Italy’s most powerful earthquake in 36 years struck the country’s mountainous centre Sunday, panicking shell-shocked residents for the third time in two months and flattening a world famous 600-year-old basilica.

Crisis talks opened late Sunday between Venezuela’s embattled socialist government and opposition leaders in a landmark gathering aimed at defusing an increasingly tense political crisis.

The world's largest marine reserve aimed at protecting the pristine wilderness of Antarctica will be created after a "momentous" agreement was finally reached Friday, with Russia dropping its long-held opposition.

Myanmar has detected its first Zika infection with state media reporting Friday that a pregnant foreign woman had been diagnosed with the mosquito-borne virus.

Cabinet secretaries and campaign volunteers alike have told me that Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is open to new ideas and serene about ceding full control to his appointees within their scope of work. In my own, limited interaction with him during the presidential campaign, he struck me as someone entirely at ease in his own skin. All of which makes one ask: Why is his foreign policy driven by long-standing resentment, and why does his signature governance initiative depend on an old, unsound idea?

More than 100 government delegates and development experts are exploring ways to design integrated national financing frameworks for implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Asia-Pacific during a meeting.

Belgium's political leaders looked Thursday to a new round of talks aimed at resolving differences that have blocked a landmark EU-Canada free trade deal.

Greece's top administrative court on Wednesday dealt a heavy blow to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras by blocking his flagship reforms of the murky private television sector.

The United States on Wednesday abstained for the first time in 25 years from a vote at the United Nations calling for an end to the US embargo against Cuba.