TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – Preliminary results early Saturday morning showed reformist candidates heading for their best showing in more than a decade in Iranian parliamentary elections, according to local media and election officials counting the ballots. Officials have yet to release early results, but reports in the semiofficial Fars and …

BEIRUT (AP) – A U.S. and Russia-brokered cease-fire brought relative calm to parts of Syria for the first time in years on Saturday, but the war against the Islamic State group continued as the extremist group stormed a northern border town in a surprise attack. The Islamic State group, which …

DUBLIN (AP) – A detailed exit poll for Ireland’s election has found that most voters spurned the coalition government of Prime Minister Enda Kenny and the country faces either a hung parliament with no workable majority – or an alliance between the traditional polar opposites of political life. The poll …

TUAL, Indonesia (AP) – Indonesian prosecutors are seeking prison sentences of up to 4 1/2 years for five Thais and three Indonesians accused of human trafficking in connection with slavery in the seafood industry. The suspects were arrested in the remote island village of Benjina last May after the slavery …

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) – It was supposed to be a U.S.-led naval training maneuver off the coast of West Africa when real-life drama intervened, with pirates taking over an oil tanker and turning the exercise into a rescue mission. Navies from the United States, Ghana, Togo and Nigeria tracked the …