BANGKOK (Reuters) – The Thai government apologized Tuesday to a region where thousands died in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami after a botched warning drill this week caused hundreds to flee their homes, convinced another wave was coming.

LONDON (AFP) – A pilot for budget carrier Ryanair came up with a new money-saving idea Tuesday after the firm suggested axing co-pilots on flights -- replace the airline's boss with a flight attendant.

BEIJING — Authorities killed rats and fleas on Tuesday as they disinfected a town sealed off after three people died of pneumonic plague in a remote farming town in northwestern China, according to the provincial health department. Police set up checkpoints around Ziketan in Qinghai province after the outbreak was first detected last Thursday. The lung infection is highly contagious can ...

SARGODHA, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistani police submitted on Tuesday charges of plotting terrorism against five young Americans detained last year, a lawyer said. The students, in their 20s and from the U.S. state of Virginia, were detained in December in the town of Sargodha, 190 km (120 miles) southeast of Islamabad, and accused of contacting militants over the Internet and plotting ...

SYDNEY – A clash Wednesday off Antarctica between a Japanese whaler and a boat from a protest group partly bankrolled by former game show host Bob Barker left the anti-whaling vessel badly damaged and each side accusing the other of life-threatening behavior. The bow of the Ady Gil — a sleek, wave-piercing power boat that resembles a stealth bomber — was ...

The reaction to the two terrorist attacks during the last week in December is puzzling. One of the attacks, against a CIA outpost in Afghanistan, succeeded; the other, on an airplane landing in Detroit, failed. The Undiebomber was an amateur who was thwarted, rather neatly, by his fellow passengers on the plane. The Afghanistan operation was quite the opposite - highly ...

PARIS (AFP) – French police on Tuesday arrested Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of Rwanda's assassinated ex-president, who is wanted in her homeland as one of the alleged masterminds of the 1994 genocide. The arrest came just five days after President Nicolas Sarkozy made the first trip by a French leader to Rwanda since the genocide.

WASHINGTON — Two new surveillance systems set up in Haiti after January's monster earthquake showed no major outbreaks of disease, and might form the basis of one long-term improvement for the Caribbean nation's health, researchers reported Thursday.

NEW DELHI – With athletes trickling into New Delhi on Saturday and cleaning crews rushing to scour their rooms, the Commonwealth Games chief said India was working hard to ensure it is prepared to host the beleaguered sporting event — though much remains to be done.

OKCULAR, Turkey – Hundreds of earthquake survivors huddled in aid tents and around bonfires Monday in eastern Turkey, seeking relief from the winter cold after a strong temblor knocked down stone and mud-brick houses in five villages, killing 51 people. The damage appeared worst in the Kurdish village of Okcular, which was almost razed. At least 15 of the village's 900 ...

BEIJING - The global spread of swine flu will endanger more lives as it speeds up in coming months and governments must boost preparations for a swift response, the World Health Organization said Friday. There will soon be a period of further global spread of the virus, and most countries may see swine flu cases double every three to four days ...

+ PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – One of two U.S. Baptist missionaries still held on kidnapping charges in Haiti was released Monday, but the group's leader remained in custody. Charisa Coulter was taken from her jail cell to the airport by U.S. Embassy staff more than a month after she and nine other Americans were arrested for trying to take 33 children out ...

WASHINGTON — Two new surveillance systems set up in Haiti after January's monster earthquake showed no major outbreaks of disease, and might form the basis of one long-term improvement for the Caribbean nation's health, researchers reported Thursday.

BEIJING (AFP) – Twelve finalists in a worldwide contest to be a panda keeper in China for one month have begun their training, learning to feed and study the endangered animals, organisers said on Friday.

(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 ...

CAIRO – Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden called for the creation of a new relief body to help Muslims in an audiotape released Friday, seeking to exploit discontent following this summer's devastating floods in Pakistan by depicting the region's governments as uncaring.

QUITO, Ecuador – Ecuador was under a state of siege Friday, the streets quiet with the military in charge of public order, after soldiers rescued President Rafael Correa from a hospital where he'd been surrounded by police who roughed him up and tear-gassed him earlier

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.