Top International Stories from the AP

• Sinn Fein chief met priest involved in '72 bombing Sept. 8, 2010, 6:13 a.m. CDT

  DUBLIN (AP) — The senior Sinn Fein politician in Northern Ireland's government acknowledged Wednesday that he did meet a Catholic priest responsible for a 1972 triple car bombing that killed nine civilians but insisted they never discussed the IRA attack. A British government-sanctioned report last month into the Claudy bombing ...

• Ireland to split Anglo Irish into good, bad banks Sept. 8, 2010, 5:49 a.m. CDT

  DUBLIN (AP) — Ireland plans to split its most troubled financial institution, Anglo Irish Bank, in two as part of wider efforts to reassure international lenders that the Irish are dealing with their debt crisis. Finance Minister Brian Lenihan said Wednesdday that dividing Anglo — nationalized in early 2009 on the edge ...

• European stocks up on US gains, Portugal bond sale Sept. 7, 2010, 8:31 p.m. CDT

  LONDON (AP) — A solid showing on Wall Street and a relatively successful Portuguese government debt sale helped Europe's stocks recover early losses Wednesday to close higher, though fears of a flare-up in the region's debt crisis lingered amid news that Greece's recession deepened in the second quarter ...

• Suspected US missile attacks rock NW Pakistan Sept. 7, 2010, 7:22 p.m. CDT

  DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (AP) — Two suspected U.S. missile strikes hit militant targets in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, officials said, bringing to six the number of such attacks in the region in less than a week. At least 10 suspected members of a group attacking NATO forces in Afghanistan ...

• Tensions emerge in new Australian minority govt Sept. 7, 2010, 5:38 p.m. CDT

  CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Tensions emerged Wednesday between Australia's deputy prime minister and a kingmaker independent lawmaker over plans to make mining companies pay more taxes, underscoring the fragility of the country's new minority government. The center-left Labor Party was returned to power for a second three-year term Tuesday ...

• Skin infections pose risk to Chilean miners Sept. 7, 2010, 5:04 p.m. CDT

  SAN JOSE MINE, Chile (AP) — Rescuers have sent down antibiotics and ointments and were working Tuesday to blast cool, dry air to 33 miners trapped a half-mile underground for more than a month. All the men have suffered from skin sores, foot fungi or abrasions, and infections could prove dangerous ...

• Mozambique government reverses bread price hike Sept. 7, 2010, 8:50 a.m. CDT

  MAPUTO, Mozambique (AP) — Mozambique's government is reversing bread and water price increases that had touched off deadly riots, the planning minister said Tuesday. Protests last week in the capital, Maputo, over hikes in the costs of bread, water and electricity turned violent, with demonstrators clashing with police. The health ...

• Angelina Jolie meets flood victims in Pakistan Sept. 7, 2010, 7:18 a.m. CDT

  JALOZAI, Pakistan (AP) — American movie star Angelina Jolie met flood victims in northwestern Pakistan and appealed to the international community to provide aid needed to help the country recover from its worst natural disaster. The flow of aid money has stalled in recent days, and officials expressed hope the two-day ...

• Poor security to keep more Afghan polls closed Sept. 7, 2010, 3 a.m. CDT

  KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan election officials said Wednesday that scores of additional polling stations will be closed during the Sept. 18 parliamentary vote because of the deteriorating security situation in the country. The state electoral commission said 81 of the 458 polling stations planned in Nangarhar province will be shut ...

• Abbas asks US to step into settlement dispute Sept. 7, 2010, 2:21 a.m. CDT

  RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he has asked the U.S. to settle a dispute with Israel over settlement expansion that is threatening to derail Mideast peace talks. Israel's 10-month partial freeze on new construction in West Bank settlements ends Sept. 26, and Israeli officials ...

• Australian Labor Party wins enough support to rule Sept. 6, 2010, 8:51 p.m. CDT

  CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard barely retained power on Tuesday when the last two independent legislators made kingmakers by deadlocked elections ended a tense 17-day standoff and agreed to join her government. Her next challenge? Keeping the unlikely bedfellows of her coalition together. Gillard managed to persuade ...

• Indonesian volcano erupts again; strongest yet Sept. 6, 2010, 3:36 p.m. CDT

  TANAH KARO, Indonesia (AP) — An Indonesian volcano shot a towering cloud of black ash high into the air Tuesday, dusting villages 15 miles (25 kilometers) away in its most powerful eruption since awakening last week from four centuries of dormancy. Some witnesses at the foot of Mount Sinabung reported seeing ...

• Pakistanis suspect landowners of diverting floods Sept. 6, 2010, 3:02 p.m. CDT

  SUKKUR, Pakistan (AP) — As the disastrous floods recede in Pakistan, something new is rising: suspicions and rumors that powerful officials and landowners used their influence to divert water away from their property and inundate the villages and fields of millions of poor Pakistanis. The claims are difficult to verify and ...

• Argentines risking all to carry huge wads of cash Sept. 6, 2010, 2:51 p.m. CDT

  BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — The "marker" lurks inside the bank, looking for people pulling large amounts of cash from a safe deposit box or bank account. The gunmen linger outside, usually on motorcyles, waiting to make their move. For people like Carolina Piparo, eight months pregnant and carrying a purse ...

• Death toll 45 in Guatemala mudslides; more missing Sept. 6, 2010, 9:41 a.m. CDT

  GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Searchers on Monday pulled five more bodies from a mud-covered highway where back-to-back landslides buried bus passengers and then the people trying to save them. The deaths raised the confirmed toll from mudslides in Guatemala to 45 as torrential rains pounded the country. Authorities said 25 people ...

• Bahamas drops charges in Travolta extortion case Sept. 6, 2010, 9:39 a.m. CDT

  NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — A judge in the Bahamas dismissed charges Monday against two people accused of trying to extort money from John Travolta after the actor decided he no longer wanted to face the pain of a new trial stemming from the death of his teenage son on the island ...

• Lax safety in Congo makes river travel dangerous Sept. 6, 2010, 6:55 a.m. CDT

  KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — In a country of dense rain forests with few paved roads, boarding an overcrowded boat on a treacherous river is simply a way of life. This weekend, journeys on the dangerous waterways stole the lives of up to 270 people. Since barely anyone can afford to fly ...

• Jerry Hall's art collection on auction block Sept. 6, 2010, 6:47 a.m. CDT

  LONDON (AP) — Model Jerry Hall plans to auction some of her art collection next month, including a famous portrait by Lucian Freud that shows her nude when she was eight months pregnant, Sotheby's said Monday. The auction will also include works by Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst, David Bailey and ...

• Lawyer: Iran woman could be stoned to death soon Sept. 6, 2010, 6:38 a.m. CDT

  TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The lawyer for an Iranian woman sentenced to be stoned on an adultery conviction said Monday that he and her children are worried the delayed execution could be carried out soon with the end of a moratorium on death sentences for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan ...

• Lebanon PM: Wrong to accuse Syria in Hariri death Sept. 6, 2010, 4:55 a.m. CDT

  BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon's Western-backed prime minister made a startling reversal Monday and said it was a mistake to accuse Syria of the massive 2005 truck bombing that killed his father, claiming the charge was politically motivated. Those accusations by anti-Syrian Lebanese politicians that quickly followed the killing of former ...

• Top US commander: Burning Quran endangers troops Sept. 6, 2010, 4:54 a.m. CDT

  KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan warned Tuesday an American church's threat to burn copies of the Muslim holy book could endanger U.S. troops in the country and Americans worldwide. "Images of the burning of a Quran would undoubtedly be used by ...

• NATO asks for more troops for Afghanistan Sept. 6, 2010, 3:04 a.m. CDT

  KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan is asking for 2,000 more soldiers to join the 140,000-strong international force here, NATO officials said Monday. It was unclear how many would be Americans. Coalition officials said nearly half will be trainers for the rapidly ...

• Suicide attack in NW Pakistan kills 17 people Sept. 5, 2010, 11:44 p.m. CDT

  LAKKI MARWAT, Pakistan (AP) — A Taliban suicide bomber detonated a car in an alley behind a police station in a strategically important town in northwestern Pakistan on Monday, killing at least 17 police and civilians in an explosion that shattered the station and neighboring homes. About 40 people were wounded ...

• NKorea prepares for biggest convention in 30 years Sept. 5, 2010, 10:52 p.m. CDT

  SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Huge posters plastered across the North Korean capital hailed the nation's biggest political convention in 30 years as a historic event as the world watched Monday for signs that the country's next leader was making his public debut. Party delegates from all corners of ...

• Chile mine disaster exposes old family feuds Sept. 5, 2010, 11:48 a.m. CDT

  SAN JOSE MINE, Chile (AP) — While a fire warms their campsite, the icy feeling between Cristina Nunez Macias and her mother-in-law is as palpable as the cold Atacama desert. Both women are here to support the same man, 34-year-old Claudio Yanez, one of the 33 trapped miners in Northern Chile ...