the suspect is an asylum seeker.

10 hours ago

Israel is tightening its grip on east Jerusalem with evictions and demolitions

JERUSALEM (AP) — Fakhri Abu Diab fought for decades to save his home. But when Israeli authorities arrived with bulldozers two years ago, he was powerless to stop them.

1 day ago

Ukraine is ready to share drone technology with Nordic and Baltic countries, Zelenskyy says

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Nordic and Baltic leaders who were in Estonia for a regional summit Tuesday, a visit that comes amid friction over Ukrainian drones straying into the region in recent months.

1 day ago

Congo's Ebola outbreak rises to over 100 deaths out of 550 cases as conflict slows response

BUNIA, Congo (AP) — More than 100 people have died from Ebola less than a month after authorities declared an outbreak of the disease in eastern Congo, a grim toll as officials intensify efforts to slow the disease discovered weeks late.

1 day ago

Israel's Arabic-language military spokesperson has gone viral, inspiring fear and fascination

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — For over 2 1/2 years, hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza and Lebanon have lived in dread of Avichay Adraee’s next social media post.

1 day ago

A digital reckoning against smartphones in schools has spread to Sweden

MALMÖ, Sweden (AP) — Long championed as a leader in adopting digital technology, Sweden is set to ban mobile phones in schools beginning in the fall for the next academic year as part of a broad, international reversal on the use of screens in classrooms.

1 day ago

Survivors share experiences and lessons from Congo’s 2018 Ebola outbreak

BENI, Congo (AP) — The memories come flooding back whenever Vianney Kambale Kombi hears the word Ebola.

1 day ago

Italian commuters find a moment of peace on a cable-guided ferry sketched by Leonardo da Vinci

IMBERSAGO, Italy (AP) — The ferry glides from one bank of northern Italy's Adda River to the other, guided by a cable and pulled by currents, offering harried commuters five minutes of serenity and an alternate route now that a bridge closure has backed up traffic.

1 day ago

Pope Leo will tap into the Sagrada Familia's allure while honoring Catalonia's holy mountain

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Pope Leo XIV will bridge 1,000 years of church history Wednesday, visiting a medieval monastery on a mountaintop that local Catholics consider sacred and then celebrating Mass at Barcelona's famous Sagrada Familia Basilica.

In a California Chinese enclave, a mayor's guilty plea stokes fears of Beijing's influence

LOS ANGELES (AP) — In 2024, voters in the Southern California city of Arcadia elected the first all-Asian city council in the city's history.

2 days ago

Ukrainian strikes set off fires at oil facilities in Russia and Crimea

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian forces struck oil facilities in Russia and occupied Ukraine, Ukrainian and Russian officials said Monday, as part of their campaign to make Moscow pay an economic cost for the war.

2 days ago

Xi and Kim express hopes for greater ties between China and North Korea

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un underscored their commitment to deepen cooperation in a closely watched summit on Monday, as Xi made a rare visit to Pyongyang in a likely attempt to reassert Beijing’s unique influence over its socialist neighbor.

1 day ago

ICC chief prosecutor suspended pending decision by oversight body on sexual misconduct allegations

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — In an unprecedented move, the embattled chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court was suspended from his duties late Monday, after the court’s oversight body referred British barrister Karim Khan for disciplinary proceedings.

2 days ago

A 7.8 magnitude quake in the Philippines kills at least 35, collapses buildings and sparks tsunami

DAVAO, Philippines (AP) — An offshore earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 hit the southern Philippines on Monday, killing at least 35 people, injuring more than 200 others mostly in ruined buildings and sending a 1-meter (3-foot) tsunami into nearby coasts.

2 days ago

Pope's historic speech to Spain's parliament demands respect for migrants and gets 7-minute ovation

MADRID (AP) — Spanish lawmakers gave Pope Leo XIV a standing ovation on Monday after he called for respect for migrants' rights and international law in a historic address to parliament that signaled a new level of acceptance of the Catholic Church in the overwhelmingly secular country.

2 days ago

Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan claims victory in election seen as test of Russia's influence

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan claimed victory Monday in a general election seen as a test of Russia’s influence in the South Caucasus country, as preliminary results showed his governing party in first with more than double the votes of the next contender.

2 days ago

Tropical Storm Boris forms off Mexico's southern Pacific coast and brings flooding threat

MIAMI (AP) — Tropical Storm Boris formed Monday and was expected to bring heavy rain, flooding and possible mudslides to parts of southern Mexico's Pacific coast, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

3 days ago

Votes being counted in runoff election to choose Peru's ninth leader in 10 years

LIMA, Peru (AP) — The winner of Peru’s presidential runoff election was not yet known hours after polls closed Sunday as electoral authorities slowly tallied votes cast for the ninth head of state in 10 years.

3 days ago

Pope Leo XIV draws 1.2 million to Mass and challenges Europe to acknowledge its Christian roots

MADRID (AP) — Pope Leo XIV challenged Europe to acknowledge Christianity’s contributions to its cultural identity Sunday, as he presided over a Mass in Madrid attended by more than a million people and honored Spain’s centuries-old traditions of religious devotion and culture.

3 days ago

Israel says Iran launched missiles at it in first such bombardment since fragile ceasefire

JERUSALEM (AP) — Iran launched missiles at Israel in the first such bombardment since a fragile ceasefire took effect in early April, raising the possibility of a return to heavy fighting and complicating mediation efforts to end the war.

3 days ago

European leaders voice 'urgent need' to bolster Ukraine's defenses against ballistic missiles

LONDON (AP) — The leaders of the U.K., Ukraine, France and Germany discussed the “urgent need” to ramp up production of weapons to combat Russia's powerful hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missiles in a meeting in London on Sunday.

3 days ago

The Nigerian army frees 360 abducted people in northeastern Borno state

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — The Nigerian army said Sunday it freed 360 people abducted by Boko Haram in southern Borno, in the northeastern part of the country.

3 days ago

Cuba ex-President Raúl Castro makes first appearance since US charges to celebrate birthday

HAVANA (AP) — Raúl Castro, Cuba’s low-profile former president and revolutionary guerrilla, appeared in public for the first time since being indicted by the United States for his alleged role in the 1996 downing of two civilian aircraft, official video released Saturday showed.

Bernadette Chirac, formidable former first lady of France who built power of her own, dies at 93

PARIS (AP) — Bernadette Chirac, the steel-willed former first lady of France who spent 12 years at the Élysée Palace from 1995 to 2007 beside President Jacques Chirac — weathering his notorious infidelities with dry humor while building her own political power base in rural France — has died. She was 93.

Israeli airstrikes kill 9 including Lebanese army officers after ceasefire deal

BEIRUT (AP) — Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon on Saturday killed nine people including three members of the Lebanese military, the Lebanese army and state media said, days after the two sides reached a new ceasefire deal.

Israeli troops kill 7-month-old baby in West Bank, Palestinian officials say

HEBRON, West Bank (AP) — Israeli troops shot at a car in the occupied West Bank, killing a 7-month-old Palestinian baby and wounding his parents, the Palestinian health ministry said, with the bullet striking the boy in the face.

Colombia's presidential runoff could impact the future of the Amazon rainforest and fossil fuels

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — The upcoming Colombian presidential election between Sen. Iván Cepeda, an ally of President Gustavo Petro, and lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella, whom U.S. President Donald Trump has endorsed, is shaping up as a stark choice that could impact the future of the Amazon rainforest, fossil fuel development and the rights of Indigenous communities.

Mock political party for India's young 'cockroaches' holds first street protest

NEW DELHI (AP) — Hundreds of supporters of the Cockroach Janata Party, an online joke that has drawn millions of followers across India, gathered for the first time in the capital on Saturday for its biggest real-world test yet.

3 days ago

Hegseth invokes immigration and ‘invasion’ in D-Day speech in France

PARIS (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used a D-Day anniversary speech on Saturday to appear to link immigration by sea to the wartime liberation of Europe, warning that the freedom won by Allied troops could prove temporary if leaders failed to defend it.

Iran's soccer team leaves for World Cup as some officials still await US visas

ANTALYA, Turkey (AP) — Iran’s World Cup soccer team set off from Turkey for their training base in Mexico on Saturday, with some members of their entourage reportedly still without U.S. visas, before three group matches in the United States later this month.

Ukraine targets St. Petersburg again after Putin rejects Zelenskyy's offer for direct talks

Residents of St. Petersburg were told not to leave their homes after a large-scale Ukrainian drone attack targeted Russia’s second-largest city Saturday morning, underscoring Kyiv’s growing ability to hit deep inside Russia.

What to know about Pope Leo's trip to Spain, from political scandal to Barcelona's architectural gem

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV’s weeklong visit to Spain will bring him to a once-staunchly Catholic country that has long been in the throes of waning religious practice and, recently, a political crisis for the ruling Socialist Party.