World

KIEV, Ukraine — During the nearly two years that she was imprisoned in Russia, Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko became a national hero in absentia, lauded for her flinty defiance. On Wednesday she made a celebrated return to the country still embroiled in a fight against Moscow-backed separatists.

CAIRO — Body parts recovered from the crash of EgyptAir Flight 804 showed signs of burns and were so small that they suggested the jet was brought down by an explosion, a member of the team examining the remains said Tuesday. But the idea of a blast was promptly dismissed by the head of Egypt's forensic agency as "baseless" speculation.

NORTHERN SYRIA — Barcham Zana knows her enemy. It is the Islamic State, which she calls "darkness."

Islamic State militants killed two cousins, she said. For her, the group is not an abstract threat.

The 20-year-old spoke through a Syrian interpreter at a rudimentary training camp surrounded by golden waves of wheat in northern Syria. Zana and other young fighters had just finished target practice with AK-47s on a firing range encircled by earthen berms. The nearest front line fighting was about 50 miles away.

LUBUMBASHI, Congo — Congo's top opposition candidate for the upcoming presidential election flew to South Africa for medical treatment Friday, one day after authorities issued an arrest warrant for him on charges his supporters say are politically motivated.

Moise Katumbi's lawyer Georges Kapiamba told The Associated Press late Friday that his client had boarded a flight that would take him from Lubumbashi to South Africa "for appropriate care."