Japan's economy shrank more than 12 percent last quarter, the government said on Thursday, in another sign of how severely the global economic downturn has affected the world's second-largest economy. "It has been a core belief of ours that every nation must not only live by, but help shape global rules that will determine whether people enjoy the right to live freely and participate to the fullest in their societies," she said after a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang ...

China accused the United States of interfering in its internal affairs and those of other nations on Thursday after the State Department issued a report sharply critical of Beijing's human rights record, state-run media reported. "The report turned a blind eye to the efforts and historic achievements China has made in human rights that have been widely recognized by the international community," according to an editorial that appeared on China's Xinhua news agency Web site. The U.S. State Department issued ...

Tamil rebels in Sri Lanka were ready to accept international calls for a cease-fire but won't lay down their weapons without a political solution in the quarter-century-long civil war, according to a letter released by the group. But no cease-fire offer is being offered as government troops press their offensive against Tamil forces and their remaining strongholds in northern Sri Lanka. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cited "the good intention of ending the human suffering" for its readiness ...

Marxist guerrillas in southwest Colombia are believed to have killed a second group of Indians the rebels accused of helping the government, a state governor said. At least 10 Awa Indians were killed this week in Narino state, Gov. Navarro Wolff said late Wednesday. A day earlier, Wolff had reported that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, better known as FARC, had killed at least 17 Awa last week in another remote village. "I don't have more information than what ...