TOKYO (AP) — The dollar soared above 100 yen for the first time in more than four years Friday, driven by aggressive credit-easing aimed at reviving Japan's sluggish economy and improved U.S. economic figures.
The U.S. dollar rose as high as 101.30 yen, the first time since April 2009 that the greenback has traded above 100 yen. The move lifted Japanese stocks to their highest level in more than five years.
The weaker yen is a boon to Japan's major...
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea says a summit between the U.S. and South Korean presidents is a prelude to war against the North.
A spokesman for the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea on Friday called President Park Geun-hye's otherwise widely praised visit to Washington a "despicable sycophantic trip to please her master."
President Barack Obama and Park warned Pyongyang on Tuesday against nuclear provocations. Pyongyang...
MAJURO, Marshall Islands (AP) — About 6,000 people who live on the remote northern atolls of the Marshall Islands are facing an acute shortage of fresh water as a severe drought worsens.
The Pacific archipelago this week declared a state of disaster in its north. Australia announced it would provide 100,000 Australian dollars ($101,000) for the emergency supply of desalination units. The U.S. has also donated several reverse-osmosis machines, which covert salt water into...
MEXICO CITY (AP) — The arrogant among Mexico's well-heeled got a sharp rebuke Thursday, when two women who crashed in a Porsche and injured a pedestrian were hauled off to jail while threatening police and proclaiming their political connections after what authorities said appeared to be an all-night drinking spree.
Federal authorities, meanwhile, suspended four officials in the country's consumer protection agency for allegedly punishing a restaurant that had angered...
SYDNEY (AP) — The moon glided between the Earth and sun, blocking everything but a dazzling ring of light, for the few skygazers lucky enough to see Friday's "ring of fire" eclipse in northern Australia and the South Pacific.
The celestial spectacle is the second solar eclipse visible from northern Australia in six months. In November, a total solar eclipse plunged the country's northeast into darkness, delighting astronomers and tourists who flocked to the region from...
LONDON (AP) — A British parliamentary committee recommended Friday that the government permit an expansion of Heathrow Airport, rather than allowing the construction of a new airport east of London.
Heathrow is one of the world's busiest airports, and expanding it has long been a contentious political issue in Britain. The aviation industry has lobbied for a third runway for years, but opponents say the plan would damage the environment, worsen noise pollution in the...
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Federal authorities in Puerto Rico have arrested an executive at Pfizer Pharmaceutical for allegedly producing child pornography.
Officials say 48-year-old Reinaldo Diaz Camacho was charged after Puerto Rico police received information that he was having sexually explicit conversations with a 16-year-old boy on Facebook.
U.S. Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodriguez said Thursday that the boy's mother told authorities she had seen...
LONDON (AP) — Israel's ambassador to the U.K. has condemned a report by the Church of Scotland that questioned the divine right of Jews to the land of Israel.
Daniel Taub says the document "negates and belittles the deeply held Jewish attachment to the land of Israel in a way which is truly hurtful."
The 10-page discussion paper says that "promises about the land of Israel were never intended to be taken literally" and that the Bible should not be...
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela's government has granted U.S. diplomats access to a California man who is being held while he awaits trial on charges of espionage and fomenting unrest.
An Embassy spokesperson said Thursday that officials have been permitted to meet with Timothy Tracy, who was arrested by intelligence agents following Venezuela's April 14 presidential election.
The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because Embassy...
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt denied on Thursday that he ordered the extermination of Ixil Mayas as he testified for the first time at his genocide trial.
The 86-year-old ex-general, who ruled Guatemala from March 1982 to August 1983 during the height of its civil war, said prosecutors hadn't proved his participation in the killings.
"I declare myself innocent," Rios Montt told the three-judge tribunal as many in...
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