RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Qatar’s ruler is in Saudi Arabia for talks with the newly enthroned King Salman about the deteriorating security situation in Yemen and relations with Egypt. A Saudi official says Salman greeted Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani at the airport Tuesday, a day after …

RIO DE JANEIRO – Brazil’s attorney general’s office says it will seek $1.55 billion from six construction and engineering companies for their alleged involvement in a massive kickback scheme at state-run oil firm Petrobras. The amount includes $111 million in compensation for public money that prosecutors say was stolen from …

MADRID – Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy says Spain’s economy will grow by a better-than-expected 2.4 percent in 2015, claiming it as strong evidence that the country has emerged from the severe economic crisis. Opening the annual state-of-the-nation debate Tuesday, Rajoy said Spain had moved from the edge of the abyss …

PRAGUE – A court official in the Czech Republic says a Roman Catholic priest has been convicted of rape and sexual abuse and sentenced to five years in prison. Jan Dolezal, spokesman for the county court in Havlickuv Brod, located some 120 kilometers (75 miles) southeast of Prague, said Erik …

RABAT, Morocco – Morocco’s Interior Ministry has announced the dismantling of a cell that recruited young Moroccans to fight with the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq. The statement Wednesday credited the new Central Bureau of Judicial Investigation for discovering the cell based in the northern city of Fez. …

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran’s official news agency is reporting that the country’s powerful Revolutionary Guard has broken up a militant group linked to a “foreign intelligence” agency and killed its members. The report Monday by IRNA did not identify the terrorist group, nor give any casualty figures. The report said …

KIEV, Ukraine – Amnesty International says it has evidence that Russian-backed separatists in east Ukraine executed several captured government soldiers in gross violation of international humanitarian law. Amnesty said in a statement Thursday that footage viewed by the group shows at least four Ukrainian soldiers now confirmed dead being interrogated …

HELSINKI – World military spending was largely unchanged in 2014 as lower spending in the United States and Western Europe was matched by increases elsewhere, prompted by conflicts in the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Africa, an arms watchdog said Monday. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said total global …

KINGSTON, Jamaica – Drug law amendments decriminalizing small amounts of pot and paving the way for a lawful medical marijuana sector have come into effect in Jamaica. The amended drug act became effective Wednesday with little public acknowledgement in a country where marijuana has long been culturally entrenched. Jamaica’s Parliament …

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Ten months after taking office, Cabinet ministers in a Palestinian unity government are making a rare visit to the Gaza Strip. The Cabinet ministers, all from the West Bank, are spending the week in Gaza in hopes of wresting more control from the Islamic Hamas …