BEIRUT -- Syria's main opposition bloc wants to consult its allies before deciding on joining a U.S.-Russia initiative to negotiate a peaceful transition in Syria, its leader said Monday.
MOSCOW -- Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday that focused on the situation in Syria, amid concerns that Moscow could soon provide Damascus with advanced missiles.
BEIRUT -- Syrian troops have taken full control of a town near the highway linking the capital Damascus with Jordan, a new advance in the regime's campaign to drive rebels from the strategic south, an activist group said Monday.
SANAA, Yemen -- A Yemeni military plane on a training exercise exploded in mid-air over the country's capital on Monday, killing the pilot and slamming into a residential neighborhood, according to an army official.
RAIWIND, Pakistan -- The Pakistani politician poised to become the country's next prime minister says Islamabad has "good relations" with the United States but called the CIA's drone campaign in the tribal region a challenge to his nation's sovereignty.
DHAKA, Bangladesh -- Bangladesh's government agreed Monday to allow the country's garment workers to form trade unions without prior permission from factory owners, the latest response to a building collapse that killed more than 1,100 people and focused global attention on the industry's hazardous conditions.
SEOUL, South Korea -- The scandal shaking up South Korea's main spy agency is not cloak-and-dagger stuff, but the kind of low-grade trickery anyone with an Internet connection could pull off. And the target was not Seoul's opaque rival to the north, but the country's own people.
LAHORE, Pakistan -- Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif looked poised Sunday to return to office with a resounding election victory -- a mandate that could make it easier to tackle the country's daunting problems, including growing power outages, weak economic growth and shaky government finances.
SAO PAULO-- The cars roll endlessly off the local assembly lines of the industry's biggest automakers, more than 10,000 a day, into the eager hands of Brazil's new middle class. The shiny new Fords, Fiats, and Chevrolets tell the tale of an economy in full bloom that now boasts the fourth largest auto market in the world.
MEXICO CITY-- Seismic activity has increased at the Popocatepetl volcano near Mexico City, leading authorities to alert towns in two central states and the capital.
BEIRUT -- TV singing contests around the world tend to serve up light, glitzy entertainment with a dash of emotional drama. But in the Middle East's version of "American Idol," it's the region's troubles that often take center stage.
SAVAR, Bangladesh -- A seamstress who survived 17 days before being rescued from a collapsed garment factory building outside of Bangladesh's capital was panicked, dehydrated and suffering from insomnia as she recovered in a hospital Saturday, but was in generally good condition, according to her doctors.
CULIACAN, Mexico-- Police on Saturday found the bodies of two Spanish businessmen in a car dumped in a canal in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. The men were handcuffed and had been shot.
REYHANLI, Turkey -- In one of the deadliest attacks in Turkey in recent years, two car bombs exploded near the border with Syria on Saturday, killing 43 and wounding 140 others. Turkish officials blamed the attack on a group linked to Syria, and a deputy prime minister called the neighboring country's intelligence service and military "the usual suspects."
ISLAMABAD -- Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif declared victory following a historic election marred by violence Saturday, a remarkable comeback for a leader once toppled in a military coup and sent into exile.
TEHRAN, Iran -- A pair of powerful and divisive figures registered Saturday to run in Iran's presidential election, jolting the political landscape ahead of next month's vote to pick a successor to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
WASHINGTON -- Two astronauts will make a hastily planned spacewalk Saturday to try to fix an ammonia leak in the power system of the International Space Station.
GUATEMALA CITY -- A Guatemalan court convicted former dictator Efrain Rios Montt on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity on Friday, sentencing him to 80 years in prison, the first such sentence ever handed down against a former Latin American leader.
ROME -- The Italian coast guard says divers have found the body of another victim of a cargo ship crash into Genoa's dock, raising the death toll to eight.
SAVAR, Bangladesh -- For 17 days, the seamstress lay trapped in a dark basement pocket beneath thousands of tons of wreckage as temperatures outside climbed into the mid-90s F. She rationed food and water. She banged a pipe to attract attention. She was fast losing hope of ever making it out alive.
