SEOUL, South Korea – An Asiana Airlines plane has returned to Hong Kong after finding a wrong passenger was aboard the aircraft. Asiana officials say the plane was bound for Incheon, South Korea when it had left Hong Kong earlier Monday. The officials say the passenger was supposed to take …

KIEV, Ukraine – Separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine are threatening to abandon a cease-fire following changes to a law granting their regions self-rule. Alexander Zakharchenko and Igor Plotnitsky said Wednesday in a statement that legislation giving areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions special status has been weakened by the …

BEIRUT – Syria’s state media and an activist group say a twin bombing attack targeting Kurds celebrating their New Year has killed and wounded dozens of people. State TV said the two bombings targeted Kurds in the northeastern city of Hassakeh. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Friday’s …

BENJINA, Indonesia – The Burmese slaves sat on the floor and stared through the rusty bars of their locked cage, hidden on a tiny tropical island thousands of miles from home. Just a few yards away, other workers loaded cargo ships with slave-caught seafood that clouds the supply networks of …

SYDNEY – Officials are warning that hazardous tsunami waves could hit some coastlines in the Pacific after a powerful earthquake struck near the South Pacific nation of Papua New Guinea. The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude-7.7 earthquake struck on Monday at a depth of 41 miles. The epicenter was …

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – An Afghan official says that one policeman was killed and three were wounded when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in central Uruzgan province. The province’s deputy police chief, Mohammad Aslam Kochia, says the bomb exploded when the police vehicle drove over it in Tarin Kot, the …

DOHA, Qatar – Qatar’s top diplomat is denying an Israeli claim that the Gulf nation will expel a leader of the Hamas militant group. Qatari Foreign Minister Khalid bin Mohammed al-Attiyah dismissed as “just rumors” suggestions Hamas political bureau head Khaled Mashaal is leaving his country for Turkey. He was …

LONDON – Following a year that’s seen the conflict in Ukraine and the rise of the Islamic State, geopolitical issues are considered to be the biggest threat to global stability over the coming decade, according to experts polled by the World Economic Forum. In its 2015 Global Risks Report, published …

LONDON – The widow of a man killed in the 2005 terrorist attacks on the London transportation system has been jailed for stealing money from the compensation fund intended for her son. Louise Gray was sentenced Monday to two years and eight months in prison after stealing 43,000 pounds ($65,000) …

CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuela’s embattled president pledged Wednesday night to strengthen safety net programs and he rejected devaluing the currency during a long-delayed speech addressing the socialist country’s deteriorating economy. President Nicolas Maduro had promised several times in the past month to make announcements regarding the South American country’s worsening …