ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Human Rights Watch said Thursday that Burkina Faso’s security forces last year killed at least 60 civilians in three different drone strikes, which the group says may have constituted war crimes.

The West African nation’s government claimed the strikes targeted extremists, including jihadi fighters and rebel groups that have been operating in many remote communities.

The accusation by the New York-based watchdog were the latest in raised by various rights groups.

“The government should urgently and impartially investigate these apparent

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s former says he has been disqualified from running for reelection to the country’s influential Assembly of Experts, calling it a move to limit the people’s participation in elections, official state media reported.

The official IRNA news agency reported late Wednesday that Rouhani said in a statement that the country’s election watchdog, the Guardian Council, did not place him on the short list of approved candidates for the March election to the assembly.

Under Iran’s consitution,

NEW YORK (AP) — It’s a little late for John Leventhal to be considered a hot young thing in music.

He’s won six for songwriting and producing records, the latter a role that he essentially fell into as a journeyman guitarist in New York who befriended artists like Shawn Colvin and Jim Lauderdale.

Besides them, Leventhal has produced music for Marc Cohn, Sarah Jarosz, Joan Osborne, William Bell, The Blind Boys of Alabama and his wife, . He’s played guitar with the likes

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — A federal jury in South Dakota has convicted two men on charges related to the 2022 .

The jury in Rapid City on Tuesday found 29-year-old Deyvin Morales and 25-year-old Juan Alvarez-Soto guilty of kidnapping, carjacking and other counts, the reported. Alvarez-Soto, who is from El Salvador, also was found guilty of unlawfully entering the U.S. after being deported.

Both men face sentencing

A group of transgender veterans filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking to force the Department of Veterans Affairs to begin providing and paying for gender-affirming surgeries.

The lawsuit from the Transgender American Veterans Association seeks to compel the VA to codify in its regulations verbal assurances the department has made that it would begin providing those services, said Rebekka Eshler, the president of the association.

She said the surgeries are needed to reduce the risk of suicides, depression, and psychological distress for transgender people who live with gender dysphoria.

“It would

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Republicans who control the Wisconsin Assembly approved Thursday that would call for a binding statewide referendum to ban abortion after 14 weeks of pregnancy.

Current Wisconsin law prohibits abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The bill’s supporters say closing the window after 14 weeks could save more fetuses from death. The proposal would set up a statewide referendum during April’s election asking voters whether the 14-week prohibition should take effect. The deadline would not apply in cases of

WASHINGTON (AP) — The maker of Robitussin cough syrup is recalling several lots of products containing honey due to contamination that could pose a serious risk to people with weakened immune systems.

Haleon’s recall covers eight lots of Robitussin Honey CF Max Day Adult and Robitussin Honey CF Max Nighttime Adult, which were distributed to stores and pharmacy suppliers. The Food and Drug Administration posted the to its website Wednesday.

The products have the potential to cause “severe or life-threatening adverse events,” if taken by people with

SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — North Macedonia’s prime minister and his cabinet formally submitted their resignations to parliament on Thursday, paving the way for a caretaker government to be installed ahead of general elections this May.

The main political parties agreed last month to hold general elections on May 8, two months early and at the same time as the second round of presidential elections.

The main opposition party, the center-right VMRO-DPMNE, had been pressing for early elections, accusing the government led by the

TOKYO (AP) — The operator of the tsunami-hit nuclear plant in Fukushima announced Thursday a delay of several more months before launching a test to remove melted fuel debris from inside one of the reactors, citing problems clearing the way for a robotic arm.

The debris cleanup initially was supposed to be started by 2021, but it has been plagued with delays, underscoring the difficulty of recovering from the plant’s meltdown after a magnitude 9.0 quake and tsunami in March 2011.