Officials in Colombia say a provincial governor who was kidnapped by suspected leftist rebels has been found dead in southern Caqueta province.   Authorities say the body, which was surrounded by explosives, was discovered Tuesday near the Caqueta's capital, Florencia, one day after Governor Luis Francisco Cuellar was abducted from his home.  The kidnappers had used explosives when raiding the governor's home, killing one police officer. Investigators believe a unit of the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, was responsible. President Alvaro Uribe had ordered the mil

A rising dispute between militants in Somalia may have split the country's al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab group into two factions.

In Nepal, Maoists have intensified protests as a 6-month long standoff with the government shows no signs of ending. The political impasse threatens a historic peace pact which ended a violent Maoist-led insurgency, and brought them into the political mainstream 3 years ago. The three-day general strike called by Maoists this week was not what most people in Nepal had expected to witness at the start of the year.

A spokesman for the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) says the group is ready to fend off any possible attack by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels. Kevin Kennedy assured Congolese not to panic after rumors surfaced that LRA rebels are planning to attack villages ahead of the Christmas festivities. “First of all I would have to say we will caution people not to panic.

North Korea has warned South Korean military and fishing boats to stay clear of a disputed maritime area, or risk being fired on. Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency Monday said the move is a response to what the North calls "frequent intrusions by warmongers in the South Korean military." North Korea has refused for decades to accept a maritime border known as the Northern Limit Line, mandated by the United Nations after a 1953 armistice halted fighting in the Korean War.  North and South Korea fought two deadly naval battles in the area in 1999 and 2002, and the South badly

The head of Madagascar's transitional authority, Andry Rajoelina, announced a decree Sunday naming retired army Colonel Albert Camille Vital as prime minister. On Friday, Rajoelina dismissed Prime Minister Eugene Mangalaza who had been named two months ago as part of a power-sharing agreement with three opposition groups. He indicated he was withdrawing from the agreement and announced parliamentary elections would be held in March.  The new parliament would choose a prime minister and draft a new constitution. Rajoelina did not mention presidential elections.  Under the current const

The Dutch government says it has asked Venezuela's ambassador to clarify remarks by President Hugo Chavez accusing the Netherlands of planning aggression against Venezuela. The comment Friday comes one day after President Chavez said the Netherlands was allowing the United States to use Dutch islands off Venezuela's Caribbean coast for a possible military attack against his country. The Venezuelan leader provided no evidence to support his allegations, and State Department spokesman Ian Kelly Thursday told the Associated Press the allegations were "baseless." The United States has lon

Cambodia's U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal has charged the Khmer Rouge's former head of state with genocide, the third such charge this week against a former leader of the brutal regime. A court spokesman says Khieu Samphan was brought before investigating judges of the U.N.-assisted tribunal Friday and charged. On Wednesday, the tribunal charged two other defendants with genocide for the first time: Nuon Chea, the group's top ideologist and former foreign minister Ieng Sary. All three have been charged with involvement in the deaths of members of the country's ethnic Cham and Vietnam

U.S. President Barack Obama says the United States and Russia are 'quite close' to agreeing on a new arms control treaty. Mr. Obama discussed the issue with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev in a private meeting Friday while both were attending the Copenhagen climate conference. Mr. Medvedev said some work is still needed on the technical details. Delegates from both countries have also been holding negotiations on the treaty in Geneva, Switzerland. U.S.