Gunmen killed a Pakistani working at the Iranian Consulate in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Thursday, adding to security fears in the country as it presses an offensive against the Taliban along the nearby Afghan border. Read More

Italy's parliament was considering a controversial bill Thursday that would limit the length of trials, with critics saying it was drafted to help Premier Silvio Berlusconi with his legal problems. Read More

A Norwegian freelance journalist kidnapped a week ago in eastern Afghanistan was released Thursday along with his Afghan interpreter, the Foreign Ministry said. Read More

Two Swiss businessmen arrested in Libya amid a spat with Switzerland involving leader Moammar Gadhafi's son, are to go on trial on accusations of tax evasion and violating residency laws, a Foreign Ministry official said Thursday. Read More

A police official says 15 people _ 13 of them women _ were killed when a gold mine caved in on them in western Ghana. Read More

Otty Sanchez got six weeks in a state mental hospital after she was found wandering around a drug store last year, shopping for an imaginary trip to China. Read More

Italy's top security official said Friday that authorities have smashed an international terror cell with the arrest in Italy and elsewhere in Europe of 17 Algerians who were raising money to finance terrorism. Read More

Palestinian election officials on Thursday recommended calling off January's presidential election, clearing the way for embattled President Mahmoud Abbas to back off his threats to step down and remain in office. Read More

Allied countries are pledging to send more help to Afghanistan before a much anticipated decision from President Barack Obama on whether to send more troops, NATO's secretary-general said Thursday. Read More

A government official says Denmark has sent invitations to 191 world leaders to attend next month's U.N. climate conference in Copenhagen. Read More

A bomb-sniffing dog that disappeared during a fierce battle in Afghanistan between Australian troops and militant fighters has been found and returned to its unit after more than a year. Read More

An Iranian opposition leader said Thursday that the country is making sweeping changes to its security apparatus in an effort to consolidate the power of the elite Revolutionary Guard. Read More

Gunmen have killed a top Somali judge who had sentenced many pirates and human traffickers to long jail terms, the security minister for northern Somalia said Thursday. Read More

Palestinian election commission recommends postponing presidential vote, blames Hamas. Read More

A Jewish-American extremist has been charged with shooting to death two Palestinians and trying to kill others with explosive devices and poison. Read More

A 79-year-old Irish priest said he hiked through jungles, survived raging seas and slept in a swamp under a tarpaulin before his captors released him Thursday after a month, apparently without getting the ransom they demanded. Read More

The Australian government on Thursday approved the extradition of an alleged Nazi war criminal accused by Hungary of a World War II killing. Read More

Kidnapping villagers who have traveled to Beijing to lodge complaints with China's central government and keeping them in unofficial jails to silence them has evolved into a lucrative cottage industry that police refuse to crack down on, a human rights group said Thursday. Read More

On the eve of President Barack Obama's first visit to Asia, China floated a potentially provocative comparison, likening serfdom in Tibet to slavery in the U.S. _ an apparent attempt to gain support for its policies in the Himalayan region. Read More

Sri Lanka's top general, who led the battle to crush the Tamil Tiger rebels and ended the island's 30-year civil war, has resigned from his post, an official said Thursday. Read More