Chavez Surgery Rocks Venezuela Ahead Of Election Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's imminent departure for more cancer surgery in Cuba has thrown his re-election campaign into uncertainty and once again shaken the socialist leader's passionate supporters.
Argentine Commuter Train Crashes, Killing 49 People A packed commuter train ploughed into the buffers at a Buenos Aires station during Wednesday's morning rush hour, killing 49 people and injuring more than 600 in Argentina's worst rail accident in more than 30 years, officials said.
Germany Urged To Halt Castration Of Sex Offenders Germany should stop the practice of surgically castrating sex offenders, the anti-torture panel at Europe's top human rights watchdog said on Wednesday.
As Syrians Flee Homs, Sectarian Faultlines Deepen It started a few months ago with neighbours'suspicious looks, then came the threats. Their car was smashed and their front door was painted over with sectarian slurs.
Karzai Urges Calm As Six Die In Afghan Koran Protests Afghan President Hamid Karzai appealed for calm on Wednesday after officials said six people were shot dead and dozens wounded in protests over the burning of copies of the Koran, Islam's holy book, at NATO's main base in the country.
Judge To Give Verdict In Mubarak Trial On June 2 The verdict in the trial of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, charged with ordering the killing of protesters in the uprising that swept him from power, will be delivered on June 2, the judge said on Wednesday.
Assad Forces Try To Bomb Homs Into Submission Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces rained rockets and bombs down on opposition-held neighbourhoods of the city of Homs Wednesday, reducing buildings to rubble and killing more than 80 people, including two Western journalists.
Iran Defiant As U.N. Nuclear Talks Fail The U.N. nuclear watchdog ended its latest mission to Iran after talks on Tehran's suspected secret atomic weapons research failed, a setback likely to increase the risk of confrontation with the West.
Bahrain Sunnis Warn Government Over Dialogue At Rally Sunni Muslims warned the Bahraini government at a rally against entering a dialogue with Shi'ite-led opposition parties, as pressure mounts for the Sunni-led Gulf Arab state to end unrest now entering its second year.
U.S., French Journalists Killed In Syria American correspondent Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik were killed in the besieged Syrian city of Homs on Wednesday when rockets fired by government forces hit the house they were staying in, opposition activists and witnesses said.
French Photographer, 28, Killed In Syria PARIS (AP): Remi Ochlik, a rising star of French photojournalism who covered riots in Haiti and the upheaval sweeping across the Arab world was killed Wednesday in a shelling attack in Syria.
American War Reporter Marie Colvin Killed In Syria LONDON (AP): Respected American journalist Marie Colvin, who spent decades reporting on conflicts from Sri Lanka to Syria, focusing on the suffering of women and children in wartime, died in a fierce shelling attack Wednesday in Syria.
Frankfurt Airport Hit By Fifth Day Of Strikes FRANKFURT (Reuters): Strikes at Frankfurt airport, Germany's largest, are expected to cause 165 flight cancellations on their fifth day in a week, with no sign of labour representatives or airport operator Fraport backing down.
Gunfire Wounds 26 In Afghan Protests Over Koran Burning KABUL (Reuters): Gunfire wounded at least 26 people during fresh protests in several cities across Afghanistan over the burning of copies of the Koran, Islam's holy book, at NATO's main base in Afghanistan.
North Korea Calls Seoul Nuclear Summit A "Childish Farce" SEOUL (Reuters): Isolationist North Korea lashed out at its neighbour on Wednesday for hosting an international nuclear security summit in Seoul next month, calling it a "childish farce" and an "intolerable grave provocation".
Strauss-Kahn Faces More Questions In French Prostitution Probe PARIS (Reuters): Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn faces a second day of questioning by police on Wednesday after spending a night in prison over allegations of dealings with a prostitution ring run from the northern French city of Lille.
Violence As Yemen Elects Candidate To Replace Toppled Leader SANAA/ADEN (Reuters): Separatist violence in the south loomed over a presidential election in Yemen that had just a single candidate, but Washington praised the vote ending three decades of rule by its ally Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Australia's Foreign Minister Rudd Resigns Australia's foreign minister resigned Wednesday amid an ongoing leadership squabble, saying he could not continue in his role without the support of Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
US, N.Korea To Hold First Post-Kim Jong Il Talks BEIJING (AP): The United States and North Korea reopen nuclear talks this week that will provide a glimpse into whether a political transition to Kim Jong Il's young son is going smoothly two months after the longtime North Korean leader's death.
US Apologises For Quran Burnings In Afghanistan KABUL, Afghanistan (AP): The U.S. has apologised for the burning of Muslim holy books that had been pulled from the shelves of a detention centre library adjoining a major base in eastern Afghanistan because they contained extremist messages or inscriptions.
Obama Joins Jagger, B.B. King, To Belt Out Blues WASHINGTON (AP): The president just couldn't say no: Mick Jagger held out a microphone almost by way of command, and soon Barack Obama was belting out the blues with the best of them.
Senegal Opposition Demo To Go Ahead Despite Ban DAKAR, Senegal (AP): Senegal's opposition movement plans a sleep-in Thursday at a downtown square in the capital, even though the government refused to authorize the demonstration being held only a week before the country's presidential election.
New Zealanders Gather To Remember Earthquake Dead WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP): More than 10,000 New Zealanders stood in silence, some in tears, at a Christchurch park Wednesday while police officers and firefighters read out the names of all 185 people who died in a devastating earthquake one year ago.
Festival Returns To Myanmar's Shwedagon Pagoda YANGON, Myanmar (AP): Vast crowds were gathering Wednesday at Myanmar's most sacred Buddhist shrine to celebrate a festival banned for more than 20 years under the former military government.
