News

By EGILL BJARNASON Associated Press REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) — Icelanders are voting in a general election dominated by climate change, with an unprecedented number of political parties likely to win parliamentary seats. Polls suggest there won’t be an outright winner on Saturday, triggering complex negotiations to build a coalition government. A record nine parties could

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — In a U-turn, Britain says it will issue thousands of emergency visas to foreign truck drivers to help fix supply-chain problems that have caused empty supermarket shelves, long lines at gas stations and shuttered petrol pumps. The Conservative government had resisted easing immigration rules, despite warnings from

HONG KONG (AP) — The Hong Kong group that had organized annual vigils in remembrance of victims of the Chinese military’s crushing of the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests has voted to disband amid a crackdown on independent political activism in the semi-autonomous city. Police had notified the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic

By SEBABATSO MOSAMO Associated Press SWARTKOPS, South Africa (AP) — South Africa has sent a train carrying COVID-19 vaccines into one of its poorest provinces to get doses to areas where healthcare facilities are stretched. The vaccine train, named Transvaco, will go on a three-month tour through the Eastern Cape province and stop at seven

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — The military says Pakistani security forces have killed six militants of a separatist group in a raid at their hideout in the mountains of southwestern Baluchistan province. Counterterrorism police arrested three others from the same group, the Baluchistan Liberation Army, in a separate overnight operation. A military statement said Saturday the

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — Authorities in Croatia’s capital say a 56-year-old man is suspected of killing three young children. Local media identified the man as the children’s father. The state prosecutor in Zagreb said the suspect, an Austrian citizen, was suspected of “grave murder… at the harm of three underage children.” Police said earlier that

MIAMI (AP) — Forecasters expect Hurricane Sam to intensify into a major storm on Saturday. No coastal watches or warnings are in effect for the storm, located about 1,150 miles east-southeast of the northern Leeward Islands in the Caribbean Sea. The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami says Sam has maximum sustained winds of 110

By JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — Voters in Switzerland are set to decide on Sunday whether to allow same-sex marriages. The wealthy Alpine country is one of the few places in Western Europe where gay and lesbian couples do not already have the right to wed. Switzerland has authorized same-sex civil partnerships since

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — One man said he counted 55 corpses as he escaped from his town in northern Ethiopia. Another asserted he was rounded up with about 20 men who were shot in front of him. Yet others claimed Tigray forces went door-to-door killing men and teenage boys. The accounts from the town of

SHENZHEN, China (AP) — An executive of Chinese global communications giant Huawei Technologies has returned from Canada following a legal settlement that also saw the release of two Canadians held by China, potentially bringing closure to a nearly 3-year-long feud embroiling Ottawa, Beijing and Washington. Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s chief financial officer and the daughter of

By SUZAN FRASER and AYSE WIETING Associated Press ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Refugees fleeing the conflict in Syria once were welcomed in neighboring Turkey with open arms and compassion for fellow Muslims. But as their numbers swelled and Turkey became the host of one of the world’s largest refugee populations, attitudes gradually hardened. Anti-immigrant sentiment

By JUSTIN SPIKE and VANESSA GERA Associated Press BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — An uptick in anti-European Union rhetoric in Hungary and Poland has some observers worried the countries’ right-wing governments might be planning to pull out of the 27-nation trade bloc. Recent statements by high-ranking politicians and pundits have called their commitment to the EU

By GEIR MOULSON Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s closely fought election on Sunday will set the direction of the European Union’s most populous country after 16 years under Angela Merkel. The chancellor’s party is scrambling to avoid defeat by its center-left rivals after a rollercoaster campaign. The environmentalist Greens also are eyeing at least

By ILAN BEN ZION Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel is pressing ahead with its aggressive campaign of offering coronavirus boosters to almost anyone over 12 and says its approach was further vindicated by a U.S. decision to give the shots to older patients or those at higher risk. Israeli officials credit the booster shot