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By AHMAD SEIR, RAHIM FAIEZ, KATHY GANNON AND JON GAMBRELL Associated Press KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan protesters have defied the Taliban for a second day, waving their national flag in scattered demonstrations. The fighters again responded violently Thursday as they face down growing challenges to their rule. A U.N. official warned of dire food

By ANNABELLE LIANG Associated Press SINGAPORE (AP) — Asian stock markets are mostly lower as worries surrounding the spread of the delta variant again take center stage Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 0.7% and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong slipped 1.5% on Friday. Benchmarks in Seoul and Shanghai fell, while Sydney’s inched higher. Traders

By COSTAS KANTOURIS Associated Press ALISTRATI, Greece (AP) — Persephone is not your ordinary robot. Billed as the world’s first robot used as a tour guide inside a cave, Persephone has been welcoming visitors to the Alistrati cave in northern Greece since mid-July. The multilingual robot covers the first 150 meters (500 feet) of the

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — When the Taliban swept over Afghanistan, Russia was ready for the rapid developments after working methodically for years to lay the groundwork for relations with the group that it still officially considers a terrorist organization. The Soviet Union fought a 10-year war in Afghanistan that ended when

By ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — On Aug. 19, 1991, a group of top Communist Party hard-liners declared they had removed Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev from power and declared a state of emergency in the country. The coup raised global fears of a rollback of Gorbachev’s liberal reforms but collapsed in only three

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh is disputing a Human Rights Watch investigation into disappearances of government critics and others as built on questionable, uncorroborated allegations that security forces were involved. The rights group earlier identified 86 people as still missing after allegedly being targeted by security forces. The group is urging the United Nations to

The Associated Press KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — More than two dozen Hungarian nationals evacuated from Kabul have arrived in Frankfurt, Germany, and will likely be transported to Hungary. Deputy Foreign Minister Levente Magyar told reporters that the air evacuation of the 26 Hungarians was carried out by Hungary’s military allies with a stopover in Tashkent,

HONG KONG (AP) — Two Hong Kongers have reportedly pleaded guilty to conspiring to collude with foreign forces as well as Next Digital founder Jimmy Lai to endanger national security Separately, local media are reporting that seven pro-democracy activists pleaded guilty to organizing and inciting others to take part in an unauthorized assembly held in

By BILL BARROW Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Jimmy Carter is sometimes called a better former president than he was president. The backhanded compliment has always rankled Carter allies and, they say, the former president himself. Yet now, 40 years removed from the White House, the most famous resident of Plains, Georgia, is riding a

By MATTHEW DALY Associated Press GREELEY, Colo. (AP) — The northern Colorado city of Greeley is in one of the fastest-growing regions in the United States. But that growth may not be sustainable as the city encounters a problem common in the drought-ravaged West: There may not be enough water to meet future needs. City

By WILLIAM J. KOLE Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — A woman convicted of witchcraft in 1693 and sentenced to death at the height of the Salem Witch Trials may finally be exonerated in Massachusetts. Lawmakers are considering a bill inspired by a curious eighth-grade civics class that called attention to the need to formally clear

By GARANCE BURKE, MARTHA MENDOZA, JULIET LINDERMAN and MICHAEL TARM Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — Michael Williams, a 65-year-old grandfather from Chicago, sat behind bars for nearly a year accused of murder. But the key evidence against Williams didn’t come from an eyewitness or an informant; prosecutors focused on a loud bang picked up by

By GARANCE BURKE, MARTHA MENDOZA, JULIET LINDERMAN and MICHAEL TARM Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — Michael Williams’ wife pleaded with him to remember their fishing trips with the grandchildren, how he used to braid her hair, anything to jar him back to his world outside the concrete walls of Cook County Jail. His three daily

By VICTORIA MILKO AP Science Writer JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Independent ethnic organizations that have been providing health care in Myanmar after the collapse of the country’s central health system are now facing serious challenges of their own. Among them: A fierce new wave of COVID-19 cases, a crackdown by the military government, and shrinking