UNITED NATIONS – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed a veteran United Nations diplomat from Slovakia to head the United Nations political mission in Iraq. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Tuesday that Jan Kubis, who served as the top U.N. envoy in Afghanistan from 2012 to 2014, brings years of experience …

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – A lawyer says Maldives’ former president has denied in court that he ordered the arrest of a top judge three years ago. The former president, Mohamed Nasheed, also told a Criminal Court hearing Thursday that the charge against him is politically motivated, said lawyer Hisaan Hussain. …

CAIRO – Egyptian security officials say two militant ambushes in the restive northern Sinai Peninsula have killed 10 soldiers. The two attacks, which also wounded 11 soldiers and several civilians, come as Egypt battles a growing insurgency in the northern Sinai, which borders Israel and the Gaza Strip. Attacks mainly …

BEIJING – Six people have been hospitalized and hundreds of firefighters deployed to battle a blaze sparked by an explosion at a plant in southern China that produces the toxic chemical paraxylene. Authorities say there have been no chemical leaks due to the blast Monday evening at the Goure PX …

AMSTERDAM – A Dutch train driver held in captivity for more than three years by Islamic militants has expressed his gratitude to the French troops who liberated him this week in northern Mali. In a written statement released Thursday by the Dutch foreign ministry, Sjaak Rijke says he is in …

KABUL, Afghanistan – Taliban fighters swarmed over Afghan army posts in the country’s northeast, killing at least 18 soldiers and beheading some in a major attack to mark the start of the country’s summer fighting season, authorities said Monday. The assault marks a grim first summer battle for Afghan forces, …

MOSCOW – A former ally of deposed Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has been found shot to death in his home in Kiev. The Ukrainian Interior Ministry said Oleg Kalashnikov, a former member of the Ukrainian parliament, was found dead Wednesday evening. It said the he had died of gunshot wounds …

CANBERRA, Australia – A refugee advocate says five asylum seekers from Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Iran have agreed to be among the first to leave the Pacific island nation of Nauru for Cambodia under a deal that allows refugees rejected by Australia to be resettled in the Southeast Asian country. …

TISDALE, Saskatchewan – A woman and three children have been killed in a small community in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, and police say the suspect is also dead. Police said Wednesday they received a call Tuesday that a family from Tisdale hadn’t been heard from all day and couldn’t …

KATHMANDU, Nepal – 8.45 a.m. (0300 GMT) Nepal’s Deputy Inspector General of Police Komal Singh Bam says at least 3,218 people have been confirmed killed in Saturday’s earthquake. So far 18 people have also been confirmed dead in an avalanche that swept through the Mount Everest base camp in the …