Politics

  ATHENS / AP Greece’s military is carrying out unscheduled exercises along the country’s northern borders, with fighter jets flying over an informal tent city of 11,000 migrants next to the border with Macedonia. Greek military officials say the drills, which foresee activation of rapid-response ground units and aircraft, as well as air defense units in parts of the eastern Aegean ...

  MANILA / AP In a military buildup certain to inflame tensions with China, the United States said on Thursday it will be conducting joint South China Sea patrols — and eventually air patrols — with the Philippines, while dispatching US troops and combat aircraft there on more frequent rotations. The announcement by Defense Secretary Ash Carter was the first ...

  RIO DE JANEIRO / AP President Dilma Rousseff’s chances of surviving impeachment are growing slimmer now that three parties have decamped from her governing coalition in 24 hours and Brazilian legislators begin preparing for a crucial vote on the question expected this weekend. The pullouts of the mid-size centrist parties caused despondency among members of Rousseff’ left-leaning Workers’ Party ...

Seoul / AFP South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s ruling conservative party was reeling on Thursday from a shock electoral defeat that broke its 16-year parliamentary majority and threatened its chances of retaining the presidential Blue House in 2017. Voters punished the party for its economic record, analysts said, with high levels of youth unemployment accounting for particularly high dissatisfaction among ...

Washington / AFP A Russian military jet came within 30 feet of a US destroyer in international waters in the Baltic Sea, US officials say, but Russia on Thursday defended the maneuver as safe. Russian aircraft repeatedly buzzed the USS Donald Cook this week, including an incident on Tuesday in which a Russian Su-24 flew 30 feet (nine meters) above ...

  Khost / AFP The US military has said it will investigate air strikes it carried out this month, which Kabul said had killed 17 “insurgents” but which local officials and witnesses said on Thursday were civilians. The US army regularly conducts air strikes in the name of “counter-terror” operations in the eastern regions that border Pakistan, which are strongholds of ...

  STOCKHOLM / AP Swedish prosecutors say a 25-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of planning terror crimes abroad. The Swedish Prosecution Authority says the suspect had violated legislation that took effect April 1 that includes incitement, recruitment and training for terrorist offenses. Chief prosecutor Agnetha Hilding Qvanstrom says Thursday the investigation has just begun and no more information would ...

  BRUSSELS / AP Belgium’s transport minister is under pressure to resign over a secret European Union report exposing past lapses in oversight of security at airports across the nation. The restricted EU document of last year was made public by two opposition parties. It said that oversight of security measures at the nation’s airports was flawed and there were some ...

  New York / AFP Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders face off Thursday in a closely watched US presidential debate ahead of the key New York primary in the increasingly acrimonious Democratic race for the White House. The former secretary of state holds a double-digit lead over the Vermont senator in polls and needs a big win in next Tuesday’s ...

  Kiev / AFP Ukraine’s parliament on Thursday appointed pro-Western speaker Volodymyr Groysman as prime minister in a bid to end months of political gridlock and unlock vital aid to the war torn-state. Lawmakers voted by 257 to 50 to approve the resignation of Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk —condemned by President Petro Poroshenko for losing the public’s trust—and select Groysman ...