The lawyer for a British hacker wanted in America for breaking into sensitive computer networks at U.S. military and space installations says that officials will rule on the case by next month.

Officials say the death toll in the sinking of a boat carrying illegal immigrants off the coast of Turkey has risen to 39 and is expected to increase further.

A powerful, magnitude-7.6 earthquake shook Costa Rica on Wednesday. There were no immediate accounts of damage or injuries.

A journalists' watchdog group urged the Tanzanian government to launch an independent probe into the death of a journalist over the weekend who was killed by police, according to witnesses.

A lawyer for an American businessman fighting corruption charges in Dubai says he is seeking information on who is holding his client after he was caught in Yemen trying to flee and returned to the United Arab Emirates.

The area around the U.S. embassy in Brussels and the Belgian defense ministry was temporarily sealed off as bomb squad assessed a suspicious vehicle.

Police say there is a good possibility that a murder victim's torso found floating near Niagara Falls last week could have come from the U.S.

Police in Colombia say an unidentified gunman has fatally shot a convicted drug trafficker once known as the "Queen of Cocaine."

Rio de Janeiro police say an armed man suspected of stealing a car hijacked a bus carrying several children on a field trip and forced it to take him to a nearby slum.

Afghan officials say a suicide bomber killed at least 25 civilians and wounded dozens at a funeral for a village elder in a remote part of eastern Afghanistan.

The latest hero for DC Comics was inspired by the diverse background of its creator.

Officials say new flooding in Nigeria has killed at least 11 people.

A Portuguese official says authorities have asked other European countries to send help as the country's firefighters struggle to contain forest blazes.

A grandson of the creator of the Red Bull energy drink is suspected of driving a Ferrari that struck and killed a policeman and then dragged the officer's body down a Bangkok street in a hit-and-run accident.

Police and politicians say four miners have been shot and injured, apparently by security guards using rubber bullets at a gold mine owned by the South African president's nephew and a grandson of anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela.

An unemployed young Gazan man has died after dousing himself with gasoline and setting himself on fire.

Officials say the religious leader who founded the Unification Church and built it into a multibillion-dollar business empire has died in South Korea at age 92.

Two Syrian activist groups say about 5,000 people were killed in Syria in August, making it the deadliest month since the uprising began more than 17 months ago.

There have been reports of battles coming from at least three separate areas in Syria today.

The state-run Cameroon broadcasting reported Friday that at least 14 people are confirmed dead and over 22,000 other affected by flood waters in Cameroon's Far-North and North Regions.

Mexico's highest electoral authority has declared Enrique Pena Nieto the legitimate winner of the country's July 1 presidential election. The ruling formally opens the transition to a new government despite continuing claims of fraud.

Police in Canada say a woman's torso that was found floating near Niagara Falls was likely in the water for four to 10 days, and they are asking for help in identification.

A tsunami alert has been lifted after a 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck off the eastern coast of the Philippines late today.

Greece says pirates have freed a Greek-owned oil tanker seized off the coast of Togo in West Africa, and all 24 crew members are in good health.

Geological monitoring services are reporting that an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 has struck off Jan Mayen island in Arctic waters between Greenland and Norway.