News

By BASSEM MROUE Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — International aid groups are warning that millions of people in Syria and Iraq are losing access to water, electricity and food. The groups say the two Arab countries are suffering a rise in temperatures, low rainfall and drought, depriving many of drinking water. The drought is also

By SAMY MAGDY Associated Press CAIRO (AP) — Officials say Egypt has closed its main border crossing point with the Gaza Strip amid tensions with the territory’s militant Hamas rulers. Monday’s closing is the first time the Rafah crossing was shuttered since early this year. Egypt had kept the crossing open during an 11-day war

TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albanian police say they have arrested two people for allegedly hurling tear gas cannisters during a concert by a Bosnian Serb musician whom many in the country accuse of not condemning the war in Kosovo. A statement on Monday said a 21-year-old man was arrested after hurling a tear gas cannister

By NINIEK KARMINI Associated Press JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s anti-graft court has sentenced a former Cabinet minister to 12 years in prison for bribery related to the distribution of coronavirus aid. Juliari Peter Batubara was arrested in December a day after an anticorruption commission foiled an attempt to hand over seven suitcases and backpacks

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan is sending three military aircraft to Afghanistan to evacuate Japanese citizens and local staff as security deteriorates following the Taliban takeover. Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi says the planes will pick up Japanese nationals and Afghans who worked for the Japanese Embassy and development agencies. Japan closed

By ALEXANDRA JAFFE Associated Press SINGAPORE (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris says the U.S. must maintain its focus on evacuating Americans and vulnerable Afghans and shouldn’t get distracted by questions over what went wrong in the chaotic U.S. exit from Afghanistan. Harris made the comment at a news conference in Singapore after meeting with

By ELENA BECATOROS Associated Press ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Firefighting aircraft and ground forces in Greece have gained the upper hand over two new blazes that broke out in areas already scarred by major wildfires this summer. The first broke out Monday in the southern part of Evia, Greece’s second-largest island, whose north was devastated

By NICK PERRY and ROD McGUIRK Associated Press WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand’s government says it’s extending a strict nationwide lockdown until at least Friday as it tries to extinguish a growing coronavirus outbreak. The news came as health authorities reported 35 new local infections of the fast-spreading delta variant, the highest number

By JOSEF FEDERMAN Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — A leading international human rights group says Israeli airstrikes that demolished four high-rise buildings in the Gaza Strip during a May war apparently violated international laws of war. Human Rights Watch on Monday called on the Israeli military to produce evidence justifying the attacks. The New York-based

By SARAH EL DEEB Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s health sector is a casualty of the multiple crises that have plunged the country into a downward spiral. A financial and economic meltdown has been compounded by a complete failure of the government, runaway corruption and a pandemic that isn’t going away. The collapse is

By ZEINA KARAM Associated Press Ahmad Sarmast left his home in Melborne, Australia, on a mission to revive music in the country of his birth, Afghanistan. The school he founded was a unique experiment in inclusivity for the war-ravaged nation. It enrolled orphans and street kids, and sought to bring a measure of joy back