Dozens of Abu Sayyaf militants killed seven marines and wounded 21 others in one of the fiercest clashes this year that erupted in stormy weather Thursday as the marine platoon was about to attack a terrorist jungle camp, the military said.

About 30 marines maneuvered close to the encampment of more than 50 al-Qaida-linked militants in mountainous Patikul township in southern Sulu province, setting off the pre-dawn gunbattle, regional military spokesman Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang said.

A valuable 19th century Polish painting that went missing during World War II has been returned to Poland after being removed from auction in Germany, the culture minister said Wednesday.

Aleksander Gierymski's "Jewish Woman Selling Oranges" was unveiled to reporters by Culture Minister Bogdan Zdrojewski, who said the painting was returned to Poland after many months of on-and-off negotiations with lawyers representing a German person.

A Jewish organization says Iran should be barred from taking part in the Olympics and other international sporting events until its athletes stop boycotting their Israeli counterparts.

The World Jewish Congress says the Iranian behavior is "unsportsmanlike and smacks of anti-Semitism."

World and European champion Spain stays top in the latest FIFA rankings and Copa America winner Uruguay rises to its highest place in fifth spot.

The latest monthly standings will be used to help decide seedings in Saturday's World Cup qualifying draw.

A Southern California man stuck a butter knife into his belly in a failed bid at self-surgery to remove a painful hernia, police said Tuesday.

The wife of the 63-year-old Glendale man called the emergency dispatcher on Sunday night and told the operator her husband was using a knife to remove a protruding hernia, Sgt. Tom Lorenz said.

Bayern Munich winger Arjen Robben is set to miss the first round of the German Cup on Monday after injuring his ankle in a preseason tournament.

A scan on Wednesday showed that the Dutch international received a small crack in his right ankle during Bayern's match against Milan on Tuesday. He was replaced in the second half.

An unemployed truck driver was charged Wednesday with hacking into an Australian broadband network provider in an alleged crime that police say could have caused significant damage to the national Internet infrastructure.

David Cecil, 25, was charged in a court in New South Wales state with hacking into one of the National Broadband Network's service providers and numerous other businesses and websites in Australia and overseas since May.

German drug and chemicals company Merck KgaA on Wednesday lowered its earnings outlook after reporting a loss for the second quarter, when it wrote down the value of its acquisitions Serono and Millipore.

The net loss of €86 million ($125 million) compared with a net profit of €183 million in the second quarter of 2010. Revenues rose 16 percent to €2.55 billion.

LG Electronics, a top global manufacturer of mobile phones and flat-screen TVs, said second-quarter net profit plunged as sales declined and its mobile phone business remained in the red.

LG earned 108.4 billion won ($103.3 million) in the three months ended June 30, the company said Wednesday. That was down 87.3 percent from net profit of 856.4 billion won a year earlier.

Syrian security forces shot dead at least 11 people in a swoop on the town of Kanaker near Damascus early Wednesday, a human rights activist said.

"The security forces raided homes at dawn on Wednesday and during the operation 11 people were shot dead and more than 250 arrested," head of the National Organization for Human Rights Ammar Qurabi told Agence France Presse.