World

A top trans-Atlantic security and rights watchdog has criticized Belarus’ refusal to allow the group to observe its parliamentary vote, saying that it defies the country’s international obligations. Belarusian authorities announced Monday that they wouldn’t invite observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to monitor February’s parliamentary …

LSU star gymnast Olivia Dunne took a page out of “Hannah Montana” as the squad’s Instagram page conducted a quick Instagram Q&A as the Tigers hit the road for a trip to Utah for the Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad. Dunne was asked whether it was “weird being famous.” She …

VATICAN CITY – There’s something of a whodunit going on in the Vatican to discover who leaked Pope Francis’ environment encyclical to an Italian newsweekly, deflating the release of the most anticipated and feared papal document in recent times. L’Espresso magazine published the full 191 pages of “Laudato Si” (Be …

ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar – The African Union has welcomed the decision by Madagascar’s high court to reject parliament’s effort to impeach the president. Chairwoman of the union’s commission, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, in a Wednesday statement called on decision makers to be responsible and avoid further instability after years of crisis. The …

AJDABIYA, Lyba — We set out early Tuesday morning on the desert highway from Libya’s eastern-most city of Tobruk for Ajdabiya, scene of some of the most recent attacks by Colonel Muammar Qaddafi against rebel fighters. It took almost four hours to cover the roughly 225 miles, almost all of …

The upcoming United Nations environmental conference on sustainable development will consider a breathtaking array of carbon taxes, transfers of trillions of dollars from wealthy countries to poor ones, and new spending programs to guarantee that populations around the world are protected from the effects of the very programs the world …

NICOSIA, Cyprus – The International Monetary Fund has approved a $314 million disbursement for bailed-out Cyprus, praising the country’s progress in meeting fiscal targets while urging authorities to push ahead with structural reforms. The IMF said Friday that Cyprus has so far received nearly three quarters of a $1.13 billion …

CAIRO – Switzerland is dropping part of a prosecution case against Egypt’s longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak, his close aids and family members, involving hundreds of millions of Swiss francs frozen in Swiss banks. Switzerland froze the funds and opened criminal proceedings over suspicion of money laundering and “support of a …

MEXICO CITY – Mexican authorities say they found six tigers, seven baboons, four camels and three dromedaries abandoned in cages without food, water or adequate care in the southern Mexico state of Yucatan. The passage of laws forbidding animal acts in circuses has raised fears that the exotic species might …

HONG KONG – Hong Kong police charged a prominent figure in Macau’s casino junket industry with laundering 1.8 billion Hong Kong dollars ($231 million) through bank accounts in the southern Chinese city. Cheung Chi-tai is facing three separate counts of money laundering, according to a charge sheet. The businessman was …