Iran disqualifies 2,000 reform candidates.

Iran disqualifies 2,000 reform candidates

TEHRAN, Iran - More than 2,000 reformers seeking democratic changes within Iran's hard-line ruling establishment have been disqualified from running in the upcoming parliamentary elections, a top interior ministry official said Wednesday.

The disqualification of reformist candidates removes challenges to hard-liners - including those allied with embattled President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - vying for the parliament seats in the crucial March 14 election.

Parliamentary elections are seen as a key test of Ahmadinejad's hold on power.

Man arrested in killing of border agent

MEXICO CITY - Mexican authorities said Wednesday they have arrested a man for the weekend killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.

Agent Luis Aguilar, 32, was placing spike strips in the path of two vehicles believed to have illegally entered the United States from Mexico when one of the vehicles struck and killed him on Saturday, according to Border Patrol authorities in Arizona.

Mexican federal and state police arrested Jesus Navarro Montes on Tuesday in the northern state of Sonora.

Teen killed by mortars fired at airport

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Insurgents launched mortars at the airport as an African Union team left Somalia on Wednesday, killing a 13-year-old boy and wounding three others, witnesses said.

Hours earlier, mortars also were launched at the presidential palace just after Said Djinnit, head of the AU Peace and Security Council, and other officials had a meeting there, witnesses said. A spokesman for Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf said none of the weapons landed inside the compound.

Greek visit to Turkey signals better ties

ANKARA, Turkey - Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis on Wednesday became the first Greek premier to pay an official visit to Turkey in nearly 50 years, reflecting warmer ties between two countries that have come close to war several times.

Karamanlis and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, spoke of their determination to work toward resolving long-standing disputes - including the divided island of Cyprus - but there was no concrete agreement on how to proceed.

Convictions tossed for 7 terror suspects

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - An appeals court in the Netherlands on Wednesday overturned the convictions of seven men on charges they belonged to a terrorist network.

The seven were associates of Mohammed Bouyeri, who is serving a life sentence for the 2004 murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh.

The court's decision was a blow to prosecutors and the government, which praised the original convictions as evidence of the effectiveness of tough terror laws introduced after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.

Plane crash in Poland kills all 20 aboard

WARSAW, Poland - A Polish military plane carrying 20 passengers and crew crashed in flames in northwestern Poland, killing all aboard including an air force general, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said today.

The plane, carrying 16 members of the Polish armed forces and four crew members, was approaching an air base at Miroslawiec Wednesday when it went down.

- From news service reports