Yemeni military officials say troops trained by the Saudi-led coalition battling Yemen's Shiite rebels have routed al-Qaida militants from a city in the country's south.

The officials say that the city of Houta, the capital of the province of Lahj, is now under government control.

President Vladimir Putin says Russian and Egyptian officials have so far failed to agree on security procedures needed to restore direct flights between the two countries.

Moscow halted the flights after the downing last October of a Russian passenger jet over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula that killed all 224 people on board. Russia says the plane was brought down by an explosive device, and a local branch of the Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for planting it.

Protesters calling for pay of $15 an hour and a union will be at McDonald's stores around the U.S. Thursday as part of an ongoing push targeting the world's biggest hamburger chain.

The "Fight for $15" campaign says low-wage workers plan to turn out to show their solidarity with fast-food workers.

Inky the octopus waited until it was dark and the staff had gone home from the National Aquarium of New Zealand before making his move.

He squeezed and pushed his way through a tiny gap in the mesh at the top of his tank and slithered 2 meters (6.6 feet) to the floor. Then he made a beeline across the room to a drain hole.

A judge on Wednesday voided the sale of a former Catholic convent to a Los Angeles businesswoman, clearing the way for Katy Perry to purchase the hilltop property.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Stephanie Bowick ruled that attempts to sell the property to the businesswoman by members of an order of elderly nuns were improper.

A senior figure in one of Germany's governing parties called Wednesday for a law that would prevent foreign financing of mosques in the country.

Andreas Scheuer, the Christian Social Union's general secretary, argued in an interview with the daily Die Welt that "political Islam" undermines efforts to integrate people in Germany.

A Polish prosecutor has questioned a Polish-American scholar to try to determine if he committed the crime of publicly insulting the nation with a statement on Polish violence against Jews during World War II.

Princeton professor Jan Tomasz Gross told The Associated Press that he was questioned for five hours Tuesday in Katowice but still does not know if he will be charged in the case.

Stand on any block around lunchtime near Amazon.com's downtown Seattle headquarters and there are two common sights: people walking their dogs and people buying lunch at food trucks.

The scene offers a window into Seattle's infatuations with dogs (and cats), which outnumber children here, and the maturing roaming food truck market.

Several country music artists and songwriters have condemned proposed laws that critics say discriminate against LGBT people, but anyone looking for reaction from the record labels and production companies on Nashville's Music Row has heard only the sound of silence.

New laws in North Carolina and Mississippi have drawn the ire of businesses and celebrities alike, with Bruce Springsteen and Bryan Adams canceling shows in those states. Legislation dealing with the treatment of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people was vetoed by Georgia's governor, but bills are still being considered in Tennessee and South Carolina.

Lawyers for Bill Cosby are urging a court to reseal the actor's deposition testimony about extramarital affairs, Quaaludes and payments to women.

Cosby doesn't want the decade-old testimony used in the legal battles he's fighting with women who accuse him of sexual assault or defamation.