Tens of thousands of devotees gathered in Mumbai on Tuesday to bid farewell to the Hindu god Ganesha after a ten-day festival celebrating his birth. (AP Video by Rafiq Maqbool and Mahesh Kumar) Tens of thousands of devotees gathered in Mumbai on Tuesday to bid farewell to the Hindu god Ganesha after a ten-day festival
SPRING VALLEY, Sri Lanka (AP) — Whoever Sri Lanka’s next president is, Muthuthevarkittan Manohari isn’t expecting much to change in her daily struggle to feed the four children and elderly mother with whom she lives in a dilapidated room in a tea plantation. Both leading candidates in Saturday’s presidential election are promising to give land
TOKYO (AP) — Japan posted a trade deficit for a second straight month in August, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday, despite signs of sluggish consumer spending that weighed on imports. Japan’s trade deficit totaled 695 billion yen, or $4.9 billion, down 26% from a year earlier, the ministry said. Exports totaled 8.4 trillion yen ($59
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly will vote Wednesday on a Palestinian resolution demanding that Israel end its “unlawful presence” in Gaza and the occupied West Bank within a year, withdraw its military forces and evacuate all settlers. The resolution is being put to a vote in the 193-member assembly as Israel’s war
Since childhood, Loveness Bhitoni has collected fruit from the gigantic baobab trees surrounding her homestead in Zimbabwe to add variety to the family’s staple corn and millet diet. The 50-year-old Bhitoni never saw them as a source of cash, until now. Climate change-induced droughts have decimated her crops. Meanwhile, the world has a growing appetite
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A top supplier of digital devices in U.S. prisons is launching a new program to help incarcerated individuals earn a high school diploma by using the company’s tablets. Advocates say the expansion in virtual education is promising, especially since many inmates lack basic literacy skills . But some advocates have said
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — On the eve of New Zealand’s Māori language celebration week, the country’s right-wing political leaders ordered public agencies to stop affirmative action policies for Māori people, who are disadvantaged on almost every metric. The lawmakers then posted on social media about their enthusiasm for the Indigenous tongue. “In New Zealand
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Yemen’s Houthi rebels shot down two American MQ-9 Reaper drones in under a week, the United States military acknowledged Wednesday, further highlighting the regional spread of the Israel-Hamas war . As the one-year anniversary of the war approaches, Houthis continue a campaign to target ships traveling through the Red
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australian police said Wednesday they have infiltrated Ghost , an encrypted global communications app developed for criminals, leading to dozens of arrests. The app’s alleged administrator, Jay Je Yoon Jung, 32, will appear in a Sydney court Wednesday on charges including supporting a criminal organization and benefitting from proceeds of crime
SRINAGAR, India (AP) — The three-phased election for choosing a local government in Indian-controlled Kashmir opened early Wednesday in the first such vote since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government stripped the disputed region of its special status five years ago. Authorities deployed thousands of additional police and paramilitary soldiers in the region’s seven southern districts
