WORLD

The North Koreans even demanded a ransom of 400,000 Yuan ($63,000) per ship, Beijing refused to pay.

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul has confirmed that Ambassador Ryan Crocker will resign this summer following high-level multilateral talks over bringing the Afghanistan War to an end at the NATO Summit in Chicago.

Ronald Reagan's blood is purportedly being auctioned at online site pfcauctions.com, to the chagrin of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation.

The Obama administration is expanding its signature education program with a new round of competition for a pool of grants worth $400 million, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced on Tuesday.

India reportedly has about 40 million guns in circulation (a modest number compared to its 1 billion-plus population), and only the United States has more.

Brazil has unveiled a new round of temporary tax cuts aimed at re-starting its stalled economic boom.

The U.S. sale of advanced F-16s fighter jets to Taiwan is looking more likely than ever of being formalized into law, after being approved by the U.S. House of Representatives.

As Republicans take the words of Newark Mayor Cory Booker and other Democrats to slam Obama's attack on Mitt Romney's private-equity roots, Democrats would like to remind the public that prominent GOP politicians have gone after Bain Capital, too.

Ron Paul's 2012 campaign won 12 of 13 Minnesota delegates at the state's Republican convention this past weekend, demonstrating that the GOP presidential primary candidate's strategy of securing delegates is continuing to pay off.

It has been assumed from the beginning that the 2012 presidential campaign will hinge on the economy, and a new Washington Post/ABC News poll finds voters split on whether President Barack Obama or Mitt Romney is better equipped to tackle the paramount issue.

The substantial support Booker received from Bain Capital and the financial industry may help explain the Newark mayor's comments on Sunday's Meet the Press.

As U.S. entertainment companies look for new opportunities in light of a stagnant home market, new partnerships with China are emerging, but the process of linking media worlds between the two countries is also a two-way street.

Teachers and students in Spain staged a mass strike on Tuesday in protest of government budget cuts that could put 100,000 substitute teachers out of work.

The device was detonated in a restaurant in the Qaboun neighborhood, a hot bed of protests against President Bashar al-Assad.

Blaming the Euro Zone crisis for a weak Indian economy Indian Finance3 Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that government is taking several steps to protect the economy and rupee from further pressures.

This criminal act cannot be justified by any cause, United Nation's chief Ban Ki-moon stated on Monday. Its perpetrators must be held accountable.

Fitch cut Japan's sovereign credit status on Tuesday to the lowest level among global ratings agencies as a political stalemate dims the chance that the country can curb its snowballing debt.

Yousuf Raza Gilani and Recep Tayyip Erdogan also vowed to significantly increase the volume of trade between Turkey and Pakistan.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell is not yet ready to endorse President Barack Obama for another term in office, after supporting him in 2008, and is still listening to what opposing candidate Mitt Romney has to say.

The measure grants President Barack Obama the power to impose sanctions against any country or company that enters into a joint venture or offers technology to assist Iran's uranium or oil industries.

The final cost of the new replacement submarines is expected to amount to at least £20-billion ($31.5-billion).

The United States and Japan are leading a fragile economic recovery among developed countries that could yet be blown off course if the euro zone fails to contain the damage from its problem debtor states, the OECD said on Tuesday.

A leading economic indicator for China rose at a steady speed in April compared to the previous month indicating that the country?s economy may not have the hard landing as expected earlier.

Al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb in Yemen's capital city of Sana, saying that the Monday attack, which killed at least 96 and wounded hundreds more, was revenge for military actions carried out by Yemeni and U.S. forces in the country's southern regions.

At a Monday NATO news conference, President Barack Obama addressed the debate over Mitt Romney's experience at Bain Capital, noting that Newark Mayor Cory Booker's comments on Obama's anti-Bain advertisement were not a distraction but what this campaign is going to be about.

The euro-to-dollar exchange rate recovered Monday from the lows seen late Friday, when the European currnecy nearly touched multiyear lows. Still, the rise appeared to spring mostly from technical retracements, as tradersbelieve Greece will soon be forced to exit the currency union.

President Obama and U.S. NATO allies agreed Monday to end all combat missions in Afghanistan and transfer security responsibilities to the country's armed forces next summer after more than a decade of war.

The Italian government will call a state of emergency on Tuesday in the areas affected by Sunday's 5.9 magnitude earthquake.

Diancounda Traore, the interim president of Mali, was beaten in his office by protesters on Monday in the capital city of Bamako.