GENEVA ( AP) — The U.N. human rights office is citing new details as proof that the Islamic State group is using chemical weapons as Iraqi government forces try to oust its fighters from the city of Mosul. Amid concerns about IS’ use of human shields in the city, rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said […]

NEW DELHI ( AP) — A fire that broke out in the basement of a garment factory trapped and killed at least 13 workers as they slept early Friday in the building just outside New Delhi, a government official said. Nine other workers were injured, four of them seriously, Uttar Pradesh state official Naresh Mathur […]

SEOUL, South Korea ( AP) — South Korean police have booked 15 people for allegedly smuggling endangered animals from Thailand and showing them at small zoos or to children at kindergartens and daycare centers. A police official in the port city of Busan said Friday that they seized 22 animals including Siamese crocodiles and slow […]

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Lithuanian officials say 35 Syrian refugees, relocated in the Baltic nation under a European Union plan to distribute 160,000 refugees across the bloc, have left in search of a better life elsewhere in Europe. Robertas Mikulenas, head of Rukla refugee reception center in Lithuania, says a group of 16 adults and […]

BAUCHI, Nigeria (AP) — A police official says Nigerian soldiers have foiled an attack by three females prepared for suicide bombings at the northeast region’s largest city. Victor Isuku, deputy superintendent of police in Borno state, said the assailants were spotted heading toward Maiduguri early Friday morning with bombs strapped to their bodies. He said […]

ISTANBUL ( AP) — Turkey’s state- run news agency says the chairman of the opposition Cumhuriyet daily has been detained as he returned from abroad, a week after several senior staff were arrested for allegedly supporting terrorist organizations. Anadolu Agency says police detained Akin Atalay Friday as his flight from Berlin docked at Istanbul’s Ataturk […]