Le Pen adviser in probe over loans

PARIS - Frederic Chatillon, an adviser to French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, on Saturday was put under formal investigation for allegedly making an illegal loan to Le Pen's National Front party. The latest news is expected to deepen the uncertainty of the race as presidential hopeful Francois Fillo faces a troublesome scandal, with frontrunner Emmanueal Macron being criticized for his policies.

Syrian rescuers miss out on Oscars show

BEIRUT - Rescue workers from Syria's White Helmets group - the subject of an Oscar-nominated documentary-will not attend this weekend's Academy Awards ceremony because of intensified conflict and a rejected passport.

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Trump touts bump in nukes

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he wants to ensure the US nuclear arsenal is at the "top of the pack", saying the country has fallen behind in its atomic weapons capacity.

Carnival helps Rio forget crime, recession

RIO DE JANEIRO - The economy is crumbling, public coffers are empty and street protests are turning violent.

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Chemical weapon substance cited in death of DPRK man

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian police said on Friday a man from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea who died on the way from a Malaysian airport to hospital on Feb 13 was killed by a chemical weapon substance found on his body.

Abe's wife resigns from honorary position

TOKYO - Japan's first lady has resigned as "honorary principal" of a private elementary school run by a man with ultranationalistic views following an escalating controversy over the low price the school paid for government land.

Nightmare without an end

TOKYO - When Hua Yi, a journalist from Xinhua, reached an area about five kilometers from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on Thursday, his radiation detector would not stop vibrating and sounding alarms.

Technology to track abusive comments

Alphabet Inc's Google and its subsidiary Jigsaw on Thursday launched a new technology to assist news organizations and online platforms in identifying abusive comments on their websites.

Preparing seeds for doomsday scenario

HELSINKI, FINLAND - Nearly 10 years after a "doomsday" seed vault opened on an Arctic island, some 50,000 new samples from collections around the globe have been deposited in the world's largest repository, built to safeguard against wars or natural disasters wiping out food crops.

WHO paints stark picture of depression

GENEVA - More than four percent of the world's population lives with depression, and women, youth and the elderly are the most prone to its disabling effects, the World Health Organization said on Thursday.