AP-National

By ABDUL SATTAR and MUNIR AHMED Associated Press QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Authorities in a Pakistani province are setting targets for police to arrest and deport hundreds of thousands of Afghans they say are in the country illegally. Baluchistan province’s new measure asks authorities to deport 10,000 Afghans a day. It’s part of a nationwide

BERLIN (AP) — German authorities say they have arrested a French woman who allegedly committed war crimes in Syria after joining the Islamic State extremist group. Germany’s federal prosecutor said Thursday the woman, who was only identified as Samra N. in line with German privacy rules, was arrested Tuesday in the western city of Trier.

By MICHAEL PHILLIS and MATTHEW DALY Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Most U.S. cities would have to replace lead water pipes within 10 years under strict new rules proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency as the Biden administration moves to reduce lead in drinking water and prevent public health crises like the ones in Flint,

BERLIN (AP) — Prosecutors say a 15-year-old boy and an alleged accomplice are accused of plotting to blow up a small truck at a Christmas market in western Germany in an attack modeled on the methods of the Islamic State group. The teenager was detained Tuesday and a court on Wednesday ordered him kept in

By JAMEY KEATEN and BASSAM HATOUM Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.N. weather agency said Thursday that 2023 is all but certain to be the hottest year on record, and warning of worrying trends that suggest increasing floods, wildfires, glacier melt, and heat waves in the future. The World Meteorological Organization

By HANNA ARHIROVA Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian officials say Russian missiles tore through apartment buildings in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region during the night. The strikes killed at least two people and buried families under rubble. The officials say the Kremlin’s forces continue to pound the fiercely contested area with long-range weapons. Ukraine’s

By JIWON SONG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Dozens of South Korean dog farmers have scuffled with police during a rally near the presidential office to protest a recent push by authorities to outlaw dog meat consumption. About 200 farmers, restaurant owners and others involved in the dog meat industry participated in Thursday’s

By COURTNEY BONNELL AP Business Writer LONDON (AP) — Europeans are again seeing some relief as inflation dropped to 2.4% in November, the lowest in more than two years. Plummeting energy costs have eased a cost-of-living crisis but higher interest rates are squeezing the economy’s ability to grow. The European Union’s statistics agency said Thursday

By TIA GOLDENBERG Associated Press TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — In the depths of captivity, they formed an unlikely but prized friendship. And reunited in a video call this week, the bond between a recently freed Israeli mother and daughter and a Thai woman who had been held hostage alongside them filled an Israeli hospital

By SYLVIA HUI Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Elton John has urged British lawmakers to do more to fight HIV and AIDS. He says the U.K. can be the first country in the world “to defeat this awful virus.” The British star spoke to dozens of lawmakers and campaigners in the grand Speaker’s House of

By ZIMO ZHONG AP Business Writer HONG KONG (AP) — Asian shares declined on Friday even after Wall Street closed out its best month of the year with big gains in November. U.S. futures rose while oil prices continued to drop despite the latest extension of OPEC’s production cuts. Even with continued cuts to output,

By WAFAA SHURAFA, JACK JEFFERY and MELANIE LIDMAN Associated Press DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Mediators are scrambling to extend an Israel-Hamas truce set to expire just after daybreak Friday. This follows daily exchanges of hostages held by Hamas for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel during a week-long pause in fighting. Virtually all of those

By ZEN SOO AP Business Writer HONG KONG (AP) — An official survey of Chinese manufacturers shows that factory activity contracted for a second straight month in November. That indicates demand remains weak despite various stimulus measures aimed at supporting the economy. The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index fell to 49.4 in November, down slightly

By STEVE PEOPLES AP National Political Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — In an alternate reality, the prime-time showdown between California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday could have been a preview of a 2024 general election debate. Instead, it was a hard-to-explain 90-minute clash that pitted one struggling Republican presidential

By STEVE PEOPLES, THOMAS BEAUMONT and HOLLY RAMER Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley are increasingly outsourcing central parts of their campaigns, drawing on the growing urgency of Donald Trump opponents to find a single alternative to the former president. Struggling to energize

By GARY D. ROBERTSON and HANNAH SCHOENBAUM Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Full Medicaid coverage starts this week for hundreds of thousands of uninsured adults in North Carolina. More than 600,000 people ultimately are expected to qualify, and roughly half will be automatically enrolled starting Friday. North Carolina elected officials agreed this year to

By JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Middle East plays host to its second straight U.N. climate conference over the next two weeks, with countries hoping to agree on new ways to keep the planet from heating too much by the end of the century. Distractions abound, most notably war

By ANITA SNOW Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — The United States is ill-prepared to ensure housing and care for the growing ranks of America’s older people. That’s the conclusion of a new report being released Thursday by Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. Without enough government assistance many older adults will have to forgo

By NANCY BENAC Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Until the bitter end, Henry Kissinger was one of the trusted few in the tight circle of a distrusting President Richard Nixon. That trust, combined with Kissinger’s intellectual heft and deft manipulation of power, made him a pivotal player in a tense period in history. The giant