SAO PAULO – A former executive of Brazil’s state-run energy company told a congressional panel on Tuesday that he began accepting bribes from some of the county’s top construction firms 18 years ago. According to federal prosecutors, the scheme involved the payment of at least $800 million in bribes and …

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt – Egypt’s government announced Friday plans to build a new capital adjacent to Cairo, in a massive new project that in its first phase would cost $45 billion and take up to seven years to complete. Housing Minister Mostafa Madbouly announced the plan at the opening of …

STOCKHOLM – Sweden’s Foreign Ministry says a Swedish national has been killed in the cyclone-ravaged Pacific island nation of Vanuatu. Ministry spokeswoman Victoria Bell on Tuesday said “we can confirm that a Swedish man in his 80s has died.” She said the circumstances of the man’s death are unclear and …

CAIRO – An Egyptian court has acquitted ousted President Hosni Mubarak’s top security official of corruption charges. The verdict handed down by Giza Criminal Court on Thursday cleared former Interior Minister Habib el-Adly of all pending charges. He was expected to be released soon. El-Adly oversaw Egypt’s notorious police, known …

LONDON – A Turkish opposition lawmaker said Sunday he is helping the families of nine British medical students and doctors believed to have crossed into Syria from Turkey. Mehmet Ali Ediboglu said the family members are at the Turkey-Syria border on Sunday trying to find the students. He said he …

LE BOURGET, France – Here is a look at the short journey and violent end of the German budget airline flight that crashed into the French Alps with 150 people aboard, based on information from French accident investigators, government officials and the airline Germanwings, a subsidiary of Lufthansa: MONDAY, MARCH …

BAMAKO, Mali – The Red Cross says armed men attacked one of its trucks in northern Mali, killing the driver and wounding a passenger. In a statement, the International Committee of the Red Cross said the truck was heading to neighboring Niger on Monday to pick up medical supplies when …

WARSAW, Poland – An official says that Jozef Oleksy, a communist-era party leader who in the democratic era served as a left-wing prime minister until he was forced to resign over accusations of spying for Russia, has died. He was 68. An official at Oleksy’s Democratic Left Alliance, Krzysztof Gawkowski …

WARSAW, Poland – A group of Ukrainian citizens of Polish descent and their families have been evacuated from war-torn eastern Ukraine to Poland, with government aid. Polish Foreign Minister Grzegorz Schetyna was present when 178 people, mostly young couples with children, were arriving by military planes at the northern airport …

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran’s foreign ministry says U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart discussed the case of a Washington Post journalist who has been indicted and will stand trial in Iran. Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham is quoted Friday by the official IRNA news agency as saying …