MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) – The pilot of a passenger plane that was damaged in an explosion and fire over Somalia described on Wednesday how the crew jumped into action to fly the plane back to Mogadishu airport and keep the passengers calm even as smoke enveloped the passenger cabin and …

WASHINGTON (AP) – The mosquito behind the Zika virus seems to operate like a heat-driven missile of disease. The hotter it gets, the better the mosquito that carries Zika virus is at transmitting its buffet of dangerous illnesses, scientists say. Although it is too early to say for this outbreak, …

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – South Korea warned on Wednesday of “searing” consequences if North Korea doesn’t abandon plans to launch a long-range rocket that critics call a banned test of ballistic missile technology. The South’s rhetoric about unspecified harsh consequences comes less than a month after North Korea’s defiant …

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) – International aid to the victims of Syria’s five-year war, including millions forced to flee their homes, has persistently fallen short, but organizers of Thursday’s annual Syria pledging conference hope for greater generosity this time around, despite a record request of close to $9 billion for 2016. …

A look at growing gaps in aid for Syria, with needs rising faster than contributions by donors. U.N. figures show that the five-year-old war has so far displaced more than 11 million Syrians and that multi-billion-dollar aid appeals have routinely been underfunded. FUNDING GAPS 2013 – total appeal $4.391 billion, …

NEW YORK (AP) – Comcast is trumpeting its best year for traditional TV services in nearly a decade, even though it continues to lose TV subscribers. As the number of traditional TV customers declines across the industry, Comcast is stemming its losses by luring them with new TV-Internet packages, while …