Nation selects new design to challenge current flag

New Zealanders chose a new flag design on Tuesday that will be put up as a challenger to their current flag in a March vote.

Merkel promises her party to cut the number of incoming migrants

Germany will reduce its migrant influx, Chancellor Angela Merkel promised her conservative party on Monday, insisting that she's still confident her diplomatic efforts will work and Europe will pass the "historic test" posed by the refugee crisis.

At least 43 police officers die as bus veers off bridge

At least 43 police officers were killed on Monday when a bus in a convoy in northern Argentina blew a tire and veered off the side of a bridge, falling about 20 meters in an accident that brought the sad state of the South American nation's roads into focus.

IN BRIEF (Page 11)

Pakistan hanged eight more convicted murderers on Tuesday, a day ahead of the first anniversary of an extremist attack that prompted authorities to lift a six-year moratorium on the death penalty.

Shrimp tied to supplier who employs slave labor

Poor migrant workers and children are being sold to factories in Thailand and forced to peel shrimp that ends up in global supply chains, including those of Wal-Mart and Red Lobster, the world's largest retailer and the world's largest seafood restaurant chain, an Associated Press investigation found.

Emerging tobacco products ban begins

A ban on so-called emerging tobacco products will be phased in beginning on Tuesday, according to a statement from the Ministry of Health on Monday.

Typhoon strikes Philippines; 750,000 evacuated to safety

Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated from the central Philippines on Monday as a typhoon with winds of up to 150 km/h made landfall, dumping heavy rain that could cause flooding, landslides and storm surges, authorities warned.

20 women elected to local government in historic step toward gender equality

Saudi voters elected 20 women for local government seats, according to results released to The Associated Press on Sunday, a day after women voted and ran in elections for the first time in the country's history.

Seoul has no plans for new negotiations with Pyongyang

The Republic of Korea said on Monday that it had no plans to propose a fresh dialogue with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea after rare high-level talks over the weekend fizzled out with no agreement.

IN BRIEF (Page 11)

West's makers of arms see share fall

Arms manufacturers in North America and Western Europe dominated international arms sales in 2014, but their market share dropped while Russian and Asian companies saw theirs rise, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reported on Monday.

Far-right party fails to win a single region

Marine Le Pen's far-right National Front did not win any region in French elections on Sunday, in a setback to her hopes of becoming a serious presidential contender in 2017.