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Associated Press: World News

14 minutes ago

(AP) Iraq's parliament passed on Sunday a long-delayed law in a crucial step to setting up nationwide elections, and the head of the electoral commission said he did not expect any major delays in the vote planned for January.The decision appeared to resolve a key sticking point _ who will be ...

Latin America

Government: 91 dead in El Salvador flooding

15 minutes ago

(AP) El Salvador's interior minister says the death toll is now 91 from floods and slides touched off by three days of heavy rains.Minister Humberto Centeno says 60 people are still missing, and about 7,000 more are in shelters.He told reporters Sunday that many towns are still cut off and officials ...

Chavez to troops: Prepare for war with Colombia

42 minutes ago

(AP) President Hugo Chavez ordered Venezuela's military on Sunday to prepare for a possible armed conflict with Colombia, saying the country's soldiers should be ready if the United States attempts to provoke a war between the South American neighbors."The best way to avoid war is preparing for it," Chavez told military ...

Europe and Russia

New fair targets France's 260,000 annual divorces

1 hour, 36 minutes ago

(AP) The city of romance got a lesson in love's hard knocks on Sunday, as would-be divorces flocked by the thousands to the French capital's first annual divorce fair.In France, nearly one out of two marriages ends in divorce, according to the country's National Institute of Demographic Studies. More than 130,000 ...

Middle East

Iraqi parliament passes key election law

2 hours, 29 minutes ago

(AP) Iraq's parliament has passed a long-delayed electoral law, paving the way for nationwide elections.The key hurdle to the law's passage was how to apportion votes in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, a city claimed by both Arabs and Kurds.There were no details immediately available on exactly how lawmakers decided this ...

Latin America

Brazil student expelled after wearing mini-dress

2 hours, 30 minutes ago

(AP) A Brazilian university expelled a woman who was heckled by hundreds of fellow students when she wore a short, pink dress to class, taking out newspaper ads Sunday to publicly accuse her of immorality.The private Bandeirante University in Sao Bernardo do Campo, outside Sao Paulo, said 20-year-old Geisy Arruda disrespected ...

Press group: Latam governments moving in on press

2 hours, 30 minutes ago

(AP) Latin American governments are increasingly intervening in the news business, creating and favoring official media, regulating content and distribution and using other legal methods to silence their critics, a newspaper group said Sunday.Some governments are imposing limits on ownership, such as Argentina's new law against media monopolies that will force ...

Ida brushes past Mexico, watch issued for US coast

2 hours, 30 minutes ago

(AP) Hurricane Ida swiped the resort city of Cancun on Sunday with bands of wind and rain as it steamed north toward the Gulf of Mexico, where officials issued a hurricane watch for coastal Louisiana and Mississippi.Gusts of wind whipped palm trees and fishermen pulled their boats in and tied them ...

Europe and Russia

Turkey: Indicted Sudan leader won't attend summit

2 hours, 30 minutes ago

(AP) Turkey said Sunday that Sudan's internationally indicted leader, President Omar al-Bashir, will not attend a conference of Muslim nations in Istanbul.Turkey had faced criticism for its planned welcome of al-Bashir, who is the first government leader to face international war-crimes charges.Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had said al-Bashir would ...

Latin America

AP interview: Pablo Escobar's son asks forgiveness

2 hours, 57 minutes ago

(AP) The son of the late notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar is back in the public eye 15 years after fleeing Colombia for a life of anonymity as an architect in Argentina.The former Juan Pablo Escobar is appearing in a documentary titled "Sins of My Father," premiering later this month in ...

Middle East

Iraqi parliament begins voting on key election law

3 hours, 23 minutes ago

(AP) Iraq's parliament is voting on a much-delayed election law needed to carry out the nation-wide vote in January.The evening voting session Sunday, which was televised live on Iraq state TV, comes after intense behind-the-scenes negotiating throughout the day, and marked the first time the issue has actually made it to ...

Asia

Pakistan bomb kills anti-Taliban mayor, 11 others

3 hours, 26 minutes ago

(AP) A suicide bomber blew himself up Sunday in market in Pakistan's northwest crowded with shoppers ahead of a Muslim holiday, killing 12 people, including a mayor who once supported but had turned against the Taliban, officials said.A purported commander for the militant group claimed responsibility for the bombing, saying the ...

Afghan vows to keep corrupt officials out of govt

3 hours, 26 minutes ago

(AP) The embattled Afghan president pledged Sunday that there would be no place for corrupt officials in his new administration _ a demand made by Washington and its international partners as they ponder sending more troops to confront the Taliban and shore up his government.Also Sunday, NATO reported two more coalition ...

Pakistani gov't pressured on post-offensive plan

3 hours, 26 minutes ago

(AP) As Pakistan's army plows ahead with its offensive in South Waziristan, its success is at risk because the government has yet to come up with plan to run and rebuild the lawless territory so that the Taliban and al-Qaida don't re-emerge.The Pakistani army launched a ground offensive in the Afghan ...

Europe and Russia

Turkey to admit Sudan leader despite Darfur charge

3 hours, 52 minutes ago

(AP) Turkey says it will welcome Sudan's leader even though he has been indicted for orchestrating crimes against humanity in Darfur.Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is free to join an Istanbul summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference. The 57-nation group holds its main ...