Posted: 4:19 PM A powerful earthquake has hit Russia's Far East with slight tremors spreading westwards as far as Moscow.

Updated: 4:57 PM Silvio Berlusconi's figure looms large over Rome's mayoral elections this weekend, even though the former premier isn't among the 19 candidates running.

Updated: 12:44 PM Authorities in Afghanistan say two guards were killed when a Taliban suicide car bomber and five heavily armed gunmen attacked a guest house of an international aid group in the Afghan capital of Kabul today.

Posted: 12:40 PM According to a Pakistani official, two passengers on a flight from Pakistan to England today allegedly threatened to "destroy the plane" after an argument with crew.

Posted: 2:38 PM The father of a Chechen immigrant shot by U.S. law enforcement agents in Florida while being questioned about his ties to a Boston Marathon bombings suspect says he regrets allowing his son to go to the United States.

Posted: 2:25 PM Two brown bears have been released into a special sanctuary after being held in a 20-square-meter cage almost their entire lives to amuse visitors at a Kosovo restaurant.

Posted: 2:22 PM A man accused of plotting to derail a train in Canada with support from al-Qaida is asking to be represented by a defense attorney willing to use the "holy book" as a reference in his case.

Updated: 2:13 PM Brazil's Federal Police say nine people have been arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing Indians girls in the northern state of Amazonas.

Posted: 10:47 AM British police say two more people have been arrested by officers investigating the hacking death of a U.K. soldier in London.

Posted: 10:02 PM A government investigation says poor quality construction materials and building code violations contributed to the collapse of building housing garment factories last month in Bangladesh.

Posted: 8:17 PM Mexican authorities say they have seized five boxes filled with cash as part of an investigation into alleged embezzlement by a former governor of southern Tabasco state.

Posted: 6:15 PM Scientists say one of Costa Rica's largest volcanos is spewing clouds of ash and gas, setting off a small-scale evacuation.

Posted: 1:20 PM Two U.K. government officials say a brutal attack that left one man dead near a London military barracks appears to have been motivated by radical Islam.

Posted: 5:48 AM A judge in Italy has ordered the captain of the Costa Concordia to stand trial in the shipwreck of the cruise liner, which struck a reef off Tuscany last year, killing 32 people.

Posted: 9:40 PM A North Korean state media dispatch shows that leader Kim Jong Un has named a hardline general as his new military chief.

Updated: 1:03 PM Hungarian police say they are investigating an incident in which an elderly man may have been mauled to death by two donkeys.

Posted: 1:00 PM Pope Francis has expressed his "closeness to the families of all who died in the Oklahoma tornado," with special concern for "those who lost young children."

Posted: 12:58 PM A Moroccan court has convicted two men of homosexuality and public indecency, and sentenced each to four months in prison, in the latest case against gays in this North African nation.

Posted: 12:55 PM Three former Ford Motor Co. executives have been charged with crimes against humanity in Argentina for allegedly targeting union workers for kidnapping and torture after the country's 1976 military coup.

Posted: 12:53 PM A Truth Commission investigating human rights abuses under the nation's military dictatorship says that those it finds guilty of torture could be brought to trial.

Posted: 9:44 PM Residents of a western Mexico area who endured months besieged by a drug cartel cheered the arrival of hundreds of Mexican soldiers Monday.

Updated: 1:18 PM Officials in Turkey say two hot air balloons collided mid-air during a sightseeing tour of volcanic rock formations today, causing one of them to crash to the ground.

Posted: 1:10 PM A retired Anglican priest has been convicted of 36 separate sex offenses against children in the 1960s and 1970s.

Posted: 1:08 PM A surprise shell has caused a big stir at a popular Athens beach.

Posted: 1:05 PM A Swedish prosecutor says three former executives of automaker Saab Automobile AB have been arrested on accounting fraud charges.