CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia will slow a projected increase in foreign aid spending as a cost-cutting measure in the new annual budget plan to be revealed Tuesday.
Foreign Minister Bob Carr said Monday that Australia's long-standing pledge to increase its foreign aid spending to 0.5 percent of gross national income by 2015-16 would be postponed by two years.
The pledge already was delayed for the current fiscal year that ends June 30....
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A truck bombing Monday killed three coalition service members in southern Afghanistan, NATO said in a statement. A local official said the attack targeted a base operated by troops from Georgia.
Omer Zawak, spokesman for the governor of the southern Helmand province, said the truck bomb exploded at the entrance to the Georgian outpost in the Musa Qala district of the province, one of the most volatile regions of Afghanistan.
...HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong's top court granted a transgender woman the right to marry her boyfriend Monday in a watershed ruling that falls short of allowing same-sex marriage.
The surprise decision only covers the right of a transgender person who was born male to marry a man, and for one who was born female to marry a woman.
The ruling by the Court of Final Appeal brings the semiautonomous Chinese city in line with many other places in the Asia-...
BANGKOK (AP) — Oil prices fell Monday as the dollar strengthened against the yen and other major currencies.
Benchmark oil for June delivery was down $1.11 to $94.93 per barrel at late afternoon Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 35 cents to close at $96.04 a barrel on the Nymex on Friday.
The stronger dollar is causing oil prices to fall, analysts said. The dollar has risen in recent days...
BANGKOK (AP) — Asian stock markets rose Tuesday after data showed U.S. consumers revved up their retail spending last month.
The Commerce Department in Washington said retail sales increased 0.1 percent in April from March, an improvement from March's 0.5 percent decline. Economists had forecast that sales declined by 0.3 percent in April. The uptick in spending on items such as clothing, cars and electronics is likely to boost the country's growth figures for the...
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Former Philippine President Joseph Estrada was leading in the vote-count for mayor of Manila on Tuesday in what could be his first elected post since he was ousted in a 2001 revolt on corruption charges.
In other partial results following Monday's congressional and local polls, nine senatorial candidates backed by President Benigno Aquino III took an early lead against three candidates backed by an opposition coalition. About half the votes...
BANGKOK (AP) — Japan's stock market jumped Monday after global finance leaders gave a seal of approval to the country's stimulus program and refrained from criticizing its weakening effect on the yen. Stocks were mixed elsewhere in Asia.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo shot up 1.6 percent to 14,838.08. The index has soared nearly 43 percent since the beginning of the year.
Finance leaders from the world's seven leading industrialized...
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea has replaced its hard-line defense chief with a little-known army general.
The significance of Jang Jong Nam's appointment wasn't immediately clear. The announcement comes amid tentative signs of an interest in diplomacy after weeks of rising animosity and dueling threats on the Korean Peninsula.
Little is known about Jang. Mention of his new role was buried Monday in a state media dispatch listing those who...
SAO PAULO (AP) — The cars roll endlessly off the local assembly lines of the industry's biggest automakers, more than 10,000 a day, into the eager hands of Brazil's new middle class. The shiny new Fords, Fiats, and Chevrolets tell the tale of an economy in full bloom that now boasts the fourth largest auto market in the world.
What happens once those vehicles hit the streets, however, is shaping up as a national tragedy, experts say, with thousands of Brazilians dying...
BEIJING (AP) — Chinese authorities have launched an investigation into a powerful economic planning official accused by a prominent journalist of corruption, the latest high-level target of the new leadership's anti-graft drive.
The ruling Communist Party's disciplinary agency said in a one-sentence statement on its website that Liu Tienan, deputy head of the Cabinet's National Development and Reform Commission, is being investigated for "suspected serious disciplinary...
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