ATHENS, Greece (AP) _ Greece appointed senior banker Lucas Papademos prime minister Thursday of an interim unity government that will seek to cement a European debt deal and stave off national bankruptcy.Chosen after four tortuous days of power-sharing talks, Papademos immediately called for unity a

BERLIN (AP) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel pressed Italy on Tuesday to clear up quickly who will run the country, something that she said is key to restoring its credibility.Premier Silvio Berlusconi pledged earlier this week to quit but questions remain over the timing and what will happen next.

HONG KONG (AFP) ― Asian stock markets slumped on Thursday after Wall Street suffered a pummelling, with a surge in Italy’s borrowing costs fuelling global anxiety about the future of the euro.The common European currency dipped, Hong Kong stocks slumped more than four percent and in Tokyo, the Nikkei ended down more than two percent.“Just as everyone was beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel, the European crisis seems to have got worse overnight,” IG Markets analyst Stan Shamu said in

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Arab leaders are privately telling the United States that they have offered Syrian President Bashar Assad asylum in a bid to get him to step down, a top U.S. diplomat told lawmakers on Wednesday.“Some Arab leaders already have begun to offer Assad safe-haven in an effort to encourage him to leave peaceably and quickly,” said Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman.“Almost all the Arab leaders say the same thing: Assad’s rule is coming to an end. C

JOHANNESBURG (AP) ― Repression by Congo’s government ahead of this month’s critical presidential election could lead to even more violence in the Central African nation struggling after decades of dictatorship and civil war, the United Nations warned Wednesday.The report from the U.N. Joint Human Rights Office in Geneva said people have been beaten and arrested just for wearing opposition party T-shirts. One man has been jailed since March for selling a newspaper that questioned President Joseph

DUBAI (AP) ― With Iran angrily defiant about a U.N. report accusing it of developing nuclear weapons, Western powers and allies faced complicated questions Wednesday on how to further tighten pressure on the oil giant without shaking the fragile world economy.The path toward possible new sanctions also quickly confronted a huge roadblock as Iranian ally Russia said it would oppose any new measures in the U.N. Security Council and rejected any military options as risking “grave consequences” to g

MEXICO CITY (AP) ― Israel Arzate Melendez said soldiers snatched him off the street, gave him electric shocks, asphyxiated him and threatened that his wife would be raped and killed unless he admitted to a role in one of Mexico’s most infamous cases of drug violence.When Arzate told a judge he was tortured into falsely confessing to a role in the 2010 massacre of 15 teens at a party in Ciudad Juarez, she responded that his account was too detailed to be fabricated.Arzate’s case was among dozens

WASHINGTON (AP) ― President Barack Obama is about to embark on a nine-day trip to Hawaii, Australia and Indonesia that will take him away from Washington at an important time, but White House officials said Wednesday it’s all about U.S. jobs.The trip also will underscore the economic, political and security importance of the fast-growing Asia-Pacific region, which the U.S. sees as critical to American interests in coming years.“The president’s No. 1 priority is job creation, and our efforts to c