Index
Boston.com -- World newsWorld news from Boston.com, AP, and Reuters.
Oil bounced slightly off seven-month lows near $90 a barrel Thursday in Asia amid signs China's economy is continuing to slow.
South Korea says it will chemically castrate a convicted serial child sex offender in its first use of such a punishment.
A doctor who helped the CIA hunt down Osama bin Laden has been convicted of conspiring against the state and sentenced to 33 years in prison, adding new strains to an already deeply troubled relationship between the U.S. and Pakistan.
State officials say three prisoners have been killed and six wounded in a gunfight at a prison in the violent northern Mexico border state of Tamaulipas.
Thousands of university students marched through central Mexico City on Wednesday to protest media coverage that they say favors the candidate of the former ruling party in upcoming presidential elections.
Defense lawyers in the Sept. 11 case at Guantanamo are seeking the testimony of former President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama in a motion to dismiss charges, according to a legal motion released Wednesday.
Thousands of university students marched through central Mexico City on Wednesday to protest media coverage that they say favors the candidate of the former ruling party in upcoming presidential elections.
British authorities said Wednesday that three bandits were foiled when their attempt to pry open a stolen cash box ran up against a new security system that slathered the bills with glue.
Britain's justice secretary says that the press is in part to blame for Britain's crowded prisons and that he wishes authorities would push back against media pressure to keep locking people up.
Defense lawyers in the Sept. 11 case at Guantanamo are seeking the testimony of former President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama in a motion to dismiss charges, according to a legal motion released Wednesday.
A former track coach at a Jamaican high school testified Wednesday that a notorious drug kingpin sought his illegal services to obtain fraudulent visas for couriers -- including a young girl -- to smuggle drugs into the United States.
Russia's prime minister paid a visit Wednesday to a farm that has imported cattle from the United States and also some American cowboys to help the Russians develop their struggling meat industry.
Egyptians cast their ballots Wednesday in the first free presidential election in the country's history. The winner will replace longtime authoritarian President Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted in an 18-day uprising last year. Voters in Egypt offered some of their thoughts on the candidates and the election:
A Paris court has convicted a member of new French President Francois Hollande's government for publicly insulting the management of a ferry company, but only fined him 4 euros ($5).
A prominent British TV presenter said Wednesday that CNN talk show host Piers Morgan gave him a primer on phone hacking, a revelation that suggests he knew a fair amount about how the shady practice was carried out.
A year after an earthquake and tsunami triggered the Fukushima disaster, a United Nations agency preparing a report on the health effects says none of the six former reactor workers who have died since the catastrophe perished due to the effects of radiation.
Mali's interim president, who was beaten by a mob of demonstrators who broke into his office this week, has left the country to seek medical treatment in France, an adviser and two French government officials said Wednesday.
Iran's official news agency says Iran's military has wound up a one-day exercise in the center of the country.
Egyptian voters of many ages, occupations and beliefs stood in line for hours Wednesday to cast their ballots for a new president. The winner would replace Hosni Mubarak, deposed in a popular uprising last year. He was voted in several times, but those elections were generally regarded as blatantly rigged, and turnout was low.
Charles MacLean is out of his element in Cannes, a town consumed by cinema and celebrity. His element is Scotch whisky -- "uisge beatha," he says, giving it its Gaelic name. The water of life.
CENTRALIZING POWER: The German government will oversee the country's move from nuclear power to renewable energy more closely, according to Chancellor Angela Merkel. It's a mammoth 10-year project for Europe's biggest economy that has been going slowly to date.
British Prime Minister David Cameron's office says that Libyan Prime Minister Abdurrahim el-Keib will be in London for talks.
A strong earthquake has struck off the coast of northeastern Japan, but no tsunami is expected.
Prosecutors in southern Mexico announced Wednesday that they have captured a man suspected in the killing of independent U.S. journalist Bradley Will during protests against the Oaxaca state government in 2006.
A wildlife official says that about 5,000 elephants have been killed by poachers over the past five years around the Nouabale Ndoki National Park in the Republic of Congo.
A Turkish court was asked Wednesday to approve murder charges against members of Israel's military for the killing of nine people aboard a Turkish ship trying to break Israel's blockade of Gaza in 2010, Turkey's state-run news agency reported.
A party official says Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will speak at an economic conference next week in Thailand's capital, in her first trip abroad in 24 years.
Subway workers went on strike in Brazil's biggest city on Wednesday, but ended it five hours later after halting a system used daily by more than 4 million people and snarling the city's already difficult traffic.
Mexico's former ruling party said Wednesday it will suspend the party membership of a former governor accused of accepting millions of dollars in bribes from drug cartels.
The home Jose Nazare Braga built in the Rocinha shantytown is his life's work, an investment that grew from a shack to a three-story building over 30 years. A restaurant and a paper-goods store on the ground floor provide income, and his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren live above.
A prominent American forensic scientist said Wednesday that Chinese police asked him to analyze an unidentified blood sample, in a possible link to a spiraling political scandal in which a senior official was sacked amid allegations that his wife murdered a British man.
Officials in Somalia say that African Union and Somali forces are capturing new territory outside Mogadishu that has long been controlled by militant fighters.
The field of candidates for the 2020 Summer Olympics could be reduced from five to three, with Doha and Baku in danger of missing the cut.
A top Ukrainian Olympic official was suspended Tuesday following allegations that he offered to sell thousands of dollars worth of tickets for the London Games on the black market.
Libya's former prime minister will only be extradited to his country if his life isn't in danger there and he can be guaranteed a fair trial, Tunisia's presidential spokesman said Wednesday.
Syria is allowing Kurdish rebels who are fighting Turkish forces to establish bases in Syrian territory, as ties between the two neighboring countries deteriorate, a Turkish minister said Wednesday.
Japan's Shigeru Miyamoto, considered the father of the modern video game, has been awarded Spain's Prince of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities.
Angola's president says national parliamentary elections will be held Aug. 31. In a press release Wednesday, the president also announced the appointment of Edeltrudes Costa as the electoral commission's interim president. The former electoral commission president had to step down after opposition parties challenged her appointment. She was not a judge and Angolan law requires a judge lead the commission.
Protesters took to the streets of Myanmar's biggest city for a second night Wednesday to air their complaints about chronic power cuts, in a test of the tolerance of the reformist government of military-backed but elected President Thein Sein.
WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange is to find out next week whether his bid to block extradition to Sweden has been successful.
President Vladimir Putin signaled his support Wednesday for a controversial bill now working its way through Russia's parliament that would increase fines 200-fold for those taking part in unsanctioned protests.
Yemeni military officials say fresh clashes between government troops and al-Qaida fighters in the south have killed 22 militants and seven soldiers.
The mass die-off of nearly 900 dolphins and porpoises along Peru's coast remains unsolved, Peru's government marine research agency says.
A Russian military jet has malfunctioned while landing in the Czech Republic, injuring nearly two dozen people as it rolled off the runway.
The U.N. human rights chief says Zimbabwe's president has acknowledged the nation faces "current problems" but blames influences of the past.
Three people charged by a Bosnian court with involvement in a shooting attack on the U.S. embassy in Sarajevo last October have pleaded not guilty to terrorism.
Russia on Wednesday successfully test-fired a new intercontinental ballistic missile with an enhanced capability to penetrate missile defenses and commissioned a new early warning radar, the Defense Ministry said.
More than 12,000 Congolese fleeing violence at home have crossed into Uganda since the end of last year, and Uganda is planning for an influx of up to 30,000 refugees from Congo, an official said Wednesday.
Oil fell to a seven-month low below $91 a barrel Wednesday after Iran agreed to allow the U.N. nuclear agency to restart an investigation into the country's nuclear program.
Sri Lankan customs officials say they have seized about 1.5 tons of elephant tusks in the largest ever such seizure in the country.
