TOKYO (AP) – Next week, Secretary of State John Kerry will become the highest-ranking American government official to visit Hiroshima, where 140,000 Japanese died from the first of two atomic bombs dropped by his country in the closing days of World War II more than 70 years ago. Kerry and …

BEIRUT (AP) – Mohammed Khous was walking from the field hospital heading for his son’s house nearby to rest between operations. He would never make it: a sniper’s bullet to the head felled the 70-year-old in the street. With that, the Syrian town of Zabadani – under heavy siege by …

VATICAN CITY (AP) – Pope Francis insisted that individual conscience be the guiding principle for Catholics negotiating the complexities of sex, marriage and family life in a major document released Friday that rejects the emphasis on black and white rules for the faithful. In the 256-page document “The Joy of …

BEIJING (AP) – The American government has cited Chinese Internet controls as a trade barrier in a report that comes as Beijing tries to block its public from seeing news online about the finances of leaders’ families. Chinese filters, which block access to websites including the Google search engine and …

CATO, Philippines (AP) – As Asian countries jostle for territory in the South China Sea, one Filipino fisherman is taking a stand. He has faced down Chinese coast guard rifles, and even engaged in a stone-throwing duel with the Chinese last month that shattered two windows on his outrigger. “They’ll …