CAIRO – Journalists face unprecedented threats in President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi’s Egypt, a watchdog group said Thursday, with the highest number behind bars since it began keeping records in 1990. In a report detailing the incarceration of 18 Egyptians, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said most were accused of …

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – One Shell offshore drill rig is headed to Alaska and a second is poised to leave for Arctic waters. But Royal Dutch Shell still lacks final federal permits that would allow exploratory drilling and possible confirmation of rich oil reserves under the Chukchi Sea. Mike LeVine, an …

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – California lawmakers on Monday sent the governor a contentious bill that would impose one of the strictest school vaccination laws in the country in reaction to a recent measles outbreak at Disneyland. The Senate reaffirmed the bill striking California’s personal belief exemption for immunizations on a 24-14 …

MADRID – Spanish police say they seized more than 3 tons of cocaine and broke up a major international drug trafficking gang whose leader lived in luxury in Madrid, posing as a soccer talent scout. The National Police said the leader, who was not identified, employed a network of Serbian …

CAIRO – The latest on the aftermath of a coordinated militant assault on Egyptian security forces in the restive northern Sinai that killed dozens of troops and set off the bloodiest fighting in the peninsula in decades (all times local). Noon Egyptian security officials say gunmen shot and killed a …

UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. children’s agency says children are suffering as a result of instability and election-related violence in Burundi including three killed in the last five days and dozens forced to flee from school. UNICEF spokesman Christophe Boulierac said one child died as a result of a grenade …

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – More than 200 forest fires are burning across western Canada, causing a heavy gray haze to settle over the Pacific coast and forcing the evacuation of thousands of residents. Authorities issued air quality advisories across British Columbia on Monday as an unrelenting heat wave that began …

Two more Americans have been slaughtered by an illegal alien who had previously been deported. Prudencio Ramirez stands accused of killing his 18 year old girlfriend and her three year old son in Washington State, the Tri-City Herald reports. Prosecutors say the victims were shot and then stuffed inside a …

LISBON, Portugal – Another former senior member of Portugal’s Socialist Party is the latest ex-government official to be arrested in a corruption investigation that has seen a former prime minister held in prison. The attorney general’s office said Armando Vara, a deputy minister in two Socialist governments between 1995-99, was …

OCALA, Fla. – Thousands of people have rallied in central Florida in support of flying the Confederate flag. Police estimated 2,000 vehicles, mostly motorcycles and trucks adorned with the Civil War-era flag, took part in Sunday’s gathering in Ocala. The event was being held to back a decision by Marion …