World News

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Portugal is beginning its journey to what the country’s prime minister calls “total freedom,” with a government decision Thursday to start winding down COVID-19 pandemic restrictions ahead of a forecast 70% of people being fully vaccinated by the end of this summer. The Health Ministry says around 5.4 million people, or […]

LONDON (AP) — International governments and companies have pledged more than $4 billion to educate 175 million children around the world and prevent a generation’s chances being blighted by the coronavirus pandemic. The commitments came Thursday at a conference in London hosted by Britain, Kenya and funding organization the Global Partnership for Education. Former Australian […]

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The U.S. official who wrote a Pulitzer Prize-winning book on genocide is visiting Ethiopia next week to press the government to lift what the U.S. calls a blockade on humanitarian aid to the conflict-hit Tigray region, where hundreds of thousands of people now face deadly famine. Samantha Power, administrator of the […]

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Thousands of Guatemalans took to the streets in protest Thursday, blocking highways and calling for a national strike over the government’s apparent unwillingness to tackle corruption. Pressure has been building since Attorney General Consuelo Porras fired anti-corruption special prosecutor Juan Francisco Sandoval on July 23. In response, the United States government […]

LONDON (AP) — It’s time for another “Doctor Who” regeneration. The BBC said Thursday that star Jodie Whittaker will leave the venerable science fiction series next year, along with showrunner Chris Chibnall. Whittaker will bow out after a new six-episode series later this year and three specials in 2022. The series’ central character is a […]

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — German pharmaceutical and chemical company Bayer said Thursday it would take a provision of $4.5 billion against second-quarter earnings to put the company on what it said would be a path to closure of thousands of U.S. lawsuits over a weedkiller containing the chemical glyphosate. The company said would continue to […]

VALLETTA, Malta (AP) — An independent inquiry into the murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia released on Thursday has found that the Maltese state “has to bear responsibility” for the assassination because of the culture of impunity emanating from the highest levels of government. Caruana Galizia’s family had sought the inquiry into the Oct. […]

LONDON (AP) — The British government on Thursday approved plans to build a national Holocaust memorial beside Parliament, rejecting claims by campaigners that the location was unsuitable. The government said building the Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre in Victoria Tower Gardens, a park in the shadow of Parliament, would send a “powerful associative message.” The […]

BERLIN (AP) — The known death toll from an explosion at a German industrial park grew to five Thursday after authorities said the bodies of three more people were recovered from the chemical manufacturing site. Two people are still missing following Tuesday’s explosion at the waste management facility of the Chempark industrial park, located in […]

MADRID (AP) — A Spanish judge on Thursday threw out a lawsuit against the leader of a movement seeking independence for Western Sahara from Morocco that had accused him of torture, genocide and other crimes. Judge Santiago Pedraz said the 20-year statute of limitations had expired for the alleged crimes that Brahim Ghali had presumably […]