World News

• Private jet crashes in Congo, death toll unknown
  A transport minister says a private jet crashed while landing in Congo's city of Bukavu, killing an unknown number and injuring a local governor.

• Thousands rally to support disbarred Spanish judge
  Thousands of people have taken to the Spanish capital's streets in support of a judge who won global fame for taking on international human rights cases, but has now been barred from the bench for ordering jailhouse wiretaps.

• UK gov't: Press must face tougher penalties
  Britain's press must face tougher penalties for breaches of standards in the wake of the tabloid phone-hacking scandal, the government minister responsible for the media said Sunday.

• Iran urges Hamas to continue fight against Israel
  Iran's leaders urged the Hamas prime minister of Gaza to continue the Islamic militant group's resistance against Israel and promised support, state TV reported on Sunday.

• Al-Qaida executes 2 Yemenis suspected of US links
  A security official says al-Qaida-linked militants have publicly executed two Yemenis suspected of collaborating with the United States.

• France's far-right leader attempts image change
  Marine Le Pen has purged the old guard from her father's extreme-right National Front party and is reaching out to Jews, maligned under his leadership, in her bid to be the next president of France.

• Hamas strongman in Gaza rejects unity deal
  A rare public rift broke open Sunday in the usually tightly disciplined Islamic movement Hamas over a reconciliation deal that would require it to relinquish key areas of control in the Gaza Strip.

• Turkish jets hit suspected rebel targets in Iraq
  Turkey's military says warplanes have bombed suspected Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq.

• Al-Qaida urges Muslims to help Syrian rebels
  Al-Qaida's chief has called on Muslims from other countries to support rebels in Syria seeking to overthrow President Bashar Assad, saying they cannot depend on the West for help.

• Militants decry attacks against Pakistani military
  Pakistan's leading militants have called on fighters to honor an agreement not to attack the Pakistani military in the most important sanctuary for the Taliban and al-Qaida along the Afghan border.

• Officials: Gaza man killed in Israeli airstrike
  Palestinian officials say Israeli airstrikes have killed a security guard in the Gaza Strip.

• Gunmen kill provincial judge, child in Afghanistan
  Gunmen burst into a family home of a provincial judge in eastern Afghanistan, killing him and his niece in the latest assassination of an Afghan government official, authorities said Sunday.

• Venezuelans vote to choose Chavez's challenger
  Venezuelans lined up to vote on Sunday in the country's first-ever opposition presidential primary, choosing a single challenger they hope will have what it takes to finally defeat President Hugo Chavez after 13 years in office.

• Malaysia deports Saudi accused of prophet insult
  Malaysian authorities on Sunday deported a young Saudi journalist accused of insulting the Prophet Muhammad on Twitter, a police official said. The move came despite concerns from rights groups that he may be persecuted at home.

• New Maldives leader names conservatives to Cabinet
  The Maldives' new president expanded his Cabinet on Sunday to include religious conservatives who have been demanding the introduction of strict Islamic laws in the Indian Ocean nation that relies on high-end tourism.

• Japanese emperor to have heart bypass surgery
  Japanese Emperor Akihito will have heart bypass surgery later this month, his palace said Sunday after the 78-year-old monarch was hospitalized for tests over the weekend.

• Mystery disease kills thousands in Central America
  Jesus Ignacio Flores started working when he was 16, laboring long hours on construction sites and in the fields of his country's biggest sugar plantation.

• Turkmenistan votes in presidential election
  Voters in Turkmenistan headed to the polls Sunday in a presidential election designed to cement the incumbent's hold on power in the authoritarian Central Asian nation.

• Teenage Tibetan nun sets herself on fire in China
  An 18-year-old Tibetan nun has set herself on fire in western China in the latest such protest against Beijing's handling of the vast ethnic Tibetan regions it rules, an overseas activist group said Sunday.

• Former President Silva hospitalized in Brazil
  Brazil's popular former president has been hospitalized.

• Mob in Mexico kills 3 suspected kidnappers
  Authorities say a mob in central Mexico has beaten three suspected kidnappers to death.

• Top US general meets Egyptian leader amid strained relations
  The Pentagon's top general met Saturday with the head of Egypt's ruling military council amid the fraying of bilateral relations over a criminal case against 16 American civil society workers.

• UN consultant shot dead in Egyptian capital
  The United Nations says one of its freelance consultants was fatally shot in the head while driving through an upscale Cairo neighborhood.

• Top US general meets Egyptian leader amid strained relations
  CAIRO — The Pentagon's top general met Saturday with the head of Egypt's ruling military council amid the fraying of bilateral relations over a criminal case against 16 American civil society workers.

• Egypt: Tribesmen release Korean tourists in Sinai
  (AP) - Three South Korean women were freed on Saturday a day after they were kidnapped by armed tribesmen in Egypt's Sinai peninsula when clan elders negotiated their release, a security official said.