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By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associatd Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s outspoken vaccinations minister, Taro Kono, has announced that he is running to become the head of the governing party, who usually is chosen prime minister, and pledged to be reform-minded and gets things done. Kono, a Georgetown University graduate who is fluent in English, has many

By MEG KINNARD and EMILY SWANSON Associated Press A decade after the 9/11 attacks, Americans were reasonably positive about the state of their rights and liberties. Today, 20 years since Sept. 11, not as much. That’s according to a poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The survey builds on work conducted

MIAMI (AP) — Authorities say a fourth person has been accused of stealing the identities of victims in the South Florida condominium collapse that killed 98 people. Twenty-year-old Nelson Ronaldo Garcia-Medina was arrested on Wednesday. But his name was not included when the Miami-Dade state attorney announced three arrests in the case. He’s accused of

By ZEINA KARAM and SARAH EL DEEB Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s new prime minister has pledged to try and gain control of one of the world’s worst economic meltdowns, after forming a government following a year of political stalemate.  Lebanon has been without a fully empowered government since the catastrophic Aug. 4, 2020

LONDON (AP) — The head of Britain’s domestic intelligence agency says the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan has “heartened and emboldened” extremists and could lead to the return of major “al-Qaida-style” attack plots against the West. MI5 Director General Ken McCallum says the U.K. could face “more risk” because of the withdrawal of NATO troops and

By BARRY HATTON Associated Press LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Jorge Sampaio, a former two-term president of Portugal and one of the most prominent political figures of his generation, has died. He was 81. The current Portuguese president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, announced Sampaio’s death on Friday. He did not give a cause of death, though

By BARRY HATTON Associated Press LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Europe has witnessed many more jihadist attacks on its soil than the United States since 9/11, and analysts say a variety of reasons account for that. They point to Europe’s homegrown extremists, weaknesses in counterterrorism strategies and geography. They note that many Muslims in Europe are

By LORNE COOK Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Commission has cleared an injection of Italian funds into new airline ITA and says the company won’t be responsible for illegal state aid granted to predecessor Alitalia. The EU’s competition watchdog said Friday that the 1.35 billion euros in capital Italy intends to grant the

By DANICA KIRKA Associated Press LONDON (AP) — A leading scientist behind the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine says booster shots may be unnecessary for many people. Oxford University Professor Sarah Gilbert told The Telegraph newspaper on Friday that immunity from the vaccine was holding up well — even against the delta variant. While the elderly and

LIMASSOL, Cyprus (AP) — Operators from the U.S. navy’s elite special forces unit SEAL joined Cypriot underwater demolition soldiers in a joint drill to hone skills in countering terrorist hijackings at sea. Friday’s exercise involved teams of U.S. and Cypriot special forces operators re-taking a ship controlled by terrorists. Cypriot Defense Minister Charalambos Petrides said