RABAT (AP) ― An Islamist Party is on track to become the largest party in Morocco’s new parliament with a dominant showing after two-thirds of the seats have been announced by the Interior Ministry.The Justice and Development Party has taken 80 seats, almost twice as many as the next most successful party, with 282 seats announced Saturday out of the 395 up for grabs in the nationwide vote Friday.Barring a massive upset, the PJD ― known by its French initials ― will be the largest party in the n

TEHRAN (AP) ― Iran will target NATO’s missile defense installations in Turkey if the U.S. or Israel attacks the Islamic Republic, a senior commander of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard said Saturday.Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of the Guards’ aerospace division, said the warning is part of a new defense strategy to counter what he described as an increase in threats from the U.S. and Israel.Tensions have been rising between Iran and the West since the release of a report earlier this mon

BOGOTA (AP) ― Colombia’s main rebel group executed four of its longest-held captives during combat Saturday between guerrillas and soldiers searching for the men, the government said.A fifth captive fled into the jungle and survived.President Juan Manuel Santos called the killing of a soldier and three police officers “a crime against humanity” and dismissed any suggestions that Colombia’s armed forces might be responsible.“They were held hostage for between 12 and 13 years and wound up cruelly

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) ― Rescue teams searched for survivors Sunday after a busy bridge collapsed in central Indonesia, sending a bus, cars and motorcycles crashing into the river below. Four people were killed and scores more were missing.Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for the country’s disaster management agency, said the sprawling concrete bridge on the remote island of Borneo was being repaired when Saturday’s accident occurred.Workers were tightening screws and bolts when a steel suppor

BEIJING (AP) ― China says joint police patrols with Thailand, Laos and Myanmar along the Mekong River will start next month.China suspended shipping through Southeast Asia’s Golden Triangle after two Chinese cargo ships were attacked and 13 sailors killed in early October.The state-run Xinhua News Agency says the four countries agreed at a ministerial meeting in Beijing that the first joint patrol will be carried out before Dec. 15. It says the patrol will enable shipping to restart and guarante

BO, Sierra Leone (AFP) - A city in Sierra Leone is offering a five-year scholarship to girls who keep their virginity until they complete university.The aim is to cut teenage pregnancies by ensuring "that at least 80 percent of schoolgoing girls keep their virginity until they finish their education

RABAT (AP) ― It should be a moment of excitement: Moroccans are choosing a parliament in elections Friday prompted by the Arab Spring’s clamor for freedom.Yet there are few signs here that elections are even taking place.Posters and raucous rallies for candidates are absent in the cities and instead there are just stark official banners urging citizens to “do their national duty” and “participate in the change the country is undergoing.”“The parties have presented the same people for the past 30

CAIRO (AFP) ― Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas and Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal on Thursday hailed a new era of partnership between their rival movements at talks in Cairo aimed at cementing a stalled unity deal.But there was little indication of any concrete progress in resolving disputes which have blocked implementation of a reconciliation agreement signed six months ago.Speaking to reporters after their meeting, the two leaders said they had ironed out their differences and turned a new page in

TRIPOLI (AP) ― Libya’s transitional leaders swore on a Quran to uphold the ideals of the revolution that toppled Moammar Gadhafi as they took their oaths of office Thursday, another key step in the country’s hoped-for march toward democracy.The lineup of relative unknowns, almost all of them older men, will confront daunting challenges, like establishing control over the fractured nation after the ousting of Gadhafi’s 42-year regime, along with building up state institutions practically from scr

German business confidence unexpectedly rose for the first time in five months in November, defying Europe’s worsening debt crisis. The Munich-based Ifo institute’s business climate index, based on a survey of 7,000 executives, increased to 106.6 from 106.4 in October. Economists expected a decline to 105.2, according to the median of 40 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey. “Although downside risks certainly remain, doomsday is not around the corner,” said Andreas Rees, chief German economist a

BRUSSELS (AFP) ― The European Commission decided on Thursday to haul Germany before the top EU court for failing to scrap a law that protects auto giant Volkswagen from potential takeover bids.The EU competition watchdog wants the court to impose fines on Germany for every day that it fails to cancel the law, which gives the administration or Land of Lower Saxony the power to block bids even though it is a minority shareholder in VW.The commission said the German government had failed to abide b

K-League in South Korea has lost one automatic berth in the top club football tournament in Asia, the continent’s governing body of the sport announced Friday.The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) said three K-League clubs will automatically qualify for the AFC Champions League starting next year, down from four in the past three Champions League events. The AFC added that a fourth K-League team can join them if it wins a playoff round.According to the AFC, the top two teams at the end of the K

BALTIMORE (AP) ― The Baltimore Ravens sacked Alex Smith nine times in a 16-6 win over the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday, giving John Harbaugh an emotional charge in the first NFL game featuring brothers as opposing head coaches.The Ravens (8-3) chased, hindered and battered Smith for much of the night despite playing without middle linebacker Ray Lewis, the team’s leading tackler and spiritual leader. Lewis was inactive for a second straight game because of a foot injury. The nine sacks tied a