AP National News

MULTAN, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan’s police say they have arrested at least two people after a 21-year-old American woman reported that she was gang raped at a hotel when she was visiting a tourist resort in the eastern Punjab province. The detainees included her host, who took her to a hotel where she says she

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s highest court says it has thrown out complaints against a ban on the use of subcontractors in slaughterhouses that was prompted by coronavirus outbreaks early in the pandemic. The Federal Constitutional Court said Wednesday that it rejected complaints by a sausage manufacturer and several temporary employment agencies against the new rules,

LONDON (AP) — Inflation in the United Kingdom has accelerated to a new 40-year high, driven by rising food and fuel prices that are contributing to a cost-of-living crisis. The Office of National Statistics said Wednesday that consumer prices rose 9.4% in the year through June, up from 9.1% the previous month. The new figure

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) — Shares advanced in Europe and Asia on Wednesday after Wall Street rallied to its best day in more than three weeks as companies reported strong profits for the past quarter. Germany’s DAX edged 0.1% higher to 13,318.21 while the CAC 40 in Paris also gained 0.1%

by FABIANO MAISONNAVE RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Environmental criminals in the Brazilian Amazon destroyed public forests equal the size of El Salvador over the past six years, yet the Federal Police — the Brazilian version of the FBI — carried out only seven operations aimed at this massive loss, according to a new study.

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria says it is formally breaking diplomatic ties with Ukraine in response to a similar move by Kyiv.  Syria is a strong ally of Russia, which joined Syria’s conflict in September 2015 helping tip the balance of power in favor of President Bashar Assad. In late June, Damascus said it would

By SUSIE BLANN Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian forces have struck and seriously damaged a bridge that is key for supplying Russian troops in southern Ukraine, a regional official said Wednesday, as Russian shelling killed civilians including a 13-year-old boy in the embattled country’s northeast. Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Moscow-backed temporary

By ILAN BEN ZION Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Installing an elevator doesn’t normally involve a 2,000-year plunge into an ancient city’s history. But in Jerusalem, even seemingly simple construction projects can lead to archaeological endeavors. Archaeologists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem say they have made numerous discoveries, including an ornate first-century villa with

By DANICA KIRKA and JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Britain’s record-breaking heat wave disrupted travel for a third day and firefighters remained on alert Wednesday even as cloudy skies and showers brought relief after two days of scorching temperatures. Forecasters predict London will reach a high of 26 Celsius (79 Fahrenheit) on Wednesday,

By KRISHAN FRANCIS Associated Press COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lankan lawmakers chose six-time Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as president Wednesday to succeed the ousted leader who fled the country in a vote that risks reigniting political turmoil in the troubled South Asian island nation. He said he has spent 45 years of his

By KRISHAN FRANCIS Associated Press COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lankan lawmakers chose six-time Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as president Wednesday to succeed the ousted leader who fled the country in a vote that risks reigniting political turmoil in the troubled South Asian island nation. Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed Wickremesinghe as prime minister

By FRANCES D’EMILIO Associated Press SERRASTRETTA, Italy (AP) — From a rustic, tiny synagogue she fashioned from her family’s ancestral home in this mountain village, an American rabbi is keeping a promise made to her Italian-born father: reconnect people in this southern region of Calabria to their Jewish roots, links nearly severed five centuries ago

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares advanced Wednesday after Wall Street rallied to its best day in more than three weeks as companies reported strong profits for the past quarter. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 jumped 2.7% to 27,680.26, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong gained 1.5% to 20,966.48. In Seoul,

By LORI HINNANT, CARA ANNA, VASILISA STEPANENKO and SARAH EL DEEB Associated Press NARVA, Estonia (AP) — For weeks Natalya Zadoyanova had lost contact with her younger brother Dmitriy, who was trapped in the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol. Russian forces had bombed the orphanage where he worked, and he was huddling with dozens

By LORI HINNANT, CARA ANNA, VASILISA STEPANENKO and SARAH EL DEEB Associated Press NARVA, Estonia (AP) — For weeks Natalya Zadoyanova had lost contact with her younger brother Dmitriy, who was trapped in the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol. Russian forces had bombed the orphanage where he worked, and he was huddling with dozens

By EBRAHIM NOROOZI Associated Press KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Hundreds of men, strung out on heroin, opium and meth, were strewn over the hillside overlooking Kabul, some in tents, some lying in the dirt. Dogs skulked around because they sometimes give them drugs, and there were bodies of overdosed dogs amid the garbage. Men here

By KRISHAN FRANCIS Associated Press COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka’s Parliament is voting by secret ballot Wednesday for a new president to lead the country out of the deep political, economic and humanitarian crisis that toppled the previous leader and has left simmering tensions in the island nation. Prime Minister and Acting President