Syria's foreign minister has invited the country's rebels to lay down their weapons and take part in a dialogue conference, saying everyone who participates will be included in a new Cabinet with wide executive powers.
France's foreign minister says Mali's neighbors in West Africa "need to take the lead" in the military intervention to oust extremists from northern Mali.
Algeria's state news agency says the country's special forces stormed a natural gas complex in the middle of the Sahara desert today in a "final assault" aimed at ending a four-day-old hostage crisis.
The bloody three-day hostage standoff at a natural gas plant in the Sahara took a dramatic turn Friday as Algeria's state news service reported that nearly 100 of the 132 foreign workers kidnapped by Islamic militants had been freed.
Colombia's military chief says the country's second-largest rebel band has kidnapped five gold mining workers in a northern province. They include a Canadian, two Peruvians and two Colombians.
BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) - A senior policeman in a Northern Ireland border town says someone tried to kill him using a letter bomb, and he suspects an Irish Republican Army splinter group is responsible.
LONDON (AP) - A British professor who specializes in cities and urban life has been convicted of damaging luxury cars with graffiti that was surprisingly polite.
LONDON (AP) - Nations with hostages in Algeria are reacting with muted anger to the decision by the North African country to launch a military rescue mission without consulting the other governments.
A London-based energy company that has started shipping oil from Iraq's self-rule Kurdish region says it plans to increase the amount it exports from there despite Baghdad's opposition.
Algeria's state news service says nearly 100 out of the 132 foreign hostages kidnapped by Islamist militants have been freed from a gas plant in the Sahara desert.
Gunmen loyal to President Bashar Assad swept through a mainly Sunni farming village in central Syria this week, torching houses and killing more than 100 people, including women and children, opposition activists said Thursday.
Senior investigators from the U.N. nuclear watchdog have ended two days of intensive talks with Iranian officials over allegations the Islamic Republic may have carried out tests on triggers for atomic weapons.
Greek lawmakers have voted to investigate former finance minister Papaconstantinou over his handling of data on Greeks with Swiss bank accounts and whether he amended the list to remove three of his relatives.
Algerian helicopters and special forces stormed a gas plant in the stony plains of the Sahara on Thursday to wipe out Islamist militants and free hostages from at least 10 countries. Bloody chaos ensued, leaving the fate of the fighters and many of the captives uncertain.
The Belfast family of Stephen McFaul says it cannot believe he's escaped from the Algerian hostage crisis - and never wants him to work in the oil fields there again.
Islamic militants have told a Mauritanian news outlet that that 35 hostages were killed but seven are still alive after Algerian military helicopters strafed a gas complex deep in the Sahara.
A Canadian man in his 70s was severely dehydrated after being pinned for several days under debris in his home that had piled up almost to the ceiling.
A senior U.S. diplomat has played down concerns among Central Asian governments that the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan could foment regional instability.
PARIS (AP) - An official at France's Defense Ministry says the country will "gradually deploy" a total of 2,500 troops to Mali, and the French president says the military operation will last until security has been restored and African forces are ready to take charge.
The world's largest platinum producer says it will close some South African mines and sell another, cutting 14,000 jobs only months after South Africa suffered massive labor unrest in the mining sector.
