American indicted for murder in Italy

PERUGIA, Italy -- An American college student and her former boyfriend were ordered Tuesday to stand trial in last year's slaying of her roommate, while the judge also convicted an Ivory Coast man in the killing, lawyers said.

The judge indicted Amanda Knox, 21, of Seattle and Raffaele Sollecito of Italy on charges of murder and sexual violence in the stabbing death of Meredith Kercher of England, said Francesco Maresca, a lawyer for the victim's family. Trial for the two, who deny wrongdoing, will start Dec. 4.

A third suspect, Rudy Hermann Guede of the West African nation of Ivory Coast, was sentenced to 30 years in prison after being convicted on the same charges in a fast-track trial requested by his defense, Maresca said. Prosecutors asked for life in jail.

Knox's attorney, Luciano Ghirga, said his client "was quite disappointed" by the ruling. "She is ready to start again," Ghirga told reporters. "The [first] hearing is very close; we have to reorganize our defense line in time."

Corruption charges hit Chavez opponent

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuela opened a corruption probe of a leading opponent of President Hugo Chavez on Tuesday with less than a month to go before nationwide elections.

Attorney General Luisa Ortega said prosecutors should decide whether to file criminal charges against Gov. Manuel Rosales by year's end, throwing up a cloud that will remain through election day on Nov. 23. Rosales, a two-time governor, is running for mayor of Maracaibo, Venezuela's second-largest city.

Rosales denied any wrongdoing and accused Chavez and his allies of raising false charges to prevent his victory next month.

"They have always dreamed of taking me out of the political game," said Rosales, one of four opposition governors in Venezuela's 23 states. "They cannot win with votes, so they try to win with tricks."

China pulls tainted eggs in new scare

BEIJING -- Wal-Mart pulled a brand of eggs from all its stores in China on Tuesday after tests in Hong Kong found they were tainted with the same toxic chemical blamed for sickening tens of thousands of babies.

The discovery of melamine in eggs raises more questions about how far the chemical at the center of China's tainted milk scandal has penetrated the nation's food chain.

Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, said it had removed the "Select" brand of eggs produced by China's Dalian Hanwei Enterprise Group from its shelves in China. A government official in Dalian, the northeastern port city where Hanwei is located, said the company had begun a nationwide recall of the suspect eggs.

Mu Mingming, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart, said the company was working closely with suppliers and the government. "We just want to make sure the products on our shelves are safe," Mu said by telephone from Shenzhen.

Hong Kong testers found melamine in the eggs at nearly two times the territory's legal limit for the chemical in food. The egg contamination has prompted Hong Kong officials to expand testing to Chinese meat imports.

Syria orders U.S. school, cultural center closed

DAMASCUS, Syria -- The Syrian government ordered an American school and a U.S. cultural center in Damascus closed Tuesday in response to a deadly U.S. attack on a village near the Iraq border, the state-run news agency said.

U.S. officials said the raid killed a top operative of al-Qaida in Iraq who intelligence suggested was about to conduct an attack in Iraq, but Syria and the Iraqi government criticized the raid.

Outside the Damascus Community School, known popularly as the "American School," in the upscale Maliki neighborhood, activities seemed normal. Drivers waited outside the building to pick up the foreign, mostly Arab pupils as they left for home shortly before sunset.

Several students and a foreign teacher said they were not aware of the closure order and declined to comment further. There was no sign of extraordinary security, with the normal contingent of three Syrian policemen standing guard near the gate.

Monana Sabban, the mother of a first grader, told The Associated Press over the phone that students were told only that the school staff would meet later and inform parents of any developments. Bousher Abedeen, a Syrian-American father of two students, said parents had not been told to keep their children at home Wednesday.