A modern-day glassblower believes he has unraveled the mysteries of Renaissance-era Venetian glassmaking, a trade whose secrets were so closely guarded that anyone who divulged them faced the prospect of death. Today’s glassblowers work with methane-fired furnaces, electric-powered kilns, good lighting and proper ventilation. The craftsmen of Murano, an island near Venice, didn’t have such […]

Could this be the end for the Islamic State? A Saudi military spokesman says the kingdom is ready to send ground troops to Syria to fight ISIS face-to-face, provided coalition leaders agree during an upcoming meeting in Brussels. Brig. Gen. Ahmed Asiri said on Thursday that Saudi Arabia has taken part in coalition airstrikes against […]

More than 40 years after a British aristocrat disappeared without trace in the hours after his children’s nanny was bludgeoned to death and his wife was badly beaten, he was officially declared dead Wednesday, allowing his son to take his title. The story of Lord Lucan is one of Britain’s longest-running mysteries and has attracted […]

A planned missile launch by North Korea would be “an unmistakable slap in the face” for those arguing against more sanctions in response to its recent nuclear test, the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia said Tuesday. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel’s comments appeared to be directed at China, the North only major ally. […]

Nine Americans are currently imprisoned in Saudi jails, with eight detained in the past three months, according to a website belonging to Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry. The state-linked newspaper al-Watan reported Saturday that the eight recently detained Americans are being investigated for terrorism-related crimes. The detainee list shows four Americans were arrested in November and […]

Nations fighting the Islamic State discussed Tuesday how to prevent the extremist group from gaining a stranglehold in resource-rich Libya, though no one appeared resolved just yet to launch a second military intervention in the North African country this decade. Speaking at a 23-nation conference in Rome, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the […]

The European Union police agency says authorities dealing with Europe’s migrant crisis have lost track of about 10,000 unaccompanied children over the last 18 months amid fears that organized crime gangs are beginning to exploit the vulnerable youngsters. Europol Chief of Staff Brian Donald said Monday that the figure “would be a conservative estimate across […]