OBAMA
HANOI, Vietnam — U.S. President Barack Obama lifts a decades-old arms export embargo for Vietnam during his first visit to the communist country, looking to bolster a government seen as a crucial, though flawed partner even as he pushes for better human rights from the one-party state. Obama announced the full removal of the embargo at a news conference, saying the move was intended to step toward normalizing relations with the former war enemy and to eliminate a "lingering vestige of the Cold War."
TALIBAN LEADER DEATH-OBAMA: Obama says death of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Akhtar Mansour marks an "important milestone" in the longstanding effort to bring peace to Afghanistan.
JAPAN-US-HIROSHIMA: TOKYO — Vets' group says an American held by Japan as a prisoner of war during World War II has been invited to accompany President Barack Obama on his historic visit to Hiroshima this week.
JAPAN-US-HIROSHIMA VOICES
TOKYO — Two very different visions of the hell that is war are seared into the minds of U.S. and Japanese World War II survivors, who will be watching closely as President Barack Obama visits the memorial to atomic bomb victims in Hiroshima later this week.
THAILAND-DORM FIRE
BANGKOK — A nighttime fire at a boarding school dormitory in northern Thailand kills 18 girls ranging from 5 to 12 years old, police and school officials say.
NEPAL-EVEREST
KATHMANDU, Nepal — An Indian climber who had fallen sick and was being helped down Mount Everest has died, becoming the third to die in recent days while attempting to scale the world's tallest peak, an expedition organizer says.
AUSTRALIA-POLITICS
CANBERRA, Australia — Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's popularity dipped slightly in a poll published Monday two weeks into what appears to be a tight campaign ahead of July 2 general elections. Some 46 percent said they preferred Turnbull over opposition leader Bill Shorten, down 3 percentage points from the last poll two weeks ago, according to the survey by Sydney-based market researcher Galaxy.