World News

BUCHAREST, Romania - Romania's centrist president will face a socialist former foreign minister in a Dec. 6 runoff election, partial results showed Monday, in a race key to helping the country emerge from a political and economic crisis.

BUCHAREST (AFP) - Romania's incumbent president and his Social-Democrat rival will face a run-off after Sunday's first round election, exit polls showed, as the country aims to recover from a political crisis and a deep recession.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Shuttle Atlantis astronaut Randy Bresnik awoke early on Sunday to a much-anticipated call that his new daughter had been born.

RIO DE JANEIRO - Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is seeking a new source of legitimacy while making his first visit to Brazil, a nation that maintains close ties to the U.S., Israel and other countries trying to halt Iran's nuclear push.

MEXICO CITY - Mirna Torres salsas with a gray-bearded man for $1.50 a dance in the Barba Azul, a dark yet garish cabaret decorated like an erotic carnival fun house.

HAMILTON, Bermuda - Bermuda's highest court has struck down the conviction of a Florida woman who accidentally brought the ammunition magazine from her gun to the British island territory.

THE HAGUE (AFP) - Two Congolese militiamen accused of seeking to wipe out a village blocking a strategic route in an ethnic war, enter the dock in The Hague Tuesday for the International Criminal Court's second trial.

KHARTOUM (AFP) - Sudan's National Electoral Commission said on Sunday it is giving people another week to register to vote in the country's first elections in 24 years, scheduled for April.

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan on Sunday announced a six-day delay to long-awaited elections to make up for hold-ups in registering millions of voters in the oil-producing country.

KABUL - Four U.S. service members were killed in the past 24 hours in Afghanistan, NATO forces said Monday.

BEIJING - A Chinese court on Monday sentenced to three years in prison a veteran dissident who had criticized the government's response to a 2008 earthquake that killed about 90,000 people.

NEW DELHI (AFP) - Field hockey teams unhappy with an umpire's ruling can now demand a video referral of the decision, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) said on Monday.

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's ruling Conservatives and the main opposition Liberals both lost ground in a poll published on Friday as the left-leaning New Democrats enjoyed a surprising surge in public support.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Enough H1N1 flu vaccine for almost half of Canada's population will have been shipped out by the end of the next week, Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said on Friday.

MIAMI (Reuters) - TD Bank was hit with a multimillion-dollar lawsuit on Friday calling it the "financial epicenter" of an alleged Ponzi scheme run by disgraced Florida lawyer Scott Rothstein.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia moved to tighten security at its main immigration centre on Monday after a riot by 150 asylum-seekers, reportedly wielding pool cues, broomsticks and tree branches, left 37 wounded.

MELBOURNE, Australia - An Australian man was in stable condition Monday after being slashed across the abdomen and face by a kangaroo that was holding his dog underwater.

SYDNEY (AFP) - More than 100, and possibly hundreds, of Antarctic icebergs are floating towards New Zealand in a rare event which has prompted a shipping warning, officials said on Monday.

BROMONT, Quebec - A Canadian woman on long-term sick leave for depression says she lost her benefits because her insurance agent found photos of her on Facebook in which she appeared to be having fun.

MONTREAL (AFP) - Facebook can be a double-edged sword, a Canadian woman learned when an insurance company cut her health benefits, claiming she was healthy after seeing pictures of her smiling in bikini at the beach.

GENEVA - Scientists are preparing the world's largest atom smasher to explore the depths of matter after successfully restarting the $10 billion machine following more than a year of repairs.