AUSTRALIA-POLITICS

CANBERRA, Australia - Australia's beleaguered Prime Minister Tony Abbott emerges politically wounded after withstanding a leadership challenge from within his own party, with many analysts doubting he can survive to lead his conservative government to next year's elections. 

MALAYSIA-ANWAR

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim says he hopes for a just decision when Malaysia's top court delivers its verdict on his final appeal against a sodomy conviction but is also ready to be sent back to jail for the second time in over a decade. His case has reinforced accusations at home and abroad that the government is using it as a weapon to vanquish a threat to its stability. 

MYANMAR-ETHNIC ARMIES-PHOTO GALLERY

MAR WONG VILLAGE, Myanmar - It's the smallest of Myanmar's ethnic armies representing the Pa'ang Buddhist minority scattered in along the vast mountainous corners of northern Shan state. But as President Thein Sein's struggles to broker a nationwide peace deal before his term comes to an end, the fighters have turned into an unlikely, intractable thorn.

CHINA-US STATE VISIT

BEIJING - A top Chinese diplomat has said President Xi Jinping plans to make his first state visit to the U.S. later this year, Chinese state media reported. The official China Daily newspaper quoted China's ambassador to the U.S. Cui Tiankai as saying Chinese and U.S. officials are discussing the visit. 

AUSTRALIA-SHARK ATTACK

SYDNEY - A Japanese man was killed after a shark tore off his legs while he was surfing off Australia's east coast, not far from the area where another surfer was mauled by a shark a day earlier. 

CHINA-GANG CRACKDOWN

BEIJING - A court in central China says a former mining tycoon who led a crime gang that killed rivals has been executed along with four of the gang's members. 

EGYPT-SOCCER RIOT

CAIRO - A riot erupts outside of a major soccer game in Egypt, with fighting between police and fans killing at least 25 people, security officials say. The riot, only three years after similar violence killed 74 people, began ahead of a match between Egyptian Premier League clubs Zamalek and ENPPI at Air Defense Stadium east of Cairo. 

UKRAINE-DIPLOMACY

BERLIN - Four-way peace talks are announced by Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany, even as pro-Russian separatists gain ground in Ukraine. US threats to arm Kiev could be helping to bring Russian President Vladimir Putin to the table, but diplomats fear actually delivering the weapons could open a proxy war between Washington and Moscow. By Frank Jordans and Matthew Lee. 

ISRAEL-NETANYAHU'S TRIP

JERUSALEM - A national leader's appearance before the U.S. Congress is usually a source of pride and unity - but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's planned trip to Washington, opposed by the White House and many Democrats, has Israel in uproar. The Israeli leader is facing growing calls to cancel the visit by rivals who claim he is risking Israel's relations with the United States in hopes of winning some extra votes in next month's parliamentary election. 

ISLAMIC STATE

AMMAN, Jordan - Jordan has launched 56 airstrikes against Islamic State group weapons depots, training centers and military barracks since militants released a video of them burning a Jordanian pilot to death. 

CONGO-ANTI-REBEL-OFFENSIVE

MWESO, Congo - Congolese residents displaced by rebels years ago have hope their situation might improve, as the Congolese military has vowed to oust the rebels, with support from the U.N., after they failed to meet a Jan. 2 deadline to disarm.