Chancellor Angela Merkel thanked former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev for making change possible in East Germany as she visited what was once a fortified border crossing on Monday _ retracing her steps on the night 20 years ago the Berlin Wall fell. Read More

The United States and Germany stepped up pressure on Afghan President Hamid Karzai Monday to implement major reforms and crack down on rampant corruption. Read More

A senior Iranian prosecutor accused three Americans detained on the border with Iraq of espionage on Monday, the first signal that Tehran intends to put them on trial. Read More

Iran still wants talks with world powers over fuel supplies to a Tehran nuclear reactor _ despite the country's apparent rejection of a U.N. plan to curb Iran's enriched uranium stockpile. Read More

Somali pirates attacked on oil tanker Monday farther out at sea than any previous assault, suggesting that pirate capabilities are growing as they increase activity off East Africa. Read More

Prosecutors sought to throw out testimony that evidence against a top prime minister's aide was obtained through torture as the trial that has strained Zimbabwe's troubled coalition government began Monday. Read More

NATO says Afghan and foreign troops have killed more than 130 insurgents, including eight Taliban commanders, in six days of fierce fighting during a major offensive in northern Afghanistan. Read More

Hundreds of Afghan and international troops already battling a rising militant insurgency are facing a new fight _ recovering from swine flu, the virus that has left 11 people dead in the country. Read More

Soldiers and townspeople dug through rock and debris Monday in hopes of finding dozens of people missing in a mudslide that swept down on a town, part of a wave of floods and landslides that killed at least 124 people in El Salvador. Read More

Russia's Constitutional Court held hearings Monday on whether a moratorium on capital punishment should remain in force next year. Read More

Two Swiss businessmen detained by Libya over a spat involving leader Moammar Gadhafi's son have been handed over to their embassy in Tripoli, Switzerland's Foreign Ministry said Monday. Read More

Police in Puerto Rico are investigating the robbery of a New York tourist inside his room at the Ritz-Carlton hotel. Read More

A Brazilian university has expelled a woman who was heckled by hundreds of fellow students for wearing a short, pink dress to class _ publicly accusing her Sunday of immorality. Read More

A powerful undersea earthquake killed one person, injured dozens and damaged hundreds of houses on a remote island in central Indonesia, officials said Monday. Read More

The Vatican on Monday confirmed that opening the door to married Anglican priests doesn't mean the Roman Catholic church is easing the requirement for celibacy for its clergy. Read More

Iraq's electoral commission on Monday submitted a proposal to hold national elections on Jan. 21, five days after the previously scheduled date. Read More

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is again calling on Iran to release three Americans as a senior Iranian prosecutor said they have been accused of espionage. Read More

Nine men have been executed for taking part in ethnic rioting that left nearly 200 people dead in July, the first suspects put to death in the unrest, Chinese state media reported Monday. Read More

A suicide bomber in a rickshaw detonated his explosives near a group of policemen in northwest Pakistan's main city of Peshawar on Monday, killing three people, police said. Read More

Three young Americans who were arrested after straying into Iran from Iraq are accused of espionage by a senior prosecutor in Tehran -- a signal the trio may be put on trial. The timing of the allegations raises the possibility Iran is using the case for leverage in negotiations with the United States over its nuclear activities. Read More