YANGON, Myanmar – A three-day round of talks between the government and leaders of ethnic rebel groups has concluded without a sought-after ceasefire draft agreement to end decades of warring. Hla Maung Shwe, the special adviser to the government peace negotiating team, told reporters Friday that both sides agreed to …

MOSCOW – Ukraine’s border guards service says it has detained a Russian officer who was driving a truck packed with weapons including rocket-propelled grenades. There was no immediate comment from the Russian military, but the self-styled defense ministry of the rebel forces in Donetsk said Sunday that the claim “provokes …

BAGHDAD – A quiet middle-class Shiite neighborhood in western Baghdad was transformed recently into a mini-boot camp, training teenagers for battle against the Islamic State group. The Shiite boys and young men ran through its normally placid streets carrying out mock exercises for urban warfare since the toughest battles against …

UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations humanitarian chief says the latest attempt at a humanitarian pause in Yemen “has not been respected by any party to the conflict.” Stephen O’Brien says a plan to reach 3 million people with aid is ready to go if only the fighting would stop. …

MOSCOW – Russian President Vladimir Putin has praised a deal between Iran and world powers in a conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Putin told Netanyahu in Thursday’s phone conversation that the agreement “provided reliable guarantees” that Iran’s nuclear program is exclusively peaceful, according to the Kremlin. The deal …

With the parade of Republican nominees stepping onto the stage in Cleveland and using social media to reserve their place at the electoral starting gate, the candidates read as an anthropological study of the Grand Old Party. From establishment favored moderates like former Florida Governor Jeb Bush to Tea Party …

NUTLEY, N.J. – Police are trying to figure out how a child’s gravestone ended up at a bus station in northern New Jersey. An employee found the headstone at the NJ Transit Bus Terminal in Nutley, about 15 miles west of New York City, on Wednesday. The headstone is engraved …

CENTENNIAL, Colo. – Jurors in the Colorado theater shooting case reached a decision Friday on whether James Holmes should be sentenced to life in prison or the death penalty. They deliberated for about six and a half hours over two days. The sentence will be announced at 7pm ET. The …

The 2013 outbreak of Ebola in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone claimed over 11,000 lives. The World Health Organization (WHO) was heavily criticized for its response to the outbreak, with some claiming that its efforts actually exacerbated the suffering. Stung by these charges, WHO commissioned a group of independent experts …

BRUSSELS – The increase in the scale and number of military exercises being undertaken by NATO and Russia is making armed conflict in Europe more likely, a think tank warned Wednesday. Ian Kearns, director of the London-based European Leadership Network, told The Associated Press that the war games “are contributing …