World News

About 100 armed men, believed to be followers of a local politician, abducted 30 people in the southern Philippines on Monday to prevent a rival from filing a nomination for forthcoming elections, army officials said.

China on Monday accused a U.S. congressional advisory panel of bias for a report in which it said the Chinese government appeared increasingly to be piercing U.S. computer networks to gather useful data for its military.

Mediators reported important progress at talks on Sunday between Azerbaijan and Armenia on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, but said difficulties were also identified as the Azeri leader threatened renewed war.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown, aware his chances of re-election may hinge on Britain's economy emerging from recession, will call on European leaders on Monday to launch a drive for economic growth.

President Barack Obama's December jobs forum may be better at serving his political need to show the White House cares about sky-high U.S. unemployment, than discovering new ways to cheaply boost economic growth.

A Chinese dissident who tried to help victims of last year's Sichuan earthquake was jailed for three years on Monday on charges of illegally possessing state secrets, his wife said, decrying the sentence as "revenge".

The Commonwealth must do more to promote democracy and get tough on autocratic regimes, even if that means publicly "shaming" some of its members, said a report to be presented to its political leaders on Monday.

Federal officials are investigating a radiation leak at Three Mile Island, scene of the worst U.S. nuclear power accident, but said on Sunday there was no threat to public health or safety.

Relatives of victims of a gas blast at a mine in northeastern China scuffled with police and demanded answers from the owners on Monday as state media put the toll from the country's latest mine disaster at 104.

Incumbent President Traian Basescu won the first round of Romania's presidential election on Sunday, and will face leftist leader Mircea Geoana in a Dec. 6 runoff, exit polls showed.

Brazil's government should hear native Indians before deciding on the construction of a controversial $17.3 billion hydroelectric dam in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, rock star and environmental activist Sting said on Sunday.

The Soviet Union's only non-Communist astronaut, Konstantin Feoktistov, has died at the age of 83, Russia's space agency said on Sunday.

An overloaded ferry sank in bad weather off Indonesia's Riau islands on Sunday, killing 29 people, while 245 passengers survived the accident, officials said.

Sixty-five world leaders have confirmed they will attend next month's U.N. climate conference in Copenhagen which Danish officials hope will bring strong political commitment for a new treaty to combat global warming.

The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan made "important progress" in talks about Nagorno-Karabakh on Sunday, but some difficulties were identified, French OSCE mediator Bernard Fassier said.

The death toll from China's latest coal mine disaster reached 92 on Sunday, state television said, and hopes dimmed that more survivors would emerge after a gas blast at a colliery in the nation's far northeast.

The Iraqi parliament on Sunday failed to resolve an impasse threatening to delay the country's election in January, which could affect the U.S. military's plans for a partial pullout next year.

Iranian opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi said on Sunday the reform movement would not be cowed by the hardline government's harsh methods as riot police prevented a demonstration by moderates taking place.

Israeli President Shimon Peres held discussions in Egypt on Sunday on efforts to restart Middle East peace talks after the Egyptian president accused Israel of creating obstacles to a settlement with the Palestinians.