AP

By OPE ADETAYO and CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — Votes were being counted late Saturday in Ivory Coast after citizens cast their ballots to elect a new leader. Longtime President Alassane Ouattara is seeking a fourth term while his key contenders were barred from the race. Although the Independent Electoral Commission

By SAMYA KULLAB and ELISE MORTON Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukraine overnight into Saturday killed at least four people and wounded 20, officials said, and prompted fresh pleas from Ukraine’s president for Western air defense systems. In the capital, Kyiv, two people were killed and 13 were

By ASTRID SUÁREZ Associated Press BOGOTÁ, Colombia (AP) — At age 72, Rosalba Casas finally celebrated her 15th birthday on Friday, donning a flowing pink dress and a tiara for the quinceañera she dreamed of as a teenager. “This is the happiest day because I’m celebrating my 15th birthday,” Casas said, adding that she’d stayed

By KATIE MARIE DAVIES Associated Press For a quarter century, President Vladimir Putin has faced the specter of Russia’s shrinking and aging population. In 1999, a year before he came to power, the number of babies born in Russia plunged to its lowest recorded level. In 2005, Putin said the demographic woes needed to be

By The Associated Press KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Hurricane Melissa strengthened into a major Category 3 hurricane late Saturday, unleashing torrential rain and threatening to cause catastrophic flooding in the northern Caribbean, including Haiti and Jamaica. Melissa became a hurricane on Saturday and then intensified rapidly into a major storm. U.S. forecasters have issued a

By JILL LAWLESS and AAMER MADHANI Associated Press LONDON (AP) — When President Donald Trump took the stage in Egypt to hail the U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, a row of world leaders stood behind him like extras in a political drama. It was a telling image. European governments have struggled to play

By KEN MORITSUGU and MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Just days after taking office, Japan’s new leader faces a series of back-to-back foreign policy tests, with a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Tokyo sandwiched between Asia-region summits in Malaysia and South Korea. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, with limited experience in international

By EILEEN NG Associated Press KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysian foreign minister warned his counterparts from Southeast Asia that the space for neutrality is shrinking in a region increasingly shaped by big power rivalry, as they mark U.S. President Donald Trump’s first trip to Asia since returning to the White House. The meeting on