INTERNATIONAL NEWS

• Stanford investors to Antigua: Remove liquidator 11/21/2009, 1:30 p.m. EST
(AP) — ST. JOHN'S, Antigua - A group of investors is urging an Antiguan court to remove a British accounting firm appointed to collect assets of a Caribbean offshore bank at the center of an alleged Ponzi scheme by Texas financier R. Allen Stanford.

• Saudi: 4 pilgrims die of swine flu before hajj 11/21/2009, 11:15 a.m. EST
(AP) — RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Saudi health officials announced the first deaths from swine flu of this year's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, as four pilgrims succumbed to the disease soon after arriving in Saudi Arabia.

• Reports: 101-yr-old Brazil architect back at work 11/21/2009, 10:31 a.m. EST
(AP) — BRASILIA, Brazil - Famed 101-year-old Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer is reportedly back at work just weeks after surgery for gallstones and an intestinal tumor.

• Religious Jews protest against Intel in Jerusalem 11/21/2009, 8:36 a.m. EST
(AP) — JERUSALEM - Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews are demonstrating outside an Intel facility in Jerusalem against the U.S. company operating on the Jewish Sabbath in the holy city.

• Pope and Anglican leader agree on closer relations 11/21/2009, 7:38 a.m. EST
(AP) — VATICAN CITY - The Vatican says the pope and the archbishop of Canterbury have agreed to press for closer relations between Catholics and Anglicans despite the jolt from the Vatican's unprecedented invitation to disaffected Anglicans.

• Iraqi lawmakers seek to end election crisis 11/21/2009, 5:58 a.m. EST
(AP) — BAGHDAD - Iraq's parliament is discussing ways to end a dispute over an election law after a vice president vetoed the bill, throwing national polls slated for January into question.

• Pope meets with artists, actors and musicians 11/21/2009, 5:40 a.m. EST
(AP) — VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI is meeting with artists, actors and musicians in the splendor of the Sistine Chapel to renew the Catholic church's friendship with the world of art.

• Russia president criticizes ruling party over vote 11/21/2009, 5:33 a.m. EST
(AP) — ST.PETERSBURG, Russia - Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev on Saturday harshly criticized officials in the ruling Kremlin-backed party for abusing their positions in order to win elections, saying the party must learn to win fairly.

• Sentence request for US woman in Italy murder case 11/21/2009, 4:14 a.m. EST
(AP) — PERUGIA, Italy - Prosecutors are expected to request life in prison for an American student and her former boyfriend accused of killing a young British woman in Italy.

• Sri Lanka to release 136,000 Tamil war refugees 11/21/2009, 3:13 a.m. EST
(AP) — MANIK FARM, Sri Lanka - Sri Lanka will release next month the remaining 136,000 Tamil refugees still in the squalid and overrun government camps where they've been detained since the country's civil war ended six months ago, a top official said Saturday.

• Buddhists from 2 Koreas to hold joint ceremony 11/21/2009, 1:18 a.m. EST
(AP) — SEOUL, South Korea - South Korean Buddhist monks headed to North Korea on Saturday for a joint ceremony with monks there, showing the countries continue civil exchange despite a bloody naval skirmish earlier this month.

• China says 15 dead, 114 trapped in mine explosion 11/20/2009, 9:27 p.m. EST
(AP) — BEIJING - A gas explosion tore through a coal mine in northern China on Saturday, killing 15 people and trapping another 114 nearly a third of a mile under ground, central government authorities said.

• UN committee targets Iran's rights violations 11/20/2009, 11:52 a.m. EST
(AP) — UNITED NATIONS - A key U.N. committee approved a resolution Friday urging Iran to halt the persecution of political opponents following the country's disputed presidential election and release those still detained.

• Cosmonaut says Russia falling behind in space race 11/20/2009, 9:04 a.m. EST
(AP) — MOSCOW - Russia lacks a viable program for developing a new spacecraft and will likely fall behind in the space race, a veteran Russian cosmonaut said in an interview published Friday.

• Russian Orthodox priest shot dead in Moscow church 11/20/2009, 2:30 a.m. EST
(AP) — MOSCOW - A gunman killed a Russian Orthodox priest in his Moscow church and seriously wounded the reverend's assistant, officials said Friday.

• 20 years after UN pact, many children still suffer 11/19/2009, 11:50 p.m. EST
(AP) — EDITOR'S NOTE-The United Nations adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child 20 years ago Friday, yet hundreds of millions of children still suffer from violence, hunger and disease. Associated Press correspondents around the globe interviewed children who illustrate the remaining challenges, along with some victories.

• UN urges help for 1 billion deprived children 11/19/2009, 10:30 a.m. EST
(AP) — UNITED NATIONS - UNICEF urged the world to help the 1 billion children still deprived of food, shelter, clean water or health care-and the hundreds of millions more threatened by violence-two decades after the U.N. adopted a treaty guaranteeing children's rights.

• Iraqi lawmakers seek to end election crisis 11/19/2009, 10:08 a.m. EST
(AP) — BAGHDAD - Iraq's parliament is discussing ways to end a dispute over an election law after a vice president vetoed the bill, throwing national polls slated for January into question.

• 2 lions kill white tiger in Czech zoo 11/19/2009, 10:06 a.m. EST
(AP) — PRAGUE - A rare white tiger has been killed by two lions in a zoo in northern Czech Republic, a zoo official said Thursday.

• Philippine gay group fights to contest elections 11/19/2009, 4:12 a.m. EST
(AP) — MANILA, Philippines - A Philippine gay rights group is waging a legal battle to be allowed to run in next year's polls after the Elections Commission ruled it cannot register as a political party on grounds that it advocates immorality.

• Russian ship freeing itself from ice in Antarctic 11/19/2009, 4:05 a.m. EST
(AP) — MOSCOW - A Russian icebreaker carrying more than 100 tourists, scientists and journalists on an Antarctic cruise has been successfully moving through ice and is just about 100 meters away from clear water, its owners said Thursday.

• Oil falls to near $79 amid mixed economic signs 11/18/2009, 11:08 p.m. EST
(AP) — KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Oil prices slipped to near $79 a barrel Thursday in Asia amid mixed signals over the strength of the global economic recovery.

• Gem in Vatican's art collection gets new look 11/18/2009, 7:55 p.m. EST
(AP) — VATICAN CITY - One of the gems of the Vatican's priceless religious art collection-a 6th century reliquary containing the purported fragments of the cross on which Jesus was crucified-has gotten a new look after being restored to its Byzantine-era glory, experts say.

• Diplomat: Canada handed over Afghans for torture 11/18/2009, 6:08 p.m. EST
(AP) — TORONTO - A former senior Canadian diplomat in Afghanistan said Wednesday that top ranking Canadian officials ignored evidence that prisoners Canada handed over to Afghanistan's intelligence service a few years ago were tortured.

• Israel brushes off Obama criticism over Jerusalem 11/18/2009, 12:28 p.m. EST
(AP) — JERUSALEM - Israel broke ground on a new housing complex for Jews in east Jerusalem on Wednesday, brushing off President Barack Obama's criticism that construction in the disputed part of the holy city undermines efforts to relaunch Mideast peace talks.