In a historic event, a South Korean candidate was elected for the first time to head the U.N. maritime body, diplomatic sources said Tuesday. Lim Ki-tack, president of Busan Port Authority, which operates the port facilities in South Korea's second largest city, was elected to head the International Maritime Organization. The International Maritime Organization is the leading global authority o...

ATHENS (AP) - Greece is set to become the first developed nation to not pay its debts to the International Monetary Fund on time, as the country sinks deeper into a financial emergency that has forced it put a nationwide lockdown on money withdrawals. Greece owes the IMF about 1.6 billion euros ($1.9 billion) by the end of Tuesday but has run out of money and after five months of talks with cred...

MONROVIA (AFP) - Liberia announced the return of Ebola on Tuesday following the death of a 17-year-old boy, dealing a worrying blow to the country's recovery three months after its last known case. Deputy health minister Tolbert Nyensuah told AFP the teenager had tested positive and died in Nedowian, a village beside the international airport, about an hour's drive from the capital Monrovia. "W...

BEIRUT (AFP) - The Islamic State group seized territory from both Syrian government forces and rival rebels over the weekend further expanding the caliphate it has proclaimed straddling Iraq and Syria. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that following gains in both Homs province in the centre and Aleppo province in the north, IS now controlled half of the country's land area. Geograph...

GENEVA (AFP) - The United Nations said Monday that more than 6,400 people had been killed in conflict-wracked Ukraine, and despite a slowdown in fighting, millions more are suffering from abuses and hardship. In its latest report, the UN human rights office noted that an overall decrease in indiscriminate shelling since a fragile truce was agreed in Minsk in February had resulted in a decrease i...

NEW YORK (AFP) - Microsoft on Monday announced that the latest version of its Windows operating system will be available July 29 for computer and tablet users. The new Windows 10 software will come as a free upgrade to people who already use Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 and will be available in 190 countries. Windows 10 will come pre-installed on Microsoft-compatible computers and tablets from July...

SANAA, Yemen (AP) - A French woman held hostage in Yemen appeared for the first time in a video that surfaced on Monday, appealing for her release. Isabelle Prime, who works as a consultant with ties to the World Bank, was abducted from Sanaa along with her Yemeni translator in February. The translator was released shortly afterward, but there was no word until now on Prime. In her first video ...

Seven companies have submitted bids to open two new duty-free stores in downtown Seoul, the customs agency said Monday, in what is seen as a major opportunity for retailers to boost sales amid anemic consumer spending. The seven bidders include market giants Hotel Lotte and HDC Shilla Duty Free, who are affiliated with Lotte Duty Free and Shilla Duty Free, respectively, according to a press rele...

SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) - Tens of thousands of people have gathered in the center of the Macedonian capital Skopje to demand the resignation of conservative Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski. The Sunday protest follows the release of a massive cache of wiretapped conversations by the head of the opposition Social Democrats, Zoran Zaev. He claims that Gruevski was behind the mass wiretapping of more ...

VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope Francis canonized two nuns from what was 19th century Palestine on Sunday in hopes of encouraging Christians across the Middle East who are facing a wave of persecution from Islamic extremists. Sisters Mariam Bawardy and Marie Alphonsine Ghattas were among four sisters who were made saints Sunday at a Mass in a sun-soaked St. Peter's Square. Palestinian President Mahmoud...

BEIRUT (AFP) - A U.S. special forces raid in eastern Syria killed 32 members of the Islamic State jihadist group, including four leaders, a monitoring group said Sunday. "The U.S. operation killed 32 members of IS, among them four officials, including IS oil chief Abu Sayyaf, the deputy IS defence minister, and an IS communications official," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observator...

ATHENS (AFP) - Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had warned foreign officials that Athens would not be able to pay the 750 million euros ($845 million) due this month to the International Monetary Fund, Greek newspapers said Sunday. The reports came less than a week after Athens admitted that it tapped into an emergency account to pay back the loan, in order to avoid crashing out of the eurozone. O...

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is in South Korea where he will be discussing security issues amid fresh fears of North Korean belligerence. Kerry arrived in Seoul on Sunday from Beijing and will see top South Korean officials on Monday, less than a week after South Korea's spy agency said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered his defense chief executed with an anti-aircraft gun for complai...

Unionized public workers and teachers vowed Saturday to fight vigorously against a proposed pension reform bill now before the National Assembly for approval, arguing that it is unfairly disadvantageous to them. After months of negotiations, rival parties agreed on a bill Friday that would require civil servants to pay more into and receive less in pension over the next two decades. Reform of th...

KATHMANDU (AFP) - Nepal ruled out the possibility Saturday of finding more survivors buried in the rubble from a massive earthquake that killed more than 6,700 people and devastated vast swathes of one of Asia's poorest countries. One week on from Nepal's deadliest quake in over 80 years, hopes of detecting more signs of life among the ruins of the capital Kathmandu had all but disappeared and t...