Trial for captain in deadly shipwreck in Italy
ROME -- A judge in Italy has ordered the captain of the Costa Concordia to stand trial in the shipwreck of the cruise liner, which struck a reef off Tuscany last year, killing 32 people.
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North Korean leader sends special envoy to China
PYONGYANG, North Korea -- After months of ignoring China's warnings to give up its nuclear program, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sent a high-level confidant to Beijing on Wednesday, in a possible effort to mend strained ties with its most important ally and the latest sign that Pyongyang may be giving diplomacy a chance.
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Afghan students protest women's rights decree
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Hard-line Islamist students protested Wednesday in the Afghan capital demanding the repeal of a presidential decree for women's rights that they say is un-Islamic. It was the latest sign of a backlash against the legal protections passed in the 12 years since the toppling of the Taliban regime known for its harsh treatment of women.
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Syrian opposition urges rebels to join key battle
BEIRUT -- Syria's main opposition group is urging rebels to come from around the country to reinforce Qusair, a western town under attack by Syrian troops and members of Lebanon's Hezbollah group.
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7 Egyptian security men kidnapped in Sinai freed
CAIRO -- Six Egyptian policemen and a border guard kidnapped by suspected militants in the volatile Sinai Peninsula last week were freed by their captors Wednesday after successful mediation, the country's military spokesman said.
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Chinese premier begins 2-day visit to Pakistan
ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan says it shares "identical views" on foreign policy with China, whose premier is beginning a two-day visit to Islamabad in the latest sign of the tight relationship between the two Asian powers.
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Egypt troops in Sinai sweep mistakenly hit funeral
CAIRO -- Egyptian troops and police mistakenly fired on a Bedouin funeral in the Sinai Peninsula on Tuesday, security officials said, in the opening salvo of a sweep searching for security personnel kidnapped by suspected militants.
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Soldiers flood western Mexico to protect towns
COALCOMAN, Mexico -- Mexico's top security officials promised Tuesday that a new federal offensive to rescue towns besieged by the Knights Templar drug cartel in western Michoacan state would stay "until there is security and peace for all state residents."
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Car bomb, other attacks kill 20 in Iraq
BAGHDAD -- A car bomb exploded as Sunni worshippers were leaving a mosque after evening prayers Tuesday in Baghdad, the deadliest in a string of attacks that killed at least 20 people nationwide in a week of the most sustained sectarian violence in the country since U.S. troops withdrew more than a year ago.
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Protesters hurl firebombs as Chile leader speaks
SANTIAGO, Chile -- Bands of young people hurling firebombs and stones clashed with police outside Chile's congress Tuesday after thousands of students and workers staged a protest march before President Sebastian Pinera's final state of the nation speech.
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Gay marriage bill clears UK House of Commons
LONDON -- Britain's House of Commons has passed a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in England and Wales.
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Warsaw ghetto insurgent Boruch Spiegel dies at 93
WARSAW, Poland -- Boruch Spiegel, one of the last remaining survivors of the Warsaw ghetto uprising, a 1943 revolt by poorly armed Jewish insurgents against the powerful Nazi German force that occupied Poland during World War II, has died. He was 93.
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Myanmar Muslims jailed for killing Buddhist monk
MEIKHTILA, Myanmar -- A Myanmar court sentenced seven Muslims to prison Tuesday -- one of them to a life term -- in the killing of a Buddhist monk amid deadly sectarian violence that was overwhelmingly directed against minority Muslims but has not led to any criminal trials against members of the country's Buddhist majority.
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Suicide at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris
PARIS-- Crowds of visitors were cleared out of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris after a man put a letter on the altar of the 850-year-old monument Tuesday, pulled out a gun and shot himself in the head, the cathedral's rector said.
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Syria, Israel exchange fire over border
DAMASCUS, Syria -- Syria said Tuesday it destroyed an Israeli vehicle that crossed the ceasefire line in the Golan Heights overnight, while the Israeli military said gunfire from Syria had hit an Israeli patrol, damaging a vehicle and prompting its troops to fire back.
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Roadside bomb kills 6 policemen in Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan -- A powerful roadside bomb killed six policemen in western Afghanistan on Tuesday when their vehicle hit the explosives buried in the road, an Afghan official said.
