AP-National

By ASHRAF KHALIL Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Pamela Smith’s voice soared and quivered like a preacher in midsermon as she recalled her troubled childhood and how it helped prepare her for the challenges she faces as the new police chief in the nation’s capital. “I stand before you as a child who had no

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Toshihiro Mutsuda was only 5 years old when he last saw his father, who was drafted by Japan’s Imperial Army in 1943 and killed in action. For him, his father was a bespectacled man in an old family photo standing by a signed good-luck flag that he

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A 9-year-old girl and her 10-year-old brother have been called as witnesses in a criminal case against their mother who is accused of “discrediting” the Russian army. Lidia Prudovskaya and her two children were summoned by investigators in the northern Russian region of Arkhangelsk to give testimony in the case, Russian

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombian police arrested the president’s son Saturday as part of a high-profile money laundering probe into funds he allegedly collected from convicted drug traffickers during last year’s presidential campaign. President Gustavo Petro, a former rebel who rose through Colombia’s political ranks as an anti-corruption crusader, said he wouldn’t interfere with the

By R.J. RICO Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — “Excuse me, are you a city of Atlanta voter? Do you know about ‘Cop City?’” Clipboards in hand, canvassers Sienna Giraldi and Gabriel Sanchez approached shopper after shopper at a Kroger supermarket lot on a recent evening collecting signatures for a referendum over whether to cancel the

BANGKOK (AP) — A large explosion at a fireworks warehouse in southern Thailand has killed at least 10 people and wounded dozens. The local Public Relations Department said that at least 118 people were hurt in the blast on Saturday and that residents of more than 200 households have been affected. About 100 residences in

By HOLLY MEYER Associated Press Compared with the devil, angels carry more credence in America. Angels even get more credence than, well, hell. More than astrology, reincarnation, and the belief that physical things can have spiritual energies. In fact, about 7 in 10 U.S. adults say they believe in angels, according to a new poll

By KRISHAN FRANCIS Associated Press COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi says that Sri Lanka’s strategic location in the Indian Ocean makes it a key partner in realizing a free and open Indo-Pacific. The minister is in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, where he met with President Ranil Wickremesinghe and his

By FRANCES D’EMILIO Associated Press ROME (AP) — The Vatican says Pope Francis will make a two-day trip to Marseille, France, in late September. The announcement on Saturday adds more travel to a flurry of trips the 86-year-old pontiff will be making in the coming weeks. Francis had said that he would go to the

NEW DELHI (AP) — Police say an explosion ripped through a firecracker factory in southern India, killing eight people and wounding several others. There was no immediate word as to what had caused the explosion on Saturday in the district of Krishnagiri in Tamil Nadu state. Authorities told the Press Trust of India news agency

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The United States says it will expand its military industrial base by helping Australia manufacture guided missiles and rockets for both countries within two years. The new cooperation on guided weapon production announced on Saturday follows a trilateral partnership announcement in March that will see Britain

By ABBY SEWELL Associated Press BAGHDAD (AP) — The leader of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group says that if governments of Muslim-majority nations do not act against countries that allow desecration of the Quran, Muslims should “punish” those who facilitate attacks on Islam’s holy book. Hassan Nasrallah called on Muslims to monitor a scheduled meeting of

By BRIAN P. D. HANNON and ROD MCGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Political instability in Niger resulting from a military takeover that deposed the president this week threatens the economic support provided by Washington to the African nation, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Saturday. Members of the Niger military announced on

By MIKE CORDER Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Dutch government says that salvage crews are preparing to tow a car-carrying cargo ship that has been burning for days in the North Sea to a new anchor point after flames and smoke on board subsided. Fire erupted in the Fremantle Highway late Tuesday

SEATTLE (AP) — Five people were wounded in a shooting at a Seattle parking lot during which the police chief said “dozens and dozens of rounds” were fired. There were no immediate arrests, and a police investigation was ongoing. Three people — all in their 20s — remained hospitalized Saturday, though one of them was

By BELA SZANDELSZKY Associated Press BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — In a snug, wood-paneled Jewish bookstore in Hungary’s capital, Eva Redai carefully climbed the rungs of a ladder to arrange titles on the shelves. Among the books were volumes bound in plastic wrapping — titles containing LGBTQ+ content that the country’s right-wing government has deemed unsuitable

By PAOLA FLORES Associated Press HUARINA, Bolivia (AP) — A 70-year-old man’s feet sink into the soil as he passes abandoned boats where there used to be the water of Lake Titicaca. The highest navigable lake in the world has receded to what Bolivian authorities say are critically low levels due to a persistent drought.

By MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — The beginning of the pandemic was devasting for the leader of the indie rock band Black Belt Eagle Scout, Katherine Paul. All her tours were canceled and she feared her music career might be over. She returned to the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community’s homelands in western Washington.