world news

JOHANNESBURG –  South Africa's city of Cape Town has made more progress in putting off "Day Zero," the date when it might have to turn off most water taps because of a drought. The opposition party that runs the city…

DHAKA, Bangladesh –  Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia has appealed a five-year prison sentence in a corruption case. In their appeal, defense lawyers argued that the verdict was politically motivated and influenced by the government, an allegation authorities have…

LONDON –  Britain's top Brexit official says his country wants to lead a "race to the top" in global standards, in a speech aimed at allaying European fears of a deregulated, laissez-faire U.K. economy. Brexit Secretary David Davis said Tuesday…

WARSAW, Poland –  The European Union's top advocate says Poland has infringed environmental laws with its massive logging of trees in one of Europe's last pristine forests. The opinion published Tuesday by Advocate General Yves Bot could bring a ruling…

TEHRAN, Iran –  Iranian state television is airing the first images of the site of an airplane crash in southern Iran that killed 65 people. The footage aired on Tuesday shows the plane crash site against the side of a…

Can US avoid being drawn into proxy war in Syria? Tensions escalating in Syria after reports that about 100 Russian mercenaries were killed in a U.S. airstrike; insight from Lt. Col. Michael Waltz, former U.S. Army Green Beret commander and…

MADRID –  A leading Catalan politician is vowing to carry on advocating for Catalan independence from her current base in Switzerland where she is evading a Spanish judicial probe for her role in last year's illegal secession attempt. Anna Gabriel,…

LONDON –  British lawmakers are set to question officials of two anti-poverty charities Tuesday amid concern sex predators are targeting aid organizations because of the chaotic environments in which they work. Parliament's International Development Committee called the urgent session amid…

BERLIN –  Prosecutors in southwest Germany say a man who attacked and wounded three migrants with a knife apparently acted because he was angry about the government's refugee policy. The 70-year-old, who has German and Russian citizenship, seriously wounded a…

CAIRO –  Cairo airport officials say the resumption of Russian flights to Egypt has been postponed until April, citing delays in reopening offices of the countries' national airlines. The officials said on Tuesday that modern baggage-scanning equipment has been installed…

BEIRUT –  The Latest on the conflict in Syria (all times local): 11:15 a.m. Residents of the Syrian capital and the state-run news agency say shells from besieged rebel-held suburbs are raining down on Damascus. SANA says Tuesday's shelling killed…

CANBERRA, Australia –  Australia has accepted the family of a murdered Cambodian political activist as refugees, as the Australian government encourages its rejected refugees to resettle in Cambodia. Victoria state lawmaker Hong Lim's office said Tuesday that Kem Levy's wife…

WELLINGTON, New Zealand –  Parts of New Zealand have declared an emergency as a powerful storm hits, causing flooding and forcing some people to evacuate their homes. The storm system is the remnants of Cyclone Gita, which last week ripped…

JOHANNESBURG –  South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is winning some fans with his habit of early morning jogs and walks in which he interacts with the public. Ramaphosa, who took office on Feb. 15 after predecessor Jacob Zuma resigned, walked…

BANGKOK –  A Thai court has granted legal custody of 13 babies carried by surrogate mothers to a Japanese millionaire who is their biological father. Bangkok's Central Juvenile and Family Court on Tuesday gave Mitsutoki Shigeta sole legal custody of…

BEIRUT –  A Syrian monitoring group and paramedics say government shelling and airstrikes on rebel-held suburbs of the capital, Damascus, killed at least 98 people on Monday. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says it was the deadliest day…

GAUHATI, India –  Police say nearly 1,000 people dragged two suspects out of a police station and beat them to death in anger after the rape and killing of a 5-year-old girl in India's remote northeast. Police officer Apur Bitin…

BERLIN –  A German man has been fined 208,000 euros ($258,000) for cheating at a supermarket self-service till. Munich's district court convicted the 58-year-old businessman of theft for trying to pass off 47 euros-worth of veal liver as cheaper fruit.…

ISLAMABAD –  Pakistan's foreign ministry says Indian troops have opened fire in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, killing an 8-year-old boy. The ministry says Pakistan summoned an Indian diplomat on Tuesday to lodge a protest over the killing. Islamabad…

MANILA, Philippines –  The leader of the largest Muslim rebel group in the Philippines says Islamic State group-aligned militants planned but failed to attack another southern city after their deadly siege in Marawi was crushed last year. Al Haj Murad…

TOKYO –  A U.S. fighter jet has dumped fuel tanks into a lake in northern Japan, narrowly missing a dozen fishermen catching clams in the water. Nobody was injured. The U.S. Air Force said in a statement that an F-16…

TEHRAN, Iran –  Iran's official IRNA news agency says the foreign ministry has summoned Sweden's ambassador over the Nordic country decision to grant citizenship to an Iranian researcher who is in jail in Tehran. Tuesday's report says the ministry summoned…

JAKARTA, Indonesia –  The eruption of Indonesia's Mount Sinabung that shot ash 5 kilometers (3 miles) high also "annihilated" the mountain's summit. Before and after images from Indonesia's Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation show an enormous chunk missing…