AP National News

By ISABEL DEBRE Associated Press DOHA, Qatar (AP) — To 27-year-old Mariam, the World Cup match ticket was a precious gift. A sports fanatic, she traveled to the World Cup in Qatar from Tehran to catch Iran’s opening game Monday against England, her first live soccer match. Women are banned from attending men’s matches in

By STEPHEN WADE AP Sports Writer DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Problems with FIFA’s mobile application for World Cup tickets caused hundreds of fans to miss the start of England’s match against Iran on Monday. Fans said their tickets had disappeared from their phone apps and lines began to form outside the Khalifa International Stadium about

By GRAHAM DUNBAR AP Sports Writer DOHA, Qatar (AP) — FIFA’s threat of on-field punishment for players forced World Cup teams to back down Monday and abandon a plan for their captains to wear armbands that were seen as a rebuke to host nation Qatar’s human rights record. Just hours before the first players wearing

By MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press BADLANDS NATIONAL PARK, S.D. (AP) — Perched atop a fence at Badlands National Park, Troy Heinert peered from beneath his wide-brimmed hat into a corral where 100 wild bison awaited transfer to the Rosebud Indian Reservation. Descendants of bison that once roamed North America’s Great Plains by the tens of

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s budget shows the economy is expected to grow by 1.8% next year, slightly lower than the figures predicted last month as higher energy costs and inflation take a toll. The final 2023 budget submitted to parliament on Monday is the first Greece has posted in 12 years that is free

By NINIEK KARMINI Associated Press JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin has met his Indonesian counterpart to push stronger defense ties amid growing Chinese naval activity in the Indo-Pacific region. Austin says he and Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto discussed ways to deepen the two countries’ partnership, including through expanding interoperability

By JUSTIN SPIKE Associated Press BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary’s top diplomat has traveled to Russia to take part in an international forum on nuclear energy. The Monday visit underscored Hungary’s persistently close ties with Moscow amid the war in Ukraine. Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto gave a speech at the opening plenary session of the

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Germany’s defense minister says the country has offered Eurofighters and Patriot defense systems to Poland to help it defend its airspace. In comments published in German newspapers Monday, she said that “we have to position ourselves in the alliance even better in terms of air defense,” and that that goes particularly

By LIZ WESTON of NerdWallet Extended time off from work doesn’t have to wait until retirement. Your career break may be aspirational, or it may be prompted by life events. Whatever the purpose, careful planning before you take the break can help make it more successful and fulfilling. Start by reviewing your finances and getting

By JOHN LEICESTER Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian authorities have started evacuating civilians from the recently-liberated areas of the Kherson region and the neighboring province of Mykolaiv, fearing that damage to the infrastructure is too severe for people to endure the upcoming winter, officials said Monday. Residents of the two southern regions, regularly

By FIRMAN TAUFIQ and EDNA TARIGAN Associated Press CIANJUR, Indonesia (AP) — A strong, shallow earthquake toppled buildings and collapsed walls on Indonesia’s densely populated main island of Java on Monday, killing at least 56 and injuring hundreds as people rushed into the streets, some covered in blood and white debris. Emergency workers were treating

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — The head of Japan’s nuclear watchdog says regulators are considering revising a safety evaluation system to allow aging reactors to operate beyond the current 60-year limit, but that the move is aimed at preventing safety lapses and is not motivated by government efforts to increase use of

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A defense lawyer says a top court in Pakistan has ordered the release of a man on completion of his jail term in connection with the 2003 assassination attempt on former President Pervez Musharraf’s convoy. The country’s Supreme Court on Monday ordered Rana Tanveer, sentenced to 14 years in jail in 2005

By SUZAN FRASER Associated Press ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish officials say suspected Kurdish militants in Syria have fired rockets into a border town in Turkey, killing three people and wounding 10 others. Turkish media reported the rockets struck a high school and two houses Monday in the town of Karkamis, as well as a

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s top diplomat is holding talks with Serbian and Kosovo officials in Brussels. The emergency meeting aims at defusing tensions between the Balkan neighbors amid their dispute over vehicle license plates. The EU’s high representative, Josep Borrell, has separate talks planned with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Albin Kurti, the

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Palestinian Health Ministry says that Israeli forces shot and killed a young man near the occupied West Bank city of Jenin. The ministry said in a statement Monday that the man died of a gunshot wound to the abdomen. Palestinian media identified the man as 18-year-old Mahmoud al-Saadi. The violence was

ASTANA, Kazakhstan (AP) — Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev easily won a new seven-year term in a snap election in which the second biggest choice by voters was to reject all six candidates, the country’s central elections commission said Monday. Tokayev received more than 81% of the votes in Sunday’s election, according to elections commission chairman

By ANGELA CHARLTON and STEPHEN McGRATH Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Diplomats are drumming up money and other support Monday for Europe’s poorest country, Moldova. The former Soviet republic is suffering massive blackouts, heavy refugee flows and potential security threats from the war in neighboring Ukraine. The French Foreign Ministry says Monday’s international aid conference

By ABBY SEWELL and SALAR SALIM Associated Press ERBIL, Iraq (AP) — Iran says its latest strikes on Kurdish opposition bases in northern Iraq were necessary to protect the country’s borders, while Kurdish officials condemned the missile and drone attacks as unprovoked aggression. One of the targeted opposition groups said one member was killed in