AP National News

By DAVID PORTER and MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The remnants of Hurricane Ida blew through the mid-Atlantic states Wednesday with at least two tornadoes, heavy winds and drenching rains that collapsed the roof of a U.S. Postal Service building, left cars and roads underwater and sent garbage floating through the streets

By JOSH BOAK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — White House officials are outlining plans to build and restore more than 2 million homes, a response to the volcanic rise in housing prices over the past year. Millions of Americans are getting priced out of ownership or stuck spending the bulk of their income on rent.

By TOUSSAINT N’GOTTA Associated Press ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — New tests show that Ivory Coast did not have its first case of Ebola in more than 25 years after all, the World Health Organization said, reversing course after the reported case last month prompted thousands of vaccines to be deployed. The initial report sparked

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan looked to give a technological upgrade to government services and recordkeeping with the Digital Agency opened Wednesday to overhaul antiquated systems that have had their shortfalls highlighted by the pandemic. Japan currently relies heavily on old-fashioned paperwork for its people to apply for government services, while

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel is granting a promotion to the handler of an agent who spied on the United States, more than 30 years after the episode strained U.S.-Israel ties and less than a year after the handler was pardoned by former President Donald Trump. Ex-air force officer Aviem Sella, who handled former spy Jonathan

By ALEXANDER TURNBULL and SYLVIE CORBET Associated Press PARIS (AP) — France on Wednesday started administering booster shots of COVID-19 vaccine to people over 65 and those with underlying health conditions as the delta variant spreads in the country. France is the first big EU country to introduce widespread booster shots, and several other European

By FRANCES D’EMILIO Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis says thanks to surgery that removed a portion of his colon he can now eat whatever he wants.  The pope said in a radio interview broadcast on Wednesday that before the operation on July 4 in Rome “it was not possible” to eat everything.

BERLIN (AP) — Police in eastern Germany have arrested a 30-year-old man on suspicion of killing his wife and young child. City police in Zwickau said Wednesday that the German citizen went to the emergency department of a local hospital overnight and told summoned officers that he had harmed his family. Police later found his

By TASSANEE VEJPONGSA Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — Shopping malls, restaurants, parks and schools have reopened in Thailand’s capital after the government eased restrictions intended to slow the spread of the coronavirus. A surge that began in April sent new cases and deaths soaring, and department stores, restaurants, parks and other gathering places in Bangkok

LONDON (AP) — Leading scholars and lawyers are joining politicians and human rights groups in Britain for the first large-scale conference to discuss the Chinese government’s alleged genocide against the Uyghur ethnic group in the northwest Xinjiang region. The three-day conference at Newcastle University brings together dozens of speakers, including senior British judges and lawmakers,

By FRANCES D’EMILIO Associated Press ROME (AP) — Police outnumbered demonstrators at several of Italy’s main train stations as COVID-19 vaccination or tests became mandatory Wednesday for long-distance travel within the country. Threats by some of the rule’s opponents to block railroad tracks apparently fizzled. On the eve of the requirement’s taking effect, Premier Mario

By The Associated Press UNITED NATIONS — The president of the U.N. Security Council says the U.N.’s most powerful body will not take its focus off Afghanistan this month and “the real litmus test” for the new Taliban government will be how it treats women and girls. Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason of Ireland said Wednesday

By ARITZ PARRA and FRANK JORDANS Associated Press MADRID (AP) — Pope Francis has criticized the West’s two-decade-long involvement in Afghanistan as an outsider’s attempt to impose democracy — although he did it by citing Russian President Vladimir Putin while thinking he was quoting German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Asked during a radio interview aired Wednesday

HONG KONG (AP) — A popular Hong Kong singer and pro-democracy activist will not be allowed to perform at one of the city’s top theaters later this month, in an indication that a crackdown by authorities on dissent is reaching the entertainment and cultural sphere. The Hong Kong Arts Centre cited a public safety clause

By SETH BORENSTEIN and JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — Weather disasters are striking the world four to five times more often and causing seven times more damage than in the 1970s, the United Nations weather agency reports. But these disasters are killing far fewer people. In the 1970s and 1980s, they killed an

By NICK PERRY Associated Press WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Micronesia President David Panuelo said Wednesday he’ll continue to walk around his island nation without fear, despite an alleged death threat against him over his government’s vaccine mandate. A month ago, Micronesia became one of the few countries in the world to impose a broad

By KRUTIKA PATHI Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — More students in India will be able to step inside a classroom for the first time in nearly 18 months Wednesday, as authorities gave the green light to partially reopen more schools despite apprehension from some parents and signs that infections are picking up again. Schools

ADGER, Ala. (AP) — Two electric company employees contracted to work with Alabama Power were killed while working on storm restoration. WBMA-TV reports that the Pike Electric workers were on duty near an intersection in Adger, about 23 miles southwest of Birmingham, just before noon when the accident happened, according to the The Jefferson County

By BASSEM MROUE Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Driving back to base after firing rockets toward Israeli positions from a border area last month, a group of Hezbollah fighters was accosted by angry villagers who smashed their vehicles’ windshields and held them up briefly. It was a rare incident of defiance that suggested many in