World

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) – The first foreign experts who visited the museum in Palmyra after it was taken over from Islamic State militants said they spent a week collecting fragments of priceless broken sculptures from the museum grounds and preparing them for transportation to Damascus in a rescue mission they …

AKAROA, New Zealand (AP) – The wedding rings were made of pasta, the ceremony was held on a pirate boat, and when it came time for the kiss, the bride and groom slurped up either end of a noodle until their lips met. New Zealand on Saturday hosted the world’s …

LONDON (AP) – The head of Britain’s digital espionage agency has apologized for the organization’s historic prejudice against homosexuals, saying it failed to learn from the treatment of World War II codebreaker Alan Turing. In a rare public speech, GCHQ chief Robert Hannigan told a gathering organized by the rights …

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – As four men sat in prison for a murder they didn’t commit, records show that state investigators sent proof of their innocence to a North Carolina prosecutor, but he never revealed it to the convicted men. He didn’t have to. Nothing in North Carolina’s legal standards …

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – Brazil’s Supreme Court voted early Friday to reject a motion seeking to block an impeachment vote in the lower house of Congress against President Dilma Rousseff, sharply limiting the embattled leader’s options to avoid a showdown with legislators who want to oust her. Rousseff has …

MOSCOW (AP) – Mixing wry jokes with economic statistics, Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to reassure the nation during his annual marathon call-in TV show Thursday, promising that its troubled economy will rebound and vowing to make other countries take account of Russia’s interests. Putin answered questions from adults and …

SHAHAPUR, India (AP) – Shantabai Babulkar’s day begins before dawn with a 5-kilometer (3-mile) trek across barren fields and dusty scrubland to fetch water from a distant well. She balances two metal pots of muddy water atop her head, and carries a third in the crook of her arm – …

MIREBALAIS, Haiti (AP) – The barefoot farmer oversees three teenage workers as they attack weeds with spades in a sunbaked field of peanut plants, a vital cash crop often grown on Haiti’s marginal farmland. If he’s lucky, Francois Merilus will reap a meager harvest amid a lengthy drought that has …

BEIRUT (AP) – Syrian troops exchanged fire with rebels in the contested northern city of Aleppo on Thursday in a renewed bout of fighting that could further mar peace talks underway in Geneva. Government warplanes, helicopter gunships and artillery were bombarding rebel-held parts of the city and its suburbs, according …

MANILA, Philippines (AP) – In a military buildup certain to inflame tensions with China, the United States said Thursday it will be conducting joint South China Sea patrols – and eventually air patrols – with the Philippines, while dispatching U.S. troops and combat aircraft there on more frequent rotations. The …