AP National News

NEW DELHI (AP) — The 7-Eleven empire is coming to India. India’s Reliance Retail Ventures says it has set a franchise agreement with 7-Eleven, Inc., to launch convenience stores in the second most populous nation. Reliance said Thursday that the stores will first be launched in the financial hub of Mumbai. The announcement came just

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Police say assailants have fatally shot two schoolteachers in Indian-controlled Kashmir in a sudden rise in targeted killings of civilians in the disputed region. Authorities blamed militants fighting against Indian rule for the attack in the outskirts of Srinagar, the region’s main city. Police say militants fired at a female teacher

By AYA BATRAWY Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A court in Saudi Arabia has upheld a 20-year prison term imposed on a Saudi aid worker who had criticized the government on Twitter. The decision drew a rare public rebuke from the U.S. in another sign of tensions between the Biden administration and

By BOUBACAR DIALLO Associated Press CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — The military leader of Guinea has announced that senior international civil servant Mohamed Beavogui will serve as prime minister in a government that is transitioning the West African nation to civilian rule after last month’s coup. Col. Mamady Doumbouya, who was sworn in as interim president

STOCKHOLM (AP) — The 2021 Nobel Prize for literature is being announced Thursday, an award that has in the past honored laureates in the fields of poetry, fiction and songwriting. The Swedish Academy will announce the recipient at about 1100 GMT. Last year’s prize went to American poet Louise Glück for what the judges described

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has described social media as a “coward’s palace” and warns that digital platforms such as Facebook should be held liable for defamatory comments posted anonymously. Anonymous commentators who use social media to vilify and bully have become the latest battleground between

By KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean court has ruled that the military unlawfully discriminated against the country’s first known transgender soldier by discharging her for undergoing gender reassignment surgery, in a landmark verdict that came seven months after she was found dead at her home. Activist groups welcomed

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq has signed a contract with a United Arab Emirates-based renewable energy developer to build five solar power plants in the oil-rich country with a chronic energy problem.  The signing took place in Baghdad Wednesday between Iraqi officials and the chief executive officer of Masdar, in the presence of Iraqi Prime Minister

BERLIN (AP) — A 100-year-old man is going on trial in Germany, accused of being an accessory to murder for serving as a Nazi SS guard at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp near Berlin during World War II. The trial of the defendant, who is charged with 3,518 counts of accessory to murder, is being held

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s foreign ministry says that Germany and Denmark have brought home 11 women and 37 children from a camp in northeastern Syria where suspected Islamic State members have been held. Germany repatriated 23 children and their eight mothers from the Roj camp on Wednesday evening, while Denmark brought home 14 children and

By JOVANA GEC Associated Press BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbian human rights lawyer Nikola Kovacevic is this year’s winner of a prestigious U.N. Refugee Agency award in Europe. The 32-year-old human rights activist says the struggle for the rights of refugees and asylum-seekers has become even more important in the face of mounting anti-migrant sentiment

By SAMYA KULLAB, MSTYSLAV CHERNOV and FELIPE DANA Associated Press KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers have their sights on stamping out widespread drug addiction in the country, even if by force. Fighters raided a drug den under a bridge in Kabul on a recent evening, beating addicts. The addicts were then forcibly

By NICK PERRY Associated Press WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Every week or so, tens of thousands of New Zealanders play a lottery in their desperation to come home. Their prize is one of the coveted beds in quarantine hotels. New Zealand’s government requires everyone — vaccinated or not — to stay 14 days in

LUCKNOW, India (AP) — Twelve people have died in northern India after the bus they were on swerved off the road and hit a truck. Police say the bus driver veered off track to avoid hitting stray cattle on the road. The accident southwest of Lucknow city left 32 of the total 60 passengers onboard

By JEFFREY COLLINS Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — An executive who lied to regulators about two South Carolina nuclear plants that never generated a watt of power is being sentenced. Former SCANA Corp. CEO Kevin Marsh has agreed with prosecutors that he should spend two years in prison. He goes Thursday before a federal

By HUIZHONG WU Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A group of French senators visiting Taiwan as part of a regular parliamentary exchange met with President Tsai Ing-wen during a trip that comes in a particularly tense moment between China and the self-ruled island. Tsai gave Sen. Alain Richard an official distinction recognizing his contributions

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The criminal case against a man accused of killing four people at a Tennessee Waffle House in 2018 is returning to court. A hearing is planned Thursday in Nashville in the case against Travis Reinking, who faces four murder counts among other charges. He pleaded not guilty in February 2019. Authorities

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong authorities say they have made their largest smuggling bust, seizing goods including endangered species worth an estimated $26.9 million. The government says the smuggling ring operated using speedboats and four trucks were also impounded in the raid. A 34-year-old man was arrested in the operation that began in June.

By PHILIP MARCELO and DAVID PORTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Transit officials and experts say this summer’s storms were the latest reminders that more needs to be done to prepare the East Coast’s vital transit systems in the face of more extreme and unpredictable weather caused by climate change. The head of New

By AUDREY McAVOY Associated Press HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii is forming a task force to study the issue of missing and murdered Native Hawaiian women and girls. The state House created the panel, which aims to gather data and identify the reasons behind the problem. Few figures currently exist, but those that do suggest Native