ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken began a tour of four African countries on Monday, meeting with the leaders of Cape Verde and Ivory Coast and touting America as the continent’s key economic and security ally at times of regional and international crises.

Blinken is visiting Nigeria and Angola next. The tour — which comes as and threaten the continent’s stability — focuses on trade, security, and democracy promotion.

In Cape Verde’s capital, Praia, he met

ATLANTA (AP) — Dexter Scott King, who dedicated much of his life to shepherding the civil rights legacy of his parents, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, died Monday after battling prostate cancer. He was 62.

The King Center in Atlanta, which Dexter King served as chairman, said the younger son of the civil rights icon died at his home in Malibu, California. His wife, Leah Weber King, said in a statement that he died “peacefully in his sleep

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Maine Gov. Janet Mills and other leading Democrats are pressing to end future legislative debate over abortions by amending the state constitution to enshrine the right to reproductive health care, just six months after lawmakers to abortions.

Maine is seeking to join four other states that have amended their constitutions to protect the right to abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court

But the proposal faces another tough, passionate battle after a closer-than-expected outcome last year in the Democratic-controlled Legislature,

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The Archdiocese of Port-au-Prince pleaded for the release and demanded that Haiti’s government crack down on gang violence, in a strongly worded letter released Monday.

The Archdiocese, along with the Haitian Conference of the Religious, said in the letter that Haitians are tired of the “reign of terror” imposed by armed groups and called on government officials to protect people and their property.

“On many occasions, the Church has denounced their silence, which

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The purported leader of an organized group was slain at a beachfront restaurant in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, according to a statement from police.

Sérgio Rodrigues da Costa Silva, 44, was fatally shot Sunday and found dead at the scene when Rio’s military police arrived and cordoned off the area to investigate, police said.

Local media reports identified Silva as head of an organized crime group known as a militia, and said his group had charged residents for

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union imposed sanctions Monday on six Sudanese companies it said are responsible for trying to undermine stability in , largely targeting firms linked to weapons procurement and manufacturing.

Sudan plunged into chaos last April when long-simmering tensions between the military, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary, commanded by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, erupted into street battles in the capital, Khartoum, and other areas including the western Darfur region.

The fighting has displaced 7 million people and killed

SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — The leaders of Western Balkan countries pledged Monday to make full use of the European Union’s financial support of six billion euros (about $6.5 billion) as they continue to seek membership in the bloc.

Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Albania are at different stages of the accession process. Their leaders gathered in North Macedonia’s capital, Skopje, and said in a joint statement they were committed “to the development of their countries to

MARIETTA, Ga. (AP) — A judge on Monday ordered court records to be made public in the divorce involving a special prosecutor and accused of having an affair with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

The newly unsealed court records, however, didn’t include any references to the affair allegations that have roiled the case that charges Trump and 18 allies of working to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state.

The judge ordered the unsealing of the divorce case involving after a request brought by

WASHINGTON — The U.S. government has been asked to explain to a federal appeals court precisely how it believes the country’s 1977 pipeline treaty with Canada should impact efforts to shut down the controversial cross-border Line 5.

A forthcoming Department of Justice brief will mark the Biden administration’s first public foray into the long-running dispute between Calgary-based Enbridge Inc. and an Indigenous band in Wisconsin.

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals wants the written amicus brief by Feb. 8,