World Happiness Report highlights social media's negative impact

HELSINKI (AP) – Heavy social media use contributes to a stark decline in well-being among young people, with the effects particularly worrying in teenage girls in English-speaking countries and Western Europe, according to the World Happiness Report 2026 published Thursday. The report found that Finland is the happiest land in the world for the ninth year in a row.

Global shares gain and oil prices fall after talks on war

TOKYO (AP) – Global shares mostly rose Monday and oil prices sank more than $4 after U.S. President Donald Trump said talks on ending the war with Iran are progressing.

Bag containing weed and cash accidentally donated to New Zealand charity

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) – Two teenagers mistakenly left a knapsack containing marijuana and cash at a donation area outside a New Zealand charity shop then returned in a panic to retrieve the bag, police said Monday.

Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Latest Updates

ANGELES, Philippines (AP) – Rescuers pulled out three people Monday from an immense pile of rubble that was all that remained of a nine-story hotel which collapsed while under construction in a northern Philippine city, bringing the death toll to four with 17 others still missing, officials said.

Mass shooter's bid to undo his guilty pleas for Christchurch mosque murders

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) – When the white supremacist who committed New Zealand’s deadliest mass shooting pleaded guilty six years ago, it was a relief for his victims and a justice system bracing for a high-profile trial that many feared could provide a platform for his racist views.

Pope Leo XIV makes historic apology for Vatican's role in legitimizing slavery

VATICAN CITY (AP) – Pope Leo XIV made a historic apology on Monday for the role the Holy See played in legitimizing slavery and for having failed to condemn it for centuries, calling the Vatican’s record a “wound in Christian memory.” Past popes have apologized for Christians’ involvement in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

Paris wine show reflects surging demand for zero- and low-alcohol drinks

PARIS (AP) – As a French teetotaler, Justine Bobin knows how challenging it can be to not drink in a country where wine, beer and other boozy beverages still lubricate many social interactions, even if France is less hooked on alcohol than it used to be.

Editorials from The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian and others

Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad:

New Zealand mosque shooter seeks to discard his guilty pleas

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) – The man who killed 51 Muslim worshipers at two mosques in New Zealand’s deadliest mass shooting told an appeals court Monday that he felt forced to admit to the crimes because of “irrationality” due to harsh prison conditions, as he sought to have his guilty pleas discarded.