MOSCOW – Russia says it is considering banning imports of cut flowers from The Netherlands, a move that would aggravate tensions between the two countries already at odds over the downing of flight MH17. National veterinary agency Rosselkhoznadzor said Monday it has urged the European Union’s organization for plant protection …

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 …

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A black couple says officials at Emporia State University in Kansas have ignored their complaints about a racial incident and are retaliating against them for complaining. Angelica Hale is an assistant to the dean of the School of Library & Management. She says the problems began …

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, …

DENVER – An Environmental Protection Agency official says she doesn’t believe wildlife will suffer significant health impacts from the large volume of wastewater that spilled from an abandoned mine in southwestern Colorado. The EPA also said Sunday the amount of wastewater that spilled from Colorado’s Gold King Mine into the …

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 …

The Justices of the Connecticut Supreme Court took over parenting duties of a cancer-stricken teenager Thursday. In so doing, they surely saved her life. At the conclusion of oral arguments, the high court took just minutes to determined that state officials were right to take custody of the girl known …

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. …