CAIRO – Egypt's president says his cash-strapped government lacks about 250 billion Egyptian pounds, or $14.1 billion, to overhaul the country's run-down railway system. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi's remarks Thursday came a day after a passenger train collided with a cargo train…
NEW DELHI – Winter ends, spring arrives and the colors come out. Across India and Nepal, millions of Hindus are celebrating Holi, the joyous festival of color, smearing one another with colored powder and spraying each other with squirt guns.…
PARIS – A group of French lawmakers wants a fine of at least 90 euros ($110) for people caught making sexist catcalls as President Emmanuel Macron's government prepares a sweeping new law targeting sexual violence and harassment. The five lawmakers…
BEIJING – A U.S.-based Uighur journalist is accusing the Chinese authorities of seizing about 20 of her relatives in Xinjiang, apparently to pressure her to cease her critical reporting on the turbulent northwestern region. The report comes amid rising concerns…
KABUL, Afghanistan – An Afghan official says special forces have captured a foreign fighter claiming to be German during a raid on the Taliban in southern Helmand province. The Defense Ministry's spokesman, Dawlat Waziri, said on Thursday that the Afghan…
CAIRO – Egypt's president has warned the media that he considers any defamation of the country's security forces to be "high treason." Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi's warning Thursday came as security forces enter the fourth week of a campaign against Islamic militants…
MOSCOW – President Vladimir Putin says Russia has tested new nuclear weapons, including a nuclear-powered cruise missile and a nuclear-powered underwater drone, that would be immune to enemy intercept. Speaking in a state-of-the-nation speech Thursday, Putin said that the nuclear-powered…
BRATISLAVA, Slovakia – Police are conducting raids in eastern Slovakia in houses linked to members of Italian mafia, about whom an investigative journalist was writing before he was shot dead last week. The country's police chief, Tibor Gaspar, told reporters…
GENEVA – The Latest on the wintry weather hitting Europe (all times local): 11:15 a.m. Roads and airports across large chunks of Britain are closed as snow and wind wreak havoc with travel plans. Hundreds of drivers were trapped in…
VATICAN CITY – A Vatican magazine is denouncing how nuns are often treated like indentured servants by cardinals and bishops, for whom they cook and clean for next to no pay. The March edition of "Women Church World," the monthly…
WELLINGTON, New Zealand – A troubled teenager who wanted to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II during her 1981 visit to New Zealand fired a shot near her motorcade, newly released documents show. New Zealand's internal spy agency the Security Intelligence Service…
BERLIN – A 27-year-old Palestinian man has been convicted of murder and attempted murder for killing one person and wounding six others in a stabbing spree at a German supermarket last summer. The dpa news agency reported Thursday that Ahmad…
BEIJING – Media reports say China is planning to build a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier capable of remaining at sea for long durations. The Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post said Thursday the China Shipbuilding Industry Corp. issued a statement…
KAMPALA, Uganda – Mysterious deaths of foreigners and locals are stoking fears in Uganda about crime amid an ongoing feud among the country's security agencies, and now the president is weighing in. In the past month four Europeans have been…
SEOUL, South Korea – South Korea's president has criticized Japan's insistence that the issue of women forced to provide sex for Japanese troops in World War II has been settled. President Moon Jae-in said Thursday that Japan "should not say…
MOSCOW – The Russian military is accusing Syria's rebels of shelling a humanitarian corridor that Moscow set up with the Syrian government, offering residents of Damascus' besieged eastern suburbs a way out of the embattled enclave. Maj. Gen. Vladimir Zolotukhin…
BAKU, Azerbaijan – The U.S. Agency for International Development says the government in the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan is putting up obstacles to its operations in the country. Brock Bierman, USAID's Assistant Administrator in Europe and Eurasia, told reporters…
GENEVA – Geneva's airport has been closed "until further notice" after the Swiss city was blanketed by snowfall overnight. The airport's website says passengers should stay away for the time being and recommends they check with their airlines to see…
MEXICO CITY – Each month brings a bigger stage and a new level of pedigree for Shubhankar Sharma. He arrived in Mexico City for his first World Golf Championship at No. 75 in the world, making Sharma, at age 21,…
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina – Veterans of Bosnia's 1992-95 war are blocking main highways in various parts of the country to draw attention to their frustration with the authorities. The protest that began Wednesday in the Muslim-Croat federation — one of the…
WARSAW, Poland – A Polish law that criminalizes accusing the Polish nation of crimes that were committed by Nazi Germany has taken effect. The law has sparked a crisis with Israel, where officials fear its true aim is to repress…
CANBERRA, Australia – A top Australian diplomat has told a Senate committee that the bilateral relationship with China is going through "complex and difficult issues," but rejects a media report of a diplomatic deep freeze. Frances Adamson, secretary of the…
JAKARTA, Indonesia – A radical Islamic cleric who was the spiritual leader of the Bali bombers and a force behind a jihadist training camp raided in 2010 has been transferred from prison to a Jakarta hospital. Guarded by four paramilitary…
ISLAMABAD – Pakistan's military says Indian troops have killed two Pakistani soldiers in the latest "unprovoked" fire in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir. The gunfire from Indian troops on Wednesday struck Pakistani posts near Bhimber village in Pakistan's part…