AP - Al-Qaida briefly planted its flag in Baghdad on Thursday as militants killed 23 members of Iraq's security forces across the country in a combination of shootings and roadside bombs demonstrating the dangers the country still faces.

AP - A second U.S. Navy sailor who went missing in a dangerous part of eastern Afghanistan was found dead and his body recovered, a senior U.S. military official and Afghan officials said Thursday.

AP - This strategic valley on the outskirts of Kandahar is on its third government boss in eight months. The first quit out of fear and frustration. The Taliban assassinated the second.

AP - A French woman who admitted suffocating eight of her newborns and concealing their corpses in the garden and garage of her home has been charged with manslaughter, a prosecutor said Thursday.

AFP - Eoin Morgan's maiden Test hundred was key to England's revival against Pakistan as they made 331 for four by stumps on the first day of their series opener at Trent Bridge on Thursday.

AP - Jewish settlers on Thursday took over a building in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City and evicted dozens of Palestinian tenants, residents and police said, prompting a sharp protest by the top regional U.N. envoy.

AP - A suspected drug cartel lieutenant with a quarter-million-dollar reward on his head was captured in the border state of Chihuahua, where rival gangs are waging a bloody turf war, police said Wednesday.

AFP - Three people were killed Wednesday during a gun battle between supporters of rival rebel groups in a camp for displaced people in west Darfur, a UN spokesman said Thursday.

AFP - Top US officials announced Thursday they were heading to China in late August to press Beijing to "step up" and fully implement sanctions against Iran over its suspect nuclear program.

AFP - Australia's government Thursday denied sacked ex-leader Kevin Rudd was behind leaks which have dented its election campaign and indicate lingering bitterness over last month's party coup.