World

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, …

NAYPYITAW, Myanmar (AP) – Led by a triumphant Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar is preparing to take a historic leap into uncharted territory, having only known democracy for 14 of its 1,000 years of recorded history. Suu Kyi, who scored a stunning victory in last year’s elections, follows a procession …

PARIS (AP) – Drugmaker Sanofi Pasteur announced Tuesday it is launching an effort to research and develop a vaccine to prevent the Zika virus, after the World Health Organization declared a global emergency over its explosive spread across the Americas. There is no treatment or vaccine for the mosquito-borne virus, …

ZARQA, Jordan (AP) – Until recently, Syrian refugee Eyad Zoulghena only had bad options. The 22-year-old, forced to quit law school when he fled his homeland in 2012, could choose to keep working in a supermarket in Jordan to feed his parents and four siblings, effectively putting his future on …

QAB ELIAS, Lebanon (AP) – In the refugee camp in eastern Lebanon where Fatima Khaled lives with her two daughters, only three children found a spot in the local school. So when parents found out that Khaled was an educator, they begged her to teach their children. An unemployed teacher …

GENEVA (AP) – The Latest on migrants seeking sanctuary in Europe (all times local): 11:40 a.m. An international migration agency says 368 people died trying to cross the Mediterranean last month, nearly one in six of them children, as minors make up a growing percentage of those making the treacherous …

NAYPYITAW, Myanmar (AP) – Myanmar’s parliament, led for the first time by pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, began a historic session Monday that will install the country’s first democratically elected government in more than 50 years. The National League for Democracy won a landslide victory in Nov. 8 …

HAIFA, Israel (AP) – Israeli anthropologist Dan Rabinowitz is a leader in his field, heading a prestigious school of environmental studies at Tel Aviv University, authoring dozens of publications and holding visiting teaching positions over the years at leading North American universities. But the British-educated Rabinowitz fears that his younger …

PARIS (AP) – Cuban President Raul Castro is paying a state visit to France, in the first European foray by a Cuban leader in two decades, as Cuba opens up its economy. The trip comes after a breakthrough deal was reached in Paris in December lightening Cuba’s foreign debt – …