By BASSEM MROUE Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — After insurgents toppled Syrian President Bashar Assad this month, many senior officials and members of his dreaded intelligence and security services appear to have melted away. Activists say some of them have managed to flee the country ...

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan's refusal to recognize same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, a high court ruled Friday, the latest victory for the LGBTQ+ community to add pressure on the reluctant government. Friday's decision by the Fukuoka High Court in southern ...

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) — Chinese leaders met this week to plot economic policy for the coming year, sketching out plans to raise government spending and relax Beijing's monetary policy to encourage more investment and consumer spending. Leaders of the ruling ...

By EVENS SANON Associated Press PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti's prime minister held his first press conference Thursday since being appointed more than a month ago to oversee the troubled Caribbean country reeling from recent massacres as Haitians demand government protection. Alix ...

NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju became the youngest chess world champion Thursday after beating the defending champion Ding Liren of China in the final match of their series in Singapore. Dommaraju, 18, secured 7.5 points against 6.5 of his Chinese rival in the contest, ...

By WAFAA SHURAFA Associated Press DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — An Israeli airstrike hit the central Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing at least 25 Palestinians and wounding dozens more, Palestinian medics said, as U.S. President Joe Biden's two top national security officials were in the ...

By SARAH EL DEEB Associated Press DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Hundreds of Syrians marched through central Damascus on Thursday in the funeral procession of a well-known anti-government figure, chanting calls for justice for the activist who was killed in prison during the last days of President ...

By TIA GOLDENBERG Associated Press TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised defiantly on Tuesday to knock down corruption allegations against him as he began testifying in his long-running trial, becoming the first sitting Israeli leader to take the stand ...

By ELÉONORE HUGHES Associated Press RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Criminal gangs are operating in over a third of municipalities in Brazil's Amazon rainforest driving a boom in violence, according to a report published Wednesday by a prominent nonprofit organization. In 2024, gangs were present ...

By KIM TONG-HYUNG and HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's previous defense minister was stopped from attempting suicide while in detention over last week's martial law declaration, officials said Wednesday, as President Yoon Suk Yeol's office resisted a ...

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australian federal police launched a special operation to investigate an increase in antisemitic threats and violence since the war between Israel and Hamas began last year. Jewish leaders say prejudice against their community ...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Humanitarian aid to n orth Gaza, where Israel launched a ground offensive on Oct. 6, has largely been blocked for the past 66 days, the United Nations said Tuesday. That has left between 65,000 and 75,000 Palestinians without access to food, water, electricity or health ...

By WAFAA SHURAFA, SARAH EL DEEB and JULIA FRANKEL Associated Press DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Reem Ajour says she last saw her husband and then 4-year-old daughter in March, when Israeli soldiers raided a family home in northern Gaza. She is haunted by those chaotic last moments, ...

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A gang leader accused of killing more than 100 people in Haiti's capital to avenge his son's death was still persecuting residents on Tuesday, according to a rare witness account. Mackenson Cangé, whose father was among the victims, told Magik9 radio station ...

By FANNY BRODERSEN and VANESSA GERA Associated Press OSLO, Norway (AP) — A 92-year-old Japanese man who lived through the American atomic bombing of Nagasaki described on Tuesday the agony he witnessed in 1945, including the charred corpses of his loved ones and the ruins of his city, as ...

By HYUNG-JIN KIM and KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A former South Korean defense minister was formally arrested Wednesday over his alleged collusion with President Yoon Suk Yeol and others in imposing martial law last week, as authorities investigate whether ...

By SARAH EL DEEB Associated Press SAYDNAYA, Syria (AP) — They came from all over Syria, tens of thousands. The first place they rushed to after the fall of their longtime tormentor, former President Bashar Assad, was here: Saydnaya Prison, a place so notorious for its horrors it was long ...

By ISABEL DEBRE Associated Press BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — When libertarian President Javier Milei assumed office one year ago, Argentine supermarkets were marking price increases on an almost daily basis. Middle-class families tried to spend their rapidly depreciating pesos as ...

By MUCAHIT CEYLAN and MEHMET GUZEL Assocaited Press CILVEGOZU BORDER CROSSING, Turkey (AP) — Hundreds of Syrian refugees gathered at two border crossings in southern Turkey on Monday, eagerly anticipating their return home following the fall of Bashar Assad's government. Many arrived at ...

By STEPHEN McGRATH and ANDREEA ALEXANDRU Associated Press BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — A Ukrainian man who embarked on a perilous journey fleeing his war-torn country into Romania was rescued from a deep mountain ravine in subzero temperatures with an unlikely companion: his months-old kitten ...