AP National News

LOS LLANOS DE ARIDANE, Canary Islands (AP) — Lava flowing from an erupting volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma has picked up its pace on its way to the sea. Officials say it is now within 800 meters (875 yards) of the shoreline. The island now has two rivers of lava flowing downhill.

ZHUHAI, China (AP) — A military drone whose manufacturer says it can cruise for 20 hours at 15,000 meters (50,000 feet) is among Chinese warplanes, missiles and other weapons technology shown in public for the first time at the country’s biggest air show. An official newspaper said the Chinese space program planned to unveil a

By SYLVIE CORBET Associated Press PARIS (AP) — France and Greece have announced a defense deal worth around 3 billion euros ($3.5 billion) including Athens’ decision to buy three French warships. This is part of a strategy to boost Greek defense capacities in the Eastern Mediterranean amid recurring tensions with longtime foe Turkey. French President

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s government says the coronavirus state of emergency will end Thursday to help rejuvenate the economy as infections slow. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced that virus restrictions will be eased gradually. With the lifting, Japan will be free of emergency requirements for the first time in more

By MIKE CORDER Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — As Europe’s economic powerhouse Germany embarks on the task of piecing together a new ruling coalition after Sunday’s knife-edge election, observers need only look to its neighbors, Belgium and the Netherlands, to see how tricky the process can be. Parties in the Netherlands have been

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s newly elected lawmakers are holding their first meetings as their parties digest the fallout of the election that reduced outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel’s bloc to its worst-ever result. The lawmakers on Tuesday will start the process of putting together a new government. The narrow winner of Sunday’s parliamentary election was the

BEIJING (AP) — Two American siblings have returned home after China lifted an exit ban following Canada’s release of a top Chinese tech executive wanted in the U.S. on fraud charges. The State Department says Cynthia and Victor Liu returned to the U.S. after consular staff in Shanghai helped facilitate their departure. It says the

By HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea fired a short-range missile into the sea at nearly the same moment its U.N. diplomat was decrying the U.S.’s “hostile policy” against it. The actions were an apparent return to its pattern of mixing weapons displays with peace overtures to wrest concessions. The

The Swedish news agency TT says an explosion in an apartment building in central Goteborg in Sweden has injured up to 20 people. The explosion took place in the early hours of the morning, and rescue services are still working to extinguish fires that spread to several apartments. The cause of the explosion is still

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