World Politics News

ROME - The Italian interior minister says police in Palermo have captured the Cosa Nostra's No. 2 in a raid in Palermo, Sicily. Full Story »

PERM, Russia - A blaze sparked by onstage fireworks tore through a nightclub ceiling covered in decorative twigs and plastic sheeting early Saturday, killing at least 109 people and critically injuring about 90 in Russia's deadliest fire since the fall of the Soviet Union, witnesses and officials said. Full Story »

ROME - Italian police: $150 million in stashed art masterpieces seized from former dairy mogul Full Story »

PERUGIA, Italy - The murder conviction of American student Amanda Knox brings a measure of justice for her slain roommate Meredith Kercher but is no cause for celebration, Kercher's family said Saturday. Full Story »

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Three retired military commanders went to court on Saturday to testify in a probe into a plot to oust Turkey's Islamist-rooted government -- a case that has boosted tensions in the EU-candidate country. Full Story »

MOSCOW - An explosion and fire blamed on fireworks tore through a nightclub in the Russian city of Perm early Saturday, killing 102 people, Russian officials said. Full Story »

UNITED NATIONS - Film star Nicolas Cage has won a U.N. award night for his humanitarian work and has been appointed a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime. Full Story »

LONDON - The truth — and the UFOs — may be out there, but nobody in the British military is listening anymore. Full Story »

LONDON (AFP) - World leaders heading to UN climate talks next week must not be distracted by "flat-earth" sceptics who deny humans are to blame for global warming, Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned Saturday. Full Story »

NEW YORK - Sept. 11 made a hero of Mark Jakubek, lauded for his key role in rescuing two people from an elevator in the burning World Trade Center. But the aftermath of the attacks became a forum for his crimes. Full Story »

UNITED NATIONS - The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court raised the possibility Friday of charging Sudanese officials who cover up the government's involvement in alleged war crimes in Darfur and said President Omar al-Bashir will ultimately face international justice. Full Story »

BRUSSELS - NATO allies will bolster the American troop surge in Afghanistan by sending at least 7,000 soldiers of their own, officials said Friday in pledges that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton described as crucial to turning the tide in the stalemated war. Full Story »

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration is looking to press in early January for a new round of United Nations sanctions against Iran for its continued defiance of demands to come clean about its nuclear program, U.S. officials said Friday. Full Story »

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A $2.6 billion tax-free bond sale for World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein was approved on Wednesday by a state economic agency though the rebuilding of the shattered complex remains stalled. Full Story »

VIENNA, Austria - Austrian police have arrested an American woman sought in connection with the killing of her ex-husband, who died when a pipe bomb exploded in his car more than a decade ago, law enforcement officials said Friday. Full Story »

KIEV (AFP) - A top EU official accused Ukraine of dragging its feet on reforms at a summit in Kiev on Friday, while the ex-Soviet republic's leader complained about a delay in a promised EU-Ukraine accord. Full Story »

YANGON (AFP) - Myanmar's supreme court agreed Friday to hear an appeal against the extended house arrest of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, as the European Union said it wanted sustained dialogue with the ruling junta. Full Story »

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Sudanese officials who deny and deceive the world about crimes committed in Sudan's western Darfur region might face criminal charges, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said on Friday. Full Story »