MANILA, Philippines — A Filipino militant wanted by Washington has become leader of a key faction of Abu Sayyaf, the al-Qaida-linked extremist group in the southern Philippines for which he has previously acquired foreign funding, the Philippine military says.Read more

REVELSTOKE, British Columbia — An avalanche struck a rally of up to 200 snowmobilers in Canada's Rocky Mountains on Saturday, killing at least three people and leaving an unknown number missing, police said.Read more

BADULA QULP, Afghanistan — He proposed to her on Oct. 6, and she made him say "Will you marry me?" over and over because she liked the sound of it. He proposed again on her birthday four days later, and this time he got down on one knee with a diamond ring. His mother was on the phone, listening in as a witness.Read more

JERUSALEM — Israel is launching a potentially trailblazing experiment in organ donation: Sign a donor card, and you and your family move up in line for a transplant if one is needed.Read more

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called for regulation of the Internet on Saturday while demanding authorities crack down on a critical news Web site that he accused of spreading false information.Read more

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BANGKOK — Leaders of tens of thousands of protesters who swarmed into Bangkok from Thailand's rural areas Sunday threatened mass street demonstrations if the government didn't respond to their demand for a dissolution of Parliament within 24 hours.Read more

BEIJING — Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said he was snubbed at last year's Copenhagen climate change conference and fired back Sunday at critics who accuse China of arrogance.Read more

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CARACAS — A Venezuelan police official says security forces have seized two tons of cocaine that was intended to be smuggled to the Netherlands.Read more

ACAPULCO, Mexico — A series of shootings killed 24 people Saturday in a Pacific coast state plagued by drug gang violence. Nearly half died in one shootout between soldiers and armed men.Read more

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JERUSALEM — Israel's premier has ordered an investigation into how government officials announced plans for a new Jewish housing project in east Jerusalem during a visit by Vice President Joe Biden.Read more

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TEHRAN, Iran — Iran said Saturday it has dismantled several U.S.-backed opposition networks that were gathering information on nuclear scientists and finding ways to circumvent controls on the Internet meant to deprive the opposition of its most crucial tool.Read more

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LOME, Togo — Thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets of Togo's capital in two organized, opposing marches more than a week after a disputed presidential election won by the son of the former dictator.Read more

MAPUTO, Mozambique — Mozambique's health ministry spokesman says the country's cholera outbreak has now killed 42 people in the northern and central parts of the southern African country.Read more

REYNOSA, Mexico — This border city and others near the eastern end of the U.S. border escaped the worst of Mexico's bloody drug war for years, but now the bodies are piling up, several journalists are reportedly missing or dead and once-busy streets are empty after dark.Read more

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BAGHDAD — Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's political coalition took an early vote lead Saturday in the election's all-important battleground of Baghdad, pulling away from its two closest rivals in the latest indication that Iraqis want a moderate government instead of Shiite religious hard-liners leading the postwar nation.Read more

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GENEVA — Around 60 people have reported being victims of abuse by Catholic priests in Switzerland, a Swiss abbot said in an interview published by a newspaper Saturday.Read more

WARSAW, Poland — Vandals sprayed anti-Semitic graffiti on Holocaust memorials at a former Nazi concentration camp in Poland, desecration that authorities discovered Saturday and are investigating.Read more

RIO DE JANEIRO — The iconic statue of Christ with outstretched arms that overlooks Rio de Janeiro is getting a $4 million renovation.Read more

SAN'A, Yemen — An American al-Qaida suspect detained in Yemen fooled his hospital guards into unshackling him by asking to join them for prayers, security officials said Saturday. He then killed a guard who laid down his weapon as he went ahead at prayer time.Read more

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DUBLIN — It often starts as a voice in the wilderness, but can swell into an entire nation's demand for truth. From Ireland to Germany, Europe's many victims of child abuse in the Roman Catholic church are finally breaking social taboos and confronting the clergy to face its demons.Read more