Staggered explosions apparently targeting Shiite Muslim pilgrims killed at least 13 people and injured 74 on Thursday, authorities said, raising fears of further sectarian attacks at the approach of Shiite Islam's most solemn holiday. Read More

A senior Hamas official says the group will respond by next week to Israel's latest counteroffer on swapping Palestinian prisoners for a captured Israeli soldier. Read More

The Roman Catholic Church's top cleric in the Holy Land is delivering Christmas wishes for long-elusive peace in the Middle East. Read More

A brother of Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams will not voluntarily surrender to Northern Ireland police to face 23 charges of sexually assaulting his daughter for years, his lawyer said Thursday. Read More

No Christmas decorations brighten the tent camp sheltering Christians left homeless by the worst violence against minorities in Pakistan this year. Instead, there is a pervasive sense of fear. Read More

Georgia's Foreign Ministry says it has reached a deal with Russia to open a border crossing that has been closed for three years. Read More

Iraqi officials: 11 killed, dozens injured in related blasts targeting Shiite pilgrims. Read More

A Brazilian family delivered a 9-year-old boy to his American father in Brazil on Thursday, ending a five-year custody battle. Read More

Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama apologized after two former aides were charged Thursday with making false financial reports but refused to step down, saying he did not know about the dubious money. Read More

Police with bamboo batons clashed with crowds of protesters in southern India on Thursday as outrage over a delay in creating a new state erupted into violent demonstrations in several cities. Read More

Police have shot dead two relatives of convicts during a melee that erupted at a public execution in southern Iran. Read More

A top Anglican cleric spoke out Thursday against a proposed Ugandan law that would impose the death penalty on some homosexuals. Read More

Witnesses in Somalia say fighting spurred by a land dispute has killed eight people. Read More

A human rights watchdog group said the U.N.'s culture and education agency is being hypocritical by collaborating with Equatorial Guinea's dictator. Read More

The NATO-led military mission in Afghanistan says a Canadian soldier has been killed in the southern part of the country. Read More

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Thursday that nuclear arms control talks with the United States required some give-and-take on both sides and voiced optimism that a deal would be reached soon. Read More

Premier Silvio Berlusconi has written a Christmas letter to Pope Benedict XVI saying Christian values guide his government's work. Read More

Three floating bodies were found as search-and-rescue teams combed the waters of Manila Bay on Thursday for at least 24 people missing after a passenger ferry collided with a fishing boat. Read More

A semiofficial Iranian news agency says a former government spokesman who became an opposition supporter has been sentenced to six years in prison. Read More

Christmas is bumping into Shiite Islam's most mournful ceremony this year, forcing Iraqi Christians to keep their celebrations under tighter wraps than usual. Read More