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  GENEVA / AP The leaders of Cyprus have begun a second day of talks aimed at reunifying the island split along ethnic Greek and Turkish lines, addressing issues of how power could be shared, ties with the European Union and economic matters. Greek Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci were meeting at UN offices in ...

  BERLIN / AP Germany’s interior and justice ministers hope to thrash out initial plans for a response to last month’s truck attack on a Christmas market, with a tougher stance expected towards suspected extremists who don’t have asylum. Chancellor Angela Merkel has said the December 19 attack in Berlin demands a swift response that guarantees both security and civil ...

  BANGKOK / AP At least 25 people have died in severe flooding in southern Thailand since New Year’s Day, leaving businesses paralyzed, schools closed and thousands of tourists stranded, the government said on Tuesday. Twelve provinces have been hit by unseasonal rains and surface runoff since January 1, affecting more than 1 million people, the Interior Ministry said, adding ...

  WASHINGTON / AP President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, Sen. Jeff Sessions, is set to be questioned by his peers in a high-visibility Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing. Sessions is likely to stress his conservative legal credentials even as he works to persuade Democrats on the panel that he can be fair and even-handed as the country’s top ...

  SEOUL / AP Disgraced South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s longtime friend at the center of a massive corruption scandal refused to testify at Park’s impeachment trial on Tuesday, with lawmakers alleging that it was a stalling tactic. The Constitutional Court had expected to hear from Choi Soon-sil, a confidante of Park who’s currently jailed and on trial herself for ...

  MANILA / AP Eight Filipino fishermen were fatally shot by at least five suspected pirates who boarded their boat in the southern Philippines, officials said Tuesday. Seven other crewmembers survived the attack Monday night in waters near Zamboanga City by jumping off the boat and swimming away when the attackers began tying up their colleagues, said Commodore Joel Garcia, ...

  The intelligence community’s allegation that Russia intervened covertly in the 2016 election describes a significant assault on our democracy. The country needs to know more: The charge needs to be followed up with an independent investigation that continues after Donald Trump becomes president on January 20. Congress should commit now to such a bipartisan inquiry. If there’s a possibility ...

  If the market performance of Samsung Electronics Co. is anything to go by, the hedge-fund Davids appear to be winning against the Goliaths of South Korea’s chaebol. Samsung shares rose 2.8 percent Monday to close at 1.86 million won, the highest since listing 42 years ago. Since a surprise $10 billion stock buyback in October 2015 that was widely ...

  So far the new Republican Congress has proved better at identifying things it doesn’t like — Obamacare, for example, or an independent ethics office — than actually getting rid of them. On one issue, however, Congress may yet get its way: abortion. Last week a House panel issued a report recommending that the federal government restrict or end medical ...

  India’s note ban saga continues. And so the common man’s sufferings. Indian Prime Narendra Modi’s shock note ban sparked cash chaos. And it is only obvious in a country where 90% transactions are done in cash. Modi said that the suffering of his compatriot is for the better cause. He asked citizens to give him 50 days to make ...