Scott Neuman

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is calling for his country to prepare for another "arduous march" — using a phrase that has come to describe a disastrous famine in the 1990s that killed hundreds of thousands of people.

Speaking Thursday to members of the Workers' Party of Korea, or WPK, Kim referred to "many obstacles and difficulties ahead of us," according to the official Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA.

The government of Northern Ireland is holding an emergency meeting on Thursday following days of unrest reminiscent of "The Troubles" that plagued the region for decades.

The latest violence in Belfast has erupted amid anger from Protestant unionists concerned they're being isolated from the United Kingdom and pushed into a union with the republic of Ireland due to post-Brexit trade rules.

A more easily spread coronavirus variant first identified in England last year has now become the dominant strain in the U.S., the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday.

The variant, known as B.1.1.7, spread quickly across the United Kingdom and Ireland beginning last fall, with the more infectious version of the coronavirus thwarting restrictions and lockdowns that had earlier helped keep the original strain in check.

Voters in Greenland have given an opposition party its first-ever chance to form a government after a campaign that sought to define the limits of development on the Arctic island.

The Inuit Ataqatigiit party won 37% of the vote, compared with 29% for the ruling social-democratic Siumut party, according to official results reported by Reuters. The vote totals should allow Inuit Ataqatigiit to grab 12 seats in the 31-member unicameral legislature, known as the Inatsisartut, meaning it will likely need to form a coalition with support from one of the smaller parties.

A new surge of COVID-19 in Brazil is filling hospitals and morgues, as the country's record daily death toll from the disease is nearing even the grim U.S. peak in January.

With less than two-thirds the population of the U.S., Brazil logged nearly 4,200 deaths on Tuesday. That is close to the peak U.S. daily death toll of 4,476 recorded on Jan. 12, according to data maintained by Johns Hopkins University.

Greenlanders are going to the polls on Tuesday in a crucial election that could determine whether the Arctic island taps its vast deposits of rare-earth minerals to fuel eventual independence from Denmark.

North Korea says it will skip the upcoming Summer Olympics in Tokyo, citing coronavirus concerns – a move that frustrates South Korea's hopes that the games might revive stalled peace talks between the bitter rivals.

The decision to sit out the already delayed Tokyo Games means the North's athletes will be a no-show at the Olympics for the first time since Pyongyang boycotted them in 1988, the year they were held in Seoul.

Cyclone-triggered rains on islands in southeast Indonesia and East Timor have caused flooding and landslides that have killed more than 110 people, officials said, as the search was on for many others who are missing.

Category 2 Seroja raked the area as the storm tracked on a course for Western Australia, dumping heavy rain on the islands and triggering mudslides that buried homes and people.

Images and video posted on social media showed the devastation on Lembata and Adonara islands in Indonesia as well in East Timor, also known as Timor-Leste.

An express passenger train partially derailed Friday inside a mountain tunnel in eastern Taiwan, killing at least 51 people and injuring dozens in what is being described as the island's worst rail disaster.

Photos and video taken after the crash showed a scene of cars torn apart inside the tunnel and passengers crawling out of the wreckage.

"People just fell all over each other, on top of one another," a woman who survived the crash told domestic television, according to Reuters. "It was terrifying. There were whole families there."

The United Nations special envoy on Myanmar has issued a stark warning that the country is heading for a likely "bloodbath" if the international community doesn't do more to stop violence against anti-junta protesters.

The remarks by Christine Schraner Burgener during a closed-door session of the U.N. Security Council, come as Myanmar's deposed leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, faced new, more serious charges brought by the junta to mark two months since her Feb. 1 ouster.

A Hong Kong court has convicted seven prominent pro-democracy advocates, including lawyer Martin Lee and media tycoon Jimmy Lai, of unlawful assembly for their roles in organizing an anti-government protest.

The convictions on Thursday come amid a general crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong and just days after Chinese officials approved a major overhaul of the its electoral system that gives Beijing near-total control in choosing the territory's leaders.

After weeks of scouring the Java Sea, investigators have found a crucial piece of the cockpit voice recorder belonging to an Indonesian jetliner that crashed in January, killing all 62 people aboard.

The cockpit voice recorder, or CVR, from the Boeing 737-500 could shed light on actions taken by the pilots in the minutes between takeoff from Jakarta and the plane's fateful plunge into the sea on Jan. 9.

Fewer than half of U.S. adults say they belong to a church, synagogue or mosque, according to a new Gallup survey that highlights a dramatic trend away from religious affiliation in recent years among all age groups.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta are among about two dozen world leaders who have signed onto a letter calling for an international agreement to "dispel the temptations of isolationism and nationalism" as part of an effort to prepare for future pandemics.

However, given a lack of international coordination that has beset the current coronavirus pandemic and an ongoing tussle over vaccine deliveries to combat COVID-19, whether such a treaty could be reached or adhered to is an open question.

Days of fighting in a key city in Mozambique's north have left dozens of civilians dead as security forces battled to turn back an assault by suspected Islamic State-linked insurgents.

Before the grounding of the massive Ever Given container ship in the Suez Canal, some 50 vessels a day, or about 10% of global trade, sailed through the waterway each day — everything from consumer electronics to food, chemicals, ore and petroleum.

In Bangladesh, rescuers sifting through the rubble from a massive fire at a refugee camp recovered the remains of nearly a dozen people – but hundreds are still missing, according to officials.

Tens of thousands more have been left homeless by Monday's blaze at the Balukhali camp in Cox's Bazar in southern Bangladesh that houses Rohingya Muslims who have fled neighboring Myanmar. After it started, the fire caused panic among refugees as it quickly consumed makeshift dwellings and tents.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Tuesday released photos and video of South Texas immigrant processing centers that have become a renewed focus of criticism for continued poor conditions despite President Biden's promises to fix Trump-era problems.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday announced an intensified coronavirus lockdown going into Easter, warning that new mutations raised the specter of a potentially deadly "third wave" of COVID-19 as Europe struggles in its vaccination campaign.

Speaking early Tuesday, Merkel said restrictions would be extended until April 18. She called on citizens to stay home and for shops to close for five days over the Easter holiday.

A massive fire broke out at a camp in Bangladesh housing Rohingya Muslim refugees from neighboring Myanmar on Monday, reportedly destroying hundreds of ramshackle dwellings.

The fire in Cox's Bazar in southern Bangladesh spread rapidly, engulfing tents and poorly constructed homes and buildings, according to witnesses quoted by the Anadolu Agency, Turkey's state-run media.

The Philippines is calling on Beijing to remove some 220 vessels moored at a reef in the South China Sea – the latest dispute between China and its maritime neighbors over claims of sovereignty in the strategic body of water.

Philippine Defense Minister Delfin Lorenzana said the fishing boats were observed anchored side by side on March 7 at the Whitsun Reef, also known as the Julian Felipe Reef – a shallow coral reef about 200 miles west of Palawan island. He said they were believed to be manned by Chinese maritime militia personnel.

President Biden and Vice President Harris called for unity after attacks against Asian Americans have surged since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

"There are simply some core values and beliefs that should bring us together as Americans," Biden said during a speech at Emory University in Atlanta on Friday. "One of them is standing together against hate, against racism, the ugly poison that has long haunted and plagued our nation."

President Biden on Friday announced his intent to nominate former Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida to the top job at NASA. Nelson, who spent six days in orbit aboard the space shuttle Columbia in 1986, would replace Jim Bridenstine, who resigned in January to make way for the new administration's appointee.

Security forces in Myanmar reportedly shot and killed nine anti-junta protesters on Friday, bringing the number killed in six weeks of post-coup unrest in the Southeast Asian country to well over 200.

Meanwhile, Indonesia issued a blunt statement calling for Myanmar's military leaders to stop the violence and for the country "immediately to restore democracy."

President Biden and Vice President Harris plan to travel to Atlanta on Friday, where they will meet with leaders of the city's Asian American community in the aftermath of deadly shootings there this week that left eight people dead, including six women of Asian descent.

The official in charge of ceremonies for the long-delayed Tokyo Olympics has stepped down following a report that he made disparaging remarks about a Japanese female entertainer.

Facebook has reached a deal to pay News Corp.'s Australian arm for local articles that appear on the social media giant's platform – after it briefly pulled the plug on such content to protest a change in the country's media law.

The three-year deal between Facebook and Australia's largest media conglomerate comes after the country's parliament amended a law requiring tech platforms to negotiate with publishers over payment for news stories. It also follows a similar deal between Google and News Corp.

Myanmar has imposed martial law in parts of the country's largest city after a crackdown on peaceful protests opposing last month's military coup resulted in the deaths of dozens of people over the weekend.

State television in Myanmar, also known as Burma, said that martial law had been imposed in several districts in Yangon — North Dagon, South Dagon, Dagon Seikkan and North Okkalapa districts, The Associated Press reported, citing MRTV. Two other districts in the city — Hlaing Thar Yar and neighboring Shwepyitha – were put under martial law on Sunday, the news agency said.