#immediately clear

THE HAGUE, Netherlands | Dutch court upholds ban on branch of Bandidos biker club

THE HAGUE, Netherlands  — An appeals court has upheld a ban on a Dutch arm of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club, agreeing with a lower court’s conclusion that the biker gang forms a threat to public order.

In a written ruling issued Tuesday, the appeals court in Arnhem said that members of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club Holland operate in “an atmosphere and culture of violence and threat of violence.”

B…

MOSCOW | Ukrainian fighter jet crashes on landing, pilot is killed

MOSCOW  — Ukraine’s military says a Ukrainian air force pilot has died when his Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jet crashed while attempting to land at a base in the northern region of Zhytomyr.

The Ukrainian General Staff wrote on its Facebook page that the plane went down Saturday during a routine flight. An investigation into the crash is underway.

Su-27 fighter jets were designed by the Soviet Union and…

WASHINGTON  | Pence aide out of running to be Trump’s next chief of staff

WASHINGTON  — President Donald Trump’s top pick to replace chief of staff John Kelly, Nick Ayers, is no longer expected to fill the role.

Ayers, who is chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, was seen as the favorite for the job when Trump announced Saturday that Kelly would leave around year’s end. But a White House official said Sunday that Trump and Ayers could not reach agreement on…

KABUL, Afghanistan | Airstrike kills 10 civilians in eastern Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan — At least ten civilians were killed following an airstrike in the eastern Paktia province bordering Pakistan, Afghan officials said Sunday.

Shausta Jan Ahady, a former provincial council member, said that women and children were among those killed in the strike carried out a day earlier. He said local residents displayed the bodies and protested on Sunday. Provincial…

KIEV, Ukraine | Ukraine closes border to all Russian males between 16 and 60

KIEV, Ukraine — Ukrainian officials on Friday barred Russian males between the ages of 16 and 60 from traveling to the country in the latest escalation of tensions between the neighbors.

The long-simmering conflict bubbled over Sunday when Russian border guards rammed into and opened fired on three Ukrainian vessels near the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscowannexed in 2014. The vessels were trying…

NEW YORK | Trump proposes ‘worldwide network’ to counter CNN overseas

NEW YORK  — President Donald Trump is raising the possibility of starting “our own Worldwide Network” to counter news spread internationally by CNN.

Trump said via Twitter on Monday that CNN “has a powerful voice portraying the United States in an unfair and false way. Something has to be done.”

It wasn’t immediately clear what he meant by a worldwide network.

The U.S. government already operates…

ISTANBUL | Military helicopter crashes in Istanbul; 4 soldiers killed

ISTANBUL— Officials say a military helicopter with five soldiers on board has crashed in an Istanbul neighborhood, killing four of them. The fifth soldier was rushed to a hospital with injuries.

Anadolu Agencysaid the helicopter, which was on a training mission, on Monday hit the roof of a building and crashed in between apartment blocks in Istanbul’s Sancaktepe neighborhood, on the Asian side of…

BEIRUT | Report: US-led airstrikes kill 40 in IS-held area of Syria

BEIRUT — At least 40 people, mostly women and children, were killed Saturday by U.S.-led airstrikes on the last pocket held by Islamic State militants in eastern Syria, a war monitor and Syrian state media reported.

The coalition did not immediatelyrespond to a request for comment. It maintains that it does all it can to avoid civilian casualties, and looks into all strikes to determine the…