Myanmar might be on the hot list of places to visit, but visitors should be wary of touching down in Yangon without a hotel reservation. The surge in visitor numbers in the last few years has vastly outstripped hotel room supply, and the city is struggling to meet demand.

Conflicting reports emerge over company's safety record. A British passenger and the pilot are hospitalized. The balloon carried tourists from the UK, Hong Kong, Japan, France and Hungary. A gas explosion caused the balloon to fall about 300 meters (almost 1,000 feet).

Talks began Tuesday between six world powers and Iran over its controversial nuclear program for the first time in nearly eight months.

Scandal is threatening to eclipse the poignancy and pageantry of Benedict XVI's historic final days as pope.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron visited the site of the infamous 1919 Amritsar massacre by British troops in India on Wednesday -- but those hoping he might apologize for the atrocity were disappointed.

Crews have boarded a U.S. Navy minesweeper stranded on a Philippine reef to begin dismantling it, the state-run Philippine News Agency reported Friday.

The last time Shinzo Abe was Japan's prime minister, from 2006 to 2007, he staked his job on a campaign to strengthen ties with the US. But as he heads to Washington for his first summit since retaking power, any expectations of American gratitude will have to be tempered by new and complex political realities.

Hard-line Islamist groups like the Nusra Front are becoming more popular in Syria. They're fighting the Syrian regime while providing social services for Syrian civilians. The United States blacklisted the Nusra Front in December, labeled it terrorist.

Bodies of the three girls aged 6, 9 and 11 are found at the bottom of a well. Police say initial medical reports suggest the girls were sexually assaulted. The girls' mother says police should have acted more quickly.

Pretoria Police replaced Hilton Botha after prosecutors reinstated murder charges against him. A hearing to decide whether the track star gets bail will resume Friday.

163 deaths from Syrian violence reported, including 48 in one aerial raid near DamascusSyrian general, Lebanese former minister accused of plotting terror, moving explosives from Syria. The government blamed "terrorists" for an attack on a sports stadium.

Four suspected militants were killed and seven arrested in Pakistan in a security forces operation targeting those responsible for a devastating weekend bombing on the outskirts of the city of Quetta that left scores dead, authorities said Tuesday.

The abduction of a French family, including four children, in a remote part of Cameroon has fueled fears that Western civilians living and working in parts of Africa are becoming targets of Islamist militant groups -- especially in the wake of France's military intervention in Mali.

Thieves were dressed like police and threatened air crew at gunpoint, prosecutor says. Team of eight takes only three minutes to steal the rough and polished stones from a plane's cargo hold. They breached the periphery and sped off with their haul in 2 vehicles.

Model Reeva Steenkamp was shot four times through the bathroom door at the home of Olympian Oscar Pistorius, a South African official familiar with the case told CNN on Monday.

(CNN) -- Africa is ready to host the Olympic Games for the first time despite "prejudice" against its capabilities, claims the continent's top soccer official.

A meteor streaked through the skies above Russia, exploding with a flash and boom that shattered glass in buildings and left about 1,000 people hurt, authorities said. Described as once-in-100-years event, the meteor released a 300-kiloton blast.

The number of Tibetans in China who have set themselves on fire to protest Beijing's rule has reached 100, according to Tibetan advocacy groups.

Meteorites slam into Russia as a meteor was seen streaking through morning sky, injuring more than 400 people.

Faisal al-Maqdad, a member of Bashar al-Assad's government, declares the rebellion has failed. The rebels' vow to take Damascus hasn't materialized, deputy foreign minister says. However, battles continue in the capital's southern suburbs.

"What do you have up your sleeve for your love tomorrow?" the 29-year-old asked her thousands of followers on Twitter a day before. "Get excited." Olympic "Blade Runner" Oscar Pistorius is charged with Reeva Steenkamp's murder this morning.

Transocean Deepwater Inc. will pay the second-largest environmental fine in U.S. history for its role in the deadly 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the Justice Department said Thursday.

A NATO airstrike in eastern Afghanistan late Tuesday killed 10 civilians, including children, an Afghan government official said.

A knife-wielding attacker killed at least two Japanese tourists and wounded 11 others on Tuesday in a tourist district on the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam, government officials said.

Sixteen insurgents were killed during a fierce battle after they attacked a military base in a restive area of southern Thailand early Wednesday, authorities said.