AROUND THE WORLD FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

World News

North Korea’s trash rains onto South Korea, balloon by balloon. Here’s what it means

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Manure. Cigarette butts. Scraps of cloth. Waste batteries. Even, reportedly, diapers. This week, North Korea floated hundreds of huge balloons to dump all of that trash across rival South Korea — an old-fashioned, Cold War-style provocation that the country has rarely used in recent years. The powerful sister of North […]
12 hours ago

A violent, polarized Mexico goes to the polls to choose between 2 women presidential candidates

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico goes into Sunday’s election deeply divided: friends and relatives no longer talk politics for fear of worsening unbridgeable divides, while drug cartels have split the country into a patchwork quilt of warring fiefdoms. The atmosphere is literally heating up, amid a wave of unusual heat, drought, pollution and political violence. […]
23 hours ago

Violence clouds the last day of campaigning for Mexico’s election

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico held the last day of campaigning Wednesday before Sunday’s nationwide election, but the closing rallies were darkened by attacks on candidates and the country’s persistently high homicide rate. Opposition candidate Xóchitl Gálvez started her last campaign rallies early Wednesday on the outskirts of Mexico City, and she focused her ire […]
2 days ago

UN rights group says Japan needs to do more to counter human rights abuses

TOKYO (AP) — A group working under the U.N. Human Rights Council has issued a wide-ranging report about rights in Japan, including discrimination against minorities and unhealthy working conditions. The report, issued this week in Geneva, recommended various changes in Japan, such as more training in businesses to raise awareness of rights issues, setting up […]
2 days ago

US appoints a new representative to Taiwan as the self-governing island faces China’s intimidation

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — The United States has appointed a new representative to Taiwan, as China boosts its threats against the self-ruled island following the election of a new president who wants the territory to maintain its de-facto independence. China claims Taiwan as its own territory and this week staged naval and air force drills […]
2 days ago

Stock market today: Wall Street points toward losses as markets digest earnings, dealmaking

Wall Street was poised to open with losses on Wednesday as some major dealmaking and a handful of earnings reports fill the news void until Friday’s latest inflation report. Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average each tumbled 0.6% before the bell. ConocoPhillips said that it is buying Marathon Oil in […]
2 days ago

Mexico’s next president is likely a woman. But in some Indigenous villages, men have all the power

PLAN DE AYALA, Mexico (AP) — At 4:30 a.m., the girls and women begin to appear in the dark streets of this rural village of Tojolabal people in southern Mexico. They walk in silence. Some are headed to grind corn to make their family’s tortillas. Others fetch firewood to carry home, on their backs or […]
2 days ago

South Africans vote in what’s been framed as their most important election since apartheid ended

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africans voted Wednesday at schools, community centers, and in large white tents set up in open fields in an election seen as their country’s most important since apartheid ended 30 years ago. It could put the young democracy into unknown territory. At stake is the three-decade dominance of the African National […]
2 days ago

US files a labor complaint over claims that a Volkswagen plant in Mexico fired union activists

MEXICO CITY (AP) — U.S. trade authorities said Tuesday they have filed a labor complaint with Mexico over allegations that a Volkswagen auto plant in central Mexico unfairly fired union activists. The U.S. Trade Representative’s office said Tuesday the complaint includes the temporary suspension of tariff benefits for vehicles and parts produced at the VW […]
2 days ago

US vows more returns of looted antiquities as Italy celebrates latest haul of 600 artifacts

ROME (AP) — Italy on Tuesday celebrated the return of around 600 antiquities from the U.S., including ancient bronze statues, gold coins, mosaics and manuscripts valued at 60 million euros ($65 million), that were looted years ago, sold to U.S. museums, galleries and collectors and recovered as a result of criminal investigations. U.S. Ambassador Jack […]
3 days ago

Stock market today: World shares are mostly lower after US holiday quiet

TOKYO (AP) — Shares were mostly lower in Europe and Asia on Tuesday after U.S. markets were closed for the Memorial Day holiday. Germany’s DAX gained 0.3% to 18,828.68 while the CAC 40 in Paris edged 0.1% lower to 8,121.17. In Britain, the FTSE 100 shed 0.2% to 8,303.25, reopening from a bank holiday on […]
3 days ago

Fears rise of a second landslide and disease outbreak at site of Papua New Guinea disaster

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Authorities fear a second landslide and a disease outbreak are looming at the scene of Papua New Guinea’s mass-casualty disaster because of water streams and bodies trapped beneath the tons of debris that swept over a village. Thousands are being told to prepare to evacuate, officials said Tuesday. A mass of […]
3 days ago

Netanyahu says deadly Israeli strike in Rafah was the result of a ‘tragic mishap’

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that a “tragic mishap” was made in an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza city of Rafah that set fire to a camp housing displaced Palestinians and, according to local officials, killed at least 45 people. The strike only added to the surging international […]
4 days ago

At least 2,000 feared dead in Papua New Guinea landslide. These are some challenges rescuers face

BANGKOK (AP) — The Papua New Guinea government said more than 2,000 people are believed to have been buried alive in a landslide in the South Pacific island nation, after the side of a mountain came down in the early hours of Friday morning when the village of Yambali was asleep. The settlement is located […]
4 days ago

Relations between EU and Israel plummet as Spain, Ireland prepare to recognize a Palestinian state

BRUSSELS (AP) — Relations between the European Union and Israel took a nosedive Monday, the eve of the diplomatic recognition of a Palestinian state by EU members Ireland and Spain, with Madrid insisting that sanctions should be considered against Israel for its continued deadly attacks in southern Gaza’s city of Rafah. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel […]
4 days ago

Papua New Guinea says Friday’s landslide buried more than 2,000 people and formally asks for help

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A Papua New Guinea government official has told the United Nations that more than 2,000 people are believed to have been buried alive by last Friday’s landslide and has formally asked for international help. The government figure is roughly triple the U.N. estimate of 670 killed by the landslide in the […]
4 days ago

South Korean, Chinese and Japanese leaders discuss thorny topics and ways to boost cooperation

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The Japanese and South Korean leaders raised sensitive topics like Taiwan, North Korea and the South China Sea as well as ways to boost cooperation when they individually met China’s premier Sunday on the eve of a fuller trilateral meeting. It was unclear how serious discussions the three leaders had […]
5 days ago

Young missionary couple from US among 3 killed by gunmen in Haiti’s capital, family says

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A U.S. missionary couple and a Haitian man who led a religious group were shot and killed by criminal gang members in Haiti’s capital after they were abducted while leaving a youth group activity held at a local church, a family member said Friday. The attack happened Thursday evening in the […]
6 days ago

UN human rights office decries beheadings, other violence in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state

GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. human rights office warned Friday of “frightening and disturbing reports” about the impact of new violence in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state, pointing to new attacks on Rohingya civilians by the military and an ethnic armed group fighting it. Spokesperson Liz Throssell of the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for […]
7 days ago

UN countries adopt treaty to better trace origins of genetic resources under global patent system

GENEVA (AP) — U.N. member countries on Friday concluded a new treaty to help ensure that traditional knowledge about genetic resources, like medicines derived from exotic plants in the Andes mountains, is properly traced. It marks the first time the 193 member states of the U.N.’s World Intellectual Property Organization have reached agreement on patent […]
7 days ago

Stock market today: Global shares are mixed, with China stocks down, after Wall St retreat

TOKYO (AP) — Global shares were mixed on Thursday, with European markets gaining after most major Asian benchmarks declined, apart from in Tokyo. France’s CAC 40 edged 0.2% higher to 8,109.40. Germany’s DAX climbed 0.3% to 18,742.83, while Britain’s FTSE 100 was flat at 8,373.25. The future for the S&P 500 was up 0.5%, while […]
8 days ago

Iran inters its late president at holiest Shiite site in nation after fatal helicopter crash

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran interred President Ebrahim Raisi at the nation’s holiest Shiite shrine Thursday, days after he was killed in a helicopter crash that added to the woes of a country already beset by international sanctions, internal unrest and tensions abroad. Raisi, who died alongside the country’s foreign minister and six […]
8 days ago

China sanctions US defense-related companies and executives over Russia, Taiwan

BEIJING, China (AP) — China on Wednesday sanctioned 12 U.S. defense-related companies and 10 executives over arms sales to Taiwan in retaliation for earlier American sanctions on Chinese companies tied to Russia. The entities include units of Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, General Dynamics and other companies. Senior executives of Northrop Grumman Corporation and General Dynamics also […]
8 days ago

Stock market today: Asian shares are mixed, with China stocks down, after Wall St retreat

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were trading mixed Thursday, as investor sentiment in Tokyo was boosted by news of soaring Nvidia earnings. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 1.1% to 39,054.81. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 sank 0.5% to 7,807.10. South Korea’s Kospi added 0.2% to 2,728.43. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 1.3% to 18,942.77, while the Shanghai […]
9 days ago