FUJAIRAH, United Arab Emirates – The waters of the Persian Gulf have long been home to pearl oysters, providing a valuable mainstay to the Arab tribes that subsisted off its trade before the discovery of oil pumped new life into…
BEIRUT – New fronts have opened up in Syria as President Bashar Assad and his allies push toward final victory and the fight against the Islamic State group draws to an end. This threatens an even broader confrontation among regional…
WELLINGTON, New Zealand – Thousands of Tonga residents face a long wait for power and other services to be restored after a cyclone tore through the Pacific nation this week. More details emerged Wednesday about the damage caused by Cyclone…
MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine president's spokesman says his government rejects and does not recognize Chinese names given to undersea features in a vast offshore region where the Philippines has undisputed sovereign rights. Spokesman Harry Roque Jr. said Wednesday that…
QUETTA, Pakistan – Pakistani police say gunmen riding on motorcycles have opened fire on a vehicle carrying paramilitary soldiers in the country's southwest, killing four troops before fleeing. Abdur Razzaq Cheema, the police chief in Quetta, said Wednesday's attack took…
LA PAZ, Bolivia – An explosion killed two people and injured 10 Tuesday night in the same Bolivian town where eight people died and 40 were injured during weekend Carnival celebrations by a blast that has been blamed on a…
MEXICO CITY – Mexican authorities say dozens of dolphins have been found stranded on a rocky beach along the coast of Baja California Sur state. The federal environmental protection agency says 54 of the marine mammals came onshore in the…
Nikki Haley, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, is looking the Security Council to act toward the repatriation of nearly 700,000 Rohingya refugees who were forced to flee Burma to neighboring Bangladesh following a major military crackdown last…
UNITED NATIONS – Venezuela and Libya have been suspended from voting in the U.N. General Assembly for the third time in three years because of millions of dollars in unpaid dues to the world body. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres informed the…
LIMA, Peru – The host nation for a summit of Western Hemisphere leaders has withdrawn its invitation to Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro over his country's plan to hold an early presidential election. Peruvian Foreign Minister Cayetana Aljovin said Tuesday that…
CANBERRA, Australia – Australia's deputy prime minister was under mounting pressure Wednesday to resign as his party's leader over revelations of a relationship with a former staffer. Newspapers revealed last week that Barnaby Joyce and his former media adviser are…
UNITED NATIONS – U.N. experts say "a political solution in Libya remains out of reach in the near future." The panel says in the summary of a report to the Security Council that despite U.N. efforts to overcome the current…
The Israeli military judge overseeing the trial of Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi has ordered all proceedings to take place behind closed doors. (Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.) An Israeli military judge overseeing the trial of Palestinian teenager…
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fought back against accusations of corruption on Tuesday after police recommended that he be indicted on charges of bribery and illicit quid-pro-quo agreements in two separate cases. In an emotional televised speech, Netanyahu vehemently denied any…
UNITED NATIONS – U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley is denouncing Myanmar's government for continuing to make life for Rohingya Muslims "a death sentence," citing the reporting of mass graves by The Associated Press and other news organizations. She started her speech…
AMMAN, Jordan – Jordan's King Abdullah II says that "life for Jordanians today is very, very tough" as a result of a large refugee influx and that he feels the international community has "let down our people." He spoke to…
JERUSALEM – The Latest on police recommending indictments against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin (all times local): 9:05 p.m. Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, says police recommendations to indict him on corruption charges "will end with nothing." In a nationwide TV…
SAO PAULO – A samba school's use of blackface in a Carnival parade is sparking debate about depictions of race in Brazil, which has only begun in recent years to grapple with a fraught racial legacy. The storied Salgueiro school's…
JERUSALEM – Israeli police on Tuesday recommended that Benjamin Netanyahu be indicted in a pair of corruption cases, media reported, in an embarrassing blow to the embattled prime minister that is likely to fuel calls for him to step down.…
FILE PHOTO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem December 17, 2017. REUTERS/Abir Sultan/Pool/File Photo - RC1579A16670 Israeli media are reporting that police have recommended indicting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu…
ROME – Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says allied nations must take responsibility for their citizens who have been detained as foreign fighters for the Islamic State group in Syria. Mattis says "doing nothing is not an option," even as some…
It was a snowy January morning in Istanbul last year when Ayse, a 32-year-old primary school teacher and mother of two, kissed the kids goodbye at school and headed home. She didn’t make it to her front door before she…
Dozens of Winter Olympic staff members quarantined for norovirus are reportedly blaming the games' organizers for the outbreak at Pyeongchang, saying their “irresponsible action” caused the contagious stomach bug to rapidly spread. Nearly 200 cases of norovirus at the Winter…
TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's official IRNA news agency reports that a dual Iranian and Canadian citizen who killed himself in custody was sending information to the U.S. and Israeli intelligence services. The report Tuesday says Kavous Seyed-Emami, a university professor,…