A court tried a high-profile Chinese dissident Wednesday on subversion charges after he called for sweeping political reforms and an end to Communist Party dominance, and his brother-in-law said a verdict would be handed down on Christmas Day. Read More

A top Pakistani Taliban commander says he has sent thousands of insurgents to neighboring Afghanistan to rebuff incoming U.S. troops. Read More

Five men charged with illegal arms possession insisted their plane was headed for Sri Lanka and not Iran when it was seized in the Thai capital with a cache of North Korean weapons, their lawyer said Wednesday. Read More

Taliban leader says insurgents heading to Afghanistan in wake of Pakistani army offensive. Read More

A member of the Afghan parliament was mistakenly killed in an early morning shootout between his bodyguards and police officers, officials said Wednesday. Read More

A U.S. man involved in a five-year battle for his son is closer than ever to being reunited with the boy, and waits now to see if Brazilian relatives will comply with an order from Brazil's chief justice to give up custody. Read More

At the end of a day of anguish and frustration, President Alvaro Uribe soberly told Colombians that kidnappers had slit the throat of a southern governor during the country's first major political abduction since he took office in 2002. Read More

Japanese whalers and militant conservationists have clashed in the Antarctic Ocean over two days, with weapons including water cannon, blinding lasers and bottles of rancid acid, both sides said Wednesday. Read More

Police and soldiers donned Santa hats and red clown noses and belted out songs in crammed evacuation centers in hopes of keeping 47,000 displaced residents from sneaking back to their homes on the slopes of a lava-spilling volcano. Read More

Japan's emperor greeted thousands of well-wishers on his 76th birthday Wednesday, expressing hopes for brighter days ahead as the nation struggles to shake off its worst recession since World War II. Read More

A senior Republican senator is urging the Obama administration and European allies to consider rearming Georgia, an action that would inevitably upset Russia. Read More

Assailants on Tuesday gunned down the mother, aunt and siblings of a marine killed in a raid that took out one of Mexico's most powerful cartel leaders _ sending a chilling message to troops battling the drug war: You go after us, we wipe out your families. Read More

For a priest in northern England, the commandment that dictates "thou shalt not steal" isn't exactly written in stone. Read More

As of Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2009, at least 857 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. The department last updated its figures Tuesday at 10 a.m. EDT. Read More

Tough U.N. sanctions are putting pressure on North Korea to halt its nuclear program, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said Tuesday. Read More

Feng Zhenghu has been camping out at Tokyo's international airport for 50 days, sleeping on a blue plastic bench and surviving on handouts of crackers and noodles from passers-by. Read More

Gunmen sprayed bullets at a restaurant Tuesday where the mayor of a Texas border town was eating with a Mexican state attorney general and other officials, police said. A woman leaving the building was killed. Read More

Frustrated by an indifferent public, some of Hong Kong's democracy activists are preparing to take a political risk. Read More

Puerto Rico has adopted one of the world's toughest legal limits for drunk driving by young adults. Read More

American and Afghan relatives of Afghan President Hamid Karzai cast doubt Tuesday on Afghanistan's move to investigate the slaying of a young Karzai family member, saying the Afghan government does not want to bring the suspected killer to justice in part because of his U.S. military connectons. Read More