HUANTA, Peru – The lung-searing ascents into the Andean highlands aren’t what worry the untold hundreds of young men who hump backpacks loaded with drugs out of the remote, lawless valley that produces about 60 percent of Peru’s cocaine. Armed gangs, crooked police and rival backpacker groups regularly rob cocaine’s …
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HONG KONG – Several hundred Cathay Pacific flight attendants are camped inside Hong Kong’s airport after union members voted for industrial action to protest their treatment by the airline. Union member Ada So said Tuesday that about 400 cabin staff were camped out in front of the Cathay check-in desks. …
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VIENNA – The U.N. crime prevention agency has revised international standards on treatment of prisoners to focus on greater respect for human rights. The revisions were passed Friday by the Vienna-based U.N. Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. They update standards in effect for 60 years. The new rules …
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PARIS – France’s foreign minister wants European countries to do more to fight the Islamic State group, and is seeking support from Russia in international talks about defeating the group. France, which joined U.S.-led airstrikes against Islamic State extremists in Iraq, is hosting a conference Tuesday on the international efforts …
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BUCHAREST, Romania – Britain’s Prince Charles has long been enamored of Romania’s rural traditions and now he’s set up a foundation to protect and promote them. On Tuesday, the prince launched the Prince Charles Romania Foundation to sustain the East European nation’s heritage and rural life and support sustainable development. …
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German police in the state of Bavaria on Tuesday raided the homes of more than a dozen people accused of having spread antisemitic material online, including the celebration of the Hamas attacks against Israel. Bavarian criminal police say the suspects included 15 men and two men, aged 18 to 62, …
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A stowaway was found barely alive in the undercarriage bay of an airplane after it landed in Paris Thursday morning, according to reports. Security sources told Reuters that the Air Algeria airplane had come from the Western Algerian town of Oran, embarking on the two-and-a-half hour flight to Paris Orly …
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Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant estimated Tuesday that the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas still has several thousand fighters left in the Gaza Strip after beginning the war with between 15,000 to 18,000. Gallant, speaking during a visit to troops inside Gaza, also said it would be a mistake to think …
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UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic says it has launched an investigation into an allegation of child sexual abuse received this week against one of its peacekeepers. A statement Thursday says the country that contributed the peacekeeper has been asked to investigate as soon as …
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SANTIAGO, Chile – A magnitude-6.0 earthquake has struck northern Chile, but authorities say they’ve had no reports of injuries or damage. The U.S. Geological Survey says the quake’s epicenter was 35 miles (57 kilometers) north-north-west of San Pedro de Atacama. It occurred Wednesday at 10:52 a.m. local time (9:52 a.m. …
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