SEOUL — Korean troops and riot police blocked a group of North Korean defectors from launching balloons carrying propaganda leaflets to their former homeland. Pyongyang had threatened military retaliation ahead of the planned launch.
A car bomb exploded Sunday in central Damascus, killing 13 people in the Syrian capital as U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi pressed President Bashar al-Assad to institute a cease-fire later this week.
The commander of U.S. forces in Japan has imposed an nationwide curfew for all military personnel in Japan after the arrest of two American sailors for the alleged rape of an Okinawan woman.
Syrian activists and medical officials say a series of government air strikes on rebel areas in the country's north has killed at least 43 people, including many children.