Reports: 101-yr-old Brazil architect back at work

Famed 101-year-old Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer is reportedly back at work just weeks after surgery for gallstones and an intestinal tumor.

This Nov. 3, 2009 photo shows Afghan contractor Khalid Khan, 30, during an interview in Kabul, Afghanistan. Once on the front lines of the international effort to rebuild Afghanistan, the black-bearded road construction contractor now sits idle, cross-legged and quiet on the floor of the small hilltop home he moved into after he had to sell his own.

Afghan road builder's dream thwarted by violence

Khalid Khan stares through the dusty window pane, down across the rooftops of the capital, and wonders if they really know where he lives. Photo Gallery Available

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin signs a copy her autobiography, "Going Rogue", at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in in Norwood, Ohio, on Nov. 20, 2009.

McCain: Tension between aides, Palin 'no big deal'

U.S. Sen. John McCain said Saturday that he enjoyed reading running mate Sarah Palin's new memoir and downplayed any tension between their campaign aides as "no big deal." Photo Gallery Available

Germany to send trial observer to NY

A German government official says the nation will send an observer to the upcoming trial in New York of the professed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks and four accused henchmen.

Iraq working for release of Americans held in Iran

An Iraqi official says Baghdad has contacted Tehran in a bid to secure the release of three Americans detained in Iran, but has received no reply.

5 Afghan border security guards killed in south

A roadside bomb killed five Afghan border security guards traveling on a heavily used road in southern Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan on Sunday. Photo Gallery Available

FILE - In this Nov. 17, 2009 file photo, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki addresses the media in Tehran, Iran.

Iran begins war games to protect nuclear sites

Iran on Thursday began large-scale air defense war games aimed at protecting the country's nuclear facilities against any possible attack, state television reported.

In this picture made available by the Vatican newspaper Osservatore Romano, Pope Benedict XVI, left, meets with the archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams at the Vatican, Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009. The archbishop of Canterbury held his first talks Saturday with Pope Benedict XVI since the Roman Catholic church's unprecedented invitation to disaffected Anglicans with the Vatican saying the two sides still want to press ahead for closer relations.

Pope and Anglican leader agree on closer relations

After offering a home in his church to disaffected Anglicans, Pope Benedict XVI assured the archbishop of Canterbury on Saturday that he is still committed to seeking closer relations between Catholics and Anglicans. Photo Gallery Available

U.S. murder suspect Amanda Knox, left, is escorted by a penitentiary police officer as she arrives at Perugia's court, Italy, Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009. Prosecutors are set to make their sentencing requests for an American student and her former boyfriend accused of killing a British woman in Italy.

Life requested for US suspect in Italy murder case

Prosecutors on Saturday requested life in prison for an American student and her ex-boyfriend accused in the fatal stabbing of her British roommate during a drug-fueled sex game - charges the U.S. woman dismissed as "pure fantasy." Video Available Photo Gallery Available

U.N. Humanitarian Chief John Holmes, left, speaks as Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama looks on during a media briefing in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009. Holmes visited northern Sri Lanka to study the welfare of war-displaced civilians held in camps and those recently resettled.

Sri Lanka to release 136,000 Tamil war refugees

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. Photo Gallery Available

A cameraman films the bullet riddled wall outside Nariman House after a multi-faith candle light vigil to commemorate last year's terror attacks at the house in Mumbai, India, Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2009. Nariman House is the Jewish center where the attackers killed a rabbi, his wife and a National Security Guard commando in 2008.

Italian police arrest 2 linked to Mumbai attacks

Italian police on Saturday arrested a Pakistani father and son who allegedly spent just over $200 to set up a reliable and untraceable phone network that was used by the militants who carried out last year's terror attacks in Mumbai, India. Photo Gallery Available

Buddhists from 2 Koreas hold joint ceremony

Buddhist monks from South and North Korea held a joint ceremony at a temple in the communist country Saturday in a continuation of civic exchanges between the nations despite a bloody naval skirmish earlier this month. Photo Gallery Available

Chavez praises alleged terrorist Carlos the Jackal

President Hugo Chavez is praising Carlos the Jackal, the imprisoned Venezuelan once notorious for a series of Cold War-era bombings, assassinations and hostage dramas, saying he was a "revolutionary fighter" and not a terrorist.

Pakistani police officers examine the ruined office of an aid organization after an explosion in Peshawar, Pakistan on Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009. The explosion struck the office in northwestern Pakistan near the Afghan border on Saturday, wounding a security guard, police said.

3 men blow themselves up in Pakistani Kashmir

Three suspected militants blew themselves up as police gave chase Saturday in the Pakistani part of disputed Kashmir, authorities said. Photo Gallery Available

China coal mine blast death toll jumps to 87

Rescuers worked in frigid cold to reach 21 miners trapped underground Sunday as the death toll from a huge gas explosion in a northern Chinese coal mine jumped to 87. Video Available Photo Gallery Available

Pro-Castro mob attacks spouse of top Cuban blogger

The husband of an acclaimed dissident Cuban blogger was punched and shouted down by a pro-government mob Friday after he challenged the presumed state agents who earlier roughed up his wife to a street corner debate. Video Available Photo Gallery Available

Mexico says drug witness died in apparent suicide

A top drug cartel suspect who turned state's evidence has been found dead in an apparent suicide, while a body found in Guerrero state was identified as a rebel leader who accused the state governor of drug ties, Mexican law enforcement said Saturday.

In this photo taken Nov. 9, 2009, Horacio Pietragalla shows a photo of himself with his mother Liliana Corti in Buenos Aires. Pietragalla was kidnapped from his mother when he was a few months old and given to another family who discovered his true identity in May 2003 at age 27. Valuing the right to truth over the right to privacy, Argentina's Congress has authorized the forced extraction of DNA from suspected dirty war orphans who refuse to help identify their birth parents.

Argentina forces dirty war orphans to provide DNA

Valuing truth over the right to privacy, Argentina's Congress has authorized the forced extraction of DNA from people who may have been born to political prisoners slain a quarter-century ago - even when they don't want to know their birth parents. Photo Gallery Available

McCain urges Obama to speed up Afghan decision

U.S. Sen. John McCain predicted success in the Afghan war effort Friday if President Barack Obama makes a decision quickly to send the reinforcements requested by his top commander there.

Mexican reporter on organized crime goes missing

Authorities in the western Mexican state of Michoacan are investigating the disappearance of a journalist who wrote about organized crime.

World AP