Two prominent Western journalists have been killed in the Syrian city of Homs in the latest violence in the besieged city which left 20 people dead. Sunday Times reporter Marie Colvin, an American, and award-winning French photographer Remi Ochlik died when a shell hit a makeshift media centre in the Baba Amr district. Opposition-held areas of Homs have been besieged since 4 February. Thousands have died in unrest against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad. More than 40 people died on Tuesday...

At least four people have been killed and 20 injured in Afghanistan as protests spread over the burning of copies of the Koran at a US airbase. One person has been killed in Kabul, one in the eastern city of Jalalabad and two in Parwan province. US officials apologised on Tuesday after Korans were "inadvertently" put in an incinerator at Bagram airbase. Officials at Bagram reportedly believed Taliban prisoners were using the books to pass messages to each other. The charred remains of the volume...

Some 49 people have been killed and at least 600 injured, officials say, in the worst train crash in Argentina in 40 years. The train hit the end of the platform at Once station in the capital Buenos Aires during the morning rush hour. "We assume that there was some fault in the brakes," Transportation Secretary JP Schiavi said. Dozens of people were trapped for hours in the wreckage but all have now been successfully taken to safety. "The train was full and the impact was tremendous," a passeng...

Some 49 people have been killed and at least 600 injured, officials say, in the worst train crash in Argentina in 40 years. The train hit the end of the platform at Once station in the capital Buenos Aires during the morning rush hour. "We assume that there was some fault in the brakes," Transportation Secretary JP Schiavi said. Dozens of people were trapped for hours in the wreckage but all have now been successfully taken to safety. "The train was full and the impact was tremendous," a passeng...

Australia's Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd has resigned amid widespread reports of a leadership tussle between him and Prime Minister Julia Gillard. He made the announcement at a press conference in Washington DC, where he had earlier met US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton. There has been ongoing tension in the Labor Party in recent weeks over the leadership. Ms Gillard ousted Mr Rudd as prime minister in June 2010. "The simple truth is that I cannot continue to serve as foreign minister if I don...

BAGRAM, Afghanistan — As thousands of angry Afghans flung rocks at NATO’s largest military base in Afghanistan on Tuesday, American officials sought to quell a widening furor over what they said was the accidental incineration by U.S. military personnel of copies of the Islamic holy book. The protests erupted early Tuesday after Afghans working at Bagram air base told local residents that a number of copies of the Koran had been burned. When they carried out the charred pages, waving them in the...

The killings of two Western reporters in the city of Homs and reported deaths of some 60 people across Syria have triggered further Western outrage towards the Damascus government. Sunday Times reporter Marie Colvin, an American, and French photographer Remi Ochlik died in shelling by Syria's government forces. The US said it was "another example of the shameless brutality" of the regime. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said: "That's enough... The regime must go." Syrian troops have been shelli...

Mounting concern about the twin threats posed by pirates and Islamic insurgents operating in Somalia has led Britain and other EU nations to consider the feasibility of air strikes against their logistical hubs and training camps, the Guardian has been told. The issue has been rising up the agenda of David Cameron's National Security Council in recent months, reflecting anxiety in the west about piracy, but also the ambitions of some leaders within al-Shabaab, the clan-based movement that is fig...

Greece's bailout and debt-restructuring deal will leave it with a huge debt burden and presents implementation challenges that may derail the program and prevent a return to growth.

PARIS—A French photojournalist and one of the UK's best-known war correspondents were killed Wednesday in Homs, in Syria, amid an intense bombardment of the city, a flash-point in the country's nearly yearlong uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.French government spokeswoman Valérie Pécresse said Marie Colvin, an American-born correspondent with The Sunday Times of London, and French war photographer Rémi Ochlik were killed in the bombardment of Homs.Mr. Ochlik had initially been in Syria...

Julia Gillard's government was tipped into crisis when Kevin Rudd unexpectedly resigned as foreign minister, setting up a possible leadership challenge.

China could face an economic crisis unless it implements deep reforms, including scaling back its state-owned enterprises and making them operate more like commercial firms, a report says.

BUENOS AIRES—A crowded commuter train that had apparently lost its brakes barreled into a station in a busy commercial area of Argentina's capital during the Wednesday morning rush, killing at least 49 and injuring more than 600, government officials said.Federal police spokesman Fernando Sostre said 49 people were confirmed dead in the accident, one of the worst in Argentina's history. But rescue workers, who spent much of the morning pulling victims from the wreckage, said the death toll could...

Many Iraqis near Syria's border share family ties, tribal bonds and sympathies with opposition fighters just over the border in Syria. But their leaders worry that an expanding cross-border arms trade here is re-energizing al Qaeda in Iraq.

At least seven people were killed and dozens more injured as demonstrators attacked Afghan government and Western targets over the U.S. military's burning of copies of the Quran.

KABUL — A second day of violent, anti-American protests spread across Afghanistan on Wednesday, as demonstrators seethed over the burning of Korans at a NATO air base, and Afghan politicians demanded harsh punishment for the offenders. At least seven Afghans were killed and dozens were injured, according to the Interior Ministry, when protesters gathered in several cities across the country, throwing stones, burning tires and lighting effigies of President Obama. One crowd of men attempted to st...

Talks between Iran and the U.N. nuclear watchdog aimed at gaining greater access to Tehran's nuclear sites broke down, raising questions about the future negotiations.

The European Central Bank's agreement to transfer profits from its Greek bond holdings to national governments likely will leave Athens with only some of the $5 billion the bonds are expected to generate over the next three years.

Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was released late Wednesday from a police station in the northern French town of Lille, after being held for questioning for two days in a prostitution scandal.

"Lies, damn lies and statistics" is a jab sometimes aimed at political polls, and in the complicated business of foreign policy polling there's plenty for people to argue over. Seventy-five percent of Americans see Israel as a friend or an ally. Thirty-seven percent think the United States was right to get involved in Libya last year. Fifty-nine percent believe China poses a major economic threat to the nation. All these numbers come from polls in the past year, but can they be trusted? And sinc...