AP National News

By YURAS KARMANAU Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is visiting Ukraine to attend the festivities marking the 30th anniversary of its declaration of independence. Patriarch Batholomew I and the leader of the new Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Metropolitan Epiphanius I, together conducted a lithurgy in Kyiv’s St. Michael’s Cathedral

NEW YORK (AP) — A superstar-laden Central Park concert meant to celebrate New York City’s recovery from the coronavirus was cut short because of severe weather as Hurricane Henri approached. New York City police on Saturday night told concertgoers via Twitter to “calmly move to the nearest exits and proceed to areas outside of the

SYDNEY (AP) — Authorities in Australia say more than 250 people have been arrested while protesting coronavirus lockdowns in the country. Many faced fines for defying health orders. Saturday’s protests took place in several cities nationwide, with the largest and most violent protest in Melbourne. At least seven police officers were treated for injuries after

By MICHAEL HILL Associated Press Henri is now a hurricane. The National Hurricane Center issued an advisory late Saturday morning upgrading the tropical storm to a hurricane. Storm surge, hurricane conditions and rainfall that could cause flooding began threatening the Northeast region Saturday. Henri is expected to make landfall on Long Island or in southern

By KARL RITTER and MEHMET GUZEL Associated Press HANGEDIGI, Turkey (AP) — European Union leaders haunted by a 2015 migration crisis fueled by the Syrian war desperately want to avoid a large-scale influx of refugees and migrants from Afghanistan. Their message to any Afghans except for those who helped Western forces in the two-decade war

By GEIR MOULSON Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Chancellor Angela Merkel’s would-be successor is pledging to “fight with everything that I can” for victory in Germany’s Sept. 26 election. Merkel’s center-right bloc kicked off its official campaign on Saturday amid a worrying sag in its poll ratings. The German leader spoke at a campaign rally

BEIJING (AP) — China’s Mars rover is soldiering on after completing its initial program to explore the red planet and search for whether it once supported life. China’s National Space Administration said on its website Friday the rover completed its 90-day program on Aug. 15 and was in excellent technical condition and fully charged. It

By EILEEN NG Associated Press KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia’s new Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob has been sworn in, bringing back the rule of the country’s longest-governing political party. But he faces a tall task in uniting a polarized society and reviving a slumping economy amid a worsening pandemic. Ismail was the deputy

By AHMAD SEIR, RAHIM FAIEZ, KATHY GANNON and LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A U.S. official says potential Islamic State threats against Americans in Afghanistan are forcing the U.S. military to develop new ways to get evacuees to the airport in Kabul. The official says small groups of Americans and possibly

The Associated Press NEW DELHI — An Indian official says an air force transport plane has left Kabul for New Delhi carrying 168 people on board. Arindam Bagchi, the External Affairs Ministry spokesperson, says the plane took off from Kabul on Sunday morning and the passengers include 107 Indian nationals. He didn’t give the nationalities

BEIJING (AP) — China will now allow couples to have a third child as the country seeks to hold off a demographic crisis that threatens its hopes of increased prosperity and global influence. The legislature on Friday amended the Population and Family Planning Law as part of a decades-long effort by the ruling Communist Party

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnam’s government says it is sending troops to Ho Chi Minh City to help deliver food and aid to households as it further tightens restrictions on people’s movements amid a worsening surge of the coronavirus. The army personnel will be deployed to help with logistics as the city of 10 million

By LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — For senior military and Pentagon leaders, this week’s news was profoundly personal. The photos and videos pouring out of Afghanistan hit a nerve, and triggered searingly vivid flashbacks to battles fought, troops lost and tears shed during their own deployments there. And in a response shaped

PLACERVILLE, Calif. (AP) — Crews are digging in and burning out fire lines amid fears that another round of high winds will bring renewed fury to a Northern California wildfire. The Caldor Fire in the northern Sierra Nevada has destroyed dozens of homes and on Friday authorities closed down a 46-mile stretch of Interstate 50,

By FÉLIX MÁRQUEZ and FABIOLA SÁNCHEZ Associated Press VERACRUZ, Mexico (AP) — Hurricane Grace hit Mexico’s Gulf as a major Category 3 storm and moved inland, drenching coastal and inland areas in its second landfall in the country in two days. Authorities said at least eight people died when the storm came ashore early Sturday.

By JONATHAN LEMIRE and ZEKE MILLER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden actually made up his mind a long time ago about Afghanistan. For more than a decade, Biden advocated for an end to American involvement in the war there. But he did so as something of an outsider, a senator whose ultimate

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER, ROBERT BURNS, JAMES LAPORTA and ZEKE MILLER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is pledging firmly to bring all Americans home from Afghanistan — and all Afghans who aided the war effort, too. He made that commitment Friday as other officials confirmed that U..S. military helicopters had flown into Taliban-held

By KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — President Joe Biden’s special envoy for North Korea arrived in South Korea Saturday for discussions over stalemated nuclear diplomacy with the North. Sung Kim’s visit comes amid fresh tensions over ongoing U.S.-South Korean military exercises, which the North has described as an invasion rehearsal and

By BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge has struck down California’s ballot measure that exempted Uber and other companies from a state law requiring their drivers to be classified as employees eligible for benefits and job protections. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch ruled Friday that Proposition 22, which allowed

By FRANK BAJAK AP Technology Writer BOSTON (AP) — Taliban websites that delivered the victorious insurgents’ official messages to Afghans and the world at large in five languages have gone abruptly offline, indicating an effort to try to squelch them. It was not immediately clear, though, why the sites in the Pashto, Urdu, Arabic, English