Reuters - South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki gave approval on Wednesday for the army to help end attacks on foreigners that have killed at least 25 people.

AP - An Afghan detainee was dragged from his cell to his first pretrial hearing at Guantanamo on Wednesday, then refused to participate, telling the judge he felt "helpless."

AFP - The pound weakened against both the euro and the dollar on Wednesday amid concerns about the economy following the release of minutes from the Bank of England's last meeting.

AP - Rescuers saved a 35-year-old woman who survived nine days trapped in a tunnel despite multiple fractures, the only survivor found Wednesday in the rubble of China's massive quake zone.

AP - Myanmar's military junta will set up orphanages for the hundreds of children whose parents died in the recent cyclone, state media reported Wednesday.

AP - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Myanmar to focus on saving lives, not on politics, after the military government on Wednesday shunned a U.S. proposal for naval ships to deliver aid to cyclone survivors.

AP - Israel and Syria on Wednesday said they were holding indirect peace talks through Turkish mediators — the first official confirmation of contacts between the longtime enemies.

AP - Lebanon's feuding factions reached a breakthrough deal Wednesday that ends the country's 18-month political stalemate, but also gives the militant Hezbollah group and its allies veto over any government decision.

AP - An animal rights activist threatened "direct action" to stop the killing of 400 kangaroos because of overpopulation in Australia's capital after two protesters unsuccessfully tried to disrupt the cull Tuesday.

AFP - Zimbabwe's ruling party on Tuesday dismissed as fantasy opposition claims that President Robert Mugabe's military intelligence was plotting to assassinate its leadership ahead of a run-off election.

AP - A day after surrendering to the army, a one-eyed, battle-hardened female rebel commander urged other guerrillas Monday to follow her example and abandon their decades-long struggle.

AFP - Analysts and investors turned gloomier in May about prospects for the German economy, the biggest in Europe, because of rising prices and rise of the euro, the ZEW institute's monthly indicator showed on Tuesday.