North Korea threatened Thursday to punish South Korea after their first naval skirmish in seven years, as Seoul expressed confidence it could deter any attack from its communist neighbor. Read More

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday vowed support for the Philippine fight against al-Qaida-linked militants and highlighted the U.S. military's role in helping the country recover from deadly typhoons. Read More

The security minister for northern Somalia says gunmen have killed a top Somali judge who had sentenced many pirates and human traffickers to long jail terms. Read More

A Tanzanian government official says a landslide has killed 11 children and nine adults near Mt. Kilimanjaro. Read More

Norway's Foreign Ministry says that a Norwegian journalist who was kidnapped last week in eastern Afghanistan has been released. Read More

U.N. judges trimmed the sentence Thursday of a Bosnian Serb general from 33 to 29 years but upheld his convictions for leading troops who terrorized Sarajevo with a deadly rain of shells and sniper bullets. 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

A 79-year-old Irish Roman Catholic priest abducted in the Philippines a month ago was freed early Thursday and neither country paid any of the kidnappers' $2 million ransom demand, Irish and Filipino authorities said. Read More

A newly discovered dinosaur species that roamed the Earth about 200 million years ago may help explain how the creatures evolved into the largest animals on land, scientists in South Africa said Wednesday. Read More

Kidnapping people on their way to lodge complaints with China's central government has evolved into a lucrative cottage industry that police refuse to acknowledge or crack down on, a human rights group said Thursday. Read More

Germany's defense minister said Wednesday that his country was committed to its mission in Afghanistan, where it has more than 4,000 troops, but that President Hamid Karzai's new administration must outline a clear plan for the future. 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

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

Afghan President Hamid Karzai's inauguration to a second five-year term will be held Nov. 19 at the heavily guarded palace compound in the capital Kabul. Read More

Government leaders are defending the reliability of Brazil's power grid after a huge blackout left nearly 60 million people in the dark and raised concerns about its ability to guarantee electricity for a surging economy. Read More

Forbes Magazine named drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman _ a fugitive reputed to be hiding in the mountains of northern Mexico _ to its list of the 67 "World's Most Powerful People" on Wednesday. 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

Tens of thousands of well-wishers lined the streets of Tokyo on Thursday for a parade on the 20th anniversary of the coronation of Emperor Akihito, who urged Japanese not to forget the lessons of World War II. Read More

Business groups in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez said Wednesday they are calling for United Nations peacekeepers to quell the drug-related violence that has given their city one of the highest homicide rates in the world. 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