AP-National

By SYLVIA HUI Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Northern Ireland’s top police officer has resigned following a series of controversies that plagued the police force, including what he described as an “industrial scale” data breach. The Northern Ireland Policing Board confirmed that Simon Byrne has resigned as chief constable. Byrne has faced growing pressure to

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) — Pope Francis insisted Monday that the Vatican’s relations with China were going well but said work must still be done to show Beijing that the Catholic Church isn’t beholden to a foreign power. Francis spoke about the Holy See’s dealings with China during a

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) — Pope Francis defended the decision to keep the discussions of a big Vatican meeting on the future of the Catholic Church behind closed doors, saying Monday the three-week conference was a religious moment for the church and “not a television program” that was open

BEIRUT (AP) — Hundreds of angry protesters in southern Syrian have destroyed the statue of the country’s late president as they marked the 2015 assassination of a prominent anti-government Druze leader. The protests in the province of Sweida, where the Druze community represents the majority of the population, entered their third week on Monday. They

By FARAI MUTSAKA Associated Press HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa says last month’s elections are a sign of the country’s “mature democracy.” He was speaking at his inauguration. Mnangagwa won disputed polls held on Aug. 26. Both Western and African observers questioned the credibility of the vote, citing an atmosphere of intimidation

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — British lawmakers have headed back to Parliament after their summer break but thousands of U.K. children won’t be returning to their classrooms this week. Their schools are at risk of collapse from crumbling concrete. The government told more than 150 schools last week to shut some or

By LORNE COOK Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Commission says it’s weighing whether to adjust rules on protecting wolves as a resurgence in the canine numbers has triggered growing tensions with farmers concerned about their livestock. Monday’s announcement came almost exactly a year to the day after a wolf killed a pony belonging

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve has reached a delicate stage in its fight against inflation. Its policymakers have raised their key interest rate to its highest level in 22 years. They’re trying to slow borrowing and spending and cool inflation pressures. They now are considering whether to raise

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Copenhagen’s mayor has urged foreigners not to buy weed in the city’s Christiania neighborhood where a 30-year-old man was shot and killed and four others injured two weeks ago due to gang turf wars fighting over the marijuana trade in the area. The Aug. 26 killing was the latest in a

By HANNA ARHIROVA and YURAS KARMANAU Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov submitted a letter of resignation on Monday after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would be replaced and named his successor. Oleksii Reznikov’s removal follows a scandal around the defense ministry’s procurement of military jackets. It was not the

MOSCOW (AP) — Authorities in Russia have arrested a mathematician on terrorism charges after he completed a prison sentence. Russian media outlets reported that Azat Miftakhov was detained minutes after his release from a penal colony on Monday. His lawyer told state news agency Tass that Miftakhov was charged with justifying terrorism and refused to

By MIKE CORDER Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A new report says the Dutch government spends some 37.5 billion euros — about $40.5 billion — a year in subsidies to industries that use fossil fuels. The report was published on Monday by an investigative reporting platform and two groups lobbying for a transition

PARIS (AP) — The team’s participating in the Rugby World Cup have arrived in villages, towns and cities across France and are finalizing their preparations for the tournament. France plays the opening match of the tournament against New Zealand at the Stade de France outside Paris on Friday. The event is being held in France

By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH Associated Press The fate of the mounted lion, bears, gorilla and other animals that have long greeted visitors entering a Sioux Falls zoo looks grim. After finding arsenic in nearly 80 percent of the more than 150 animals that make up the collection, the city closed the museum at the Great Plains

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — The majority party that dominates the parliament in Georgia has launched a campaign to impeach the country’s president though the effort appears unlikely to succeed. The Georgian Dream party, which is increasingly at odds with President Salome Zourabichvili despite endorsing her election in 2018, announced the effort last week. It said

By GRANT PECK Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — A drone attack on a police headquarters in eastern Myanmar has killed at least five officials including a senior army officer and a district administrator. The attack on Sunday evening is believed to be the deadliest aerial bombing targeting high-ranking security and administrative officials since armed resistance

By KARL RITTER and JAN M. OLSEN Associated Press STOCKHOLM (AP) — Sweden says a Swedish citizen in his 30s was arbitrarily detained in Iran last year. The Swedish government didn’t name the man, but the New York Times identified him as Johan Floderus, a Swede who had been working for the European Union’s diplomatic

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has announced a $141 million emergency fund to help exporters hit by a ban on Japanese seafood imposed by China in response to the release of treated radioactive wastewater from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant. The discharge of the wastewater into

By REBECCA SANTANA Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — When Congress returns this week, Homeland Security officials and those in the chemical industries will be watching to see if a program regulating the chemical sector will be on its agenda. The Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards program lets Homeland Security officials regulate security at high-risk chemical facilities.

By SAM MEDNICK and YVES LAURENT GOMA Associated Press LIBREVILLE, Gabon (AP) — Gabon ‘s new military leader was sworn in as the head of state Monday less than a week after ousting the president whose family had ruled the Central African nation for more than five decades. Gen. Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, took the