WASHINGTON / AP The apparent assassination of the North Korean leader’s estranged half-brother is strengthening bipartisan calls for the US to re-list North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism, a designation lifted nine years ago. Doing so would increase the country’s isolation, while potentially complicating any future diplomacy to halt its nuclear and missile programs. The US kept North …

  BANJUL / AP Gambia’s new president was set to be inaugurated on Saturday as this tiny West African nation celebrates wider freedoms after a tense political standoff with its former leader. Several heads of state were scheduled to attend the ceremony for President Adama Barrow. He was sworn into office last month at Gambia’s embassy in neighboring Senegal as …

  MINSK / AP In more than two decades in power, the leader of Belarus has cast his nation as Moscow’s closest ally, securing tens of billions of dollars in Russian subsidies. At the same time, President Alexander Lukashenko has skillfully exploited Russia’s security fears by occasionally reaching out to the West to win concessions from Moscow. Now, the Kremlin …