World News

TRIPOLI, Libya - The charity run by Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's son helped secure the release of a prominent political prisoner for health reasons, one of the group's directors said Monday.

BAGHDAD - Cars and trucks loaded with suitcases, mattresses and passengers cradling baskets stuffed with clothes lined up at checkpoints Monday to flee Mosul, a day after the 10th killing of an Iraqi Christian in the northern city so far this month.

TEHRAN, Iran - Former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami is hosting a high-profile conference uniting former U.N. chief Kofi Annan and other dignitaries this week — a rare visit seen as a reformist effort to position him for a comeback ahead of crucial elections.

PARIS - Guillaume Depardieu, the often-troubled son of renowned French film star Gerard Depardieu who gained praise for his own career as an actor, died Monday, hospital officials said. He was 37.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's upper house of parliament firmly rejected a government proposal to tighten anti-terrorism laws on Monday, saying it would not support suspects being held for up to six weeks without charge.

PARIS - Europe put $2.3 trillion on the line Monday to protect the continent's banks, a figure that dwarfs the Bush administration's $700 billion rescue program, in its most unified response yet to the global financial crisis after a stumbling start.

MONTERREY, Mexico - The gate at the U.S. Consulate in Monterrey was pockmarked with bullet holes Monday, a day after assailants shot at the building and threw a grenade that failed to explode. No one was injured.

BOGOTA, Colombia - Colombian police have recovered an unscathed engraving by the Spanish master Francisco de Goya that was stolen last month from a visiting exhibit.

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico - Gunmen killed six young men at a family party in the gang-plagued Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez, prosecutors said Sunday.

CAIRO, Egypt - Sudan will conduct its own trials for suspects implicated in crimes in the war torn Darfur region, the country's Justice Minister said Monday, without specifying when they might take place.

HARARE, Oct 13, 2008 (AFP) - Former South African President Thabo Mbeki arrived in Zimbabwe Monday in a bid to save a power-sharing deal after Robert Mugabe cast further doubt on the accord by swearing in two vice presidents.

MONROVIA, Liberia - Disputes over land ownership and property boundaries are threatening to undermine Liberia's fragile peace, the nation's reconciliation body and the European Union warned Monday.

VIENNA (AFP) - North Korea has granted the UN atomic watchdog access to its nuclear facilities at Yongbyon after having barred agency inspectors last week, the IAEA said Monday, following a deal between Washington and Pyongyang.

XINXING, China - Heartbroken at the sudden death of their baby boy, the Yi family struggled to forget what they thought was a tragic twist of fate. They burned his clothes, toys, everything but a single photo and the baby formula he drank.

SEOUL, South Korea - The first photos of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il released in two months show him in a setting very similar to photographs from August.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's ruling Conservatives look set to retain power on Tuesday in the first national election held in a major industrialized nation since the market meltdown this month.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada will take "whatever steps are necessary" to ensure its financial system is not harmed by measures other nations are taking to deal with the global crisis, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said on Monday.

EDMONTON (Reuters) - Dustin Penner scored with 5.4 seconds remaining to give the Edmonton Oilers a 3-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche in their season-opener on Sunday.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia is considering declaring Sri Lanka's separatist Tamil Tigers a terrorist group, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Monday, while also calling for a political solution to the island's civil war.

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Aborigines feel a strong sense of injustice over an Australian government intervention into scores of troubled remote communities and believe the program is racist, an independent review said Monday.

CANBERRA/WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Australia and New Zealand gave a blanket guarantee to all bank deposits Sunday in a move likely to raise pressure on other economies to do the same, amid a crisis of confidence in the global financial system.

PARIS - Guillaume Depardieu, the often-troubled son of renowned French film star Gerard Depardieu who gained praise for his own career as an actor, died Monday, hospital officials said. He was 37.

PODGORICA, Montenegro - Police fired tear gas at thousands of angry pro-Serb Montenegrins who pelted state buildings and fired flares Monday to protest their government's recognition of Kosovo's independence.

OL PEJETA, Kenya - The text message from the elephant flashed across Richard Lesowapir's screen: Kimani was heading for neighboring farms.