BEIJING – Japan and China agreed Sunday that a North Korea nuclear test “cannot be tolerated” and that Pyongyang should return unconditionally to six-party negotiations on its nuclear programs, the Japanese prime minister said. Shinzo Abe, speaking to reporters at the end of a day of meetings in Beijing, said …

SEATTLE – A magnitude 4.5 earthquake rattled homes east of Mount Rainier on Saturday night, but no injuries or damage were immediately reported. The quake struck just before 8 p.m. about 7 miles east of the mountain’s summit, said Tom Yelin of the University of Washington Seismology Laboratory. Yelin said …

VIENNA, Austria – Afghanistan‘s opium production has soared “out of control,” the U.N. drugs and crime agency warned Tuesday, adding that proceeds from the opium harvest were being used to fund the resurgent Taliban. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime is calling on NATO and Afghan troops to …

NEW YORK – Investigators sifted through debris inside a luxury high-rise apartment Thursday for clues to why a small airplane carrying New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle slammed into the building, killing the pitcher and a flight instructor. National Transportation Safety Board member Debbie Hersman said investigators found debris scattered …

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Monday let stand the murder conviction of Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel, who is serving a prison term of at least 20 years. The justices declined to take Skakel’s appeal of his conviction in the beating death of his Greenwich, Conn., neighbor, Martha Moxley, 31 …

RIGA, Latvia – President Bush said Tuesday he will not bow to calls to begin pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq “before the mission is complete,” setting the stage for Wednesday’s face-to-face meeting in Jordan with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and delivering a response to critics demanding an immediate withdrawal. …

WASHINGTON – Arizona Sen. John McCain will take the first step Thursday in what could be a long journey toward the Republican nomination for president in 2008, when he files paperwork with the Federal Election Commission. McCain is expected to have plenty of company, as Tommy Thompson, former Health and …

DHAKA, Bangladesh – A court in Bangladesh‘s capital on Thursday sentenced two Islamic militants to death for killing a Muslim convert to Christianity in northern Bangladesh, a prosecutor said. Judge Nur Hossain found Hafez Mahmud and Mohammad Salauddin, both members of the banned Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh group, guilty of killing …

DENVER – A computer stolen from a private contractor holds a database that may contain personal information of up to 1.4 million Coloradans, including information of anyone recently hired by any company in the state, officials said. Affiliated Computer Services Inc. this week began notifying at least 500,000 people listed …

WASHINGTON – As violence grips Iraq, some White House hopefuls want U.S. troops to start coming home now, or at least soon. Others say the United States must win at all costs. One has called for Iraq to be carved up along ethnic lines. And then there’s Sen. John McCain. …