The Taliban's reclusive leader says insurgents will increase the number of insider attacks against coalition and Afghan forces, which have resulted in the deaths of at least 52 coalition troops so far this year.

The Obama administration is cautiously welcoming the possibility of a temporary cease-fire in Syria, saying it hopes calm might lead to political transition.

Russia's chief military officer says Syrian rebels have acquired portable air defense missiles, including U.S.-made Stinger missiles.

According to a government document, two hours after the U.S. Consulate came under attack in Benghazi, Libya, the White House was told that a militant group was claiming responsibility for the violence that killed the U.S. ambassador.

Venezuelans are celebrating the World Series almost as much as fans of the competing teams, the Detroit Tigers and San Francisco Giants.

A military judge at Guantanamo has been forced to put in the USS Cole bombing case on hold because of a dispute over whether the accused has to be in court.

Four top Italian disaster experts have quit their jobs, saying the convictions of several former colleagues for failing to adequately warn of a deadly 2009 earthquake means they can't properly perform their duties.

A British cancer group is turning to an unorthodox source of help in an effort to speed its research: web surfers.

Police say a 41-year-old car washer shocked his family when he interrupted a funeral being held for him at his mother's home in the town of Alagoinhas in northeastern Brazil.

Authorities searched an airplane scheduled to depart from Los Angeles International Airport after someone called police and made a bomb threat.

Republican Mitt Romney is refusing to say if he would be open to one-on-one talks with Iran if elected president.

A top executive at Havana's Hotel Nacional says that Fidel Castro made a public appearance there, challenging rumors that he is in ailing health.

A pirate commander in Somalia says that a cargo ship was freed after being held captive for nearly two years. Six hostages are still being held by the pirates on land.

America sent a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier on a cruise through the South China Sea, projecting its power in waters that are fast becoming a focal point of its strategic rivalry with Beijing.

French rescue services and police are evacuating hundreds of pilgrims from hotels threatened by floodwaters from a rain-swollen river in the Roman Catholic shrine town of Lourdes.

An anti-settlement group says Israel is moving forward with plans to build a military college on Jerusalem's Mount of Olives, an area claimed by the Palestinians for a future state and steeped in Christian, Jewish and Muslim religious lore.

Lebanon's prime minister says the deadly car bombing in Beirut has links to the civil war in neighboring Syria.

More attacks in Afghanistan today have targeted those affiliated with the Afghan government.

The international envoy to the Syria conflict has pressed his call for a cease-fire with Syrian officials in Damascus.

The office of the Libyan prime minister has announced that slain Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's former spokesman has been captured at a checkpoint outside the besieged town of Bani Walid.

The battle between insurgents in Afghanistan and Afghan and foreign security forces has once again taken civilian lives.

Lebanese Red Cross and security officials say a car bomb in east Beirut has killed at least eight people and wounded dozens in the worst blast the city has seen in years.

The men in a village about 100 miles south of Kabul were fed up with the Taliban closing their schools and committing other acts of oppression. So they took up arms last spring and chased the insurgents out with no help from the Afghan government or U.S. military.

U.S. officials say the daughter of the leader of one of the world's most sought-after drug lords has been arrested on suspicion of trying to enter the United States on someone else's passport.

Administration officials say the White House has put special operations strike forces on standby and moved drones into the skies above Africa, ready to hit militant targets from Libya to Mali, if U.S. investigators can find the al-Qaida-linked group responsible for the death of the U.S. ambassador in Libya.