Russia fires 30 cruise missiles at Ukrainian targets; Ukraine says 29 were shot down
May 18, 2023 GMTKYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia fired 30 cruise missiles against different parts of Ukraine early Thursday in the latest nighttime test of Ukrainian air defenses, which shot down 29 of them, officials said.
World leaders gather for G7 meetings, ready to pile fresh sanctions on Russia over Ukraine war
May 18, 2023 GMTHIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) — Leaders of the world's most powerful democracies gathered Thursday for Group of Seven meetings in Hiroshima, with Russia's invasion of Ukraine high on the agenda for a summit convened in the shadow of the world’s first atomic bomb attack.
Biden, Japan’s Kishida meet ahead of G-7 summit, vowing to ‘stand strong’ against global threats
May 18, 2023 GMTHIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) — President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met Thursday aiming to showcase the strength of their alliance ahead of a Group of Seven summit where leading democracies will tackle the challenges of Russia’s war in Ukraine, North Korea’s ballistic nuclear threats and an increasingly forceful China.
G-7 Hiroshima summit: Who’s attending, what will be discussed?
May 18, 2023 GMTTOKYO (AP) — Leaders of seven of the world’s most powerful democracies will gather this weekend for the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, the location of the world's first atomic attack at the end of World War II.
El Ninos are far costlier than once thought, in the trillions, study says -- and one’s brewing now
May 18, 2023 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — The natural burst of El Nino warming that changes weather worldwide is far costlier with longer-lasting expenses than experts had thought, averaging trillions of dollars in damage, a new study found.
Incredible shrinking lakes: Humans, climate change, diversion costs trillions of gallons annually
May 18, 2023 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — Climate change 's hotter temperatures and society's diversion of water have been shrinking the world's lakes by trillions of gallons of water a year since the early 1990s, a new study finds.
Crews work to reach Italian towns isolated by floods as toll rises to 13 and cleanup begins
May 18, 2023 GMTFAENZA, Italy (AP) — Rescue crews worked Thursday to reach towns and villages in northern Italy still isolated by heavy rains and flooding, as the death toll rose to 13 and authorities began mapping out cleanup and reconstruction plans.
China’s loans pushing world’s poorest countries to brink of collapse
AP InvestigationMay 18, 2023 GMTA dozen poor countries are facing economic instability and even collapse under the weight of hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign loans, much of them from the world’s biggest and most unforgiving government lender, China.
Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral cost UK government $200 million
May 18, 2023 GMTLONDON (AP) — Queen Elizabeth II's funeral and lying-in-state last year cost Britain's government an estimated 162 million pounds (around $200 million), the treasury revealed Thursday.
The state funeral for the late monarch, held on Sept.
Magnitude 5.1 quake rattles Greek island of Crete but no early reports of damage or injuries
May 18, 2023 GMTATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek authorities say an earthquake with preliminary magnitude 5.1 has shaken the southern island of Crete. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
The Athens Geodynamic Institute said the quake struck just before 10 a.m.
Europe
Turkish candidate Kilicdaroglu hardens stance before runoff against Erdogan
Car rushes Vatican gate, is fired on by gendarmes; driver apprehended after reaching courtyard
Prince Harry and Meghan's run from paparazzi is another episode in battle royale with the media
First full-size 3D scan of Titanic shows shipwreck in new light
UN official hopes for breakthrough on Russian food, fertilizer shipments
Car rushes Vatican gate, is fired on by gendarmes; driver apprehended after reaching courtyard
Prince Harry and Meghan's run from paparazzi is another episode in battle royale with the media
First full-size 3D scan of Titanic shows shipwreck in new light
UN official hopes for breakthrough on Russian food, fertilizer shipments
Car rushes Vatican gate, is fired on by gendarmes; driver apprehended after reaching courtyard
Prince Harry and Meghan's run from paparazzi is another episode in battle royale with the media
First full-size 3D scan of Titanic shows shipwreck in new light
UN official hopes for breakthrough on Russian food, fertilizer shipments
Asia
Japan, Britain strike 'historic accord' on cooperation in defense, clean energy, semiconductors
Top leaders of Pakistan, Iran inaugurate border market in their first meeting in 10 years
Iran warns Afghanistan's Taliban rulers not to violate its water rights, over Helmand River
Leader of Thai opposition party that won election announces 8-party coalition plan to take power
Myanmar raises death toll from Cyclone Mocha to 54, but full extent of damage still unknown
Top leaders of Pakistan, Iran inaugurate border market in their first meeting in 10 years
Iran warns Afghanistan's Taliban rulers not to violate its water rights, over Helmand River
Leader of Thai opposition party that won election announces 8-party coalition plan to take power
Myanmar raises death toll from Cyclone Mocha to 54, but full extent of damage still unknown
Top leaders of Pakistan, Iran inaugurate border market in their first meeting in 10 years
Iran warns Afghanistan's Taliban rulers not to violate its water rights, over Helmand River
Leader of Thai opposition party that won election announces 8-party coalition plan to take power
Myanmar raises death toll from Cyclone Mocha to 54, but full extent of damage still unknown
Latin America
Ecuador lawmakers denounce president's disbanding of National Assembly, argue it wasn't legal
Mexico finds 49 migrants who had been kidnapped from bus
US: 44 indicted in Puerto Rico in $1.2M scheme to obtain pandemic relief funds
Why Ecuador's president dissolved the National Assembly, and what happens next
Oil drilling project near mouth of Amazon River rejected by Brazil's environmental regulator
Mexico finds 49 migrants who had been kidnapped from bus
US: 44 indicted in Puerto Rico in $1.2M scheme to obtain pandemic relief funds
Why Ecuador's president dissolved the National Assembly, and what happens next
Oil drilling project near mouth of Amazon River rejected by Brazil's environmental regulator
Mexico finds 49 migrants who had been kidnapped from bus
US: 44 indicted in Puerto Rico in $1.2M scheme to obtain pandemic relief funds
Why Ecuador's president dissolved the National Assembly, and what happens next
Oil drilling project near mouth of Amazon River rejected by Brazil's environmental regulator
Middle East
Syria's Assad arrives in Saudi Arabia for regional summit, sealing his return to the Arab fold
Top Lebanese official in IMF talks calls for central bank head to resign amid corruption allegations
Israeli crowds chant racist slogans, taunt Palestinians during Jerusalem march
Hamas calls on Palestinians to confront Israeli victory parade in Jerusalem
British financier ordered by UAE high court to repay $1.7 billion bilked in tax fraud
Top Lebanese official in IMF talks calls for central bank head to resign amid corruption allegations
Israeli crowds chant racist slogans, taunt Palestinians during Jerusalem march
Hamas calls on Palestinians to confront Israeli victory parade in Jerusalem
British financier ordered by UAE high court to repay $1.7 billion bilked in tax fraud
Top Lebanese official in IMF talks calls for central bank head to resign amid corruption allegations
Israeli crowds chant racist slogans, taunt Palestinians during Jerusalem march
Hamas calls on Palestinians to confront Israeli victory parade in Jerusalem
British financier ordered by UAE high court to repay $1.7 billion bilked in tax fraud
Africa
Anti-migration operation on French African island of Mayotte stirs tensions, exposes inequalities
Stock market today: Wall Street rises, adding to a winning week
May 18, 2023 GMTNEW YORK (AP) — Stocks rose again Thursday after more companies reported better profits than expected, while yields climbed after a Federal Reserve official cautioned the end to its interest-rate hikes may not arrive as soon as Wall Street hoped.
Canadian airline WestJet starts to cancel flights as pilot strike looms, negotiations in stalemate
May 18, 2023 GMTCALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Canada’s second largest airline, WestJet, has started to cancel flights because its talks with a pilots’ union are at an impasse, the carrier said Thursday, jeopardizing travel plans for thousands of passengers ahead of a holiday weekend in Canada.
CANNES, France (AP) — Just a year ago, the image of Johnny Depp smiling and waving atop the Palais steps at the Cannes Film Festival would have been unthinkable to most — including to Depp, himself.
Russia extends detention of US consular worker by 3 months
May 18, 2023 GMTMOSCOW (AP) — A Russian court on Thursday extended by three months the detention of a former employee of the U.S. Consulate in Vladivostok on charges of cooperating with a foreign state.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The husband of two-time Olympic champion Justyna Kowalczyk was killed Thursday in an avalanche in the Swiss Alps, the Polish Mountaineering Support Foundation said.
Sports climber Kacper Tekieli, who was 38, last posted on Facebook on Tuesday from Konkordia Hut in Fiescherthal, Switzerland.
LONDON (AP) — U.K. telecom company BT Group said Thursday that it plans to shed up to 55,000 jobs by the end of the decade and replace some of them with artificial intelligence, as part of an overhaul aimed at slimming down its workforce to slash costs.
MADRID (AP) — Kenyan marathon specialist Eliud Kipchoge has won the Princess of Asturias Award for sports for 2023, the Spanish foundation that organizes the prizes said Thursday.
Kipchoge, 38, who took Olympic gold medals in the marathon in 2016 and 2020 and was world 5,000 meters champion in 2003 “is considered a legend in world athletics and the best marathon runner of all time,” the foundation's panel of judges said in a statement.
China asks Australia to increase search for 39 aboard capsized boat as 2 bodies reportedly found
May 18, 2023 GMTCANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A Chinese envoy asked Australian authorities on Thursday to increase efforts to find survivors in the search for 39 crew members who were aboard a Chinese fishing boat that capsized in the Indian Ocean, as Chinese media reported two bodies had been recovered.
Deutsche Bank to pay $75 million to settle lawsuit from Epstein victims, lawyers say
May 18, 2023 GMTLONDON (AP) — Deutsche Bank has agreed to pay $75 million to settle a lawsuit claiming that the German lender should have seen evidence of sex trafficking by Jeffrey Epstein when he was a client, according to lawyers for women who say they were abused by the late financier.
Australia to provide surveillance drones to Philippines amid South China Sea tensions
May 18, 2023 GMTMANILA, Philippines (AP) — Australia will provide surveillance drones and other high-tech gear to the Philippine coast guard and is considering whether to take part in joint patrols in the disputed South China Sea, Australia Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Thursday.
HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong's leader said Thursday the city's public libraries would not recommend books featuring “bad ideologies" to residents after they pulled titles related to the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown and certain political figures, further shrinking the city's freedoms.
New Zealand police arrest, charge man in connection with hostel fire that killed at least 6
May 18, 2023 GMTWELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand police said Thursday they had arrested a man and charged him with two counts of arson in connection with the fire at a Wellington hostel that killed at least six people.