Mexico’s Pacific coast braces for hurricane

BARRA DE NAVIDAD, Mexico (AP) ― People left low-lying shore neighborhoods, hotels dragged in beach furniture, officials set up shelters and one of Mexico’s biggest cargo ports shut down as powerful Hurricane Jova headed for a Tuesday landfall near this Pacific resort.Jova was a Category 3 hurricane

Oct. 11, 2011

String of blasts in Iraq capital kills 10

BAGHDAD (AP) ― A string of explosions targeting security officials ― and people who rushed to the scene to help the injured ― killed at least 10 people in western Baghdad Monday evening, officials said.The first explosion came from a roadside bomb in a Shiite neighborhood, targeting an Iraqi army pa

Oct. 11, 2011

Merkel visits Vietnam to boost trade ties

HANOI (AP) ― German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Vietnam’s capital Tuesday for a two-day visit to boost trade ties with the communist country, amid the European debt crisis.Merkel and her Vietnamese counterpart, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, reviewed an honor guard Tuesday in Hanoi before t

Oct. 11, 2011

Al-Qaida confirms killing of al-Awlaki

CAIRO (AP) ― Al-Qaida’s Yemeni offshoot on Monday confirmed the killing of U.S.-born militant cleric Anwar al-Awlaki late last month and vowed to avenge the prominent propagandist’s death.The 40-year-old al-Awlaki, who died in a Sept. 30 U.S. drone strike in the mountains of Yemen, was the most prom

Oct. 11, 2011

Myanmar gives amnesty to some 6,300 prisoners

YANGON (AP) -- Myanmar announced Tuesday it was releasing 6,300 prisoners in a widely expected amnesty by the newly elected government, but it was not clear how many of them were political detainees.The release of some of the country’s estimated 2,000 political prisoners has been hotly anticipated a

Oct. 11, 2011

EU backs Syrian opposition, mulls new sanctions

LUXEMBOURG (AP) ― The European Union is reaching out to the nascent Syrian opposition movement to see if it could play an instrumental role in ousting President Bashar Assad, whose crackdown on pro-democracy protesters has so far killed nearly 3,000 people.Diplomats said Syria’s opposition needs mor

Oct. 11, 2011

Detainees tortured in Afghanistan: U.N.

KABUL (AP) ― Beatings, electric shock and other forms of torture were administered to suspected Taliban fighters in some Afghan-run detention centers, the U.N. said Monday, even as the U.S. and others have spent billions of dollars training the police and security services.The abuse was not the resu

Oct. 11, 2011

Website: Iranian actress faces jail, lashing

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- An Iranian opposition website says an Iranian actress has been sentenced to a year in prison and 90 lashes for appearing in a movie critical of the Islamic republic’s hard-line policies.The Kalameh.com site said Monday that Marzieh Vafamehr’s attorney has appealed

Oct. 11, 2011

Chile students reject resuming negotiations

SANTIAGO (AP) ― Chilean student groups that have been protesting more than five months to demand the government improve education have refused the president’s request to resume negotiations and say they won’t go back to class.A confederation of 36 student groups at Chile’s 25 state universities made

Oct. 10, 2011

Taiwanese leader marks centenary

TAIPEI (AP) ― Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou is urging Beijing to pursue democracy and respect his island’s self-governance as both sides marked the centennial of a revolution that ended 2,000 years of imperial rule in China.Ma said Monday that China should “move bravely” toward freedom and democr

Oct. 10, 2011

12 Chinese sailors killed by gang

BEIJING (AP) ― Twelve Chinese crew members on two boats plying the Mekong River were killed by suspected drug traffickers who hijacked their ships to smuggle speed pills, news reports said Monday.The China Daily newspaper said that the boats were hijacked last Wednesday and that the bodies were foun

Oct. 10, 2011

Quartet to resume Palestine talks

BRUSSELS (AP) ― An international group of envoys will contact the Israelis and the Palestinians shortly to try to restart Mideast peace talks on hold since 2008.Envoys from the Quartet ― the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia ― met Sunday in Brussels to hash out a strat

Oct. 10, 2011

Syria: Don’t recognize opposition

BEIRUT (AP) ― Syria’s foreign minister warned the international community Sunday not to recognize a new umbrella council formed by the opposition, threatening “tough measures” against any country that does so.Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem did not specify what measures Damascus might take. But he

Oct. 10, 2011