AP

By YURAS KARMANAU Authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko on Friday hosted a U.S. envoy for talks in the Belarus capital of Minsk, the latest step in the isolated leader’s effort to improve ties with the West. Lukashenko met with President Donald Trump’s special envoy for Belarus, John Coale, according to state news agency Belta and the

By SAM MEDNICK Associated Press TEL AVIV (AP) — New footage of six Israeli hostages shows them celebrating the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah while being held captive in a tunnel in Gaza, several months before they were killed. Israel said all six were killed last August by Hamas, shortly before Israeli troops arrived. The videos

By LORNE COOK Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union on Friday indefinitely froze Russia’s assets in Europe to ensure that Hungary and Slovakia, both with Moscow-friendly governments, can’t prevent the billions of euros from being used to support Ukraine. Using a special procedure meant for economic emergencies, the EU blocked the assets until

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australian accident investigators on Thursday released dramatic images of a skydiver’s parachute becoming entangled on an airplane’s tail, leaving him dangling at 4,500 meters (15,000 feet.) The skydiver, Adrian Ferguson, used a hook knife to cut himself free and sustained minor leg injuries during the incident

By ISABEL DEBRE Associated Press SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Ask many Chileans how their country fared in the past several years and they’ll describe a descent into disaster: Venezuelan gangs surged across porous borders, bringing unprecedented kidnappings and contract killings to one of the region’s safest nations. A social uprising unleashed violent chaos on once-sleepy

By MOLLY QUELL Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Judges and prosecutors at the International Criminal Court are trying to live and work under the same U.S. financial and travel restrictions brought against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Osama bin Laden. Nine staff members, including six judges and the ICC’s chief prosecutor, have been

By GIADA ZAMPANO and SALVATORE LAPORTA Associated Press NAPLES, Italy (AP) — At long last, vindication is at hand for an Oscar-winning composer who sought to prove he was just as capable of breathing life into Italy’s grand theaters as gritty Hollywood films. On Friday night, Naples’ Teatro San Carlo will stage Ennio Morricone’s only

By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN Associated Press TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — For over 30 years, Javier Gámez and María Barahona worked, scrimped and studied to push their family ahead. Gámez filled bags with sand from the Choluteca River winding through the Honduran capital and shined shoes in a downtown park; Barahona sold bananas and oranges from a