Abbas' move reflects deep Palestinian despair
11:52
By saying he wants to step down as president, Mahmoud Abbas has highlighted a deep Palestinian despair rooted in decades of failed peace initiatives and fruitless violence. Neither strategy has yielded a Palestinian...
Ida drenches Central America, might approach US
10:00
Former Hurricane Ida drenched Central America as a tropical depression Friday and edged back out over the Caribbean, where forecasters said it had some chance of regaining force and heading toward the United States. ...
Danish man dies from wound in Guatemala mugging
9:15
A Danish tourist died Friday, two days after being shot by robbers who tried to steal his camera while he visited a cemetery. Police said two suspected gang members had been arrested. Paul Wolfgang Ritter died at a...
2 Canadians linked to Detroit imam granted bail
8:02
A judge on Friday granted bail for two Canadian men who face extradition to the U.S. on charges linked to the slain leader of a radical Detroit-area Islamic group. Mohammad Al-Sahli, 33, was granted bail of 300,000...
Austrian Holocaust institute loses key members
7:35
Key members of an Austrian Holocaust research center have quit in a dispute with the city's Jewish community. The Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies began provisional operations in January after being...
Honduras leadership in limbo as accord dissolves
7:29
They can't both be right. Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya says a deal that could have returned him to power is defunct. Roberto Micheletti, who took power after a coup, says the same deal has been successfully...
Nominee for Haitian PM clears first hurdle
6:44
Haitian senators have taken a key first step toward replacing the prime minister they ousted a week ago. In a 22-0 vote Friday, lawmakers affirmed that planning and external cooperation minister Jean-Max Bellerive...
3 Colombians die in anti-personnel mine blasts
6:43
Colombian officials say three adults have been killed and two children wounded in two related anti-personnel mine blasts in the country's northwest. The top security official in the town of Dabeiba, Wesly Uran, says...
News group: Latin American gov'ts restrict press
6:12
Populist leaders around Latin America are increasingly making legal and political moves to silence their media critics, the president of the Inter American Press Association said Friday. Tactics include revoking...
Egypt stops opposition leader from traveling to US
5:49
Egyptian authorities have prevented a leading political dissident from traveling to the U.S., saying Friday that the conditions of his early release from prison do not permit him to travel abroad. Ayman Nour, freed on...
World leaders needed at talks to cut climate deal
5:25
After two years of tough U.N. climate talks often pitting the world's rich against the poor, negotiators said Friday a new global agreement now rides on industrial nations pledging profound emissions cuts next month in...
France hunts for security driver in big bank heist
4:59
French police conducted a nationwide search Friday for a security driver who vanished with euro11 million ($7.4 million) in cash from a bank in the central city of Lyon, authorities said. Lyon prosecutor Xavier Richard...
Rights group: Iran covered up rape of detainees
4:50
An international human rights group said Friday it has documented three cases of sexual assault against detainees arrested during Iran's postelection turmoil, including one that was supported by an official report but...
Canada plans Afghan withdrawal
3:35
Canada has begun preparations to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan in 2011. Maj. Cindy Tessier said Friday that the chief of Defense staff, Gen. Walter Natynczyk, has ordered preparations to get under way that would...
Former Panamanian leader Manuel Solis dies at 91
3:26
Manuel Solis, who served briefly as president during Manuel Noriega's military regime, died Friday. He was 91. Solis died at his home from respiratory failure, said Mitchell Doens, the secretary general of the...
Cousin: US shooting suspect felt anti-Muslim bias
3:22
A cousin of the man suspected of shooting fellow soldiers at a Texas military base says he had little contact with his Palestinian relatives in the West Bank but had told family there that he suffered discrimination in...
In united Germany, love crosses old border freely
3:20
In Katrin Roller's Berlin apartment, it's the toilet paper holder that stands out _ a homemade contraption of rope and a piece of a rolling pin. That's the way her husband wants it. He grew up in the communist-imposed...
Spain refuses demand to free Somali pirates
3:16
Spain said Friday it would not free two captured pirates as demanded by fellow brigands who are holding a Spanish trawler and 33 crew members off the coast of Somalia. Three crewmen that had been removed from the...
Monaco palace: prince suing alleged spymaster
3:06
Monaco's Prince Albert II is filing a lawsuit in the U.S. against an American who claims he once worked as the prince's personal spymaster and is owed back pay, the prince's French lawyer said Friday. Claims by Robert...
Brown: UK staying in Afghanistan, but wants reform
2:58
Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Washington's closest ally in Afghanistan, toughened his tone Friday with this harsh message for the Afghan leadership: Clean up your act _ for real this time _ or risk a cutoff of support. ...
Police commander slain in Mexico's deadliest city
2:44
Authorities say gunmen have killed a police commander in Mexico's deadliest city, where a dismembered, decapitated body was found hours before. Police spokesman Jacinto Segura says Noel Martinez was shot inside his car...
G-20 officials to wrestle over economic imbalances
2:43
The world's top financial officials on Friday sought a blueprint for securing future global growth and worked to break a deadlock over who bears the cost of fighting climate change. Even as the world emerges hesitantly...
2 coalition service members missing in Afghanistan
1:47
Two American soldiers disappeared in western Afghanistan after a routine resupply mission, and more than 25 NATO and Afghan security forces members were wounded during the search mission for them, the alliance said...
Saudi: Airstrikes near Yemen targeted infiltrators
1:11
Saudi Arabia said Friday it carried out airstrikes against "infiltrators" from Yemen that were limited to areas inside Saudi territory, and vowed to press on with the military action until the border with its restive...
Parents plan Web broadcast for disabled daughter
12:59
Disabled with severe cerebral palsy, 32-year-old Anne Lamic spends her days in southeastern France mostly in bed, surrounded by stuffed animals and dolls. She cannot speak or walk, and she sometimes has seizures. Now,...
Thaksin on a mission to humiliate Thai government
11:57
Thailand's fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has spent much of the past three years roaming the globe, shopping for diamonds in Africa, golfing at Asian resorts _ and humiliating the government from a...
Diamond watchdog gives Zimbabwe time to comply
11:40
Investigators for the world's diamond control body say the gems were mined by virtual slaves who had been told to dig or die, and were smuggled out by soldiers who rape and beat civilians. Yet the Kimberley Process,...
Dalai Lama visit highlights India-China tensions
11:38
This remote town in the Himalayan foothills spruced up its monasteries Friday to prepare for the Dalai Lama's arrival, a trip highlighting the growing friction between China and India _ two nuclear-armed giants vying...
Czech, US governments discuss military cooperation
10:50
Senior U.S. and Czech defense officials held talks Friday to discuss ways for the Czech Republic to participate in a reworked U.S. missile defense plan. U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Alexander Vershbow told reporters...
Germany: Civilians likely killed in Afghan strike
10:13
Germany's defense minister said Friday he believes civilians were killed in an airstrike in Afghanistan, but insisted that the German-requested attack was necessary from a military standpoint. Karl-Theodor zu...
Pakistani army enters final militant stronghold
10:09
The Pakistani army entered the last of three militant strongholds targeted by a major offensive in the northwest on Friday, as gunmen wounded a senior army officer and a soldier in the capital. The operation in South...
Issues to resolve for Copenhagen climate talks
9:53
A list of key points negotiators hope to clarify before meeting for a decisive U.N. climate conference next month in Copenhagen, Denmark. EMISSIONS TARGETS _ Industrial nations are asked to make specific pledges for...
Miss England gives up crown after fracas reports
9:26
The reigning Miss England has relinquished her crown after being accused of a fight in a bar. Pageant organizers say Rachel Christie has also withdrawn from next month's Miss World competition in South Africa. They...
Lawyer: Man says he killed lawyer, journalist
9:25
A suspect in the killing of a human rights lawyer and a journalist has confessed to the crime, his lawyer said Friday. A Moscow court on Thursday approved the arrest of a man and a woman suspected in January's killing...
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8:12
NATO forces in Afghanistan say 2 coalition forces service members missing in west of country. ...
Russian FM optimistic on arms control treaty deal
6:19
A spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry has voiced hope that Moscow and Washington will be able to negotiate a successor to a Cold War-era arms control treaty that expires next month. Andrei Nesterenko said Friday...
Bus plunges down gorge in north India, killing 32
6:12
A crowded bus plunged down a steep mountain gorge in northern India on Friday, killing 32 people, a local official said. At least 30 other people on the bus were injured in the accident near Baner Khud, around 50...
Journalists union: Danish student jailed in Iran
5:25
Denmark's journalists union says one of its members is being held in a jail in Tehran. The Danish Union of Journalists says Niels Krogsgaard "apparently was arrested in connection with a demonstration on Wednesday." ...
Gunman wounds 3 near Tokyo in gang violence
4:41
A gunman wounded three men near Tokyo on Friday before hiding in a building and apparently killing himself _ a rare shooting spree that police said was gang-related. Police attempted to negotiate with the gunman but...
Israel rejects UN vote approving Gaza report
4:09
Israel said on Friday that a U.N. General Assembly decision to endorse a report accusing the Jewish state of war crimes lacked the support of the world's "moral majority." In a vote Thursday, the General Assembly...
Remote Indian state readies for Dalai Lama visit
3:52
Buddhist monks and nuns spruced up their monasteries and hung up welcome banners Friday in anticipation of the Dalai Lama's contentious visit to this remote Indian town near the Tibetan frontier. China has strongly...
Zimbabwe's premier counting on South Africa
3:42
Zimbabwe's prime minister says assurances South Africa will be watching persuaded him to end his boycott of his country's troubled unity Cabinet. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai told reporters late Thursday after...
Palestinian shock: President says he wants to quit
1:52
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas pushed Mideast peace prospects into unknown territory Thursday, announcing he doesn't want another term and opening the way to a succession battle that could play into the hands of...
Gang leader executed in China
1:45
A former gang leader who was the son of a high-ranking politician was executed this week in northern China after being convicted of murder, kidnapping, and extortion, state media reported. Xu Wei was executed by lethal...
Man spends 3 days in tree during Vietnam storm
1:44
The 69-year-old watchman couldn't swim so when Tropical Storm Mirinae sparked a flash flood he ran, shimmied up a tree and hung on _ for three nights and two days. After several failed attempts to rescue Phan Cao Chuc,...
10 arrested in Mexican police chief's killing
1:19
Five police officers and five other suspects were arrested Thursday in the investigation into the assassination of an army general who had been appointed police chief of this northern Mexican town over the weekend. ...
Mexican mother reunited with allegedly sold baby
9:57
A 1-year-old girl is back with her mother a year after the Mexico City doctors who delivered her allegedly sold her to another woman. Authorities handed the baby to Vanessa Castillo on Thursday after tests proved she...
Peru rebels attack army outpost, killing 1 soldier
9:08
Peru's defense minister says Shining Path rebels attacked a military outpost in the country's coca-producing highlands, killing one soldier and wounding three. The post is in Vizcatan, in southern Ayacucho province,...
Mexican environmentalists denounce beach ruling
9:04
Environmentalists expressed outrage Thursday after a Mexican judge upheld a requirement that they post a $1.1 million bond to pursue a suit against a project to rebuild Cancun beaches with tons of sand extracted from...
Venezuela sends 15,000 troops to Colombia border
8:45
President Hugo Chavez's government is sending 15,000 soldiers to the border with Colombia, saying the military buildup is needed to increase security, combat drug trafficking and root out paramilitary groups. The...