Charles Taylor: Sorry for those hurt by war crimes
LEIDSCHENDAM, Netherlands (AP) -- Convicted war criminal and former Liberian President Charles Taylor said during his sentencing hearing Wednesday that he sympathizes with victims of the civil war in Sierra Leone he helped foment, and asked judges to render their sentence against him in a spirit of "reconciliation, not retribution."...

Yemeni army kills 29 al-Qaida fighters
SANAA, Yemen (AP) -- Government troops and warplanes pounded al-Qaida positions in southern Yemen on Wednesday, killing at least 29 militants as part of a ramped up campaign against the group, military officials said....

Military hopes for 'great leader' from Egypt vote
CAIRO (AP) -- Egypt's military ruler said Wednesday he hopes that a "great leader" will emerge from the country's upcoming presidential election, and said it will be a free and fair vote that will reflect the will of the people....

Anger, drama at Ratko Mladic's genocide trial
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) -- Ratko Mladic was a shadow of the swaggering general who once "held Sarajevo in the palm of his hand" during Bosnia's 1992-95 war as his long-awaited genocide trial opened Wednesday. Yet he still managed to inflame Bosnia's festering war wounds with the flick of his hand....

War crimes charges against Mladic
The indictment against Ratko Mladic (AP) -- who went on trial Wednesday at the U.N. war crimes tribunal in the Hague, Netherlands - holds the former Bosnian Serb army commander "individually criminally responsible for planning, instigating, ordering and/or aiding and abetting the crimes charged in this indictment." Mladic is charged with 11 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the laws and customs of war. The counts below detail the atrocities during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war that Mladic is accused of commanding....

Police uproot protest camp in Moscow
MOSCOW (AP) -- Russian police dispersed a protest camp in central Moscow that had become a rallying point for President Vladimir Putin's foes, briefly detaining about 20 activists in a show of force that comes as part of a broadening crackdown on the opposition....

70 days, iconic sites: Olympic torch coming to UK
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Time to get out the cameras: Britain's most photogenic man will be bringing the Olympic flame back from Greece....

Official: 1 dead from attack on Kenya's coast
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- Attackers fired shots and detonated four grenades outside a nightclub in Kenya's coastal town of Mombasa after they were denied entry, killing a security guard and wounding five people, including one of the assailants, police officials said Wednesday....

Israeli company writes off stake in Egyptian gas
JERUSALEM (AP) -- An Israeli company has written off its entire 12.5 percent investment in the company that sold Egyptian natural gas to Israel before Egypt terminated the exports....

Assad says Syria is fighting foreign mercenaries
BEIRUT (AP) -- In his first interview in nearly half a year, Syrian President Bashar Assad claimed Wednesday that his regime had captured foreign mercenaries who were fighting for the opposition in a bid to show his forces were fighting terrorists instead of pro-democracy activists....