VATICAN CITY (AP) — Families from many places, including war-ravaged Ukraine, told Pope Francis their stories of joys, sorrows and hopes at an event on a stage at the Vatican Wednesday evening. The occasion at the Vatican's auditorium was part of events this week for the World Meeting of ...

TOKYO (AP) — Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki is marking the 77th anniversary Thursday of the end of one of harshest World War II battles fought on the southern islands by calling for further reduction of U.S. military presence there amid growing fear of getting embroiled in regional ...

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas has told The Associated Press that the West shouldn't underestimate Russia's military capabilities in Ukraine, saying Moscow is in it for the long haul as the war enters its fifth month. Kallas said in an interview Wednesday that ...

LESBOS, Greece (AP) — Authorities in Greece say a woman from Eritrea has given birth on an uninhabited rocky islet after traveling with other migrants from nearby Turkey. A coast guard official said 29 Eritreans ‒ 24 men and five women ‒ were spotted Wednesday during a patrol near the ...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Kuwait's crown prince on Wednesday dissolved Parliament and called for early elections, a move to ease government gridlock that has bred popular opposition and paralyzed the tiny country for months. In his televised national address, the 81-year-old Sheikh ...

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli lawmakers voted in favor of dissolving parliament in a preliminary vote on Wednesday, setting the wheels in motion to send the country to its fifth national election in 3 1/2 years. The development was the first step in a series of votes before the formal dissolution ...

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — European Union leaders will seek to offer support this week to six Western Balkan countries that have long been knocking at the bloc's doors, and now see the war in Ukraine raging not far from their borders amid fears Russia could turn its sights on their region. The ...

JERUSALEM (AP) — After barely 12 months in office, the leaders of Israel's broad-based but severely weakened coalition government threw in the towel this week, saying they would dissolve parliament and hold new elections — the fifth in 3 1/2 years. Why does this keep happening? The ...

LONDON (AP) — Queen Elizabeth II and her grandson Prince William paid tribute Wednesday to Britain's Caribbean immigrants for their "profound contribution" to the U.K., as a national monument was unveiled in London to celebrate the migrants' work to help rebuild Britain after World War ...

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Myanmar's defense minister, under sanctions from the United States, Britain and other countries for abuses committed by his country's military, was welcomed Wednesday to an annual meeting with his counterparts in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Gen. ...

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Prince Charles has become the first British royal to visit Rwanda, representing Queen Elizabeth II as the ceremonial head of the Commonwealth at a summit where both the 54-nation bloc and the monarchy face uncertainty. Charles and his wife, Camilla, the Duchess of ...

MIAMI (AP) — It's one of the world's highest-fetching wild-caught fish, sold for $32 a pound at Whole Foods and served up as meaty fillets on the menus of upscale eateries across the U.S. But Russia's obstruction of longstanding conservation efforts, resulting in a unilateral rejection of ...

New tensions between Moscow and the West are rising after Lithuania decided to halt the transport of some goods through its territory to the Russian region of Kaliningrad as part of European Union sanctions on the Kremlin. The Kremlin warns it will retaliate against the sanctions, stemming ...

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Lawmakers in Bulgaria on Wednesday approved a no-confidence motion against the country's minority coalition government that could topple the centrist prime minister and further stall efforts by Balkan countries to join the European Union. The center-right opposition ...

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron proposed Wednesday to "legislate in a different way" based on compromises between diverse political forces, three days after he suffered a major political blow when his party lost its parliamentary majority. Macron spoke in a national televised ...

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — A former Brazilian education minister of President Jair Bolsonaro was arrested Wednesday in connection with a federal police corruption investigation, further hurting the far-right leader's bid for reelection. Milton Ribeiro left the post in March after Brazilian ...

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has received the final chapter of a report on an extensive judicial investigation into corruption. Chief Justice Raymond Zondo handed over the last installment of the report, reportedly 1,000 pages long, to Ramaphosa. The earlier ...

SANTIAGO (AP) — Chile's new left-leaning government is doing away with the office of the first lady in an effort to transform a role that both the president and his partner have characterized as archaic. The first lady will now be known as the "sociocultural coordinator of the republic's ...

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Violent protests by Indigenous people demanding a variety of changes, including lower fuel prices, have paralyzed Ecuador's capital and other regions, but the government on Wednesday rejected their conditions for dialogue. Quito, the capital, is experiencing food and ...

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian official overseeing the country's push to join the European Union said Wednesday that she's "100%" certain all 27 EU nations will approve Ukraine's EU candidacy during a summit this week. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed similar optimism, ...