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With her impeccable sense of timing, the late queen saved the best until last with her tribute to her eldest son, the future King Charles III. Her Majesty spoke, from the heart -- as a mother. Her words about Charles were among the warmest public remarks she ever made about him in public. As she addressed those in the packed room there to mark Charles's 70th birthday, she could not have been more proud of him. "It is a privilege for any mother to be able to propose a toast to her son on his seventieth birthday. It means that you have lived long enough to see your child grow up. It is rather like – to use an analogy I am certain will find favour – planting a tree and being able to watch it grow," she said. The late queen spoke too of Charles being a champion of conservation and the arts,...

KYIV, Ukraine -- An honor guard fired a three-gun salute toward cloudy skies as friends and comrades-in-arms gathered in Kyiv to bid farewell to a Russian woman who was killed while fighting on Ukraine’s side in the war with her native country. Olga Simonova, 34, was remembered for her courage and kindness at a funeral in the Ukrainian capital on Friday. Simonova’s coffin was draped in the blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flag, with a cuddly toy lion on top. Her nom de guerre was “Simba,” like the main character in the Disney cartoon “The Lion King.” Just a few days before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, Simonova spoke to The Associated Press in a trench in the Donbas region, where she had served for years alongside Ukrainian soldiers fighting against Russian-bac...

KYIV, Ukraine -- Pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin mounted on the battlefield and in the halls of global power as Ukrainian troops pushed their counteroffensive Saturday to advance farther into Ukraine's partly recaptured northeast. Western officials and analysts said Russian forces were apparently setting up a new defensive line in Ukraine’s northeast after the counteroffensive punched through the previous one, allowing Kyiv’s soldiers to recapture large swaths of land in the northeastern Kharkiv region that borders Russia. Putin, at a high-level summit in Uzbekistan this week, vowed to press his attack on Ukraine despite the recent military setbacks but also faced concerns by India and China over the drawn-out conflict. “I know that today’s era is not of war," Indian Prime ...

LOS ANGELES -- “Abbott Elementary” creator-star Quinta Brunson said she'd rather focus on the show than Jimmy Kimmel's comedy bit that overshadowed her Emmy acceptance speech and prompted criticism. But Sheryl Lee Ralph, who received her own Emm y for the sitcom with a rousing song and speech, didn't duck the matter during a Q&A panel discussion Wednesday with TV critics. “I was like, ‘Oh, the disrespect, Jimmy,'" Ralph recalled. She sarcastically referred to it as “lovely that he was lying on the floor during her wonderful acceptance speech. “I told him too, to his face, and he understood,” said Ralph, who was honored at Monday's ceremony as best supporting comedy actress for her role in the warm-hearted comedy set in a Philadelphia school. Brunson won the best comedy seri...

LONDON -- The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II left Buckingham Palace for the last time Wednesday, borne on a horse-drawn carriage and saluted by cannons and the tolling of Big Ben, in a solemn procession through the flag-draped, crowd-lined streets of London to Westminster Hall. There, a steady stream of mourners paid their respects to Britain's longest-reigning monarch. As the cortege left the palace, her son, King Charles III, and his siblings and sons marched behind the coffin, which was topped by a wreath of white roses and her crown resting on a purple velvet pillow. The military procession underscored Elizabeth’s seven decades as head of state as the national mourning process shifted to the grand boulevards and historic landmarks of the U.K. capital. At 900-year-old Westminster Hall,...

BRUSSELS -- European Union lawmakers on Wednesday adopted new legislation aimed at guaranteeing “decent” minimum wages for workers across the 27-nation bloc. The vote — with 505 in favor, 92 against and 44 abstentions — came as inflation and skyrocketing energy bills have left many households struggling to make ends meet. Minimum wages across the EU vary widely, and setting a minimum remains a competence of member countries. The highest minimum wages are in Luxembourg, Ireland and Germany, the lowest in Bulgaria, Latvia and Estonia, according to EU data. Under the new law, member countries will have to guarantee “that their national minimum wages allow workers to lead a decent life, taking into Running Shoes account the cost of living and wider pay levels," the Parliament said. The leg...