AP - Police held back thousands of protesters attempting Friday to punch through a cordon around Thailand's government offices, which demonstrators vowed to peacefully besiege until the prime minister resigns.

AP - A British ex-military officer told an African court on Thursday that he was only a junior member of a team that planned to overthrow Equatorial Guinea's government in 2004.

AP - More than 10,000 Shiites marched Thursday in this tiny Sunni-ruled Gulf country to protest newspaper articles deemed insulting to their top cleric.

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.