NUEVO URECHO, Mexico (AP) — Extortion of avocado growers in western Mexico has gotten so bad that 500 vigilantes from a so-called “self-defense” group known as United Towns, or Pueblos Unidos, gathered Saturday and pledged to aid police.

MILAN (AP) — Reports: Italy, Germany report cases of omicron COVID-19 variant.

LONDON (AP) — At least three people have died in the U.K. after the year's first winter storm battered parts of the countries with gusts of nearly 100 mph (160 kph).

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan’s Taliban prime minister defended the group’s rule in a public address Saturday, saying it was not to blame for a worsening economic crisis and is working to repair the corruption of the ousted government. He also dismissed international pressure for the…

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Skirmishes on Saturday erupted in Serbia between police and anti-government demonstrators who blocked roads and bridges in the Balkan country in protest against new laws they say favor interests of foreign investors devastating the environment.

BERLIN (AP) — Germany's health minister said Saturday he hopes that the sight of air force planes transferring patients across the country will act as a “wake-up call” to millions who are still holding out on getting vaccinated against COVID-19.

PRAGUE (AP) — Czech President Miloš Zeman was discharged Saturday from the capital's military hospital after testing positive for the coronavirus.

MADRID (AP) — Tens of thousands of Spanish police officers and their supporters marched in Madrid on Saturday to protest against government plans to reform a controversial security law known by critics as the “gag law.”

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — Security forces fired tear gas at protesters throwing rocks in Burkina Faso’s capital on Saturday, as tensions rose across the conflict-riddled nation with the population angry at the government’s inability to stem violence linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic …

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Dutch government made a public apology Saturday for a now discredited and scrapped law that required transgender people to undergo surgery and sterilization if they wanted to change their gender on their birth certificate.

BERLIN (AP) — Austrian authorities said Saturday they have arrested 15 people suspected of smuggling Syrian, Lebanese and Egyptian migrants into the country, and seized 14 vehicles that were used to transport them.

CALAIS, France (AP) — The price to cross the English Channel varies according to the network of smugglers, between 3,000 and 7,000 euros.

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Tunisia’s Interior Ministry has said that a man who attempted to attack security officials in central Tunis was a known extremist.

SAN VIGILIO DI MAREBBE, Italy (AP) — After nearly two years of being restricted to watching snow accumulate on distant mountains, Italian skiers are finally returning to the slopes that have been off-limits since the first pandemic lockdown in March 2020.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan’s annual Golden Horse Awards kicked off Saturday with a Hong Kong drama receiving the most nominations for the Asian equivalent of the Academy Awards.

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Algerians are voting Saturday to elect mayors and regional leaders amid widespread worry and frustration over rising prices for basic goods, housing and health care.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Solomon Islands police found three bodies in a burned-out building and arrested more than 100 people in this week's violence sparked by concerns about the Pacific nation's increasing links with China.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch authorities: 61 people on 2 flights from South Africa positive for COVID-19; omicron variant not confirmed.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Violence receded Friday in the capital of the Solomon Islands, but the government showed no signs of addressing the underlying grievances that sparked two days of riots, including concerns about the country's increasing links with China.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The widow of South Korea’s last military dictator issued a brief apology over the “pains and scars” caused by her husband’s brutal rule as dozens of relatives and former aides gathered at a Seoul hospital on Saturday to pay their final respects to Chun Doo-hwan.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen's Houthi rebels launched airstrikes early Saturday morning targeting the country's capital, Sanaa.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Police fired tear gas and birdshot while fighting protesters with batons on Friday in a central Iranian city that has seen days of demonstrations demanding government action over a drought, online videos show.

BRUSSELS (AP) — Nearly two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, the world raced Friday to contain a new coronavirus variant potentially more dangerous than the one that has fueled relentless waves of infection on nearly every continent.

LONDON (AP) — WHAT IS THIS NEW COVID-19 VARIANT?

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The president of the U.N. Committee on Enforced Disappearances said Friday there is an “almost total, structural” lack of punishment in Mexico for the crime of abducting and disappearing people.