KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian officials said their forces thwarted large Ukrainian attacks in two provinces of Ukraine illegally annexed by Moscow. The Ukrainian military suggested the Russian reports were part of a misinformation campaign as Kyiv prepares for an anticipated counteroffensive.
ON UTAH BEACH, France (AP) — Looking at the vastness of Utah Beach, its sand blowing in strong wind and bright sunshine, made Robert Gibson's memory of D-Day even more vivid.
“It was tough,” the 99-year-old veteran said of the moment when he landed there on June 6, 1944 alongside more than 150,000 other Allied troops.
Prince Harry a no-show on first day of court showdown with British tabloid publisher
June 5, 2023 GMTLONDON (AP) — Prince Harry’s phone hacking trial against the publisher of the Daily Mirror kicked off Monday without him present — and the judge was not happy.
Harry's lawyer said the Duke of Sussex would not be available to testify after opening statements because he caught a flight back from Los Angeles on Sunday after the birthday of his 2-year-old daughter, Lilibet.
Belgium investigating whether arms destined to defend Ukraine ended up in Russia fighting
June 5, 2023 GMTBRUSSELS (AP) — Belgium is investigating whether weapons it sent to help Ukraine defend its territory were used in fighting just over the border following a news report that said equipment produced by a Belgian company turned up around Russia's Belgorod region.
OUTSIDE BAKHMUT, Ukraine (AP) — Watching imagery from a drone camera overhead, Ukrainian battalion commander Oleg Shiryaev warned his men in nearby trenches that Russian forces were advancing across a field toward a patch of trees outside the city of Bakhmut.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Saudi Arabia will reduce how much oil it sends to the global economy, taking a unilateral step to prop up the sagging price of crude after two previous cuts to supply by major producing countries in the OPEC+ alliance failed to push oil higher.
Biden set for critical talks on Ukraine this week with Denmark’s Frederiksen, UK’s Sunak
June 5, 2023 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is welcoming Denmark and Britain's prime ministers this week to Washington for talks that will focus heavily on what lays ahead in the war in Ukraine —including the recently-launched effort to train, and eventually equip, Ukraine with American-made F-16s fighter jets
Turkish forces arrive in Kosovo to bolster NATO-led peacekeepers after recent violence
June 5, 2023 GMTISTANBUL (AP) — The Turkish commando battalion requested by NATO has arrived in Kosovo to assist in quelling recent violent unrest in the Balkan country.
The Turkish Defense Ministry shared a video Sunday showing troops wearing the insignia of the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force departing Turkey and arriving in Kosovo.
No breakthrough in NATO-Turkey talks about Sweden joining
June 4, 2023 GMTISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg made no breakthrough on Sunday in talks about Sweden’s membership in the military organization with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with officials from the two countries to meet in just over a week to try to bridge their differences.
Hundreds of thousands march in Poland anti-government protests to show support for democracy
June 4, 2023 GMTWhat to know as Prince Harry prepares for court fight with British tabloid publisher
June 5, 2023 GMTLONDON (AP) — Prince Harry is going where other British royals haven't for over a century: to a courtroom witness stand.
The Duke of Sussex is set to testify in the first of his five pending legal cases largely centered around battles with British tabloids.
Russia says it thwarted attack in Donetsk; unclear if this was start of Ukrainian counteroffensive
June 5, 2023 GMTKYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia's Defense Ministry announced early Monday its forces had thwarted a large Ukrainian attack in the eastern province of Donetsk, though it's unclear if this was the start of a Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Navalny supporters hold demonstrations to mark Russian opposition leader’s 47th birthday
June 4, 2023 GMTMOSCOW (AP) — Alexei Navalny voiced hope for a better future in Russia as his supporters defied a crackdown on dissent to hold pickets and demonstrations to mark the imprisoned opposition leader's 47th birthday on Sunday, with at least 90 people reported arrested.
AMSTERDAM (AP) — The blockbuster exhibition of paintings by Dutch Master Johannes Vermeer closed its doors for the final time on Sunday, with the art and history national museum of the Netherlands hailing the show as its most successful ever.
Soccer fan arrested for wearing offensive jersey to FA Cup final referring to Hillsborough tragedy
June 4, 2023 GMTLONDON (AP) — London police said that a soccer fan was charged Sunday with wearing an offensive jersey to the FA Cup final that apparently referred to the 1989 Hillsborough Stadium disaster where 97 Liverpool fans died.
BERLIN (AP) — Far-left supporters of a woman sentenced to prison for participating in attacks on neo-Nazis and other extremists clashed with police in the eastern German city of Leipzig over the weekend, leaving 50 officers and a number of protesters injured.
Oil tanker breaks down in Egypt’s Suez Canal, briefly disrupting traffic in the global waterway
June 4, 2023 GMTCAIRO (AP) — A tanker transporting crude oil broke down in a single-lane part of Egypt's Suez Canal on Sunday, briefly disrupting traffic in the global waterway, Egyptian authorities said.
The Malta-flagged Seavigour suffered a mechanical malfunction at the 12- kilometer (7.5-mile) mark of the canal, said George Safwat, a spokesperson for Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority.
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian Orthodox believers celebrated Trinity Sunday with Russia's most famous icon transferred from a museum to Moscow's main cathedral despite the keepers' vociferous protests.
The Trinity icon by Andrei Rublev, which was kept in Moscow's Tretyakov Gallery since the 1920s, was moved to Christ the Savior Cathedral before the holiday on President Vladimir Putin's personal order.
Fire at refugee shelter in eastern Germany kills 1, injures 10
June 4, 2023 GMTBERLIN (AP) — A fire at a refugee shelter in eastern Germany killed one person and injured 10 others early Sunday, according to local police.
Police in the German state of Thuringia said the fire broke out around 5 a.m.
Homecoming on film: Award-winning Mariupol documentary screened for 1st time in Ukraine
June 4, 2023 GMTKYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The award-winning film “20 Days in Mariupol” made its premiere in Ukraine on Saturday, when it was seen for the first time by some of the Ukrainian medics and first responders who were chronicled in the documentary about how Russian forces bombed and blasted their way into the port city last year.
Five Greek police officers in custody pending trial for assisting illegal migrant crossings
June 3, 2023 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Five police officers accused of cooperating with human traffickers to facilitate the entry of at least 100 migrants into Greece are being held in custody pending trial.
The five officers had been testifying before an examining magistrate since Saturday morning at the border town of Orestiada, in northeastern Greece.
Ukraine says inspections found nearly a quarter of its air-raid shelters locked or unusable
June 3, 2023 GMTKYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Concerns around civilian safety spiked in Ukraine on Saturday, as officials announced that an inspection had found nearly a quarter of the country’s air-raid shelters locked or unusable, just days after a woman in Kyiv allegedly died waiting outside a shuttered shelter during a Russian missile barrage.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was sworn into his third presidential term on Saturday, reappointed an internationally respected former banker as finance minister in a sign that his new government might pursue more conventional economic policies.
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Tens of thousands of people rallied in Serbia’s capital on Saturday for a fifth time in a month, following two mass shootings that shook the nation, even as the country’s populist president rejected any responsibility for the crisis and ignored the protesters' demands to step down.
Key suspect in Natalee Holloway’s case moved to new prison ahead of extradition to US
June 3, 2023 GMTLIMA, Peru (AP) — The chief suspect in the unsolved 2005 disappearance of American student Natalee Holloway is being transferred to a prison near Peru's capital ahead of his pending extradition to the United States to face charges linked to her vanishing, officials said Saturday.
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The head of St. Peter’s Basilica performed a special rite Saturday after a man stripped naked and hopped on the main altar with the words “Save children of Ukraina” written on his back.
Austria’s Social Democrats choose Doskozil as new leader, looking to elections expected next year
June 3, 2023 GMTBERLIN (AP) — Austria’s center-left Social Democrats elected Hans Peter Doskozil as their new party leader Saturday, hoping to turn around the party’s fortunes ahead of parliamentary elections expected in the small Alpine nation next year.
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis warned the Vatican’s missionary fundraisers on Saturday not to allow financial corruption to creep into their work, insisting that spirituality and spreading the Gospel must drive their operations, not mere entrepreneurship.
Inside Russia’s penal colonies: A look at life for political prisoners caught in Putin’s crackdowns
June 3, 2023 GMTTALLINN, Estonia (AP) — When Alexei Navalny turns 47 on Sunday, he'll wake up in a bare concrete cell with hardly any natural light.
He won't be able to see or talk to any of his loved ones. Phone calls and visits are banned for those in “punishment isolation” cells, a 2-by-3-meter (6 1/2-by-10-foot) space.
Turkey to send commando unit to help quell unrest in Kosovo
June 3, 2023 GMTANKARA (AP) — The Turkish defense ministry announced Saturday it will be sending a commando battalion to northern Kosovo in response to a NATO request for troops to help quell violent unrest.
The request came from NATO’s Joint Force Command Naples, the ministry said in a press statement posted on its official Twitter account, and the battalion will join the alliance’s peacekeeping mission in the region, known as KFOR, as a reserve unit.
PARIS (AP) — Global negotiators have agreed to craft a draft treaty to end plastic pollution, a preliminary but crucial step toward tackling one of the most lasting sources of human waste.
Environmental advocates cautiously welcomed the outcome of five days of U.N.
Protests, poisoning and prison: A look at the life of Kremlin opposition leader Alexei Navalny
June 3, 2023 GMTLONDON (AP) — In a span of a decade, Alexei Navalny has gone from the Kremlin’s biggest foe to Russia’s most prominent political prisoner.
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia (AP) — Residents from Canada's Atlantic Coast city of Halifax whose homes have been destroyed by wildfires boarded buses Friday to get a look at what little remains of where they used to live.
Blinken warns Ukraine cease-fire now would result in ‘Potemkin peace,’ legitimizing Russian invasion
June 2, 2023 GMTKYIV, Ukraine (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday that the United States and its allies should not support a cease-fire or peace talks to end the war in Ukraine until Kyiv gains strength and can negotiate on its own terms.
First-of-its-kind Mars livestream by ESA spacecraft interrupted at times by rain on Earth
June 2, 2023 GMTCAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A European spacecraft around Mars sent its first livestream from the red planet to Earth on Friday to mark the 20th anniversary of its launch, but rain in Spain interfered at times.
Jailed Kremlin critic Navalny pokes fun at prison officials with demands of moonshine and a kangaroo
June 2, 2023 GMTMOSCOW (AP) — Imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny released excerpts of his correspondence with prison administrators Friday, detailing his sarcastic demands for things like a bottle of moonshine, a balalaika and even a kangaroo.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish President Andrzej Duda said Friday that he was proposing urgent amendments to a law on Russian influence he signed this week that drew U.S.
Tanks, F-16 jets part of long-term aid for Ukraine, won’t be ready for upcoming offensive, US says
June 2, 2023 GMTPARIS (AP) — America's top military officer says training for Ukrainian forces on advanced U.S. Abrams tanks has started, but those weapons crucial over the long term in trying to expel Russia from occupied territory will not be ready in time for Kyiv's imminent counteroffensive.
British teen reported to anti-terror police by mother gets life sentence with minimum 6-year term
June 2, 2023 GMTLONDON (AP) — A teenage man who was reported to British anti-terror authorities by his mother was jailed for life on Friday. Matthew King, 19, will serve a minimum term of six years for plotting a terror attack on police officers or soldiers.
UN renews European Union’s authority to inspect ships suspected of violating Libya arms embargo
June 2, 2023 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution Friday renewing the European Union's permission to inspect vessels off Libya's coast suspected of violating the an arms embargo on the troubled North African nation.
Italian media say border police are under investigation over shipwreck that killed 94 migrants
June 2, 2023 GMTROME (AP) — Three members of Italy’s border police force are under investigation for a suspected role in a shipwreck off the country’s southern coast this year that killed more than 90 migrants, Italian news outlets reported Friday.
In the Amazon region where pair was killed, neglect and allegations of harsh justice
June 2, 2023 GMTLADARIO, Brazil (AP) — One year ago on a Friday afternoon, Bruno Pereira, an expert on Indigenous peoples, and Dom Phillips, a British journalist, motored along the Itaquai river in far western Brazil, to the settlement of Ladario.
BERLIN (AP) — Prominent members of German mainstream parties have expressed alarm at a new poll that shows support for the far-right Alternative for Germany at a record high.
The DeutschlandTrend survey, conducted monthly by infratest dimap for public broadcaster ARD, that was released on Thursday puts voter support for Alternative for Germany at 18%, on a par with Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats.
LONDON (AP) — Critics accuse the British administration of running “government by WhatsApp” because of the popularity of the messaging app with politicians and officials.
So it feels inevitable that a tussle over WhatsApp messages is at the heart of Britain’s official inquiry into how the country handled the COVID-19 pandemic.
In Norway, Indigenous Sami protest outside prime minister’s office against wind farm
June 2, 2023 GMTCOPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Dozen of activists, including Indigenous Sami, protested Friday outside the office of Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, vowing to block entry to remind Norway's government that they want a wind farm removed because they say it endangers the reindeer herders’ way of life.
Germany reports labor shortage in one-sixth of professions
June 2, 2023 GMTBERLIN (AP) — Germany has labor shortages in one-sixth of professions and the number is growing, the national labor agency said Friday as ministers prepare to travel to Brazil to encourage the recruitment of caregivers.
BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg will hold talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other senior Turkish officials this weekend as pressure mounts on Turkey to lift its objections to Sweden joining the military organization.
Spanish Catholic bishops find evidence of 728 sexual abusers, 927 victims since 1945
June 2, 2023 GMTMADRID (AP) — Spain’s Catholic bishops’ conference says it has found evidence of 728 sexual abusers within the church since 1945, through the testimony of 927 victims, in its first public report on the issue.
US retaliates for Russia’s suspension of New START treaty by revoking visas of nuclear inspectors
June 2, 2023 GMTOSLO, Norway (AP) — The Biden administration is retaliating for Russia’s suspension of the New START nuclear treaty, announcing Thursday it is revoking the visas of Russian nuclear inspectors, denying pending applications for new monitors and canceling standard clearances for Russian aircraft to enter U.S.
LOURIZAN, Spain (AP) — They fan out in groups, mostly women, plodding in rain boots across the soggy wet sands of the inlet, making the most of the low tide.
Hustling along with rakes and buckets, they chat and laugh gaily.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a populist with increasingly authoritarian tendencies, is scheduled to take the oath of office and start his third presidential term Saturday following his latest election win.
AP Week in Pictures: Europe and Africa
June 2, 2023 GMTMay 26-June 1, 2023
From the Russia-Ukraine war, elections in Turkey and Spain, and clashes in Senegal, to the French Open tennis tournament and the Europa League soccer final, this photo gallery highlights some of the most compelling images made or published in the week by The Associated Press from Europe and Africa.
BULBOACA, Moldova (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's unrelenting quest for more political support and security backing from NATO got a warm welcome but no concrete commitments Thursday during a sprawling summit where nearly every European leader had assembled to condemn non-invitees Russia and Belarus.
Jordan’s crown prince weds scion of Saudi family in ceremony packed with stars and symbolism
June 2, 2023 GMTAMMAN, Jordan (AP) — Jordan's crown prince married the scion of a prominent Saudi family on Thursday in a palace ceremony attended by royals and other VIPs from around the world, as massive crowds gathered across the kingdom to celebrate the region's newest power couple.