World

LONDON – Britain’s defense minister has said Russia poses a “real and present danger” to European security, as Royal Air Force jets were scrambled to escort Russian warplanes off the British coast. The Ministry of Defense said Thursday that RAF Typhoon jets escorted two Russian bombers away from British airspace …

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – The Ethiopian mediator of the South Sudan peace talks says he is distressed by the violation of a truce signed earlier this month. Seyoum Mesfin of the regional bloc known as IGAD spoke during the resumption of peace talks in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, amid …

SANAA, Yemen – Yemeni officials say the head of the Gulf Cooperation Council has visited President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi in a show of support for the embattled leader against Shiite rebels who have seized the capital. Top aides to Hadi say GCC Secretary General Abdullatif al-Zayani visited him Wednesday …

MEXICO CITY – Environmental and animal rights groups in Mexico are training their sights on the growing number of “swim with dolphins” enclosures on the nation’s coasts. The movement scored its first victory Thursday, when federal regulator authorities said they had ordered a dolphinarium just south of the resort city …

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso – A senior military official in Burkina Faso says a Romanian security officer has been kidnapped from a mining site in the north of the country. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media, said Saturday that the …

LONDON – A Syria-born Muslim cleric has been shot dead in London. Police say a man in his late 40s was found in a car in the Wembley area Tuesday with gunshot wounds to his chest. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene. Police did not identify the man, but …

UNITED NATIONS – A former U.S. ambassador to South Korea says he once suggested that Kim Jong Un be invited to the United States for an “orientation trip” when Kim’s father was still in charge of North Korea, but the idea was rejected — which he calls a mistake. Donald …

OTTAWA, Ontario – Canada will send 200 military trainers to Ukraine, joining the U.S. and Britain in an effort to shore up the eastern European country’s battered forces. Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Defense Minister Jason Kenney announced the move Tuesday. The troops will join U.S. and British soldiers early …

MOSCOW – About 300 US Army paratroopers have arrived in Ukraine for training exercises with national guard units, a move criticized by the Kremlin and eastern Ukraine’s Russia-backed separatist rebels. The troops, from the Italy-based 173rd Airborne Brigade, are to spend several weeks training a total of about 900 Ukrainian …

RIO DE JANEIRO – A tornado battered a city in southern Brazil, killing two people, injuring 120 others and forcing more than 1,000 people from their homes, officials said Tuesday. The National Institute of Meteorology said a supercell storm produced the tornado that struck Xanxere city in the state of …