AP International

Top diplomats arrive in North Macedonia for security …

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, second left, talks to North Macedonia's Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani, right, during a bilateral meeting of their delegations at the foreign ministry building in Skopje, North Macedonia, on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. Secretary Blinken is on a brief visit to Skopje, North Macedonia, during the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) meeting. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)

Top AP International Headlines

Last planned release of hostages in Gaza begins, as mediators …

Faith leaders from the Druze, center, Muslim, right, Jewish and Christian communities wear body armor and helmets ahead of an interfaith prayer at Kibbutz Kfar Azza near the Israel-Gaza border, the site of an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by Hamas that killed some 1,200 people and took more than 200 hostages, Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

Live updates | Hamas begins to release 12 hostages from …

Druze faith leaders tour Kibbutz Kfar Azza with their Muslim, Jewish and Christian counterparts ahead of an interfaith joint prayer near the Israel-Gaza border, the site of an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by Hamas who killed some 1,200 people, Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

Pope Francis is still having trouble breathing due to …

Participants to the Italian Circus festival perform in front of Pope Francis during the weekly general audience at the Vatican, Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

China presents UN with vague Mideast peace plan as US …

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks during the trilateral foreign ministers' meeting with South Korea and Japan, in Busan, South Korea, Sunday, Nov. 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon. Pool)

Venezuela’s planned vote over territory dispute leaves …

Venezuela has claimed a large swath of Guyana known as the Essequibo region since the 19th century as its own, rejecting the borders decided by international arbitrators in 1899. (AP Graphic)

US Navy warship shoots down drone launched by Houthis …

More AP International

Israel likens Hamas to the Islamic State group. But …

FILE _ Photographs of people who were abducted during the unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel are fixed to a wall in Tel Aviv, Israel, Friday, Oct. 27, 2023. It has become an Israeli mantra throughout the latest war in Gaza: Hamas is ISIS. Since the bloody Hamas attack on Oct. 7 that triggered the war, Israeli leaders and commanders have likened the Palestinian militant group to the Islamic State group. They point to Hamas’ brutal slaughter of hundreds of civilians and compare their Gaza war to the U.S.-led campaign to defeat IS in Iraq and Syria. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco, File)

Ukraine insists it sees no sign of NATO war fatigue …

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba give a press conference amid the Nato Foreign Ministers meeting on Ukraine at Nato Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. (Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via AP)

Gay couple in Nepal becomes the 1st to officially …

FILE- Same-sex couple Surendra Pandey, right, and Maya Gurung, who got married six years ago, pose for a photograph during an interview with the Associated Press in Kathmandu, Nepal, Thursday, June 29, 2023. The gay couple on Wednesday, Nov. 29, became the first in the nation to receive official same-sex marriage status. The Himalayan nation is one of the first in Asia to allow it. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha, File)

Opposition protesters in Kosovo use flares and tear …

Mali’s government will probe Tuareg rebel leaders …

FILE - Malian troops join with former members of the Tuareg rebellion for a joint patrol in Gao, Mali, Feb. 23, 2017. Mali's military government has announced Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023 an investigation into ethnic rebel leaders who signed a peace agreement in 2015 to halt their quest for an independent state, a development experts say shows the crucial deal has collapsed.(AP Photo/Baba Ahmed, File)

A Hong Kong court hears final arguments in the subversion …

A pro-democracy activist known as "Grandma Wong" protests outside the West Kowloon courts in a cordoned off area set up by police as closing arguments open in Hong Kong's largest national security trial of 47 pro-democracy figures in Hong Kong, Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)

At least 40 civilians killed by al-Qaida-linked rebels …

FILE- An aerial view shows a camp of internally displaced people in Djibo, Burkina Faso, May 26, 2022. Videos published by the state-run RTB Television Tuesday, Nov, 28, 2023, showed large groups of people riding motorcycles around a swathe of desert land as they appeared to be running from aerial bombardments. It was not immediately clear the number of civilians and security forces killed during the Sunday attack near Mali's border and involving about 3,000 rebels, according to the broadcaster. The Associated Press could not confirm the authenticity of the videos. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick, File)