BANGKOK (AFP) - Several hundred Muslims, many waving banners and shouting "execute people who mock Islam", rallied outside the U.S. embassy and Google offices in Bangkok Thursday to denounce an anti-Islam film that has sparked global protests.The demonstration saw a brief scuffle as protesters tried to surge towards the U.S. embassy through lines of riot officers, but police said it passed largely

Tunisian civil society groups expressed outrage after a young woman was accused of indecency on Wednesday by two policemen jailed for raping her, amid criticism of the Islamist-led government on women's rights.The woman and her fiancé were summoned by a magistrate to face the two policemen, both found guilty of rape and jailed, who accuse her of "indecency," a group of Tunisian NGOs said. The crim

Massachusetts Gov. Patrick plans to appeal a ruling ordering a state-funded sex change for a convicted murderer, sources told WCVB-TV, Boston, Wednesday.Chief Judge Mark L. Wolf ruled Sept. 4 surgery is the "only adequate treatment" for Michelle Kosilek's gender identity disorder.Kosilek, 63, previously known as Robert, was convicted of his wife's 1990 murder and has attempted to castrate and kill

MISRATA, Libya (AP) ― One of the young Libyan rebels credited with capturing Moammar Gadhafi in a drainage ditch nearly a year ago died Tuesday of injuries after being kidnapped, beaten and slashed by the late dictator’s supporters ― the latest victim of persistent violence and instability in the North African country. The death of Omran Shaaban, who had been hospitalized in France, raised the prospect of even more violence and score-settling, with the newly elected National Congress authorizing

DAMASCUS (AP) -- Two massive explosions rocked the heart of the Syrian capital on Wednesday, striking near the army and air force command headquarters and sending huge columns of thick black smoke over Damascus. The bombings were the latest to hit the city as the uprising against President Bashar Assad’s regime intensifies, highlighting the increasingly deep reach of the rebels determined to topple him.　 Syria’s state-run news agency SANA said a fire broke out in the area after the twin blasts,

NAIROBI (AP) ― The Kenyan military says its jets have bombed an airport in Somalia ― the last major city in the country held by extremist insurgents who are fighting African Union troops.Kenya’s military said Tuesday that its bombing of the Somali port city of Kismayo destroyed a warehouse and armory belonging to the Islamist militant group al-Shabab, which controls the city. Al-Shabab said on Twitter, however, that the three bombs which hit the airport didn’t cause any casualties or losses.Clai

Japan's main opposition party chose former premier Shinzo Abe as its new leader Wednesday, a victory likely to see him reinstated as prime minister in general elections expected this year.The hawkish conservative, who was Japan's youngest ever prime minister during his year-long stint, comfortably beat his rival in a run off for the job of president of the Liberal Democratic Party.In a speech afte

KABUL (AP) ― The Taliban published a video Monday they say shows insurgents preparing for the brazen attack on a major NATO base earlier this month, just as NATO forces released data showing that insurgent attacks decreased in August. The twin releases are a reminder of the escalating battle for public opinion between the insurgency and the international military as U.S. and allied troops draw down. The Taliban continue to contend that they are fighting at full force while the international alli

LONDON (AP) ― Global health officials are closely monitoring a new respiratory virus related to SARS that is believed to have killed at least one person in Saudi Arabia and left a Qatari citizen in critical condition in London.The germ is a coronavirus, from a family of viruses that cause the common cold as well as SARS, the severe acute respiratory syndrome that killed some 800 people, mostly in Asia, in a 2003 epidemic.In the latest case, British officials alerted the World Health Organization