Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan have signed a key defense agreement

August 8, 2026

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan signed a defense agreement on Friday that would treat an attack on one as an attack on all three, officials said, solidifying cooperation between the three regional powers at a time of growing security concerns. The agreement was signed in the Saudi holy city of Mecca by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, according to statements from all three countries. The agreement between the three Sunni Muslim-majority states brings together ...

As blackouts stretch for days, life in Cuba revolves around small bursts of electricity

August 8, 2026

HAVANA (AP) — A 20-minute burst of electricity is a small miracle in Havana nowadays — a miracle that sometimes comes at 3 a.m. That’s when 72-year-old Leidis Rodriguez frantically cooked beans after the lights switched on this week following hours of uninterrupted blackouts. “The ...

The Danube River’s water is dropping so low that World War II ships are emerging

August 8, 2026

PRAHOVO, Serbia (AP) — Water levels on the Danube River, the second longest in Europe, have dropped so low because of drought that the hulks of dozens of World War II German warships are emerging into view. They are a curious distraction from the summer heat crisis. The Danube’s ...

China can’t get enough of this smelly fruit as farmers fight extreme weather to feed the craving

August 8, 2026

KARAK, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysian durian orchard owner Stephen Chow’s workers spend hours in the fields in the dead of night, donning headlamps to collect freshly ripened fruit coveted by Chinese consumers. But the hard work may not be enough to keep Chow out of the red. Durian lovers ...

US job market stalled in July as employers cut 23,000 jobs, delivering political setback to Trump

August 8, 2026

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. job market stalled unexpectedly last month, delivering a political blow to President Donald Trump three months ahead of midterm elections and complicating decision-making for the inflation fighters at the Federal Reserve. Employers cut 23,000 jobs in July. And Labor Department revisions slashed 103,000 jobs from May and June payrolls. The unemployment rate fell but for the wrong reason: Thousands of people dropped out of the labor market so fewer people were competing for work. The July jobs numbers from the Labor Department Friday marked a sharp ...

Trump administration moves ahead with efforts to fire Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook

August 8, 2026

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is moving ahead with its efforts to fire Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, two months after the Supreme Court allowed her to retain her job while she fights the president’s effort to terminate her over mortgage fraud allegations that she has denied. The justices, in a 5-4 decision in June, said Cook, who was nominated to the Fed’s Board of Governors by President Joe Biden, could remain in her post at least as long as her lawsuit challenging her firing goes on. The Trump administration is appealing a lower-court ruling in Cook’s ...