A suicide bomber struck U.S. troops patrolling on foot in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, killing at least two soldiers and three civilians and wounding at least nine others, officials said. Read More

Opposition members accused of being involved in a bomb plot in Zimbabwe say they were tortured into making false confessions. Read More

Rebels led by a high-ranking commander in eastern Congo denounced the authority of founding leader Laurent Nkunda on Thursday, signaling a split in the movement just as it is holding talks with the Congolese government. Read More

Some hefted their luggage on bamboo shoulder poles. Others carried their things in plastic buckets. All were migrant workers hurrying to get home Thursday before China's Lunar New Year festival _ a holiday that triggers one of the world's biggest annual migrations of humans. Read More

The U.N. halted deliveries to the Gaza Strip on Thursday after gunfire from an Israeli tank killed an aid truck driver, and the threat of a wider conflict arose when militants in Lebanon fired rockets into northern Israel. Read More

The international Red Cross accused Israel Thursday of "unacceptable" delays in letting rescue workers reach three Gaza City homes hit by shelling where they eventually found 15 dead and 18 wounded, including young children too weak to stand. Read More

The outgoing U.S. ambassador to London says talks have been held with British officials about Britain accepting some Guantanamo Bay detainees if the camp for terrorist suspects is closed. Read More

A NATO official says talks on setting up an alternate supply route to Afghanistan are at an advanced stage _ an issue of growing urgency because of intensifying attacks by pro-Taliban forces on convoys in Pakistan. Read More

Pakistan's decision to fire its national security adviser has exposed cracks within the shaky, civilian government as it faces growing U.S. and Indian pressure to punish the alleged plotters of the Mumbai terrorist attacks. Read More

Turkey's military chief held urgent meetings Thursday with the prime minister and president following the detention of three retired generals and nine active duty officers in a probe into an alleged coup plot. Read More

Gaza Health Ministry official says 35 bodies discovered in rubble of battle zone. Read More

Train drivers in the Netherlands are facing an unusual new obstacle _ skaters on the tracks. Read More

Two simultaneous roadside bombs tore through an Iraqi army patrol responding to a mortar attack Thursday north of Baghdad, killing six Iraqi soldiers, police said. Two other Iraqi soldiers died in another blast near the city of Kirkuk. Read More

The number of travelers to China dropped by 2 million in 2008 in what was supposed to be a banner year for tourism but became one dampened by Olympics-related security measures and the global economic crunch. Read More

Rescuers are trying to reach four Italian mountain climbers and their Argentine guide after they became trapped by a storm at 22,000 feet (6,700 meters) just below the summit of the highest peak in the Americas. Read More

President Hugo Chavez will keep donating heating oil for poor American families in a costly decision that suggests the Venezuelan leader wants to keep to his pledges _ and buttress his image _ in spite of falling oil prices. Read More

Sri Lankan troops captured an important Tamil Tiger base and pounded the rebels with air attacks Thursday, forcing the insurgents to withdraw deeper into the dwindling area that remains under their control, the military said. Read More

How do you count scorpions? Read More

Residents of this northern Israeli town awoke Thursday to one of their country's worst nightmares: Rockets from Lebanon, and the possibility of a second front in a battle that has raged for two weeks in Gaza. Read More

Gu Gu the panda has struck again, mauling someone who jumped a barrier to retrieve a child's toy, in his third attack on a visitor at the Beijing zoo. Read More