World

After 24 years and six championships, Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots agreed to part ways. Belichick held a relatively brief press conference Thursday, where he spent the majority of his time thanking players, staffers and fans for their contributions during his lengthy tenure. “Players win games in the …

The Big Three of the Chicago Bulls dynasty were each part of the team’s inaugural Ring of Honor class, yet there were not at the ceremony that honored them. Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman were all absent from the United Center on Thursday night for the first Ring …

BERLIN – The United Nations’ human rights chief is pressing Nigeria’s new president to set up independent inquiries into alleged abuses by the country’s armed forces in the fight against Boko Haram. Zeid Raad al-Hussein said Friday that people who have fled towns held the extremist group have described “absolute …

AMMAN, Jordan – A government official says Jordan has approved a request by the family of former Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz to bury him in the kingdom. Funeral details were not known. Aziz, 79, was Saddam Hussein’s staunchest defender to the world and the only Christian in the Iraqi …

MOSCOW – The daughter of Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov has blamed state propaganda for fomenting hatred and intolerance that contributed to his killing in February. Zhanna Nemtsova said in a column published Tuesday in the business daily Vedomosti that responsibility for her father’s death was shared by employees of …

UNITED NATIONS – U.N. experts said in a report circulated Tuesday that not a single country has reported any violations of an arms embargo against Iran, possibly the result of a political decision to avoid any “negative impact” on negotiations to rein in Tehran’s nuclear program. The panel of experts …

PARIS – A former prisoner in Guantanamo has been prevented from boarding a flight in Lyon, France for conferences in Montreal because the aircraft would fly through U.S. airspace. Mourad Benchellali, who addresses youth groups in Europe in a bid to dissuade them from jihad, was prevented from boarding an …

KABUL, Afghanistan – An Afghan official says four people, including a district chief, have been killed by a roadside bomb in a region of northern Afghanistan that has been largely peaceful until now. Senatullah Tumor, the spokesman for the governor of northern Takhar province, said Sunday that the bomb killed …

STOCKHOLM – Norwegian oil and gas company Statoil says it will lay off up to 1,500 staff and 500 consultants by the end of to slash costs. The state-controlled company said Tuesday the layoffs are a continuation of a cost-cutting program started in 2013, “well ahead of the current downturn” …

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – New Zealand’s economy all but stalled in the first quarter as lower prices for milk and oil pushed down growth to 0.2 percent. It was the worst quarterly performance in two years and below market expectations. The figures released Thursday pushed down the currency by more …