South Korean police said Tuesday they are seeking to arrest music mogul Bang Si-Hyuk, chairman of the agency behind K-pop supergroup BTS, as they expand an investigation into allegations that he illegally gained more than $100 million in an investor fraud scheme. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency confirmed that it has asked prosecutors to request a court warrant for arresting Bang, founder and chairman of HYBE. Bang’s legal team in a statement to The Associated Press did not directly address the accusations but expressed regret that police were seeking his arrest “despite our full and consistent cooperation with the investigation...

Pope Leo XIV heads Tuesday to Equatorial Guinea for the final leg of his four-nation African journey, arriving in a country that presents perhaps the most diplomatically delicate challenge of this trip and his young papacy. The former Spanish colony on Africa’s western coast is run by Africa’s longest-serving president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, 83. He has been in power since 1979 and is accused of widespread corruption and authoritarianism. The discovery of offshore oil in the mid-1990s transformed Equatorial Guinea’s economy virtually overnight, with oil now accounting for almost half of its GDP and more than 90% of exports,...

Migrants in Spain on Monday began applying in person to legalize their status after the Southern European nation launched an amnesty measure that could affect hundreds of thousands of foreigners living and working in the country without authorization. The program was announced in January and finalized this month. It offers immigrants without legal status a one-year, renewable residence permit if they have spent five months living in the country and have a clean criminal record. They have until the end of June to apply. There have been questions about the short window to process what Spain’s government has said could...

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Monday she would demand explanations over what U.S. and Mexican officials were doing in northern Chihuahua when they died in an accident over the weekend, noting that any joint collaborations between the local government and the U.S. without federal permission would be a violation of Mexican law. The crash, following an operation to destroy a clandestine drug lab in a rural area, has reignited a debate over the extent of U.S. involvement in Mexican security operations. Speculation was only fueled by Sheinbaum, local officials and the U.S. Embassy appearing to contradict each other and at...

Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer is out of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, the White House said Monday, after multiple allegations of abusing her position’s power, including having an affair with a subordinate and drinking alcohol on the job. Chavez-DeRemer is the third Trump Cabinet member to leave her post after Trump fired his embattled Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in March and ousted Attorney General Pam Bondi earlier this month. In a statement posted on social media, Chavez-DeRemer praised Trump and wrote, “I am proud that we made significant progress in advancing President Trump’s mission to bridge the gap between business...

Narendra Modi: “Glad to have welcomed President Lee on his first visit to India. His life and work are inspiring examples of service and dedication. “Making this visit more special is the fact that this is the first visit by a President of the Republic of Korea in 8 years. Our nations are bound by shared values and a common outlook on the Indo-Pacific region.”

Japan on Tuesday endorsed scrapping a ban on lethal weapons exports, a major change of its postwar pacifist policy as the country seeks to build up its arms industry and deepen cooperation with defense partners. The approval by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Cabinet of the new guideline clears a final set of hurdles for Japan’s postwar arms sales and facilitate its future sale of weapons such as a next-generation fighter jet and combat drones. The move comes as the country accelerates its military buildup in the face of growing security challenges in the region. While the change of policy met...

An armed man standing atop one of the historic Teotihuacan pyramids opened fire on tourists Monday, killing one Canadian and leaving at least 13 people injured at the archaeological site north of Mexico’s capital, authorities said. The shooter was identified as 27-year-old Julio Cesar Jasso of Mexico, a state official told the AP on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak about the case. Jasso later died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said, and security officials found a gun, a knife and ammunition. Jasso was the sole assailant in the attack, the State of Mexico government...

U.S. authorities “got the wrong man” when they charged an alleged Islamic State militant in a deadly suicide bombing at a Kabul airport during the American military’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, a defense attorney said Monday at the start of the man’s trial in Virginia. Mohammad Sharifullah is accused of scouting the bomber’s route to the airport before the attack that killed nearly 200 people, including 13 U.S. service members, at the end of America’s longest war. FBI agents interviewed him for hours over the course of several days after his capture. But one of Sharifullah’s lawyers said...