HIROSHIMA (AP) -- 8:15 on the morning of Aug. 6, 1945. It's a big reason leaders from the world's most powerful democracies descended on Hiroshima for this weekend's Group of Seven summit: Part commemoration, part effort to confront the continuing consequences of the moment a US B-29 Superfortress released what the Americans named “Little Boy” over the city in the first wartime use of a nuclear bomb. It also presents Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, the driving

World News May 21, 2023

HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Russian forces weren't occupying Bakhmut, casting doubt on Moscow's claims that the eastern Ukrainian city had fallen. Responding to a reporter’s question about the status of the city at the Group of Seven meeting in Japan, Zelenskyy said: “Bakhmut is not occupied by the Russian Federation as of today.” The fog of war made it impossible to confirm the situation on the ground in the inv

World News May 21, 2023

DHAKA, Bangladesh — Authorities in Bangladesh and Myanmar prepared to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people Friday, warning them to stay away from coastal areas as a severe cyclone churned in the Bay of Bengal. Cyclone Mocha is expected to hit land on Sunday with wind speeds of up to 160 kilometers (100 miles) per hour and gusts up to 175 kph (110 mph) between Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh and Kyaukpyu in Myanmar, India's Meteorological Department said. Bangladesh, a delta nati

World News May 12, 2023

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Palestinian militants fired rockets toward Jerusalem on Friday, further escalating the most violent confrontation in months between Israel and militants in the Gaza Strip despite efforts to broker a cease-fire. The burst of rocket fire from Gaza sent warning sirens wailing as far north as the contested capital of Jerusalem — about 48 miles (77 kilometers) from the Gaza border — breaking a 12-hour lull that had raised hopes that regional powers could soon

World News May 12, 2023

PODGORICA, Montenegro — A trial opened in Montenegro on Thursday against Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon and another citizen of South Korea who are charged in the Balkan country with using forged identification documents, state-owned media reported. The two have pleaded not guilty and offered 400,000 euros ($437,000) each to be released on bail, the RTCG television report said. The court in Podgorica, Montenegro's capital, hasn't yet decided on the motion. Do Kwon was arrested in

Social Affairs May 11, 2023

BERLIN (AP) — German authorities raided a luxury yacht belonging to a wealthy Russian businessman as part of a probe into possible breaches of Western sanctions imposed over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, officials said Wednesday. Specialists from the German navy and federal and state police took part in the search of the superyacht at an undisclosed shipyard in northern Germany, Frankfurt prosecutors said in a statement. The ship belongs to a 67-year-old Russian businessman, whose n

Foreign Affairs May 3, 2023

DADEVILLE, Alabama -- Alabama law enforcement officers Sunday were imploring people to come forward with information about a shooting that killed four people and injured 28 others during a teenager’s birthday party. Among those killed was a high school senior who planned to play college football and was celebrating his sister’s 16th birthday. The shooting erupted Saturday night at a dance studio in downtown Dadeville. During two news conferences Sunday, Sgt. Jeremy Burkett of the A

World News April 17, 2023

NEW YORK — Donald Trump has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury, prosecutors and defense lawyers said Thursday, making him the first former US president to face a criminal charge and jolting his bid to retake the White House next year. The charges remained under seal late Thursday, but the investigation centered on payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign to silence claims of an extramarital sexual encounter. Prosecutors said they were working to coordinate Trump's

Foreign Affairs March 31, 2023

NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump has returned to Facebook after a more than two-year ban. “I’M BACK!” Trump posted on the site weeks after his personal account was reactivated. Trump, who is running his third campaign for the White House, also shared an old video clip in which he said: “Sorry to keep you waiting. Complicated business.” He posted the same clip on YouTube, which announced Friday that it, too, was welcoming him back. Facebook parent Met

World News March 18, 2023

THE HAGUE — The International Criminal Court said Friday that it has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes, accusing him of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine. It was the first time the global court has issued a warrant against a leader of one of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. The ICC said in a statement that Putin “is allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of (c

World News March 18, 2023

Lance Reddick, a character actor who specialized in intense, icy and possibly sinister authority figures on TV and film, including “The Wire,” “Fringe” and the “John Wick” franchise, has died. He was 60. Reddick died “suddenly” Friday morning, his publicist Mia Hansen said in a statement, attributing his death to natural causes. No further details were provided. Wendell Pierce, Reddick’s co-star on “The Wire” paid tribute on Twitt

World News March 18, 2023

TEMPE, Greece -- Rescuers searched late into the night Wednesday for survivors amid the mangled, burned-out wrecks of two trains that collided in northern Greece, killing at least 43 people and crumpling carriages into twisted steel knots in the country’s deadliest rail crash. The impact just before midnight Tuesday threw some passengers into ceilings and out the windows. “My head hit the roof of the carriage with the jolt,” Stefanos Gogakos, who was in a rear car, told state b

World News March 2, 2023

Japan's space agency aborted the inaugural launch of its next-generation H3 rocket on Friday after the auxiliary booster engines failed to ignite, officials said. The main engine of the rocket, which is carrying an observation satellite and an experimental sensor to detect missile launches, had already ignited when the launch was halted, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said. “I know many people were waiting for and looking forward to this day. I'm so sorry. We also feel ex

World News Feb. 17, 2023

ANKARA, Turkey — A powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit southeast Turkey and Syria early Monday, toppling buildings and sending panicked residents pouring outside in a cold winter night. At least 207 people were killed in both countries, hundreds were injured and the toll was expected to rise. Rescue workers and residents frantically searched for survivors under the rubble of crushed buildings in multiple cities on both sides of the border. In one quake-struck Turkish city, dozens pulled

World News Feb. 6, 2023

WASHINGTON -- The US military on Saturday shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the Carolina coast after it traversed sensitive military sites across North America. China insisted the flyover was an accident involving a civilian aircraft and threatened repercussions. President Joe Biden issued the order but had wanted the balloon downed even earlier, on Wednesday. He was advised that the best time for the operation would be when it was over water, US officials said. Military officials de

Foreign Affairs Feb. 5, 2023