World News

As of Wednesday, May 21, 2008, at least 4,080 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

JERUSALEM - Israel and Syria unexpectedly announced Wednesday the resumption of peace talks after an eight-year break, saying they have been speaking indirectly through Turkish mediators "in order to achieve the goal of comprehensive peace."

DAMASCUS, Syria - Syrian customs officials seized 40 artifacts stolen from the National Museum in Iraq as they were being smuggled across the border into Syria, state media reported Wednesday.

BAGHDAD - The number of daily attacks in Mosul has dropped at least 85 percent since U.S.-Iraqi forces began an offensive against Sunni insurgents in the city earlier this month, the top U.S. commander in northern Iraq said Wednesday.

BAGHDAD - With not a Shiite fighter in sight, shoppers crowded through markets and cars packed the streets in Baghdad's Sadr City on Wednesday — a positive early sign for Iraqi forces in their bid to impose control following a truce with the militia in its stronghold.

TBILISI, Georgia - Partial results from Georgia's Central Election Commission point to a big lead for President Mikhail Saakashvili's party in the ex-Soviet republic's parliamentary election.

PARIS (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy will come under renewed pressure on Thursday when trade unions hold a nationwide strike against his pension reform plans.

MOSCOW (AFP) - Thousands of police patrolled the streets of Moscow on Wednesday amid fears of violence as some 50,000 English football fans descended on the Russian capital for the Champions League final.

MOSCOW (AFP) - Goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar was Manchester United's hero as Sir Alex Ferguson's side claimed the club's third European Cup with a penalty shoot-out win over Chelsea on a night of almost unbearable drama in Moscow.

MOSCOW (AFP) - Sir Alex Ferguson used all of his 34 years of managerial experience to try to find a way to spark Manchester United to Champions League glory against Chelsea but in the end it was penalty-shoot out nerve that proved decisive.

MEXICO CITY - Mexico's drug violence has claimed another top police official: the second-in-command in the central state of Morelos.

GUATEMALA CITY - Guatemala's attorney general said Wednesday he has annulled 15 pending adoptions to U.S. couples after finding evidence of fraud or other irregularities.

CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez accused the United States on Tuesday of using anti-drug flights in the Caribbean to spy on Venezuela.

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - An Afghan detainee was dragged from his cell to his first pretrial hearing at Guantanamo on Wednesday, then refused to participate, telling the judge he felt "helpless."

ALTAMIRA, Brazil - Painted and feathered Indians waving machetes and clubs slashed an official of Brazil's national electric company Tuesday during a protest over a proposed hydroelectric dam.

LAGOS (AFP) - The most prominent armed group in Nigeria on Wednesday threatened more acts of sabotage against the nation's oil industry, accusing the government of "insincerity."

KHARTOUM (AFP) - UN-chaired talks to end fighting in Sudan's flashpoint oil area of Abyei were delayed on Wednesday, a day after 22 soldiers were killed in fighting that has threatened a three-year peace process.

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - South African President Thabo Mbeki called in troops Wednesday to halt attacks on foreigners as the death toll from more than a week of violence nearly doubled and violence began to spread.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. citizen died in an explosion aboard a minibus taxi in Addis Ababa that Ethiopian police are blaming on extremists, the State Department said on Wednesday.

NAIROBI, Kenya - A group of up to 300 young men killed 11 people who were accused of being witches and wizards in western Kenya, in some cases slitting their throats or clubbing them to death before burning their bodies, officials said.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - More than 200 ancient artifacts from Afghanistan, many of which were believed lost to posterity as the country was rocked by decades of war, this week begin a tour of US museums with an exhibition at Washington's National Gallery.

SINGAPORE (AFP) - Japan will have three teams in the AFC Champions League quarter-finals after the Kashima Antlers thumped Nam Dinh 4-0 on Wednesday, but arch-rivals China are in danger of having none.

WASHINGTON - The Defense Department said Wednesday it has shelved a plan to take greater control in parts of Afghanistan where NATO is in charge after the Dutch and British agreed to extend their commands.

TOKYO - A student who allegedly spread a computer virus was convicted Friday of copyright infringement in a case that has highlighted the lack of laws in Japan to police cyberspace.

BANGKOK, Thailand - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon heads to Myanmar on Thursday for the diplomatic challenge of a lifetime — persuading the ruling generals to let in a torrent of foreign assistance for cyclone victims.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper slammed on Wednesday his political opponent's proposal for a carbon tax to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, calling it a "foolish" move at a time of soaring energy prices.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's annual inflation rate skipped above expectations to 1.7 percent in April, because of double-digit gasoline price hikes, casting doubt on the timing of the Bank of Canada's next interest rate cut.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - If a food item says "Product of Canada," all the ingredients and the processing will soon have to be Canadian under new rules announced on Wednesday by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Pierre Alvarez is stepping down as president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers after nine years leading the oil industry's main lobby group in the country, the group said on Wednesday.

TORONTO (Reuters) - The Toronto Stock Exchange's main index ended a volatile session more than 250 points lower on Wednesday, as profit-taking hit energy issues, sparking a broad late-day selloff following recent record highs.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - It seemed like an almost literal answer to their prayers. When two New Zealand pilots ran out of fuel in a microlight airplane they offered prayers and were able to make an emergency landing in a field — coming to rest right next to a sign reading, "Jesus is Lord."

SYDNEY (AFP) - Eight people were arrested Wednesday after they jumped a fence surrounding a controversial kangaroo cull in Canberra and tried to claim the area as Aboriginal land to stop the killing, activists said.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia's Tasmanian devil was listed as endangered on Wednesday due to a contagious and deadly cancer which threatens to wipe out the carnivorous marsupial.

SYDNEY (AFP) - A former Australian state minister was jailed for nearly 14 years on Wednesday on child sex and drugs charges by a judge who described him as "predatory and manipulative".

CANBERRA (Reuters) - An Australian citizen accused of Nazi warcrimes in Hungary in 1944 has appeared on Australian television to say he is innocent.

JERUSALEM - Israel and Syria unexpectedly announced Wednesday the resumption of peace talks after an eight-year break, saying they have been speaking indirectly through Turkish mediators "in order to achieve the goal of comprehensive peace."

DOHA (Reuters) - Rival Lebanese leaders signed a deal on Wednesday to end 18 months of political conflict that had threatened to push the country to a new civil war.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - President Thabo Mbeki gave the go-ahead Wednesday for troops to step in and quell a surge of anti-immigrant violence that has left 42 dead and driven thousands from their homes.

BEIJING - First, the water level in a pond inexplicably plunged. Then, thousands of toads appeared on streets in a nearby province. Finally, just hours before China's worst earthquake in three decades, animals at a local zoo began acting strangely.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki gave approval on Wednesday for the army to help end attacks on foreigners that have killed more than 40 people.