News

By JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — The international Red Cross is calling for the ouster of the head of the Belarus Red Cross, who stirred international outrage for boasting that it was actively ferrying Ukrainian children from Russian-controlled areas to Belarus. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies says it

By DASHA LITVINOVA Associated Press Russian air defenses shot down 31 Ukrainian drones during a concerted nighttime attack by Kyiv’s forces on border regions, the Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday, even as uncertainty grew over Ukraine’s future access to weapons and ammunition from its Western allies. The drone attack appeared to be Kyiv’s largest single

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis said the Catholic Church needed to be rebuilt to make it a place of welcome for “everyone, everyone, everyone,” as he opened a divisive meeting on the future of the church that has sparked hope among progressives and alarm among conservatives. Francis presided over

By COLLEEN BARRY Associated Press VENICE (AP) — Firefighters worked until dawn Wednesday to remove the wreckage of a bus that crashed in a borough of Venice, Italy, across the lagoon from its historic center, killing 21 people and injuring at least 15, mostly foreign tourists returning to a nearby camping site. The victims included

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Swedish media say the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences may have announced the winners of this year’s Nobel Prize in chemistry prematurely. Public broadcaster SVT said the academy sent a press release by mistake early Wednesday that contained the names of the winners. The press release said the prize went to three

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press MANCHESTER, England (AP) — British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has told his Conservative Party he’s not afraid to make tough decisions for long-term change. But reaction to one decision is already causing a storm. Sunak is canceling a big chunk of an ambitious high-speed railway project designed to link London

By SHEIKH SAALIQ Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — Police in New Delhi have arrested the editor of a news website and one of its administrators after raiding the homes of journalists working for the site, which has been critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist-led government. Police say the arrests were made late

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Three homes were destroyed by a forest fire and a man was injured by a falling tree in the Bega Valley region of southeastern Australia, prompting a government leader to warn that a “horror” wildfire season is approaching. Officials say three homes were destroyed Tuesday night

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Chinese-owned video platform TikTok says it will halt its online retail operation in Indonesia to comply with the country’s decision to ban e-commerce transactions on social media platforms. The decision comes as a big blow for TikTok’s fastest-growing market. The company statement said it will stop facilitating e-commerce transactions in TikTok

NEW DELHI (AP) — Twenty-three Indian army soldiers are missing after a cloudburst triggered flash floods in the northeastern state of Sikkim. The flooding occurred along the Teesta River in Lachen valley, a statement from India’s army said Wednesday, adding that search efforts were underway. The army said that water released from a nearby dam

By LEA SKENE and DENISE LAVOIE Associated Press BALTIMORE (AP) — A shooting interrupted a homecoming week celebration at Baltimore’s Morgan State University on Tuesday, wounding five people and prompting an hourslong lockdown of the historically Black college. Students hunkered down for several hours, as police went room to room looking for suspects. No arrests

By JERRY HARMER and JUTARAT SKULPICHETRAT Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — Police say a teenage boy who allegedly shot two people dead and wounded five others inside a major shopping mall in Thailand’s capital used a mock handgun that had been modified to fire real bullets. Video broadcast on television showed a long-haired teenage boy

By LEA SKENE and DENISE LAVOIE Associated Press BALTIMORE (AP) — Five people were wounded, none critically, in a shooting outside a residence hall at Morgan State University in Baltimore on Tuesday, according to authorities, who urged students to take shelter on the campus of the historically Black college. The Baltimore Police Department initially said