Russia, Japan agree to expand cooperation

MOSCOW - Russian foreign and defense ministers and their Japanese counterparts have agreed to explore further cooperation in security and diplomacy, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

Fish could be next to suffer as rivers run low on air in Europe's record heat wave

BERLIN - The heat wave gripping large stretches of Europe has already been blamed for deadly forest fires and crop failures. Now freshwater fish could be its next victims.

Bird lands in Paris, rolls out scooters

Electric scooter rental company Bird has announced its launch in Europe starting with a pilot scheme in Paris this week and soon in Tel Aviv.

'Bag rage' prompts backdown on charge to shoppers in Australia

SYDNEY - Australia's second-largest supermarket, Coles, on Wednesday halted plans to charge shoppers for plastic bags, succumbing to customer fury about a shift away from single-use plastics.

Trump predicts Teheran talks 'pretty soon'

TAMPA, Florida - US President Donald Trump has suggested that talks with Iran were imminent, but the idea has been criticized in Teheran, with the country's foreign minister warning that "PR stunts won't work".

President's former aide on trial for bank, tax fraud

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia - Paul Manafort, former chairman of Donald Trump's presidential election campaign team, went on trial on charges of bank and tax fraud on Tuesday.

British workplace sickness rates reach all-time low

Figures released by the United Kingdom government have revealed that the number of sick days taken by British workers is the lowest since records began.

Zimbabwe's ruling party wins control of parliament

HARARE, Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe's ruling party has won a majority of seats in parliament, the electoral commission announced on Wednesday, as the country braced for the official results of the first presidential election after longtime leader Robert Mugabe left office in November.

IN BRIEF (Page 12)

Deadly month of weather in Japan

TOKYO - More than 300 people died in July from weather-related disasters in one of Japan's deadliest months in recent years.

Divers scour river for treasure

BANGKOK - Kneeling before his homemade metal scuba helmet, Bhoomin Samang prays for good fortune before he dives into the day's work - scouring the bed of Bangkok's Chao Phraya river for sunken treasure.

Hikers evacuated after earthquake

MATARAM, Indonesia - More than 500 hikers and their guides have been successfully evacuated from an Indonesian volcano after a deadly earthquake triggered landslides that trapped them on the mountain, officials said on Tuesday.