IN BRIEF

Washington, allies seek to isolate Russia

As the United States redoubled efforts to put pressure on Russia for its takeover of Crimea, Moscow shrugged off US President Barack Obama's drive to isolate Russian President Vladimir Putin's government.

Tymoshenko threatens war in leaked phone call

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko wants Ukrainians to take up arms against Russians as part of a wider war that would annihilate Russia, according to a leaked telephone conversation quoted in a report by Russia Today on Monday.

Cellphones catapult Bhutan into modern age

Sitting in his office in Bhutan's sleepy capital, newspaper editor Tenzing Lamsang muses on the dramatic impact of cellphone technology on a remote Himalayan kingdom known as the "last Shangri-La".

Conservation group claims to block Japanese whalers in disputed hunt

The environmental activist group Sea Shepherd has returned to land after its longest-ever anti-whaling campaign in the Southern Ocean, claiming to have saved more than 750 whales from Japanese whalers.

Osaka film pulled in dispute over authentic slums

Japan's biggest slum is visible just blocks from bustling restaurants and shops in Osaka, the country's second-largest city. But it cannot be found on official maps.

Spaniards pay respects to first post-Franco PM

Spaniards flocked to the nation's parliament on Monday to pay their respects to Adolfo Suarez, the prime minister who led the country to democracy after decades of dictatorship under General Francisco Franco.

Far-right makes gains in French voting

France's far-right National Front party dealt a blow to the ruling Socialists on Sunday after several of its candidates came out on top in the first round of local elections.

US landslide death toll doubles

Searchers in the United States found five more bodies on Sunday in the sludge of a massive landslide in the northwestern state of Washington, bringing the death toll to at least eight.

Britons skeptical on future EU relations

Nearly three-quarters of Britons doubt that Prime Minister David Cameron will succeed in a bid to renegotiate the country's relationship with the European Union, polling data released on Sunday showed.

Japan to uphold 'comfort women' remarks

Japan reiterated on Monday that it will uphold its apology for wartime sex slavery after an aide to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe suggested over the weekend that there could be a new statement on the issue.

Egypt sentences 529 Islamists to death

A court in Egypt has convicted 529 supporters of former president Mohammed Morsi and sentenced them to death on charges of murdering a policeman and attacking police in one of the largest mass trials in the country in decades.