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BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Commission said Wednesday it will ask all European Union nations to outlaw gay “conversion therapy” following a public campaign to ban the practice and just days before the annual Brussels Pride festival celebrating the LGTBQ+ community. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday that “conversion practices” have “no place in our Union.” Increasing protections for LGTBQ+ citizens has been long promised by the […]

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil is a politically divided country, but there’s one thing that those on all sides of the political spectrum love: PIX, the country’s instant payment system that allows users to pay for everything, from ice cream on the beach to clothes in a shopping mall and even a car. Unlike payment apps run by private banks, PIX is governed Brazil’s Central Bank. Its massive popularity drove […]

NEW YORK (AP) — About 70,000 Americans died of drug overdoses last year — about 14% fewer than the previous year, according to preliminary government data. It was the third straight annual drop, making it the longest decline in decades, according to federal data released Wednesday. The 2025 total is about the same as the tally in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic. Declines were seen across a number of drug […]

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Republican senators in Louisiana advanced a plan Wednesday to eliminate one of two majority-Black, Democratic-held congressional seats following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down the state’s U.S. House map as an illegal racial gerrymander. The early morning Senate committee vote came after hours of impassioned testimony from Black residents and Democrats opposed to the move. Republicans opted not to pursue a more aggressive […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — David Venturella, a former executive at a private prison operator, will serve as the acting head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Trump administration says, after the agency’s current leader steps down at the end of the month. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said late Tuesday that Venturella would succeed Todd Lyons, who led the agency through much of the administration’s tumultuous crackdown […]

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria’s military has again killed a large number of civilians with an airstrike it says was targeting militants instead, a mistake that has occurred a number of times in recent years and raises questions about the capabilities of a U.S. security partner. The latest such strike occurred on Sunday, when Amnesty International’s Nigeria office says at least 100 civilians — some of them children — were […]

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey removed a restriction on direct trade with Armenia on Wednesday in a symbolic gesture toward improved ties between the longtime rivals. Turkey and Armenia have no formal relations and their joint border has been closed since the 1990s. Relations between the neighbors have been strained over historic grievances and Turkey’s alliance with Azerbaijan. Armenia and Turkey agreed in late 2021 to work toward improving the […]

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — A Russian ship that sank in the Mediterranean over a year ago after its engine room exploded may have been carrying pieces for nuclear reactors used in submarines, a Spanish government document shows. The Ursa Major sank on Dec. 23, 2024, between Spain and Algeria while allegedly on a journey from St. Petersburg to Russia’s eastern port of Vladivostok. Two crew members were lost while 14 […]

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia’s maritime agency says it has limited ability to stop Iranian-linked tankers from transferring oil to other ships off its coast, allowing Iran to skirt sanctions and drawing growing criticism. United Against Nuclear Iran, a U.S.-based advocacy group, says there have been 42 ship-to-ship transfers of Iranian oil conducted in the waters about 70 kilometers (45 miles) off Malaysia’s southern Johor state, since Feb. 28, […]