MAPUTO, Mozambique -- Two police officers face murder charges in the lethal shooting of respected dancer and choreographer Augusto Covilas near Maputo, Mozambique.Covalis, who was connected to Mozambique's internationally acclaimed National Song and Dance Company, called the police after his home was surrounded by men who apparently intended to conduct a raid, Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique reported Monday.However, by the time the police arrived, the thieves had left. Instead of checking on the situation ... [full story]

LONDON -- A 38-year-old terror suspect appeared in a Westminster, England, court Monday for allegedly preparing for a terrorist attack.Hassan Muhammed Sabri Al Tabbakh was charged with compiling a document that described how to make a bomb as well as stockpiling chemicals for the device, Britain's The Sun reported Monday.Al Tabbakh, who is originally from Syria, is scheduled to return to court for sentencing Jan. 4.After being arrested at his home near Birmingham Tuesday, he ... [full story]

MOSCOW -- Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman said Monday a United States missile defense base in central Europe would weaken Moscow's nuclear prevention."If a radar (system in the Czech Republic) along with missiles in Poland are deployed, this will be a military operation -- to weaken Russia's nuclear deterrent potential," said Mikhail Kamynin. "We will have no other option but to take measures to make up for this new factor in our strategic balance of forces ... [full story]

YICHANG, China -- After finding the remains of two stillborn tiger cubs, China's Yichang Forestry Bureau warned a zoo it had better shape up or else.The tigers were found in a refrigerator in the ticket office of the Three Gorges Forest Wild Animal World, a zoo in central China's Hubei Province, where another tiger was found dead just four days earlier, the Xinhua News Agency reported Monday.Zoo spokesman Cao Guangyi said that a female Bengal ... [full story]

NEW DELHI -- A 24-hour standoff between police and hostage-taking militants in Kashmir ended Monday night when authorities killed the three gunmen and freed their captives.Police initiated the end to the ordeal in Jammu by tossing tear gas shells into the mosque, The Hindu reported.Two of the militants were killed in the ensuing firefight, while the third took refuge in one of the mosque's minarets. The third gunman was killed about an hour later, the ... [full story]

JERUSALEM -- Israel's military judge advocate general has ruled the use of cluster bombs in the Second Lebanon War was legal.The ruling stemmed from an investigation into the controversial use of cluster bombs by troops during the month-long war against Hezbollah in 2006, The Jerusalem Post reported Monday.Gen. Avihai Mandelblit accepted the conclusion by Maj. Gen. Gershon Hacohen, head of the Israeli military Defense College, that in the majority of cases, the cluster bombs were ... [full story]

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- A 20-year-old man was listed in critical condition Monday after jumping 17 feet head first onto concrete at the New England Patriots game in Foxborough, Mass.The unidentified man was on an elevated pedestrian walkway at Gillette Stadium before Sunday's New England Patriots game around 3:15 p.m. Sunday when he dived over the side, WCVB-TV, Boston, reported.Witnesses told the broadcaster it appeared the man thought he would land in a snow bank but ... [full story]

LOMBARD, Ill. -- Astronaut Daniel Tani sent word from the heavens to his late mother's memorial service in Lombard, Ill.Tani, who's in orbit aboard the International Space Station, appeared Sunday at his 90-year-old mother's memorial service via a recorded message that played on television at the First Church of Lombard."Mom has been, and will continue to be, my hero, my role model," he said in the recording while floating weightless in the gray-walled space station, ... [full story]

NEW YORK -- A New York man who injured his back and neck after he slipped on pigeon poop and fell down the stairs at a subway station has won more than $6 million. Shelton Stewart, who suffered two broken bones in his neck, one broken bone in his back, herniated disks and a bruise to his spinal cord in the Sept. 21, 1998, fall, successfully sued New York City Transit and won $6.13 million, ... [full story]

CHAPARRAL, N.M. -- Four people were arrested and 100 roosters seized at an illegal cockfight pit in Chaparral, N.M.New Mexico last summer banned brutal cockfighting, which pits roosters against each other in a fight that's often deadly, the El Paso (Texas) Times said. The roosters often wear long blades on their heels, and spectators bet on winners."It's significant. The message was: Cockfighting is going to be prosecuted in New Mexico," John Goodwin, manager of the ... [full story]