China playing a bigger global role as Lehmann had foreseen

The year 2017 ended on a sad note, with an email from IMD, a top European executive school in Switzerland, saying that professor and founder of Evian Group Jean-Pierre Lehmann had passed away at the age of 72.

Nepal bans solo climbers from world's highest peak

KATHMANDU - Nepal has banned solo climbers from scaling its mountains, including Qomolangma, which is also known as Mount Everest in the West, in a bid to reduce accidents, an official said on Saturday.

Extreme cold, tight security as New York ushers in 2018

NEW YORK - Brutal weather may have iced plans for scores of events in the Northeast United States from New Year's Eve through New Year's Day, but not in New York City, where people started gathering in Times Square up to nine hours before the famous ball drop.

Man arrested over supermarket bombing

MOSCOW - A man was arrested on Saturday in connection with a St. Petersburg supermarket bombing that wounded 18 people, Russia's main domestic security agency said.

Two people killed as Iran protests spread to west

TEHERAN - Two people were killed overnight in western Iran in anti-government protests, Iran's Labor News Agency reported on Sunday. The announcement was made by Hbibollah Khojasteh Pour, deputy governor of Iran's Lorestan Province.

IN BRIEF (Page 4)

Weah elected as new Liberian leader

MONROVIA, Liberia - Celebrations have begun in Liberia after former FIFA World Player of the Year George Weah won the West African nation's presidential election by a wide margin.

Tightest security ever for year-end revels in New York

NEW YORK - Police are promising a bigger security detail than ever before in Times Square for this year's New Year's Eve celebration, which will mark the end of a year that saw a number of deadly attacks on innocent crowds, including a vehicle rampage at the very spot where revelers will ring in 2018.

Rooftop restaurant fire kills at least 15

MUMBAI - At least 15 people were killed when a huge blaze tore through a popular restaurant in Mumbai early on Friday, police said, in the latest disaster to raise concerns over fire safety in India.

Apple apologizes after outcry over older iPhones

SAN FRANCISCO - Facing lawsuits and consumer outrage after it said it slowed older iPhones with flagging batteries, Apple is slashing prices for battery replacements and will change its software to show users whether their phone battery is good.

IN BRIEF (Page 4)

Deals of expediency will not bury the past

The Republic of Korea's President Moon Jae-in was simply telling the truth when he said on Thursday that the 2015 agreement between his country and Japan intended to settle once and for all the decades-long row over Korean women forced into wartime sexual slavery was seriously flawed, "both in process and content".