ROME (AP) — Italian police scooped up two tons of cocaine, wrapped in protective plastic and bobbing in the sea off eastern Sicily, authorities said Monday. The financial police squad estimated that the recent “catch” would have fetched nearly $450 million in street sales.

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — As explosions and gunfire thundered outside, Sudanese in the capital Khartoum and other cities huddled in their homes for a third day Monday, while the army and a powerful rival force battled in the streets for control of the country. At least 185 people have been killed and over 1,800 wounded since the fighting erupted, U.N. envoy Volker Perthes told reporters.

A Russian court convicted a top opposition activist of treason on Monday for publicly denouncing Moscow’s war in Ukraine and sentenced him to 25 years in prison. It was the latest move in the Kremlin’s relentless crackdown on anyone who dares to criticize the invasion.

WAKAYAMA, Japan (AP) — The fishermen who tackled the man suspected of attack on a Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was surprised by a lack of security. Tsutomu Konishi was watching Kishida at a campaign event at this fishing port when an object flew overhead and landed near the prime minister.

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — The Sudanese military and a powerful paramilitary group battled for control of the chaos-stricken nation for a second day Sunday, signaling they were unwilling to end hostilities despite mounting diplomatic pressure to cease fire.

Reports say Islamic State militants have killed 26 people who were foraging for wild truffles in Syria’s Hama region. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition media group based in …

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s most powerful tropical cyclone in eight years lashed its northwest coast with winds gusting to an apparent record of 180 miles per hour Friday but skirted larger population centers and resulted in no immediate reports of injuries. Cyclone Ilsa crossed the Pilbara coast of Western Australia state as a Category 5 storm, the most severe, but weakened to Category 2 as it moved inland, Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology said.

BEIJING (AP) — China won't sell weapons to either side in the war in Ukraine, the country's foreign minister said Friday, responding to Western concerns that Beijing could provide military assistance to Russia. China has maintained that it is neutral in the conflict, while backing Russia politically, rhetorically and economically at a time when Western nations have imposed punishing sanctions and sought to isolate Moscow for its invasion of its neighbor.

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping met with visiting Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Friday as part of a push to boost ties between two of the world’s largest developing nations. The meeting came on the second day of Lula’s visit to China, his country’s most important trading partner and a key ally in his bid to challenge Western-dominated economic institutions.

A European spacecraft rocketed away Friday on a decadelong quest to explore Jupiter and three of its icy moons that could have buried oceans. The journey began with a morning liftoff by Europe's Ariane rocket from French Guiana in South America. It will take the robotic explorer, dubbed Juice, eight years to reach Jupiter, where it will scope out not only the solar system’s biggest planet but also Europa, Callisto and Ganymede.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A strong earthquake shook parts of Indonesia’s main island of Java and tourist island of Bali on Friday, causing panic but there were no immediate reports of serious damage or casualties. The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude 7.0 quake was centered nearly 60 miles north of Tuban, a coastal city in East Java province, at a depth of 369 miles.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Friday it has successfully test-launched a new intercontinental ballistic missile powered by solid propellants, a development that if confirmed could provide the country with a harder-to-detect weapon targeting the continental United States. North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency issued the report a day after the country's neighbors detected a launch of a long-range missile from near Pyongyang, which extended a run of weapon displays involving more than 100 missiles fired into sea since the start of 2022.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Thursday conducted its first intercontinental ballistic missile launch in a month, possibly testing a new more mobile, harder-to-detect missile for the first time, its neighbors said, as it extends its provocative run of weapons tests. Japan briefly urged residents on a northern island to take shelter in an indication of its vigilance over North Korea's evolving missile threats.

A severe tropical cyclone is lashing the northwest Australian coast with strengthening winds and increasing rain.  Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology said Cyclone Ilsa reached Category 4 intensity …

LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry will attend his father’s coronation, Buckingham Palace said Wednesday, ending months of speculation about whether the prince would be welcome after leveling charges of racism and media manipulation at the royal family. His wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, will remain at the couple’s home in Southern California with their two young children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, the palace said.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s top immigration official will face criminal charges in a fire that killed 40 migrants in Ciudad Juarez last month, with federal prosecutors saying he was remiss in not preventing the disaster despite earlier indications of problems at his agency's detention centers. The decision to file charges against Francisco Garduño, the head of Mexico’s National Immigration Institute, was announced late Tuesday by the federal Attorney General's Office.

KOCHI, India (AP) — When 82-year-old Vasanthi Baby almost tripped while climbing down the stairs in her home in southern India’s Kerala state, she decided, along with her 84-year-old husband V. Baby, to move to an assisted living center. The couple are two of a growing number of people in India’s only aging state that are moving into specialized facilities. They're happy with the care they receive: round-the-clock access to nurses, the reassuring company of their own generation and healthy, regular meals.

BANGKOK (AP) — Airstrikes by Myanmar’s military on Tuesday killed as many as 100 people, including many children, who were attending a ceremony held by opponents of army rule, said a witness, a member of a local pro-democracy group and independent media.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — American and Filipino forces on Tuesday launched their largest combat exercises in decades in the Philippines and its waters across the disputed South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, where Washington has repeatedly warned China over its increasingly aggressive actions.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. spies caught Russian intelligence officers boasting that they had convinced the oil-rich United Arab Emirates “to work together against US and UK intelligence agencies,” according to a purported American document posted online as part of a major U.S. intelligence breach.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — More than 200 Russian and Ukrainian soldiers have returned home in a prisoner swap, the warring countries said Monday. Russia’s Defense Ministry said 106 Russian soldiers were released from Ukrainian custody as part of an agreement with Ukraine. Andriy Yermak, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, said that Russia freed 100 Ukrainian prisoners.

LONDON (AP) — Britain is bracing for a four-day walkout by tens of thousands of doctors at the state-funded health care system that one official warned Monday could be “catastrophic” and postpone up to 350,000 appointments. The strike due to start Tuesday by National Health Service doctors early in their careers comes amid walkouts by public workers across many sectors demanding pay hikes during a cost-of-living crisis.

India will surpass China's population this month. Or maybe in July. Or, perhaps it's happened already? Demographers are unsure exactly when India will take the title as the most populous nation in the world because they're relying on estimates to make their best guess. But they know it's going to happen soon, if it hasn't occurred by now.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China’s military declared Monday it is “ready to fight” after completing three days of large-scale combat exercises around Taiwan that simulated sealing off the island in response to the Taiwanese president’s trip to the U.S. last week. The “combat readiness patrols” named Joint Sword were meant as a warning to self-governing Taiwan, which China claims as its own, China's military said earlier.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Thousands of Israelis led by at least seven Cabinet ministers marched Monday to the evacuated West Bank settlement of Eviatar, in a signal that Israel's government is determined to accelerate settlement building on occupied lands. Eviatar, an unauthorized settlement outpost in the northern West Bank, was evacuated by the previous Israeli government in 2021,