DUBLIN – Ireland's health minister was pelted with red paint Monday as tempers flared over government plans to slash euro1 billion ($1.4 billion) from the costs of running an overloaded hospital network.

BAGHDAD – Iraq's dwindling Christian community was grieving and afraid on Monday after militants seized a Baghdad church during evening Mass, held the congregation hostage and triggered a raid by Iraqi security forces. The bloodbath left at least 58 people killed and 78 wounded — nearly everyone inside.

BEIJING – China's Red Cross asked citizens around the country Friday to urgently donate blood because of an acute shortage that has prompted delays in some surgeries.

LONDON (AFP) – Britain is "urgently considering" new security measures for air cargo from Yemen after a suspect package flown in from the country sparked an international alert, the government said Friday.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Hundreds of protesters who blame U.N. peacekeepers from Nepal for Haiti's widening cholera epidemic marched on a rural military base Friday to demand the soldiers leave the country.

OSLO (Reuters) – A new type of snub-nosed monkey has been found in a remote forested region of northern Myanmar which is under threat from logging and a Chinese dam project, scientists said on Wednesday

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Suspected U.S. drones fired missiles at a house and a vehicle in a militant-infested area of northwestern Pakistan near the Afghan border Wednesday, killing seven people, intelligence officials said.

VIENNA – An Austrian man who was the first in Europe to wear an innovative high-tech artificial arm has died after the car he was driving veered off the road and crashed into a tree.

MADRID – Spain, famed for its smoke-filled bars, corner cafes and restaurants, set the stage Wednesday for a tough new anti-smoking law that will rid the country of its dubious status as one of Western Europe's easiest places to light up.

CAUAYAN, Philippines – A super typhoon that killed 13 people and flattened forests and crops in the northern Philippines dumped heavy rains on the capital Tuesday as it headed across the sea toward southern China.

GROZNY, Russia – Islamic insurgents including a suicide bomber stormed Chechnya's Parliament on Tuesday, leaving six people dead and 17 injured in one of the most brazen attacks on the provincial capital in months, officials said.

PARIS – Masked youths clashed with police and set fires in cities across France on Tuesday as protests against a proposed hike in the retirement age took an increasingly radical turn. Hundreds of flights were canceled, long lines formed at gas stations and train service in many regions was cut in half.

Paris – A new survey in Germany shows that 13 percent of its citizens would welcome a “Führer” – a German word for leader that is explicitly associated with Adolf Hitler – to run the country “with a firm hand.” The findings signal that Europe’s largest nation, freed from cold-war strictures, is not immune from the extreme and often right-wing politics ...

HANOI (AFP) – The death toll from floods caused by heavy rain in central Vietnam rose to 32 on Monday, with an unknown number missing after a bus became submerged, authorities said.

ATHENS, Greece – Riot police clashed with protesting workers barricading the ancient Acropolis on Thursday, using tear gas to clear the entrance to one of Greece's most famous landmarks.

JOHANNESBURG – Health officials in South Africa said Wednesday they recommend screening all HIV patients for tuberculosis and want automatic TB tests for HIV patients to become normal procedure within five years.

(Oct. 13) -- They are a 19-year-old new father and a veteran miner more than three times his age, a groom planning his wedding and another man preparing to meet his infant daughter for the first time. As the 33 Chilean miners are hauled up to the surface one-by-one -- some laughing, some in tears and some with tears and laughter ...

(CNN) -- The challenges faced by the 33 Chilean miners entombed for the past two months are not likely to end with their rescue. Quite correctly, the initial emphasis is on physical safety, ensuring an error-free evacuation and looking to the men's nutrition, hydration and overall general physical well-being. But just as important, their psychological well-being will need close monitoring since ...

Much has been written about their lives, their predicament and their health. One by one, the 33 Chilean miners trapped in a gold and copper mine since the start of August are expected to be lifted out of the earth starting Tuesday night.