MOSCOW (AFP) ― Russia is seeing a significant political awakening amid mass protests against the rule of Vladimir Putin but is unlikely to witness an Arab Spring-style uprising to oust him from power, analysts say.Nevertheless, Putin will face a rocky ride in the years to come if he turns a deaf ear to the protesters’ demands after his expected return to the Kremlin following March 4 presidential elections, they added.The scale of rallies and opposition mobilization ― unprecedented since Putin’s

BRUSSELS (AP) ― Defense Secretary Leon Panetta laid out the administration’s most explicit portrayal of the U.S. drawdown in Afghanistan, saying Wednesday that U.S. and other international forces in Afghanistan expect to end their combat role in 2013 and continue a training and advisory role with Afghan forces through 2014.Panetta’s remarks to reporters traveling with him to a NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels showed how the foreign military role in Afghanistan is expected to evolve fro

BEIJING (AP) ― German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived Thursday in China for talks aimed at reassuring anxious Chinese leaders Europe is resolving its debt crisis.Merkel was due to deliver a speech Thursday at a government think tank and meet with Chinese leaders.German officials say Merkel’s goals include reassuring Chinese leaders about the stability of the 17-nation euro area. They said she would brief them on this week’s meeting of European leaders, who agreed on a treaty to impose new spend

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

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