World

UNITED NATIONS – The U.S. says the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia will meet at the end of January to discuss the way ahead toward Israeli-Palestinian peace. U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power made the announcement Thursday during the U.N. Security Council’s monthly Mideast debate. She urged …

YANGON, Myanmar – Rights groups are welcoming the release of a prominent Rohingya Muslim doctor who was arrested while trying to calm rioters during sectarian violence in western Myanmar. But they say scores of political prisoners remain behind bars. The case against Tun Aung, sentenced to 17 years in prison …

NAIROBI, Kenya – A Kenya police official says results from DNA tests on a body retrieved from a river show that it is not that of a missing International Criminal Court witness. John Kariuki, a criminal investigation officer, said Thursday results indicate the remains were not of Meshack Yebei. Rev. …

JOHANNESBURG – South African police say two suspected looters were fatally shot following a week of attacks on immigrant-owned shops in the Johannesburg area. The South African Press Association on Monday quoted police Lt. Gen. Solomon Makgale as saying the two men were killed in Langlaagte, south of Johannesburg. Makgale …

BEIJING – China’s education minister has issued a stern warning against threats to communist ideological purity in higher education, saying Western values must never be permitted to infiltrate the classroom. Yuan Guiren reiterated the need for strict ruling Communist Party control over education and said educators must ensure that teaching …

TORONTO – A prosecutor says two men charged with plotting to attack a passenger train travelling between Canada and the U.S. were motivated by Islamic extremism and spent months plotting to kill as many people as they could. Raed Jaser and Chiheb Esseghaier face multiple charges in the alleged plot …

UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. secretary-general is asking for more than 1,000 additional peacekeepers for the Central African Republic to help bring violence between Christians and Muslims under control. A letter from Ban Ki-moon to the U.N. Security Council president, circulated Thursday, says another 1,030 peacekeepers are needed to help …

GEORGETOWN, Guyana – Professors and support staff at the main campus of Guyana’s biggest university have launched a strike to press for higher pay and better working conditions. The strike by hundreds of union employees at the University of Guyana was launched Monday after negotiations with administrators collapsed. Staffers at …

BEIRUT – Activists say rapid advances by Syrian government forces backed by Lebanese Hezbollah fighters south of the capital Damascus have slowed because of a snowstorm hitting the region. Ahmad al-Masalmeh, an opposition activist in the southern city of Daraa, said snow fell Thursday in some areas south of Damascus, …

KINSHASA, Congo – Congo’s president is condemning a decision by the United Nations to withdraw its support from a military offensive against a rebel group. The U.N. announced recently that it could not take part in the effort because Congo’s military decided to have the campaign be directed by two …