World News

MOSCOW - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says that Moscow and Washington can sign a new nuclear arms control deal before year's end.

ST ANDREWS, United Kingdom (AFP) - Hosts Britain urged G20 finance ministers to put aside their differences and strike a deal on climate funding on Saturday despite fading hopes for an accord at key UN talks next month.

LONDON (AFP) - England midfielder David Beckham is relishing the chance to play Champions League football again once he returns to AC Milan on his second loan spell in January.

HAVANA - A senior Vatican official said Friday he has asked Cuba's government to allow the Roman Catholic Church more access to mass media, saying Cubans are a religious people and should be given broadcast access to their pastors.

ASUNCION, Paraguay - Paraguay needed a military shake-up to create opportunities for young officers with a proven commitment to democracy, President Fernando Lugo said Friday in his first explanation for removing his top commanders this week.

TIJUANA, Mexico - Mexican police caught a prison official who spent a year on the run from charges of killing a 19-year-old inmate, whose beating death sparked riots that left nearly two dozen dead, including two American prisoners.

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - Madagascar's political rivals have agreed on posts within a transitional government that will hold power until next year's elections.

LEICESTER, England (AFP) - South Africa assistant coach Dick Muir admitted he had never seen such a poor performance from a Springbok front five as the world champions went down to a shock defeat to Leicester.

CAIRO (AFP) - Egypt's new ambassador to Iraq has arrived in Baghdad, a diplomatic source said on Saturday of Cairo's first diplomatic representative in the country since its charge d'affaires was killed in 2005.

COLOMBO (AFP) - Sri Lanka's central bank on Saturday said it has been buying gold to diversify its reserves amid volatile currency markets, days after India announced it had purchased 200 tonnes of the precious metal.

KABUL (AFP) - Seven members of the Afghan security forces were killed in a NATO air strike in remote western Afghanistan, the defence ministry said on Saturday.

TOKYO (AFP) - Pohang Steelers of South Korea shocked two-time champions Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia 2-1 to capture the AFC Champions League title on Saturday.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada lost more jobs in October than even the gloomiest analyst had predicted, dashing hopes for a quick economic rebound and suggesting a recovery in the labor market may have gotten off to a false start.

TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto was awarded the 2015 Pan American Games on Friday by beating Bogota, Colombia and Lima, Peru on the first ballot in a vote in Guadalajara, Mexico.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada will host a meeting of G8 foreign ministers in March 2010 in the French-speaking province of Quebec, laying the groundwork for a leaders' summit in June of next year.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australian authorities declared a natural disaster along parts of the country's east coast as heavy floods cut the main road linking major cities, stranding thousands of people.

JAKARTA (AFP) - Indonesia extended by a week on Friday a deadline for an Australian customs ship loaded with 78 protesting Sri Lankan asylum seekers to leave its territory.

LONDON (AFP) - An angry man threw a boot at former Australian prime minister John Howard during a debate at Cambridge University, the quick-thinking student who caught the shoe said on Thursday.

LONDON - The reigning Miss England has relinquished her crown after being accused of a fight in a bar.

SAN'A, Yemen - Saudi Arabia sent fighter jets and artillery bombardments across the border into northern Yemen Thursday in a military incursion apparently aimed at helping its troubled southern neighbor control an escalating Shiite rebellion, Arab diplomats and the rebels said.

BEIRUT - An unassuming college math student has become an unlikely hero to many in Iran for daring to criticize the country's most powerful man to his face.