Counterterrorism on agenda for Tillerson's visit, says Russian FM

MOSCOW - Russia intends to discuss international counterterrorism with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson during his visit next week, despite clouded Russia-United States ties, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharov said on Saturday.

Iran's president lends backing to Assad; brands strikes a 'violation'

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani affirmed his support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government on Sunday, following last week's United States missile strike on a Syrian airbase.

7 questioned after truck attack raids in Sweden

STOCKHOLM - Swedish police have brought in seven people for questioning over an apparent terror attack in which a hijacked delivery truck mowed down pedestrians in Stockholm, killing four people, authorities said on Sunday.

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Eight suspects detained in wake of bomb attack

ST. PETERSBURG - Russian investigators on Thursday detained eight people suspected of involvement in Wednesday's bombing of the St. Petersburg metro as the nation held memorials to honor the 13 victims.

Lotte chief grilled over corruption

SEOUL - Shin Dong-bin, chief of Lotte Group, South Korea's fifth-largest family-controlled conglomerate, was summoned for questioning by prosecutors on Friday over his alleged involvement in a corruption scandal embroiling impeached president Park Geun-hye.

Rickles always lived up to his nickname: 'Merchant of Venom'

LOS ANGELES - Don Rickles, the master insult comic who created laughs with ridicule and sarcasm in a decades-long career that earned him the nickname "Merchant of Venom," died of kidney failure at his Los Angeles home on Thursday.

Atmosphere detected around planet in distant constellation

WASHINGTON - Astronomers have made what they believe to be the first detection of an atmosphere around an Earth-sized planet beyond our solar system.

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Man reunites with family after 22 years

HANOI - A 56-year-old man with a pallid and wizened face slowly touched his right foot, which was being wrapped in layers of bandages on Wednesday afternoon.

Thousands evacuated from Cyclone Debbie

WELLINGTON - Rescue workers used tractors and boats to evacuate thousands of people at the top of New Zealand's North Island on Thursday as floodwaters from ex-Cyclone Debbie surged in what meteorologists said was a once-in-500-years event.

China supports probe into use of chemical weapons

UNITED NATIONS - China supports the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and related UN entities in carrying out comprehensive, objective and fair investigations into uses of chemicals as weapons in Syria, a Chinese envoy said on Wednesday.