Guillermo del Toro’s monster thriller “The Shape of Water” took the top prize at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday, capping an 11-day event where the demons of social division and environmental disaster loomed large on the screen.Del Toro was named winner of the Golden Lion by a jury headed by US actress Annette Bening, beating contenders including George Clooney’s “Suburbicon” and Alexander Payne’s “Downsizing.” Mexican director Guillermo Del Toro holds the Golden Lion award he received for

The United States called for a vote Monday on a UN resolution that would impose the toughest-ever sanctions on North Korea, a move that could lead to a showdown with the country's biggest trading partner China and its neighbor Russia.The Trump administration adopted a totally new approach with this resolution, circulating an American draft Tuesday and setting a vote six days later. With previous sanctions resolutions, the US spent weeks and sometimes months negotiating the text with China and th

Floridians fleeing Hurricane Irma have turned freeways across the Southeast into red ribbons of brake lights as they head elsewhere _ to Atlanta, Montgomery, Nashville _ to bunk with relatives, stay at campgrounds or grab hotels before the massive storm makes landfall.Because Interstate 75 north leads straight to Atlanta, thousands of the evacuees have funneled into the city. Other cars and trucks with Florida plates, a few carrying fishing boats, trekked on to Tennessee."We just packed the car

Hurricane Irma lashed Puerto Rico with heavy rain and powerful winds Wednesday night, leaving nearly 900,000 people without power as authorities struggled to get aid to small Caribbean islands already devastated by the historic storm.Florida rushed to prepare for a possible direct hit on the Miami area by the Category 5 storm with potentially catastrophic 185 mph winds. Nearly every building on the island of Barbuda was damaged when the eye of the storm passed almost directly overhead early Wedn

“The Golden House” by Salman Rushdie; Random House (400 pages, $29)If you read a lot of fiction, you know that every once in a while you stumble upon a book that transports you, telling a story full of wonder and leaving you marveling at how it ever came out of the author’s head.“The Golden House” is one of those books. The title refers to the lower Manhattan residence of the Golden family. It’s the home of Nero and his three sons, Apu, Petya and D. The narrator is a neighbor named Rene, an aspi

While both condemned North Korea over its latest nuclear test, the leaders of Russia and South Korea seemed far apart on stepping up sanctions against the country. Speaking after the meeting Wednesday with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in the Russian port city of Vladivostok, Russian President Vladimir Putin called for talks with North Korea, saying sanctions are not a solution to the country's nuclear and missile development. Moon had urged Moscow to support stronger sanctions against Nort

Hurricane Irma strengthened into a dangerous Category 5 storm Tuesday as it roared toward the northeast Caribbean on a path toward the US.  An image obatined from the NASA`s GOES Project shows Hurricane Irma on September 4. (AFP)The US National Hurricane Center said Irma had sustained winds of 175mph (280 kph) and was centered about 270 miles (440 kilometers) east of Antigua. It was moving west at 14 mph (22 kph). Irma's center was expected to move near or over the northern Leeward Islands late

Japanese Emperor Akihito’s oldest grandchild, Princess Mako, said Sunday she is getting married to a university classmate who won her heart with bright smiles and sincerity.Mako and fiance Kei Komuro, both 25, said at a news conference that their relationship started when the princess sat behind him at a campus meeting five years ago at Tokyo’s International Christian University, where they graduated.  “First I was attracted by his bright smiles like the sun,” Mako said, smiling shyly. They talk

The Latest on the tensions on the Korean Peninsula (all times local):1:40 p.m. South Korea's Yonhap news agency says a second quake was detected near North Korea's nuclear test site. The second quake measured 4.6. South Korea's military said earlier Sunday that North Korea is believed to have conducted its sixth nuclear test after it picked up seismic waves measuring 5.6. The US Geological Survey called the first quake an explosion with a magnitude 6.3.It came hours after North Korea claimed tha

Astronaut Peggy Whitson returned to Earth late Saturday, wrapping up a record-breaking flight that catapulted her to first place for US space endurance.Whitson's 665 days off the planet _ 288 days on this mission alone _ exceeds that of any other American and any other woman worldwide.She checked out of the International Space Station just hours earlier, along with another American and a Russian. Their Soyuz capsule landed in Kazakhstan shortly after sunrise Sunday _ Saturday night back in the U

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspected the loading of a hydrogen bomb into a new intercontinental ballistic missile, Pyongyang's state media said Sunday, a claim to technological mastery that some outside experts will doubt but that will raise already high worries on the Korean Peninsula.As part of North Korea's work to build an arsenal of viable nuclear ICBMs that can reach the US mainland, Kim inspected during a visit to the North's Nuclear Weapons Institute the loading of a "homemade" H-bo

North Korea on Thursday vowed to execute reporters from two South Korean newspapers, saying they insulted the country's dignity while reviewing and interviewing the British authors of a book about life in the isolated country.Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency carried a state court statement expressing anger over the descriptions of North Korean lives as increasingly capitalist. It also objected to the translated title of the South Korean edition as "Capitalist People's Republic of

The Kremlin on Wednesday confirmed that President Donald Trump's personal lawyer reached out to them during the 2016 presidential campaign, seeking help for a business project in Russia.In a statement to the House Intelligence Committee investigating Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen said Monday the president's company pursued a project in Moscow during the Republican pri

The language from North Korea on Wednesday is as familiar as it is chilling, a declaration to the world to expect more missile tests. But there are important clues about North Korea’s ambitious push to send its missiles farther into the Pacific Ocean in an attempt to make them an accepted part of life in the region, as leader Kim Jong Un expands the weapons program he sees as his country’s best chance of survival against encircling enemies. By firing a missile over Japan and putting the Asia-Pac

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for more weapons tests targeting the Pacific Ocean, Pyongyang announced Wednesday, a day after his nation for the first time flew a ballistic missile designed to carry a nuclear payload over Japan.Tuesday's aggressive missile launch _ likely the longest ever from North Korea _ over the territory of a close US ally sends a clear message of defiance as Washington and Seoul conduct war games nearby. Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said it was a