JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia on Friday began enforcing its newly ratified penal code, replacing a Dutch-era criminal law that had governed the country for more than 80 years and marking a major shift in its legal landscape. Since proclaiming independence in 1945, the Southeast Asian...
ROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV opened 2026 on Thursday with a plea for peace, singling out in particular countries “bloodied by conflict” and families wounded by violence. Leo celebrated a New Year’s Day Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica and then delivered a special noontime prayer from his studio...
TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and his family waved to a crowd of flag-waving New Year’s well-wishers gathered at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Friday. Standing with his wife Masako and the rest of the royal family, he wished a happy new year to people lined up below the palace...
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The teenage daughter of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made her first known visit to a sacred family mausoleum, a step that experts say bolstered her status as her father 's potential heir. The visit, which occurred on New Year’s Day on Thursday, even sparked...
GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany (AP) — Thieves stole tens of millions of euros ' worth of property from safety deposit boxes inside a German bank vault that they drilled into Monday during the holiday lull, police said. Some 2,700 bank customers were affected by the theft in Gelsenkirchen, police...
BEIJING (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday hailed his country’s technological progress in areas such as artificial intelligence and semiconductors while once again insisting his country would annex self-ruled Taiwan. During his New Year’s Eve address broadcast Wednesday evening...
ROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV closed out 2025 on Wednesday with a prayer that the city of Rome might be a welcoming place for foreigners and fragile people, young and old. Leo presided over a New Year’s Eve vespers service in St. Peter’s Basilica, giving thanks for the 2025 Holy Year that brought...
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian authorities have raised the alert level for the Mount Bur Ni Telong volcano in the country’s westernmost province of Aceh to its second highest following a series of increased activity and volcanic earthquakes, official said Wednesday. The 2,624-meter...
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — An investigation that extended to the Philippines of two men accused of shooting dead 15 people at a Sydney Jewish festival has found no evidence that they were part of a “broader terrorist cell,” police said on Tuesday. Sydney residents Sajid Akram, 50, and his...
Climate change worsened by human behavior made 2025 one of the three hottest years on record, scientists said. It was also the first time that the three-year temperature average broke through the threshold set in the 2015 Paris Agreement of limiting warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7...
HONG KONG (AP) — China 's military on Monday dispatched air, navy and rocket troops to conduct joint military drills around the island of Taiwan, a move Beijing called a “stern warning” against separatist and “external interference” forces. Taiwan said it was placing its forces on...
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Monday it fired long-range strategic cruise missiles into the sea to test the country’s nuclear deterrence, days after it showed apparent progress in the construction of its first nuclear-powered submarine. Sunday’s launches were the latest weapons...
