The South Korean and Japanese defense ministers will hold talks for the first time in four years next week to discuss pressing regional issues including North Korea, Seoul said Thursday.

The talks between Han Min-Koo and his Japanese counterpart Gen Nakatani will take place on the sidelines of the May 29-31 Asia Security Summit in Singapore, the South Korean defense ministry said.

Nine honors high school students and their teacher and driver have been killed in a road accident in Mexico while on a university field trip, the state government reported.

The students had gone with a teacher and bus driver to visit a university Wednesday, according to a news release.

The United States condemned intense fighting in war-wracked South Sudan, where government forces recaptured a key rebel enclave after a weeks-long assault marred by accusations of rights abuses.

The government assault that began in late April is one of the heaviest offensives in South Sudan's 17-month-long civil war, which has cut off over 650,000 people from aid.

An election tie in Canada's Prince Edward Island province has been decided by a coin toss, local media reported Wednesday.

A judicial recount on Tuesday in one of the island's electoral districts resulted in the Liberal incumbent's victory by two votes being quashed.

World champion Lewis Hamilton deserves all the money he earns from his new three-year contract with Mercedes, according to team director Niki Lauda.

Austrian Lauda, a three-time world champion, was closely involved in the negotiations that led to Wednesday’s confirmation of a deal that is widely reported to be worth more than 100 million dollars.

Armenia and Belarus are holding up agreement on a joint declaration at the EU-Eastern Partnership summit over references to Russia's annexation of Crimea last year, diplomatic sources said Thursday.

EU leaders are meeting in the Latvian capital Riga with their counterparts from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, aiming to cement ties with the former Soviet states but without closing the door on Russia.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott Thursday ruled out helping resettle the wave of migrants fleeing to Southeast Asia, saying it would worsen the problem and "encourage people to get on boats".

Abbott, whose conservative government employs tough measures to stop boatpeople, said Australia "will do absolutely nothing that gives any encouragement to anyone to think that they can get on a boat, that they can work with people-smugglers to start a new life".

An extra-time winner by Alessandro Matri kept Juventus on track for the treble as the Serie A champions ended a 20-year wait for an Italian Cup final victory with a 2-1 win over Lazio on Wednesday.

Juventus were stunned after just four minutes when Stefan Radu rose to beat Marco Storari with a powerful header from a free-kick after Paul Pogba had given away a needless foul on the right flank.

Burundi's defense minister called on the army Thursday to close ranks after a failed coup as the security forces battle to stem weeks of violent anti-government protests.

One protester was shot dead Thursday in clashes with police in the capital Bujumbura, a witness said, the latest victim of the unrest triggered by President Pierre Nkurunziza's bid for a third term in power, in which more than 20 people have died.

Colder weather kills more people than hot spells, a probe into a key issue of public-health policy said on Thursday.

Researchers looked into 74 million deaths between 1985 and 2012 in 13 countries where there was a wide variety of climate, from chilly to subtropical.