PARIS (AP) _ A crowd vandalized a Muslim prayer room in Corsica a day after an ambush left firefighters injured on the French island.The region's top police official was on the tense scene at a housing project Friday evening.The violence began Thursday night, when firefighters responding to an emergency call were ambushed in Ajaccio, according to the local France 3 television. On Friday a gathering that started as a show of support for the injured emergency officials turned violent, and some in

U.S. President Barack Obama will host a summit with Southeast Asian nations early next year in a move seen aimed at strengthening his "pivot to Asia" policy, according to a news report.Obama invited the leaders of the 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to the summit to be held at the Sunnylands resort in Southern California when he visited Kuala Lumpur last month for an annual gathering, the Hill reported."The president is pleased the leaders have accepted

A senior North Korean diplomat visited Britain earlier this month to lobby against international pressure on Pyongyang over its human rights record, an official said Friday.The Dec. 9-11 visit to London was part of a European trip that also took Kim Son-gyong, director-general for European affairs at the North's Foreign Ministry, to Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and Poland.While in London, Kim held meetings with Fiona Bruce, a member of parliament who co-chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group

A group of South Korean Catholic bishops said Monday its members plan to visit North Korea this week to discuss ways of promoting cooperation with its North Korean counterpart.The Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea said the 17-member delegation, led by Archbishop Kim Hee-joong, will visit North Korea from Tuesday to Friday on the invitation of the North's association on Catholics.It said they plan to discuss how to promote cooperation among Catholics of the two Koreas, including the program c