WASHINGTON / AP The United States and Russia traded conflicting assertions on Wednesday about who launched a chemical weapons attack in Syria that killed 72 people, as world leaders grasped for a response to the latest atrocity in Syria’s intractable civil war. The Trump administration stood by its charge that Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces were responsible. Not so, …

  LAHORE / AP A Taliban suicide bomber struck a vehicle carrying census workers in eastern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing two data collectors and four soldiers who were escorting them, officials said. The attack took place on the outskirts of Lahore, said Malik Ahmad Khan, the provincial government spokesman. A local police official, Mohammad Afzal, said that 15 other people …

  MOSCOW / AP Russia voiced hope on Wednesday that US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s planned visit next week will help improve relations between the former Cold War foes. The Russian Foreign Ministry said Tillerson’s talks next on Wednesday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will focus on the fight against terrorism, various regional conflicts including Syria and Ukraine, …