Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas asks the United Nations on Friday to recognize a state for his people, as Israel still occupies its territory and the United States has vowed to veto the demand.

Weeping Afghans gathered under tight security on Friday to bury former president Burhanuddin Rabbani, the government's chief peace negotiator killed this week by a suicide bomber posing as a Taliban envoy with a message about possible talks.

The developer of an Islamic cultural center near ground zero says the “biggest mistake” on the project was not involving the families of Sept. 11 victims from the start.

New sanctions against Syria come into effect on Saturday as Turkey says it has intercepted an arms shipment at sea destined for the protest-wracked country after another day of deadly demonstrations.

Sub-atomic particles apparently traveling faster than light could force a major rethink of theories about how the cosmos works and even allow dreams of time travel and extra dimensions, scientists said on Friday.

Behind closed doors – in places where the religious police cannot listen in – residents of Mecca are beginning to refer to their city as Las Vegas, and the moniker is not a compliment.

Russia believes Israel and the United States were responsible for unleashing the malicious Stuxnet computer worm on Iran's nuclear program last year, a top official said Friday.

A third member of an alleged rogue US army unit in Afghanistan pleaded guilty in a plea deal over shock killings of local civilians that embarrassed the US army.