Sri Lanka troops join hunt for bombing suspects

Last year humanity destroyed an expanse of tropical forest nearly the size of England, the third largest decline since global satellite data become available in 2001, researchers reported Thursday.

North Korea's close relationship with the Soviet Union cooled in the 1990s under a new Russian power, but were revived in the 2000s as Moscow sought support amid a new standoff with the West.

Britain's Prince William paid tribute to Australian and New Zealand troops on Thursday at an emotional Anzac Day ceremony, six weeks after the Christchurch mosques massacre.

On the distant margins of politics until it burst onto the scene in southern Spain, far-right party Vox hopes lingering discontent will help it score big in Sunday's general election.

Sri Lanka deployed thousands of additional troops countrywide overnight to help police hunt for suspects in the Easter Sunday suicide blasts that killed nearly 360 people, a spokesman said Thursday.

Just kilometres from one of Spain's prettiest towns, Albarracin, where distinctive pink-hued medieval houses act as a tourist magnet, other villages are dead.

Black-and-white pictures were projected onto the wall of a South African classroom and gospel music played evocatively in the background.The pictures told a chilling tale: Angry protesters. Policemen beating crowds. Corpses lying scattered on the road....

A high-rise city the size of central London rising out of the ocean next to Sri Lanka's capital is laying down another marker for China's global infrastructure ambitions whose epic scope is sounding alarm bells in Asia and beyond.

A Japanese court granted Carlos Ghosn bail Thursday, meaning the former Nissan boss could soon walk out of his Tokyo detention centre to prepare his defence against multiple charges of financial misconduct.

Both admired and loathed as the training ground for France's political leaders, the Ecole Nationale d'Administration will learn Thursday whether it is to be scrapped by President Emmanuel Macron for being a symbol of out-dated elitism.

Prague will on Thursday host a meeting of populist far-right party leaders seeking unprecedented success in European elections next month following a steep rise of anti-EU movements across Europe.

French President Emmanuel Macron will unveil his long-awaited response to nearly six months of humiliating street protests Thursday as he lays out reform plans that could prove decisive for his political future.

The Falungong triggered a relentless Chinese government crackdown against the movement when thousands of its members protested around Communist Party headquarters in Beijing 20 years ago.

Griffon vulture Nelson crossed into war-torn Yemen in search of food but ended up in the hands of Yemeni fighters -- and temporarily in jail for suspected espionage.

Prosecutors said a top former executive of Brazilian multinational Odebrecht gave details Wednesday of multi-million dollar payoffs to Peruvian politicians including a top aide of former president Alan Garcia, who committed suicide last week.

A young Syrian with cerebral palsy, who trekked with a wheelchair from her homeland all the way to Germany as a refugee, on Wednesday urged the UN Security Council to focus more on Syria's "invisible" disabled people.

US border patrol agents found a crying three-year-old boy in a Texas cornfield on Tuesday with his name and a phone number written on his shoes, the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency said Wednesday.

An Italian aid ship that rescued 49 migrants off Libya last month has been declared unfit for rescue operations at sea, the Italian coastguard said on Wednesday.

France held its first "national day of commemoration of the Armenian genocide" on Wednesday, provoking an angry reaction from Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

French authorities have opened an investigation into the leaking of a classified military note which revealed French weapons are being used by the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in Yemen, sources told AFP on Wednesday.

The United States on Wednesday renewed its call on Myanmar to free two Reuters journalists jailed after reporting on the Rohingya crisis, voicing dismay at a fresh rejection of their appeal.

Estonia's president on Wednesday appointed Juri Ratas to a second term as prime minister of the Baltic state, where he will head a new three-party coalition government featuring the far-right for the first time.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday the US is sending armed soldiers to the southern border after Mexican soldiers recently "pulled guns" on US troops, escalating his war of words with Mexico on immigration.

Over 20 women repatriated from Syria to Kosovo have been put under house arrest for one month while they are investigated for links to the Islamic State group, a statement said on Thursday.

Russia on Wednesday made it easier for people living in eastern Ukraine's separatist territories to obtain Russian passports, drawing swift condemnation from Kiev only three days after it elected a new president.

Residents living near a golf course built by US President Donald Trump in Scotland are demanding an apology from their local council for allowing the venture to go ahead, a meeting will hear later Thursday.

Six weeks after the Christchurch mosque attacks, New Zealand's deputy prime minister paid his respects Wednesday to the victims of Norway's 2011 attacks by Anders Behring Breivik, from whom the mosque attacker claimed inspiration.

Iran's foreign minister on Wednesday warned the United States of unspecified "consequences" if it tried to seal off to Tehran the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic passage into the oil-rich Gulf.

Thousands of indigenous people decorated with traditional feathers and body paint converged on Brazil's capital Wednesday to defend hard-won land rights many fear could be eroded by far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.

Russia on Wednesday made it easier for people living in eastern Ukraine's separatist territories to obtain Russian passports, drawing swift condemnation from Kiev only three days after it elected a new president.

Saudi Arabia faced worldwide criticism Wednesday for its mass execution of a group made up mostly of people from the kingdom's Shiite Muslim minority, some of whom the UN said were minors when charged.

The streets of Sri Lanka's Katuwapitiya should be full of the sound of children's games. But after deadly Easter attacks that killed at least 45 children, they have fallen silent.

Victor Aguilera tried to get into the United States by fair means or foul, but like thousands before him, he was caught and deported back to the Honduran city he came from.

Thousands of indigenous people decorated with traditional feathers and body paint converged on Brazil's capital Wednesday to defend hard-won land rights many fear could be eroded by far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.

After a failed secession bid, Catalonia is a key battleground in Spain's general election on Sunday, and the main line of attack for conservatives against Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

Sudanese protest leaders raised the pressure on the country's army rulers on Wednesday, threatening a general strike and calling for a million-strong march to demand a civilian government.

Myanmar recovery teams battled treacherous conditions Wednesday to pull a fourth body from the sludge left by a mudslide that buried more than 50 jade miners -- the latest fatal accident in a notoriously dangerous but highly-lucrative industry.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday the US is sending armed soldiers to the southern border after Mexican soldiers recently "pulled guns" on US troops.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday called the end of oil sanction waivers by the United States a "hostile measure" that "won't be left without a response"."US efforts to boycott the sale of Iran's oil won't get them anywhere.