AP National News

CAIRO (AP) — A global human rights group has accused Egypt’s main domestic security agency of harassing and intimidating rights advocates and activists to silence them. The report was the latest rebuke to Egypt’s government, which faces increasing pressure from the U.S. to improve its human rights record. Amnesty International said in the report released

By VESELIN TOSHKOV Associated Press SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgarian President Rumen Radev on Thursday reappointed a retired general as interim prime minister to lead a new caretaker government until the next early election is held in November. The Balkan country, which is the European Union’s poorest member, is gearing up for its third parliamentary

By ARNO PEDRAM Associated Press PARIS (AP) — The city of Paris is unveiling a monumental artwork built around an actual monument: the Arc de Triomphe completely wrapped in silver and blue fabric. The installation by late artist couple Christo and Jeanne-Claude, who conceived the project in 1961, will open on Saturday. Visits will take

LONDON (AP) — Irish airline Ryanair said Thursday that it’s planning to create 5,000 jobs over the next five years as part of its recovery from the shock of the coronavirus pandemic. The additional pilots, cabin crew and engineers will mean that the company will have more than recouped the 3,000 jobs it got rid

By SAMUEL PETREQUIN Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s executive arm asked its member countries Thursday to better protect journalists amid a rise of physical attacks and online threats against media professionals. According to the European Commission, 908 journalists and media workers were attacked across the 27-nation bloc in 2020. A total of

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin says dozens of his staff have been infected with the coronavirus and that he will continue his self-isolation because of the outbreak. The Kremlin announced earlier this week that he would self-isolate after someone in his inner circle was infected although Putin had tested negative for the virus

LONDON (AP) — Elton John says he is postponing European dates on his world tour until 2023 so that he can have an operation on an injured hip. The 74-year-old singer-songwriter had been due to play cities in Britain and Europe this year as part of the Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, followed by shows

By NICK PERRY Associated Press WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The U.S., Britain and Australia have announced they’re forming a new security alliance that will help equip Australia with nuclear-powered submarines. The alliance will see a reshaping of relations in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond. Here’s what it might mean for various players: THE UNITED

PRAGUE (AP) — Czech President Milos Zeman who was hospitalized this week has undergone medical checks that haven’t revealed any problems or disease that would threaten his life, the presidential office said on Thursday. Zeman’s office said doctors carried out CT scans, sonography checks and blood tests at Prague’s military hospital where the president was

BERLIN (AP) — Federal prosecutors in Germany said Thursday they have indicted four men on suspicion of supporting the Islamic extremist group Jabhat al-Nusra. Prosecutors said in a statement that one the men is also accused of membership in the group, which was formed as al-Qaida’s branch in Syria but later broke away. Marius A.

By MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS Associated Press NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Lawyers for a British woman sentenced to a four-month suspended sentence for making up claims that she was gang raped by as many as a dozen Israelis during a vacation in Cyprus in 2019 are appealing to the country’s Supreme Court to overturn the conviction. A

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Voluntary euthanasia became legal in a fifth Australian state on Thursday, more than 20 years after the country repealed the world’s first mercy killing law for the terminally ill. Queensland’s Parliament passed the law with 61 of the state’s 93 lawmakers voting in favor. New South Wales, the nation’s most populous

By FRANCIS KOKUTSE Associated Press ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — West African leaders have decided to impose travel bans and freeze financial assets of members of Guinea’s ruling junta and their families after a coup more than a week ago, according to the bloc known as ECOWAS. The decisions were announced Thursday after an Extraordinary Summit

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s biggest rail operator, Deutsche Bahn, and a labor union representing train drivers said Thursday they have agreed on a pay raise to end a series of strikes that had caused chaos for commuters and vacationers over the summer. The GDL union said it secured assurances over pensions, a raise of about

By LORNE COOK Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — Human rights and refugee groups are appealing to the European Union to step up its help for people trying to flee Afghanistan. The 24 NGOs accuse the bloc of failing to do enough to assist those living in fear of Taliban rule. More than 100,000 people were

By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — A 16-year-old boy and three other people were detained Thursday in connection with a suspected plan for an Islamic extremist attack on a synagogue in the German city of Hagen, authorities said. The detentions took place on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism, and two years

By ANGELA CHARLTON and BABA AHMED Associated Press PARIS (AP) — The leader of the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara died of wounds from a drone strike that hit him on a motorcycle last month in southern Mali, in a French-led operation involving backup from U.S., EU, Malian and Nigerien military forces, French authorities

By SAM MCNEIL Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — Three astronauts who lived for 90 days on China’s space station departed Thursday in preparation for returning to Earth. The national space agency said Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo boarded the Shenzhou-12 spacecraft and undocked from the space station at 8:56 a.m. Thursday (0056 GMT).

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — What could be more American than summer camp? It has fresh air, sailing, cookouts — and, in Bess Wohl’s new play, swastikas. “Camp Siegfried” is based on a real-life camp on Long Island in the 1930s that indoctrinated young German-Americans into Nazi ideology. The play has its

By JOEAL CALUPITAN and DAVID RISING Associated Press MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte would rather “die first” before facing an international tribunal, his spokesman said Thursday, the day after the International Criminal Court announced it would investigate allegations of crimes against humanity during his bloody war on drugs. Duterte’s spokesman, Harry Roque,