ROME (AP) — Pope Francis will preside over an interfaith meeting in a mosque in the world’s largest predominantly Muslim country during a four-nation Asian visit in September that will be the longest and most complicated foreign trip of his pontificate. The Vatican on Friday released the itinerary for Francis’ Sept. 2-13 trip to Indonesia
PARIS (AP) — Candidates in France’s pivotal and polarizing legislative elections were making their last pushes on Friday for the second and decisive round of voting after a three-week campaign marked by hate speech, verbal abuse and physical attacks . French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said his ministry has registered 51 verbal and physical attacks
DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP) — England will play Switzerland in the quarterfinals of Euro 2024 on Saturday. England faced criticism from fans who thought the team underperformed in its extra-time win over Slovakia, while Switzerland exceeded expectations by knocking out defending champion Italy. The winner will play either the Netherlands or Turkey in the semifinals. Kickoff
BANGKOK (AP) — New fighting has broken out in northeastern Myanmar , bringing an end to a Chinese-brokered cease-fire and putting pressure on the military regime as it faces attacks from resistance forces on multiple fronts in the country’s civil war. The Ta’ang National Liberation Army, one of three powerful militias that launched a surprise
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has arrived in Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Orbán’s press chief said Friday, a rare visit to Russia by a European leader since it invaded Ukraine more than two years ago. Orbán’s visit comes only days after he made a similar unannounced trip
ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia (AP) — Tsenguun Saruulsaikhan, a young and newly minted member of Mongolia’s parliament, is unhappy with below-cost electricity rates that she says show her country has yet to fully shake off its socialist past. Most of Mongolia’s power plants date from the Soviet era and outages are common in some areas. Heavy smog
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A roadside bomb planted on a bridge struck a rickshaw in northwest Pakistan on Friday, killing at least two people and wounding eight others, officials said. The attack happened in Mardan district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, police official Sabir Khan said. He said police transported the wounded people to a hospital
JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military said Friday it was conducting counterterrorism activity that included an airstrike in the area of the West Bank city of Jenin. Palestinian authorities said five people were killed. The military said Israeli soldiers had “encircled a building where terrorists have barricaded themselves in” and the soldiers were exchanging fire
BERLIN (AP) — The German government on Friday agreed on a budget for 2025 and a stimulus package for Europe’s largest economy, ending a monthslong squabble that threatened to upend Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s center-left coalition. Scholz, a Social Democrat, and leaders of the Free Democrats and Greens agreed on the budget early Friday after marathon
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Crocodile numbers in Australia’s Northern Territory must be either maintained or reduced and cannot be allowed to outstrip the human population, the territory’s leader said after a 12-year-old girl was killed while swimming. The crocodile population has exploded across Australia’s tropical north since it became a protected species under Australian
