India’s top court hearing petitions challenging government’s removal of Kashmir’s special status | AP News

India’s top court hearing petitions challenging government’s removal of Kashmir’s special status | AP News

NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s top court Wednesday began hearing a clutch of petitions challenging the constitutionality of the legislation passed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government in 2019 that stripped disputed Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood, scrapped its separate constitution and removed inherited protections on land and jobs.The five-judge constitutional bench that includes the Supreme

Continue reading

Malians who thrived with arrival of UN peacekeeping mission fear economic fallout from its departure | AP News

Malians who thrived with arrival of UN peacekeeping mission fear economic fallout from its departure | AP News

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Nearly 10 years ago, Mariame Coulibaly Sangare lost everything when armed violence in northern Mali forced her to flee her home. Desperate for money, she saw an opportunity with the arrival of a new United Nations peacekeeping mission in the West African nation’s capital, Bamako.Sangare left her previous job of trading

Continue reading

29 inches of rain from Saturday to Wednesday was Beijing’s heaviest rainfall in 140 years | AP News

29 inches of rain from Saturday to Wednesday was Beijing’s heaviest rainfall in 140 years | AP News

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China’s capital has recorded its heaviest rainfall in 140 years over the past few days.The city recorded 744.8 millimeters (29.3 inches) of rain between Saturday and Wednesday morning, the Beijing Meteorological Bureau said on Wednesday. Chinese authorities on Tuesday said the torrential rains around Beijing had destroyed roads, knocked out power

Continue reading

Pope Francis can expect to find heat and hope in Portugal, along with fallout from sex abuse scandal | AP News

Pope Francis can expect to find heat and hope in Portugal, along with fallout from sex abuse scandal | AP News

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis plans to head to Portugal on Wednesday to open the first post-pandemic edition of World Youth Day, hoping to inspire the next generation of Catholics while coping with the church’s ongoing clergy sexual abuse scandal.More than 1 million young people from around the world were expected to attend the

Continue reading

Some of Niger’s neighbors defend the coup there, even hinting at war. It’s a warning for Africa | AP News

Some of Niger’s neighbors defend the coup there, even hinting at war. It’s a warning for Africa | AP News

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Not everyone is hostile to the coups in Niger and other African nations in the past few years that have worried the West. In the “family photo” for last week’s Russia-Africa Summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin stood next to Ibrahim Traore, the young military officer who seized power in Burkina Faso

Continue reading

India’s northern Haryana state tense after 5 killed in communal clashes between Hindus and Muslims | AP News

India’s northern Haryana state tense after 5 killed in communal clashes between Hindus and Muslims | AP News

NUH, India (AP) — Indian authorities imposed a curfew, suspended internet service and deployed thousands of paramilitary forces Tuesday to parts of northern Haryana state after deadly communal clashes spread to Gurugram, a city just outside the capital, New Delhi.The violence began Monday afternoon when Hindus and Muslims clashed with each other in Haryana’s Nuh

Continue reading