The first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season is headed toward Bermuda after dumping rain on Florida, flooding some roads. Alex reached tropical storm force after strengthening off Florida’s east coast early Sunday. National Hurricane Center forecasters say Alex had maximum sustained winds of 60 mph and was centered about 550 miles west-southwest of Bermuda on Sunday.
RANVILLE, France (AP) — More than 20 British World War II veterans have gathered near Pegasus Bridge for D-Day commemorations in Normandy. The bridge is one of the first sites liberated by Allied forces from Nazi Germany. A series of commemorations are honoring the nearly 160,000 troops from Britain, the United States, Canada and elsewhere who landed in Normandy on June 6, 1944.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia took aim at Western military supplies for Ukraine by launching airstrikes on Kyiv that it claimed destroyed tanks donated from abroad. Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin warned Sunday that any Western deliveries of long-range rocket systems would prompt Moscow to hit “objects that we haven’t yet struck.”
LONDON (AP) — Queen Elizabeth II has appeared at the balcony of Buckingham Palace, delighting fans who had hoped to catch a glimpse of her during the final day of festivities marking the monarch’s 70 years on the throne. The 96-year-old monarch has curtailed her schedule in recent months due to problems moving around.
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A massive fire at a container depot near a port city in southeastern Bangladesh has killed at least 49 people including nine firefighters and injured more than 100 others. Firefighters on Sunday struggled as the blaze continued into a second night. The inferno at the BM Inland Container Depot, a Dutch-Bangladesh joint venture, broke out around midnight Saturday following explosions in a container full of chemicals.
LONDON (AP) — Prince Charles and his son Prince William have honored the past and looked to the future as they paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at a star-studded concert outside Buckingham Palace celebrating the monarch’s 70 years on the throne. The 96-year-old monarch did not attend the concert, but she delighted the crowds when she appeared in a surprise video recorded with an animated version of another British national treasure: Paddington Bear.
BAKHMUT, Ukraine (AP) — Block-by-block fighting is raging in two key eastern Ukrainian cities on the 100th day of Russia’s war, grinding them to rubble. The governor of the Luhansk region says that fierce battles continue in Sievierodonetsk and that the Russians continue to pummel neighboring Lysychansk. Those are the only two cities in eastern Ukraine’s Luhansk province not controlled by Russian forces or Moscow-backed separatists. The Russians have been trying to encircle them.
When Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine in late February, the Russian president vowed his forces would not occupy the neighboring country. But as the invasion reached its 100th day on Friday, Russia seemed increasingly unlikely to relinquish the territory it has taken in the war. The ruble is now an official currency in the southern Kherson region. Residents there and in Russia-controlled parts of a neighboring region are getting offered Russian passports.
GUANGZHOU, China (AP) — Dragon boat festivities have returned in parts of China for the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic in late 2019 as restrictions are lifted along with a major drop in COVID-19 cases. A historic area in the southern Chinese manufacturing hub of Guangzhou staged boat displays and other celebrations Friday to mark the holiday that commemorates the death more than 2,200 years ago of a revered poet and government minister.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Some Afghans who were evacuated from their country as it fell to the Taliban last summer have found their journey to the United States stalled at a cluster of tents and temporary housing at a military base in the Balkans. More than 78,000 Afghans have arrived in the U.S. for resettlement since August. But the fate of people who were flagged for additional security vetting, and diverted to Camp Bondsteel in the small nation of Kosovo, remains up in the air.
LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, joined other members of Britain’s royal family Friday at a church service honoring Queen Elizabeth II’s 70 years on the throne. The queen herself skipped the event at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London due to difficulties getting around that have limited the 96-year-old monarch’s public engagements in recent months.
POTASHNYA, Ukraine (AP) — In 100 days of war in Ukraine, countless lives have been forever shattered. Nila Zelinska and her husband Eduard are one of those families. They returned for the first time since Russia's Feb. 24 invasion to what used to be their home in a village outside Kyiv. It was in ruins, reduced to charred walls with no roof by shelling.
WASHIR, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have begun a campaign to eradicate poppy cultivation, aiming to wipe out the country’s massive production of opium and heroin. But the ban will likely strike a heavy blow to millions of impoverished farmers and day laborers who rely on proceeds from the crop to survive.
CAIRO (AP) — The United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen says that Yemen’s warring parties have agreed to renew a nationwide truce for another two months.Hans Grundberg commended the two sides in a statement, calling the truce “a significant shift in the trajectory of the war.” The ceasefire between Yemen’s internationally recognized government and the Houthi rebels first came into effect on April 2. It has been the first nationwide truce in six years in Yemen’s conflict.
LONDON (AP) — Four days of celebrations honoring Queen Elizabeth II’s 70 years on the throne are getting underway. Formal celebrations for the Platinum Jubilee begin on Thursday with Trooping the Color, a review of British military traditions. The queen is expected to join members of her family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace at the end of the event as 70 planes fly overhead.
SHANGHAI (AP) — Traffic, pedestrians and joggers have reappeared on the streets of Shanghai as China’s largest city begins returning to normalcy amid the easing of a strict two-month COVID-19 lockdown that has drawn protests over its heavy-handed implementation. Shanghai’s Communist Party committee, the city’s most powerful political body, issued a letter Wednesday proclaiming the lockdown's success and thanking citizens for their “support and contributions.”
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Western nations promised more and more advanced arms to bolster Ukraine’s defense as its troops battled a grinding Russian offensive that was closing in on capturing a key city in the east. Germany said Wednesday it will supply Ukraine with modern anti-aircraft missiles and radar systems. The U.S. will unveil a new weapons package later in the day that will include high-tech, medium-range rocket systems.
BEIJING (AP) — Shanghai authorities say they will take some major steps Wednesday toward reopening China’s largest city after a two-month COVID-19 lockdown that has throttled the national economy and largely bottled up millions of people in their homes. Full bus and subway service will be restored as will basic rail connections with the rest of China, and schools will partially reopen.
SLOVIANSK, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces in a “frenzied push” have seized half of the eastern Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk that is key to Moscow’s efforts to quickly complete the capture of the industrial Donbas region. The city's mayor also told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Sievierodonetsk "is essentially being destroyed ruthlessly block by block."
PUERTO ESCONDIDO, Mexico (AP) — Hurricane Agatha has made history as the strongest hurricane ever recorded to come ashore in May during the eastern Pacific hurricane season. It made landfall Monday afternoon on a sparsely populated stretch of small beach towns and fishing villages in southern Mexico's Oaxaca state.
BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders have agreed to embargo most Russian oil imports into the bloc by year-end. The move is part of new sanctions on Russia worked out Monday at a summit focused on helping Ukraine with a long-delayed package of new financial support.
MEXICO CITY (AP) — The strongest hurricane on record to make landfall in May in the eastern Pacific has swept ashore on a stretch of tourist beaches and fishing towns in southern Mexico. Torrential rains and howling winds whipped palm trees and drove tourists and residents into shelters at the approach of Hurricane Agatha.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Protesters angry over a building collapse in southwestern Iran that killed at least 32 people have shouted down an emissary sent by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. A crackdown saw riot police club demonstrators and fire tear gas.
KRAMATORSK, Ukraine (AP) — Russian troops pushed farther into a key eastern Ukrainian city and fought street by street with Kyiv’s forces Monday. The mayor said the battle has left the city in ruins and driven tens of thousands from their homes.
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Families across Africa are paying about 45% more for wheat flour as Russia's war in Ukraine blocks exports from the Black Sea. Some countries like Somalia get more than 90% of their wheat from Russia and Ukraine.