PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (AP) ― Rescue crews have saved 28 people from the water off Papua New Guinea’s northeast coast after a ferry sank Thursday with as many as 350 people on board, officials said.The MV Rabaul Queen went down when traveling between the coastal towns of Lae and Kimbe after it sent a distress signal early Thursday, PNG’s National Maritime Safety Authority (NMSA) said.Rescue co-ordinator Captain Nurur Rahman said four merchant ships were diverted to the scene by Australia

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) ― Israel must halt settlement building and present detailed proposals for a border with a future Palestinian state, visiting U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday, as he tried to persuade the Palestinians to continue low-level meetings with Israel that the international community hopes will evolve into serious negotiations.Ban praised Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for his leadership and publicly backed him on key issues, including the demand for a freeze of settlem

Rescuers plucked more than 230 survivors from the sea off Papua New Guinea's east coast after a ferry sank Thursday with as many as 350 people on board, officials said.An airplane from Australia, three helicopters and eight ships were scouring the search area after the MV Rabaul Queen went down arou

Four British men fueled by the words of a U.S.-born Muslim cleric pleaded guilty on Wednesday to involvement in an al-Qaida inspired plot to spread terror and cause economic damage by bombing the London Stock Exchange at Christmastime.The men were among nine defendants facing trial in London over an

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― A U.S. industry and union coalition accused China Tuesday of sweeping illegal subsidies to its auto-parts sector that threaten to destroy more than a million U.S. jobs.Launching a campaign to press for trade action against Beijing, the Alliance for American Manufacturing and senior politicians said the Chinese subsidies threaten to reverse the comeback of the U.S. auto industry.The AAM ― which brings together the U.S. steel industry and the United Steelworkers union ― said all

PARACHINAR, Pakistan (AP) ― Fighting between soldiers and Taliban militants over a strategic mountaintop in northwestern Pakistan has killed more than 60 people, a government official said Tuesday.The battle first started a week ago when government troops seized the top of Jogi mountain in the Kurram tribal area from militants, sparking clashes that killed six soldiers and 20 insurgents, said Wajid Khan, a local government administrator.The militants retaliated Tuesday by attacking the soldiers

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won the leadership race of his Likud Party over his ultranationalist rival early Wednesday, hours after his government approved new incentives to entice people to move to West Bank settlements.While Netanyahu was expected to win the leadership race decisively, a relatively strong showing by his ultranationalist rival, Moshe Feiglin suggested that many Likud voters consider the prime minister too soft on peacemaking with the Palestinians

CHICAGO (AP) ― The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is launching a special inspection into how some equipment responded to a power failure at a nuclear reactor in the midwestern state of Illinois.NRC spokeswoman Viktoria Mitlyng says some water pumps at the Byron Generating Station switched off when the Unit 2 reactor lost power Monday, then came back on without being manually reset.She says the pumps are designed to switch off after a set amount of time if there is an undervoltage, but normal