Palestinians have erupted in wild cheers, hugging each other and honking car horns after the United Nations voted to grant them, at least formally, what they have long yearned for - a state of their own.

Botswana To Ban Big Game Hunting By 2014.

Germany's most populous state is toughening a ban on smoking in bars and restaurants, closing loopholes in its five-year-old restrictions.

Three U.S. companies whose merchandise was found in the charred ruins of a factory in Bangladesh all say their clothing suppliers were not authorized to use the factory.

Mexico's former longtime governing party is planning little pomp and high security when it retakes the presidency Saturday.

A German lawmaker says Parliament is close to passing a law explicitly banning bestiality after animal rights groups and tabloid newspapers pushed for existing legislation to be clarified.

An Egyptian court has convicted in absentia seven Egyptian Coptic Christians and a Florida-based American pastor and sentenced them to death on charges linked to an anti-Islam film that had sparked riots in parts of the Muslim world.

The U.S. Geological Survey says an earthquake measuring 5.5 magnitude has hit the eastern part of Indonesia. There are no immediate reports of damage.

Thailand's Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has survived a no-confidence vote in parliament.

A new independent review of the Kabul Bank scandal says hundreds of millions of dollars from the bank were spirited out of Afghanistan - some smuggled in airline food trays.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former IMF chief who has successfully fought a handful of accusations linked to his "libertine" lifestyle, will be learning whether charges for aggravated pimping will be dropped.

Mexican soldiers say beauty queen Maria Susana Flores Gamez had a gun in her hands when she was killed in a hail of gunfire over the weekend.

British government prosecutors say a late politician who sexually abused young boys in the 1960s should have been prosecuted.

British police say they found the body of an elderly woman in a flooded home, as hundreds of Britons struggle to contain damage done by the recent wet weather.

Virgin Islands probe in death of artist's daughter.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has urged the European Union to reverse its decision not to launch an anti-trust probe of U.S. credit card companies after they blocked donations to the secret-spilling website.

Family and friends of slain boxer Hector "Macho" Camacho are saying goodbye at a memorial service in his native Puerto Rico.

South Korea has decided to revoke an honorary title given to an American socialite tied to the scandal involving former CIA director David Petraeus.

Campaigners against female circumcision have scored a major victory with the approval by a key U.N. committee of a resolution calling for a global ban on female genital mutilation.

Portuguese lawmakers are poised to authorize an unprecedented set of tax increases despite concerns that the latest austerity package will deepen the bailed-out country's recession.

A spokesman of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood says it has canceled a planned mass rally in support of President Mohammed Morsi's assumption of sweeping powers.

Thousands of demonstrators are gathering in downtown Rio de Janeiro for a march against legislation that officials here insist would strip the oil-producing state of much of its income from Brazil's energy sector.

Fourteen people were killed and eight injured Monday when a fire broke out at a workshop for disabled people in Germany's Black Forest region, authorities said. Scores had to be rescued from the building as it quickly filled with smoke.

Firefighters say a fire at a workshop for disabled people in southwestern Germany has killed 14 and injured at least six others.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and other dignitaries are attending the inauguration of a Saudi-sponsored center for inter-religious dialogue.