Wire World News

Spain's Supreme Court has thrown out a case against recently barred magistrate Baltasar Garzon in which he was suspected of improperly receiving money while on sabbatical in New York.

British Prime Minister David Cameron's office says he will head to Scotland for talks on the country's ballot for independence - a vote that could see the breakup of Britain.

Police are conducting a homicide investigation regarding the death of an American college student in Spain and have detained a suspect.

Now that Henrique Capriles has easily won Venezuela's first-ever opposition presidential primary, he's not just up against any other incumbent. The young governor will have to defeat a veritable political phenomenon.

Queen Elizabeth II has a new sidekick for royal events: The Duchess of Cambridge.

The U.S. Geological Survey says a magnitude 5.8 earthquake shook the central and Pacific coastal regions of Costa Rica early Monday morning. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

An Iranian news agency says President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's press adviser has been sentenced to six months in jail.

A piracy monitoring official says pirates off Nigeria's coast have attacked a cargo ship and shot dead its captain and chief engineer.

Don't tell Michael W. McLanahan that manufacturing in the United States is dead. His family-owned, privately held company has made mineral processing and farm equipment since its founding way back in 1835 — and is enjoying a boom.

Thousands of Somalis are gathering at a militant-organized demonstration on the outskirts of Mogadishu in support of the merger of the Somali militant group al-Shabab with al-Qaida.

A senior Iranian military official has claimed the country's nuclear facilities are immune to cyber attack.

Assailants targeted Israeli diplomats in India and Georgia in near-simultaneous strikes Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed on archenemy Iran, and its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah.

Israel's Foreign Ministry is confirming a pair of attempted car bombings against Israeli diplomats in India and Georgia.

Bail conditions have been agreed for radical cleric Abu Qatada, Britain's judiciary said Monday, signaling his imminent release from an English prison.

A fire at a drydocked Russian nuclear submarine in December could have sparked a radiation disaster because it was carrying nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles and other weapons, despite official statements to the contrary, a Russian news magazine reported Monday.

Many Iranian web users say their access to foreign email services such as Gmail, Yahoo mail and Hotmail appears to have been restored after a four day outage.

An explosion tore through an Israeli diplomat's car on the streets of New Delhi on Monday, Israeli officials said. The driver and a diplomat's wife were injured, according to Indian officials.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani was charged Monday with contempt of court in a case that could lead to him being disqualified from office if found guilty.

A retired British businessman accused of plotting to sell missile components to Iran will be extradited to the United States, his lawyer said Monday.

Turkmenistan's President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov won a new five-year term by capturing 97 percent of the vote, election officials said Monday, but a Western expert called the vote a democratic sham.

The Supreme Court charged Pakistan's prime minister with contempt Monday for defying its order to reopen an old corruption case against the president, sharpening a political crisis that has shaken this already volatile country.

In a Feb. 12 story about the meeting of Arab League foreign ministers, The Associated Press misquoted League chief Nabil Elaraby as saying Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov wrote him a letter saying Russia would agree to a joint U.N.-Arab League peacekeeping force in Syria. Elaraby said Lavrov wrote that Russia could agree to a joint U.N.-Arab League observer force.

South Korean police have arrested a Christian pastor and his wife over the deaths of their three children. The parents are accused of whipping and starving the children in an attempt to cast out demons.

A spokesman for ex-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says a Tel Aviv court will hold its first hearing into a wide-ranging real estate scandal involving the former leader.

Israeli settlers from an unauthorized West Bank outpost said Monday they reached a deal with the country's government to allow them to stay put for two more years, despite Israeli Supreme Court orders to evacuate them next month.

Hurricane-strength winds and rain tore through the islands of Nigeria's commercial capital on Monday, killing at least one person and downing trees across major roadways.

A senior Chinese diplomat on a trip to Iran has urged Tehran to cooperate more with the United Nations' nuclear watchdog body. The advice comes amid growing tensions over the Islamic republic's nuclear program and Western sanctions.

The Taliban's former defense minister died in a Pakistani jail in 2010, a spokesman for the insurgent group said Monday.

China refused Monday to say if it backs an Arab League call for the U.N. Security Council to create a joint peacekeeping force for Syria, the latest bid to end the violence that has killed more than 5,000 there.

Malaysia's government on Monday defended its decision to deport a young Saudi journalist who may face persecution at home for allegedly insulting the Prophet Muhammad on Twitter.

Iraq's capital is embracing Valentine's Day this year with a huge public display of affection in what its residents say is the nation's most amorous celebration of the holiday ever.

Two bills to allow gay marriages in Australia were introduced in Parliament on Monday but may fail because of political conflicts.

An 18-year-old Tibetan nun has set herself on fire in western China in the latest such protest against Beijing's handling of the vast ethnic Tibetan regions it rules, an overseas activist group said.

The Muslim militant suspected of building the bombs used in the 2002 Bali attack went on trial Monday on terrorism charges, a year after he was captured in the same Pakistani town where Osama bin Laden was hiding.

The U.S. Embassy in Guatemala is criticizing President Otto Perez Molina's proposal to legalize drugs in Central America.

Oil prices rose to near $100 a barrel Monday in Asia after the Greek parliament approved new austerity measures that should secure a bailout and avoid bankruptcy.

Zambians poured out of their houses, clubs and bars to celebrate in the streets early Monday after watching their team beat Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in the African Cup finals.

A health scare on a flight from Japan to New Zealand appears to be nothing more serious than a seasonal outbreak of influenza.

The Arab League voted Sunday to seek a joint United Nations force for Syria as regional diplomats met in Cairo to discuss their dwindling options for stopping the bloodshed in a nearly year-old uprising against President Bashar Assad.

Most pre-Carnival street parties in Brazil are all about samba, but the moves on display at Sunday's Blocao parade were focused more on wagging and strategic sniffing than on fancy footwork.

The Arab League voted Sunday to seek a joint U.N. peacekeeping force for Syria as regional diplomats met in Cairo to discuss their dwindling options for stopping the bloodshed in a nearly year-old uprising against President Bashar Assad.

Turkey's state-run news agency says Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been discharged from hospital a day after undergoing what officials said was a "second and final" intestinal surgery.

Syrian rebels repelled a push Monday by government tanks into a key central town held by forces fighting President Bashar Assad's regime as the country's 11-month-old uprising looked increasingly like a nascent civil war.

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping arrives in the United States on Monday for a high-profile visit where he'll be feted as if he were the president of China — the post he's expected to take next year.

Greek lawmakers on Monday approved harsh new austerity measures demanded by bailout creditors to save the debt-crippled nation from bankruptcy, after riots in Athens and other cities left stores looted and burned and more than 120 people hurt.

Security forces in Bahrain on Monday fired tear gas and stun grenades at protesters trying to occupy a landmark square in the nation's capital on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the Gulf kingdom's Shiite-led uprising.

Pakistan's prime minister is showing no indication of backing down ahead of a face-to-face showdown with the Supreme Court on Monday, even though his stance could cost him his job and land him in prison.

Northern Ireland police investigating activity by Irish Republican Army dissidents say a man has been charged over a bomb discovered last year.

The top U.S. Navy official in the Gulf said Sunday he takes Iran's military capabilities seriously but insists his forces are prepared to confront any Iranian aggression in the region.