AP - Ayan Ali Hassan decided to leave Mogadishu when militiamen boarded her school bus and kidnapped two screaming boys. For Abdi Gadir Osman, the moment came when a mortar slammed into his mother's home, killing her while she slept on a hot afternoon.

AP - In the 50 hours she was trapped under rubble after last month's earthquake, mother-to-be Zhang Xiaoyan prayed hardest not for her own life but for her baby's survival.

AP - Palestinian militants launched at least 50 rockets and mortars from Gaza and Israel responded with airstrikes on Wednesday, just a day before a truce was set to take effect, illustrating how fragile the arrangement between Israel and Hamas would be.

AP - The U.S. military blamed a renegade Shiite militiaman on Wednesday for a truck bombing that killed 63 people in a Shiite area of Baghdad, saying he was trying to re-ignite sectarian violence for personal gain.

AP - Afghan and Canadian forces moved into villages outside Kandahar on Wednesday to root out Taliban militants, killing at least 36 insurgents, while an explosion elsewhere killed four British soldiers, officials said.

AFP - Afghan forces backed up by Canadian NATO troops pushed into villages near the strategic city of Kandahar in a major "clean-up" operation to drive out entrenched Taliban rebels.

Reuters - South African President Thabo Mbeki will meet Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe on Wednesday for talks ahead of next week's presidential election run-off, Mbeki's spokesman said.

AP - Taxi driver Saif Khadour swears by his recipe to keep his cherry-red Mercedes Benz on the road: four parts cooking oil to one part turpentine.

AP - Israel confirmed Wednesday that a cease-fire with the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip will begin Thursday.

AP - Iraq's government vowed Wednesday to defeat "the terrorists" after a car bomb killed at least 51 people on a bustling street in a Shiite area of Baghdad and resolved to defend the security gains of the past year.

AP - Afghan and Canadian forces moved into a series of villages outside of southern Afghanistan's largest city on Wednesday to root out any Taliban who have infiltrated the area, officials said.