The upcoming regional security summit in this tiny Southeast Asian sultanate is the sort of venue where North Korea has often managed to open up sideline discussions with Seoul and Washington. This time, while there will be plenty of talk about Pyongyang, there is little chance of substantive talk with it.North Korea has sought negotiations with the U.S. and South Korea but has ignored their demands that it first honor prior commitments to move toward nuclear disarmament. At high-level diplomati

South Korea is mulling buying corporate bonds to be sold by troubled local industries including construction firms and shipbuilders in a bid to help ease their cash crunch, sources said Saturday.The Financial Services Commission (FSC), the financial regulator, is weighing measures to support the ailing corporate bond market as low-credit companies are facing difficulty in securing funds, sources said, adding that detailed plans are to be announced next week.The government is considering supporti

Barack Obama will express "profound gratitude" for Nelson Mandela Saturday, as his hero's battle for life adds a emotional edge to his first visit to South Africa as president.Obama said he did not need a photo-op with Mandela following speculation he could visit the anti-apartheid icon and his fellow Nobel peace laureate in the Pretoria hospital where he has been for more than three weeks.Fears for Mandela health, weighing heavily on Obama's three-nation Africa tour, eased slightly Friday, as t

WASHINGTON,(AFP) - The Commerce Department said Wednesday that the US economy grew only 1.8 percent in the first quarter, a sharp revision from the previous estimate of 2.4 percent.The department said personal spending was lower than previously estimated, and that both exports and imports actually declined in the January-March period.

LONDON,  (AFP) -- Injured second seed Victoria Azarenka was forced to withdraw from Wimbledon on Wednesday just minutes before she was due on Centre Court.The Australian Open champion suffered a right knee injury in her first round win over Maria Joao Koehler of Portugal.Azarenka had been due to play Italy's Flavia Pennetta first up on Centre Court for a place in the third round.

BERLIN (AP) -- Berlin is celebrating the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's famed "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech -- a pledge of support to the divided city on the Cold War's front line that still resonates in a much-changed world.Kennedy made his speech during a several-hour trip to West Berlin on June 26, 1963 _ nearly two years after communist East Germany cut the city in half by building the Berlin Wall and amid concern that America might abandon the Cold War outpost.Egon Bahr, th

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) -- Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard was ousted as Labor Party leader Wednesday by her predecessor, Kevin Rudd, in a vote of party lawmakers hoping to avoid a huge defeat in upcoming elections.The ballot took place three years and two days after Gillard ousted Rudd in a similar internal government showdown to become the country's first female prime minister. She lacked Rudd's charisma, and although many Labor lawmakers preferred her style, her deepening unpopularit

WASHINGTON, (AFP) - US President Barack Obama heads to Africa on a long awaited first major tour Wednesday at a poignant moment, just as the world prepares to bid a reluctant farewell to Nelson Mandela. The possibility that the critically ill anti-apartheid icon could fade away within days has sparked uncertainty about Obama's itinerary, which is due to take him to Africa's francophone west, democratic east and its southern tip.Plans to visit Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania over the next week

LONDON (AP) -- Britain's Treasury chief is set to announce billions of pounds in spending cuts as the cash-strapped nation tries to make ends meet.George Osborne had hoped that Britain could move past austerity programs by the time he released Wednesday's national spending review, which sets out state spending limits for 2015-2016. In his last review, in 2010, he laid out plans to cut the deficit by 2015 _ in time for the next election.However, Britain's growth rate remains an anemic 0.3 percent

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) --  Iran burned at least 100 tons of illicit drugs Wednesday, some in a Tehran ceremony attended by officials and foreign dignitaries, to highlight what it says are its unsupported efforts to stem the flow of narcotics across its territory to Europe.Officials at the burning, an annual occurrence marking the UN International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, accused the West of failing to back it in interdicting drug traffic that they said was driven by European ad

A gas leak at a Seoul university Wednesday caused for more than 2,000 people to be evacuated, according to police investigators.  No casualties were reported.The leak was reported just past 4:20 p.m. at Sejong University in eastern Seoul, investigators said.About 1.5 kilograms of liquid boron tribromide, known as BBr3, had leaked in the form of a gas after being exposed to air during an experiment with solar panels in a laboratory, they said. BBr3 is colorless but has a pungent odor and can caus

PHOENIX (AP) -- A mother of seven from Arizona is jailed in Mexico on allegations that she tried to smuggle nearly 12 pounds (5.4 kilograms) of marijuana into the U.S. on a passenger bus -- claims her family members say are false.A court hearing was held Tuesday in Nogales, Sonora, for 42-year-old Yanira Maldonado of the Phoenix suburb of Goodyear.She and her husband said they were returning from the funeral of her aunt last Wednesday when the bus they were on was stopped at a military checkpoin

LONDON,  (AFP) - Britain was working to move up to 90 suspected insurgents being held at its main base in Afghanistan, Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said Wednesday, as lawyers claimed they were possibly being detained unlawfully. British lawyers representing eight of the men being held at Camp Bastion in the southern province of Helmand claim their cases could amount to internment.Hammond said the detainees in the "temporary holding facility" included people suspected of attacking British tro