PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – The U.N.'s specially appointed researcher on human rights in Cambodia has said it is a mistake for the government of long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen to prioritize stability and development over human rights. Professor Rhona Smith,…
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia – The conservative Indonesian province of Aceh known for publicly caning gays, adulterers and gamblers is considering the introduction of beheading as a punishment for murder. The head of Aceh's Shariah Law and Human Rights Office, Syukri…
SHAH ALAM, Malaysia – The lawyer for a Vietnamese woman accused of murdering the estranged half brother of North Korea's leader says she was recruited by a North Korean suspect at a Hanoi bar two months before the killing. Doan…
BEIRUT – Local authorities outside the Syrian capital say government forces have cut off their town from a surrounding rebel-held enclave, isolating 20,000 residents with no access to aid. A member of the local council of Harasta said Wednesday that…
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – An Afghan official says at least seven people were killed when a bus collided with a car on the main highway in southern Kandahar province. Qudratullah Khushbakht, spokesman for the provincial governor in Kandahar, says 24 people,…
IFEROUANE, Niger – Tuaregs in northern Niger are hoping to draw tourists back to the region by putting their traditional dances, music poetry and camel races on display. Despite concerns about Islamic extremism throughout the Sahel region in West Africa,…
PARIS – Two Frenchmen are going on trial for allegedly stealing Emmanuel Macron's online identity last year when he was running for president. The unusual case to be heard Wednesday in a Paris court followed a complaint filed by Macron…
BAGHDAD – Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has ordered an "immediate" investigation into the killing of a senior military officer by "undisciplined individuals" at a checkpoint north of Baghdad. Brig. Gen. Shareef Ismaeel al-Murshidi, a brigade commander whose forces are…
German Chancellor Angela Merkel waves when Germany's parliament Bundestag meets to elect Angela Merkel for a fourth term as chancellor in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, March 14, 2018. (Gregor Fischer/dpa via AP) Germany's parliament elected Angela Merkel for her fourth term as chancellor on…
BERLIN – German Chancellor Angela Merkel is starting her fourth term with a much-changed top team in which only three members of the new 16-member Cabinet keep their old jobs. There are new faces in some key positions: the finance,…
KATHMANDU, Nepal – Survivors of a plane crash at Nepal's main airport this week say it's a miracle they survived an accident that killed 49 of the 71 people on board. Shorna Huggain of Bangladesh, who was a passenger on…
BERLIN – The Latest on the formation of a new coalition government in Germany (all times local): 10 a.m. Germany's parliament has elected Angela Merkel for her fourth term as chancellor, putting an end to nearly six months of political…
LONDON – Britain's prime minister is set to chair a meeting of the national security council Wednesday to consider sanctions against Russia after Moscow ignored a deadline to explain how a nerve agent developed by the Soviet Union was used…
MANILA, Philippines – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte says his country is withdrawing its ratification of a world treaty that created the International Criminal Court, where he's facing a possible complaint for crimes against humanity. An ICC prosecutor announced last month…
PARIS – Pro-Kurdish demonstrators protesting against Turkey's military offensive in northern Syria have clashed with police outside the U.S. embassy in Paris. French police tried to keep the protesters back from the embassy building on Tuesday night and used tear…
BERLIN – Germany's parliament is meeting to elect Angela Merkel for a fourth term as chancellor, ending nearly six months of political drift in Europe's biggest economy. Merkel needs the support of a majority of all lawmakers to be re-elected…
BEIRUT – For the first time since its meteoric rise in 2012 amid the chaos of war, al-Qaida's branch in Syria is in retreat, battling rival militant groups in the north and fighting for survival in a key foothold near…
MELBOURNE, Australia – The alleged victims of the most senior Vatican official ever charged in the Catholic Church sex abuse crisis have finished giving testimony to an Australian court. Australian Cardinal George Pell began a hearing in the Melbourne Magistrate…
HELSINKI – Finland tops an index of the happiest nations in which to live. The World Happiness Report published Wednesday ranked 156 countries by their happiness levels, based on factors such as life expectancy, social support and corruption. This year's…
WELLINGTON, New Zealand – Papua New Guinea police say an earthquake last month killed at least 125 people and forced another 35,000 from their homes. The Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary said Wednesday that major relief efforts are underway in…
LONDON – Physicist and author Stephen Hawking possessed an uncanny ability to come up with memorable phrases and sayings that summed up his world view. Here is a short selection of his many famous observations: — "We are just an…
LONDON – Stephen Hawking was a prolific author with a knack for making books on challenging scientific topics engaging to a wide spectrum of readers. The physicist is best known for his best-selling 1988 classic "A Brief History of Time:…
ISLAMABAD – Iran's foreign minister has expressed a willingness to resolve differences with Saudi Arabia as part of Tehran's desire for stability in the region. Mohammad Javad Zarif says Tehran had also expressed willingness to improve ties with Saudi Arabia…
LONDON – A glance at the life of celebrated physicist Stephen Hawking, who died Wednesday at 76. Jan. 8, 1942 — Born in Oxford, England, the eldest of four children born to Frank Hawking, a biologist, and Isobel Hawking, a…
KABUL, Afghanistan – An Afghan official says insurgents attacked a checkpoint in western Farah province and killed at least 10 security personnel. Provincial council member Abdul Samad Salehi said four of the dead were from the intelligence service and six…
Stephen Hawking, the famed theoretical physicist who defied a diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis to live virtually his entire adult life with the disease – in a wheelchair and paralyzed but making constant contributions to a world few could understand…
SEOUL, South Korea – Another conservative former South Korean president is being questioned by prosecutors over a range of corruption allegations. Former President Lee Myung-bak said he felt "very sorry for causing concerns" as he arrived at the prosecutors' office…
WELLINGTON, New Zealand – New Zealand has censured its second-ranking diplomat in Washington after she sent tweets saying U.S. Democrats needed to get their act together for the next presidential election "or we will all die." Deputy Head of Mission…
MEXICO CITY – Mexico City took ownership on Tuesday of a lot where a seven-story office building collapsed in September's deadly earthquake, clearing the way for a planned park memorializing victims of the disaster. Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera signed a…
ST. GEORGE'S, Grenada – A Caribbean seismic research center says an underwater volcano just north of Grenada may be about to erupt but does not pose a tsunami threat to the region. The University of the West Indies Seismic Research…
UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations says it received 138 allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse in 2017, some involving multiple perpetrators and victims and over 40 percent arising from U.N. peacekeeping missions. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a report…
COLON, Panama – A protest over infrastructure and insecurity turned into violent clashes with police Tuesday in Panama's second biggest city, which is home to a strategic port at the northern end of the Panama Canal. Demonstrators are angry over…
CARACAS, Venezuela – Witnesses say they've seen the arrest of a former spy chief for Hugo Chavez who has been leading a movement of alienated leftists opposed to President Nicolas Maduro. Two aides to Miguel Rodriguez Torres say he was…
MEXICO CITY – Three state police officers in Mexico's Caribbean coast state of Quintana Roo face administrative charges after photos posted on social media showed policemen posing for pictures with topless bathers. The state government wouldn't say what specifically the…
PARIS – French counterterrorism police have detained five people suspected of helping jihadis who left France to join the battlefields of Syria and Iraq. A judicial official told The Associated Press that four men and one woman were arrested Tuesday…
JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his coalition has struck a compromise to avoid taking the country to early elections. Netanyahu's coalition had been divided over a bill that would grant exemptions from military service to ultra-Orthodox Jewish…
MEXICO CITY – A Mexican mayor who gained fame by saying "I stole, but a little," actually stole a lot, according to a complaint filed by his state assembly. The legislature of the Pacific coast state of Nayarit says former…
BERLIN – Berlin police say far-right extremists tried to stoke hatred against migrants by spreading false information about the killing of a teenage girl in the German capital last week. Spokesman Winfrid Wenzel says police are examining whether to bring…
Several people were injured after a strong tornado reportedly ripped through a city in southern Italy on Monday. The twister caused several shop and street signs to fall into the streets of Caserta, including a Burger King sign that crushed…
LONDON – The Latest on the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain (all times local): 6:00 p.m. Russia's Foreign Ministry has sternly warned Britain against shutting the office of Russian state-funded RT television, saying it will lead to…
Nikolai Glushkov was found dead at his home Monday night. (AP) Another Russian exile living in London was found dead late Monday night, just a little more than a week since a former Kremlin spy and his daughter were poisoned.…
As the Iranian new year approaches, anti-regime protesters are taking to the streets in a show of force to the country’s Ayatollah, demanding greater freedoms like Internet access. The Fox News Investigative Unit, using the encrypted messaging service WhatsApp, interviewed…
UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. adviser on preventing genocide says all information he has received indicates the Myanmar government intended to cleanse Rohingya Muslims from Rakhine state and possibly even destroy them "which, if proven, would constitute the crime of…
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – Authorities in the Dominican Republic have dispatched additional police officers and soldiers to a border town amid fears of reprisals against Haitians after the death of a local couple in a machete attack. The reinforcements…
LONDON – A Russian businessman who was associated with a prominent critic of the Kremlin has died in London, his lawyer said Tuesday. Police are treating the death as unexplained and have put counterterrorism detectives in charge of the case.…
ROME – The leader of Italy's 5-Star Movement is insisting on becoming the country's premier without offering specifics on ending postelection political gridlock. Luigi Di Maio, whose movement won 32 percent of the March 4 vote, said at a news…
BERLIN – Judges in a high-profile German neo-Nazi murder trial have dismissed motions from defense lawyers to introduce new evidence, and accused them of trying to further delay proceedings. Lawyers for Beate Zschaepe , the only known survivor of the…
WARSAW, Poland – Poland's justice official has expressed regret that Ireland is delaying the extradition of a wanted Pole and is seeking a European Union court's opinion on Poland's rule of law. The Justice Ministry was reacting Tuesday to a…
British Prime Minister Theresa May on Monday delivered a fiery denunciation of Moscow's alleged assassination attempt on a former Russian spy living in the UK, and promised consequences for the Kremlin if Russian president Vladimir Putin didn't explain himself by…
BENI, Congo – Authorities in northeastern Congo say more than 40 new deaths have been reported in an area where fighting has erupted between two communities in recent weeks. Willy Maese, deputy administrator in Djugu, said hundreds of homes were…
