BEIRUT (AP) – Syrian government troops backed by Russian airstrikes recaptured a town in Aleppo province from Islamic State militants on Thursday in a key advance just two days ahead of a U.S. and Russia-engineered cease-fire that is to take effect in Syria. The town of Khanaser was seized earlier …

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – A U.S. citizen whose son has been detained in Iran for the past four months was also taken into custody after returning to the country this week, his lawyer confirmed Thursday in what is the first such action against an American national in Iran since last …

BEIJING (AP) – China’s Defense Ministry says the commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific smeared China while seeking additional defense funding from Congress, in the latest accusation in a war of words accompanying rising tensions in the South China Sea. Ministry spokesman Col. Wu Qian on Thursday strongly criticized …

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) – It was nearly 2 a.m. when Amjad Sallaj heard a loud explosion outside his home. In a matter of seconds, Israeli troops burst into the building, ransacking apartments in a door-to-door search for wanted Palestinian militants. When the raid was over, the apartments had been …

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Suppose the FBI wins its court battle and forces Apple to help unlock an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino killers. That could open all iPhones up to potential government scrutiny – but it’s not the end of the story. Turns out there’s a …

JOAO PESSOA, Brazil (AP) – Teams of U.S. and Brazilian health workers ventured into dicey slums, fought through snarled traffic and braved torrential downpours on the first day of their effort to determine if the Zika virus is causing babies to be born with a birth defect affecting the brain. …

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) – Bolivian voters have informed President Evo Morales that they want his current term to be his last, narrowly rejecting a constitutional amendment that would have let him run again in 2019. It was the native Aymara’s first direct electoral defeat in a decade in power. …

BEIRUT (AP) – The Syrian president on Wednesday assured Russia’s Vladimir Putin of Damascus’ commitment to a Russia-U.S. proposed truce, even as a spokesman for a Saudi-backed alliance of Syrian opposition and rebel factions expressed “major concerns” about the ceasefire, due to begin later this week. Salem Al Meslet, spokesman …

NUSSEIRAT REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip (AP) – The clothes were faded and worn out, and came from an unlikely place: Israel. But that didn’t bother the Palestinian women rummaging through piles of tattered jeans, shirts, jackets and baby clothing at the weekly flea market in a refugee camp in central …

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korea’s description of South Korea’s president as an “old, insane bitch” destined for violent death may take the rivals’ hateful propaganda battle to a new level of hostility, which is saying something for neighbors with such a long, bloody history of hating each other’s …