AP National News

By SAMUEL PETREQUIN Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s executive arm asked its member countries Thursday to better protect journalists amid a rise of physical attacks and online threats against media professionals. According to the European Commission, 908 journalists and media workers were attacked across the 27-nation bloc in 2020. A total of

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin says dozens of his staff have been infected with the coronavirus and that he will continue his self-isolation because of the outbreak. The Kremlin announced earlier this week that he would self-isolate after someone in his inner circle was infected although Putin had tested negative for the virus

LONDON (AP) — Elton John says he is postponing European dates on his world tour until 2023 so that he can have an operation on an injured hip. The 74-year-old singer-songwriter had been due to play cities in Britain and Europe this year. The dates were part of the Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour followed

By NICK PERRY Associated Press WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The U.S., Britain and Australia have announced they’re forming a new security alliance that will help equip Australia with nuclear-powered submarines. The alliance will see a reshaping of relations in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond. In announcing the deal, none of the leaders mentioned China,

PRAGUE (AP) — Hospitalized Czech President Milos Zeman has undergone medical checks that haven’t revealed any problems or disease that would threaten his life. The presidential office said Thursday that doctors carried out CT scans, sonography checks and blood tests at Prague’s military hospital where the president was admitted on Tuesday. It says the president

BERLIN (AP) — Federal prosecutors in Germany said Thursday they have indicted four men on suspicion of supporting the Islamic extremist group Jabhat al-Nusra. Prosecutors said in a statement that one the men is also accused of membership in the group, which was formed as al-Qaida’s branch in Syria but later broke away. Marius A.

By MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS Associated Press NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Lawyers for a British woman sentenced to a four-month suspended sentence for making up claims that she was gang raped by as many as a dozen Israelis during a vacation in Cyprus in 2019 are appealing to the country’s Supreme Court to overturn the conviction. A

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Voluntary euthanasia has become legal in a fifth Australian state, more than 20 years after the country repealed the world’s first mercy killing law for the terminally ill. Queensland’s Parliament passed the law with 61 of the state’s 93 lawmakers voting in favor. New South Wales, the nation’s most populous state,

By FRANCIS KOKUTSE Associated Press ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — West African leaders have decided to impose travel bans and freeze financial assets of members of Guinea’s ruling junta and their families after a coup more than a week ago. The decisions were announced Thursday after an Extraordinary Summit on Guinea in Ghana’s capital, Accra, by

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s biggest rail operator and a labor union representing train drivers say they have agreed on a pay raise to end a series of strikes that had caused chaos for commuters and vacationers over the summer. The GDL union said Thursday that it secured assurances over pensions, a raise of about 3.3%

By LORNE COOK Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — Human rights and refugee groups are appealing to the European Union to step up its help for people trying to flee Afghanistan. The 24 NGOs accuse the bloc of failing to do enough to assist those living in fear of Taliban rule. More than 100,000 people were

By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Authorities say a 16-year-old boy has been detained in connection with a possible plan for an Islamic extremist attack on a synagogue in the German city of Hagen. The detention took place Thursday on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism, and two years after a deadly

By ANGELA CHARLTON and BABA AHMED Associated Press PARIS (AP) — French officials say the leader of the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara died of wounds from a drone strike that hit him on a motorcycle last month in southern Mali. The French-led operation involved backup from U.S., EU, Malian and Nigerien military forces.

By SAM MCNEIL Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — China says three astronauts who lived on its space station for 90 days have left in preparation for returning to Earth. The national space agency said Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo boarded the Shenzhou-12 spacecraft and undocked from the space station Thursday morning. State broadcaster

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — London’s Old Vic Theatre is reopening at full capacity for the first time since the pandemic began. The show is “Camp Siegfried,” American writer Bess Wohl’s play about a summer camp for Nazis on New York’s Long Island. It’s based on a real-life camp in the 1930s

By JOEAL CALUPITAN and DAVID RISING Associated Press MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s top legal adviser has lashed out at the International Criminal Court’s decision to investigate allegations of crimes against humanity during his bloody war on drugs, accusing the body of being used as a pawn by the popular leader’s political

By FRANK JORDANS and JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — The head of the United Nations is calling for “immediate, rapid and large-scale” cuts in greenhouse gas emissions to curb global warming. Antonio Guterres warned governments ahead of next week’s annual U.N. General Assembly that climate change is proceeding faster than predicted and fossil

By FADI TAWIL and BILAL HUSSEIN Associated Press AL-AIN, Lebanon (AP) — A convoy of tanker trucks carrying Iranian diesel has arrived from Syria to Lebanon. The delivery was organized by the militant Hezbollah group to ease crippling fuel shortages in the crisis-hit Mediterranean country. The shipment violates U.S. sanctions imposed on Tehran after former

By NINIEK KARMINI Associated Press JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — An Indonesian court has ruled that President Joko Widodo and six top officials have neglected citizens’ rights to clean air and has ordered them to improve the poor air quality in the capital. The Central Jakarta District Court panel voted 3-0 in favor of the group

By BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI Associated Press COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Environmentalists in Sri Lanka are challenging a court order that would allow the return of 14 illegally captured wild elephants to people accused of buying them from traffickers. Rights groups and lawyers say the Sept. 6 court order is based on a government decree that