International

BEIJING ― The wife of a Chinese journalist who disappeared from Thailand while seeking asylum said she's spoken to her husband and that he says he voluntarily returned to China for investigation, but that she believes he was forced to come back.

DALLAS — Health officials in Texas on Tuesday reported the first case of the Zika virus being transmitted within the United States amid the current outbreak in Latin America — a person who was infected through sex.

MOGADISHU, Somalia — An explosion and fire blew a gaping hole in a commercial airliner, forcing it to make an emergency landing at Mogadishu's international airport late Tuesday, officials and witnesses said.

DES MOINES, Iowa — Ted Cruz, a fiery, conservative Texas senator loathed by his own party's leaders, swept to victory in Iowa's Republican caucuses Monday, overcoming billionaire Donald Trump and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. Among Democrats, Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders were deadlocked in a tight race.

GENEVA — The World Health Organization declared a global emergency over the explosive spread of the Zika virus, which has been linked to birth defects in the Americas, calling it an "extraordinary event" that poses a public health threat to other parts of the world.

DES MOINES, Iowa — Billionaire real estate magnate Donald Trump faced the first big test of his stunning presidential campaign as he looked to defeat Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio in Monday's Iowa Republican caucuses, the leadoff contest in the U.S. presidential race. On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton sought to fend off an unexpectedly strong challenge from Sen. Bernie Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist.

BEIJING — Chinese police arrested 21 employees at China's largest online finance business on suspicion of fleecing 900,000 investors for USD$7.6 billion (270 billion baht), in what could be the biggest financial fraud in Chinese history.

NAYPYITAW, Myanmar — Hundreds of newly elected legislators, a majority of them from pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party, have begun a parliament session that will install their government and elect a new president.

HAVANA — Cuba says it is launching its first broadband home Internet service, a potentially major step forward in bringing the island online.

BANGKOK — A U.S. warship sailed near a disputed island in the South China Sea on Saturday to exercise the U.S.'s freedom to navigate in international waters, a defense official said.