MANILA, Philippines – A Philippine court has sentenced an Australian man to life imprisonment after finding him guilty on human trafficking and child pornography charges. Drew Frederick Shobbrook listened quietly as the verdict was read in a court in Cebu…
BEIRUT – A string of court cases and judicial investigations against Lebanese media figures is testing this country's reputation as a forum for ideas in a region blanketed by censorship and threats to the press. Lebanese authorities are getting tough…
TOKYO – Japan says its military has witnessed a ship-to-ship transfer on the high seas that it "strongly suspects" violates U.N. sanctions on North Korea. The Foreign Ministry said late Tuesday that a surveillance plane and an escort ship saw…
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador – Police in El Salvador arrested two military colonels and a lieutenant colonel Tuesday in connection with the case of eight soldiers who were convicted last year of abducting and torturing two people, one of them…
CANBERRA, Australia – Australian authorities say they have helped make the Indian Ocean safer for air and sea travelers since the Malaysian airliner vanished in the vast expanse four years ago through search and rescue training with island nations. Search…
WELLINGTON, New Zealand – The U.S. Navy says it has rescued three fishermen who were adrift on a boat in the Pacific Ocean for eight days. The men were reported missing Feb. 12 after failing to return from a fishing…
Conservative rallies take place frequently across South Korea, calling for a harsher stance against the North Korean regime. As the grandeur of the Winter Olympics opening ceremony dazzled inside South Korea’s Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium – complete with North Korean cheerleaders…
Syrian government forces bombarded rebel-held suburbs of the capital, Damascus, for a second consecutive day Tuesday, killing more than 100 people and raising the specter of a full-scale offensive that could spell catastrophe for the nearly 400,000 residents trapped under siege.…
SANTIAGO, Chile – The Vatican's sex abuse investigator has begun a series of meetings in Chile with abuse victims and others who have opposed the appointment of a bishop accused of covering up for the country's most notorious pedophile priest.…
BEIRUT – The airstrikes came at a rate of one a minute, with horrible results: civilians fleeing collapsing buildings, children trapped under slabs of concrete, paramedics grimly rushing the bloodied victims away on stretchers. At least 100 people were killed…
EL-ARISH, Egypt – Egyptian officials say the country will open its border with the Gaza Strip amid a military campaign against Islamic insurgents in restive northern Sinai Peninsula. The two officials said Tuesday the Rafah crossing point will operate starting…
LONDON – The leader of Britain's opposition Labour Party says a claim that he gave information to a Czechoslovak spy during the Cold War is "a ridiculous smear." Jeremy Corbyn says claims in British newspapers "are increasingly wild and entirely…
BUCHAREST, Romania – A Romanian museum has defended its screening of French AIDS drama "120 Beats Per Minute" amid protests over gay themes which feature in the film. Lila Passima, director of the Romanian Peasant Museum, told The Associated Press…
UNITED NATIONS – The Latest on the U.N. Security Council meeting on Mideast issues (all times local): 12:50 p.m. Israel's U.N. ambassador is accusing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of refusing direct peace negotiations with Israel and is calling him "the…
Kim Jong Un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, made headlines during her three-day visit earlier this month at the 2018 Winter Olympic games in South Korea. Yo Jong, who was a part of North Korea’s delegation to the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, became…
North Korea: Who is Kim Yo Jong? In a historic move, South Korean President Moon Jae-In shook hands with Kim Yo Jong during the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics. Who is North Korea's representative, Kim Yo Jong, and…
Colombian police officers stand in front of people assembling to try to cross into Colombia from Venezuela last month via Simón Bolívar International Bridge in Cúcuta, Colombia. (REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins ) Venezuela’s ongoing economic and political crisis has sparked a…
UNITED NATIONS – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is calling for an international peace conference by mid-2018 with key goals of full U.N. membership for the state of Palestine and a timeframe for resolving all issues with Israel for a two-state…
KIEV, Ukraine – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has signed a bill aimed at reintegrating the territory in the country's east controlled by Russia-backed separatists. The bill passed last month designates the areas in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions as "temporarily…
A 35-year-old defector is the new human face of the horrors in North Korea. Ji Seong-ho fled torture and starvation in North Korea in a remarkable escape story. Now he is the Trump’s administration’s newest weapon in its war of…
MADRID – Spain's Supreme Court has upheld the conviction of a rapper who argued that his lyrics praising terror groups were protected by freedom of expression laws. The court ruled Tuesday that Jose Miguel Arenas Beltran, a rapper best known…
PRISTINA, Kosovo – Kosovo's government has asked parliament to vote later this week on a revised version of a border demarcation deal with Montenegro. Opposition parties have steadfastly rejected the 2015 agreement, saying that Kosovo would lose territory. But the…
BERLIN – Berlin police have dismissed a nationalist party's claim that officers failed to protect participants in a weekend protest march. Several hundred people, including members of the Alternative for Germany party and far-right activists, marched in the German capital…
AMMAN, Jordan – The chairman of a U.S. Senate panel dealing with foreign aid says a recently signed agreement granting Jordan $1.275 billion a year through 2022 "is a floor" and that Congress is likely to authorize additional financial support…