Search-and-rescue teams combed the waters of Manila Bay on Thursday for at least 27 people missing after a passenger ferry collided with a fishing boat, the coast guard said. At least 46 people have been plucked alive from the water, and the coast guard alerted all vessels in the area to look for others, said coast guard spokesman Armand Balilo. Read More

Four suspected members of a cartel-aligned hit squad have been arrested in the slaying of the family of a Mexican marine hailed as a hero for dying in a raid that killed a top drug lord. Read More

David Goldman's bitter five-year battle to regain custody of his son neared conclusion Wednesday, when the child's Brazilian family halted its legal efforts as a court-ordered deadline for delivering the boy loomed. Read More

A high-profile Chinese dissident accused of subversion was tried at a two-hour hearing Wednesday that shut out foreign diplomats concerned over a case that reflects the communist government's deep suspicion of calls for political reform. Read More

A 60-year-old woman has been trampled to death by a surging crowd at a Christmas giveaway in northern Peru. Read More

Security forces and hard-line militiamen assaulted opposition protesters, beating men and women and firing tear gas, as thousands gathered in a central Iranian city for a memorial commemorating the country's most senior dissident cleric, who died this week. Read More

A daughter of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden has taken refuge in the Saudi Embassy in Tehran after eluding guards who have held her, her sister and four brothers under house arrest for eight years, a Saudi-owned newspaper reported Wednesday. Read More

A plane carrying Bolivian President Evo Moarales had to make an emergency landing Wednesday because of a failure in its hydraulic system, but no one was harmed, a spokesman said. Read More

It appears a southern governor kidnapped by presumed leftist rebels on his birthday had his throat slashed within a few hours of the abduction, a Colombian investigator said Wednesday. Read More

Federal authorities at Puerto Rico's main airport have arrested eight Dominicans for allegedly trying to board flights to New York using fake identification. Read More

Passengers on American Airlines Flight 331 had endured the crowded airports and delays of holiday travel, and were moments from their Caribbean destination. Suddenly, everything seemed to spin out of control. Read More

Ecuador has revoked the broadcast license for an indigenous radio station in the Amazon region over accusations it incited violence during protests in October. Read More

Coast guard says 2 vessels collide in Philippines; 46 rescued, 27 missing. Read More

North Korea, banned from selling arms by U.N. sanctions, may have gambled and lost when it dispatched 35 tons of weapons by air rather than by sea as it has done in the past. Authorities seized the plane, which may have been bound for Iran, during a refueling stop in Thailand. Read More

The Supreme Court of Canada strengthened protections for journalists and bloggers in a pair of rulings, hailed as a victory for press freedom in a country with especially stringent libel laws. Read More

Puerto Rico's top law enforcement official is resigning after less than a year in office, amid criticism about violent crime in the U.S. territory. Read More

Poland's culture minister on Wednesday promised the Auschwitz museum money to step up security after the infamous "Arbeit Macht Frei" ("Work Sets You Free") sign was stolen from the site of the former Nazi death camp. Read More

An unusually high tide flooded most of Venice early Wednesday, forcing tourists and residents to wade through knee-high waters or take to improvised, elevated boardwalks set up in St. Mark's Square and other landmarks. Read More

Doctors on Wednesday removed 14 more needles from the body of a 2-year-old Brazilian boy who was stuck in what his stepfather has said was a murder plot to spite his wife. Read More

A Mexican military helicopter has crashed in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero, killing an air force sergeant and seriously injuring two soldiers. Read More