AP National News

By ANDREW MELDRUM Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African photographer John Parkin has died at the age of 63. During his years as a photojournalist, Parkin covered the country’s anti-apartheid struggle, its first democratic elections, and the presidency of Nelson Mandela, He trained as a photographer in the South African air force, then worked

LONDON (AP) — A 37-year-old lawyer accused of injecting food items with syringes of blood at three London supermarkets has made a court appearance. Leoaai Elghareeb didn’t enter a plea during his preliminary hearing on Friday. Prosecutors said he was arrested after a man entered a Waitrose store in west London’s Hammersmith area on Wednesday

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgaria’s president has handed a mandate to form a government to the third-largest political party in parliament following the failure of two previous attempts. Socialist Party leader Kornelia Ninova, said Friday that her party would invite three groups that emerged from anti-corruption protests last year to discuss creating a coalition government.

By VANESSA GERA Associated Press WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A new exhibition at a Polish state museum features the works of provocative artists in what organizers describe as a celebration of free speech, and a challenge to political correctness and “cancel culture.” But some critics are accusing the show’s organizers of using arguments about artistic

PODGORICA, Montenegro (AP) — Police in Montenegro say they have seized over 1 ton (2,000 pounds) of cocaine hidden in a shipment of bananas. Authorities said officers discovered the cocaine, which was divided into 1,250 packages, on Thursday night in Mojanovici, a village near the capital. Police tweeted on Friday that is the biggest seizure

By STEPHEN WADE AP Sports Writer TOKYO (AP) — There are 4,403 Paralympic athletes competing in Tokyo and each one has unique differences that have to be classified. Lines have to be drawn to group similar impairments or impairments that yield similar results in the quest for fairness. It’s a confusing maze. The Paralympics are

By KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — U.N. human rights investigators have asked North Korea to clarify whether it has ordered troops to shoot on sight any trespassers who cross its northern border in violation of the country’s pandemic closure. The border shared with China and Russia was a transit point for

By LLAZAR SEMINI Associated Press TIRANA, Abania (AP) — Albania is housing its first group of Afghan evacuees who made it out of their country despite days of chaos near the Kabul airport, including an attack claimed by the Islamic State group. A government statement said an Egyptian Almasria Universal Airlines plane landed at Tirana’s

By STAN CHOE AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street rallied to records Friday after the head of the Federal Reserve said it’s still far from pulling interest rates off the record low that has helped the market soar, even if it does begin dialing back its support for the economy later this

By KEMAL SOFTIC Associated Press BIHAC, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Thousands of migrants, including many Afghans, are stranded in Bosnia and other Balkan countries while trying to reach wealthy European nations. From migrant camps thousands of miles from home, they are watching the chaos at Kabul airport as fellow Afghans try to flee the Taliban-controlled country

By SAYED ZIARMAL HASHEMI, LOLITA C. BALDOR, KATHY GANNON and ELLEN KNICKMEYER Associated Press KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — American forces working under heightened security and threats of another attack are pressing ahead in the closing days of the U.S.-led evacuation from Afghanistan after a devastating suicide bombing. U.S. officials say they’ve used a drone strike

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — The new Malaysian prime minister has retained mostly familiar faces in his Cabinet. But Ismail Sabri Yaakob vowed Friday his new government will be more sensitive to the people’s needs amid a worsening pandemic. The Cabinet lineup mirrors that of his predecessor, who resigned last week after less than 18

By The Associated Press Italy’s foreign minister has confirmed that the last Italian military flight evacuating people from Afghanistan will depart from Kabul later on Friday. Luigi Di Maio said that among those aboard the departing C-130 Air Force aircraft will be the Italian consul, who had stayed on in Kabul at the airport to

Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Family and friends of a New Orleans police officer who was shot and killed while vacationing with friends in Houston are gathering to remember him. Officer Everett Briscoe was dining in the patio area of a restaurant with Dyrin “DJ” Riculfy on Saturday when two men armed with guns

By TAMEEM AKHGAR and JOSEPH KRAUSS Associated Press Salgy Baran got the highest score in all of Afghanistan on her university entrance exams this year, but she has no answers for what comes next. The 18-year-old graduate wants to stay in the country and become a doctor. But as with so many other Afghans, those

By DEEPTI HAJELA Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Officials are evaluating the future of a 150-foot-tall piece of public art in New York City known as the Vessel after a string of suicides. The honeycomb of platforms and staircases closed last month after a 14-year-old boy became the fourth person to fatally leap from

By TRAVIS LOLLER Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Nashville helicopter pilot Joel Boyers had prayed for God to show him his life had meaning just days before the phone call came. On Saturday morning, a desperate woman was seeking someone to help her brother and his family who were stranded on a rooftop in

By MARYCLAIRE DALE Associated Press PHILADELPHIA (AP) — An Afghan couple who arrived in the United States this week navigated the streets of Taliban-controlled Kabul with their six children for three days before making it onto a rescue flight. The family was safe Thursday at their relative’s home near Philadelphia. The couple said life had

By KEVIN McGILL and JANET McCONNAUGHEY Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) — New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell has ordered a mandatory evacuation for a small area of the city outside the levee system. But with Hurricane Ida intensifying so much over a short time, she said it wasn’t possible to do so for the entire

By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER Associated Press HONOLULU (AP) — A public service announcement campaign reminds Hawaiians that when Hawaii was a kingdom, its rulers pushed people to get vaccinated against smallpox in the 1850s. The messaging comes as Hawaii grapples with a surge in COVID-19 cases, record high hospitalizations and stagnant vaccination rates. It’s aimed