AP National News

By FRANCES D’EMILIO Associated Press ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has followed his doctors’ advice and skipped his customary Sunday noon public blessing as he convalesces from abdominal surgery. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said in a statement that the pope followed Mass on television in the morning, then prayed the noon prayer privately in a

By PETER SMITH Associated Press LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The robed choir performed a rousing missionary chorus, the worshippers sang from the Baptist Hymnal, and the pastor preached on the need to listen to God before inviting people to come forward and profess faith in Jesus. If there was ever a blueprint for a traditional

HOUSTON (AP) — Police in Houston say six people were shot and injured after someone opened fire in a crowded parking lot outside of a club in Houston early Sunday. Police Chief Troy Finner says officers found six people shot following a disturbance inside the club that spilled out into the parking lot. Finner said

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS and SARA BURNETT Associated Press GRENADA, Miss. (AP) — Conservative Mississippi is tough territory for Democrats, but the party sees an unusual opportunity this year to unseat first-term Republican Gov. Tate Reeves. They’re pinning hopes in November on a candidate with a legendary last name who has used his own compelling

By LEA SKENE Associated Press BALTIMORE (AP) — Anthony Kelly trudged through southwest Baltimore, each labored footstep a reminder of the roofing accident that left him with chronic pain and a raging opioid addiction several years after he returned home from serving in the Marines. Doctors used metal plates to reconstruct his lower legs and

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Taliban is criticizing a U.N. report that highlighted discord and strife within their ranks. The group, on Sunday, called the report “baseless and biased”. The last seven months have seen a greater shift of power and policy-making from the capital Kabul to the southern city of Kandahar, a Taliban heartland and

By BOUAZZA BEN BOUAZZA and ANGELA CHARLTON Associated Press TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Tunisia’s president is hosting the leaders of Italy, the Netherlands and the European Union for talks aimed at smoothing the way for an international bailout. The European leaders want to restore stability to a country that has become a major source of

By COREY WILLIAMS Associated Press DETROIT (AP) — The looming smokestack of a shuttered trash incinerator whose stench sickened and angered Detroit residents for decades has come down in a rumbling controlled implosion. Reducing the smokestack to rubble Sunday is almost the final phase in the facility’s yearlong demolition, which the city says should be

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA Associated Press BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s security media office says Islamic State group militants have attacked an Iraqi army position in the northern governorate of Kirkuk, killing two military officers and wounding three soldiers. The statement on Sunday said militants belonging to the extremist group late Saturday targeted a military position in

PARIS (AP) — Crowds of well-wishers gathered Sunday in the French Alps town of Annecy to show solidarity with victims of a playground stabbing attack that left four young children and two adults hospitalized. Annecy Mayor Francois Astorg called for a “citizens’ gathering’’ in the lakeside park where a man with a knife raced around

By PREDRAG MILIC Associated Press PODGORICA, Montenegro (AP) — Montenegro is holding an early parliamentary election that could put an end to deep political divisions and years of instability that have hampered the small NATO-member country on its route to joining the European Union. Some 542,000 voters were eligible to choose among 15 parties and

By JUSTIN SPIKE Associated Press BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — After a rocket attack in eastern Ukraine, half of Rambo’s face was mangled and bloody. Shrapnel had ravaged the right side of his head, and it was uncertain if he would survive. The 3-year-old German shepherd, who had accompanied Ukrainian soldiers on the front lines of

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan’s army says militants attacked a security checkpoint in the country’s northwest, along the border with Afghanistan, triggering a shootout that left three soldiers and three militants dead. Four militants were also wounded. The overnight shootout early Saturday took place in a tribal area of North Waziristan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province,