AP National News

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Animal rights groups have welcomed the South Korean president’s offer to look into banning consumption of dog meat. Eating dog meat is neither legal nor explicitly banned in South Korea. Restaurants that serve it are a dwindling business as younger people find it less appetizing, but some people oppose a

By SALLY HO Associated Press More than a year after Black Lives Matter protests launched a worldwide reckoning about the centuries of racism that Black people continue to face, reparations emerged — unevenly — as a high-profile issue at this year’s largest gathering of world leaders. To address slavery and colonialism, officials from South Africa,

By DAVID KLEPPER Associated Press Days before Germany’s federal elections, Facebook removed a network of accounts that it said had spread COVID-19 misinformation and encouraged violent responses to COVID restrictions. The network was linked to the Querdenken movement, a loose coalition of German vaccine and mask opponents, conspiracy theorists and some far-right extremists. A review

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A strong aftershock with a preliminary magnitude of 5.3 has struck the southern Greek island of Crete, a day after a prolonged earthquake there left one man dead and injured several people. The Athens Geodynamic Institute said Tuesday morning’s aftershock, the strongest of dozens that have been rattling the island, had

BEIJING (AP) — China’s top diplomat has held a virtual meeting with NATO’s chief to discuss the situation in Afghanistan, amid longstanding disagreements between Beijing and the U.S.-led alliance over regional policies. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Tuesday the discussions had been “positive and constructive”. Foreign Minister Wang Yi and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg

By STEPHEN McGRATH Associated Press BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — The vaccination situation in Europe is a story of two regions. In some European Union countries like France, Spain, Denmark and Portugal, high acceptance of the benefits of vaccines has prompted many to get the shots and has allowed those governments to lift restrictions. Not so

By JON GAMBRELL Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Dubai’s Expo 2020 opens this week, after being delayed for a year over the coronavirus pandemic. It will put this city-state all-in on its bet of billions of dollars that the world’s fair will boost its economy. The sheikhdom built what feels like an

By KATHY GANNON Associated Press KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban are trying to figure out, now that they are back in power in Afghanistan, how to handle some of the country’s most vulnerable women — those in shelters. Over the past 20 years, activists created dozens of shelters around Afghanistan for women fleeing abusive

By DEEPTI HAJELA Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Accusers and others demanding accountability for R&B superstar R. Kelly over allegations that he was abusing young women and girls for decades say it took so long to get to a guilty verdict in part because his targets were Black. Kelly was convicted Monday in his

By SARAH RANKIN Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Democrat Terry McAuliffe and Republican Glenn Youngkin are set to meet for the second and final debate in Virginia’s closely watched gubernatorial election. Tuesday’s night’s hourlong debate will be held at a northern Virginia community college and carried live by NBC television stations across the state.

By RONALD BLUM Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — “Fire Shut Up in My Bones” became the first work by a Black composer in the 138-year history of the Metropolitan Opera as the company presented its first staged performance since March 2020 following a gap caused by the coronavirus. Composer Terence Blanchard, librettist Kasi Lemmons

By KATE BRUMBACK Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — A man already sentenced to life in prison for killing four people at a massage business outside Atlanta is set to enter a plea to shooting four others at two massage centers inside the city. Robert Aaron Long is scheduled to appear Tuesday in Fulton County Superior

By BRIAN WITTE Associated Press ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — A man who killed five people at a Maryland newspaper more than three years ago is scheduled to be sentenced for the crimes. Prosecutors are seeking five life terms in prison without the possibility of parole for Jarrod Ramos at Tuesday’s sentencing hearing. Anne Arundel County

BEIJING (AP) — The World Bank has cut its economic growth forecast for developing countries in East Asia due to the impact of the coronavirus’s delta variant. In a report Tuesday, it called on governments to help the poor and small businesses avoid long-term damage. The Washington-based lender said excluding China’s unexpectedly strong growth, developing

By JEFFREY COLLINS Associated Press HAMPTON, S.C. (AP) — The influential Murdaugh family is at the center of an unfolding drama in the tiny South Carolina town of Hampton. For a century, the Murdaughs have quietly steered much of the legal world in this corner of the state, by running the prosecutor’s office and a

By ROBERT BURNS and LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Top Pentagon leaders are set to appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee amid sharp criticism of the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan and the failure to anticipate the Taliban’s rapid takeover of the country. Tuesday’s hearing will be their first public testimony on

By JUAN A. LOZANO Associated Press HOUSTON (AP) — A Texas inmate is facing execution for fatally stabbing two Houston-area brothers during a robbery in their home more than 30 years ago. Rick Rhoades was condemned for the September 1991 killings of 31-year-old Charles Allen and 33-year-old Bradley Allen. The brothers were killed less than

By SOPHIA TAREEN Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — Barack and Michelle Obama are expected to attend a celebratory groundbreaking on Chicago’s South Side for the Obama Presidential Center. Tuesday’s event follows years of legal battles, concerns about gentrification and a federal review. Construction officially began last month in Jackson Park along Lake Michigan. Barack Obama

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s governing party chooses a new leader on Wednesday to succeed outgoing Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. They’ll have to turn around the country’s pandemic-hit economy, shape a newly empowered military and face security headaches in the region amid China’s rise. Four candidates are vying to become leader