Australia's Parliament defeated legislation to set up a greenhouse gas emissions trading system on Wednesday, throwing a central plank of the government's plans to combat global warming into disarray. Read More

A new bar in southwestern China aimed at educating gay men about AIDS stayed conspicuously empty during its official opening as potential customers shunned the spotlight, state media said Wednesday. Read More

The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan said Wednesday that NATO and U.S. forces will hand over responsibility for securing the country to its own security forces "as rapidly as conditions allow" _ welcome news for war-weary American troops trying to hold back insurgents. Read More

Former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos filed her candidacy for next year's congressional elections, joining the country's boxing champion and the outgoing president in the star-studded race for the lower house. Read More

Amanda Knox's lawyer argued Tuesday there wasn't sufficient evidence to convict the U.S. exchange student in the 2007 slaying of her British roommate, saying Knox had been swept up by a "tsunami" of events that led to her arrest. Read More

A breast-feeding mother accidentally smothered her four-week old child aboard a United Airlines flight from Washington, D.C., to Kuwait, a British tabloid reported Tuesday. Read More

As of Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2009, at least 851 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. EST. Read More

The mother of the man Mexico's government has identified as Zapatista rebel leader Subcomandante Marcos has died at Mexico City's airport. Read More

Gunmen burst in to a Starbucks coffee shop Tuesday and killed a former policeman who was a protected witness in a drug corruption case, the second death of a high-profile witness in Mexico in less than two weeks. Read More

President Barack Obama is vowing that the U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan will not turn into another Vietnam. Read More

Top US commander: NATO to transfer security duty to Afghans as fast "as conditions allow." Read More

Pakistan's Supreme Court said Tuesday it will soon begin examining an expired amnesty covering the president and key allies. The decision launches a process that could unseat the U.S.-allied leader just as the Obama administration needs stability in Islamabad to help crack down on the Taliban. Read More

Deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya sent a letter to divided Latin American leaders Tuesday urging them to reject elections held under the coup-installed government and help restore him to power. Read More

An Argentine couple's attempt to unite in Latin America's first gay marriage was thwarted Tuesday when city officials decided to block the wedding because of conflicting judicial rulings. Read More

The letters are neatly folded and written on soft white paper in a confident, elegant hand. They tell a story of horror in the bowels of the Russian prison system, a saga set against the backdrop of the world of multibillion-dollar investment funds in Vladimir Putin's Russia. Read More

The U.S. and Russian presidents are urging their nuclear negotiators to step up efforts to complete a new arms control agreement to replace a Cold War-era pact expiring this week. Read More

Britain's Sun newspaper is reporting that a breast-feeding mother accidentally smothered her four-week old child on a United Airlines flight from Washington, D.C. to Kuwait. Read More

Honduras should return ousted President Manuel Zelaya to power, leaders from Latin America, Spain and Portugal said at a summit Tuesday. Read More

The main points of the Lisbon Treaty which aims to simplify how the 27-nation bloc will be run in the decades ahead. The treaty came into force Tuesday. Read More

Top European Union officials attended a ceremony Tuesday to mark the coming into force of the Lisbon Treaty, which is designed to ensure the bloc has a more influential say in world affairs. Read More