TORONTO – The lawyer for a Canadian Al-Jazeera journalist is blasting the Canadian government for not doing enough to secure his release from Egypt. Journalist Mohamed Fahmy is out on bail awaiting retrial after more than a year behind bars in Egypt on terrorism-related charges. Lawyer Amal Clooney said in …

Al Qaeda militants in Yemen stormed the center of the coastal city of al-Mukalla early Thursday, freeing about 300 inmates, including scores of militants, Yemeni security officials said. Abdullah al Sharafi, a defense ministry official, said about a third of those freed were members of Al Qaeda in the Arabian …

HYDERABAD, India – Police say they have killed 20 suspected sandalwood smugglers during a fierce gun battle in the southern Indian forests of Andhra Pradesh state. M. Kantha Rao, deputy inspector general of a special police task force, says the smugglers attacked forest and police officials who had been searching …

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Twelve suspects have been arrested on charges of child pornography across Puerto Rico in the largest such operation in the U.S. territory, federal authorities said Thursday. Among those arrested were a former police officer, a high school teacher and an Internal Revenue Service employee, said …

SANTIAGO, Chile – Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has signed a law that recognizes civil unions between same-sex couples. The law signed Monday takes effect in six months, giving same-sex and unmarried couples many of the rights granted to married couples. Among the changes, it will allow civil union partners to …

President Bush held apresidential press conference (search)on Wednesday. Here’s a quick take, as we say on News Watch, about some of what he said. Issue one: Bush took responsibility for those 16 words in his State of the Union speech; the ones that said British intelligence had learned that Saddam …

BEIRUT – The Syrian army says troops have captured several villages in the southern province of Daraa and cut a major supply line to Jordan for opposition fighters. A statement released in Damascus Monday said the army carried out a military operation killing “large numbers” of militants and securing the …

HAVANA – The NBA is the first U.S. professional league to visit sports-crazy Cuba since the declaration of detente between the Cold War enemies late last year. Stars such as former MVP Steve Nash and Hall of Fame inductee Dikembe Mutumbo will open a four-day training camp Thursday to wage …

MADRID – Spain’s prime minister says the country’s economy is on track to grow 2.9 percent this year and expand an additional 2.9 percent in 2016. Mariano Rajoy gave the upbeat assessment a month before his party is expected to face a tough challenge in nationwide regional and local elections …

LONDON – Oil company Royal Dutch Shell says its first quarter profit rose 7 percent, mainly due to the fact that year-earlier figures were weighed down by one-time charges. Sales fell sharply because of lower oil prices. The current cost of supplies, a measure of profit used in the industry …