The U.S. special envoy on North Korea policy said Saturday that diplomacy aimed at restarting the six-party talks on ending the North's nuclear weapons program was unlikely to produce a breakthrough anytime soon, saying there is still a "long way" to go before a resumption of the talks.Glyn Davies m

    SEOUL,(AFP)--North Korea on Saturday threatened to stage a "sacred war" over US-South Korean annual joint military exercises next week, denouncing the drill as a "silent declaration of war".   The North's National Defence Commission (NDC) described the exercise as "unpar

BEIRUT (AP)--President Bashar Assad's forces pounded rebel-held areas in central Syria on Friday, killing at least 22 people, activists said. More than 60 nations meeting in Tunisia asked the United Nations to start planning for a civilian peacekeeping mission that would deploy after the Syrian regi

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP)--The discovery of a 51st victim Friday two days after Argentina's deadliest train wreck in decades left the man's family devastated and prompted rock-throwing and other violence by protesters holding vigil at the scene.The search for 20-year-old Lucas Menghini Rey, whose

KANEOHE BAY, Hawaii (AP)--A military jury has decided a Marine is not guilty of hazing a fellow lance corporal who killed himself in Afghanistan.The panel of three officers and five enlisted Marines found Lance Cpl. Carlos Orozco III not guilty Friday in a court-martial at Marine Corps Base Hawaii.H

KABUL (AP) ― President Barack Obama apologized to Afghans on Thursday for the burning of Qurans at a U.S. military base, trying to assuage rising anti-American sentiment as an Afghan soldier gunned down two American troops during another day of angry protests.The U.S.-led military coalition says the Muslim holy books were sent by mistake to a garbage burn pit at Bagram Air Field and the case is under investigation. The explanation and multiple apologies from U.S. officials have yet to calm outra

Campaigning began in Iran on Thursday for parliamentary elections to take place on March 2, with officials and state media calling for a big turnout to counter “enemies‘ threats” against the regime.It will be the Islamic republic’s first national poll since the controversial 2009 re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.A total of 3,444 vetted candidates are vying for the 290 seats in the parliament, known as the Majlis, to be decided by an electorate of 48 million voters.Iran‘s police chief

MOSCOW (AFP) ― Russian strongman Vladimir Putin on Thursday issued a battle-cry to tens of thousands of supporters packing Moscow’s largest sports stadium as he predicted victory in next month’s presidential election.Putin declared in a fiery and nationalist-tinged speech to 130,000 people in the Luzhniki stadium that Russians had victory written into their “genetic code” and would not allow foreigners to meddle in their country’s affairs.Playing on themes of patriotism to mark the Defenders of

A prominent Egyptian presidential candidate was wounded in an apparent carjacking late Thursday in Cairo, his campaign manager and police said, underscoring an increase in crime a year after a country wide uprising.The Islamist Abdelmoneim Abul Fotouh suffered a concussion after three men armed with

PARIS (AFP) ― The international ratings agency Fitch said Wednesday that it has cut the long-term rating on Greece’s sovereign debt by two notches, from “CCC” to “C.”A Fitch statement said it now considered that a Greek debt default was “highly likely in the near term.”The agency said the downgrade followed Tueday’s hard won agreement for a second rescue of Greece, which includes a 53.5 percent writedown on private holdings of the country’s sovereign debt through a bond swap scheme.The writedown

BEIJING (AFP) -- China could face an economic crisis if it does not implement major reforms in the next 20 years, the Wall Street Journal said Thursday, citing a report by the World Bank and Chinese government researchers.The “China 2030” report -- to be released Monday -- warns economic growth is at risk of a sharp and sudden slowdown, which could trigger a severe downturn in the world’s second-largest economy, the paper said.The report makes a number of recommendations for restructuring China’