Eric Linton

Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, accused of killing Afghan civilians, most of them women and children, in a shooting rampage in Kandahar province last week, will be charged with 17 counts of murder, a U.S. official said Thursday.

Asian shares gave back earlier gains Thursday after data showed China's factory activity shrank for a fifth successive month, underscoring concerns about a growth slowdown in the world's second largest economy.

Sanford, Fla., passed a vote of no confidence in its police chief Wednesday as protests of the killing of black teenager Trayvon Martin spread north to New York City, where the slain youth’s parents joined a march demanding the killer’s arrest.

Mali was in turmoil Wednesday as soldiers stormed the state TV and radio station in Bamako and attacked the presidential palace.

Asian shares inched up Thursday but remained in ranges as investors waited for manufacturing data from China and the euro zone due during this session for more clues about the state of their economies.

A white Mississippi teenager pleaded guilty Wednesday to fatally running over a man with a truck because he was black, and received a life prison sentence for a crime the presiding judge said left a great stain on the state.

French police set off explosions Wednesday night at a block of flats in Toulouse where the self-proclaimed killer of four Jews was holed up, but the standoff continued into Thursday morning.

A military unit from Russia, President Bashar al-Assad's best and last friend, has arrived in Syria, Russian media reported Monday.

Sgt. Robert Bales has no memory of the slaughter of Afghan civilians he is accused of, his lawyer said Monday.

With formal charges against his client likely within days, the lawyer for an Army sergeant suspected in the slaughter of 16 Afghan villagers was flying to Kansas Sunday and getting ready to meet the soldier for the first time.

A car bomb went off in Syria's second city of Aleppo Sunday, a day after explosions killed 27 in Damascus, and security forces arrested and beat activists at a rare protest in the heart of the capital.

Motorcycle-riding gunmen shot and killed an American teacher in Yemen Sunday, police said, and an al Qaeda-linked Musim extremist group claimed responsibility.

The Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday released a new economic analysis that will be used to justify a critical final rule that will determine which companies will face new regulations of their derivatives trading.

Syrian regime forces pressed their military offensive in the northern province of Idlib Thursday, driving 1,000 refugees across the Turkish border as the bloody revolt against President Bashar al-Assad entered a second year with no sign of political solution.

A Seattle defense attorney who once represented Ted Bundy said Thursday he will represent the Army staff sergeant accused of killing 16 civilians in Afghanistan.

Fitch Ratings revised down its outlook on Britain's AAA rating to negative Wednesday, warning the nation could lose its top-notch status in the next couple of years if the government eases back on its debt cutting stance.

President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron discussed the possibility of releasing emergency oil reserves during a meeting Wednesday, two sources familiar with the talks said.

U.S. securities regulators brought charges Wednesday against an online trading platform and two private funds that were offering Facebook shares, the first major actions from a yearlong probe into lightly regulated trading in private company shares.

Forty percent of Americans say the slaughter of 16 Afghan civilians by a U.S. soldier had weakened their support for the war, a poll showed Wednesday.

The Obama administration has been quietly negotiating with representatives of the Conference of Catholic Bishops to tamp down their furious opposition to a federal mandate that insurance companies cover birth control, according to sources familiar with the talks.

The U.S. Senate Tuesday rejected a bipartisan proposal to provide tax incentives for natural gas vehicles, a plan seen by some as paving the way for reduced dependence on foreign oil but panned by conservative groups as an unnecessary subsidy.

Japan's Nikkei average breached 10,000 for the third straight session before trimming gains to 0.9 percent Tuesday, lifted by defensive buying as investors looked for signs of further easing from the Bank of Japan.

The West clashed with Russia at the United Nations Security Council over Syria Monday, as activists and the Damascus government traded blame for a massacre of civilians in the city of Homs.

Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum are closing the gap on President Barack Obama, a new CBS News/New York Times poll found Monday.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Monday that the death penalty could be sought over the massacre of 16 villagers in Afghanistan, which U.S. officials said they believe was the work of a rogue American soldier.

Israel and militant Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip have agreed to an Egyptian-mediated truce to end four days of cross-border violence in which 25 Palestinians have been killed, a senior Egyptian security official said early Tuesday.

Asian shares fell Monday as investors paused to assess the effect of strong U.S. jobs data, which scaled back expectations for more easing ahead of this week's Federal Reserve meeting, while concerns over China's slowdown also weighed on sentiment.

Jewish settlers signed an agreement with the Israeli government Sunday to leave the biggest unauthorized outpost in the occupied West Bank and move to a nearby site after months of negotiations to avoid their forced removal.

After the killing of Afghan civilians by an American soldier Sunday, Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said it was time for U.S. troops to leave Afghanistan.