Opium production in southeast Asia's "Golden Triangle" has tripled since 2006, fueling an illicit drugs trade worth $16.3 billion, a new United Nations report says.

Officers surround a Sydney cafe as local media shows apparent hostages with their hands up. PM Tony Abbott called the incident "deeply concerning."

At Fusahiro Shimojima's workshop, in the industrial city of Saitama, fires rage in small pits and an earthen floor absorbs the din of hammering. The 44-year-old Japanese swordsmith pounds the nascent blade of his newest creation, sending molten sparks flying majestically into air.

Gayle Lemmon says the Peshawar school attack was not a one-off and we must speak out for the right of children to education -- and peace.