Killings highlight threat, meager options

The killing of two Japanese hostages by the Islamic State group has driven home the high stakes Japan faces and the limited options it has in such circumstances.

Security tightened after bomb explodes

Authorities tightened security after a bomb exploded in central Cairo on Tuesday, and two other bombs were found near the arrival hall at the airport, security officials said.

Arson on packed bus leaves seven dead

Attackers threw crude firebombs at a packed bus early on Tuesday morning, setting it alight as it moved along a Bangladesh highway. The attack left at least seven people dead and 16 injured amid a nationwide strike called by the opposition.

100 drugged, raped in fake clinical study

Japanese police have arrested a man for allegedly drugging and sexually assaulting more than 100 women who believed they were taking part in a medical study, detectives and local media said on Tuesday.

Hezbollah movement faces hard choices

Hezbollah's ambitions are spreading far beyond its Lebanon home as the militant Shiite movement appears increasingly bent on taking on Sunni foes across the Middle East. It has sent thousands of its fighters into Syria and senior military advisers to Iraq, helped Shiite rebels rise to power in Yemen and threatened Bahrain over its abuse of the Shiite majority.

'No genocide committed'

The United Nations' top court ruled on Tuesday that Serbia and Croatia did not commit genocide against each other's people during the bloody 1990s wars sparked by the breakup of Yugoslavia.

Another journalist's release 'imminent'

Jailed Al-Jazeera reporter Mohamed Fahmy, an Egyptian-Canadian, renounced his Egyptian citizenship, his family said on Tuesday, paving the way for his release and deportation under a presidential decree.

The cost of leaving Islamic State group: Death or jail

The man stands furtively on a street corner, his face masked by a hoodie, his tense eyes scanning the crowd for any hint of Islamic State militants.

Britain set for historic vote on 'three-parent' babies

Britain could become the first country in the world to allow the creation of babies with DNA from three parents on Tuesday in a move that has divided Britons and pitted campaigners against religious leaders.

IN BRIEF (Page 12)

Superstitions face backlash

From exorcisms to spirit houses and amulets claiming to make wearers bulletproof, Thailand is a culture soaked in superstition - an obsession critics say is holding the nation back.

President goes on offensive against online detractors

Far from laughing along with those who poke fun at him on social media, President Rafael Correa has created a website and Twitter account to marshal digital counterattacks by his supporters against the "defamers".