BEIJING (AP) — China is imposing visa bans and other sanctions on Taiwanese political figures as it raises pressure on the island and the U.S. in response to successive congressional visits. The Chinese Communist Party office that announced the sanctions says they're designed to punish diehard supporters of Taiwanese independence. The measures apply to Taiwan’s de facto ambassador to the U.S. and others, but it's unclear whether they will have any impact.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The United States and South Korea will begin their biggest combined military training in years next week in the face of an increasingly aggressive North Korea. The North has been ramping up weapons tests and threats of nuclear conflict with Seoul and Washington. South Korea’s military says the drills underscore Washington and Seoul’s commitment to restore large-scale training.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused the U.S. of trying to encourage extended hostilities in Ukraine as part of what he described as part of Washington’s alleged efforts to maintain its global hegemony. Addressing a security conference attended by military officials from Africa, Asia and Latin America on Tuesday, Putin reaffirmed his long-held claim that he sent troops into Ukraine in response to Washington turning the country into an “anti-Russia” bulwark.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Massive explosions and fires have hit a military depot in Russia-annexed Crimea. They forced the evacuation of more than 3,000 people Tuesday. it was the second time in recent days that the Ukraine war’s focus has turned to the peninsula. Russia blamed the blasts at an ammunition storage facility in Mayskoye on an “act of sabotage” without naming the perpetrators.

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — After last-minute chaos that could foreshadow a court challenge, Kenya’s electoral commission chairman has declared Deputy President William Ruto the winner of the close presidential election over five-time contender Raila Odinga. It's a triumph for the man who shook up politics by appealing to struggling Kenyans on economic terms and not on ethnic ones.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban are marking a year since they seized the Afghan capital of Kabul. The rapid takeover triggered a hasty escape of the nation's Western-backed leaders, sent the economy into a tailspin and has fundamentally transformed the country. On Monday, bearded Taliban fighters staged small victory parades on foot, bicycles and motorcycles in the streets of the capital.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A wooden bridge over a river in southern Norway has collapsed with a car plunging into the water and a truck getting stuck on a raised section. Police said the drivers of both vehicles were rescued and doing well. Police were alerted Monday morning that the bridge had collapsed as a truck and a car were crossing over it. The car plunged into the river while the truck got stuck in a nearly vertical position on the bridge

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian authorities say at least three civilians have been killed and nearly 20 others wounded in the latest Russian artillery barrages. The eastern region of Donetsk, one of the two provinces making up the country’s industrial heartland of Donbas, has faced the most intense shelling. Regional officials said Monday at least three people were killed and another 13 wounded by Russian shelling that hit numerous towns and villages in Donetsk.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An Iranian government official has denied that Tehran was involved in the assault on author Salman Rushdie. However, the remarks on Monday by Nasser Kanaani, the spokesman of Iran’s Foreign Ministry, justified the stabbing in remarks that represented the Islamic Republic’s first public comments on the attack.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China has announced more military drills around Taiwan as the self-governing island’s president met with members of a new U.S. congressional delegation. The announcement threatened to renew tensions between Beijing and Washington just days after a similar visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi angered China. Pelosi was the highest-level member of the U.S. government to visit Taiwan in 25 years, and her trip prompted nearly two weeks of threatening military exercises by China.

CAIRO (AP) — A fire ripped through a packed Coptic Orthodox church during morning services in Egypt’s capital, killing 41 worshippers, including at least 15 children, and injuring 16 others. The church quickly filled with thick black smoke Sunday, and witnesses said several trapped congregants jumped from upper floors to escape. The cause of the blaze in the Martyr Abu Sefein church in the working-class neighborhood of Imbaba was not immediately known.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A delegation of American lawmakers arrived in Taiwan just 12 days after a visit by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that angered China. China responded to Pelosi's Aug. 2 visit by sending missiles, warships and warplanes into the seas and air around Taiwan. The American Institute in Taiwan said the five-member delegation led by Democratic Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts is in Taiwan on Sunday and Monday as part of a visit to Asia.

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya’s peaceful presidential election saw a brief disruption when riot police responded to scuffles at the national ballot tallying center amid tensions over the close results. Police remained at the center on Sunday. An ally of longtime opposition leader and candidate Raila Odinga announced from the lectern that the tallying center was the “scene of a crime” before calm was restored.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A United Nations-chartered ship loaded with 23,000 metric tons of Ukrainian grain destined for Ethiopia has set sail from a Black Sea port. It's the first shipment of its kind in a World Food Program plan to assist countries facing famine. Ukraine and Russia reached a deal with Turkey on July 22 to restart Black Sea grain deliveries, addressing the major export disruption that has occurred since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.

CETINJE, Montenegro (AP) — Officials in Montenegro say a man went on a shooting rampage in the western city of Cetinje, killing 10 people, including two children, before being shot dead by a passerby. Montenegro's police chief says the 34-year-old gunman first shot and killed two children and their mother who lived as tenants in the attacker's house. He says the man then walked out on the street and randomly shot 13 more people, seven of them fatally. A prosecutor coordinating crime scene investigation tells journalists the gunman was killed by a passerby.

SAO PAULO (AP) — Thousands of Brazilians are rallying in defense of the nation’s democracy. The event was held Thursday at the University of Sao Paulo’s law school. It carried echoes of a gathering nearly 45 years ago when citizens amassed to denounce a brutal military dictatorship, which lasted two decades. At the rally, organizers read from documents supporting democratic institutions and the electoral system.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A ship is approaching Ukraine to pick up wheat for hungry people in Ethiopia. That will be the first food delivery to Africa under a U.N.-brokered plan to unblock grain trapped by Russia’s war and bring relief to some of the millions worldwide on the brink of starvation.

ABOARD THE ASTRAL (AP) — A Spanish maritime rescue group and Italy's coast guard have helped pull some 40 people from the Mediterranean Sea after their overcrowded wooden boat capsized during a rescue operation. Open Arms tweeted that all the passengers survived and were transferred to an Italian coast guard ship.

TORONTO (AP) — Canada arguably has the world’s most permissive euthanasia rules, but human rights advocates say those regulations devalue the lives of disabled people. They say the regulations also are prompting doctors and health workers to suggest the procedure to those who might not otherwise consider it. Families say that has led to disturbing conversations and controversial deaths.

PARIS (AP) — More than 1,000 firefighters are struggling to contain a major wildfire that has burned a large area of pine forest in southwestern France in a region that was already ravaged by flames last month. Local authorities said more than 26 square miles have burned since Tuesday in the Gironde region and the neighboring Landes as France like other European countries swelters through a hot and dry summer.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister says he suffered a fever while guiding the country to victory over the coronavirus. In a striking speech before thousands of North Koreans, she blamed rival South Korea for the country's outbreak and vowed “deadly” retaliation.

The Kremlin has refused to announce a full-blown mobilization as Russia suffers military losses in its invasion of Ukraine which is nearing its sixth month. Such a move could be very unpopular for President Vladimir Putin. Russia is engaged instead in a covert recruitment effort that includes using prisoners to make up for the manpower shortage. This also is happening amid reports that hundreds of soldiers are refusing to fight and are trying to quit the military.

LONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization says in its latest weekly pandemic report that the number of coronavirus deaths fell by 9% in the last week while new cases remained relatively stable. The U.N. health agency said Wednesday there were more than 14,000 COVID-19 deaths last week and nearly 7 million new infections.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s air force says that nine Russian warplanes were destroyed in massive explosions at an air base in Crimea amid speculation they were the result of a Ukrainian attack. That would represent a significant escalation in the war. Russia denied any aircraft were damaged in Tuesday’s blasts — or that any attack took place.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russians are snapping up Western fashion and furniture this week as H&M and IKEA sell off the last of their inventory in Russia. Sweden-based H&M and Netherlands-based IKEA had paused sales after Russia sent troops into Ukraine. They're now looking to unload their stocks of clothing and furnishings as they wind down operations in Russia.