SYDNEY – Australia’s government was trying to confirm reports that an Australian teenager was among a group of suicide bombers from the Islamic State movement that struck Iraq’s embattled Anbar province. The Islamic State group claimed in an online statement that it used foreign fighters from Australia, Belgium, Syria and …

JOHANNESBURG – South African authorities say a Cabinet minister who led the planning of the 2013 funeral of Nelson Mandela has died in a car crash. The office of South African President Jacob Zuma said Collins Chabane, minister in charge of public service and administration, died early Sunday. Zuma said …

TIRANA, Albania – Nine Albanian Muslims, including two preachers, have gone on trial in Albania on charges of recruiting and sending more than 70 men to fight with rebel groups in Syria. The suspects were arrested a year ago and charged with promoting and funding terrorist activities. They face a …

LONDON – The U.K. Independence Party, which wants Britain to leave the European Union, has suspended a candidate in the upcoming general election over claims a member of her staff inflated a restaurant receipt to be claimed on European taxpayer-funded expenses. The allegation is embarrassing for UKIP, which rails against …

GUATEMALA CITY – Guatemala and Honduras have set up a joint border task force to fight criminal gangs and tackle other causes of migration as part of an attempt to reduce the number of people headed north to the United States, officials said Monday. The “Maya-Chorti” task force comprises around …

MOSCOW – A senior Russian official says about 1,500 residents of Russia’s North Caucasus are fighting alongside Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq. Sergei Melikov, President Vladimir Putin’s envoy to the North Caucasus, says at least five militants who came back after fighting in Syria were killed in security …

MEXICO CITY – A clash between two vigilante “self-defense” groups in the troubled Mexican state of Guerrero killed at least four people and dozens more were taken prisoner by each side, a leader of one of the groups said Tuesday. Over the last two years vigilantes have brought some peace …

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis is insisting that his concern for the poor and critique of the global economic system isn’t some novel, communist-inspired ideology but rather the original and core “touchstone” of the Christian faith. Some U.S. conservatives have branded Francis a Marxist for his frequent critiques of consumerism …

JERUSALEM – Israel’s half a million high school students are staying home for three days to protest cancelled field trips, the first time the country’s teenagers are playing hooky nationwide. Education Ministry spokeswoman Hagit Cohen said the strike was in protest against a decision by an organization of Israeli teachers …

TOKYO – Japan’s leading opposition Democratic Party has chosen 61-year-old Harvard-trained former Deputy Prime Minister Katsuya Okada as its top leader. Okada won in a runoff vote Sunday against Goshi Hosono after another contender, former Health Minister Akira Nagatsuma, was eliminated in the first round. He faces the daunting challenge …