Explosion in Syrian city of Homs kills 40: monitoring group
BEIRUT - Forty people were killed and at least 120 people were wounded in an explosion at a weapons cache in the central Syrian city of Homs on Thursday, a group opposed to President Bashar al-Assad said. | Video
Egypt's rulers tell pro-Mursi protesters to quit camps
CAIRO - Egypt's army-backed government on Thursday warned supporters of deposed president Mohamed Mursi to abandon their Cairo protest camps, promising them a safe exit if they gave up without a fight. | Video
Tsvangirai denounces Zimbabwe vote as 'huge farce'
HARARE - Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai dismissed Zimbabwe's election as a farce on Thursday after his rival President Robert Mugabe's party claimed a landslide victory that would secure another five years in power for Africa's oldest head of state. | Video
Italy court rejects Berlusconi appeal against tax sentence
ROME - Italy's top court upheld a jail sentence against Silvio Berlusconi for tax fraud on Thursday in a ruling which could throw the country's fragile coalition government into crisis.
Tunisia's ruling party says won't remove prime minister
TUNIS - The head of Tunisia's Islamist ruling party refused on Thursday to remove the prime minister from his post, hardening its stance toward the secular opposition's demand that the government be dissolved.
Kazakh tycoon Ablyazov faces extradition from France
AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France - Fugitive Kazakh oligarch Mukhtar Ablyazov, accused of embezzling around $6 billion, was told by a French judge on Thursday that he faced extradition, but his family vowed to fight an expulsion it said was politically motivated.
Syria's Assad anticipates rebel defeat in defiant speech
BEIRUT - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Thursday he was confident of victory against rebels and made a symbolic visit to a town once overrun by insurgents but now mostly retaken by his army.
Kerry says Obama has timeline to end US drone strikes in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD - U.S. President Barack Obama has a timeline for ending the U.S. program of drone strikes, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday, following talks with the new government of Pakistan. | Video
Black Italy minister pulls out of debate amid racial insults
ROME - Italy's first black minister has pulled out of a debate with the anti-immigrant Northern League after its leader refused to condemn a barrage of racial insults she has faced from his party's members.
Egypt's defiant Muslim Brotherhood supporters gird for conflict
CAIRO - Standing by a brick and sandbag barricade on the edge of a Muslim Brotherhood protest camp in Cairo, chief guard Mohamed Saqr is preparing to resist a threatened attempt by security forces to storm in.
McCain, Biden coming together for Sedona, Arizona forum
These days Washington is not known for bipartisanship, but every now and then a breakthrough is made. It is noteworthy that Vice President Joe Biden, a Democrat, and Senator John McCain, a Republican, are appearing together at a forum in Sedona, Arizona on Friday.


