World datelines

Antigua

ST JOHN'S — A British teenager, Mike Perham, 14, became the youngest person to sail solo across the Atlantic Ocean on Wednesday, reaching the Caribbean island of Antigua after a six-week voyage.

Belarus

MINSK — The government said Wednesday it would slap a customs duty on Russian oil pumped across Belarus to Europe, and President Alexander Lukashenko lashed out at what he called the Kremlin's "shameless" conduct over energy price increases.

Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO — Rio de Janeiro's new governor said Wednesday federal troops will be used to fight growing gang violence plaguing the state and will be deployed to protect public safety during the upcoming Pan American Games.

Britain

LONDON — Two more people have shown signs of low-level exposure to polonium-210, the rare radioactive isotope that killed former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, British health authorities said Wednesday. The two were identified as a hotel worker at the Best Western Hotel in Piccadilly, London, and a guest who visited The Pine Bar at London's Millennium Hotel.

Chile

SANTIAGO — A Chilean court on Wednesday dropped charges against Gen. Augusto Pinochet's wife and two of his grown children, who had been indicted as accomplices of the late dictator in a tax evasion case.

China

BEIJING — China has defended new adoption regulations for foreigners that favor middle-aged married couples without physical handicaps, saying the rules were designed to help children and expedite adoptions.

India

ALLAHABAD — Ash-smeared and naked Hindu saints led millions of devotees Wednesday in a pre-dawn holy dip at the meeting of three major rivers in northern India, starting a weeks-long pilgrimage to wash away their sins.

Indonesia

POLEWALI — Indonesian air force planes took to the skies and navy ships scoured the sea Wednesday, searching for a missing jetliner and its passengers, including an Oregon man and his two daughters.

Japan