Peru’s jailed ex-president on trial for alleged illegal wiretaps, bribes to congressmen, media

LIMA, Peru — Former President Alberto Fujimori, who already faces the prospect of spending the rest of his life in prison, went on trial again Monday, charged with authorizing wiretaps and bribes of politicians, journalists and businessmen.

Marine faces court-martial in Fallujah, Iraq, killing despite government setbacks

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — The government failed twice to persuade jurors that members of a Marine squad wrongly killed unarmed detainees in Fallujah, Iraq. Now it’s trying a third time.

Indian investigators exhume bodies of women whose rape, killing angered Kashmir

SHOPIAN, India — Government investigators were exhuming the bodies Monday of two women whose unsolved rape and murder sparked weeks of enraged protests in Indian-run Kashmir and exposed the deep tensions plaguing this turbulent region.

Murder charge dropped against Marine accused of killing unarmed detainee in Iraq

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — A military judge has dismissed a murder charge against a Marine accused of killing an unarmed detainee in Iraq.

LA prosecutors dispute claim that they never tried to arrest Polanski after he fled

LOS ANGELES — With Roman Polanski under arrest in Switzerland, American prosecutors Monday disputed a claim by the director that they had never tried to nab him after he fled overseas to escape sentencing on charges he had sex with an underage girl.

Afghan Cabinet minister escapes bombing that kills 4; Taliban claim responsibility

KABUL — An explosion targeting Afghanistan’s energy minister outside a girls school killed four civilians in the country’s far west, police said. A Taliban official claimed responsibility for the Sunday morning blast.

Calif. police review the computer of Canadian reality contestant suspected in wife’s killing

BUENA PARK, Calif. — Police are reviewing the computer of a reality show contestant suspected of killing an ex-model, packing her disfigured body in a suitcase and leaving her in a trash bin in Southern California.

Book: Man charged in Conn. home invasion murders laughed, wore girl’s school hat during escape

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — One of two men charged with murder in a deadly home invasion smiled and laughed during the horrific crime two years ago and, during his escape, wore the school hat of one of the girls who was killed, according to a new book.

Gunmen kill 2 Canadian men at Mexican beach resort of Puerto Vallarta

PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico — Two Canadian men were shot to death in execution-style slayings outside an apartment building in the Mexican resort of Puerto Vallarta, authorities said Monday.

Police: Retired cop-turned-pastor shoots, wounds intruder who broke into his Detroit church

DETROIT — A retired police officer-turned-pastor shot and wounded a man who broke into his Detroit church, police said Monday.

6 NATO troops killed in Afghanistan; energy minister escapes bombing

KABUL — A suicide car bomb explosion targeting Afghanistan’s energy minister killed four civilians Sunday, while attacks and a violent storm killed six international troops, including three French and two American forces, officials said.

Colombian air force pilots sentenced to 31 years for murder in cluster-bombing of civilians

BOGOTA — A judge has found two Colombian air force pilots guilty of murder and sentenced them to 31 years in prison each for the 1998 cluster-bombing of a village that killed 17 people.

Nepal promises probe into assassinations and “disappearances”

UNITED NATIONS — Nepal’s Maoist-dominated government promised Saturday to establish a “disappearance commission” to investigate political killings that the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights says were perpetrated by communist insurgents fighting to overthrow the monarchy.

Deaths of 4 family members in Mount Airy, Md., was murder-suicide, committed by father

MOUNT AIRY, Md. — A home-improvement worker and school janitor who apparently was struggling to survive the recession killed his sleeping wife and two children before turning the 12-gauge shotgun on himself, Maryland State Police said Saturday.

Police: Md. man killed wife, 2 children with shotgun blasts, then turned the gun on himself

MOUNT AIRY, Md. — A man killed his wife and two children with shotgun blasts, then committed suicide in the family’s central Maryland home, state police said Saturday.

Texas commission to consider report disputing the arson finding that led to man’s execution

CORSICANA, Texas — More than five years after his final act from the Texas death chamber gurney was a profanity-filled tirade, the murder case of executed inmate Cameron Todd Willingham refuses to die.

Cab driver: Aspiring rapper suspected of killing 4 in Va. had fight with girlfriend over text

RICHMOND, Va. — An aspiring horrorcore rapper suspected of killing his girlfriend and three others in Virginia told a cab driver that he had a fight with the teenager over a text message he found from another man.

Mom, friends: Ky. hanging victim overcame cancer, dedicated his life to teaching children

LONDON, Ky. — Even while fighting cancer and undergoing chemotherapy, Bill Sparkman would show up for work wearing his customary smile and a toboggan cap to cover his balding head.

Daughter of slain heiress believed dead in NY; police searching river for body

TARRYTOWN, N.Y. — New York state police believe the daughter of slain newspaper heiress Anne Scripps Douglas jumped to her death from the same bridge her stepfather did after he killed her mother.

Man accused of killing father, leaving body to decay in bed, convicted of manslaughter

GRETNA, La. — Jurors in Louisiana have convicted a retired Army Reserve officer of manslaughter in the death of his 81-year-old father whose rotted body was found in a bedroom in their home.

Witness: Census worker’s body was naked, gagged, hands and feet bound with duct tape

BIG CREEK, Ky. — A part-time census worker found hanging in a rural Kentucky cemetery was naked, gagged and had his hands and feet bound with duct tape, said an Ohio man who discovered the body two weeks ago.

2nd suspect charged with obstruction of probe into shooting of 4 NJ police officers

LAKEWOOD, N.J. — The second man inside a New Jersey house when a gun battle broke out and left four police officers wounded has been charged with obstruction.

Colombian prosecutors, military unearth 35 bodies of peasants, rebels in separate mass graves

BOGOTA — The chief prosecutor’s office said Friday it has unearthed the remains of 17 peasants tortured and killed at a ranch that belonged to the since-slain, far-right militia leader Carlos Castano in Colombia’s northwest.

FBI agents in two terrorist bomb cases let their sting operations play out to the end

CHICAGO — As Hosam Maher Husein Smadi prepared to remotely detonate what he believed was a powerful bomb underneath a Dallas skyscraper, his comrade-in-arms, who was actually an undercover FBI agent, offered him earplugs, authorities say.

Prosecutor decides against charging suburban NYC university student who made up gang rape tale

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. — A suburban New York City prosecutor has decided not to file criminal charges against a university student who falsely claimed she was gang-raped in a dormitory bathroom.

Former ‘America’s Sexiest Bachelor’ contestant charged with killing ex-porn actress near LA

LOS ANGELES — A self-proclaimed preacher who was on the “America’s Sexiest Bachelor” pageant will be arraigned next week for allegedly torturing and murdering an ex-porn actress in suburban Los Angeles.

Pakistan’s president gives UN speech alongside portrait of slain wife Bhutto

UNITED NATIONS — Pakistan is beginning to claw its way out of the clutches of terrorists and religious extremists after decades of violence, President Asif Ali Zardari said Friday, with a portrait of his assassinated wife, Benazir Bhutto, by his side.

Cambodian refugees, ex-patriots, tell of atrocities for use in Khmer Rouge war crimes tribunal

LONG BEACH, Calif. — The tiny Cambodian woman trembled slightly and stared blankly ahead as she told the story that has haunted her for half a lifetime: her parents and brother died in Khmer Rouge labor camps. Her baby perished in a refugee camp.

Second suspect charged with obstruction of probe into shooting of 4 NJ police officers

LAKEWOOD, N.J. — The second man inside a New Jersey when a gun battle broke out that left four police officers shot has been charged with obstruction.

Coroner: ‘Fed’ written in felt-tip pen on Ky. Census worker found hanging from tree

BIG CREEK, Ky. — Authorities said a U.S. Census worker died by asphyxiation but were releasing few other details about the mysterious case nearly two weeks after Bill Sparkman’s body — with the word “fed” scrawled on the chest — was found hanging from a tree near a family cemetery secluded by Appalachian forest.