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REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) — Iceland’s president says the country is battling “tremendous forces of nature” after molten lava from a volcano consumed several houses in the evacuated town of Grindavik. President Gudni Th. Johannesson said in a televised address late Sunday that “a daunting period of upheaval has begun” on the Reykjanes peninsula in the

By ILLIA NOVIKOV Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The Ukrainian air force shot down a Russian early warning and control plane that can spot targets up to 650 kilometers (400 miles) away and a key command center aircraft that relays information to troops on the ground in a significant blow for the Kremlin’s forces,

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is due to face Parliament to explain why the U.K. joined the U.S. in striking Houthi targets in Yemen. He’ll also face questions on Monday about why British lawmakers did not get a say on the military action. Four Royal Air Force Typhoon

By MIKE STOBBE AP Medical Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Sixty years ago, the U.S. surgeon general released a report that settled a longstanding public debate about the dangers of cigarettes and led to huge changes in smoking in America. Today, some public health experts say a similar report could help clear the air about

By GERALD IMRAY and LEWIS JOLY Associated Press SAINT-PAUL, Réunion (AP) — A tropical cyclone has hit the French island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean, bringing intense rains and powerful winds and leaving about a quarter of the households without electricity and tens of thousands of homes suffering water cuts. Nearby Mauritius was also

PRAGUE (AP) — A rare male pygmy hippopotamus born in a Czech zoo has debuted his first photoshoot to the delight of spectators. He is considered a valuable addition to the conservation efforts of the endangered species. The hippo was named Mikolas and has joined two female and one male pygmy hippos in the Dvur

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has defended his controversial decision to let priests bless same-sex couples but admitted that “solitude is a price” for difficult decisions. Francis doubled down and insisted “God blesses everyone” during a Sunday interview with an Italian talk show. But he acknowledged the remarkable opposition that his decision has sparked. Africa’s

By ROBERT YOON Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — When the dust settles from Monday’s first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses, the returns will reveal who had Republican caucusgoers’ vote, but they won’t shed much light on the types of people who voted or what was on their minds as they cast their ballots. That’s where AP VoteCast comes

By JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — The Earth is heating up, as is conflict in the Middle East. The world economy and Ukraine’s defense against Russia are sputtering along. Artificial intelligence could upend all our lives. The to-do list of global priorities has grown for this year’s edition of the World Economic

By SOPHENG CHEANG Associated Press PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — A court in Cambodia has convicted four land rights activists of plotting to provoke a peasant revolution by teaching farmers about class divisions and has given them five-year suspended prison terms.  The four, who worked for the Coalition of Cambodian Farmer Community, were arrested and

By SYLEJMAN KLLOKOQI and ZENEL ZHINIPOTOKU Associated Press RECAK, Kosovo (AP) — Hundreds of people have gathered in a village in southern Kosovo to commemorate the 25th anniversary of a mass killing of 45 ethnic Albanians by Serb forces. The deaths helped spark international intervention to end a 1998-99 war in Kosovo. Kosovo’s president, prime

By YURI KAGEYAMA Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Members of a group of men who say they were sexually abused as boys by a Japanese entertainment mogul are accusing the company behind the scandal of not being sincere in dealing with the victims and say many have not received compensation. Hundreds of men have come

By WILL WEISSERT Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and the Democratic National Committee said they raised more than $97 million in the final three months of last year, boosted by a star-studded December fundraising blitz that came even as the political world’s attention shifted to the start of the 2024 Republican presidential

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A court in Iran has slapped imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi with an additional sentence of 15 months for allegedly spreading propaganda against the Islamic Republic. A post on Instagram by Mohammadi’s family says the new sentence was handed down on Dec. 19. It said Mohammadi had

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Germany’s economy shrank 0.3% last year as Europe’s former powerhouse struggled with more expensive energy, higher interest rates, a lack of skilled labor and a homegrown budget crisis. Europe’s largest economy has been mired in stagnation since the last months of 2022 amid those multiple challenges. The International Monetary Fund expected