Countries

Every year, the State Department issues reports on individual rights in other countries, monitoring the passage of restrictive laws and regulations around the world. Iran, for example, has been criticized for denying fair public trials and limiting privacy, while Russia has been taken to task for undermining due process. Other countries have been condemned for the use of secret evidence and torture. Even as we pass judgment on countries we consider unfree, Americans remain confident that any definition of a free...

YAYLADAGI, Turkey — Facing one of the world's largest refugee crises in decades, Turkish officials are urgently appealing for international financial assistance and calling on wealthy nations, particularly the United States and the countries of Europe, to start accepting large numbers of Syrian refugees. The stance marks a shift for the Turkish government, which had long insisted that Ankara would manage and pay for the refu­gee crisis on its own as a matter of national pride.

ZEULENRODA, Germany — Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner's grandfather emigrated from this hilltop town in Germany's tough-luck southeastern corner in 1908. The Geithners who remain have this to say: Don't forget your roots. The Obama administration has been pushing European governments not to slash spending in the middle of a recession and suggesting that the 17 euro-zone countries defend themselves against rising borrowing costs with overwhelming piles of money as they work to overhaul their...

NEW YORK — The Grammy Award-winning comedy duo Cheech and Chong based their 42-year career on counterculture humor with a particular emphasis on marijuana use. But these days Tommy Chong sees the recreational drug as something more than fodder for jokes about stoned hippies. The 74-year-old comedian thinks legalizing marijuana on a federal level would offer numerous benefits, including a boost to the U.S. economy if it were taxed. "Look at the situation we're in now. Sequesters.

As we learn more about the brothers Tsarnaev , we are inclined to ask larger questions about their apparent descent into terror . What does it tell us about radical Islam, Russian immigrants, Muslim communities and the breakdown of assimilation? The most accurate answer might turn out to be: not much. Larger phenomena might be at work — but these two young men might not reflect any rise or intensification of trends. It seems they are just two alienated youths who turned toward hate and then, allegedly, to murder.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The contraption sits in a basement lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a mishmash of hoses, wires, whirring pumps and a 12-foot-high plastic tower filled with steam and dripping water, all set on plastic milk crates. It looks like a high school science project, but it was developed by two postdoctoral mechanical engineers at MIT. And it just might be a breakthrough that creates wealth and jobs in the United States and transforms the white-hot industry...

TOKYO — The disputed islands and islets in Asia are, on the whole, an unimpressive bunch. Most are rocky, windswept outcroppings far from any mainland. One has a lighthouse but no people. But these tiny territories, sweeping from southeast to northeast Asia, are fiercely contested among countries that are buoyed by nationalism and by a growing thirst for the natural resources off their shores. At a time when the United States has promised to play a greater role in Asia, some security experts say the...

WASHINGTON — Keeping a keen eye south of the border, the Obama administration is intensifying its engagement with Latin America, hosting leaders from a pair of presidents at the White House and sending Vice President Joe Biden to visit two others. Peru's President Ollanta Humala and Chile's President Sebastian Pinera will travel to Washington in June to meet with President Barack Obama, the White House said Wednesday. And next week, Biden will make stops in Brazil and...

MONDAY, July 28 (HealthDay News) -- Rates of dementia in developing countries have been greatly underestimated, according to researchers who used a specially-developed method of calculating dementia prevalence. Previous studies have suggested that rates of dementia in developing countries are much lower than in high-income countries. However, the quality and evidence base of these studies are poor, according to the authors of the new study, who are members of the 10/66 Research Group.

Belief in God is slowly declining in most countries around the world, according to a new poll, but the truest of the true believers can still be found in developing countries and Catholic societies. The "Beliefs about God Across Time and Countries" report, released Wednesday (April 18) by researchers at the University of Chicago, found the Philippines to be the country with the highest belief, where 94 percent of Filipinos said they were strong believers who had always believed. At the opposite end, at just 13...

The recession hitting the economy of the 17 European Union countries that use the euro extended into the first three months of the year — the sixth quarter in a row. Here are the growth rates for the world's largest economies for last year: Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

The recession across the economy of the 17 European Union countries that use the euro continued into the first three months of 2013, according to the latest figures from the EU's statistical agency, Eurostat. The figures, released Wednesday, also showed that the wider 27-country EU has slipped in to a recession — defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth. Here is a glance at how Europe's economies have managed. Source: Eurostat Copyright 2013 The...

From (way) down under comes a new front in the push and pull over world currency values: Stung by the rise in the New Zealand dollar, affectionately known as the kiwi, the country's central bank last week acknowledged that it had intervened in foreign exchange markets to try to fight any further appreciation. It was a cautionary move, New Zealand Reserve Bank Governor Graeme Wheeler said, to "take . . . the tops off rallies" and curb what New Zealanders worry is a runaway property market...

NEW YORK — British Prime Minister David Cameron and Prince Harry visited a design studio in New York City on Tuesday as part of a campaign to promote their country as a tourist destination and U.S. business partner. The two arrived at Milk Studios on a red double-decker bus. With a view of the Hudson River from a ninth-floor penthouse, the prince and prime minister participated in a demonstration of 3-D computerized printing technology, including of two dolls that...

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — NATO says four U.S. service personnel have been killed in a roadside bombing in Afghanistan's volatile south. NATO spokesman Col. Thomas Collins said a powerful explosion ripped through a NATO convoy Tuesday in southern Kandahar province, the heartland of the insurgent Taliban. "The convoy struck an IED (improvised explosive devise) in Zhari district this afternoon," he told The Associated Press. He said there are a number of wounded as...

Trace Adkins, "Love Will . " (Show Dog/Universal) Trace Adkins works with five different producers on his 11th album, suggesting the country music veteran and reality TV star is searching for an infusion of fresh energy. And "Love Will . " does find Adkins occasionally trying out new sounds. There's the soul-country vibe of "So What If I Do," which features a saxophone to play up the pop-crossover possibilities. And there's a duet with pop singer Colbie Caillat...

GENEVA (Reuters) - Developing countries risk missing out on the benefits of information technology because of their lack of broadband infrastructure, a U.N. agency said. Lack of broadband Internet access deprives countries of the possibility of building up offshoring industries, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said in a report late on Thursday. It also prevents people from tapping into all the advantages of mobile phones, whose use is exploding in poor countries.

Here are the top 10 countries that supplied foreign college students to the United States in 2009-10 school year, according to the Institute of International Education. The list also offers the percentage shares of the nationwide total of 690,923. • China, 127,628 (18 percent) • India, 104,897 (15 percent) • South Korea, 72,153 (10 percent) • Canada, 28,145 (4 percent) • Taiwan, 26,685 (4 percent) • Japan, 24,842 (4 percent) • Saudi Arabia, 15,810 (2 percent)

NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenya police on Monday searched for 31 mentally ill patients who escaped from the country's only public psychiatric facility. Samuel Anampiu, the police chief in charge of the area where Mathari Mental Hospital sits, said that about 70 male patients overpowered the guards at the hospital and that 40 managed to escape Sunday morning. Nine of them have since been brought back by parents and guardians, according to hospital medical superintendent Dr. Kisivuli...