World

HARARE, Zimbabwe – Zimbabwe’s government said the country’s 90-year-old president did not fall down the stairs from a podium, saying President Robert Mugabe “managed to break the fall.” Information Minister Jonathan Moyo told the state-owned Herald newspaper Thursday that Mugabe tripped over a hump on a red carpet at Harare …

JERUSALEM – Israel’s prime minister has accused the publisher of an influential newspaper of carrying out a smear campaign against him. Benjamin Netanyahu took to Facebook on Monday, accusing Noni Mozes of the Yediot Ahronot of conducting the campaign to advance personal business interests. Yediot and its sister news site …

SEOUL, South Korea – The headline hogging “nut rage” episode reached a conclusion Thursday with a one year prison sentence for its chief protagonist, Korean Air heiress Cho Hyun-ah. A South Korean court found that she violated aviation law when she ordered a crew member off a Dec. 5 flight, …

BAGHDAD – An international rights group says Shiite militias allied with Iraqi security forces have escalated a campaign of abuse against Sunni residents in recent months. New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a statement issued Sunday that the militiamen, who are part of the fight against the Islamic State …

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay – Just two months ago, Uruguay welcomed six Guantanamo detainees for resettlement as a humanitarian gesture, and relations have already gotten a little testy. One of the former prisoners complained in a TV interview last week that he and his five colleagues had given up one jail only …

HAVANA – Berta Soler, one of Cuba’s best-known dissidents as head of the Ladies in White, said Sunday she’ll submit her leadership of the divided opposition group to a vote by members living inside the country. Soler’s announcement came after members of the Ladies in White living outside Cuba called …

BERLIN – The United Nation’s top human right official says Myanmar is “headed in the wrong direction” amid a crackdown on dissidents and minorities. The Southeast Asian nation’s military-backed government has pledged to introduce democratic reforms and hold elections later this year. But U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid …

COPENHAGEN, Denmark – Thousands of people of different faiths have gathered in Denmark and Sweden in a show of unity after attacks against Jews in Europe. In Copenhagen, people formed a “ring of peace” Friday on the City Hall Square, where Mayor Frank Jensen said “a mad man must not …

BEIJING – China has sent a new naval squadron to conduct anti-piracy patrols off the coast of Somalia after diverting other ships to help evacuate citizens from war-torn Yemen. The official Xinhua News Agency said the three ships left the port of Zhoushan on Friday for the Gulf of Aden. …

CANBERRA, Australia – The Australian government on Wednesday approved the sale of one of the nation’s largest construction companies, John Holland Group Pty. Ltd., to state-owned giant China Communications Construction Company International Holding Ltd. Treasurer Joe Hockey said he approved the sale under foreign investment rules because it was in …