AP - Iraqi troops on Thursday arrested the top official in Amarah, a Muqtada al-Sadr loyalist, officials said, drawing swift condemnations from followers of the anti-U.S. cleric and raising tensions as a military operation against Shiite militias got under way.

AP - Zimbabwe's opposition party said Thursday that it was facing escalating violence as it tries to campaign in the last days before a presidential runoff pitting its leader against longtime President Robert Mugabe.

AP - Weapons caches are turning up with increasing frequency in public places in Iraq — from a bakery to a fish farm — as recent security gains embolden more civilians to come forward with tips, U.S. and Iraqi military officials say.

AP - Guns went quiet as a six-month truce between Israel and Gaza Strip militants took effect early Thursday, but there was widespread skepticism about its ability to hold.

AFP - An Australian woman on trial over the euthanasia-drug death of her partner, an Alzheimer's sufferer, was found guilty of manslaughter Thursday.

Reuters - Pro-junta thugs broke up a rally by supporters of Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday, detaining three people among a crowd chanting for her release on her 63rd birthday, a senior opposition member said.

Reuters - Zimbabwe's opposition MDC has launched an urgent court action to appeal a state-media ban on its advertisements and media cover of the party ahead of next week's presidential run-off election, a spokesman said on Thursday.

AP - President Cristina Fernandez told thousands of supporters Wednesday that a three-month strike against grain export-tax hikes was undemocratic and demanded that farmers lift road blockades that have caused food shortages across Argentina.

Reuters - A Brussels-based journalists' rights group has welcomed criminal charges against three men in the killing of Russian reporter Anna Politkovskaya, but said those who ordered the murder must be held accountable.

AP - Afghan and NATO forces have cleared Taliban militants from a strategic group of villages they had infiltrated outside southern Afghanistan's largest city, Afghan officials said Thursday.

AP - China completed the evacuation of 110,000 people from an area near the epicenter of last month's deadly earthquake over fears of possible landslides triggered by annual heavy rains, state media reported Thursday.

AP - Royal Dutch Shell said it shut down production at an offshore oil installation that produces about 200,000 barrels per day after the most powerful militant group in Nigeria said it launched an attack there Thursday.