AP

By JUWON PARK Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — With two out of five of its members North Korean defectors, the K-pop group 1VERSE is breaking new ground as it debuts its single album Friday. The band represents an unusual convergence of backgrounds: North Korea-born rapper Hyuk and singer Seok join Nathan from Arkansas,

By DASHA LITVINOVA Associated Press TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A snappy tune by a blogger that mockingly laments his poor internet connection in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don has gotten over a half-million views on Instagram in two weeks. “How to say you’re from Rostov without saying a word? Show one bar of cellphone

By KANIS LEUNG Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong tightened prison rules, allowing authorities to restrict visits, including those by certain lawyers and religious personnel, on national security grounds, in the latest expansion of its stringent control. Under the new rules, effective Friday, magistrates can issue warrants on application by correctional service officers

By COLLEEN BARRY and JOHN SEEWER Associated Press MILAN (AP) — Extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner, the first skydiver to fall faster than the speed of sound during a 24-mile leap through the stratosphere more than a decade ago, died in a crash Thursday along the eastern coast of Italy. He was 56. Italian firefighters who

By FU TING Associated Press A Chinese university announced the expulsion of a female student for “damaging national dignity” after she was accused of “improper interactions” with a foreign man, generating heated discussions across Chinese social media about whether the university had gone too far. Over the last several days, the expulsion has drawn thousands

By REBECCA SANTANA and WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — When limits on liquids were introduced at TSA checkpoints across the country in 2006, bins overflowed with bottled water, toothpaste, shaving cream and so much more. Nearly two decades later, travelers are much more accustomed to the “3-1-1” regulations” governing the size of

By MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department is pulling back from commenting on or criticizing elections overseas unless there is a clear and compelling U.S. foreign policy interest in doing so. In new guidance issued Thursday to all U.S. embassies and consulates abroad, the department said that those outposts should

By MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department says its destruction of 500 metric tons of emergency food aid that was stored in a warehouse in the Middle East was required because it had expired and that the move will not affect the distribution of similar assistance moving forward. The high

By GERALD IMRAY Associated Press CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Five immigrants deported by the United States to the small southern African nation of Eswatini under the Trump administration’s third-country program are being held in solitary confinement in various prisons for an undetermined time, a government spokesperson said. Thabile Mdluli, the Eswatini government spokesperson,