UNITED NATIONS

The dramatic spike in state-sponsored killings likely represent an attempt by the authorities to crush dissent ahead of parliamentary elections early next month.

Two hostages were killed by Somali pirates during a rescue operation off of the coast of the Horn of Africa on Tuesday.

The alleged plan would not involve sending land troops into Syria given the formidable power of the Syrian armed forces,

On one of the bloodiest days of the yearlong uprising in Syria, survivors of an alleged massacre at a checkpoint in Homs said women had been kidnapped. Later, in farmland near Abel, 64 bodies were found with bullet holes and stab wounds.

A decades-old dispute between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the remote Falkland Islands, which the Argentines call the Malvinas, heated up Monday when two Carnival Corp. cruise ships were refused entry at the port of Ushuaia.

An ex-official from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that Iran's use of old technology could be making it difficult for Tehran to expand its nuclear program.

Weapons-grade uranium. There’s an ominous ring to those words.

Nine people were killed in the suicide attack at the Jalalabad airport, which doubles as a coalition military base; a Taliban official said the act was revenge for U.S. troops burning Korans last week.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's referendum for a new constitution allegedly contrived with the predominant aim of staying in power until 2028 was referred to as a sick joke by his opponents in the wake of bloodshed that coincided with the vote.

A suicide bomber drove a car packed with explosives into a church in the Nigerian city of Jos on Sunday, killing two people and wounding 38, which led to Christian youths beating two Muslims to death in revenge.

The world's major emerging economies on Saturday rejected the tradition that an American automatically is selected to head the World Bank and they will look at putting forward their own candidate for the open job.

The victims were both American, but their identities have not been revealed yet.

Amid UN nuclear inspectors' findings that Iran has accelerated its enrichment of uranium, the U.S. intelligence community maintains that no hard evidence exists that Tehran has decided to build a nuclear weapon, according to current and former American officials interviewed by the New York Times.

Iran has yet to clarify a discrepancy in uranium quantities at a Tehran research site, as measurements by international inspectors last year failed to match the amount declared by the laboratory, according to a United Nations nuclear watchdog report released Friday.

According to reports Iran possesses missiles with a range of about 1,250 miles (which would easily place Israel within the target area).

The Syrian military took its bombardment of the rebel-held Baba Amro district of Homs into a fourth week on Saturday as the Red Cross attempted to evacuate more distressed civilians from the city. At least 28 people were killed in Syria on Saturday, including nine in Homs.

Two Americans who were shot dead Saturday inside the Interior Ministry in Afghanistan's capital Kabul are believed to be a colonel and a major in the U.S. military, according to Afghan security sources.

A solid U.S. candidate to head the World Bank would be good for the United States and the bank because the world's largest economy should be represented in top international bodies, outgoing President Robert Zoellick said on Saturday, while emphasizing he has no role in the selection process.

The first wounded and sick women trapped in the most embattled district of the Syrian city of Homs have been evacuated, and talks were held to evacuate more on Saturday, while pressure mounted on President Bashar al-Assad's government to call a ceasefire and let in humanitarian aid.

The first wounded and sick women trapped in the most embattled district of the Syrian city of Homs have been evacuated, and talks were held to evacuate more Saturday, while pressure mounted on President Bashar al-Assad's government to call a ceasefire and let in humanitarian aid.

The Supreme Court will weigh next week whether corporations can be sued in the United States for suspected complicity in human rights abuses abroad, in a case being closely watched by businesses concerned about long and costly litigation.