World

A Vietnamese court upheld the death penalty Tuesday for a property tycoon in a multibillion-dollar fraud case -- but said her life could still be spared if she paid back three quarters of the assets she embezzled.

Property developer Truong My Lan, 68, was convicted this year of swindling money from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) -- which prosecutors said she controlled -- and sentenced to death for fraud totaling $27 billion.

NATO foreign ministers looked set to rebuff Tuesday a push from Ukraine for progress on joining their alliance ahead of Donald Trump taking power in the United States.

The incoming US president has vowed to press for a quick deal to end Russia's war -- leaving Kyiv scrambling to position itself ahead of his January inauguration.

A student who admitted murdering his ex-girlfriend in a brutal case that sparked outrage and soul searching in Italy will be sentenced Tuesday.

Prosecutors have asked for life in prison for Filippo Turetta, 22, over the killing of Giulia Cecchettin in November last year, just days before she was due to graduate from the University of Padua.

One of Thailand's most prominent human rights activists was sentenced to two years in prison Tuesday under the kingdom's royal defamation law, his fifth conviction on the controversial charges, a legal rights group said.

Thailand has some of the world's strictest royal defamation laws, which shield King Maha Vajiralongkorn and his close family from criticism and which opponents say have been weaponized to silence dissent.

Environmental organizations cheered as Norway's controversial plans to move forward with deep-sea mining in the vulnerable Arctic Ocean were iced on Sunday.

The pause was won in Norway's parliament by the small Socialist Left (SV) Party in exchange for its support in passing the government's 2025 budget.

A man held since September over the death of a US woman inside a controversial suicide capsule in Switzerland was released from custody Monday, though he remains under suspicion.

A 64-year-old woman took her own life on September 23 inside the space-age looking Sarco capsule at a Swiss woodland retreat, outside a village near the German border.

Divisions between countries have stalled negotiations on the world's first treaty to tackle plastic pollution, after a terse week of talks in South Korea's Busan.

Here are some of the sticking points that led to a decision early Monday to resume discussions at a later date after negotiators were unable to strike a deal:

Five rugby players formerly with French side Grenoble go on trial on Monday, accused of raping a student in a hotel in 2017, or failing to prevent the alleged sexual assault.

The trial, held in the southwestern French city of Bordeaux, had originally been scheduled for June but was delayed after one of the defendants, Irish national Denis Coulson, was badly injured in a traffic accident.

The incumbent center-right parties Fianna Fail and Fine Gael looked set Monday to retain power in Ireland as vote counting in the European Union member's general election continued, with coalition talks looming.

With 153 of 174 seats in the lower chamber of parliament decided since Friday's vote, the two parties were ahead of the main opposition, the left-wing nationalist Sinn Fein.

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te discussed "China's military threats" toward the island in a call with former U.S. House speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday, drawing a fresh barrage of criticism from Beijing.

Pelosi's long-standing support for Taiwan has infuriated China, which responded to her visit to Taipei in 2022 with massive military drills around the island.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos on Monday described as "very worrisome" the presence of a Russian attack submarine off the country's coast in the disputed South China Sea.

The UFA 490 submarine was spotted 148 kilometers (92 miles) west of Cape Calavite on Thursday, the Philippine military said.

Japanese atomic bomb survivors' group Nihon Hidankyo said Monday a 30-strong delegation will collect its Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo after a crowd-funding campaign to pay their travel costs.

Those going to the December 10 ceremony will include group co-chair Terumi Tanaka, 92, who witnessed the 1945 Nagasaki bombing as a child, as well as other survivors and their children.

Donald Trump Saturday made a threat to foreign countries on social media, leading one expert to say it amounts to "weaponization of the dollar."

Trump over the weekend took to Truth Social, saying, "The idea that the BRICS Countries are trying to move away from the Dollar while we stand by and watch is OVER."