BUCHAREST, Romania – Romania’s former president was booed and jeered as he went to face prosecutors who have put him under criminal investigation for allegedly making threatening remarks to a senator. As he entered the prosecutor’s office Tuesday, former President Traian Basescu smiled and said it was “normal” he was …

KOUROU, French Guiana – A rocket fired from French Guiana has launched two Galileo satellites for the European Space Agency as the European Union continues to expand its global navigation system. Arianespace says the seventh and eighth Galileo spacecraft were placed into orbit Friday evening. The European Union has said …

And now the most scintillating two minutes in television, the latest from the political grapevine: FOX Fans: Missed the Grapevine? Watch it in the Screening Room! Deserting Old Theories Though common theory believesglobal warming (search)may be helping to convert fertile lands into desert, a new study suggests the opposite is …

VIENNA – Austrian law enforcement officials say two teenage girls have been detained on suspicion of seeking to travel to Syria as potential wives for militants fighting there. Marcus Neher of the Salzburg public prosecutor’s office says they were detained in Salzburg and Upper Austria province on Saturday. He says …

MADRID – The leader of Spain’s separatist-minded Catalonia region has announced that regional elections will be held in September to determine whether a majority of lawmakers favor an independence drive. Catalonia regional leader Artur Mas said Wednesday elections will be held Sept. 27 after he failed last year to convince …

KABUL, Afghanistan – Afghanistan is investigating a Cabinet nominee over allegedly being on an Interpol most-wanted list for tax evasion, a government spokesman said Sunday, a potential embarrassment for President Ashraf Ghani amid his pledges to root out corruption. The probe focuses on Mohammad Yaqub Haidari, 52, the nominee to …

TORONTO – Canada’s central bank is cutting its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point because of the recent sharp drop in oil prices. The Bank of Canada unexpectedly cut its trend-setting rate on Wednesday to three quarters of a percentage point from one percent. The bank …

UNITED NATIONS – Russia has blocked a Western-backed U.N. Security Council statement that would have condemned indiscriminate shelling in Ukraine’s southeastern city of Mariupol that killed about 30 civilians and injured more than 90. The blocked statement called for “an immediate de-escalation of violence,” implementation of a September cease-fire and …

KAMPALA, Uganda – A dozen suspects have appeared in a Ugandan court to face charges, including murder and terrorism, amid what local officials say is the budding threat of Islamic here. Police spokesman Fred Enanga said Thursday the suspects were “using religion to recruit people” into an armed group. At …

BEIJING – A Chinese court says two cult members have been put to death for killing a woman at a McDonald’s outlet. The Yantai Intermediate People’s Court in the eastern province of Shandong says Zhang Fan and her father, Zhang Lidong, were executed after the Supreme People’s Court approved the …