ATWATER, Calif. A bus was nearly sliced in half after plowing into a highway pole in California’s heavily agricultural San Joaquin Valley, killing five people as survivors faced horrific scene of wounds and screams. Eighteen people were also injured in Tuesday’s crash, but by days’ end none were critical, officials said. Passenger Leonardo Sanchez was […]

CHICAGO The two parks Barack Obama considered for his presidential library are only a mile apart in Chicago’s South Side. But the decision to build the museum in the lakefront park rather than in a nearby impoverished neighborhood has left some residents worried it was a missed opportunity. The Obama Foundation will hold a ceremony […]

SYDNEY Human rights groups accused Australia today of deliberately ignoring the alleged abuse of asylum seekers being held at a remote Pacific island detention facility in a bid to deter future refugees from trying to reach the country by boat. A scathing joint report by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said detainees on the […]

SEOUL, South Korea A medium-range ballistic missile fired today by North Korea flew about 620 miles and landed near Japan’s territorial waters, Seoul and Tokyo officials said, one of the longest flights by a North Korean missile. The U.S. Strategic Command said North Korea fired two presumed Rodong missiles simultaneously today, not just one. The […]

JOHANNESBURG South Africans voted today in municipal elections described as the most closely contested for the African National Congress since it took power in the first all-race elections in 1994. About 26 million people had registered to vote at more than 22,000 polling stations as the ANC sought to retain control of key metropolitan areas […]

BEIJING A Chinese legal rights activist was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison on subversion charges today, in the second in a series of cases underscoring the ruling Communist Party’s determination to rein in government critics. State broadcaster CCTV said Hu Shigen had pleaded guilty to “subversion, damaging national security and harming social stability” […]

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates An Emirates flight from India with 300 people on board crash landed at Dubai’s main airport today, sending black smoke billowing into the air and halting all traffic at the Middle East’s busiest airport. Authorities said all passengers were evacuated safely. Dubai-based Emirates said the accident happened around 12:45 p.m. local […]

SINGAPORE Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong posting Instagram photos? Interesting, but not unusual. He does it all the time. But Singapore’s leader posting them from inside the White House, on the official presidential residence account? Now that’s a different story. Lee, who is on a state visit to the United States, posted a photo of […]

ANKARA, Turkey The head of the Council of Europe, the continent’s top human rights organization, said today there had been “too little understanding” from Europe about the challenges facing Turkey in the aftermath of a failed July 15 coup. Thorbjorn Jagland was the first high-ranking European official to visit Turkey after the attempted coup which […]