Cyprus
Spy suspect wanted in US skips bail
LARNACA - Cypriot police began searching late Wednesday for an alleged Russian spy wanted in the United States who vanished after being released on bail a day earlier in the Mediterranean island nation.
Police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos said Christopher Robert Metsos, 54, who says he is Canadian, failed to report to police in the southern coastal town of Larnaca on Wednesday according to the terms of release imposed on him Tuesday by a Cypriot court.
Metsos' quick disappearance raised questions about why Cypriot authorities released him on bail.
Mexico
Brother to replace slain PRI candidate
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CIUDAD VICTORIA - The brother of a gubernatorial candidate assassinated in northern Mexico was named Wednesday to run as his replacement in this weekend's election.
Egidio Torre, older brother of slain candidate Rodolfo Torre, said he consulted with his family before agreeing to fill in as the Institutional Revolutionary Party's candidate for governor of Tamaulipas state, across the border from Texas.
Rodolfo Torre, whose name will appear on Sunday's ballots, was viewed as the front-runner in the Tamaulipas governor's contest.
Eleven other Mexican states will also elect governors Sunday amid a wave of attacks and threats from organized crime against politicians.
6.2 quake in Oaxaca
MEXICO CITY - A strong earthquake rattled southern Mexico early Wednesday, killing at least one man who was crushed beneath a rafter that fell from his roof.
The magnitude-6.2 quake was felt as far north as Mexico City, where people fled homes and hotels in their pajamas. City officials reported no injuries or significant damage.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was centered in a sparsely populated, mountainous area of Oaxaca near the southern Pacific coast.
Philippines
Aquino descendant takes over leadership
MANILA - Benigno Aquino III, sworn in Wednesday as the Philippines' 15th president, promised to prosecute the corrupt and banish poverty as he urged Filipinos to help him in a job he likened to a biblical burden.
The son of two Philippine democracy icons, Aquino, 50, succeeds Gloria Macapagal Arroyo whose stormy nine-year rule was rocked by four failed coup attempts and allegations of corruption, vote-rigging and human rights abuses, which she denied.
Some 500,000 attended Aquino's oath-taking at a seaside park in the capital Manila, police said. Aquino aimed his speech at the many Filipinos exasperated at the Southeast Asian country's enduring problems, that also include decadeslong Islamic and communist insurgencies.
North Korea
Pyongyang wants new probe in sinking
North Korea, which has vehemently denied accusations that it sank a South Korean warship, is calling for a new joint investigation by both Koreas "to verify objectively the truth of the incident."
In a letter to the United Nations Security Council dated Tuesday and obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, North Korea's U.N. Ambassador Sin Son Ho called for "high-level military talks" between the two Koreas.
Venezuela
US envoy concerned over Chavez's agenda
CARACAS - The outgoing U.S. ambassador to Venezuela expressed concern Wednesday that President Hugo Chavez's government has focused its agenda on opposing Washington and that trade between the countries is fraying.
Ambassador Patrick Duddy, who will soon end his assignment in Caracas, said he hopes the two countries can improve cooperation in some areas. "But these are difficult times for the bilateral relationship," he said.
Venezuela exported $28.1 billion in oil and other goods to the U.S. in 2009, a 45 percent decline from the previous year, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures. Venezuelan exports to the U.S. have since sharply increased in the first months of this year.
Cuba
Gonzalez not angry at kin 10 years later
HAVANA - Elian Gonzalez says he's not angry at his Miami relatives who fought to keep him in the United States during a nasty international custody battle a decade ago. And he says that "thanks to a large part of the American public," he was reunited with his father in Cuba.
Now 16, Gonzalez's first comments to foreign reporters in years came after President Raul Castro attended a state celebration Wednesday night marking the 10th anniversary of the famous ex-castaway's return to Cuba.
"Even though they didn't help me in every way possible - they didn't help me move forward - they are still my own family," Gonzalez said of his South Florida relatives, speaking in a shy, almost timid voice.
Puerto Rico
Convicted egg thrower gets more prison time
SAN JUAN - A man convicted of throwing an egg at the governor of Puerto Rico was sentenced Wednesday to a month in prison - with an additional 30 days for tossing insults at the judge.
Roberto Garcia Diaz called the judge a midget and other things as he was being led away after being sentenced to jail for assault. Upon hearing the insults, the judge called everyone back into court and added time for contempt, court spokeswoman Ileana Velazquez said.
Garcia threw an egg at Gov. Luis Fortuno in September as the governor was announcing the creation of jobs related to a marina project. The announcement came shortly after Fortuno said he would cut as many as 30,000 public sector jobs due to the economic crisis.
Wire reports
