PORT TOWNSEND, Wash. – Officials say a 13-year-old boy attacked a 7-year-old girl on a Chimacum school bus and has been charged with three counts of first-degree rape. The Peninsula Daily News reports that the Chimacum Middle School student is scheduled for his first juvenile court appearance on July 15. …

JOHANNESBURG – Mozambique says it has destroyed a large stockpile of confiscated ivory and rhino horn in an effort to curb severe poaching of the country’s elephant population. Samiro Magane, a conservation official in Mozambique, said in a telephone interview that the burning of the ivory and rhino horn on …

KIGALI, Rwanda – A Rwandan opposition party leader says its lawyers have abandoned a case seeking to stop the government from scrapping presidential term limits because they fear for their lives. Jean Claude Ntezimana of Rwanda’s Democratic Green Party told the Associated Press Wednesday that lawyers are afraid their lives …

SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia – The Vatican and Bolivia both insist no offense was intended or taken when President Evo Morales gave Pope Francis a “Communist crucifix” as gift during his visit to this South American nation. The Catholic blogosphere was buzzing Thursday about what Morales, a socialist who has attacked …

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten – A conservation group in St. Maarten says a local Internet marketplace has illegally offered endangered sea turtle hatchlings. The Nature Foundation nonprofit says a “growing number of wild animals” are being advertised on local online sites. The group says it managed to intervene in the sea …

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Saudi Arabia’s state news agency says the kingdom has warned Iran against abusing funds that will follow from the landmark nuclear deal to incite turmoil in the region. The Saudi Press Agency says Tehran must use the resources in the service of the Iranian people, “rather …

MANILA, Philippines – A wall in a coal mining pit collapsed in the central Philippines, killing three workers and leaving at least six others missing, a provincial governor said Friday. Antique provincial Gov. Rhodora Cadiao said she ordered the operator to stop work at the open Panian pit on Semirara …

As the hot Washington summer approaches August, the Senate’s Republican majority is already on vacation from the work of confirming judges. At the current torpid pace, they will put the lowest number of judges on the federal bench in any year since 1969. Do you think this crashed system for …

You hear the bell ringing and you look and see The Salvation Army’s famous “red kettle” and you know it’s getting close to Christmas. First started in 1891 in San Francisco, the “Red Kettle Christmas Campaign” is The Salvation Army’s biggest and most visible fundraising program to help the needy …

This week, all eyes are on Cleveland as it welcomes the 2016 Republican presidential candidates for the first debate of the primary season on Thursday night. Next summer, that focus will return to Cleveland when it hosts the Republican National Convention. And months later, on Election Day, winning more votes …