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AP International NewsBrief at 3:24 p.m. EST(Associated Press Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Italian court orders new trial for Amanda KnoxROME (AP) _ Italy's highest criminal court ordered a whole new trial for Amanda Knox and her former Italian boyfriend on Tuesday, overturning their acquittals in the gruesome slaying of her British roommate. The move extended a prolonged legal battle that has become a cause celebre in the United States and raised a host of questions about how the next phase of Italian justice would play out. Arab League summit showcases Qatar's swaggerDOHA, Qatar (AP) _ Qatar's emir looked over an assembly of Arab leaders Tuesday as both cordial host and impatient taskmaster. His welcoming remarks to kings, sheiks and presidents across the Arab world quickly shifted to Qatar's priorities: Rallying greater support for Syrian rebels and helping Palestinians with efforts such as a newly proposed $1 billion fund to protect Jerusalem's Arab heritage. No one seemed surprised at the paternal tone or the latest big-money initiative. In a matter of just a few years, hyper-wealthy Qatar has increasingly staked out a leadership role once held by Egypt and helped redefine how Arab states measure influence and ambition. US eyes anti-piracy effort along west Africa coastWASHINGTON (AP) _ The U.S. and some of its allies are considering plans to increase anti-piracy operations along Africa's west coast, spurred on by concerns that money from the attacks is funding a Nigerian-based insurgent group that is linked to one of al-Qaida's most dangerous affiliates. Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea has escalated over the past year, and senior U.S. defense and counter-piracy officials say allied leaders are weighing whether beefed up enforcement efforts that worked against pirates off the Somalia coast might also be needed in the waters off Nigeria. NKorea puts artillery forces at top combat postureSEOUL, South Korea (AP) _ North Korea's military warned Tuesday that its artillery and rocket forces are at their highest-level combat posture in the latest in a string of bellicose threats aimed at South Korea and the United States. The announcement came as South Koreans marked the third anniversary of the sinking of a warship in which 46 South Korean sailors died. Seoul says the ship was hit by a North Korean torpedo, while the North denies involvement. In Russia, teen complains of adoptive US parentsMOSCOW (AP) _ A teenager adopted by an American couple has returned to Russia after five years, claiming that his adoptive family treated him badly and that he lived on the streets of Philadelphia and stole just to survive, according to Russian state media reports. The allegations by Alexander Abnosov, now 18, will likely fuel outrage here over the fate of Russian children adopted by Americans. It's an anger that the Kremlin has carefully stoked to justify its controversial ban on U.S. adoptions. A look at different versions of Kercher's deathMILAN (AP) _ British exchange student Meredith Kercher, 21, was found dead, half-naked and in a pool of blood in the apartment she shared with Amanda Knox and two Italian roommates in the Italian university town of Perugia on Nov. 2, 2007. She died of a stab wound to the neck. A Perugia court convicted Knox and her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito of Kercher's murder on Dec. 4, 2009, and sentenced Knox to 26 years and Sollecito to 25 years. An appellate court overturned their convictions on Oct. 3, 2011, and Knox returned to Seattle a free woman. Politics rule everyday govt in VenezuelaCARACAS, Venezuela (AP) _ A sea of marchers in red and yellow T-shirts flowed through the capital's main downtown boulevard, paralyzing traffic while state TV cameras stood ready to record every second. The crowd had come out to show their support for the late President Hugo Chavez and his successor Nicolas Maduro, but they weren't student activists or community organizers. The march had been launched by state-run telecommunications company CANTV, and the hundreds of employees were heading for the presidential palace to "deliver" the company's 2012 dividends to Maduro, Venezuela's acting leader and the official candidate to replace Chavez. Gypsies flock to bridal fair as parents negotiateSTARA ZAGORA, Bulgaria (AP) _ Donka Hristova lets her mother pull her skintight mini-dress a half-inch down her leg. Checking her makeup one last time, she joins her two younger sisters in a provocative dance. The Gypsy girl knows she has to look her best. She is, after all, on an important life mission: catching the eye of one of the hundreds of young Gypsy guys prowling around what locals have dubbed the "bridal market" to initiate a complex ritual of haggling that could lead to marriage. Chimps, gorillas, other apes being lost to tradeBANGKOK (AP) _ The multibillion-dollar trade in illegal wildlife _ clandestine trafficking that has driven iconic creatures like the tiger to near-extinction _ is also threatening the survival of great apes, a new U.N. report says. Endangered chimpanzees, orangutans, gorillas and bonobos are disappearing from the wild in frightening numbers, as private owners pay top dollar for exotic pets, while disreputable zoos, amusement parks and traveling circuses clamor for smuggled primates to entertain audiences. Cuba cleric: Francis criticized church at conclaveHAVANA (AP) _ Pope Francis issued a strong critique of the church before the College of Cardinals just hours before it selected him as the new pontiff, according to comments published Tuesday by a Roman Catholic magazine in Cuba. According to Havana Cardinal Jaime Ortega, then-Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio urged the Vatican to eschew self-absorption and refocus its energies outward. 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