World News

As of Friday, Dec. 14, 2007, at least 3,891 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes eight military civilians. At least 3,168 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.

PARIS - Iraqi oil output has risen in a "dramatic" way in recent months, hitting its highest monthly level in about 3 1/2 years in November, the International Energy Agency said Friday.

BAGHDAD - The red-and-white identification card was faded. But the name was legible and the picture of the man with the necktie and tidy mustache was clear.

SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq - Lawmakers in Iraq's self-ruled Kurdish region approved a measure that would allow courts to accuse journalists of "vague offenses" relating to terrorism or disturbing security, drawing protests Friday from Kurdish journalists and an international media advocate.

CAIRO, Egypt - Al-Qaida's No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri said in a new message Friday that last month's U.S.-sponsored Mideast peace conference was a "betrayal" of the Palestinians, the terror group's first reaction to the gathering.

BALI, Indonesia - The European Union said Saturday it supported a compromise proposal on upcoming negotiations for a new global warming pact, bringing the contentious talks nearer to resolution.

LONDON (AFP) - Britain's finance minister Alistair Darling has asked Goldman Sachs to put together a financing package in a last-ditch bid to rescue the ailing bank Northern Rock.

EDINBURGH, Scotland - Shifting tactics, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday that the Bush administration has decided to tone down its appeals to NATO allies for more troops and other aid in the fight against the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan.

TURIN, Italy - Counterfeiting is a dangerous and growing enterprise controlled by organized criminals who are exploiting the same trade routes used for trafficking drugs, arms and human beings, the United Nations said in a report released Friday.

BRUSSELS, Belgium - European Union leaders backed away Friday from offering Serbia a fast-track to membership and again cautioned Belgrade that its future entry hinges on full cooperation in handing over war crime suspects for trial.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - Police detained the wife and two grown children of a former coast guard officer who died mysteriously in jail amid a dictatorship-era human rights trial, hours after an autopsy found cyanide in his blood, a judge said Friday.

CARACAS, Venezuela - Hugo Chavez constantly urges his supporters to reject "savage capitalism," but allies of Venezuela's president have been slow to embrace his socialist values — and some are struggling to explain their consumption of luxury goods.

SANTIAGO, Dominican Republic - Survivors of a devastating flood lashed out at authorities Thursday for not warning that a dam's floodgates were being opened during Tropical Storm Olga, unleashing a deadly wall of water that killed as many as 20 people.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - Argentina's new president reacted furiously Thursday to accusations by U.S. prosecutors that an intercepted suitcase full of cash from Venezuela was meant to finance her election campaign, calling the charge "garbage in international politics."

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - Argentina's new president reacted angrily Thursday to U.S. charges that a suitcase full of Venezuelan cash seized by customs was intended to finance her campaign, calling it an example of "garbage in international politics."

PARIS (Reuters) - Libyan Foreign Minister Mohammed Abdel-Rahman Shalgam will meet U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in the United States on January 3, the two countries said on Friday.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The number of U.N. staff killed in a bombing that wrecked two U.N. buildings in Algiers three days ago has risen to 17 after several bodies were found in the rubble, the United Nations said on Friday.

ALGIERS, Algeria - Bearded men in flowing white robes prayed and women in Muslim head scarves wiped away tears Friday as Algerians buried victims of twin suicide bombings at U.N. offices and a government building that killed at least 37 people.

GENEVA - The U.N. Human Rights Council on Friday dissolved a group of experts tasked with monitoring abuses in the Darfur region after demands from African countries to ease political pressure on Sudan.

HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe said Friday that he is certain win a presidential election next year for which his ruling party has just endorsed him.

BALI, Indonesia - The European Union said Saturday it supported a compromise proposal on upcoming negotiations for a new global warming pact, bringing the contentious talks nearer to resolution.

EDINBURGH, Scotland - Shifting tactics, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday that the Bush administration has decided to tone down its appeals to NATO allies for more troops and other aid in the fight against the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - President Pervez Musharraf is set to end emergency rule on Saturday but it was likely media would still face curbs with many judges and lawyers still under house arrest before Pakistan's election next month.

As of Friday, Dec. 14, 2007, at least 401 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. The department last updated its figures Dec. 8, 2007, at 10 a.m. EST.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Nadia Chaudhry's hands trembled in the cold night air as she held a candle at a protest against Pakistan's emergency rule, the government's firing of judges and jailing of civil rights activists.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's national police force, criticized for excessive use of Tasers, said on Friday that, from now on, officers would only fire the electric stun guns at suspects who are combative or resisting arrest.

TORONTO (Reuters) - Medical science and religion clashed this week over whether to switch off life-support equipment that is keeping an 84-year-old man alive in a Canadian hospital.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's post office and police are trying to track down a "rogue elf" who wrote obscene letters to children on behalf of Santa Claus, a newspaper reported on Friday.

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - Canadian cattle and hog farmers, struggling with high feed costs and low prices, will have access to a total of C$3.8 billion ($3.73 billion) in loans and aid early in 2008, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said on Friday.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - The head of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police acknowledged on Friday that the national force needs a major overhaul to deal with a widespread lack of morale, scarce resources and heavy public criticism.

CANBERRA, Australia - Using the military to track Japanese whalers as part of Australia's anti-whaling campaign could cause a diplomatic rift with Tokyo, an opposition politician warned Friday.

DILI (AFP) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd jetted into East Timor Friday to lend support to the fledgling nation's efforts to stabilise and rebuild after violence last year.

CANBERRA (Reuters) - The death toll from a democracy crackdown ordered by Myanmar's ruling junta was much greater than U.N. estimates and scores of people were still missing, activists just back from the reclusive country said on Friday.

DILI (Reuters) - Australia's prime minister and the United Nations chief on Friday pledged continued support for East Timor to ensure peace and stability in the tiny nation.

DILI (AFP) - Australia's newly-elected prime minister Kevin Rudd pledged Friday during a five-hour stop in East Timor to support the fledgling nation's ongoing security needs.

OTTAWA (AFP) - An oil field worker in western Canada was shocked this month to be charged 85,000 dollars for surfing the Internet on his new mobile phone, local media said Thursday.

SEOUL, South Korea - South Korean scientists have cloned cats that glow red when exposed to ultraviolet rays, an achievement that could help develop cures for human genetic diseases, the Science and Technology Ministry said.

SHANGHAI, China - When freelance writer Wang Jian shops for toys for her 5-year-old son, she's happy to pay extra for Legos blocks and Japanese-brand train sets.

NUSA DUA, Indonesia (AFP) - Marathon talks on climate change were poised early Saturday for a deal that would spur US involvement in the fight to curb greenhouse-gas emissions, delegates said.

OSLO, Norway - When it comes to wiping out a bank account, forget holiday shopping. Just parking their cars cost some Norwegians between $37,000 and $148,000.