Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez broke off relations with Colombia on Wednesday, vowing not to restore ties while President Alvaro Uribe is in power, due to the collapse of mediation talks with leftist rebels. Uribe, Washington's top ally in South America,

U.S. foreign policy since the September 11 attacks has created fundamental shifts in voters' views on international affairs that presidential candidates have yet to address, a pollster said on Wednesday. Bill McInturff, who describes himself as a Republican pollster, teamed

A Las Vegas judge on Wednesday ordered O.J. Simpson and two co-defendants to stand trial in April in what prosecutors call the armed robbery of his own memorabilia from two collectors. Clark County District Court Judge Jackie Glass set an

Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama escalated a dispute over health care coverage on Wednesday as they sought to break free of a three-candidate race in the critical state of Iowa. Clinton, Obama and John Edwards are deadlocked

NATO air strikes killed 12 civilian road workers in eastern Afghanistan, a provincial governor said on Wednesday, an incident bound to fuel Afghan resentment against the presence of international forces. NATO has tightened procedures for launching air strikes after Afghan

A televised debate set for next month among the Democratic presidential candidates will be canceled to avoid a potential conflict with striking Hollywood screenwriters, organizers said on Wednesday. The decision by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) came after several candidates

What makes her story different from thousands of others is that she testified against one of the men who paid for sex with her, helping to send him to prison. But just weeks after the trial she took an overdose

The European Union, the United States and Russia have urged Serbs and Albanians not to slide into violence following the collapse of the latest talks on the future of Kosovo. The province's 90-percent Albanian majority insists on full independence while

Saudi Arabia's interior ministry has announced the arrest of more than 200 al-Qaida linked militants suspected of planning attacks on an oil installation, clerics and security forces. The suspects were arrested in the largest anti-terror sweep in Saudi Arabia to

Amnesty International has accused Moscow of cracking down on the media and critics in the run-up to Sunday's parliamentary elections. The rights group also called for the immediate release of opposition leader Garry Kasparov who was jailed on Saturday for

Former Pakistani prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif have welcomed the resignation of Pakistan's military ruler Pervez Musharraf as head of the army. Musharraf, who took power in a 1999 coup, is to be sworn in as a civilian

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has ordered an independent inquiry into the deaths of two teenagers that triggered three days of riots. Sarkozy has also vowed to punish rioters who shot at police. 120 police officers were wounded, several critically, in

German police have arrested exiled Georgian opposition leader and former defence minister Irakly Okruashvili in Berlin. State prosecutors say they are considering a Georgian extradition request on charges of embezzlement. Okruashvili was arrested in his home country in September before

In an address to the German parliament, Chancellor Angela Merkel has praised the achievements of her coalition government over the past two years. Merkel said her government's economic policy had reduced the number of unemployed by one million since November

The world's biggest collection of Holocaust records has been opened to the public more than 60 years after the archives were created in Germany to trace millions of people who vanished under the Nazis. The archives in the western town

US President George W. Bush has met with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the White House and pledged full US efforts to help achieve a Middle East peace agreement. The White House meeting wraps

Chadian rebels have warned the European Union not to side with President Idriss Deby or it would attack EU peacekeepers who are due to be deployed to the east of Chad as a foreign occupation army. The warning from the

Chinese and EU leaders have been meeting in Beijing to discuss a ballooning trade deficit that is being linked to a low exchange rate for the Yuan. The EU trade deficit with China is expected to hit a record 170

LONDON (AFP) - Oil prices weakened Wednesday after news that US energy inventories had fallen less than expected last week and as Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-Nuaimi refused to be drawn over whether OPEC would hike output.

BEIJING (AFP) - China and Europe confronted each other over their long-running trade dispute here Wednesday, with the EU calling for a level playing field and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao insisting on gradual reform.