More stories

• Kenya: 10 million risk hunger after harvests fail

  Ten million people risk going hungry in Kenya after harvests failed because of drought, the government said Friday.

• Series of small bombs strikes eastern Pakistan

  Five small bombs exploded outside two theaters in a major eastern Pakistan city late Friday, but there were no casualties, police and other officials said.

• Negotiator: pirates get $3 mil for Saudi tanker

  After reportedly receiving a $3 million ransom dropped by parachute, pirates said they released a captured Saudi supertanker Friday, ending a two-month drama that helped galvanize international efforts to fight piracy off Africa's coast.

• Sri Lankan editor's killing condemned

  Foreign governments and human rights groups called Friday for a full investigation into the killing of a newspaper editor who was harshly critical of the government, saying the attack posed a severe threat to independent media in Sri Lanka.

• French teenagers charged in attack on Jewish girl

  A juvenile court judge filed preliminary charges against four French teenagers accused of attacking a Jewish girl, a judicial official said Friday, amid tensions around Europe over the fighting in Gaza.

• Cambodian genocide judges reject corruption claims

  Cambodian judges denied Friday that they paid kickbacks to government officials to secure jobs on a genocide tribunal to try former Khmer Rouge leaders.

• US travel rules change for those not needing visa

  U.S. officials say people from countries that do not need visas to enter the United States must begin registering under a new travel authorization program before making their journey.

• Iraq PM warns police against politicizing

  Iraq's prime minister warned police cadets Friday against favoring political or religious groups as they join a security force that has been heavily influenced by militias and extremists.

• US troops in Iraq get to drink beer for Super Bowl

  American troops in Iraq will be allowed to drink beer without fear of court-martial for this year's Super Bowl - an exception to a strict military ban on drinking alcohol in combat zones.

• UN rights chief wants investigation of Gaza abuses

  The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights called Friday for an independent war crimes investigation in Gaza after reports that Israeli forces shelled a house full of Palestinian civilians, killing 30 people.

• Three-day oil sector strike in India ends

  About 55,000 white collar workers at state-run oil companies called off a three-day strike late Friday, the petroleum minister said, after causing a severe fuel shortage in India.

• Rights group decries Vietnam's press restrictions

  A U.S.-based human rights group denounced the recent firing of two Vietnamese newspaper editors, saying Friday that the incident signaled a clampdown by the communist government on the state-controlled media.

• China bans diet drug, says it can harm heart

  China's top food and drug regulator has ordered a halt to the sale and production of the weight-loss drug fenfluramine hydrochloride, citing its harmful side effects.

• Afghan held for forced abortion of his sister

  The 14-year-old Afghan rape victim told the doctor that her brother took her to a cowshed, where he and her mother held her down as he cut out her 5-month fetus with a razor blade, then stitched up the wound with string.

• UN: Probe Israeli shelling of Gaza building

  With fighting all around them, Israeli troops knocked on the door of the Samouni clan in Gaza City last weekend and told them to leave, directing them to the building owned by a relative. Twenty-four hours later, three shells slammed into the structure where dozens of people were huddling, according to survivor accounts Friday.

• Biden visits Pakistan amid India tensions

  Pakistan said Friday that it has sent "feedback" and information to India about the Mumbai attacks, and Joe Biden came here to underscore how seriously the incoming U.S. administration takes the terror threat from South Asia.

• Gazprom may resume gas shipments to Europe today

  Russia's Gazprom said it could restart gas shipments through Ukrainian pipelines to Europe on Friday once EU observers begin monitoring the gas flow in Ukraine.

• Analysis: Syria deals with Gaza, eyeing own peace

  Syria has responded to Israel's Gaza offensive with harsh words for the Israelis and expressions of firm support for Hamas. But it's unlikely to do much more.

• UN: One-third of Gaza dead, injured are children

  Palestinian children are dying at a heavy rate in the Israeli-Hamas fighting - about one of every three persons killed, according to Gaza statistics.

• Sri Lanka captures key rebel base at Elephant Pass

  Sri Lankan troops on Friday captured Elephant Pass, the Tamil Tigers' last stronghold on the Jaffna peninsula, seizing control of a base and a symbolic highway, and isolating the retreating rebels in a shrinking slice of northeastern jungle.