Tillerson Heads to China Amid North Korea Nuclear Escalation

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson embarks Thursday on his second trip to China, seeking Beijing’s cooperation on a “maximum pressure” campaign against North Korea’s nuclear aggression amid heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula. In a meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong on Thursday, the top U.S. diplomat is seeking China’s cooperation to curb …

UN Chief Urges ‘Swift Action’ to Alleviate Suffering of Myanmar Muslims

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Thursday for “swift action” to halt the deteriorating situation in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine State, where a half million mostly Rohingya Muslims have fled to neighboring Bangladesh in the past month. “The situation has spiraled into the world’s fastest developing refugee emergency; a humanitarian and human rights nightmare,” Guterres told an …

Ex-Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra Living in Dubai

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha says his predecessor, Yingluck Shinawatra, is in Dubai. The prime minister revealed Yingluck’s whereabouts Thursday during a meeting with journalists, citing a report from the foreign ministry of her movements. Her brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, has lived in exile in Dubai since he was overthrown in a 2006 …

Migrant Quest for Mexican Dream Cut Short in Quake

The women working at ABC Toys on the second floor of a nondescript office building in Mexico City’s working-class Obrera neighborhood drew so little attention to themselves that when the building collapsed in last week’s powerful quake few living nearby could recall them. In death, they remained nearly as anonymous: Government officials identified them in …

Recovering Congressman Steve Scalise Talks to CBS ’60 Minutes’

CBS says “60 Minutes” has landed the first television interview with House Majority Whip Steve Scalise since he was shot at a congressional baseball team practice in June.   The network said Wednesday that Scalise will speak to Norah O’Donnell for the news magazine’s episode this Sunday.   He’ll recount the attack from his vantage …

British Banker Convicted of Double Murder in Hong Kong to Appeal

A British banker convicted last year for the gruesome murders of two Indonesian women is planning to appeal his life sentence. The lawyer for Rurik Jutting says a hearing on his client’s appeal has been scheduled for December 12. A jury found Jutting guilty of the 2014 murders of Sumarti Ningsih and Seneng Mujiasih in …

Interpol Approves Palestinian Membership; new Blow to Israel

International police agency Interpol voted Wednesday to include Palestine as a member state, in a new boost to Palestinian efforts for international recognition and influence amid long-stalled negotiations with Israel for full statehood. Interpol announced the inclusion of the “State of Palestine” as well as the Solomon Islands on Twitter and its website Wednesday after …

US Imposes Sanctions on 8 N. Korean Banks, 26 Executives

The United States has imposed sanctions on eight North Korean banks and 26 bank executives amid escalating tensions with Pyongyang over its nuclear program. “This further advances our strategy to fully isolate North Korea in order to achieve our broader objectives of a peaceful and denuclearized Korean Peninsula,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Tuesday …

Yellen: Fed Is Perplexed by Chronically Low Inflation

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen acknowledged Tuesday that the Fed is puzzled by the persistence of unusually low inflation and that it might have to adjust the timing of its interest rate policies accordingly. Speaking to a conference of economists, Yellen touched upon key questions the Fed is confronting as it tries to determine why …