PARIS – France’s Foreign Ministry says a French woman working for a humanitarian group in Central African Republic has been kidnapped. The ministry statement issued Monday night did not identify the 67-year-old woman or elaborate on the circumstances of Monday’s kidnapping in Bangui, the capital. The ministry called on the …

LUSAKA, Zambia – Zambia’s ruling party candidate led in partial returns from a presidential election in the southern African nation, election officials said Thursday. Edgar Lungu of the Patriotic Front party was ahead with 50 percent of the vote after 80 out of 150 constituencies were counted, according to results …

BERLIN – Seventy years after the liberation of Auschwitz, some 58 percent of Germans say the past should be consigned to history, while three-quarters of Israelis reject the idea of putting the past behind them. Some 48 percent of Germans also say their opinion of today’s Israel is “poor” and …

CAIRO – Egyptian security officials say militants have launched simultaneous attacks on more than a dozen army and police positions in the restive Sinai Peninsula. The officials say the attacks rocked three cities late Thursday, targeting an army base, a hotel, a police club and several checkpoints. The militants used …

AMMAN, Jordan – A spokesman for Jordan’s government says its ambassador will return to Israel after he was pulled over growing confrontations at a hilltop site in Jerusalem holy to both Jews and Muslims. Mohammad al-Momani told journalists Monday that the ambassador would return to Tel Aviv. The trapezoid-shaped compound, …

UNITED NATIONS – Nothing says Happy New Year like a holiday card from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. In an exchange that raised eyebrows, the young leader and the United Nations secretary-general, who is South Korean, sent each other holiday cards. A diplomat with North Korea’s mission to the …

BRUSSELS – The European Union is threatening to impose sanctions on groups and individuals that undermine U.N.-backed talks to agree on a cease-fire and lay the groundwork to end the internal conflict in Libya. The 28 EU foreign ministers said in a statement Monday they were ready to impose “restrictive …

Gisele Bundchen|Saturday Night Live|Soap Operas Leo’s Girl in Margaritaville Gisele Bundchen, the beauteous Victoria’s Secret model who can’t stay out of the gossip pages, likes her margaritas. With or without salt. At the taping of last night’s Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Gisele (she prefers to go by one name, …

JERUSALEM – An Israeli settler group is under fire for releasing a YouTube video portraying Israeli leftists as collaborators with European anti-Semites. “The eternal Jew” depicts a grotesquely animated Jew with a long, bent nose who informs on his brethren in return for a coin tossed from his European master. …

LONDON – A 16-year-old boy from northwest England has been charged with trying to obtain a biological toxin. Greater Manchester Police said Wednesday that the boy, whose name was not released because of his age, had been charged with “attempting to acquire a biological toxin or agent.” It did not …