A 13-year-old boy who had confessed to being an assassin for a Mexican drug cartel was among six people found murdered execution-style, authorities in the central Mexican state of Zacatecas have confirmed.

More than 30 political leaders including Cuba's Raul Castro and Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stood at attention before Hugo Chavez's flag-draped coffin during a funeral in Venezuela Friday.

Sulaiman Abu Ghaith has been charged in a federal indictment with conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.

North Korea on Thursday vowed to launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike against the United States, amplifying its threatening rhetoric hours ahead of a scheduled vote by U.N. diplomats on whether to level new sanctions against Pyongyang for its recent nuclear test.

Barcelona announced an internal investigation Tuesday after reports in Spain claimed that the club had commissioned detective agencies to spy on a number of their star players.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has died, Vice President Nicolas Maduro said Tuesday.

North Korea threatened Tuesday to nullify the armistice agreement that ended the Korean War in 1953, citing U.S.-led international moves to impose new sanctions against it over its recent nuclear test, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in a "very delicate" state, and his breathing has deteriorated.

The secretive committee that awards the prize doesn't identify the nominees, but those with nomination rights sometimes announce their picks.

Of the 115 eligible to cast a ballot, 107 cardinals held their first pre-conclave meeting Monday about the future of the Roman Catholic Church.

A central California retirement home is defending one of its nurses who refused pleas by a 911 operator to perform CPR on an elderly woman who later died, saying the nurse was following policy.

Pope Benedict XVI's historic departure on Thursday sets in motion a timetable of centuries-old traditions after he steps down in a resignation that is unprecedented in modern Catholic history. Here is what to expect in the coming weeks.

A New Hampshire jury on Thursday convicted a Rwandan woman of lying about her role in a 1994 genocide in her home country to acquire U.S. citizenship.

The television broadcaster Globovision, long critical of the Venezuelan government, has been excluded from government plans to switch broadcast formats from analog to digital, Reporters Without Borders said Friday.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez remains under treatment for "respiratory insufficiency" that arose after he underwent an operation, a government spokesman said Thursday on national television and radio.

Mexico's new administration says an official count shows at least 26,121 people were reported missing during the term of former President Felipe Calderon, who launched the country's offensive against drug cartels.

Jamie Neal and Garret Hand had been chronicling their trip on social media. They last posted in late January; family and friends have not been able to reach them since. Some areas they planned to visit are out of cell phone and Internet reach.

The Pistorius family says it's acknowledging the service after information had been leaked. The South African track star, out on bail, says he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder.

Myanmar might be on the hot list of places to visit, but visitors should be wary of touching down in Yangon without a hotel reservation. The surge in visitor numbers in the last few years has vastly outstripped hotel room supply, and the city is struggling to meet demand.

Conflicting reports emerge over company's safety record. A British passenger and the pilot are hospitalized. The balloon carried tourists from the UK, Hong Kong, Japan, France and Hungary. A gas explosion caused the balloon to fall about 300 meters (almost 1,000 feet).

Talks began Tuesday between six world powers and Iran over its controversial nuclear program for the first time in nearly eight months.

Scandal is threatening to eclipse the poignancy and pageantry of Benedict XVI's historic final days as pope.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron visited the site of the infamous 1919 Amritsar massacre by British troops in India on Wednesday -- but those hoping he might apologize for the atrocity were disappointed.

Crews have boarded a U.S. Navy minesweeper stranded on a Philippine reef to begin dismantling it, the state-run Philippine News Agency reported Friday.

The last time Shinzo Abe was Japan's prime minister, from 2006 to 2007, he staked his job on a campaign to strengthen ties with the US. But as he heads to Washington for his first summit since retaking power, any expectations of American gratitude will have to be tempered by new and complex political realities.