A Liberian man who helped lead a faction accused of torture killings and recruiting child soldiers during the West African country's civil war has been ordered removed from the United States, where he raised a family and worked as a public school administrator in upstate New York.

An Al Qaeda front group in Iraq has claimed responsibility for the two deadliest attacks on Shiites since the U.S. military completed its withdrawal last month, underlining an escalating sectarian security and political crisis that threatens to drive the country toward civil war.

The president of the U.N. General Assembly is urging the Security Council to try to reach agreement on a Syria resolution, saying its deep division is leading to more Syrian deaths.

Romania's president has nominated foreign espionage chief Mihai Razvan Ungureanu as the country's new prime minister.

The city of Kidal in the far north of Mali is on high alert after Tuareg rebels said Monday they have taken up strategic positions around the locality, setting the stage for the first aggression against a major city.

An Italian appeals court has overturned the terrorism conviction of a Tunisian man who had spent nine years in the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo, Cuba.

One French minister says some civilizations -- notably France's -- are worth more than others. Interior Minister Claude Gueant's weekend remarks at a private gathering have ignited a firestorm of protests, since they were taken as a putdown of Muslims. But he refused to retreat, instead confirming the comments Monday, calling his viewpoint "good sense."

The fiery Northern Ireland Protestant leader the Rev. Ian Paisley has been taken to a hospital, his wife said Monday.

The captain of the wrecked Costa Concordia cruise liner will find out by Thursday if he is to be released on bail, remain under house arrest or be sent to jail over last month's disaster, which claimed 32 lives.

A British court ruled Monday that an extremist cleric described as one of Europe's leading al-Qaida operatives should be released on bail.

Overwhelmed by deep snow and harsh temperatures, some countries in Europe closed down schools and struggled to continue public transport and garbage pick-up Monday, as post-snow rains caused a dam to collapse in Bulgaria, flooding a village and killing at least four.

Turkey has summoned the Swiss ambassador to protest his country's probe of a Turkish official alleged to have denied Armenians endured a genocide in the 1900s.

The Mexican Navy says it has rescued six Cubans from a makeshift boat adrift off the Caribbean island of Isla Mujeres.

Flowers, teddy bears and candles piled up Monday in a southern Polish park where a mother buried her baby and then sparked a nationwide search by falsely claiming she had been kidnapped.

Egypt has released the names of 19 Americans who face trial over activities of their nonprofit groups in Egypt, a case that has soured U.S.-Egypt relations.