BERLIN – German police say they've arrested a man in the kidnapping of a billionaire businessman's son three years ago that ended with the victim released unharmed. Police in Offenbach, next to Frankfurt, told the dpa news agency on Wednesday…
BRATISLAVA, Slovakia – Slovakia's prime minister says he's ready to resign as a way out of the political crisis triggered by the slayings of an investigative journalist and his fiancee. Robert Fico's surprise move was meant to keep the current…
BAGHDAD – Iraq's civil aviation authority says airports in the country's Kurdish region have been officially reopened for international flights. Abbas Omran, the authority's director, says he received a cable Wednesday night that international carriers are now allowed to take…
LAHORE, Pakistan – Pakistani police say a bomb has exploded near a police checkpoint killing three police and a bystander and wounding 20 others near the eastern city of Lahore. Haider Ashraf, Lahore police chief, says Wednesday that an initial…
ROME – Italian Euro-skeptic leader Matteo Salvini says he's open to ruling in coalition with the 5-Star Movement if the populists, who also scored big in this month's elections, adopt his proposals, including a flat-tax system and lowering the retirement…
American Pastor Andrew Pastor being held in a Turkish jail A 50-year-old American pastor who had already spent more than 500 days in a Turkish jail without a charge now faces a veritable life sentence - 35 years - in…
SKOPJE, Macedonia – Macedonia has taken a conclusive step to declaring Albanian the country's second official language, with lawmakers approving the measure after a stormy session. A total of 64 of parliament's 120 lawmakers backed the motion. Parliament had approved…
WARSAW, Poland – Polish lawmakers have approved a new national holiday honoring the Poles who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. The Senate voted Wednesday on the bill, initiated by President Andrzej, to make March 24 a…
GENEVA – The Swiss Foreign Ministry says Carles Puigdemont, the fugitive ex-president of the restive Spanish region of Catalonia, is heading to Switzerland for a private visit. The ministry said Wednesday that Puigdemont is due in Geneva after accepting an…
SAO PAULO – The Education Department of Brazil's biggest city says more than 90 percent of the public schools it runs have been affected by a weeklong strike by teachers protesting proposed changes to their pension plans. The department says…
MEXICO CITY – A Mexican human rights group says a Roman Catholic priest has been sentenced to 63 years in prison for abusing a boy. The Action Group for Human Rights and Social Justice said Tuesdays the conviction and prison…
BUCHAREST, Romania – Romania's president has sent back to Parliament legislation regulating the integrity of public officials saying it diminishes standards of probity expected of elected officials. President Klaus Iohannis said Wednesday that the measure approved by Parliament in Dec.…
LONDON – The Latest on the poisoning of a former Russian spy in England (all times local): 4:40 p.m. Germany's new foreign minister says Berlin "can fully and completely understand" why Britain took action over the poisoning of a former…
LONDON – Facebook has taken down the official home page of the far-right group Britain First along with the pages of its two leaders because they violate the company's standards. The group gained prominence in November when U.S. President Donald…
BENGHAZI, Libya – Libya's top prosecutor says criminal groups are smuggling Libyan fuel on board fishing vessels to Europe. Al-Sadiq al-Sour told reporters on Wednesday their investigations revealed that smugglers use sea routes to move subsidized fuel from the western…
A former Russian scientist who leaked Moscow’s secret experimentation of the nerve agent believed used in the poisoning of an ex-spy is now warning that hundreds of people in Britain could be at risk of exposure for years. Vil Mirzayanov, the…
VATICAN CITY – The Vatican has admitted that it altered a photo sent to the media of a letter from retired Pope Benedict XVI about Pope Francis' theological background. The manipulation changed the meaning of the image. The Vatican's communications…
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's firing is reverberating across a Middle East where Iran fears his replacement will fight to end the 2015 nuclear deal, a hope of Gulf Arab states as Palestinians worry…
JERUSALEM – Israel's government watchdog has taken aim at the military's "Hannibal" directive — a controversial tactic used when soldiers were abducted. The directive, used most recently during a 2014 war in Gaza, authorized the use of heavy fire if…
LJUBLJANA, Slovenia – Slovenia's teachers on strike for the second time in a month after failing to reach a deal with the government on higher wages. Many schools and kindergartens remained closed on Wednesday as teachers held street protests in…
VILNIUS, Lithuania – A Lithuanian lawmaker resigned Wednesday, a day after surviving an impeachment vote in the Baltic country's parliament for his reported ties to Russia. Mindaugas Bastys, a former Social Democrat-turned-independent, announced his decision hours after Prime Minister Saulius…
BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip – The United Nations says about $540 million is needed for humanitarian relief in the Palestinian territories in 2018. Jamie McGoldrick, the top U.N. humanitarian coordinator, said Wednesday that 75 percent of that sum is for…
ROME – Italian bomb experts have moved to the sea for safe detonation a 500-pound (225-kilo) British bomb from World War II, accidentally dug up in an Adriatic town. Some 23,000 people in Fano were evacuated Tuesday night as a…
NAYPYITAW, Myanmar – Myanmar officials say the time is right to have U.N. agencies become involved in the repatriation of Rohingya refugees who fled to Bangladesh to escape violence against them. Foreign Ministry Permanent Secretary Myint Thu said Wednesday that…