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Vladislav Surkov, a longtime Kremlin strategist considered the architect of the tightly controlled political system created under President Vladimir Putin, resigned his post of deputy prime minister on Wednesday. His ouster followed an unusually public feud with investigators over a criminal investigation into Skolkovo, a government project to promote innovation modeled on Silicon Valley. Surkov was overseeing the ambitious project. A statement on the Kremlin website said Surkov had resigned,...

Kurdish rebels have started their gradual retreat from Turkey to bases in northern Iraq, a Kurdish party leader said Wednesday, kicking off a key stage in the peace process with the Turkish government aimed at ending one of the world's bloodiest insurgencies. The Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, declared a cease-fire in March and agreed to withdraw guerrilla fighters from the Turkish territory, heeding a call from its imprisoned leader, Abdullah Ocalan, who is engaged in talks with Turkey to end...

Afghan police were accused of killing eight protesters at a demonstration on Wednesday as the U.S.-led coalition said it had opened an investigation into allegations of misconduct by NATO troops during an encounter with insurgents. Both incidents occurred in southern Afghanistan where violence has escalated in recent weeks following a Taliban announcement launching the start of its spring offensive. Villagers in the town of Maiwand said Afghan police opened fire on hundreds of demonstrators who...

Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday he would depart in two weeks on another trip to the Middle East to push peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Speaking to reporters alongside Israeli peace negotiator Tzipi Livni, Kerry said he'd depart on his fourth trip to the Jewish state as America's top diplomat around May 21 or 22. He will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. "We are working through threshold questions," Kerry said, ahead...

With flowers, flames and teary eyes, veterans, soldiers and European leaders celebrated peace in ceremonies around the continent marking the 68th anniversary of the Allied victory over the Nazis. The events offered a moment of reflection and illustrated the importance of European unity as the continent is struggling with economic troubles and lingering tension between Russia and the West. Graying former fighters from Russia and other Soviet republics stood proudly beneath the Soviet war memorial...

Japan has acknowledged that it conducted only a limited investigation before claiming there was no official evidence that its imperial troops coerced Asian women into sexual slavery before and during World War II. A parliamentary statement signed Tuesday by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe acknowledged the government had a set of documents produced by a postwar international military tribunal containing testimony by Japanese soldiers about abducting Chinese women as military sex slaves. That evidence...

At first, the Islamic extremists in Nigeria's dusty northeast rode on the backs of motorcycles, firing on government officials and other perceived enemies with worn Kalashnikov assault rifles hidden beneath their flowing robes. Now, they come prepared for war. When Islamic fighters drove into a town in northeast Nigeria on Tuesday, they used anti-aircraft guns, mounted on the backs of trucks, to destroy nearly every landmark of the nation's federal government. Fighters also rode in on at least...

Pakistan's prime minister has decided to ban the use of air conditioners by government offices to help cope with the country's pervasive energy shortages. A statement issued Wednesday from Prime Minister Mir Hazar Khan Khoso's office says the ban will go into effect on May 15 and will continue until the energy situation improves. Pakistan faces serious shortages of electricity and natural gas. The ban could make for a very uncomfortable summer since temperatures in Pakistan often reach 40 degrees...

South Sudan's military spokesman says a rebel force has overrun part of a town in the country's east near the border with Ethiopia. Col. Philip Aguer on Wednesday confirmed the fall of part of the town of Boma to rebels led by David Yau Yau. The rebels claim they killed 50 soldiers, but Aguer denied that was true. He said he did not have casualty figures, however. South Sudan accuses Sudan of supporting Yau Yau's rebellion, a strategy meant to block Juba's plans to build an oil pipeline into...

At least eight people were killed and nearly 40 were wounded in separate attacks across Iraq on Wednesday, officials said. The first attack took place early in the morning in the western city of Fallujah when gunmen in a speeding car sprayed a police checkpoint with bullets, killing three policemen, a police officer said. The former insurgent stronghold is about 65 kilometers (40 miles) west of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. That shooting was followed by attacks in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, where...

Guinea's leading human rights group confirmed that a member of the country's paramilitary police unit was found guilty of raping a female demonstrator inside the national soccer stadium during a pro-democracy rally in 2009. Security forces loyal to the country's now-deposed strongman encircled the stadium and opened fire on the thousands inside, in a massacre that shocked the region. Dozens of women were gang raped on the stadium turf. Souleymane Bah, of the Guinean Observatory for Human Rights,...

Suspected militants shot and killed three senior Yemeni air force pilots traveling to an air base in the country's south on Wednesday, security officials said. Two gunmen on a motorcycle intercepted the pilots' vehicle in Dubba, an area about 10 kilometers (six miles) outside Al-Annad base in the southern province of Lahj, the officials said. Al-Annad is Yemen's largest air base, which hosts a group of U.S. military advisers helping the authorities fight al-Qaida's local branch. The U.S. considers...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's challenger in September's election is trying to avoid a political speed bump. Peer Steinbrueck is trying to halt a debate set off by a Social Democrat colleague about whether to introduce speed limits on all German highways _ a potential turnoff for voters. The chairman of his party was quoted Wednesday as saying that a 75 mph (120 kph) autobahn limit would make sense because statistics suggest it would reduce serious accidents. Stretches of Germany's autobahns...

The spokesman for the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Congo confirmed that a U.N. peacekeeper was killed in South Kivu province, located in the troubled east of the country. Felix Prosper Basse told reporters during a press conference Wednesday that the Pakistani peacekeeper was killed Tuesday by unidentified assailants, who were armed. No further details were immediately available. Over 17,000 peacekeepers are deployed in Congo, especially in its volatile east, where numerous armed groups...

The United Arab Emirates says three of its citizens are in custody in Tanzania in connection with a church bombing that killed two people and injured more than 50 others. The UAE Foreign Ministry did not make clear whether the three were additional suspects in Sunday's attack in the northern city of Arusha, but it suggests they are among four alleged attackers originally identified as Saudis. Wednesday's statement said the three men were being held in Dar es Salaam. A total of six people have...

The grief-stricken Filipino family of the bride killed in a limousine fire in California had been preparing to welcome her home, but now await the return of her remains and hope to learn what caused the horrific accident that left five people dead. "We want to find out why the fire broke out, and why the driver reportedly did not help," Carlito Fojas, father of Neriza Fojas, said by telephone Wednesday from the family's northern hometown of Camiling in Tarlac province. His 31-year-old daughter...

The U.N.'s top human rights official is urging Egypt's government to make sure that a draft law on civil groups doesn't allow a security crackdown on them. Navi Pillay, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, says the draft law "risks placing civil society under the thumb of security ministries, which have a history of abusing human rights and an interest in minimizing scrutiny." She said Wednesday that a controversial constitutional referendum in December backed by Egyptian President Mohammed...

The Dalai Lama has implored Buddhist monks in Myanmar and Sri Lanka to put an end to a series of recent attacks on Muslims in their countries. The Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader spoke Tuesday night about religious violence when asked questions following a speech he delivered to 15,000 people at the University of Maryland in the United States. Myanmar, which was earlier known as Burma, has been wracked by sectarian violence that has killed hundreds and displaced more than 135,000 over the past...

Pope Francis has told nuns from around the world that they must be spiritual mothers and not "old maids." Francis also warned the sisters against using their vocations for personal ambition, saying priests and sisters who do so "do more harm to the church." Francis has complained frequently about such "careerism" in the church _ a buzzword that is frequently used to describe Holy See bureaucrats. The pope made the comments during an audience Wednesday with about 800 sisters attending an assembly...

Leading Russian activists say U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has assured them that Washington is concerned about a crackdown on Russian nongovernmental organizations that have received U.S. funding. Human Rights Watch senior researcher Tania Lokshina, one of nine activists who met with Kerry on Wednesday, said he told them he had been up until 2:30 a.m. discussing the legal pressure on NGOs with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Russia is pushing to enforce a new law that requires all...

While the recent troop standoff in a remote Himalayan desert spotlights a long-running border dispute between China and India, the two emerging giants are engaged in a rivalry for global influence that spreads much farther afield. From Africa to the Arctic, the world's two most populous countries are bumping up against each other in their search for resources and new markets. Their rivalry is spilling over into global diplomacy and international institutions where Beijing and Delhi have elbow-jabbed...

Three bombings in northwest Pakistan targeting individuals involved in this week's national elections killed 18 people, police said, pushing the death toll from attacks on candidates and party workers to over 100 since the beginning of April. Two of Tuesday's attacks targeted candidates from Islamist parties, indicating a new trend in the pre-election violence, which had only plagued secular parties before this week. The Pakistani Taliban have claimed responsibility for many of the attacks in...

A natural gas tanker truck lost control, hit a center divider and exploded on a highway lined by homes in the Mexico City suburb of Ecatepec early Tuesday, killing at least 22 people and injuring nearly three dozen, authorities said. Officials at the Citizen Safety Department of Mexico State, which surrounds the capital, did not rule out the possibility the death toll could rise. At least a dozen people remained hospitalized late Tuesday, several of them in critical condition. Gov. Eruviel Avila...

In his first response to Israel's weekend airstrikes, President Bashar Assad said Tuesday that Syria is capable of facing Israel, but stopped short of threatening retaliation for the strikes near the Syrian capital of Damascus. Assad spoke after a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, who paid an unexpected visit to Damascus. Iran, one of Syria's closest allies, and Hezbollah, a Lebanese militia allied with both Assad and Tehran, have become increasingly involved in Syria's...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited a Shanghai neighborhood where European Jews found refuge during World War II, saying Israel's strong military would ensure they would never again have to seek such protection from others. Netanyahu's visit to China's eastern financial hub on Tuesday followed Israel's weekend airstrike on a Syrian military complex near Damascus. That killed at least 42 Syrian soldiers and destroyed an Iranian shipment of guided missiles destined for Israel's sworn...

One of the Philippines' most active volcanoes rumbled to life Tuesday, spewing room-sized rocks toward nearly 30 surprised climbers, killing five and injuring others that had to be fetched with rescue helicopters and rope. The climbers and their Filipino guides had spent the night camping in two groups before setting out at daybreak for the crater of Mayon volcano when the sudden explosion of rocks, ash and plumes of smokes jolted the picturesque mountain, guide Kenneth Jesalva told ABS-CBN...

Argentina's government announced new measures on Tuesday intended to suck up undeclared dollars in response to growing pressure to abruptly devalue the nation's currency. Economy Minister Hernan Lorenzino said the new tax-free bonds and certificates of deposit will pull into the banking system the foreign currencies that Argentines have hidden under mattresses and spirited out to illegal tax havens. Both measures are being sent to congress for approval, presumably because enabling people to declare...

Nine new Egyptian ministers joined President Mohammed Morsi's Cabinet on Tuesday, including three members of his Muslim Brotherhood, in a reshuffle that officials said was aimed at addressing the country's financial woes and securing a much-needed international loan. Morsi supporters claim he wants to reach out to other political blocs, yet the Cabinet reshuffle is unlikely to ease Egypt's political polarization. The opposition complained that they were not consulted on the appointments, and said...

Coordinated attacks by Islamic extremists armed with heavy machine guns killed at least 42 people in northeast Nigeria, authorities said Tuesday, the latest in a string of increasingly bloody attacks threatening peace in Africa's most populous nation. The attack struck multiple locations in the hard-hit town of Bama in Nigeria's Borno state, where shootings and bombings have continued unstopped since an insurgency began there in 2010. Fighters raided a federal prison during their assault as well,...

Authorities in Brazil are investigating last year's killing of an alleged drug trafficker in an operation that involved police spraying part of a Rio de Janeiro slum with machine gun fire from a helicopter. Dramatic footage aired Sunday by the Globo TV network showed police shooting several bursts of bullets from the helicopter as it chased a car driven by Marcio Pereira. His bullet-riddled body is seen slumped inside the car. The incident took place May 11, 2012. A press officer for the Rio...

The Syrian regime on Tuesday dispatched an obscure proxy, a Damascus-based Palestinian militant group, to threaten retaliation for two Israeli airstrikes over the weekend. The relatively tepid response to Israel's breach of Syrian sovereignty highlighted Syrian President Bashar Assad's limited options as he, along with allies Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah, is bogged down at home in a fight for survival against armed rebels. Assad and visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi denounced...

One of Pakistan's most prominent politicians, former cricket star Imran Khan, fell at a political rally Tuesday, leaving him with two hairline skull fractures and knocking him off the campaign trail ahead of Saturday's general election. Khan has emerged as a wild-card candidate and it is unclear how much his widespread personal popularity will translate into votes at the polls. His Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, however, is considered one of the top three parties in the country. Khan was treated at...

In a tent hospital bed, a Syrian woman who was four months pregnant when she fled her country's civil war cradles one of the newest residents of this dust-swept refugee camp: Her newborn son, just delivered by cesarean. Around a dozen babies are born every day in Zaatari camp, which is home to 120,000 Syrians and counting _ and there's only one, overworked Moroccan doctor performing C-sections. Still, the clinic where he operates and several other field hospitals here performing regular births...

The discovery of three women in a Cleveland home who all had gone missing separately about a decade ago brings to mind cases of abductions elsewhere. A list of some prominent cases: JAYCEE DUGARD Dugard was abducted in June 1991 on her way to school in South Lake Tahoe, California. Then 11, she was held for 18 years by Phillip and Nancy Garrido. She was raped repeatedly by Garrido and gave birth to two daughters. Dugard was freed in 2009 after she and her two children appeared in public with...

With a hand on her chest, 82-year-old Rivka Fringeru battled back tears as she reeled off a list of names she has rarely voiced in the past 70 years: her father, Moshe, then her mother, Hava, and finally her two older brothers, Michael and Yisrael. All perished in the Holocaust after the Harabju family from Dorohoi, Romania, was rounded up in 1944 and sent to ghettos and camps. Only Rivka and her brother Marco survived, and like many others, they spent the rest of their lives trying to move on...

Scientists say a disease destroying entire crops of cassava has spread out of East Africa into the heart of the continent, is attacking plants as far south as Angola and now threatens to move west into Nigeria, the world's biggest producer of the potato-like root that helps feed 500 million Africans. "The extremely devastating results are already dramatic today but could be catastrophic tomorrow" if nothing is done to halt the Cassava Brown Streak Disease, or CBSD, scientist Claude Fauquet, co-founder...

The WWF said in a statement that suspected poachers belonging to the Seleka rebel group have entered one of Africa's most unique elephant habitats in the Central African Republic, and park guards saw them shooting in the direction of elephants. According to the WWF, a group of 17 armed men who presented themselves as belonging to Central African Republic's transitional government, which is led by the Seleka rebels, entered the Dzanga-Ndoki National Park on Monday and headed for Dzanga Bai, known...

Armed groups and high-ranking officers in the Congolese and Burundian armies are continuing to benefit from the illegal mineral trade in eastern Congo, despite international efforts to clean up the supply chain, according to a report published Tuesday by an environmental watchdog group. Although there are signs of improvement in Congo's tin and tantalum sectors, the "progress remains localized," said the report by London-based Global Witness. The gold trade in particular remains a problem. Because...

North Korea on Tuesday threatened the United States and South Korea over joint naval drills taking place this week in tense Yellow Sea waters ahead of a Washington summit by the allies' leaders. The warning, however, was softer than North Korea's recent highly bellicose rhetoric, and followed the North's removal of two missiles from a launch site where they had been readied for possible test firing, U.S. officials said. In the highly conditional threat, the section of the Korean People's Army...

The World Jewish Congress said Tuesday it is greatly concerned about the emergence of what it called neo-Nazi parties in Europe, singling out Greece's Golden Dawn, Hungary's Jobbik, and Germany's National Democratic Party. A study presented at the congress's assembly in Budapest, the Hungarian capital, highlighted the links among the growing strength of such extremist groups, the European economic crisis and latent Nazi-type tendencies in Europe. "Although neo-Nazi style movements and ideologies...

An Algeria-based al-Qaida offshoot said in an online video on Tuesday that Muslims have an obligation to attack French interests around the world because of France's military intervention in Mali. In a message posted on YouTube, Abou Obeida Youssef Al-Annabi, a notable in the Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb group, or AQIM, said the "crusade" led by France in Mali makes its interests "legitimate targets." French President Francois Hollande said he takes the threat seriously. Hollande ordered...

The Irish government said Tuesday it is pardoning nearly 5,000 men who deserted its armed forces to fight for Britain during World War II, an episode of history that brought shame and embarrassment to neutral Ireland. Justice Minister Alan Shatter said a bill pardoning the men _ mostly posthumously _ and apologizing to their families would be introduced and passed into law Tuesday. The move comes a year after he issued an official state apology to the men, who because of a government blacklist...

A court in Myanmar has charged six Muslims with murder for their alleged role in an outbreak of sectarian violence that shook the country in March, authorities said Tuesday, as a rights group raised concern over a judicial system that has so far failed to prosecute Buddhists who brutally hunted Muslims down in the streets and torched whole neighborhoods. The charges issued Monday are the latest legal action against minority Muslims in the central city of Meikthila, one of several recent flashpoints...

The 87-year-old Queen Elizabeth II will skip the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Sri Lanka this fall _ the first time she's missed the biennial gathering since 1971. The queen has long been a major supporter of the 54-nation Commonwealth. Her decision, announced Tuesday, to send Prince Charles to the Nov. 15-17 meeting in Sri Lanka appears to be part of efforts to reduce her long-distance journeys. It will also allow her to avoid attending the controversial summit, which has been...

The Norwegian government has proposed extending the maximum prison sentence for terrorism to 30 years, in the wake of Anders Behring Breivik's attacks last year that killed 77 people. In its proposals to Parliament on Tuesday, the government also put forward a motion to criminalize participation in terrorist organizations, but said courts should define such groups. Norway's Labor Party-led coalition is also calling for stricter immigration laws to facilitate expelling anyone deemed to pose a...

Libya's defense minister on Tuesday rescinded his decision to resign in protest over the continuous show of force by militias that stormed government buildings in what Mohammed Al-Barghathi described as an "assault on democracy and elected authorities." Libyan state news agency LANA quoted Al-Barghathi as saying that he withdrew his resignation based on a request from Prime Minister Ali Zidan. Al-Barghathi told reporters earlier that he had decided to resign after militias stormed several ministries...

Israel's attorney general says he will not appeal a court ruling permitting a liberal Jewish women's group to pray freely at a Jerusalem holy site. An Israeli court instructed police last month to stop detaining women for performing religious rituals and wearing garb that Orthodox Judaism reserves for men. The "Women of the Wall" movement has been trying for decades to break Orthodox control on prayer at the Western Wall, one of Judaism's holiest sites. Orthodox rabbis, who control Israeli religious...

U.S. professional poker star Phil Ivey has filed suit in a London court over what he claims are 7.8 million pounds ($12.1 million) in winnings that were withheld from him. The suit filed Tuesday in the High Court says that Ivey won the money in August playing Punto Banco at the venerable Crockfords casino in London. Ivey said he had "no alternative" but to pursue legal action against the casino. His lawyer, Matthew Dowd, said Ivey regretted the decision to go to court. Crockfords, part of the...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stopped approving new construction in West Bank settlements, two prominent Israeli activist groups said Tuesday, in what could be an attempt to clear the way for renewed peace talks with the Palestinians. Anti-settlement group Peace Now, which monitors all new Israeli settlement construction, said Netanyahu has not approved new tenders or announcements of new building plans in the settlements since he won a new term in January elections. "It seems that Netanyahu...

Soldiers from Mali and Burkina Faso pushed into the village of Ber, located 50 kilometers (30 miles) northeast of Timbuktu, which had previously been occupied by fighters from a Tuareg rebel group, the National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad, or NMLA. Malian military spokesman Capt. Samba Coulibaly spoke by telephone to The Associated Press from Ber on Tuesday. He said the town is now calm and the armed groups occupying the village appear to have fled. The village has been a focal...

China's military on Tuesday denied renewed U.S. accusations that it sponsored cyberattacks and said the two sides should cooperate against the global threat of computer crime. The accusations in the latest Pentagon report on the Chinese military are "irresponsible and harmful to the mutual trust between the sides," Senior Col. Wang Xinjun, a People's Liberation Army researcher, was quoted by the official Xinhua News Agency as saying. "The Chinese government and armed forces have never sanctioned...

Iran's presidential race got underway Tuesday as authorities officially opened the registration process for candidates in next month's election that will pick a successor to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and offer a critical test for reformists battered after years of crackdowns. The campaign is also taking shape as open season on Ahmadinejad's legacy and his combative style that bolstered his stature among supporters but brought increasing alarm from critics. Ahmadinejad is barred by law from...

A Spanish court Tuesday withdrew a subpoena for King Juan Carlos' daughter as a suspect in a corruption case, following an appeal by prosecutors. The Palma de Mallorca court said it had accepted the appeal against calling 47-year-old Princess Cristina for questioning in a case concerning the alleged embezzlement of public funds by her husband Inaki Urdangarin and his former business partner. The court summons had been a first for a member of the king's immediate family. The nearly three-year...

Pakistan warned Afghanistan on Tuesday that it would not be responsible for the consequences if a border spat between the two countries escalated further, even as hundreds of Afghans rallied in a southern city to protest the latest incidents along their country's frontier. The Pakistani warning came one day after Afghanistan lodged a similar protest with Islamabad, blaming its neighbor for a spate of shootouts near the boundary. Afghanistan had claimed Monday that its forces were fired on in...

Danish police say they found 30 dead dogs, including 25 puppies, in a freezer while investigating complaints of loud barking. Police spokesman Soeren Bach says they discovered the dogs on Monday at a 66-year-old man's house after he had refused to pay fines for disturbing the peace and ignored an April court order banning him from keeping dogs on his property in Hjoerring, northern Denmark. Bach said Tuesday that the man, who was not named, was not at home at the time. Officers had a warrant...

The U.N.'s top human rights body has appointed three experts from Australia, Serbia and Indonesia to carry out an inquiry into North Korea for possible crimes against humanity. The 47-nation U.N. Human Rights Council said Tuesday it has appointed Australian retired judge Michael Donald Kirby and Sonja Biserko, founder and president of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, to join Indonesian lawyer Marzuki Darusman on the three-member commission. Council president Remigiusz Henczel...

A Saudi journalist says he has been banned from writing in a Saudi newspaper after criticizing the Interior Ministry. Ali al-Elayan wrote on his Twitter account Tuesday that Al-Watan daily has stopped him from writing after publishing his last column, entitled "first message to Mohammed bin Nayef." Prince Mohammed bin Nayef is the Interior Minister. In his message, he urged the minister to pay attention to the complaints of a large number of citizens about the increasing incidents of theft and...

China's ruling Communist Party has punished 21 officials over a scandal in which they allegedly were extorted by real estate developers after being secretly filmed in liaisons with hired women. The official Xinhua News Agency said Tuesday that the party's disciplinary body in the central city of Chongqing had stripped former local district party chief Lei Zhengfu of his party membership. The scandal broke after footage of Lei having sex with one of the women was leaked on the Internet. Images...

Pope Francis will visit one of Rio de Janeiro's favelas, or slums, during his weeklong visit to Brazil for World Youth Day, his first foreign trip as pontiff. The Vatican on Tuesday released Francis' itinerary for the July 22-29 trip to the world's largest Roman Catholic country. It includes a meeting with prisoners and a visit to a Rio hospital as well as events linked to the Catholic Church's youth festival. The 76-year-old Francis will remain mostly in Rio but will make a daylong side trip...

Turkey's prime minister has denounced Israeli airstrikes on Syria, saying the attacks help strengthen Syrian President Bashar Assad's hand. Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday also criticized Iran for "turning a blind eye" to massacres in Syria and accused the international community of ignoring the bloodshed. Addressing party members in Parliament, Erdogan said the Israeli airstrikes into Syria were "unacceptable" and amounted to "handing over (to Assad) opportunities on a golden tray." Erdogan...

A Yemeni security official says tribal gunmen have kidnapped two Egyptian technicians working in a cement factory in the south. The official said the tribesmen abducted the two on Monday in Abyan province and took them to an unknown destination at gunpoint. The security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity according to regulations, said authorities are trying to find out the identity of the kidnappers and if there were any demands. He said he could not reveal the names of the Egyptians....

French authorities say six suspected members of Basque separatist group ETA have been detained in simultaneous police operations at three sites around France. The Interior Ministry says the six were detained Tuesday. Unusually, the three sites lay beyond traditional Basque country in southwest France: Blois in central France, Montpellier near the Mediterranean coast, and Brive-la-Gaillarde, northeast of Bordeaux. The ministry, in a statement, describes the six as "active members of clandestine...

About 20,000 protesters thronged Bolotnaya Square across from the Kremlin on Monday, a year after a protest at the same spot turned violent on the eve of President Vladimir Putin's inauguration. Monday's turnout _ far less than the 100,000 or more who marched through Moscow with giddy optimism ahead of Putin's election to a third term _ reflected a wariness that has sapped energy from the protest movement. As a result of last year's protest, 27 people face charges that could send them to prison...

Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim pledged Tuesday to mount a "fierce movement" to challenge what he called fraudulent election results that kept the country's long-ruling coalition in power, although with a diminished majority. The opposition's refusal to accept the outcome could complicate efforts to restore political certainty to a country where millions of voters pushed for an end to the National Front coalition's nearly 56-year rule because of accusations of government graft and racial...

In majority Muslim Pakistan, religious minorities say democracy is killing them. Intolerance has been on the rise for the past five years under Pakistan's democratically elected government because of the growing violence of Islamic radicals, who are then courted by political parties, say many in the country's communities of Shiite Muslims, Christians, Hindus and other minorities. On Saturday, the country will elect a new parliament, marking the first time one elected government is replaced by...

India's foreign minister will visit China this week as the two Asian giants confirm they have ended a three-week standoff on their disputed Himalayan border. External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid will hold discussions in Beijing on Thursday, an Indian foreign ministry statement said. The trip comes ahead of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's scheduled visit to India later this month. New Delhi says Chinese troops crossed the de facto border and infiltrated Indian territory on April 15. About 50...

The nuns' habits didn't seem to be habitual garb for three young women so Colombian police asked them to step aside when they arrived on the Caribbean island of San Andres on a flight from Bogota. Police Capt. Oscar Davila says the three women appeared nervous, and the fabric didn't look right. The chief of the island's judicial police says more than four pounds of cocaine (two kilos) was strapped to the legs of each woman. Davila says all three broke into tears and launched into tales of financial...

Jamaica's Cabinet says a commission of inquiry should be held into a deadly 2010 raid by security forces during a state of emergency. In a Monday statement, the Cabinet says it will consider framing terms of reference for a possible fact-finding panel. The announcement comes a few days after Public Defender Earl Witter delivered to Parliament an interim report into the offensive by military and police that he says killed 76 civilians and one soldier in the Kingston slum of Tivoli Gardens. The...

U.S. diplomats have been given no access to a California man held in Venezuela for nearly two weeks in what his family on Monday called a "nightmare" that unfolded after he was accused of being a spy fomenting postelection unrest. The family of Timothy Tracy, 35, told The Associated Press in a statement that "we hope that he is granted consular access very soon." The U.S. State Department confirmed that diplomats have not been allowed to see Tracy, who is held by the Venezuelan intelligence...

A Cuban intelligence agent who spent 13 years in a U.S. prison said Monday he still has affection for America and hopes to see the two countries reconcile, but added that he does not regret for a moment his decision to spy for Cuba. Rene Gonzalez also told The Associated Press he would welcome an exchange of prisoners that would send a jailed U.S. government subcontractor home in return for freedom for four other Cuban agents serving sentences in America. Speaking soon after renouncing his U.S....

A mayor in Peru says 14 civilians were wounded by bullets and shotgun pellets when police and soldiers fired on a minibus in an eastern jungle region where leftist Shining Path rebels are active. Mayor Rosalio Sanchez of Kepashiato says four of those wounded in the incident early Monday were flown by helicopter to nearby Quillabamba while the less seriously injured were evacuated by road. A military statement says security forces began shooting after the van made strange movements and did not...

From Israel's perspective, its airstrikes near Damascus were more about Iran than Syria: Tehran's shipment of guided missiles destroyed in the weekend attacks would have posed a potent threat had the weapons reached Iranian proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon. While Israel says it has no interest getting involved in the Syrian civil war, it could find itself drawn into the conflict if Syrian leader Bashar Assad's Iranian patrons continue to use his territory to ship arms to Hezbollah. Repeated Israeli...

Mexico saw a wave of killings over the weekend, despite what the government says is a drop in the number of deaths related to drug violence. In the northern state of Sinaloa, 17 bodies were found over the weekend, including six dumped in a pile along a highway. The Sinaloa state prosecutors' office said two of the men were decapitated. The discovery on Sunday came just over two weeks after another pile of six bodies was found in another Sinaloa town. State Attorney General Marco Antonio Higuera...

Haitians have been fleeing their troubled country for years, trying to reach the U.S. or other Caribbean islands by sea or by trekking across the island of Hispaniola to scratch out a living in the Dominican Republic. But a newly popular route has caught officials in the Caribbean by surprise, taking migrants to a piece of the U.S. much closer to home. Hundreds of Haitian migrants have made their way to Puerto Rico in recent months. They've found that if they can make it to the U.S. territory...

Giulio Andreotti personified the nation he helped shape, the good and the bad. One of Italy's most important postwar figures, he helped draft the country's constitution after World War II, served seven times as premier and spent 60 years in Parliament. But the Christian Democrat who was friends with popes and cardinals was also a controversial figure who survived corruption scandals and allegations of aiding the Mafia: Andreotti was accused of exchanging a "kiss of honor" with the mob's longtime...

An airport official in the capital of Niger says a military plane from Nigeria has crashed, killing the two people aboard. Chaibou Massalatchi, the head of Niamey's airport, said the plane had taken off Monday to do a reconnaissance mission. The Nigerian military is taking part in the regional effort to support France's operation in northern Mali. Nigerian Brig. Gen. Chris Olukolade said two pilots were killed when the Alpha jet fighter went down 37 miles (60 kilometers) west of Niamey. France...

It was hardly the look of the victorious. Wearing a bright blue shirt and a grim expression, Prime Minister Najib Razak appeared before the media on Monday to somberly acknowledge that his coalition had won general elections for the 13th time in a row. He had reason to be cheerless. The National Front coalition's victory in Sunday's parliamentary elections despite losing the popular vote has not only exposed the entrenched racial divide in the country but also a new schism _ between the rural...

About 20,000 protesters thronged Bolotnaya Square across from the Kremlin on Monday, a year after a protest at the same spot turned violent on the eve of President Vladimir Putin's inauguration. Monday's turnout _ far less than the 100,000 or more who marched through Moscow with giddy optimism ahead of Putin's election to a third term _ reflected a wariness that has sapped energy from the protest movement. As a result of last year's protest, 27 people face charges that could send them to prison...

A number of Libyan militias refused to back down on Monday from their protests outside government buildings, despite passage of a sweeping law that bans anyone who served as a senior official under Moammar Gadhafi from working in government. The militiamen, some manning machine guns mounted on trucks, had been pushing for the law's passage. But some still remained outside the Justice and Foreign Ministry buildings, where several raised signs demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Ali Zidan....

Syrian rebels shot down a military helicopter in the country's east, killing eight government troops on board as President Bashar Assad's troops battled opposition forces inside a sprawling military air base in the north for the second straight day, activists said Monday. The downing of the helicopter was a welcome victory for rebels fighting to oust Assad as the two sides remain locked in stalemate in the more than 2-year-old conflict. In Geneva, a U.N. commission probing alleged war crimes...

A 93-year-old man who was deported from the U.S. for lying about his Nazi past was arrested by German authorities Monday on allegations he served as an Auschwitz death camp guard, Stuttgart prosecutors said. Hans Lipschis was taken into custody after authorities concluded there was "compelling evidence" he was involved in crimes at Auschwitz while there from 1941 to 1945, prosecutor Claudia Krauth said. Lipschis has acknowledged being assigned to an SS guard unit at Auschwitz but maintains he...

Armed with rocket-propelled grenades and Kalashnikov rifles, Seleka rebels who ousted Central African Republic's president six weeks ago are solidifying their control over the country's lucrative diamond industry and have even been selling some of the stones, witnesses here in the isolated and violent north say. Rebels have for several years controlled some of the diamond-producing areas in the north, but with the overthrow of President Francois Bozize in March the Seleka rebel coalition now is...

Kosovo police have arrested a suspected Balkan drug kingpin who is wanted on an international arrest warrant and blacklisted by U.S. authorities. Naser Kelmendi, 56, is a Kosovo-born ethnic Albanian businessman who police say allegedly runs a major cocaine and heroin organization from a family-owned hotel in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo. Special organized crime police arrested Kelmendi late Sunday in the Kosovo capital of Pristina, police spokesman Brahim Sadriu said Monday. A second suspect...

Myanmar President Thein Sein, nearly one year after sectarian violence first exploded under his watch, vowed Monday his government would do everything it can to protect the rights of minority Muslims living in the predominantly Buddhist nation. The promise came amid fears that the religious unrest, which has morphed into a campaign against the country's Muslim community, could spread further after a new round of attacks last week saw several Muslim villages north of the main city Yangon burned...

A bomb blast tore through a political rally held by an Islamist party in northwest Pakistan Monday, in an attack claimed by the Pakistani Taliban that killed 16 people and underscored an increase in violence ahead of the May 11 vote. The explosion, at a rally held in the village of Sewak in the northwest Kurram tribal area, was the latest attack on candidates, political offices and election-related events as the vote approaches. Much of the violence is believed to have been carried out by the...

In a story April 29 about a report estimating the number of Somalis who died in the country's 2011 famine, The Associated Press erroneously reported that about half of the 260,000 victims were age 5 and under. Instead, half of the victims were under the age of 5. A corrected version of the story is below: APNewsBreak: Report: 260,000 died in Somali famine APNewsBreak: 260,000 died in 2011 Somali famine, new report say; half were under 5 By JASON STRAZIUSO Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP)...

China is hosting both the Palestinian and Israeli leaders this week in a sign of its desire for a larger role in the Middle East. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was welcomed by his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing on Monday, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began a visit to the eastern financial hub of Shanghai. Netanyahu is due in Beijing on Wednesday following Abbas' departure a day earlier. China's Foreign Ministry said last week it would be willing to help set up...

An alleged German neo-Nazi accused of involvement in a 10-person killing spree appeared confident and calm Monday as her murder trial opened amid tight security, intense media interest and an immediate request by the defense for a new judge. Beate Zschaepe _ said to be the sole surviving member of a gang behind the murders _ entered the court in a dark suit, her arms folded, before turning her back to the cameras and appearing to joke with her lawyers. The hearing began with two motions from...

Police banned all rallies in Bangladesh's capital through midnight Monday after at least 27 people died in clashes between police and Islamic hardliners demanding that the government enact an anti-blasphemy law, officials said. The protesters blocked roads with burning tires and logs during more than five hours of clashes. They also attacked a police station and set fire to at least 30 vehicles, including police trucks, private Ekattar TV reported. A police official, speaking on customary condition...

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe urged African intelligence services Monday to prepare for fresh onslaughts??by foreigners and the continent's former colonizers to grasp its natural resources and potential wealth. ??Mugabe said Africa's vast reserves of untapped resources and the world-wide recession have triggered a new scramble for control of its "raw wealth." Opening a convention of the continent-wide 49-nation Committee of Intelligence and Security Services, ??Mugabe said outsiders have used...

In most major cities, street artists create their works under cover of darkness, spray-painting their graffiti quickly to elude arrest. Not so in Buenos Aires, where painters have found a surplus of empty walls to splash their colors on, building owners who readily consent to having their walls painted, and a local government that has subsidized some of the urban murals. Buenos Aires' welcoming attitude has made it one of the world's top capitals for international street muralists, drawing well-known...

Bangladeshi police are investigating possible murder charges against the owner of a shoddily built factory that collapsed nearly two weeks ago after the wife of a garment worker crushed in the accident filed a complaint. The development comes as officials said Monday that the death toll from the country's worst industrial disaster had reached 675. Sheuli Akter, the wife of Jahangir Alam, filed the complaint with Dhaka magistrate Wasim Sheikh, saying her husband and other workers were "pushed...

Tuareg leaders in northern Mali have formed a new group which they say will aim to negotiate with the Malian government, as questions linger over the future of the Kidal region. In a statement announcing the launch of the High Council for the Azawad, organizers said they are not seeking independence from Mali and instead want dialogue. But the new body appears to be led by several of the same Tuareg dignitaries who earlier backed the National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad, or NMLA,...

Chinese actress Li Bingbing is in Kenya to bring attention to the growing problem of elephants slaughtered for the international ivory trade. Bingbing on Tuesday urged governments and consumers to combat the illegal wildlife trade. She told a news conference that Africa's poaching crisis raises major concerns about the survival of elephants and rhinos in Kenya. She noted that such deaths are linked to organized crime and the funding of armed militias. Former NBA star Yao Ming has also visited...

Somalia's president over the weekend received the country's first pieces of mail in more than two decades. It's the kind of small but hopeful development that leaders meeting in London on Tuesday want to see more of. Britain and Somalia on Tuesday co-host an international donors' conference that aims to provide international support for the Somali government as it continues to leave behind two decades of conflict. Though Mogadishu still suffers from intermittent terror attacks by the Islamic...

The highest profile trial of neo-Nazis in years began Monday in Munich, with four men and a woman facing charges in the killings of nine ethnic minority businessmen _ eight Turks and one Greek _ and a German policewoman between 2000 and 2007. The case has led to soul-searching in Germany over the treatment of immigrants and the role of the police in combating right-wing extremism. Here is a look at the alleged victims of the self-styled National Socialist Underground: _ Enver Simsek, a 38-year-old...

A journalist for an Iranian news website says its editor has been arrested after reporting that there is an audiotape of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad discussing vote rigging in his disputed 2009 re-election. Ahmadinejad's office strongly denied last month's report on the Baztab website, and so far, no audiotape has surfaced. The president's supporters claim the purported tape was an attempt to undermine Ahmadinejad's attempts to get his protege on the June 14 presidential ballot that will pick...

A Kenyan court on Monday sentenced two Iranian nationals convicted of plotting attacks against Western targets to life in prison. Ahmad Abolfathi Mohammad and Sayed Mansour Mousavi were arrested in June 2012 and led officials to a 15-kilogram (33-pound) stash of the explosive RDX. Officials in Kenya say the two suspects may have been planning attacks on Israeli, American, British or Saudi Arabian interests in Kenya. Magistrate Kiarie Waweru Kiarie sentenced the two to life in prison for committing...

Egyptian police officials say a bystander returning home after visiting his aunt was killed in a shootout involving the prime minister's convoy. The incident occurred late Sunday when five men in a pickup truck fired birdshot at the convoy during a traffic argument on a Cairo bridge, not realizing the vehicles were part of Prime Minister Hesham Kandil's motorcade. Police officials say motorist Taha Sayed Hassan was hit by the birdshot. They say he died of his wounds Monday. The prime minister's...

Lawyers for Kenyans tortured during a rebellion against colonial rule in the 1950s said Monday that they are negotiating with the British government over a possible settlement. An agreement to pay compensation could have broad implications for thousands of people who say they were abused by authorities in Britain's former colonies. Law firm Leigh Day, which represents three elderly Kenyans seeking compensation, confirmed talks were taking place, but gave no other details, "due to the nature of...