Month: November 2023

BEIJING (AP) — A government official from China’s Tibetan region has rejected allegations of forced assimilation and curbs on religious freedom, while stressing that Tibetan Buddhism should adapt to the Chinese context. The vice chairman of the Tibet region government on Friday defended a boarding school system that overseas activists have said takes children away

HELSINKI (AP) — Foreign dignitaries have gathered in Finland’s capital to bid farewell to former President Martti Ahtisaari, including leaders of countries where he helped reach peace accords. Ahtisaari, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2008, died Oct. 16 at the age of 86. Ahtisaari helped reach peace accords related to Serbia’s withdrawal

By WAFAA SHURAFA, ISABEL DEBRE and JACK JEFFERY Associated Press DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Thousands of Palestinians sheltering from the Israel-Hamas war at Gaza City’s main hospital fled south Friday after several reported strikes in and around the compound overnight. They joined a growing exodus of people escaping intense urban fighting in the

By The Associated Press Russian President Vladimir Putin has visited his southern military headquarters as he assesses the state of his country’s forces in Ukraine as the war drags on toward winter. It was Putin’s second public visit to the headquarters in less than a month. He was accompanied by Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and

By PAN PYLAS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — The British economy flatlined in the third quarter of the year. The Office for National Statistics said Friday that growth in the July to September period was zero compared to the previous three months. Despite the uninspiring figure, the quarterly outcome was slightly ahead of analysts’ expectations

By RAF CASERT Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union institutions and conservationists have given a conditional and guarded welcome to a major plan to better protect nature and fight climate change in the 27-nation bloc. The plan is a key part of the EU’s vaunted European Green Deal that seeks to establish the world’s

MANILA (AP) — Chinese and Philippine vessels have engaged in a new confrontation in the South China Sea, with Manila charging that a Chinese coast guard ship and accompanying vessels conducted dangerous maneuvers and blasted a Philippine supply ship with a water cannon in disputed waters. China responded that it acted appropriately under maritime law

By NICK PERRY Associated Press WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Australia is offering the island nation of Tuvalu a lifeline to help residents escape the rising seas and increased storms that climate change is bringing. At a meeting of Pacific leaders Friday in the Cook Islands, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced a plan that