LONDON (AP) — The families of several British soldiers killed or injured in Iraq can sue the government for failing to protect them, the country's highest court ruled Wednesday.
The cases have been brought by relatives of soldiers including Cpl. Stephen Allbutt, who died in a "friendly fire" incident involving two Challenger tanks in March 2003; and Pvt. Phillip Hewett, killed in July 2005 when his Snatch Land Rover was blown up.
The Supreme Court...
MADRID (AP) — Spain faces the prospect of high unemployment and sluggish growth lasting years unless the country and Europe take "urgent action" to slash the nation's crippling 27 percent unemployment rate and free frozen credit to businesses so they can expand, the International Monetary Fund said Wednesday.
A report issued by the IMF praised Spain's reforms for stabilizing an economy that almost imploded last year, particularly by propping up public finances, but said...
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Seven al-Qaida-linked militants on a suicide mission attacked the U.N. compound Wednesday with a truck bomb and then poured inside, killing at least 13 people before dying in the assault.
At least three foreigners were slain during the raid in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, where the United Nations expanded its presence this year, about 18 months after Islamic insurgents were pushed from the seaside city.
The militant...
BEIRUT (AP) — Hezbollah fighters joined Syrian forces in battling rebels in a Damascus suburb that is home to a revered Shiite Muslim shrine, in a push to secure the area around the ornate, golden domed mosque.
Protection of the Sayida Zeinab shrine has become a rallying cry for Shiite fighters backing President Bashar Assad, raising the stakes in a conflict that is increasingly being fought along sectarian lines.
The fighting in the area south of...
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The United Nations and the U.S. have separately asked the Philippines not to withdraw its more than 300 peacekeepers from the Golan Heights, warning of "maximum volatility" in the region after several other countries decided to pull out their peacekeeping forces amid escalating violence, the Philippines' top diplomat said Wednesday.
Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and U.S. Secretary of State John...
LOURDES, France (AP) — Heavy floods in southwest France have left two dead and forced the closure of the Catholic pilgrimage site in Lourdes and the evacuation of pilgrims from nearby hotels.
Muddy floodwaters swirled Wednesday in the grotto where nearly 6 million believers from around the world, many gravely ill, come every year seeking miracles and healing. It has been a major pilgrimage site since a French girl's vision of the Virgin Mary there in 1858....
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's deputy prime minister gave a nod of approval on Wednesday to a new form of peaceful resistance that is spreading through Turkey.
Although police dispersed pockets of protesters who set up barricades in two Turkish cities overnight, the sometimes violent anti-government demonstrations have largely given way to a passive form of resistance, with people standing motionless.
Hundreds of demonstrators stood still for hours...
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Rights groups are criticizing a code of media ethics proposed by Sri Lanka's government, saying Wednesday that the code could have a chilling effect on free speech in the Indian Ocean island nation.
New York-based Human Rights Watch said the code is "unnecessary" and infringes on the right to free expression, while Sri Lanka's Free Media Movement said it would "drastically affect the media freedom and the country's democratic set up."...
LONDON (AP) — British bankers could soon be facing harsher penalties for behaving badly.
After a year which has seen major scandals involving rate-rigging, money-laundering and rogue-trading rock the UK's financial industry, an influential parliamentary committee recommended Wednesday that senior bankers should be held more accountable for their bank's actions. One measure, it said, should be a new criminal offense of "reckless misconduct" — one that could carry a prison...
MILAN (AP) — The former head of Italian aerospace and defense giant Finmeccanica , accused by prosecutors of making bribery part of the company culture, went on trial Wednesday for his alleged role in the payment of bribes to secure a crucial 560 million euro ($670 million) helicopter contract in India.
Giuseppe Orsi, who resigned in February, faces charges of fraud and corruption in a case that has tarnished the international image of the state-controlled company and...
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