HANOI, Vietnam – Vietnam’s prime minister on Thursday ordered a swift investigation into a scaffolding collapse that killed 13 workers and injured dozens, while a unit of South Korea’s Samsung Group involved in the construction project offered initial assistance to victims’ families. All the victims were Vietnamese subcontractors working on …

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran said Thursday that a team of special operatives has freed an Iranian diplomat abducted more than 19 months ago in Yemen, a rare acknowledgement by Tehran of an intel operation carried out on foreign soil. The official IRNA news agency quoted deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdolahian …

TORONTO – A Canadian special forces soldier was killed and three others wounded in a friendly fire incident in northern Iraq, Canada’s defense department said Saturday. Canadian troops training local forces had just returned to an observation post at the front line Friday night when they were mistakenly fired upon …

MINSK, Belarus – The United States is lifting sanctions on a Belarus energy company, underscoring a thaw in relations in the wake of Minsk’s key role in negotiations over Ukraine. The US announced online that it was lifting sanctions against Belorusneft that were implemented in 2011 in response to the …

ISLAMABAD – A government lawyer says a Pakistani court has ordered the release of the main suspect in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks because it found no solid incriminating evidence and also a three-month detention period has expired. But lawyer Jahangir Jadoon said Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi is unlikely to be released …

KOSTYANTYNIVKA , Ukraine – Residents in the eastern Ukrainian town of Kostyantynivka have angrily confronted regional officials over an accident in which an armored military vehicle struck and killed a 6-year old girl. Donetsk region head of police Vyacheslav Abroskin on Tuesday traveled to the town in a bid to …

JERUSALEM – A senior Palestinian official says security cooperation with Israel may soon come to an end. The security ties are aimed at containing violence and are one of the last remaining areas of cooperation between Israel and the Palestinians after years of failed peace efforts. The re-election of Israeli …

KIEV, Ukraine – An associate of Ukraine’s deposed president says the former leader’s son has died in an accident in which a vehicle plunged through the ice on Lake Baikal in Russia. Nestor Shufrych, a deputy in Ukraine’s parliament, said Sunday in a statement on Facebook that the 33-year-old Viktor …

BUCHAREST, Romania – A bid to lift the immunity of a senator from the ruling party who prosecutors say is suspected of corruption has fallen short in a parliamentary vote. Senators voted 79-67 Wednesday in favor of lifting the immunity of Dan Sova, a former transportation minister, falling short of …

LIMA, Peru – Authorities say 21 people were killed and 38 seriously injured when a bus veered off the road and plunged into a ravine in Peru’s southeastern Andes Mountains. It is the second deadly road accident in Peru in a week. Last Monday, 38 people died and 84 were …