BEIJING (AP) -- New Chinese Premier Li Keqiang dismissed hacking accusations against China as "groundless" on Sunday and said his government was committed to strong ties with Washington.Referring to allegations that China's military was behind massive hacking attacks on U.S. entities, Li reiterated Beijing's statements that China is a major target of global hackers and opposes all such criminal activity."I think we should not make groundless accusations against each other but spend more time doi

A Swiss woman who was on a cycling trip in central India with her husband has been gang-raped by eight men, police said Saturday. The attack comes three months after the fatal gang-rape of a woman aboard a New Delhi bus outraged Indians.Authorities detained and questioned 13 men in connection with the latest attack, which occurred Friday night as the couple camped out in a forest in Madhya Pradesh state after bicycling from the temple town of Orchha, local police officer R.K. Gurjar said.The men

China's parliament on Saturday announced Wang Yi, a former ambassador to Japan and currently in charge of Taiwan affairs, had been nominated as the country's new foreign minister.Wang replaces Yang Jiechi, who has served since 2007. Yang was nominated to the State Council, according to an announcement by the National People's Congress, China's rubberstamp parliament.The changes are part of a broad revamp of personnel as China concludes a once-a-decade leadership transition that saw Communist par

Conservative Muslim and Roman Catholic countries and liberal Western nations approved a U.N. blueprint Friday night to combat violence against women and girls, ignoring strong objections from Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood that it clashed with Islamic principles and sought to destroy the family.After two weeks of tough and often contentious negotiations, 131 countries joined consensus on a compromise 17-page document that Michelle Bachelet, the head of the U.N. women's agency, called historic becaus

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― U.S. President Barack Obama wasted no time in courting China’s new President Xi Jinping on Thursday, calling him within hours of his elevation, and then pressing him on cybercrime and North Korea.Obama, beginning his second term as Xi embarks on his first, congratulated his new opposite number in the crucial U.S.-China relationship, and announced the dispatch of two senior cabinet lieutenants to Beijing shortly.The U.S. president had a cordial yet sometimes frustratingly forma

China's parliament installed bureaucrat Li Keqiang as premier Friday, putting him in charge of running the world's second-largest economy in a final step of a landmark power transition.Li, who is expected to be in office for a decade, faces the challenge of steering the country towards more balanced development, with domestic consumption by a larger middle class playing a greater role."I announce that comrade Li Keqiang has been chosen as premier of the People's Republic of China," said Yan Junq

DETROIT (Reuters) - Michigan Governor Rick Snyder is expected to announce on Thursday an emergency state takeover of Detroit, putting a lawyer with extensive experience managing corporate bankruptcies in charge of the destitute city's finances.The dramatic move will culminate the long decline of the once thriving center of the U.S. auto industry and birthplace of the Motown trend in popular music.Republican Snyder is "highly likely" to name an emergency financial manager for Detroit at a news co

LONDON (AFP) - British detectives arrested four journalists on Thursday over a suspected phone-hacking conspiracy at Mirror Group newspapers, widening the scandal that started at Rupert Murdoch's rival empire.Scotland Yard said a new investigation focused on the Sunday Mirror newspaper, the main competitor to Murdoch's now defunct News of the World tabloid, in 2003 and 2004.Three men aged 40, 46 and 49 and a woman aged 47, all current or former journalists, were arrested in dawn raids at address