The United States said Friday it was making permanent its decision last year to withdraw 60 percent of its diplomats from Cuba, citing a need to protect American personnel from what the State Department calls “health attacks” that remain unexplained. In October, the department ordered non-essential personnel and all family… Read More

Gunfire and explosions rocked Burkina Faso’s capital early Friday in what the police said was a suspected attack by Islamic extremists. By midday the gunfire became intermittent and helicopters flew over the French Embassy in Ouagadougou. Witnesses at the national television office which faces the French Embassy told The Associated… Read More

The health of the world’s last male northern white rhino has deteriorated, bringing the rhino subspecies a step closer to extinction caused by poaching. The 45-year-old rhino named Sudan, listed as “The Most Eligible Bachelor in the World” on the Tinder dating app last year as a fundraiser, lives with… Read More

A brief, Russia-ordered “humanitarian pause” went into effect on Tuesday as Syrian and Russian forces set up a corridor to allow civilians to leave a rebel-held enclave near Damascus, but by the end of the five-hour pause, no civilians had crossed over from the embattled territory. But the move was… Read More

China’s ruling Communist Party’s proposed scrapping of a limit on presidential terms is upending three decades of efforts to restrict how long top leaders can hold office and setting the stage for party chief Xi Jinping to remain head of state indefinitely. Xi is coming to the end of his… Read More

Russian curler Alexander Krushelnitsky has been stripped of his Olympic bronze medal after admitting to a doping violation at the Pyeongchang Games. Krushelnitsky tested positive for meldonium, which is believed to help blood circulation, after winning bronze in mixed doubles with his wife, Anastasia Bryzgalova. Sports’ highest court, the Court… Read More