AP National News

By RAHIM FAIEZ Associated Press ISLAMABAD (AP) — A leading international rights group is appealing for the U.N. Human Rights Council to address the ongoing “relentless abuses” by Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers. The Taliban have imposed sweeping restrictions on women and freedom of speech since they seized power in August 2021 as U.S. and NATO troops

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A flight to Florida from Cuba was forced to turn back Sunday after it struck birds that caused an engine to catch fire and filled the cabin with smoke. WSVN-TV reports a Southwest Airlines flight from José Martí international Airport in Havana to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport Sunday afternoon returned

By ANGELA CHARLTON and SYLVIE CORBET Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Unions are threatening to shut down France’s economy this week in what they hope is their toughest riposte yet to President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to raise the retirement age. The first actions are expected Monday as truckers are being urged to block major highway

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) — Shares were mostly higher Monday in Europe and Asia after strong data on the U.S. economy sent Wall Street to its best close in six weeks. Germany’s DAX gained 0.4% to 15,644.08 and the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.7% at 7,397.31. London’s FTSE 100

By JARI TANNER Associated Press TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Estonia’s center-right Prime Minister Kaja Kallas has won reelection. Kallas is one of Europe’s most outspoken supporters of Ukraine. Her Reform Party overwhelmingly won the Baltic country’s general election on Sunday. A far-right populist challenger lost seats in vote that focused on national security and the

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine transport groups have launched a nationwide strike to protest a government program that drivers fear would phase out iconic jeepneys and other aging public transport vehicles. Officials deployed government vehicles to carry stranded passengers. Other groups refused on Monday to join the weeklong strike against the government transport modernization program

By KIM TONG-HYUNG and HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea took a step toward improving ties with historical rival Japan by announcing a plan Monday to raise domestic funds and avoid Japanese money to compensate Koreans who are still waiting to receive damages for slave labor during Tokyo’s 35-year colonial

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s supreme leader said Monday that if a series of suspected poisonings at girls’ schools are proven to be deliberate the culprits should be sentenced to death for committing an “unforgivable crime.” It was the first time Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all

By MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — Growing up in New England, Leah Ofsevit’s most cherished childhood memories were blanketed in snow. She remembers running barefoot outside with her brother at the first sign of it, building snowmen and ice castles most winters, strapping on skis as a toddler. Ofsevit and her husband, Jeremy

By MUNIR AHMED Associated Press ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s media regulator has banned broadcasts of former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s speeches as police arrived at one of his homes to deliver another court summons for the ousted premier. The development is the latest in a political tug of war between the former cricket star turned

By JOHN HANNA AP Political Writer TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators are considering a proposal that many disability rights advocates say could help employers who pay disabled workers less than the minimum wage, bucking a national trend. A Kansas House bill would expand a state income tax credit for goods and services purchased from

By SAMYA KULLAB Associated Press IZIUM, Ukraine (AP) — In this war-scarred city in Ukraine’s northeast, residents scrutinize every step for land mines. Behind closed doors, survivors wait in agony for the bodies of loved ones to be identified. The hunt for collaborators of the not-so-long ago Russian occupation poisons tightly-knit communities. This is life

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani officials say a suicide bomber riding on a motorcycle targeted a police truck in the restive southwestern Baluchistan province, killing at least nine policemen and wounding 13 officers. The bombing took place on a bridge in the district of Sibi. A local police chief says the officers were on a

By NICK PERRY Associated Press WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Georgina Beyer, a trailblazing New Zealand politician who in 1999 became the world’s first openly transgender member of Parliament, died Monday at the age of 65. Friends of Beyer said she died peacefully in hospice care. They did not immediately give a cause of death,

MUMBAI, India (AP) — Amitabh Bachchan says he’s recovering at home from a injury suffered while shooting a film in southern India. The 80-year-old Bollywood superstar posted on his blog that he sustained a rib injury while working in Hyderabad on the science fiction film “Project K.” Bachchan wrote that he has a damaged rib

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — Chinese economic officials have expressed confidence they can meet this year’s growth target of “around 5%” by generating 12 million new jobs and encouraging consumer spending. The Cabinet planning officials announced no details of spending or other initiatives to revive growth that slumped to 3% last

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) — Shares were mostly higher Monday in Asia after strong data on the U.S. economy sent Wall Street to its best close in six weeks. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.4% to 20,642.89 and the Shanghai Composite index lost 0.3% to 3,318.56. At the annual session