After giving the Biden administration the silent treatment for two months, North Korea this week marshalled two powerful women to warn Washington over combined military exercises with South Korea and the diplomatic consequences of its “hostile” policies toward Pyongyang. The frustration and belligerence, however, may actually be an overture. North Korea’s first comments toward the new US government, while filled with angry rhetoric, can be seen as the start of a diplomatic

A court in Myanmar on Friday extended the pre-trial detention period for an Associated Press journalist arrested while covering demonstrations against the military's seizure of power last month. He is facing a charge that could send him to prison for three years. Thein Zaw, 32, was one of nine media workers taken into custody during a street protest on Feb. 27 in Yangon, the country's largest city, and has been held without bail. His next hearing at the Kamayut Township court will be on March 2

Spurning an appeal by the United Nations to top using lethal force against peaceful demonstrators, security forces in Myanmar on Thursday fatally shot at least 10 people protesting against last month's military coup. The military also lodged a new allegation against Aung San Suu Kyi, the elected leader it ousted on Feb. 1. It charged at a news conference in the capital, Naypyitaw, that in 2017-18 she was illegally given $600,000 and gold bars worth slightly less by a political ally, former Yan

Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is being asked to rule on an ethics complaint filed against the International Olympic Committee by a human-rights group representing Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in China Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is being asked to rule on an ethics complaint filed against the International Olympic Committee by a human-rights group representing Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in China. Ban is the chairman of the IOC's ethics commission. The Wor

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Infectious disease experts are expressing concern about Pope Francis’ upcoming trip to Iraq, given a sharp rise in coronavirus infections there, a fragile health care system and the unavoidable likelihood that Iraqis will crowd to see him. No one wants to tell Francis to call it off, and the Iraqi government has every interest in showing off its relative stability by welcoming the first pope to the birthplace of Abraham. The March 5-8 trip is expected to provide

CALIFORNIA (AP) -- A woman was dragged by a car in Oakland's Asian business district during a robbery that her husband says left her bruised and shaken, marking the latest in a series of attacks against people of Asian descent in the San Francisco Bay Area and in other parts of the US. Eric Nghiem said his wife, Jenny, who is Vietnamese, had her purse crossed around her neck and shoulder as she was walking to a grocery store when a thief grabbed it and jumped into the passenger side of a car W

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Tiger Woods was seriously injured Tuesday when his SUV crashed into a median, rolled over and ended up on its side on a steep roadway in suburban Los Angeles known for wrecks, authorities said. The golf superstar had to be pulled out through the windshield, and his agent said he was undergoing leg surgery. Woods was alone in the SUV when it crashed into a raised median shortly before 7:15 a.m., crossed two oncoming lanes and rolled several times, authorities said at a n

The US stood Sunday at the brink of a once-unthinkable tally: 500,000 people lost to the coronavirus. A year into the pandemic, the running total of lives lost was about 498,000 -- roughly the population of Kansas City, Missouri, and just shy of the size of Atlanta. The figure compiled by Johns Hopkins University surpasses the number of people who died in 2019 of chronic lower respiratory diseases, stroke, Alzheimer’s, flu and pneumonia combined. “It’s nothing like we ha

MANDALAY (AP) -- Two anti-coup protesters were shot dead by riot police who fired live rounds Saturday in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, local media reported. One of the victims was shot in the head and died at the scene, according to Frontier Myanmar, a news and business magazine based in Yangon, the country’s largest city. Another was shot in the chest and died en route to the hospital. Several other serious injuries were also reported. The shootings occurred near

Japan on Sunday formally approved its first COVID-19 vaccine and said it would start nationwide inoculations within days, but months behind the US and many other countries. Japan's health ministry said it had approved the vaccine co-developed and supplied by Pfizer Inc. The announcement comes after a government panel on Friday confirmed that final results of clinical testing done in Japan showed that the vaccine had an efficacy similar to what overseas tests showed. Many countries began vacc

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Donald Trump was acquitted Saturday of inciting the horrific attack on the US Capitol, concluding a historic impeachment trial that spared him the first-ever conviction of a current or former US president but exposed the fragility of America's democratic traditions and left a divided nation to come to terms with the violence sparked by his defeated presidency. Barely a month since the deadly Jan. 6 riot that stunned the world, the Senate convened for a rare weekend session to

His rallying cry to supporters has been dissected. His videos, press conferences and calls to Fox News have played on loop. His Twitter account is once again dominating news coverage, his missives read aloud in the Senate chamber. More than three weeks removed from the White House, Donald Trump’s voice is again permeating the nation’s capital — but not on his terms. Stripped of his social media megaphone, the former president has watched the searing opening days of his hist

The long saga of Yoshiro Mori appears to be near the end. Japan's Kyodo news agency and others reported on Thursday citing unnamed sources that Yoshiro Mori will step down on Friday as the president of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee. The move follows his sexist comments about women more than a week ago, and an ensuing and rare public debate in Japan about gender equality, A decision is expected to be announced on Friday when the organizing committee's executive board meets. The execu

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered tougher legal supervision to support his development plans and eradicate various economy-related unlawful acts, state media said Thursday, as he works to salvage an economy battered by the pandemic and other challenges. Kim spoke Wednesday during a ruling Workers' Party meeting this week convened to follow up on decisions made at the ruling party's congress in January, where he admitted previous economic plans had failed and announced a new five-year

US President Joe Biden on Wednesday held his first call as president with Xi Jinping, pressing the Chinese leader about trade and Beijing's crackdown on democracy activists in Hong Kong as well as other human rights concerns. The two leaders spoke just hours after Biden announced plans for a Pentagon task force to review US national security strategy in China and after the new US president announced he was levying sanctions against Myanmar's military regime  following this month's coup i