Brazil suspends fines for Amazon razing by farmers
5:19
A presidential decree Friday will suspend up to an estimated $5.7 billion in fines and give landowners two more years to comply with environmental regulations meant to stop the razing of the Brazilian rain forest. A...
Top UN official: Civil effort needs restructuring
4:29
The top U.N. official in Afghanistan said Friday he will step down early next year after a rocky two-year tenure marked by a fraud-marred national election and a deadly Taliban attack on U.N. employees. The departure...
UK court issues injunction in Woods case
4:17
A British judge has barred journalists in the country from publishing some material about golfer Tiger Woods. An injunction issued Thursday even blocks media including The Associated Press from revealing the details of...
Saudi crown prince returns after medical treatment
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Saudi Arabia's crown prince returned home Friday after a yearlong absence for treatment of an undisclosed illness that sparked rumors about his health and raised questions about the complicated issue of royal succession...
Trial begins for Argentina's 'Angel of Death'
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A former Argentine navy spy nicknamed the "Angel of Death" went on trial Friday for his alleged involvement in the disappearance and torture of dissidents during the country's military dictatorship. Alfredo Astiz, 58,...
Police: Body of Cyprus president stolen from grave
3:19
Grave robbers stole the corpse of former hardline Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos, digging up his coffin during a thunderstorm just before the first anniversary of his death, police said Friday. The body-snatching...
First new EU summit shows old indecision
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The European Union was supposed to make a decisive show of unity at its first summit since sweeping reforms streamlined its decision-making procession. The meeting had a simple agenda: agree on a climate change fund...
Romania's court orders void votes re-examined
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Romania's Constitutional Court ordered a re-examination of voided ballots from the country's disputed presidential election, prolonging months of political uncertainty. Analysts predicted, however, that the ruling was...
Turkey bans pro-Kurdish party over ties to rebels
2:20
Turkey's top court on Friday banned a pro-Kurdish political party on charges of ties to Kurdish rebels, a decision likely to disrupt a struggling reconciliation process between the state and minority Kurds. Hasim...
Amnesty blasts Iraq over treatment of Iran exiles
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Amnesty International on Friday warned that Iraq's plans to move an Iranian opposition group to a former desert detention camp in the country's remote south would put them at risk of arbitrary arrest and torture. ...
Venezuela detains 2 in student's slaying
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Venezuelan authorities have detained two suspects in the killing of a university student whose death sparked protests by fellow students. Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami says the two young men are being questioned...
Nobel award in hand, Obama faces hard work at home
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With a Nobel Peace Prize in hand, President Barack Obama returned to the grind of governing, refocusing on his top domestic priority as the Senate moves toward a pivotal moment on legislation to remake the nation's...
Pope will write letter to Irish Catholics on abuse
12:38
Pope Benedict XVI is deeply disturbed by a child sex-abuse scandal in Ireland and will write a letter to Catholics there on the church's response to a report that found the church shielded more than 100 child-abusing...
Philippines grapples with disarming wild militia
12:38
Thousands of militiamen trained and armed by the Philippine government have protected the country's major cities and towns from Muslim and communist rebels for decades by backing up an overstretched army. But the...
Experts: Somali Islamists improving tactics, bombs
12:30
Somali Islamist insurgents have imported terrorist tactics and technology used with deadly results in Iraq and Afghanistan, threatening the African country's beleaguered government and causing alarm as far as...
NKorea to work with US to resolve 'differences'
12:29
North Korea announced Friday that it will work with Washington to resolve "differences" over restarting nuclear disarmament talks, but observers said it was too early to declare a U.S. diplomat's mission to Pyongyang a...
Zimbabwe's Mugabe: Divisions destroying his party
12:28
Zimbabwe's president said Friday that internal divisions are destroying the party that has kept him in power for nearly three decades. Robert Mugabe told about 10,000 delegates at a gathering of his ZANU-PF party that...
Defense secy tells US troops Iraq mission critical
12:20
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday that plans are on track to reduce American forces in Iraq next year and warned that neighboring Iran risks sanctions soon if it fails to cooperate on its controversial...
Russia: Officials fired in lawyer jail death probe
12:05
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev fired 20 senior prison officials, including the capital's prison chief, following a probe into the death of a jailed lawyer, officials said Friday. The death of Sergei Magnitsky caused...
Chinese official calls US negotiator irresponsible
11:43
China's Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei on Friday said the chief U.S. climate negotiator either lacks common sense or is "extremely irresponsible" for saying that no U.S. climate financing should be going to China. In...
Decision to create new Indian state sparks protest
11:27
Protesters took to the streets Friday, setting public buses on fire and clashing with police, in anger over India's decision to carve a new state out of the southern region of Andhra Pradesh. The conflict highlighted...
How much EU countries committing to climate fund
10:52
European Union leaders agreed at a summit Friday to come up with $3.6 billion a year through 2012, or a total of $10.8 billion over three years, to help pay developing nations to cut emissions and adapt to climate...
For Iraq, Afghanistan and us, decade of war
10:49
It was early April 2003. The city of Mosul in northern Iraq was in free fall. The holdout units of Saddam Hussein's military had abandoned their posts sometime during the night. By midmorning, looters were helping...
Iranian hard-liners hold pro-government rallies
10:38
Thousands of Iranian government supporters staged rallies Friday to denounce opposition students who burned photos of the country's supreme leader in protests this week. At marches in Tehran and other cities after...
NATO officials: Russian should give Afghan arms
10:36
NATO plans to ask Russia to contribute more to the escalating Afghan war by donating AK-47 assault rifles, grenade launchers, artillery, armored vehicles and other weapons to the expanding Afghan army, officials said...
Pope, Vietnamese president try for closer ties
9:52
The Vatican called a meeting between Pope Benedict XVI and the president of Vietnam on Friday "a significant stage" in efforts for closer ties between the communist country and the Holy See. President Nguyen Minh Triet...
EU nations commit $3.6 billion to climate fund
9:26
EU leaders agreed Friday to commit euro2.4 billion ($3.6 billion) a year until 2012 to help poorer countries combat global warming, as they sought to rescue their image as climate change innovators and bolster the talks...
Hurdles remain even if climate deal is reached
9:25
For Indonesian farmers, burning down rain forests is the cheapest and fastest way to clear land for palm oil and pulp and paper plantations. The millions of acres they burn every year has made their Southeast Asian...
Australia threatens Japan over whaling program
9:14
Australia's prime minister threatened legal action against Japan on Friday if it does not stop its research whaling program that kills up to 1,000 whales a year. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's comments came as the...
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Afghan police say 2 officers, 3 civilians killed by suicide bomber on a motorcycle. ...
Guinea's No. 2 warns army to remain disciplined
8:58
The No. 2 of Guinea's military junta said Friday that the army has to change and a lack of discipline won't be tolerated. Gen. Sekouba Konate addressed the Guinean army more than a week after a renegade soldier tried...
New Berlin airport to be named "Willy Brandt"
8:44
Officials say Berlin's new airport will be named after Willy Brandt, the former West German leader who championed East-West relations and won the Nobel Peace Prize. The new airport _ an expansion of the former East...
Uganda government outlaws female circumcision
8:22
Uganda's parliament has approved a bill banning female genital mutilation. Minister of Ethics and Integrity James Nsaba Buturo said that the new law, passed without opposition late Thursday, could give offenders a life...
Former Madagascar president stuck in Mozambique
7:59
A former Madagascar president says he has been unable to return to his homeland since participating in talks in Mozambique that angered Madagascar's current leader. Attempts to reach Albert Zafy in Maputo were...
Zelaya will leave Brazil Embassy by Jan. 27
7:08
Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya says he will leave the Brazilian Embassy in Honduras by Jan. 27, when his presidential term ends, according to an interview broadcast Friday. Zelaya said in the telephone...
6:38
French leader says EU agrees to reduce emissions by 30 percent of 1990 levels by 2020. ...
Sri Lankan war allies, now political enemies
6:19
Just a few months ago, Sri Lanka's president and its army chief were strong allies, working closely together to defeat the Tamil Tiger rebels and end the nation's 25-year civil war. Now the two men hailed as national...
Assailants vandalize West Bank mosque
6:03
Assailants vandalized a Palestinian mosque early Friday, burning prayer carpets and holy books, and leaving behind Hebrew graffiti indicating the rampage was the work of settlers angry over Israel's plans to curb...
Thai spy pardoned by Cambodian king amid tensions
6:01
Cambodia's king pardoned a Thai man Friday three days after he was sentenced to seven years in prison for spying on Thailand's fugitive ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in a case that soured relations between the...
Top UN official in Afghanistan to resign
5:38
Norwegian news agency NTB says the top United Nations official in Afghanistan is stepping down from his post. NTB quotes Norwegian diplomat Kai Eide as saying that he has asked Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to begin...
High-profile Chinese dissident is indicted
5:13
A high-profile dissident who has called for political reform in China has been indicted on subversion charges and will likely be tried within four to six weeks, his lawyer said Friday. Liu Xiaobo, 53, is a literary...
US Marines train illiterate farmers to be police
4:53
The U.S. Marines were tense looking for bombs buried near a mud compound in this remote farming town in southern Afghanistan. Their new Afghan police colleagues were little help, joking around and sucking on lollipops...
Israel arrests Palestinian barrier protest leader
3:57
A leader of the most persistent Palestinian protest movement against Israel's West Bank separation barrier was asleep in his home when troops broke down his door and arrested him. Supporters of Abdullah Abu Rahmeh, a...
Secretary Gates predicts more sanctions for Iran
3:54
Defense Secretary Robert Gates predicted significant international sanctions would be levied against Iran, and he reiterated that all options, including military action, must stay on the table. But, Gates added, "any...
German minister visits area of Afghan airstrike
3:32
Germany's defense minister on Friday traveled to a northern Afghan region where a September airstrike is believed to have killed many civilians, an attack that has caused political turbulence in Berlin. Karl-Theodor zu...
Australia issues shipping alert over giant iceberg
2:37
Australia's Bureau of Meteorology issued a shipping alert Friday after a massive iceberg was spotted 1,100 miles (1,700 kilometers) off the country's southwestern coast. Glaciologist Neal Young of the Australian...
US military: US soldier dies in Iraq
2:34
The U.S. military says an American soldier in Iraq has died of injuries unrelated to combat. The military says the Multi-National Corps-Iraq soldier died Thursday. A military statement says the name of the soldier is...
Activist: China black jail guard convicted of rape
1:24
A guard at an unofficial detention center in Beijing was sentenced Friday to eight years in prison for raping a young female detainee, an activist said, in a case that put a spotlight on "black jails" that hold a...
8 killed in separate attacks in Mexican state
12:31
At least seven federal police officers and a civilian were killed in Michoacan state in several attacks by gunmen against federal agents in less than 24 hours, state prosecutors said. Two federal agents were killed...
OAS court condemns Mexico probes of women slayings
11:44
The Interamerican Court of Human Rights has criticized Mexico for a lack of diligence in investigating the slayings of three young women in the violent border city of Ciudad Juarez. The court, which issued the ruling...