Le Pen, Macron clash in final debate

PARIS - French centrist Emmanuel Macron and his far-right presidential rival Marine Le Pen clashed over terrorism, the economy and Europe on Wednesday in a bad-tempered TV debate that laid bare their profoundly different visions for the country.

Russia, Turkey agree to remove trade restrictions

SOCHI, Russia - Russia and Turkey have agreed to lift nearly all remaining trade restrictions imposed in the aftermath of Ankara's downing of a Russian warplane in 2015, President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.

May takes tough Brexit stance as nation holds elections to choose local councilors

LONDON - Theresa May faced her first nationwide electoral test as Britain's prime minister on Thursday, as she toughened her Brexit position just weeks before a crucial general election.

Puerto Rico seeks bankruptcy protection

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - The governor of Puerto Rico announced on Wednesday that the US territory would seek a form of bankruptcy protection to restructure its $70 billion debt, the largest municipal restructuring in US history.

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Abe unveils plan to revise Constitution

TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Wednesday that he hopes to see a revised Constitution go into effect in 2020 under a plan that will see the first change to the postwar charter.

BOJ governor: AIIB positive for infrastructure development in Asia

TOKYO - Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said this week that the Chinese-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is playing a positive role in the development of infrastructure in the region.

NSA kept collecting phone records

WASHINGTON - The US National Security Agency collected more than 151 million records of US citizens' phone calls last year, even after Congress limited its ability to collect bulk phone records, according to an annual report issued on Tuesday by the top US intelligence officer.

US climatologist receives China's top honor

WASHINGTON - John Kutzbach, a US climatologist and professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, on Tuesday received China's top science honor for foreigners, the International Science and Technological Cooperation Award.

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Polish dairy farmer turns east to China

WARSAW - Never before has Mariusz Marczak shown so much interest in the Chinese market half a world away from Poland.

Australia should embrace proposal, senator says

Penny Wong, the Opposition's foreign affairs spokeswoman, on Tuesday urged the Australian government to embrace China's Belt and Road Initiative in times of increasing protectionism and global uncertainty.