HONG KONG (AP) -- When the British handed Hong Kong to Beijing in 1997, it was promised 50 years of self-government and freedoms of assembly, speech and press that are not allowed on the Communist-ruled Chinese mainland. As the city of 7.4 million people marks 25 years under Beijing's rule on Friday, those promises are wearing thin. Hong Kong's honeymoon period, when it carried on much as it alw...

The thousands of cases South Korea is still counting every day may be as low as the numbers are going to get, according to some top public health officials. In the last 24 hours ending Tuesday midnight, South Korea logged 10,463 new cases, exceeding the 10,000 mark for the first time in nearly three weeks. Lim Sook-young, a senior Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency official, told a new...

Battles over abortion shifted to state courts on Monday after the US Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to the procedure nationwide, as judges blocked statewide bans in Louisiana and Utah and clinics in Idaho, Kentucky, Mississippi and Texas sued seeking similar relief. The six are among the 13 states with "trigger laws" designed to ban or severely restrict abortions once the Supr...