WORLD

Singapore?s unemployment rate rose slightly in the first quarter compared to the last quarter as layoffs from companies increased.

South Korea's industrial output declined 3.1 percent in March from the previous month with exports decreasing and domestic demand continuing to be weak.

Shukri Ghanem, a former prime minister and oil minister who served in Libya's government under the late Moammar Gadhafi, was discovered dead in the Danube River on Sunday, Austrian police told BBC News.

Apple Inc. has developed a knack for sidestepping federal income-tax obligations through an intricate paper shuffle and a smattering of subsidiaries around the world. But its tactics fall far short of the nuanced approach taken by 26 companies that paid zero dollars in federal taxes over the last four years.

Chen Guangcheng is the latest -- but almost certainly won't be the last -- Chinese dissident to stir up international uproar over civil-rights violations in China. But seeing the many-branched tree of civil and human-rights activists from which he descended offers an overview of the current state of China's political dissent.

President Barack Obama turned Saturday's White House Correspondents' Association dinner into a roast of his likely 2012 presidential election campaign and his widely predicted Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, while also taking jabs at his staff, Congress, ongoing scandals within his administration and the event's absurd A-list turnout.

Regarding its banking system, the United States has now experienced its third generation of heads the banks win, tails the taxpayer and the public loses.? Is there a better way? Is it possible to create a bank that serves the people of the United States?

A U.S. drone strike killed four suspected militants in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region near the Afghan border on Sunday, intelligence officials and witnesses said, the first strike in almost a month.

If the U.S. presidential election was held today, President Barack Obama could easily lose. Fortunately for Obama -- and, by extension, for the Democratic Party -- the election is not today: it's 7 months from now.

A senior US diplomat arrived in Beijing Sunday ahead of schedule as the reports of US protection to escaped Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng triggered tension between both the countries.

Saudi Arabia said on Saturday it had recalled its ambassador in Cairo for security reasons after protests in Egypt against the kingdom's arrest of an Egyptian lawyer, marking a diplomatic rupture between the long-time allies.

When Hillary Clinton made her first trip abroad as secretary of state, she baldly said the United States could not let human rights disputes get in the way of working with China on global challenges.

India-born Lakshmi Mittal, CEO of the steel giant Arcelor Mittal, retained the wealthiest Briton crown for the eighth consecutive year.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner are not planning to postpone their visit to China next week because of the reported American protection of a Chinese civil-rights activist who recently escaped house arrest, a State Department official said Saturday.

Washington will be getting a taste of Hollywood glamour this weekend as celebrities descend on the nation's capital for the White House Correspondents' Association annual dinner.

A video showing a man being buried alive allegedly by Syrian soldiers has gone viral after it was posted on YouTube Wednesday.

The Dutch courts have decided to impose a ban preventing foreign tourists from buying marijuana from cafe shops.

India on Friday allayed US allegations that the proposed retrospective amendments to the Indian tax laws are discriminatory and will adversely impact the US investments.Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told Lok Sabha that the proposed amendments will not have any negative impact on the foreign investments. His clarification came after the new US ambassador to India Nancy Powell raised the issue in a business meeting on Friday at New Delhi.

An analysis of the latest satellite images of North Korea's nuclear test site appears to show that frantic activities involving a chain of mining carts are underway, amid rumors that the reclusive Asian nation may be planning to conduct a nuclear test, following its failed rocket launch April 13.

The US and India are in the final stages of signing an $8 billion defense deal that would make India a key market for the US foreign military sales, says US Ambassador to India Nancy Powell.

Industrial & Commercial Bank of China and China Construction Bank Corp reported a weak growth in the first quarter due to slowdown in the economy.

The International Monetary Fund has reduced the growth forecast of India for this year citing a slowdown of investment and governance problems.

Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng made his way to the U.S. embassy in Beijing from his home in Linyi village in Shandong province after his escape from house arrest on Sunday, fellow dissident Hu Jia told BBC News.

Riven by ethnic divisions and struggling amid economic woes, Kyrgyzstan is far from stable. But with its vocal and uniquely progressive citizenry, there are worlds of potential for this young Central Asian nation.

Eritrea's government denounces the U.S. C.I.A. and its outlawed opposition groups for spreading 'lies' that claim President Isaias Afwerki is dead.

China's economic relationships with Eastern Europe are deepening. Although the Asian power's trade with the former Communist bloc often goes unnoticed in the Americas, it has increased significantly in recent years.

India and Russia have chosen to boycott Zimbabwe's 53rd International Trade Fair this year to express their deep discontent with the country's new policies to nationalize and seize control over foreign companies.

Greta van Susteren arriving with Lindsay Lohan? New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie sitting at the same table as Sofia Vergara? Only at the White House Correspondents' Association annual dinner.

The country's tax police said they caught more than 2,100 people who had failed to pay their taxes for at least a year, including a car dealer who ran his business out of his home and an accountant who concealed 13 million euros in taxes.