The United Nations Security Council on Thursday expressed "serious concern" over the conviction of Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi while the European Union adopted additional sanctions against the nation. "The members of the Security Council express serious concern at the conviction and sentencing of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and its political impact," John Sawers of Britain, Security Council president for the month of August, told reporters. Members of the council noted that the Myanmar government reduced Suu ...

The usual way to test the economic pulse in a downturn is to go for a stroll down Main Street. Perhaps we should take to the high seas instead. There may be no better measure of the reach, depth and potential duration of the global economic slowdown than the fast-sinking fortunes of the shipping industry. From the historic docks of Rotterdam to China's booming trading hub of Ningbo, troubling symptoms abound. The Baltic Dry Index, which tracks the cost ...

The White House criticized the sentencing of Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to 18 more months of house arrest Tuesday, joining a chorus of condemnation from figures ranging from the Dalai Lama to the U.N. secretary-general. "This is not somebody that should be tried and not somebody certainly that should have been convicted," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said, adding that President Barack Obama was likely to make a statement later. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he ...

A Thai court on Tuesday rejected the extradition of a man dubbed the "Merchant of Death", whom the U.S. government accuses of selling millions of dollars in weapons to Colombian rebels. In rejecting the extradition request, the court said the case of Viktor Bout was politically motivated. U.S. authorities have 72 hours to decide whether to appeal. In the absence of an appeal, Bout will walk out of jail a free man. Bout was arrested in Bangkok in ...

Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was found guilty of violating the terms of her house arrest by a military court Tuesday -- and sentenced to serve 18 more months in home confinement. The court initially sentenced Suu Kyi to three years in prison before the head of the country's ruling junta commuted it to a year-and-a-half of house arrest. The sentence is significantly less than the maximum five-year prison sentence the Nobel laureate faced for the charges. The ...

A leader of the defeated Tamil Tiger rebel group has been arrested in Bangkok, Thailand, state television in Sri Lanka reported Thursday. Investigators would not release what was said in the conversation but the clues have led police to try and find the woman. Madeleine vanished from the family's holiday villa at the Portuguese beach resort of Praia da Luz in May 2007, as her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, dined in a nearby restaurant. She was 3 years old ...

A Bangkok Airways plane crashed at an airport at a resort island in Thailand, killing the pilot and injuring 37 people Tuesday, aviation officials said.

An international search is under way for a 29-year-old Auburn University veterinary student who vanished under what appears to be unusual circumstances in Thailand. The family of Michael Griffin Harrie is pleading for help in locating him. "We just don't know what happened to him," Paul Harrie told CNN about his missing son. "I now know the meaning of living a nightmare." In a media release, Alabama's Auburn University said Harrie, a second-year student at the veterinary school, was attending ...

Britain and Laos have signed a deal to fast-track the return of two Britons jailed in Laos -- including a heavily pregnant woman, a Foreign Office spokesman said Tuesday. That means Samantha Orobator and John Watson could be home within weeks, the spokesman said. Each prisoner must now apply for return under the agreement, said the spokesman, who asked not to be named, in line with policy. Britain and Laos signed the deal in May to allow the return of ...

Fire, the wheel and even cup noodles were among the varied answers to the question posed by CNN: "What is man's greatest achievement?" CNN producers armed with cameras put the puzzler to passersby in Berlin, Madrid, Rome, Bangkok, Tokyo, New Delhi and Paris. In the lead-up to the 40th anniversary of NASA's Apollo 11 mission, more people might have been expected to nominate the moon landing as one of man's greatest feats. Alas not. One woman in Germany suggested the ...