World News

Paramedic workers search for victims in the rubble of a paramedic center that was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike early Wednesday in Hebbariye village, south Lebanon, Wednesday, March 27, 2024. The Israeli airstrike on a paramedic center linked to a Lebanese Sunni Muslim group killed several people of its members. The strike was one of the deadliest single attacks since violence erupted along the Lebanon-Israel border more than five months ago. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

7 Lebanese and an Israeli killed in an exchange of fire along the Lebanon-Israel border

An Israeli airstrike on a paramedics center linked to a Lebanese Sunni Muslim group in south Lebanon has killed seven of its members.

Bombed-out buildings on the eastern edge of Gaza City are visible across the double fence that separates the Strip from Kibbutz Nahal Oz, Israel, Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

They fled kibbutzim after Hamas attacked. Now, many Israelis must decide whether to go back

Faithful pray as they take part in a pro-life march in Zagreb, Croatia, Friday, March 15, 2024. Scores of religious and neo-conservative groups in recent years have been building up pressure in the staunchly Catholic country, trying to force a ban on abortions. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

50 years after the former Yugoslavia protected abortion rights, that legacy is under threat

Oleksandr Lytvynenko attends a forum in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Feb. 25, 2024. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy replaced Oleksii Danilov as secretary of the National Security and Defense Council with Lytvynenko, who served as the head of Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Ukraine’s president replaces a top security official in new reshuffle as exhausted troops struggle

An explosion rises in the northern Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Tuesday, March 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Israel and Hamas dig in as pressure builds for a cease-fire in Gaza

ELECTION WATCH 2024

Bassirou Diomaye Faye holds a press conference after winning the presidential elections in Dakar, Senegal, Monday, March 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

Senegal’s president-elect pledges to fight corruption after a stunning victory for the 44-year-old

Senegal woke up to a new president-elect, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, a former tax inspector and political novice.

Opposition leader María Corina Machado, who faces a government ban on her running for office, leaves after giving a press conference in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, March 26, 2024. The main Venezuelan opposition coalition said early Tuesday that electoral authorities didn’t let it register its presidential candidate Corina Yoris as the deadline ended. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Venezuelan opposition coalition able to register provisional candidate after electoral outcry

Venezuela’s main opposition coalition says that the country’s government allowed them to register a provisional candidate for the upcoming presidential elections.

MORE ELECTIONS

Losing presidential candidate Anies Baswedan, center left, talks to journalist as his running mate Muhaimin Iskandar, second left, listens upon their arrival for hearing appeals against the presidential election results, which were lodged by losing candidates, at the Constitutional Court in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, March 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

Indonesia’s top court hears election appeals of candidates who lost and want a revote

UK chocolate shops struggle ahead of Easter as cocoa prices hit record high

Some smaller businesses that sell chocolate are finding it hard to keep up with the spike in cocoa prices while their sales decline. Sandrine Chocolates, a shop southwest in London that sells handmade Belgian chocolates, is struggling to survive after decades in business. (AP Video by Kwiyeon Ha)

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Colombian Navy seize 3 tons of cocaine during speedboat chase in the Caribbean sea

Strong winds drive forest fires now burning in 18 Mexican states

Europe

Flowers lie in front of the Crocus City Hall on the western outskirts of Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, March 27, 2024. Russian officials persisted Tuesday in saying Ukraine and the West had a role in last week's deadly Moscow concert hall attack despite vehement denials of involvement by Kyiv and a claim of responsibility by an affiliate of the Islamic State group. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Death toll in Moscow concert hall attack rises to 140 after another victim dies in hospital

Asia

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese President Xi Jinping, center, walks with representatives from American business, strategic and academic communities at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, March 27, 2024. (Huang Jingwen/Xinhua via AP)

Chinese leader Xi issues a positive message at a meeting with US business leaders as ties improve

Latin America

The relative of a victim embraces a person after the reading of the verdict for former police officers on trial for crimes against humanity during the 1976-1983 dictatorship, in La Plata, Argentina, Tuesday, March 26, 2024. The officers were convicted on Tuesday of torturing over 20 pregnant women and stealing at least 10 babies, seven of which have been identified and recovered. Hundreds of babies were abducted during the Argentine dictatorship. (AP Photo/Gustavo Garello)

In first, an Argentine court convicts ex-officers of crimes against trans women during dictatorship

Middle East

The Secretary-General of the Islamic Group Sheikh Mohammed Takkoush, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 26, 2024. Takkoush allied with Hamas and Hezbollah said Tuesday they are closely coordinating with both groups along the southern border with Israel where they have claimed responsibility for several attacks over the past months. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Lebanese Sunni militant group head says coordination with Shiite Hezbollah is vital to fight Israel

Africa

The freed students of the LEA Primary and Secondary School Kuriga upon their arrival at the state government house in Kaduna, Nigeria, Monday, March 25, 2024. More than 130 Nigerian schoolchildren rescued after more than two weeks in captivity have arrived in their home state in northwestern Nigeria ahead of their anticipated reunions with families. (AP Photo/Olalekan Richard)

Nigerian parents finally get a chance to see their children who spent more than 2 weeks in captivity

U.S. News

A container ship rests against wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge near sunrise on Wednesday, March 27, 2024, in Baltimore, Md. Recovery efforts resumed Wednesday for the construction workers who are presumed dead after the cargo ship hit a pillar of the bridge, causing the structure to collapse. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Police had about 90 seconds to stop traffic before Baltimore bridge collapsed

Togo’s opposition calls for protests to stop president from signing off on a new constitution

Activists and opposition leaders in the West African country of Togo have called for protests to stop the president from signing off on a new constitution that would scrap future presidential elections and could extend his decades-long rule until 2031.

FILE- This June 6, 2019, file photo shows the U.S. Treasury Department building at dusk in Washington. The U.S. on Wednesday imposed sanctions on an online media site called Gaza Now and its founder Mustafa Ayash, for allegedly supporting Hamas. U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control says that after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas against Israel — the online entity began a fundraising effort in support of the militant organization. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

US sanctions online site ‘Gaza Now’ and its founder for allegedly supporting Hamas

The U.S. has imposed sanctions on an online media site called Gaza Now and its founder Mustafa Ayash, for allegedly supporting Hamas. On Wednesday, U.S.

A picture of Alexei Navalny on a mural in Vienna, Austria, Wednesday, March 27, 2024. Two large portraits of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny have been spray-painted on a property owned by the family of a former Czech foreign minister behind a monument to Soviet soldiers in Vienna. (AP Photo/Philipp-Moritz Jenne)

In Vienna, 2 portraits of Alexei Navalny are painted near a monument to Soviet soldiers

Two large portraits of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny have been spray-prainted on a property owned by the family of a former Czech foreign minister behind a monument to Soviet soldiers in Vienna.

Financial market trader Tom Hayes speaks to the media, with his lawyer Karen Todner, right, outside the Royal Courts Of Justice in London after two former financial market traders convicted of interest rate benchmark manipulation have had bids to clear their names rejected by the Court of Appeal, on Wednesday March 27, 2024. Tom Hayes, 44, a former Citigroup and UBS trader, was found guilty of multiple counts of conspiracy to defraud over manipulating the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (Libor) between 2006 and 2010. His case, alongside that of another similarly jailed trader Carlo Palombo, 45, were referred to the court by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which investigates potential miscarriages of justice. (Jordan Pettitt/PA via AP)

A UK financial trader dubbed the ringleader of an interest rate manipulation scandal loses an appeal

A British financial trader described as the ringleader in the manipulation of a key interest rate before and after the global financial crisis has lost his appeal to have his conviction quashed.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen testifies during a Senate Finance hearing to examine President Joe Biden's proposed budget request for fiscal year 2025 on Capitol Hill Thursday, March 21, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

Yellen says China’s rapid buildout of its green energy industry ‘distorts global prices’

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is calling out China’s excess production in green energy, calling it unfair competition that “distorts global prices” and hurts companies and workers around the world.

Boarding is put up next to the Banksy artwork on the side of a residential building in Hornsey Road, north London, Wednesday March 27, 2024 which has been covered in perspex sheeting for protection. An environmentally themed mural in London by street artist Banksy has been encased in plastic and surrounded by fencing after an apparent act of vandalism. (Aaron Chown/PA via AP)

Banksy tree mural that sprouted in London is fenced off after apparent vandalism

An environmentally themed mural by elusive street artist Banksy that appeared last week on a London street has been encased in plastic and surrounded by fencing after an apparent act of vandalism.

FILE - Protestor Salwan Momika waves the Swedish flag outside the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm, on July 20, 2023, where he plans to burn a copy of the Quran and the Iraqi flag. Momika, an Iraqi man who carried out several Quran burnings in Sweden told a newspaper on Wednesday March 27, 2024 that he would seek asylum in neighboring Norway in the wake of a deportation order by authorities in Stockholm. (Oscar Olsson/TT via AP, File)

Quran-burning Iraqi man who faces an expulsion order from Sweden plans to seek asylum in Norway

An Iraqi man who carried out several Quran burnings in Sweden has told a newspaper in the country that he would seek asylum in neighboring Norway in the wake of a deportation order by authorities in Stockholm.

Pope Francis arrives in the Paul VI hall on the occasion of the weekly general audience at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope appears in better health, praises Israeli and Arab fathers who both lost daughters in conflict

Pope Francis appears in better health, walking into the Vatican audience hall on his own with a cane for his weekly audience and delivering his prepared text with a clear voice.

Men of the Ukrainian Jewish community dance during Purim celebrations and a festive meal at the Great Choral Synagogue in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, March 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Ukraine celebrates Purim with costumes and dancing, as war drags on

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Dozens of people gathered in a synagogue in Kyiv this weekend to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Purim, more than two years into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Xie Yufeng, a 39-year-old cook, throws a bird up as he shoots a bead through a tube for it to catch in mid-air, practising a Beijing tradition that dates back to the Qing Dynasty, outside a stadium in Beijing, Tuesday, March 26, 2024. Today, only about 50-60 people in Beijing are believed to still practice it. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Beijingers play fetch with migratory birds in traditional game

BEIJING (AP) — Passersby in Beijing during winter or early spring might happen upon groups of residents playing fetch with birds.

A coach lies overturned on its side at the scene of an accident on the A9, near Schkeuditz, Germany, Wednesday March 27. 2024. (Jan Woitas/dpa via AP)

A bus headed for Switzerland crashes off a German highway, killing at least 5 people

Authorities say at least five people were killed Wednesday when a bus headed from Berlin to Switzerland drove off a highway in eastern Germany and ended up on its side.

This is a locator map for Pakistan with its capital, Islamabad, and the Kashmir region. (AP Photo)

Pakistani authorities share with China initial findings of probe into bombing that killed 5 Chinese

Officials say Pakistani authorities have shared with China the preliminary findings of a probe into a deadly attack that killed five Chinese nationals and their Pakistani driver in the northwest.

People walk past the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, March 27, 2024. World shares are mixed after Wall Street slipped a bit further from its record highs. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

Stock market today: Wall Street drifts following its 3-day losing streak

U.S. stocks are drifting a bit higher following a three-day lull. The S&P 500 was up 0.2% Wednesday.

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, shakes hands with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Wednesday, March 27, 2024. Chinese leader Xi Jinping has told visiting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte that attempts to restrict China's access to technology will not stop the country's advance. (Li Xueren/Xinhua via AP)

Chinese leader Xi tells Dutch PM that restricting technology access won’t stop China’s advance

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has told visiting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte that attempts to restrict China’s access to technology will not stop the country’s advance.

FILE - Participants hold a rainbow flag during a Pride Parade in Bangkok, Thailand, on June 4, 2023. Lawmakers in Thailand's lower house of Parliament overwhelmingly approved a marriage equality bill on Wednesday, March 27, 2024, that would make the country the first in Southeast Asia to legalize equal rights for marriage partners of any gender. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit, File)

Lawmakers in Thailand overwhelmingly approve a bill to legalize same-sex marriage

Lawmakers in Thailand’s lower house of Parliament have overwhelmingly approved a marriage equality bill hat would make the country the first in Southeast Asia to legalize equal rights for marriage partners of any gender.

A couple kiss at Karakoy ferry terminal at the Bosphorus in Istanbul, Turkey, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Voters to turn a new page in the history of Istanbul, guardian of the Bosphorus

ISTANBUL (AP) — Istanbul, the city nestled along the Bosphorus strait for more than 2,500 years, takes another small step on its journey through history this week as voters decide who will lead the metropolis for the next five years.

Old observation towers stand near a fence as smoke rises after an explosion in the Gaza Strip, seen from Kibbutz Nahal Oz, Israel, Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

As those who fled Israel’s border villages weigh whether to return, what hangs in the balance?

Months after Hamas attackers killed 1,200 people, a string of Israeli farming communities they targeted just across the border fence with Gaza remain all but empty.

Newspaper front-pages are seen at a newsagent in London, Saturday, March 23, 2024. Britain's Kate, Princess of Wales's revelation she is undergoing treatment for cancer has sparked an outpouring of support and well wishes from around the world. (AP Photo/David Cliff)

The British royal family learns that if you don’t fill an information vacuum, someone else will

The British royal family learned the hard way: in the modern media world, if you don’t fill an information vacuum, others will fill it for you, and it’s not likely to be pretty.

FILE - Cast and crew of Godzilla Minus One arrives at the Oscars on March 10, 2024, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. One Japanese creation grabbing attention on the Oscars red carpet wasn't a movie: the kitsch shoes that seemed to be clenched in Godzilla's claw. They were the work of Ryosuke Matsui, who recently described his joy at seeing “Godzilla Minus One” director Takashi Yamazaki and his Shirogumi special-effects team walk the red carpet and win the visual effects Oscar, all while wearing his shoes. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

Those Godzilla claw shoes on the Oscars red carpet are just one of Hazama’s ‘dark fantasy’ creations

One Japanese creation grabbing attention on the Oscars red carpet wasn’t a movie. It was the kitsch shoes that seemed to be clenched in Godzilla’s claw.

A child plays inside a rusted dilapidated car along the dried-up Aral Sea, in the village of Tastubek near Aralsk, Kazakhstan, Monday, July 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

The Aral Sea has all but disappeared. But in small towns and villages, signs of life are popping up

MUYNAK, Uzbekistan (AP) — Weddings, school dances, music festivals — in small pockets along the Aral Sea, there are signs of life.

Brazil's Rodrygo, centre right, tries to get past Spain's Rodrigo, left, Alvaro Morata, 2nd left and Lamine Yamal during a friendly soccer match between Spain and Brazil at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, March 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Breton)

Endrick and Yamal shine as Vinícius Júnior’s Brazil draws 3-3 with Spain in ‘One Skin’ friendly

Teenagers Lamine Yamal and Endrick took the spotlight and Vinícius Júnior had a quiet game as Brazil and Spain drew 3-3 in the “One Skin” international friendly that was set up to highlight the fight against racism after a series of insults aimed at the Real Madrid forward.

Indictment accuses Rwandan man of lying about role in his country’s 1994 genocide to come to US

A Rwandan man who authorities say took part in the country’s 1994 genocide before making his way to the U.S. has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Boston.

FILE - This photo taken on Monday, March 12, 2018 and released by svaboda.org RFE/RL shows Belarusian journalist Ihar Karnei, who was arrested in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, on July 17, 2023. Ihar Karnei, a prominent independent journalist went on trial in Belarus on Tuesday March 19, 2024 on extremism charges widely seen as politically motivated. (svaboda.org RFE/RL Photo via AP, File)

An imprisoned journalist in Belarus designated a political prisoner by a leading rights group

A prominent journalist in Belarus has been designated a political prisoner by the country’s leading human rights group.

Tunisian journalist accused of insulting a public official to face trial next month

A Tunisian journalist is being detained in the lead-up to his trial next month on charges that he insulted a public official.

FILE - Visitors walk outside the British Museum in Bloomsbury, London, Friday, June 26, 2015. The British Museum is suing a former curator alleged to have stolen almost 2,000 artifacts from its collections and offered them for sale online. Peter Higgs was fired in July 2023 after more than 1,800 items were discovered to be missing. (AP Photo/Tim Ireland, File)

The British Museum is suing a former curator it says stole 1,800 items and tried to sell them

The British Museum is suing a former curator alleged to have stolen hundreds of artifacts from its collections and offered them for sale online.

One of the tubes allowing vehicles to travel on magnetic fields is seen at the new European test center for hyperloop transportation technology which opens in Veendam, northern Netherlands, Tuesday, March 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Dutch hyperloop center aims to advance futuristic transport technology

A 420-meter or quarter-mile white steel tube running alongside a railway line in the windswept northern Netherlands could usher in a new era in the transportation of people and freight.

Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis speaks at an event hosted by the Hellenic community in Toronto on Monday, March 25, 2024. (Arlyn McAdorey/The Canadian Press via AP)

Greek opposition party seeks to bring down the government over its handling of a 2023 rail disaster

A Greek opposition party has submitted a motion of no-confidence in the government over its handling of a deadly railway disaster last year.

Bruce Springsteen, right, plays his guitar as Jake Clemons plays saxophone on stage during a concert of Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band World Tour 2024 performance Tuesday, March 19, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Bruce Springsteen becomes first international songwriter made a fellow of Britain’s Ivors Academy

Bruce Springsteen is the first international songwriter to be named a fellow of The Ivors Academy, the U.K’s professional association of music creators.

Schools to reopen in South Sudan after two weeks of extreme heat

South Sudan’s government says schools will reopen next week following a two-week closure due to extreme heat across the country.

US imposes more Iran sanctions and hits Syrian regime with penalties for drug trafficking

The U.S. has imposed sanctions on a group of firms and one individual across six countries involved in commodity shipments and business transactions that benefit Iran’s military and the Houthi militant group in Yemen and Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.