Month: August 2024

Associated Press NEA SILATA, Greece (AP) — A severe drought in northern Greece, worsened by successive heat waves and low rainfall, is causing water shortages that are threatening agriculture, drying up lakes, and stressing local communities dependent on tourism. Farmers struggling to irrigate crops as groundwater supplies dwindle, are using water trucks to save their

Associated Press BINMAR, Chad (AP) — When Milla Nemoudji, a 28-year-old from a village in southern Chad, divorced her husband following years of physical abuse, she found herself without means for survival. Though raised in a farming family, she struggled to get by in a community where access to land is customarily controlled by men.

Associated Press DILI, East Timor (AP) — When Pope Francis makes his trip to Asia’s newest country, East Timor, it will make him the second pope to visit after John Paul in 1989, and the first since the country gained independence from Indonesia in 2002. It also comes only two years after the Vatican acknowledged

Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — As soon as Prime Minister Viktor Orbán assumed Hungary’s presidency of the European Union in July, one thing was clear: he increasingly stands for everything the EU opposes. Orban traveled to Moscow to hobnob with President Vladimir Putin, the EU’s archenemy because of his war in Ukraine. Orbán traveled to

Associated Press DILI, East Timor (AP) — When the Vatican acknowledged in 2022 that the Nobel Peace Prize-winning, East Timorese independence hero Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo had sexually abused young boys, it appeared that the global clergy sexual abuse scandal that has compromised the Catholic Church’s credibility around the world had finally arrived in Asia’s

Associated Press DHARAMSHALA, India (AP) — The Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has returned to the headquarters of the Tibetan government-in-exile in northern India after undergoing a knee replacement surgery in New York. Hundreds of followers in colorful flowing robes on Wednesday cheered the Dalai Lama at the airport and his residence, and several

AP Education Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The high cost of caring for children and the elderly has forced women out of the workforce, devastated family finances and left professional caretakers in low-wage jobs — all while slowing economic growth. That families are suffering is not up for debate. As the economy emerges as a theme

Associated Press NORWOOD, Mass. (AP) — Bored and looking for something to do this summer, Danny Doherty hatched a plan to raise money for his brother’s hockey team by selling homemade ice cream. But a few days after setting up a stand and serving up vanilla, shaved chocolate and fluffernutter to about 20 people, Danny’s

Associated Press The latest flurry of Gaza cease-fire talks — the back-and-forth over now-familiar sticking points and appeals from around the world — obscures a grim truth about the monthslong efforts to end the Israel-Hamas war and free scores of hostages. Any deal requires the signatures of two men: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and

Associated Press SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania ammunition plant that makes a key artillery shell in Ukraine’s fight against Russia has managed to boost production by 50% to meet surging demand, with more capacity set to come on line. Along with two plants in nearby Wilkes-Barre, the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant recently increased production

Associated Press HONOLULU (AP) — Second Amendment activists in Hawaii are celebrating a recent legal change that allows them to carry not just guns but other weapons — from battle-axes to butterfly knives — openly in public. Hawaii has long had strict weapons laws and some of the lowest rates of gun violence in the

Associated Press PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The announcement that Haiti’s military wanted recruits crackled through a small radio perched on a street stall in downtown Port-au-Prince where Maurenceley Clerge repairs and sells smartphones. It was early morning, and the 21-year-old paused, eager to hear the details. He envisioned earning enough to afford his own food

AP Film Writer VENICE, Italy (AP) — The 81st edition of the Venice Film Festival kicked off in Hollywood style with the world premiere of “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” Wednesday. Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Jenna Ortega, Catherine O’Hara and Monica Bellucci all walked the red carpet. The film is a sequel to Tim Burton’s 1988 horror-comedy, which

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Ukraine’s daring ground offensive has taken the fight to Russia, but not nearly as much as its leaders would like. That’s because, they say, the United States won’t let them. The U.S. restricts the use of long-range ballistic missiles it provides to Ukraine, which wants to aim them at military