BRUSSELS (AP) – The Latest on the mass migration into Europe (all times local): 12:30 p.m. Prime Minister Miro Cerar says Slovenia has fully shut its border with Croatia for migrants without valid EU visas and will no longer accept organized trains carrying refugees. Cerar said Wednesday the effective closure …

JERUSALEM (AP) – Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday criticized Palestinians for a “failure to condemn” a stabbing spree that killed an American student and war veteran the day before, after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ political party posted a statement online praising the stabber. The stabbing spree took place Tuesday …

LONDON (AP) – George Martin, the Beatles’ urbane producer who quietly guided the band’s swift, historic transformation from rowdy club act to musical and cultural revolutionaries, has died, his management said Wednesday. He was 90. “We can confirm that Sir George Martin passed away peacefully at home yesterday evening,” Adam …

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Tax-filing season is turning into a nightmare for thousands of employees whose companies have been duped by email fraudsters. A major phishing scheme has tricked several major companies – among them, the messaging service Snapchat and disk-drive maker Seagate Technology – into relinquishing tax documents that …

IDOMENI, Greece (AP) – Thousands of refugees stranded on the Greek-Macedonia border are waking up to the realization that their onward route through the Balkans to wealthy European Union countries is effectively closed. About 13,000-14,000 people are stranded near the village of Idomeni, where many have been waiting for two …

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – South Korea said Tuesday it is imposing unilateral sanctions on North Korea over its recent nuclear test and rocket launch, including a ban on financial dealings with 40 individuals and 30 entities. The announcement came a day after North Korea warned of pre-emptive nuclear strikes …

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – Six months after fleeing a Taliban assault on her city, the owner of an Afghan radio station devoted to women’s rights is back home and returning to the airwaves. Zarghona Hassan is a lifelong activist and the founder of a radio station in Kunduz that until …

TOKYO (AP) – After battling radioactive water leaks for five years at Japan’s crippled Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant, the utility that ran it says it will need another four to finish the job. “We will bring an end to the problem by 2020,” says Yuichi Okamura, who led the Tokyo …

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) – Thomas Webber stoops to check his car for bombs every morning before heading out, but the 71-year-old American has no plans to leave Damascus, a city he has called home for more than four decades. He is one of the very few Americans not of Syrian …

BRUSSELS (AP) – European Union leaders arrived in Brussels Monday to press Turkey to do more to stop migrants from entering Europe and to shore up support for Greece, where thousands of people are stranded. The leaders are expected to declare the main Balkan migrant route closed, after Macedonia – …