BRUSSELS – European Union foreign ministers have tasked the EU's top diplomat with drawing up a list of sanctions to slap on senior Myanmar military officers over rights abuses against the Rohingya minority. The ministers on Monday also ordered EU…
BRATISLAVA, Slovakia – Slovakia's top police officer says an investigative reporter has been shot dead in his home together with his girlfriend. Tibor Gaspar says Jan Kuciak and his partner were found dead on Sunday evening in their house in…
CAIRO – Human Rights Watch has sharply criticized Egyptian authorities for a series of "arbitrary" arrests of political opponents of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi ahead of next month's presidential election, which the group considers "unfair." Monday's HRW statement urges for the…
JOHANNESBURG – Two lions rescued from neglected zoos in war zones in Iraq and Syria have been transported to South Africa to recover from physical and psychological trauma at a big cat sanctuary. Fiona Miles with international animal welfare group…
CAIRO – A Yemeni minister has accused the United Arab Emirates of trying to fragment his country by creating separate "regional and tribal armies" in the south. Yemen has been engulfed in a civil war since 2015, with a Saudi-led…
ROME – The Latest on cold weather and snow across Europe (all times local): 10:25 a.m. Temperatures in Moscow have dropped to this winter's low despite the approaching spring. The Meteorological Office said on Monday the mercury in the Russian…
ANKARA, Turkey – Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag says Ankara has submitted documents to the Czech authorities formally requesting the extradition of the former leader of a Syrian Kurdish party. Salih Muslim, former co-chair of the Democratic Union Party,…
JERUSALEM – An Israeli court has released four of the seven suspects held in a high-profile corruption case involving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's confidants after a judge apparently discussed their detention with an investigator. The development leaves two Netanyahu aides…
BEIRUT – The Latest on the war in Syria (all times local): 11:15 a.m. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says it's "high time to stop this hell on Earth" in Syria's embattled eastern Ghouta region. Guterres also appealed on the warring…
Are exorcisms real? Spirited Debate: Father Vincent Lampert on the reality of exorcisms and that they are still occurring even today The Vatican is launching a new international exorcism training course in response to rising demand for priests skilled in…
LONDON – Police say four people have died in an explosion that collapsed a building in the English city of Leicester. Officials said Monday another four people are hospitalized and more people may be missing. A search and rescue operation…
BEIRUT – A Syrian monitoring group and paramedics say that despite the U.N. cease-fire resolution, new bombardment of the rebel-held suburbs east of Damascus killed 10 people as airstrikes and bombing resumed. Syrian state TV broadcast live footage showing the…
SEOUL, South Korea – South Korea's president has joined the growing number of supporters of the country's MeToo movement. President Moon Jae-in said in a meeting with his advisers Monday that he expressed respect to the victims who spoke up…
BEIJING – Chinese censors are acting quickly to remove satirical comments about the ruling Communist Party's move to enable President Xi Jinping to stay in power indefinitely, while political observers are examining the possibility that China will return to an…
ROME – Romans have awoken to a rare snowfall, after an Arctic storm passing over much of Europe dumped enough snow to force schools to close and public transport to reduce services. Rome's Mediterranean climate and proximity to the sea…
WELLINGTON, New Zealand – The Latest on a powerful earthquake that struck Papua New Guinea (all times local): 8:45 p.m. Indonesia's Disaster Mitigation Agency says a powerful earthquake that struck Papua New Guinea caused panic and damaged buildings in the…
JUBA, South Sudan – One year after South Sudan briefly declared a famine, more than half of the people in the world's youngest nation face extreme hunger amid civil war and famine could return, a new report says. More than…
BEIJING – A look at recent developments in the South China Sea, where China is pitted against smaller neighbors in multiple disputes over islands, coral reefs and lagoons in waters crucial for global commerce and rich in fish and potential…
ISLAMABAD – A Pakistani mountaineering official says a Polish K2 expedition has expressed concern after a member abandoned the team following a dispute with fellow climbers to attempt a solo ascent of the world's second-highest peak in winter. Karrar Haidri…
BEIJING – China's ruling Communist Party's proposed scrapping of a limit on presidential terms is upending three decades of efforts to restrict how long top leaders can hold office and setting the stage for party chief Xi Jinping to remain…
HOMS, Syria – In the Syrian city of Homs' landmark Clock Square, where some of the first anti-government protests erupted in 2011, stands a giant poster of a smiling President Bashar Assad waving his right arm, with a caption that…
WELLINGTON, New Zealand – Government officers in Papua New Guinea are traveling to the area hit by a powerful earthquake to assess unverified reports of fatalities and to see the extent of the damage. A magnitude-7.5 quake hit early Monday…
At least four people were killed in a massive building explosion in the English city of Leicester, police said Monday. Leicestershire police said four people were still hospitalized, including one with serious injuries. “There are four confirmed fatalities at this…
TORONTO – One was homeless, smoked crack cocaine and worked as a prostitute. Another was from a conservative Muslim family and hid the fact that he was gay from his family. Another was a recent immigrant with a drug problem.…