Shared future for mankind discussed at UN conference

GENEVA - Experts attending a side-event of the ongoing 36th session of the UN Human Rights Council on Wednesday highlighted the right to development and voiced support for the idea of closer co-operation between countries during their discussion.

Malaysia fire blocks lone exit, 23 dead

KUALA LUMPUR - A blaze at a religious boarding school in the Malaysian capital killed 23 people on Thursday, most of them teenage boys who cried for help from barred windows, officials and witnesses said.

India's first bullet train project fast-tracks Japanese relations

AHMEDABAD, India - The country's first bullet train project, a $19-billion initiative linking Ahmedabad to Mumbai, was launched on Thursday as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe hailed fast-growing relations between the two nations.

New deaths sound alarms after Irma

HOLLYWOOD, Florida - Hurricane-scarred Florida warily eyed the fate of its most vulnerable residents and emergency workers were urged to immediately check on those in nursing homes after eight people died in a scorching facility that lost its air conditioning in the storm.

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Qatar, neighbors trade barbs over boycott

CAIRO - Diplomats from Qatar and the four states boycotting it exchanged heated words at an Arab League meeting on Tuesday.

Singapore gets female president

SINGAPORE - Halimah Yacob, a former speaker of parliament, was declared elected as Singapore's first woman president on Wednesday, after the returning officer announced she was the sole candidate to qualify for the contest.

French PM shrugs off labor protests

PARIS - French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has shrugged off nationwide protests against planned reforms to France's strict labor regulations, saying on Wednesday he was "listening" but would nonetheless press ahead with the bill.

'Swallowing the sun': Homeless banish despair through dance

TOKYO - Penniless and subsisting only on water for three weeks, Tokyo street-dweller Tokuchika Nishi thought he had come to the end of his life.

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Japan, India seek closer ties

Japan is expected to upgrade its talks with India involving vice-foreign and defense ministers to a ministerial-level dialogue during Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's three-day visit, Japan's Kyodo News said.

Juncker: Wind back in Europe's sails

The European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker announced on Wednesday that European Union is getting back on track after a 10-year economic and financial crisis while pledging to strengthen the bloc despite the United Kingdom's planned departure.