3 Feb 2012 at 9:34pm

MCCHORD, Wash. -- The Army on Friday dropped all charges against the fifth soldier accused of murdering Afghan civilians for sport during a 2010 deployment, in one of the most gruesome cases to emerge from the Afghan war.

3 Feb 2012 at 5:35pm

KHARTOUM, Sudan: Sudan is closer to war than peace with the breakaway state of South Sudan, President Omar al-Bashir said on national television on Friday, with a dispute over oil and other issues stoking tensions.

3 Feb 2012 at 3:30pm

An activist representing relatives of women slain or missing in the border city of Ciudad Juarez has been attacked for the second time in two months.

3 Feb 2012 at 10:56am

The two American missionaries strangled to death in the northern Mexican town of Santiago knew their killer, the Nuevo Leon state attorney general said Thursday.

3 Feb 2012 at 10:20am

State media say an explosion at a coal mine in southwestern China has killed 11 miners and injured six.

3 Feb 2012 at 6:16am

Human Rights Watch says that a Moammar Gadhafi -era diplomat appears to have died under torture after his arrest by a Libyan militia, the latest in a series of reported abuses by former rebels who overthrew the dictator last year.

3 Feb 2012 at 2:01am

The surprise ruling increased a lower court's 19-year sentence that had been appealed by prosecutors as too lenient and that had outraged survivors who feared the man who oversaw the killing of thousands could one day walk free.

3 Feb 2012 at 2:01am

North Korea is open to immediate talks with rival South Korea if Seoul responds to several preconditions for dialogue, a North Korean military official told The Associated Press on Thursday.

2 Feb 2012 at 9:47pm

A Belpre father is left facing up to five years in prison after a jury found him guilty Wednesday of all counts related to an October 2010 fire that killed his 2-year-old daughter.James E. "Butch" Jackson II, 51, showed no reaction to the verdict, although members of his family let out an audible gasp as the guilty verdicts were read, th... The ... (more)

2 Feb 2012 at 5:37pm

An Ohio man critically wounded while he was in Haiti to help with earthquake rebuilding has died in a Miami hospital.

2 Feb 2012 at 1:23pm

Prince William arrived in the Falkland Islands on Thursday for a six-week deployment as a search and rescue helicopter pilot, British officials said, amid an escalating sovereignty dispute with Argentina over the territory.

2 Feb 2012 at 9:18am

Palestinians tried to block the U.N. chief from entering the Gaza Strip and flung shoes at his armored convoy on Thursday, the second day of Ban Ki-moon's mission to the region to keep informal peace talks alive.

2 Feb 2012 at 5:08am

The Philippine military said it killed Southeast Asia's most-wanted terrorist and two other senior militants Thursday in a U.S.-backed airstrike that would mark one of the region's biggest anti-terror successes in recent years.

2 Feb 2012 at 12:58am

A military inquiry on Thursday rejected an Australian soldier's allegations that a comrade died unnecessarily during a gunbattle in Afghanistan because the U.S.-led coalition provided inadequate air support.

1 Feb 2012 at 11:59pm

An airplane from Australia, three helicopters and six ships are scouring the search area after the MV Rabaul Queen went down while travelling from Kimbe on the island of New Britain to coastal town of Lae on the main island, Australian Maritime Safety Authority said in a statement.

AP Top International News At Midnig...

by By ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY
3 Feb 2012 at 10:51pm
BEIRUT (AP) -- In a barrage of mortar shells, Syrian forces killed 200 people and wounded hundreds in Homs in an offensive that appears to be the bloodiest episode in the nearly 11-month-old uprising, activists said Saturday....

3 Feb 2012 at 9:30pm
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- Cuban President Raul Castro flew to Caracas on Friday to attend a meeting with other allies of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, who was at the airport for the arrival....

by By BASSEM MROUE
3 Feb 2012 at 3:25pm
TRIPOLI, Lebanon (AP) -- Abu Hamza was in a crowd of thousands in the Syrian border town of Qusair, shouting for President Bashar Assad to leave power, when a sniper's bullet tore through his leg and shattered the bone into 18 pieces....

by By RAPHAEL SATTER
3 Feb 2012 at 4:05pm
LONDON (AP) -- Trading jokes and swapping leads, investigators from the FBI and Scotland Yard spent the conference call strategizing about how to bring down the hacking collective known as Anonymous, responsible for a string of embarrassing attacks across the Internet....

by By BEN FOX
3 Feb 2012 at 4:01pm
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- A Pentagon legal official refused Friday to extend an important deadline for defense lawyers for the five Guantanamo Bay prisoners charged in the Sept. 11 attack, a decision that means their highly anticipated arraignment may now occur within months....

3 Feb 2012 at 5:43pm
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- A Colombian rebel commander who has been detained in Venezuela since May was taken to a military hospital because of health problems, Venezuelan authorities said Friday....

by By MAGGIE MICHAEL and AYA BATRAWY
3 Feb 2012 at 4:56pm
CAIRO (AP) -- Protesters filled the streets and clashed for a second day Friday with police who fired tear gas and birdshot in Cairo, as a deadly soccer riot focused rising public anger over lawlessness and collapsing security a year after Egypt's uprising....

by By FRANCES D'EMILIO
3 Feb 2012 at 6:33pm
ROME (AP) -- A rare snowfall blanketed Rome on Friday, forcing the closure of the Colosseum over fears tourists would slip on the icy ruins, and leaving buses struggling to climb the city's slushy hills. Other parts of the country experienced frigid temperatures unseen in years....

by By JULIANA BARBASSA
3 Feb 2012 at 5:17pm
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) -- Like most Brazilians, Evandro dos Santos' devotion to soccer borders on the religious. Even when he wasn't watching a game, he loved hearing the roar of the crowd in nearby Maracana stadium - this nation's temple to the sport....

by By ROB GILLIES
3 Feb 2012 at 6:16pm
TORONTO (AP) -- Canada's prime minister heads to China next week where he'll discuss Canada's vast oil reserves in a visit that's being viewed as an "open warning" to the United States, which rejected a pipeline from Canada to Texas....

NYT > World

by By NADA BAKRI
3 Feb 2012 at 10:41pm
Life is growing harder in the Syrian capital, President Bashar al-Assad’s stronghold, as residents complain about electricity rationing, shortages of food and gas, and soaring prices.

by By JOAN NASSIVERA
3 Feb 2012 at 10:44pm
The reports could not be independently confirmed, but the attacks Friday night in Homs appeared to be the bloodiest episode in the nearly 11-month-old uprising, opposition activists said.

by By RICK GLADSTONE
3 Feb 2012 at 10:47pm
Farouk al-Shara, 74, vice president and loyal disciple of President Bashar al-Assad, would almost certainly become temporary president under an Arab League peace proposal.

by By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
3 Feb 2012 at 10:34pm
Five people were killed on the second day of clashes between protesters and the police as demonstrators questioned the ruling military council’s ability to run the country.

by By ROD NORDLAND
3 Feb 2012 at 10:50pm
In the past month, at least 22 Afghan children under the age of 5 have frozen to death in refugee camps in Kabul, prompting deep concerns among aid workers.

by By MARK LANDLER
3 Feb 2012 at 10:50pm
An unsigned letter received last year also pressed the president to release Taliban prisoners.

by By ROBERT F. WORTH and DAVID E. SANGER
3 Feb 2012 at 10:28pm
The assessment came as Iran’s supreme leader lashed out at the United States, vowing to retaliate against oil sanctions and threats of military action.

by By SCOTT SHANE
3 Feb 2012 at 10:24pm
The group known as Anonymous listened in on a call between the bureau, Scotland Yard and other foreign police agencies about their joint investigation of the group and its allies.

by By RACHEL DONADIO
3 Feb 2012 at 10:39pm
Prime Minister Lucas Papademos faces a deadlock over proposed demands by Greece’s foreign lenders to reduce private-sector wages in exchange for aid the country needs to prevent default.

by By ELLEN BARRY
3 Feb 2012 at 10:48pm
The aide said that Russian intelligence services previously reported plans for the outbreak of street protests, implying that a blueprint for unrest was drawn up in Washington.

by By ANDREW E. KRAMER
3 Feb 2012 at 10:50pm
Low supplies in Western Europe have caused tension to the east during an especially frigid winter.

by By JOHN F. BURNS
3 Feb 2012 at 10:01pm
Chris Huhne, the energy and climate chief, is accused of perverting the course of justice in a 2003 speeding case.

by By ANDREW JACOBS
3 Feb 2012 at 10:39pm
The demolition of a historic house in the imperial city, once home to famous architects who championed preservation, was a cruel blow to Chinese conservationists.

by By THOMAS FULLER
3 Feb 2012 at 10:50pm
The defiant stance of the rebels’ leadership appears to be a significant setback for the government’s efforts to end ethnic and civil conflicts that have divided the country for decades.

by By GINANNE BROWNELL
3 Feb 2012 at 10:50pm
The traditional canoe is at the center of several projects aimed at reducing Fiji’s energy consumption, providing cheaper transport, keeping local traditions alive and giving a boost to tourism.