World

AMMAN, Jordan – A government official says Jordan’s state security court sentenced 12 defendants to prison terms ranging from one to 15 years in what local media described as a plot by the Islamic militant Hamas group to carry out attacks in the West Bank. The official says eight defendants …

MANILA, Philippines – Despite China’s objections, the United States and the Philippines will call for a stop to island-building work, military deployments and other aggressive actions that raise tensions in the disputed South China Sea in an annual diplomatic meeting in Malaysia, officials said Tuesday. Beijing has opposed any mention …

UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations is releasing $70 million from an emergency fund to provide humanitarian aid to millions of people forced from their homes by violence and instability from Sudan’s conflict-wracked Darfur region to Myanmar. U.N. humanitarian chief Stephen O’Brien said Wednesday that nearly 60 million people have …

CHISINAU, Moldova – Dozens of people lined up outside three banks after the central bank governor said they would be closed in line with demands from the International Monetary Fund. Governor of the National Bank of Moldova Dorin Dragutanu said Thursday the state-owned Savings Bank, the Social Bank and Unibank, …

BOGOTA, Colombia – The cremated remains of Nobel Prize-winning novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez are making their return journey home to Colombia. They’ll be kept in the Caribbean city of Cartagena where he began his writing career. Authorities from the state of Bolivar said Tuesday they reached an agreement with Garcia …

COLUMBUS, Ohio – An Ohio law that singles out professional athletes and entertainers for taxation even when they’re in the state just a few days a year is unconstitutional, say several sport leagues including the NBA, NFL and NHL, who want the state Supreme Court to strike the law down. …

LISBON, Portugal – Portugal’s main opposition Socialist Party is promising to deliver more growth and less austerity if it regains power in October elections. The center-left Socialists have said they intend to abide by fiscal discipline rules governing countries sharing the euro currency. But party leader Antonio Costa says the …

MEXICO CITY – Authorities in northern Mexico found 63 children between the ages of 8 and 17 working long hours in miserable conditions at a vegetable packing company, officials said Thursday. The state government in Coahuila, which borders Texas, said the minors told authorities they had only a half-day off …

ROME – Italy’s coast guard says it coordinated the rescue of some 4,400 migrants in a single day, a record-setting number, as smugglers took advantage of ideal sea conditions off Libya to launch a fleet of overcrowded, unseaworthy boats. The coast guard on Sunday said 22 rescue operations were carried …

GENEVA – The humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders says two of its workers have been killed in separate attacks in villages in South Sudan. The group, also known by the French name Medecins Sans Frontieres, said Tuesday that Gawar Top Puoy, a logistician, and community health worker James Gatluak Gatpieny …