GANGNEUNG, South Korea – As the world's top disabled athletes competed on ice and snow, Erica Mitchell steered through her own obstacle course on Pyeongchang's narrow and uneven streets. The 31-year-old from Chicago was one of many people with disabilities…
Putin faces seven other challengers but none present a real threat. He solidified this, however, by barring them from campaigning on the final day of the election. (AP) As Sunday’s presidential election nears, Vladimir Putin is widely expected to be…
WARSAW, Poland – Poland's leading archbishop has deplored comments by a senior conservative priest who had wished Pope Francis a quick death if he does not open to "wisdom." Krakow Archbishop Marek Jedraszewski said Saturday he heard about the comments…
TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's semi-official ILNA news agency is reporting that authorities have detained a close ally of former hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The Saturday report says the office of Tehran prosecutor's said police detained Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei for "investigations."…
JOHANNESBURG – The president of the Indian Ocean nation of Mauritius, Africa's only female head of state, has resigned amid a financial scandal. Ameenah Gurib-Fakim Gurib-Fakim submitted her resignation in the "national interest," her lawyer Yousouf Mohamed told reporters Saturday,…
Horst Seehofer, left, has undercut Angela Merkel, right, by saying "Islam does not belong to Germany." (Reuters) German Chancellor Angela Merkel was undercut by her interior minister on Friday, when he said in an interview that “Islam does not belong…
VATICAN CITY – The Vatican has bowed to pressure and released the complete letter by Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI about Pope Francis after coming under criticism for selectively citing it in a press release and digitally manipulating a photograph of…
WARSAW, Poland – Hundreds of Poles have staged protests in Warsaw and other cities against racism and anti-Semitism to show they don't agree with the rising wave of hostility and intolerance in Poland. Pounding drums, some 1,000 people walked in…
BERLIN – German authorities say three people have been arrested in the northern city of Hannover when Kurdish demonstrators protesting Turkish military attacks in northern Syria clashed with police. The dpa news agency reported that some of the estimated 11,000…
SANAA, Yemen – Yemen's president has appointed the half brother of the country's slain ex-president to head a military force. Saturday's decision by President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi assigns Ali Saleh al-Ahmar, the half brother of ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh,…
TIRANA, Albania – Albania police have arrested 39 people in a crackdown on crime rings illegally sending about 1,000 Albanians to Britain, the United States and Canada. Police chief Ardi Veliu said Saturday that, after months of an international investigation,…
PATNA, India – A government official says a speeding bus has fallen into a dry river bed in eastern India, killing at least 10 people and injuring 12. Magistrate Raju Roshan says the driver lost control of the vehicle and…
YPRES, Belgium – A special remembrance installation of 600,000 crouching clay figures is opening to the public soon in Ypres, Belgium, seeking to help visitors from around the world reflect on what happened during World War I a century ago.…
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Gaza's Hamas rulers have shut the offices of a Qatari-Palestinian cellular provider in connection with its investigation into an explosion that targeted the visiting Palestinian prime minister. Hamas police spokesman Ayman Batniji said Saturday that…
MOSCOW – As a kid in a dismal Soviet communal apartment, Vladimir Putin was a scrapper who dreamed of being an operator — diligently training in martial arts and boldly walking into a KGB office to inquire about how to…
MADRID – Thousands of elderly Spaniards are rallying in protests across the country to ask for an increase in public pension payouts for retirees. Unions and retiree groups called for protests in over 100 cities and towns across Spain on…
BEIRUT – The Latest on developments related to the war in Syria (all times local): 2:15 p.m. The Russian military says more than 30,000 people have fled Syria's besieged east Ghouta and that the flow is continuing. Maj. Gen. Vladimir…
MOSCOW – The Latest on Russia's presidential election (all times local): 2:45 p.m. A Russian election monitoring group is warning that independent observers may be targeted by an "attack" on voting day. Grigory Melkonyants, co-chair of the independent Golos center,…
The burnt wreckage of a Piper PA-23 Apache six-seater twin-engine light aircraft is seen at right as rescuers recover the bodies of victims following a crash upon takeoff Saturday. (AP) MANILA, Philippines – A small passenger plane carrying five people…
BERLIN – Swiss authorities say they've recovered the body of one skier and are still searching for three others after they were hit by an avalanche in the Alps. Police from the Valais canton, or state, said Saturday that a…
ISTANBUL – Turkey's official news agency says a journalist who has been accused of supporting a failed coup has been released from prison. Sahin Alpay, a 74-year-old journalist who wrote for the now defunct Zaman newspaper, was released from a…
World leaders condemn Russia for spy attack U.S., Germany and France issue statement of solidarity, saying they agree with U.K. assessment that Russia was responsible for nerve agent attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter. Russia retaliated…
ATHENS, Greece – The Latest on the sinking of a suspected migrant boat off Greece (all times local): 11 a.m. Greece's coast guard says the bodies of 14 people have been recovered from the sea off a Greek island in…
STOCKHOLM – North Korea's foreign minister is set to meet again with his Swedish counterpart amid growing speculation about a possible meeting in the Scandinavian country between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Ri Yong Ho,…