AP National News

By CARLEY PETESCH Associated Press DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The United States representative to the United Nations stressed the importance of Mali’s return to civilian rule through democratic elections in February after she visited the West African nation as part of a U.N. Security Council mission. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield spoke to reporters online Friday from

BEIRUT (AP) — A Lebanese legislator who was targeted by U.S. sanctions has denied accusations that he smuggled tens of millions of dollars out of his crisis-hit country. Jamil el-Sayyed, a former security chief and a current member of parliament, challenged his accusers to reveal the name of a government official whom they said helped

By WASBIR HUSSAIN and SHEIKH SAALIQ Associated Press GAUHATI, India (AP) — Tensions are high in parts of India’s northeastern Tripura state after a string of attacks against minority Muslims seen as retaliation for the violence against Hindus in neighboring Bangladesh earlier this month. On Friday, state authorities deployed police and paramilitary troops and banned

By CLAUDIA LAUER Associated Press PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Members of Philadelphia’s largest transit workers union have reached a tentative contract agreement. The agreement averts a possible strike that threatened to bring elevated trains, buses and trolleys to a halt. That would have left thousands of children and educators without a way to get to school

By NICOLE WINFIELD and TONG-HYUNG KIM Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — South Korean President Moon Jae-in has given Pope Francis a statue of a cross made with barbed wire from the demilitarized zone separating the Koreas. The South Korean leader, who is Catholic, told the pontiff Friday that a papal visit to the North

By MIKE CORDER Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A Dutch data protection watchdog has issued a damning report on the country’s tax office, saying it breached the country’s privacy law for years by keeping a list of potential fraudsters. It was another blow for the scandal-plagued Dutch tax office that is embroiled in

BERLIN (AP) — German broadcaster Deutsche Welle says its online service and several other news portals have been blocked by Belarus. DW said Friday that Belarus authorities stated on the website of the country’s Ministry of Information that access to several news portals had been restriction because they allegedly linked to websites spreading extremist material.

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Massive amounts of volcanic pumice pebbles spewed from an undersea volcano in the Pacific Ocean have been piling up on southern Japanese coasts, damaging ports and fishing boats, and prompting the central government to establish a task force to deal with the unwanted arrivals as a natural

GENEVA (AP) — The World Health Organization says its director-general is running unopposed for a second five-year term. The U.N. health agency made the announcement Friday after the deadline for candidacies for the next five-year term expired on Sept. 23. The formal selection of the next director-general takes place at the WHO’s next assembly in

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel says it hopes to reach zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, after previously acknowledging it would fall short of the international community’s goal. Thousands of protesters gathered in Tel Aviv to demand action ahead of next week’s U.N. summit on climate change. As a small country, Israel contributes little to global

BEIJING (AP) — China’s internet regulator plans to require companies to obtain government approval to transfer data deemed important abroad. Rules announced by the Cyberspace Administration of China would tighten Beijing’s control over information and might disrupt operations for international corporations. The agency said the measure is needed to “safeguard national security.” President Xi Jinping’s

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek authorities say they are investigating an incident off the coast of Crete, following reports in the local news media that a cargo ship carrying a large number of migrants was stranded in bad weather. An official from the Merchant Marine Ministry said Friday that the coast guard was monitoring an

By DANICA KIRKA Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Britain’s environment minister has pledged to retaliate if France carries through on threats to block U.K. ships from French ports. He warned Friday that “two can play at that game’’ in the worsening dispute rooted in Britain’s departure from the European Union. Britain summoned the French ambassador

By JOSH BOAK, ZEKE MILLER and NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — President Joe Biden and Pope Francis are meeting at the Vatican. The world’s two most notable Roman Catholics plan to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and poverty during their session on Friday. Biden arrived at the Vatican with his wife,

BEIJING (AP) — More than 2,000 tourists visiting China’s Inner Mongolia region have been sent to hotels to undergo two weeks of quarantine. The move follows reports of an outbreak of COVID-19 in the vast, lightly populated region that attracts visitors with its mountains, lakes and grasslands. An announcement from the regional government on Friday

BEIJING (AP) — A newspaper reports a troubled Chinese developer whose struggle to avoid a multibillion-dollar debt default has rattled global financial markets made an overdue $45.2 million payment on a bond one day before it would have been declared in default. The South China Morning Post says Evergrande Group made the payment on a

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — Russia has recorded another record of daily coronavirus deaths even as authorities hope to stem contagion by keeping most people off work. The government’s coronavirus task force on Friday reported 1,163 deaths in 24 hours, the largest daily number since the pandemic began. It brought the total

By DAVID McHUGH and JOSH BOAK Associated Press ROME (AP) — The global economy is giving leaders of the Group of 20 countries a lot to talk about at their summit this weekend in Rome. The presidents and prime ministers representing 80% of the global economy will confront a recovery hampered by an energy crunch

By PAN PYLAS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Protesters are gathering in the heart of London’s historic financial district to lobby against the use of fossil fuels in the run-up to the start of the U.N. climate summit in the Scottish city of Glasgow. The protests Friday are part of a worldwide day of action

By ILAN BEN ZION and LLAZAR SEMINI Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — For years, Zebulon Simentov branded himself as the “last Jew of Afghanistan,” the sole remnant of a centuries-old community. He left the country last month for Istanbul after the Taliban seized power, but now it seems he wasn’t the last one. His distant