Greece delays austerity vote, warns of ‘chaos’
ATHENS, Greece — Greece’s coalition government will delay a vote on major new austerity measures by another week, warning Tuesday there would be financial chaos if a deal is not reached.
Opposition leader sentenced to 8 years in Rwanda
KIGALI, Rwanda — A Rwandan court sentenced the country’s top opposition political leader to eight years in prison on Tuesday for treason and on a charge stemming from this central African nation’s murderous ethnic attacks 18 years ago — genocide denial.
Man in Afghan uniform kills 2 British troops
KABUL, Afghanistan — A man wearing an Afghan police uniform shot and killed two British soldiers at a checkpoint in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, international military officials said. The assault appeared to the be the latest in a string of insider attacks that have threatened …
Afghan raid kills 4 Taliban, 3 civilian bystanders
KABUL, Afghanistan — An Afghan army officer says a pre-dawn raid in the eastern province of Ghazni killed four Taliban and three civilian bystanders. Lt. Ghulam Sarwer Attai, who commanded the special army unit which carried out Monday’s raid along with NATO forces, said it …
Satellite images suggest airstrike in Sudan: U.S. group
CAIRO — Satellite images of the aftermath of an explosion at a Sudanese weapons factory this past week suggest the site was hit in an airstrike, a U.S. monitoring group said Saturday. The Sudanese government has accused Israel of bombing its Yarmouk military complex in …
Al-Qaida leader urges Muslims to kidnap Westerners
CAIRO — The leader of al-Qaida has urged Muslims to kidnap Westerners to exchange for imprisoned jihadists, including a blind cleric serving a life sentence in the United States for a 1993 plot to blow up New York City landmarks. In an undated two-hour videotape …
Libyan witnesses recount organized Benghazi attack
TRIPOLI, Libya — It began around nightfall on Sept. 11 with about 150 bearded gunmen, some wearing the Afghan-style tunics favored by Islamic militants, sealing off the streets leading to the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. They set up roadblocks with pickup trucks mounted with heavy …
China residents protest chemical factory expansion
BEIJING — Thousands of people in an eastern Chinese city clashed with police during a protest over the proposed expansion of a petrochemical factory that they say would spew pollution and damage public health, townspeople said Saturday.
Berlusconi’s post-conviction about-face
ROME — Silvio Berlusconi has confirmed he won’t run for premier again in spring elections, but he announced an undefined new movement to reform Italy’s justice system that convicted him of tax fraud.
France: Lawmakers pass bill to pay for abortions
PARIS — France’s lower house voted Friday to fully reimburse all abortions and to make contraception free for minors. National medical insurance currently pays in full for abortions for minors and the poor, while other women are reimbursed for up to 80 percent of the procedure’s cost, which can be as much as (euro) 450 ($580). Contraception is partially reimbursed.
Suicide attack kills 41 at Afghan mosque
KABUL, Afghanistan — A suicide bomber detonated explosives outside a mosque packed with senior regional officials in northern Afghanistan on a major Muslim holiday Friday, killing 41 people. The officials escaped unhurt, and many of the dead were soldiers and police.
Former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi convicted of tax evasion, sentenced to 4 years
MILAN — A court in Italy has convicted former Premier Silvio Berlusconi of tax fraud and sentenced him to four years in prison.
British army dog who died in Afghanistan honored
LONDON — A bomb-sniffing army dog who died in Afghanistan on the day his handler was killed has been honored with Britain’s highest award for animal bravery. Springer spaniel mix Theo was posthumously awarded the Dickin Medal on Thursday at a ceremony in London. Theo …
Dad of girl shot by Taliban vows she’ll return to Pakistan
ISLAMABAD — The father of a 15-year-old Pakistani activist girl who was shot and wounded by a Taliban gunman vowed Thursday that she would return home after finishing medical treatment abroad despite new insurgent threats against her. Since she was shot on Oct. 9 in …
Tunisian arrested in Benghazi consulate attack
TUNIS, Tunisia — The Tunisian government has confirmed it has arrested a 28-year-old Tunisian reportedly linked to the U.S. consulate attack in Libya.
Tunisian Interior Ministry spokesman Tarrouch Khaled said Wednesday that Ali Harzi was in custody in Tunis. Khaled tells The Associated Press “his …