LONDON – A bizarre plan to relocate the entire population of Hong Kong to Northern Ireland was considered an option in the uncertain years before Britain handed back the former British colony to Chinese rule, formerly classified government files showed. Britain’s National Archives on Friday released a 1983 government file …

BAGHDAD – Iraqi authorities say bombings targeting public places have killed 15 people in and around Baghdad. Police officials say the deadliest attack occurred Saturday night when a car bomb exploded on a commercial street in Baghdad’s western neighborhood of Amil, killing nine people and wounding 24 others. Earlier, police …

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Saudi authorities say they have arrested three brothers in connection with last month’s deadly attack on a Shiite mosque in neighboring Kuwait. The official Saudi Press Agency on Tuesday quoted the Interior Ministry as saying that one of the men was arrested in Kuwait and handed …

BANGKOK – Thailand says it has sent about 100 ethnic Uighurs back to China, ignoring calls from the international community to protect the group and ensure they were not forced back to China. Government spokesman Maj. Gen Verachon Sukhonthapatipak told The Associated Press that the group was put on a …

BAGHDAD – Iraqi officials say troops and Shiite militiamen have repelled an Islamic State group attack that left 10 soldiers dead in Anbar province. Anbar councilman Athal al-Fahdawi said militants attacked the government-held town of Khalidiyah early Friday with mortars and five suicide car bombs. He said the attackers retreated …

RICHMOND, Va. – Southwest Airlines says one of its planes veered off the taxiway after landing at Richmond International Airport in Virginia. The airline says in a statement that Flight 4636 was transitioning to the gate when it left the taxiway early Monday and went into the grass. No injuries …

JERUSALEM – The Israeli military says it has arrested a Palestinian man it alleges is behind the shooting death of an Israeli hiker in the West Bank last month. The military said Wednesday it apprehended the alleged shooter, Mohammed Abu Shaheen, and four of his alleged accomplices in the attack …

MUNCIE, Ind. – Indiana is forcing a senior center to stop offering prizes for card games in which residents pay a few dollars to play, saying the packages of cookies or toilet paper offered to winners makes the euchre games gambling. Judy Elton, director of the Delaware County Senior Citizens …

OnThursday, Aug. 6, the 2016 presidential race will enter a new and important phase. Ten Republican presidential candidates will step on stage in a prime-time debate in Cleveland sponsored by Fox News and Facebook. The remaining GOP candidates will debate earlier that day. Viewership will be large, giving contenders their …

HEMPSTEAD, Texas – The latest on the investigation into the death of a woman in a Texas jail cell (all times local): 8:30 a.m. A Texas TV station says it has obtained a voicemail from a call Sandra Bland made from jail in which she told a friend that she …