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• NATO troops in Afghanistan authorized to attack drug barons

  Some NATO members in Afghanistan are wary of attacking drug lords.

• Suicide bomber in Pakistan kills at least 30 at anti-Taliban gathering

  A suicide bomber struck an anti-Taliban gathering of tribal elders Friday, killing at least 30 people and injuring about 100.

• As global crisis gathers speed, Asian investors pause to pray

  Investors across Asia have seen their national markets tumble.

• Official: Russia not in full compliance with Georgia peace pact

  Georgian refugees are returning to find many of their homes destroyed.

• U.S. to take stake in banks

  The last time such a move was taken? The Great Depression.

• National briefs: One killed, one hurt in balloon accident

  1 killed, 1 hurt in balloon accident

• Angry hubby walks away from marriage with half of house

  A couple in rural Cambodia ended their 18-year marriage with a divorce settlement that entailed sawing in two the wooden house they once shared.

• French writer wins Nobel in literature

  The writer's most famous works include tales of nomads and the desert.

• North Korea bars nuclear inspectors

  The move dramatically raises the stakes in a standoff with the U.S. over a proposed inspection plan for nuclear facilities.

• Passengers recall Qantas flight's harrowing drop

  An inquiry is looking into what caused an airliner to abruptly lose altitude.

• Chinese dairy farmers see livelihood threatened

  China now requires producers to track raw milk back to the farmers.

• Tropical regions in danger from climate change, scientists say

  WASHINGTON — If you can’t stand global warming, get out of the tropics.

• International briefs

  Seven state police officers killed

• Iraqi insurgents attaching bombs to cars with magnets

  BAGHDAD — Iraqi insurgents are increasingly using magnetically attached bombs known as "sticky IEDs" to assassinate mid- and low-level Iraqi officials, Iraqi and U.S. officials said.

• Dalai Lama returns to hospital to have surgery to remove a gallstone

  INDIA — A spokesman for the Dalai Lama says the Tibetan spiritual leader will undergo surgery to remove a gallstone. The Dalai Lama, 73, was hospitalized in New Delhi early today, just days after a medical checkup cleared him to resume foreign travel. He was admitted to a Bombay hospital in August and underwent tests for abdominal discomfort. Doctors advised him to cancel a planned trip to Europe and rest, saying he was suffering from exhaustion.

• Whale shark placed in resort's fish tank

  DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Environmentalists on Thursday called on the managers of a massive new marine-themed resort in this Persian Gulf boomtown to release a whale shark they are holding inside a giant aquarium.

• Credit crisis destroys Iceland's banking empire

  For about a third of Iceland's tiny population, savings have been wiped out.

• Missile strike aimed at militants kills 9 in Pakistan

  The attack appears to be part of a surge in U.S. assaults from Afghanistan.

• New U.S. strategy in Afghanistan would give more power to tribal forces

  Military leaders believe that only a new approach can stanch the violence.

• U.S. says civilian toll in Afghan airstrikes now 33

  The military said Wednesday that U.S. airstrikes in western Afghanistan on Aug. 22 killed 33 civilians, far more than it previously acknowledged.