ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A top negotiator in Greece's huge debt writedown deal has been appointed the country's caretaker finance minister.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A senior judge has been sworn in to head Greece's caretaker government for a month as the debt-crippled country lurches through a political crisis that threatens its membership in the 17-nation eurozone.

BEIRUT (AP) — In his first interview in nearly half a year, Syrian President Bashar Assad claimed Wednesday that his regime had captured foreign mercenaries who were fighting for the opposition in a bid to show his forces were fighting terrorists instead of pro-democracy activists.

BEIRUT (AP) — In his first interview since December, Syrian President Bashar Assad insisted Tuesday his regime is fighting back against foreign mercenaries who want to overthrow him, not innocent Syrians aspiring for democracy in a yearlong uprising.

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's military ruler said Wednesday he hopes that a "great leader" will emerge from the country's upcoming presidential election, and said it will be a free and fair vote that will reflect the will of the people.

The indictment against Ratko Mladic — who went on trial Wednesday at the U.N. war crimes tribunal in the Hague, Netherlands — holds the former Bosnian Serb army commander "individually criminally responsible for planning, instigating, ordering and/or aiding and abetting the crimes charged in this indictment." Mladic is charged with 11 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the laws and customs of war. The counts below detail the atrocities during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war that Mladic is accused of commanding.

JERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli company has written off its entire 12.5 percent investment in the company that sold Egyptian natural gas to Israel before Egypt terminated the exports.

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Government troops and warplanes pounded al-Qaida positions in southern Yemen on Wednesday, killing at least 29 militants as part of a ramped up campaign against the group, military officials said.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A senior judge was sworn in Wednesday to head Greece's caretaker government for a month as it lurches through a political crisis that threatens its membership in the 17-nation eurozone.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece appointed a senior judge Wednesday to head a caretaker government for a month as it lurches through a political crisis that threatens its membership in the euro.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad replaced almost half of his West Bank-based Cabinet on Wednesday, a clear sign that efforts to end the Palestinian political split are stuck.

BEIJING (AP) — China has released a documentary accusing the Dalai Lama of orchestrating a wave of self-immolations by Tibetans, in its most elaborate attempt so far to shape international opinion about the protests against Chinese rule.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — The shadowy financial adviser of the late Yasser Arafat is being sought on suspicion he stole millions of dollars in public funds, the top Palestinian anti-corruption campaigner said Wednesday.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Twenty years after the opening shots of the Bosnian War, former Bosnian Serb military commander Gen. Ratko Mladic has gone on trial at a UN tribunal on 11 charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Ratko Mladic was a shadow of the swaggering general who once "held Sarajevo in the palm of his hand" during Bosnia's 1992-95 war as his long-awaited genocide trial opened Wednesday. Yet he still managed to inflame Bosnia's festering war wounds with the flick of his hand.

SUVA, Fiji (AP) — A beauty pageant in Fiji has turned into a fiasco involving race, age and even a claim that the contest was rigged.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian police has uprooted a protest camp in central Moscow that has recently become a center of opposition activity.

LEIDSCHENDAM, Netherlands (AP) — Convicted war criminal and former Liberian President Charles Taylor told judges at his sentencing hearing Wednesday that he sympathizes with victims of the civil war in Sierra Leone he helped foment, and judges should render their sentence against him in a spirit of "reconciliation, not retribution."

LEIDSCHENDAM, Netherlands (AP) — Convicted war criminal and former Liberian President Charles Taylor said during his sentencing hearing Wednesday that he sympathizes with victims of the civil war in Sierra Leone he helped foment, and asked judges to render their sentence against him in a spirit of "reconciliation, not retribution."

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The negotiating stance from Iranian officials never varies: The Islamic Republic will not give up its capabilities to make nuclear fuel. But embedded in the messages are meanings that reach beyond Tehran's talks with world powers.

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A midday bombing that killed two bodyguards of an archconservative former interior minister and injured at least 39 people in a busy commercial district of Bogota has raised fears that violence not seen in the Colombian capital in years could return.