TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Emperor Naruhito performed a secretive and controversial ritual Thursday, a once-in-a-reign event to give thanks for good harvests, pray for the peace and safety of the nation and play host to his family’s ancestral gods.Or at least that’s what experts …

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — International Criminal Court judges on Thursday approved a request from prosecutors to open an investigation into crimes committed against Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim minority.The court said that it has jurisdiction over crimes partially committed in …

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s prime minister on Thursday was given the task of forming a new government following an election that gave the ruling right-wing party a second term in power.President Andrzej Duda appointed Mateusz Morawiecki to his new term as premier.Morawiecki said …

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Little Rock teachers are striking for the first time in more than three decades over the state’s control of the local school system and a panel’s decision to strip their union’s collective bargaining rights.Members of the Little Rock Education …

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Elephants that serve as a tourist attraction and give rides at Cambodia’s famed Angkor temple complex will be moved to a new home in a suitable jungle area, an official said Thursday.Apsara Authority, the government agency that oversees the Angkor …

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus’ president is vowing to go ahead with creating a national park in a largely untouched area of the tourism-reliant island, following a string of deliberately-set forest fires that were blamed on local landowners’ development plans.Nicos Anastasiades …

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — An international team of investigators piecing together a criminal case in the July 2014 shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine said Thursday that evidence suggests links between Russia and separatists in the region were closer than …

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — International Criminal Court judges authorize probe into crimes against Myanmar’s Rohingya minority.

ROME (AP) — Ferrari has unveiled a new sports coupe aimed at enticing new buyers and competing with the Porsche 911, part of an overhaul of its model lineup by 2022.The new Ferrari Roma presented Thursday is the fifth new car launched by the luxury sportscar maker this year, and one of 15 …

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s president says his country would be willing to purchase U.S.-made Patriot defense systems but will not dispose of the Russian S-400 system.President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke to a group of reporters Thursday after returning from a meeting with U.S. …

MADRID (AP) — The Spanish government says Catalan poet Joan Margarit has won the 2019 Cervantes Prize, the Spanish-speaking world's highest literary honor.Margarit has published over 20 volumes of poetry, mainly in Catalan but also in Spanish. The 81-year-old has won several awards for his …

CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) — Moldova’s parliament has voted to back a new, technocratic government led by a former finance minister.Over 60 of 101 deputies voted in favor of Prime Minister Ian Chicu’s government, two days after the collapse of the short-lived administration headed …

BOSTON (AP) — A man who was considered a suspect in the heist of about $500 million worth of artwork from a Boston museum has been released from prison.The Boston Globe reports that David Turner was freed on Wednesday after serving 21 years for his role in the 1999 planned armed robbery of …

CAIRO (AP) — A database project says it has documented over 130 attacks on medical facilities in Yemen since April 2014 in apparent war crimes by all parties to the conflict.The Yemen Archive says Thursday that the Saudi-led coalition fighting Iran-aligned Houthi rebels has been allegedly …

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis on Thursday appointed a fellow Jesuit to be the Vatican’s finance minister, filling a crucial position left vacant for more than two years after Cardinal George Pell left Rome to stand trial on sex abuse charges in his native Australia.The appointment …

PARIS (AP) — Thousands of exasperated nurses, doctors and other public hospital workers are marching through Paris to demand more staff and resources after years of cost cuts.Thursday’s protest and strike are channeling anger that’s long been bubbling among France’s …

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea says the United States has proposed a resumption of stalled nuclear negotiations in December as they approach an end-of-year deadline set by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for the Trump administration to offer an acceptable deal to salvage the …

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese troops reopened major roads around Lebanon Thursday after a two-day closure triggered by a TV interview with President Michel Aoun in which he called on protesters to go home.The roads linking Beirut with the country’s south and north were opened shortly before …

BIHAC, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — The Latest on immigration to Europe (all times local):2:15 p.m.The European Union law enforcement agency says police across the continent have concluded a two-year investigation into a “massive” criminal network that was using trucks to smuggle …

PARIS (AP) — Women who say they were raped and sexually assaulted in France by an associate of Jeffrey Epstein are voicing frustration at the apparent glacial progress of a French police probe into their allegations, and are questioning the zeal of investigators who have made only limited …