A Turkish private jet flying from the United Arab Emirates to Istanbul with at least 11 people on board crashed Sunday night in a mountainous region of Iran during a heavy rain, authorities said. There was no immediate report of…
SANTA CLARA, Cuba – The 57-year-old Communist Party official expected to assume Raul Castro's seat as president of Cuba on April 19 says the country's next government will be more responsive to its people. Miguel Diaz-Canel told reporters in the…
PARIS – The Latest on the party congress of France's far right National Front (all times local): 4:40 p.m. French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has proposed changing the name of the National Front party co-founded by her father to…
LAHORE, Pakistan – Pakistani police say they have arrested a man and his accomplice for throwing a shoe at former premier Nawaz Sharif in the eastern city of Lahore. Police officer Nishat Cheema said the two men were former students…
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – A command post overseeing Ethiopia's state of emergency said security forces mistakenly killed nine civilians in Moyale, near the country's southern border with Kenya. The command post said in a statement Sunday that five members of…
KIGALI, Rwanda – A Rwandan provincial governor says at least 16 people were killed and 140 others injured when lightning struck a Seventh Day Adventist church in the country's south. Rose Mureshyankwano said 140 churchgoers were injured and rushed to…
SANTIAGO, CHILE – Conservative Sebastian Pinera returns to Chile's presidency on Sunday, vowing to revive an economy that has slumped under outgoing center-left leader Michelle Bachelet. Pinera, a billionaire entrepreneur, oversaw growth that averaged 5.3 percent a year during his…
BERLIN – German police say a mosque in Berlin has been set on fire causing severe damage. There have been no injuries. They said the mosque in the Reinickendorf district was set ablaze early Sunday, likely by three teenagers. The…
MOSCOW – The Russian military says more than 50 civilians have evacuated from besieged eastern Ghouta suburbs of Syria's capital Damascus. "Today, 52 civilians, including 26 children, were brought from eastern Ghouta," said Maj. Gen. Vladimir Zolotukhin of the Russian…
BERLIN – Germany's designated interior minister vows to speed up deportations of rejected asylum-seekers once he takes office next week. Horst Seehofer, who is currrently still the governor of Bavaria, said Sunday he wants to implement a "plan for accelerated…
MUSCAT, Oman – U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is warning the Syrian government not to use chemical weapons in its civil war and says the Trump administration has made it clear that it would be "very unwise to use gas"…
Hundreds of people have been told to wash their possessions as a precaution after traces of the nerve agent used to attack a Russian ex-spy and his daughter were found in a restaurant where the two were poisoned, the chief…
DILI, East Timor – Thousands of East Timorese have lined the road to the capital's international airport to cheer returning independence hero Xanana Gusmao for leading negotiations that settled the sea border between the impoverished country and Australia. Gusmao, whose…
Chinese President Xi Jinping applauds after the parliament passed a constitutional amendment lifting presidential term limits, at the third plenary session of the National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, March 11, 2018. (Reuters)…
BERLIN – Cardinal Karl Lehmann, the former head of Germany's Catholic Bishops Conference, has died. He was 81. The Catholic group said in a statement that Lehmann died Sunday at his home in Mainz. Lehmann had a stroke last year…
PARIS – France's far-right National Front party has definitively severed its ties to firebrand founder Jean-Marie Le Pen as it tries to revive its fortunes. The party also re-elected his daughter, Marine Le Pen, to a new term as president…
BEIJING – Recent history offers sobering lessons to China's Communist Party as the country's rubber-stamp parliament votes to allow President Xi Jinping to stay in power indefinitely. For millennia, one-man rule for life was standard under kings and emperors. But…
NEW DELHI – French President Emmanuel Macron has taken a jibe at President Donald Trump for withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement. Macron did not name Trump while speaking Sunday at the first meeting of the International Solar Alliance in…
PEKANBARU, Indonesia – A rare Sumatran tiger has fatally attacked a man in the latest human-tiger conflict in a western Indonesian region plagued by widespread deforestation. The victim, Yusri Effendi, a 34-year-old construction worker, was mauled Saturday evening in the…
BEIJING – The Latest on China's lawmakers amending constitution to abolish term limits (all times local): 3:55 p.m. China's rubber-stamp lawmakers have passed a historic constitutional amendment that abolishes term limits and will enable President Xi Jinping to rule indefinitely.…
BEIJING – China's rubber-stamp lawmakers have begun casting votes on a constitutional amendment that would abolish term limits and enable President Xi Jinping to rule indefinitely. The amendment's passage Sunday by the National People's Congress' nearly 3,000 hand-picked delegates is…
CAIRO – The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a car bombing at a checkpoint in eastern Libya that killed at least three militiamen. A Libyan official said the attack Friday targeted a checkpoint on the outskirts of the…
ISLAMABAD – Rights activists in Pakistan are expressing concern over a court ruling that would require people to declare their religion on all official documents, saying it could lead to the persecution of minorities, particularly adherents of the Ahmadi faith.…
TOKYO – Japanese in Tokyo and along the northeast coast are marking the seventh anniversary of the tsunami that took more than 18,000 lives and triggered meltdowns at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Residents in coastal towns observed a moment…
BOGOTA, Colombia – Colombia's former leftist guerrillas face their first electoral test as a political party Sunday in congressional voting also seen as a measure of the strength of the country's factions two months before presidential elections. Analysts see the…
TORONTO – The new leader of Ontario's conservative party is the brother of late Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, who became famous for smoking crack cocaine. The Progressive Conservatives elected Doug Ford as its new leader Saturday ahead of the June…
HONG KONG – Hong Kong residents voted Sunday in by-elections that give opposition supporters the chance to recapture lost ground in a contest measuring voters' appetite for democracy in the semiautonomous Chinese city. The vote pits pro-Beijing loyalists against opposition…
LONDON – Britain offers wealthy Russians many attractions: London's culture, bucolic countryside, exclusive schools, and a global financial hub. But for some former spies and foes of Russian President Vladimir Putin, a move west has been lethal. Sergei Skripal, a…
LA PAZ, Bolivia – A narrow strip of blue has stretched for more than 150 miles (nearly 200 kilometers) across the nation of Bolivia as part of a demonstration of the country's demand for an outlet to the sea. Bolivian…
PARIS – The Latest on the party congress of France's National Front: (all times local): 7:25 p.m. Former White House strategist Steve Bannon has given a big boost to French far right leader Marine Le Pen, telling a cheering crowd…
LONDON – British government security ministers held an emergency meeting Saturday to discuss the poisoning of a Russian who spied for Britain as police backed by soldiers continued to search the town where he was attacked with a nerve agent.…
CAIRO – An Egyptian court has sentenced 10 people to death and five others to life in prison for forming a "terrorist cell" to plot attacks on security forces and other institutions. The state-run MENA news agency says the defendants…
BUCHAREST, Romania – Some 3,000 ethnic Hungarians have staged a march in Romania's northwest Transylvania region to demand more autonomy. They gathered in Targu Mures, a city that is home to many ethnic Hungarians, on Saturday carrying a giant Szekler…
British government security ministers held an emergency meeting Saturday to discuss the poisoning of a Russian who spied for Britain as police backed by soldiers continued to search the town where he was attacked with a nerve agent. (AP) British…
MEXICO CITY – The U.S. Embassy in Mexico has narrowed its travel warning for the Caribbean city of Playa del Carmen amid what it calls an unspecified "ongoing security threat" just as the spring holiday season is kicking into high…
THESSALONIKI, Greece – Anarchists have clashed with riot police in Greece after some 2,000 protesters from across the Balkans marched in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki against nationalism in the region. Police used tear gas and threw stun grenades…
LONDON – Britain offers wealthy Russians many attractions: the great city of London, the bucolic countryside, exclusive schools, and a global financial hub. But for some former spies and other foes of President Vladimir Putin, it has become lethal. The…
KABUL, Afghanistan – An Afghan official says at least 15 security forces have been killed in an attack by Taliban fighters in western Farah province. Fared Bakhtawar, head of the provincial council, said Saturday that seven army commandos and eight…
ISTANBUL – Turkey's president has criticized NATO for not supporting the country's ongoing military operation against Syrian Kurdish fighters in Syria. Speaking to supporters Saturday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked, "Hey NATO, where are you?" and accused the alliance…
MOSCOW – Vladimir Putin says he doesn't care about alleged Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election because the actions weren't connected to his government. In an interview with the US TV network NBC, the Russian president was asked if…
BEIRUT – Syrian state media and an opposition monitoring group are reporting heavy clashes and government troops' progress on several fronts in the eastern suburbs of the capital Damascus. The government-controlled Syrian Central Military Media said troops on Saturday reached…
An Asian lion is yawning at the Planckendael Zoo in Mechelen, Belgium March 9, 2018. (Reuters) A British zoo has decided to give animals birth control over crowding concerns amid a deadly outbreak of tuberculosis. The Paignton Zoo in England,…
BERLIN – An Austrian spy's lawyer has filed a legal complaint over a recent police raid on the country's domestic intelligence agency, alleging the measure was disproportionate to the alleged crimes. The Feb. 28 raid on Austria's BVT spy agency…
PARIS – French far-right leader Marine Le Pen is set to propose a name change for the National Front, part of a makeover designed to make the anti-immigration party relevant again after she was defeated by Emmanuel Macron in the…
BUCHAREST, Romania – Romania's ruling Social Democracy party has begun a congress amid criticism of the government and the party chairman's leadership. Some 4,000 party members will elect 16 deputy presidents and a deputy leader at Saturday's meeting. Chairman Liviu…
BRUSSELS – The trade chiefs of the European Union and Japan are holding talks about U.S. President Donald Trump's plans to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum amid fears they could trigger a broader trade war. EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia…
JERUSALEM – Zemenech Bililin has not seen her sisters in more than a decade, since she immigrated to Israel from Ethiopia with part of her family. Now a 19-year-old infantry soldier in Israel's military, Bililin says she is outraged that…
TEHRAN, Iran – Iran in recent months has been beset by economic problems despite the promises surrounding the 2015 nuclear deal it struck with world powers. Its clerically overseen government is starting to take notice. Politicians now offer the idea…
NAIROBI, Kenya – U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has canceled a day of events in Kenya due to illness. Undersecretary of State Steve Goldstein says Tillerson "is not feeling well after a long couple days working on major issues…
ALONG THE BANGLADESH-MYANMAR BORDER – From their home, a tent hastily erected in a grassy field, the young Muslim Rohingya couple can see the village they left behind last year, fleeing attacks by Buddhist mobs and Myanmar security forces. They…
