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.

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

ATHENS, Greece (AP) _ Greece's outgoing Prime Minister George Papandreou said Wednesday that an agreement had been reached with the opposition on the creation of an interim government that will secure the country's new debt deal.The two main parties, Papandreou's Socialists and the opposition conser

ROME (AP) _ With markets tumbling around the globe, Italy's president promised emphatically Wednesday that Silvio Berlusconi will step down soon as premier and lavished honors on a leading economist, who instantly became Berlusconi's presumed successor.Across the Ionian Sea, the debt crisis in Greec

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) _ An earthquake struck eastern Turkey on Wednesday night, killing at least three people and leaving dozens trapped in the rubble of toppled buildings damaged in the previous temblor, which had killed 600 people.About two-dozen buildings collapsed in the provincial capital of Van