Economic plan on Mideast underway

WASHINGTON - A long-awaited Middle East peace plan from the Trump administration will include what the White House is calling a robust economic plan to help resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, an official has said.

Nearly 250 dead in IS attacks in Syrian province

DAMASCUS - The death toll in coordinated Islamic State group suicide bombings and shootings in southern Syria rose to nearly 250 overnight and 180 wounded, a monitor said on Thursday.

End of line for confusing railway time rule

MOSCOW - Russia on Tuesday announced that it will stop running all long-distance trains across its 11 time zones on Moscow time, ending a frequent cause of confusion for travelers.

PTI party leading in Pakistan elections

ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf party, or PTI, of cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, is leading in the country's general elections, according to initial results received by the Election Commission of Pakistan, or ECP, on Thursday.

Final six hanged for role in cult killings

TOKYO - The last six members of a Japanese doomsday cult who remained on death row were executed on Thursday for a series of crimes in the 1990s including a sarin gas attack on Tokyo subways that killed 13 people and injured thousands more.

Greece counts cost of deadliest wildfires

ATHENS - Greece was on Thursday counting the cost of its deadliest wildfires in living memory, as emergency crews searched incinerated homes and vehicles for the missing after at least 81 people were confirmed to have died.

DPRK to transfer remains of US soldiers on Friday

SEOUL - The Democratic People's Republic of Korea will transfer the remains of an unspecified number of soldiers killed in the Korean War (1950-53) on Friday, the Seoul-based Yonhap news agency reported, after accepting about 100 wooden caskets sent by the United States.

IN BRIEF (Page 12)

Israel shoots down Syrian warplane

DAMASCUS - A pilot of a Syrian warplane which Israel said on Tuesday it shot down was killed, and the plane crashed in the Islamic State group-held Syrian territory near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, a monitor group reported.

British PM takes personal control of Brexit talks

LONDON - UK Prime Minister Theresa May announced on Tuesday she will take personal control of Brexit negotiations with the EU, as time runs out to get a deal before Britain leaves the bloc in March.

Macron shoulders responsibility for scandal over aide's attack on protester

PARIS - Lawmakers from President Emmanuel Macron's party quoted him in tweets on Tuesday night as saying he takes full responsibility in a scandal surrounding a former security chief seen in a video beating a protester.

Palestine refutes US attack on Arabian aid

UNITED NATIONS - The Palestinian UN ambassador on Tuesday said the United States should not come to the United Nations "in an arrogant way" to say that they are the "only one who is helping and others are not doing anything".