Asia

In Aug. 2013, Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) and businessman and billionaire Arkady Rotenberg,(right) mourn during a farewell ceremony for Putin's first judo coach, Anatoly Rakhlin, in St. Petersburg, Russia.

World News

Close Friend Of Putin Awarded Contract For Crimea Bridge

7:02pm January 31, 2015

by Scott Neuman

The span, to be built across a narrow strait that separates Russia from the newly annexed peninsula, is pegged at $3 billion and scheduled for completion by the end of 2018.

World News

Efforts To Free Japanese ISIS Captive 'Deadlocked'

3:38am January 31, 2015

A top Japanese diplomat says indirect negotiations to free a captive journalist from the militant Islamic State group have reached a "state of deadlock."

A Chinese paramilitary police officer stands in front a portrait of late Chinese leader Mao Zedong outside the Forbidden City in Beijing, in November.

World News

China Cracks Down On University Textbooks Promoting 'Western Values'

8:54pm January 30, 2015

by Scott Neuman

Education Minister Yuan Guiren says the country's institutions of higher learning should stop using textbooks that criticize China's leaders and political system.

Jeremy The Koala, Rescued From Australian Brush Fire, Goes Home

4:31pm January 30, 2015

by Scott Neuman

The animal had suffered burns to his paws in the blaze that swept through the Adelaide area earlier this month. After a full recovery, he has been released back into the wild.

World News

Bomb Attack On Shiite Mosque In Pakistan Leaves At Least 55 Dead

3:33pm January 30, 2015

by Krishnadev Calamur

Jundullah, a Sunni militant group with links to the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack on the mosque in Shikarpur, Sindh province.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena waves to supporters shortly after his election earlier this month. Sirisena looks to be trying to turn a new page in the island nation, which defeated a protracted insurgency in 2009.

World News

Sri Lanka Plans Probe Into Alleged Atrocities During Civil War

10:40am January 29, 2015

by Scott Neuman

The country's new government says it is thinking of a new investigation into reports of extrajudicial killings in the closing chapter of the island nation's 26-year civil war.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa after casting his ballot in last week's election. The new government says that contrary to reports of a peaceful transition when Rajapaksa lost, the long-time leader tried to stay in power by force.

World News

Sri Lanka's Transition Of Power Maybe Not So Peaceful After All

10:00am January 29, 2015

by Scott Neuman

When President Mahinda Rajapaksa lost in last week's elections, he said he looked forward to "the peaceful transition of power." But the new government says he tried for a last-minute power grab.

Some fake Apple stores like this one in Kunming, in China's southwestern Yunnan province, were so authentic-looking that even some of their employees didn't know they were fake.

World News

China Continues To Push The (Fake) Envelope

6:20pm January 28, 2015

by Frank Langfitt

A fake bank in Nanjing bilked customers out of nearly $33 million. With trappings of a real bank, like security guards and LED screens, it fooled depositors attracted by higher interest rates.

Queue Listen Now

Coleen Schaefer (left) and Doni Sprague display a tiger pelt that was confiscated and is being stored at the National Wildlife Property Repository on the outskirts of Denver. Some 1.5 million items are being held at the facility. The Trans-Pacific Partner

Tiger Skins And Rhino Horns: Can A Trade Deal Halt The Trafficking?

3:36pm January 28, 2015

by Jackie Northam

A proposed U.S.-Asia trade pact calls for incorporating the issue wildlife trafficking. The goal is to slow the poaching of endangered animals such as elephants, tigers and rhinos.

Queue Listen Now

President Eisenhower and Pakistani President Mohammed Ayub Khan ride through the streets of Karachi in 1959. This wouldn't happen today.

World News

Pakistanis View Obama's India Visit With A Touch Of Irritation

6:59pm January 27, 2015

by Philip Reeves

Obama's trip to India has prompted Pakistanis to leaf back through their visitors' book with an aggrieved eye, and reinforced their view that U.S. policy tends toward cynical pragmatism.