United Nations / AFP The next United Nations secretary general must commit to a new global deal for refugees and to end the death penalty during his or her tenure, the world’s leading human rights groups said on Monday. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and four other groups also said the next UN chief should be prepared to invoke the ...

Kollam / AFP Indian police said on Monday they have filed initial charges against six people over a massive explosion during a banned fireworks display that killed more than 100 people and left many more with horrific burns. Thousands had packed into a Hindu temple in the southern state of Kerala on Saturday night for the show when a stray ...

El-Fasher/ AFP The war-scarred Sudanese region of Darfur voted on Monday in a referendum on its future status despite international criticism and a boycott by rebel groups. Despite ongoing unrest in areas, President Omar Al-Bashir—wanted on war crimes charges related to the 13-year conflict—has insisted voting go ahead on whether to unite Darfur’s five states into a single region or ...

Later this month, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter will travel to the Philippines as part of a broader Asia trip. His upcoming visit highlights how the Southeast Asian state – long belittled as one of Asia’s weakest militaries and Washington’s laggard alliance – has in fact grown to become a critical part of America’s ongoing rebalance to the region. Although ...

For nearly a week late last month, a modicum of peace appeared to have settled over El Salvador. After the country’s leading criminal gangs called a unilateral truce, violent crime suddenly plunged, and the homicide rate fell to around nine a day. If that doesn’t sound like much to cheer about, consider this: The small Central American nation of about ...

Zurich / Bloomberg Chinese conglomerate HNA Group Co. agreed to buy Swiss airline catering company Gategroup Holding AG for 1.4 billion francs ($1.5 billion), as billionaire Chairman Chen Feng continues on an acquisition spree of aviation-related assets around the world. Gategroup shares jumped the most in almost seven years. Shareholders would get 53 francs a share as well as the ...

TEHRAN / AP Iran said that the US has allowed Boeing to have direct talks with Iranian airliners following reports that a Boeing delegation will visit the country, the official IRNA news agency reported. The report quoted Ali Abedzadeh, head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization, as saying “Boeing intends to launch its talks with Iranian companies with permission from the ...

Bloomberg Sears Holdings Corp., the department-store operator run by hedge fund manager Edward Lampert, obtained a new short-term loan partially funded by an investment firm that manages billionaire Bill Gates’s fortune. Cascade Investment has funded $125 million of a $500 million loan that Sears raised by using about 20 of its mortgaged properties as collateral, the retailer said in a ...

Bloomberg Associated British Foods (ABF), the biggest shareholder in Illovo Sugar, has reached an agreement to buy the rest of the South African sugar producer for 5.6 billion rand ($370 million) after raising an earlier offer. ABF, which holds a 51.35 percent stake in Illovo, has made an offer of 25 rand ($1.65) per share for the stake it does ...

Bloomberg Air France-KLM Group will enter into talks with an exclusive buyer for its in-flight service unit Servair within the next few weeks, a person familiar with the plan said. The company won’t sell the entire business, said the person, who declined to be identified because the discussions are private. Servair, the world’s third-largest in-flight caterer, was valued at about ...