The United Nations’ highest court said Thursday that Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia did not break international law.
The judges voted 10-4 to pass the nonbinding opinion, setting the stage for Kosovo to renew its appeals for further international recognition.
The opinion, read by International Court of Justice President Hisashi Owada, says international law contains no “prohibition on declarations of independence” and therefore Kosovo’s declaration “did not violate general international law.”
Kosovo sparked sharp debate worldwide when it seceded from Serbia in 2008, following a bloody 1998-99 war with Serbia and nearly …

More than 1,000 people have died or disappeared in severe flooding in China so far this year, and the heaviest rains are still to come, a senior official warned Wednesday.
This year’s floods, which have caused tens of billions of dollars in damage already, have exacted the highest death toll since 1998, when the highest water levels in five decades claimed 4,150 lives.
With the typhoon season rolling in, Liu Ning, general secretary of the government’s flood prevention agency, told a news conference authorities must ramp up preparations.
“Since 60 to 80 percent …

Indonesia’s top Islamic body says it may forbid followers from drinking the world’s most expensive coffee — extracted from the dung of a civet cat — over concerns it is unclean.
Kopi Luwak is made from hard beans that have been eaten by the nocturnal critters and then fermented in their stomachs before being pooped out and roasted. It’s highly prized for its smooth flavor and bitterless aftertaste, sometimes fetching well over $200 a pound ($440 per kilogram) online.
Maruf Amien, acting head of the powerful Ulema Council, said a ruling on …

Mithun Mahato was fast asleep on an overnight train before an enormous jolt awakened him and he panicked because his coach was flipping over. He lay with his leg broken for five hours, crushed under dead bodies of other passengers as he waited for help.
The powerful crash between two express trains at a station in eastern India early Monday morning killed 61 people and injured scores more. The force of the crash was so intense the roof of one car was thrust onto an overpass above the tracks.
Accidents are common …

Twin suicide bombings killed 48 people on Sunday, including dozens from a government-backed, anti-al-Qaida militia lining up to collect their paychecks near a military base southwest of Baghdad, Iraqi officials said.
The bombings were the deadliest in a series of attacks across Iraq Sunday that were aimed at the Sons of Iraq, Sunni groups also known as Awakening Councils that work with government forces to fight al-Qaida in Iraq.
The attacks highlighted the stiff challenges the country faces as the U.S. scales back its forces in Iraq, leaving their Iraqi counterparts in …