Agence FrancePresse News

The annual crackdown on commemorations of the June 4 anniversary of the brutal suppression of student-led demonstrations based in Tiananmen Square in 1989 Beijing is under way, according to Agence France-Presse . What's concerning is the number of writers and activists for whom "crackdown" is the new normal.

However, some might be wondering just how much good can come out of a cannabis plant that has lost its magical power: the ability to get you high.

The world greeted the guilty verdict handed down to a Thai journalist on Wednesday with grave concern even as a separate trial could further complicate the existing legal woes of Chiranuch Premchaiporn.

In a scene directly out of the 7th century, four women and two men have been sentenced to death in rural Pakistan for allegedly dancing and singing together at a local wedding.

Jose Guzman, chief executive of Agrosuper, which owns the farm, said the animals would be killed rather than moved, according to a report from Agence-France Presse.

Officers raided the man's home on Sunday and found a semi-automatic rifle, air rifle, cannabis and ecstasy tablets.

Tokyo police arrested two American men yesterday as part of an investigation into the suspicious death of Dublin City University exchange student Nicola Furlong, from Curracloe, Co Wexford, it was reported last night.

Airbus is trying to make the friendly skies a bit more comfortable for large - an encumbered - people , and more profitable for U.S. airlines.

The business counterpart of the Cannes Film Festival said that it was canceling a screening of a new film by the controversial French comedian DieudonnA© called "The Anti-Semite," citing its policy of banning works that could offend religious beliefs or otherwise stir violence, Agence France-Presse reported .

Elton John has canceled his shows this weekend in Las Vegas after being hospitalized in Los Angeles with a respiratory infection, The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse reported.

G8 leaders on Saturday praised the "remarkable efforts" of President Thein Sein and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in delivering democratic reforms to Myanmar.

More than 1,000 people in Mandalay, Burma's second-largest city, have held a protest against severe power cuts, the country's biggest public demonstration in five years.

Agence France-Presse photographer Massoud Hossaini received the Pulitzer prize in New York on Monday for his wrenching shot of the aftermath of a suicide bomb in Kabul.

For five years, Abdul Rahim Abdul Hashim was repeatedly press-ganged into forced labour at a Myanmar military camp, until the ethnic Rohingya teenager could take no more.

Ethnic rebels engaged in peace talks with Myanmar's government pledged Saturday to wipe out drugs in Shan state - where much of the country's opium and amphetamines are produced.

At least three climbers who were among scores who scaled Mount Everest over the weekend died on their descent, including Shriya Shah-Klorfine, who dreamed of becoming the fourth woman from Canada to mount the highest mountain on earth.

Ex-IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn is being probed in a preliminary investigation into an incident that French prosecutors say "could be described as gang rape" that allegedly took place in Washington, D.C., in the winter of 2010, the Agence France-Presse reports .

Head Wikileaker and house arrestee Julian Assange has been pondering a run for the Australian Senate.

South African President Jacob Zuma said on Thursday his country would not "bully" its way into the top job at the African Union, a key post also being contested by Gabon.

Some 70 soldiers of a west African force arrived in Guinea-Bissau on Thursday, part of regional efforts to restore stability after an April 12 coup, an Agence France Presse reports.