BEITUNIA, West Bank (AP) ― Israel released hundreds of Palestinian prisoners late Sunday, the second and final phase of a swap with Gaza Hamas militants that brought home an Israeli soldier after five years in captivity.Under the Egypt-brokered deal, Israel agreed to exchange a total of 1,027 prisoners for Sgt. Gilad Schalit, who was captured by Gaza militants in June 2006. Schalit returned home in October when Israel freed the first batch of 477 prisoners. Sunday’s release of 550 prisoners comp

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) _ Iran's state TV broadcast video of a young man Sunday it claimed was a CIA spy who sought to infiltrate Iran's secret services.The TV identified the man, apparently in his late 20s, as Amir Mirzaei Hekmati, an American-Iranian who received special training and served at U.S. mili

ROME (AP) _ Pope Benedict XVI made an emotional visit Sunday to Rome's main prison, meeting with detainees, denouncing prison overcrowding and calling for greater dignity for inmates everywhere.Benedict spent over an hour at Rome's Rebibbia prison, fielding questions from a half-dozen inmates who sp

AT THE IRAQ-KUWAIT BORDER (AP) _ Outside it was pitch dark. The six American soldiers couldn't see much of the desert landscape streaming by outside the small windows of their armored vehicle. They were hushed and exhausted from an all-night drive _ part of the last convoy of U.S. troops to leave Ir

SANAA, Yemen (AP) _ Four Yemeni soldiers and two al-Qaida-linked militants were killed in clashes in the country's south, military and medical officials said Sunday.The fighting took place overnight outside the city of Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan province that Islamic militants seized earlier thi

ILIGAN, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine Red Cross says the death toll from a storm that ravaged a wide swath of the south has risen to 652 with 808 others still missing.Red Cross Secretary-General Gwendolyn Pang said Sunday that flash floods set off by Tropical Storm Washi killed 346 people in Cagayan de Oro city and 206 in nearby Iligan city. Deaths were also reported in five other southern and central provinces.Pang said more people have reported missing relatives, including 447 in Iligan an

CAIRO (AP) ― The U.S. military’s departure from Iraq opens the door to expanded Iranian influence in the Middle East, though that door could close fast if Iran’s closest Arab ally Bashar Assad falls from power in Syria.That’s among the uncertainties looming over the Middle East in the wake of President Barack Obama’s decision to remove all U.S. troops by the end of this month, fulfilling a campaign promise to end the unpopular war and abandoning efforts to negotiate an extension of the year-end

PSA Peugeot Citroen, Fiat SpA and General Motors Co. led the biggest decline in European car sales in five months as the region’s economy slipped closer toward a recession. Registrations in November dropped 3 percent to 1.07 million vehicles from 1.10 million a year earlier, the biggest decline since June, the Brussels-based European Automobile Manufacturers Association, or ACEA, said Friday in a statement. Eleven-month sales declined 1.1 percent to 12.6 million registrations. “This minus figure

The World Trade Organization wrapped up a ministerial meeting Saturday deadlocked on the Doha Round of negotiations for a global free trade pact, and some ministers calling for a new path.Conference chairman and Nigerian Trade Minister Olusegun Aganga summarized the ministers’ regret at the impasse in a concluding statement.The WTO’s 153 member states agreed to “more fully explore different negotiating approaches” and “intensify their efforts to look into ways” to overcome the stalemate, said Ag

NEW YORK (AP) -- Moody’s Investors Services on Friday downgraded Belgium’s credit rating by two notches, citing strains on eurozone countries as they try to finance their heavy debt loads amid the regional financial crisis. The ratings agency cut Belgium’s local- and foreign-currency government bond ratings to “Aa3” from Aa1," with a negative outlook. The ratings remain investment grade. Moody’s said the downgrade comes as soaring borrowing costs strain the finances of heavily indebted countries