Toronto mayor denies he smokes crack cocaine
TORONTO (AP) -- Toronto Mayor Rob Ford denied that he smokes crack cocaine and said he is not an addict, breaking a week of silence over reports of a video purportedly showing him using the drug. Critics were not appeased, with one city councilor questioning whether the mayor told "the whole truth" and another calling on him to resign....
Syria targeted Israeli jeep going to rebel village
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Syria said it targeted an Israeli vehicle that crossed a ceasefire line into its territory earlier this week because it was heading toward a village with a large rebel presence....
Kerry makes sub-Saharan Africa visit
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) -- Making his first official trip to sub-Saharan Africa, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday demanded that Nigeria respect human rights as it cracks down on Islamist extremists and pledged to work hard in the coming months to ease tensions between Sudan and South Sudan....
NKorean envoy delivers letter to China's president
BEIJING (AP) -- A top North Korean envoy has delivered a letter from leader Kim Jong Un to Chinese President Xi Jinping and told him Pyongyang would take steps to rejoin stalled nuclear disarmament talks, in an apparent victory for Beijing's efforts to coax its unruly ally into lowering tensions....
Chile's Indians take on world's largest gold miner
EL CORRAL, Chile (AP) -- The Diaguita Indians live in the foothills of the Andes, just downstream from the world's highest gold mine, where for as long as anyone can remember they've drunk straight from the glacier-fed river that irrigates their orchards and vineyards with its clear water....
Syria regime unleashes artillery barrage on Qusair
BEIRUT (AP) -- Forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad unleashed on Saturday their heaviest artillery and rocket barrage yet in a week-long battle to dislodge rebels from a strategic western town, activists said....
16 children, 1 teacher dead in Pakistan bus fire
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) -- Police say that a teacher was among the 17 burned to death in eastern Pakistan when a minibus taking children to school suddenly caught fire....
Mosque blast kills 12 in eastern Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Authorities in eastern Afghanistan say explosives transported by suspected Taliban fighters accidentally detonated while they were stopped at a mosque, killing 12 people....
US: Czech slaying suspect killed relatives
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) -- An American man killed his uncle, aunt and cousins in the Czech Republic and then flew to the United States, where he was arrested at an airport, authorities said Friday....