World News

BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip - Israeli aircraft struck armed Palestinians in northern Gaza early Friday after the bloodiest day of clashes in the strip since Israel withdrew last summer.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi forces backed by U.S. aircraft battled militants in a Shiite stronghold of eastern Baghdad early Friday, killing or wounding more than 30 fighters and capturing an extremist leader who was the target of the raid, Iraqi and U.S. officials said.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi soldiers captured a militant leader and more than 30 insurgents were killed or wounded Friday in a gunbattle in eastern Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - America's two top officials in Iraq on Thursday sought to calm Iraqi anger over allegations that U.S. soldiers were involved in the rape-murder of a girl, promising an open investigation and calling such acts "absolutely inexcusable and unacceptable."

As of Thursday, July 6, 2006, at least 2,542 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes seven military civilians. At least 2,009 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.

LONDON - A silence fell across Britain Friday as the country commemorated the moment a year ago when the first suicide bombers in western Europe killed 52 people along with themselves in coordinated attacks on the transit system.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain marked the first anniversary of the London suicide bombings with flowers, candles and a 2-minute silence on Friday as the city's police chief said another attack now looked more likely.

DUBLIN, Ireland - Authorities evacuated Dublin International Airport on Friday for the second time this week over a bomb scare, but permitted passengers and staff back into the terminal after two hours.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - U.S. shares looked set to open a shade lower on Friday, but all hangs on June jobs data, due out at 1230 GMT, and what the figures suggest about future Federal Reserve monetary policy.

MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish state radio said on Friday the country's first case of H5N1 bird flu had been confirmed in a great crested grebe in the city of Vitoria but officials said test results were still not available.

PAMPLONA, Spain - An American man was thrown by a young cow and seriously injured Friday in a mock bull fight following the first day of the running of the bulls in Spain's San Fermin festival.

MEXICO CITY - Felipe Calderon won Mexico's presidential election not because of who he is, but because of who he isn't. After peacefully ushering in democracy only six years ago, many Mexicans were not ready to shake up the status quo and flip the country on its head with a leftist leader who promised to put its nearly 50 million poor first.

MEXICO CITY - The ruling party's Felipe Calderon won the official count in Mexico's disputed presidential race Thursday, a come-from-behind victory for the stiff technocrat. But his leftist rival refused to concede and said he'd fight the results in court.

MEXICO CITY - Conservative Felipe Calderon's apparent victory could signal that the leftist tide sweeping Latin America has reached its high-water mark, as voters frightened by the radicalism of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez seek refuge in more mainstream ideas across the region.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - A gunman opened fire on a busy Buenos Aires avenue Thursday, killing one person and wounding six others before escaping, authorities said.

TCHEI, Congo (Reuters) - As government soldiers dozed in the abandoned market stalls and excited U.N. peacekeepers celebrated reaching the town, several days late, a handful of civilians squatted in a mud hut.

KHARTOUM, Sudan - The United Nations will close its mission in eastern Sudan now that thousands of former rebels have been moved to the country's south, the chief U.N. envoy Jan Pronk said Thursday.

MOGADISHU, Somalia - The Islamic group that controls Somalia's capital arrested two of its own militiamen for killing two people who were watching a World Cup soccer match, the group's leader said Thursday.

KINSHASA, Congo - A U.N. helicopter carrying seven people came under fire in Congo's eastern Ituri province Thursday and one of its pilots was injured, a U.N. spokesman said.

NIAMEY, Niger - A general strike in Niger demanding lower prices for basic goods paralyzed the capital of one of the world's poorest nations Thursday, following a similar attempt last month that was met with inaction from the government.

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea has a few more cards to play if it wants to turn up the tension generated by a series of missile tests. It could fire more missiles, threaten to stage a nuclear test, stage troop exercises near the border with South Korea or send up fighter jets in an attempt to harass U.S. spy planes.

SEOUL, South Korea - Intelligence suggests North Korea could have another long-range Taepodong-2 at a launch site, but a test does not appear imminent, a news report quoted South Korea's defense minister as saying Friday.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Explosives stored in a Chinese farmer's home blew up in the early hours of Friday, killing 47 people and wounding dozens, Xinhua news agency said.

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea may have moved another long-range missile to a launch site, South Korea's defense minister was quoted as saying on Friday by Yonhap news agency.

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea lashed out at Japan on Friday for imposing sanctions after it test-fired missiles three days ago, but the United States said even China, the communist state's closest ally, considered the launch a provocative act.

BELLINGHAM, Washington (Reuters) - U.S. and Canadian authorities have cracked a smuggling network that used aircraft and delivery spots in remote western parks to ship tons of drugs over the border, officials said on Thursday.

GENEVA (Reuters) - The U.N. Human Rights Council, brushing aside opposition from Canada and Russia, on Thursday backed a declaration that would strengthen claims by native peoples to control over lands where they live.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Senate panel voted on Thursday to delay a post-September 11 border security program requiring passports or other high-tech IDs for everyone entering the United States following concerns about lagging technology and poor coordination with Canada.

TASHKENT (Reuters) - Uzbekistan confirmed on Friday it had deported to China a Canadian rights activist -- an ethnic Uighur accused of terrorism by Beijing -- despite calls from Ottawa for his return.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Research In Motion Ltd. posted better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter on Thursday and forecast more growth for its BlackBerry wireless e-mail device in the traditionally slow second quarter.

JAKARTA, Indonesia - East Timor's top prosecutor ordered the ousted prime minister on Friday to submit to questioning about allegations that he distributed weapons to civilian militias.

DILI (AFP) - East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao is expected to name an interim prime minister Saturday, the ruling party said, in a move that could finally end weeks of uncertainty in the impoverished nation.

SYDNEY (AFP) - An Australian held at Guantanamo Bay for more than four years has written a pleading letter to Prime Minister John Howard, insisting he is a "true blue Aussie" and not evil.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australian Prime Minister John Howard has denied he had made a deal to hand over power to his ambitious Treasurer Peter Costello ahead of elections next year.

SYDNEY (AFP) - An Australian consortium led by Macquarie Bank has agreed to a friendly 1.59 billion US dollar takeover of US utility Duquesne Light Holdings, companies involved in the negotiations said.

SEOUL, South Korea - Intelligence suggests North Korea could have another long-range Taepodong-2 at a launch site, but a test does not appear imminent, a news report quoted South Korea's defense minister as saying Friday.

MEXICO CITY - The ruling party's Felipe Calderon won the official count in Mexico's disputed presidential race Thursday, a come-from-behind victory for the stiff technocrat. But his leftist rival refused to concede and said he'd fight the results in court.

BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip - Israeli aircraft struck armed Palestinians in northern Gaza early Friday after the bloodiest day of clashes in the strip since Israel withdrew last summer.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI travels to Spain this weekend as part of his campaign to defend the traditional family, visiting a predominantly Roman Catholic country that allows gay marriage, divorce and abortion.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi soldiers captured a militant leader and more than 30 insurgents were killed or wounded Friday in a gunbattle in eastern Baghdad, the U.S. military said.