AP-National

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s executive arm is blocking leading U.S. online travel agency Booking from acquiring Sweden’s flight booking provider Etraveli Group. The European Commisson says the deal would have allowed Booking to increase its dominant position on the market on the continent. The Commission said Monday it had warned Booking Holdings about

By DAVID McHUGH AP Business Writer FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Oil prices have risen, meaning drivers are paying more for gasoline and truckers and farmers more for diesel. The increase also complicates the global fight against inflation and feeds Russia’s war chest. That poses problems for politicians as well as the people having to spend

By ANDREW DAMPF AP Sports Writer GUIDONIA MONTECELIO, Italy (AP) — First came the castle. Then the golf course. The nearly 300,000 fans due to descend on the Marco Simone club for the Ryder Cup this week will be able to see the 11th-century castle with the same name from various points of the course.

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Last year’s spike in inflation, to the highest level in four decades, was painful enough for American households. Yet the cure — much higher interest rates, to cool spending and hiring — was expected to bring even more pain. Grim forecasts from economists had predicted that

By KANIS LEUNG Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — The chairman of Hong Kong’s leading journalist group received a five-day jail term after he was found guilty of obstructing a police officer on Monday in a court case that sparked concerns about the city’s declining press freedom. Ronson Chan, chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists

By GEIR MOULSON Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — A top German bishop says a scandal centering on sexual abuse allegations against a long-deceased cardinal has created a “very difficult situation” for the troubled Catholic Church in Germany. He spoke hours after a statue of the late cleric was removed from its perch outside Essen Cathedral

By FLORENT BAJRAMI and LLAZAR SEMINI Associated Press PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Kosovo is observing a day of mourning for the Kosovar Albanian police officer killed by Serb gunmen in the north of the country in one of the worst confrontations since it declared independence from Serbia in 2008. About 30 masked men in combat

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A senior Australian public servant has stepped aside while an investigation is underway into allegations that he sent encrypted messages to undermine some ministers and promote others to further his own career. Michael Pezzullo has been secretary of the Department of Home Affairs since it was

By JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — Top Thai officials have welcomed hundreds of Chinese tourists at Bangkok’s international airport on the first day of a new visa-free entry program that officials say will boost tourism. Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin handed out gifts and posed for pictures Monday as his tourism minister and other

By JIM GOMEZ Associated Press MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine coast guard says it has complied with a presidential order to remove a floating barrier placed by China’s coast guard to prevent Filipino fishing boats from entering a lagoon in a disputed shoal in the South China Sea. Philippine officials on Monday condemned the

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s foreign minister is accusing Germany of trying to interfere in his country’s internal affairs. He made the accusation after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Warsaw needs to clarify allegations that Polish consulates in Africa and Asia issued visas to migrants in exchange for bribes. Poland’s right-wing ruling party is facing

By FRANCES D’EMILIO and ANDREA ROSA Associated Press L’AQUILA, Italy (AP) — Matteo Messina Denaro, a convicted mastermind of some of the Sicilian Mafia’s most heinous slayings, died on Monday in a hospital prison ward, several months after being captured as Italy’s No. 1 fugitive and following decades on the run, Italian prosecutors said. Rai

By TAMMY WEBBER and LINLEY SANDERS Associated Press Kathleen Maxwell has lived in Phoenix for more than 20 years, but this summer was the first time she felt fear, as daily high temperatures soared to 110 degrees or hotter and kept it up for a record-shattering 31 consecutive days. “It’s always been really hot here,

By KEN MORITSUGU Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — The European Union’s trade commissioner has called for a more balanced relationship with China, noting an EU trade deficit of nearly 400 billion euros ($425 billion). He also warned in a speech on Monday to a university audience in Beijing that China’s position on the war in

By MUNIR AHMED Associated Press ISLAMABAD (AP) — A prominent Pakistani television journalist who went missing more than four months ago after being arrested by police has returned home after being freed by his unidentified captors. It is widely believed that Imran Riaz Khan, known for publicly supporting jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, was

By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH Associated Press INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) — It’s a Monday in September, but with schools closed, the three children in the Pruente household have nowhere to be. Callahan, 13, contorts herself into a backbend as 7-year-old Hudson fiddles with a balloon and 10-year-old Keegan plays the piano. Like a growing number of students

In a story published September 25, 2023, about ancient human DNA, The Associated Press erroneously reported the estimated number of Neanderthals that ever lived. Most scientists believe it was far more than 100,000, not 100,000.

By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER Associated Press LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — The first of thousands of residents who lost their homes in the wildfire that destroyed the Hawaii town of Lahaina returned to their devastated properties Monday, with some stopping for a moment of reflection and others searching for mementos among the ruins. “They’re very appreciative

By SAMYA KULLAB Associated Press LUHANSK REGION, Ukraine (AP) — The Ukrainian government wants to spend more than $1 billion to build an army of drones. Drones are cost-effective when compared with conventional weapons, and put fewer lives at risk as a grueling counteroffensive grinds on. Drones are also more precise than traditional artillery —

By MORGAN LEE Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Jury selection has begun in the trial of several members of an extended family who face trial on kidnapping and terrorism charges linked to a law enforcement raid on their squalid New Mexico encampment in 2018. Authorities at the time were seeking a missing, sickly 3-year-old