U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said Thursday he was "deeply concerned" by wildfires that have devoured large sections of the Amazon rainforest, blanketing several Brazilian cities in thick smoke. "I'm deeply concerned by the fires in the Amazon rainforest. In the midst of the...

A United States envoy and the Taliban have resumed negotiations on ending America's longest war. A Taliban member familiar with, but not part of, the talks that resumed Thursday in Qatar says U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad also had a one-on-one meeting Wednesday with the Taliban's lead...

The United States and North Korea are expected to reopen denuclearisation talks soon and they will go well, a senior South Korean official said on Thursday, boosting hopes for progress in negotiations after a prolonged stalemate. South Korea’s deputy national security adviser, Kim...

Pun sees himself as a peaceful, middle-class Hong Kong student. Yet since the beginning of June, he has been building barricades and throwing bricks at police, risking his own liberty to fight, as he sees it, for the city’s freedoms. In one of the world’s safest cities, the idea of violence...

Russia considers the U.S.’s missile test a “new threat” that the country has to respond accordingly, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.  On Monday, the Pentagon announced that the military conducted a test of a ground- based version of Navy Tomahawk cruise missile....

Indonesia has blocked internet access in unrest-hit Papua over fears that a stream of offensive and racists posts online will spark more violent protests in the region, the government said Thursday. Riots and demonstrations brought several Papuan cities to a standstill this week, as...

North Korea said Thursday it has "no interest" in dialogue unless Washington stops "escalating hostile military moves", as a senior US envoy visited Seoul with an eye on reviving nuclear talks with Pyongyang. Talks between Pyongyang and Washington have stalled since a second summit between...

Venezuelan officials reached out to the US behind President Nicolas Maduro's back solely to discuss his exit from power and free elections, National Security Advisor John Bolton said Wednesday. Bolton's comment came after Maduro said he had authorized the contacts with high level US...

 Alphabet Inc’s Google and Firefox browser maker Mozilla took action on Wednesday to block the Kazakhstan government from creating an internet surveillance system using their respective browsers. Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox will block a certain government certificate that allows...

 Danish leaders expressed shock and disbelief on Wednesday over U.S. President Donald Trump’s cancellation of a state visit to Denmark after its prime minister rebuffed his interest in purchasing Greenland. Trump’s proposal at first elicited incredulity and humor from politicians in...

Japan has upgraded its estimate of North Korea’s nuclear weapons capability in an upcoming annual Defence White Paper, saying it seems Pyongyang has achieved the miniaturization of warheads, the Yomiuri newspaper said in an unsourced report on Wednesday. That compares with the assessment in...

The death toll from a suicide bomb attack on a wedding reception in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, has risen to 80, two senior officials said on Wednesday. The initial death toll after the Saturday night blast was 63, but some of the wounded had died in hospital, said Nasrat Rahimi, a...

A major bank warned on Wednesday that weeks of protests in Hong Kong could hit the economies of the Chinese-ruled city and mainland China itself as demonstrators prepared a sit-in at a subway and site of a mid-summer mob attack. Hong Kong-based Bank of East Asia Ltd (BEA) posted a 75% slump...

US President Donald Trump and his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro said Tuesday that talks between senior officials were underway, as the South American country struggles under the weight of US sanctions. "We are in touch. We're talking to various representatives of Venezuela," Trump...

The latest lurches in President Donald Trump's trade war with China set the stage for a potential repeat of late 2018 when goods flooded into America's ports to beat new tariffs. US importers, retailers and shippers are bracing for a new round of punitive duties on Chinese goods set to hit...

A suspected militant and a policeman were killed in the first gun battle since New Delhi stripped Indian Kashmir of its autonomy, police said Wednesday after US President Donald Trump offered to mediate the "explosive" situation. In a further sign of rising tensions, Pakistan said meanwhile...

The family of a missing employee of Britain's consulate in Hong Kong said Wednesday that authorities told them he was detained while returning from a business trip but do not know why, where or how long he will be held. The consulate has refused to name the man or give details about the...

New York state, New York City, Connecticut and Vermont sued the federal government Tuesday over new Trump administration rules blocking green cards for many immigrants who use public assistance including Medicaid, food stamps and housing vouchers. The states and city join a growing list of...

Pakistan said Tuesday it would take the Kashmir dispute with India to International Court of Justice, after New Delhi revoked special status for its portion of the region earlier this month, to the fury of Islamabad. "We have decided to take Kashmir case to the International Court of...

 China said Tuesday it had a right to put out its own views after Twitter and Facebook said they had dismantled a state-backed social media campaign originating in mainland China that sought to undermine protests in Hong Kong. Twitter Inc. said Monday it suspended 936 accounts and the...