AP - Israel will keep Gaza border crossings closed another day in response to Palestinian rocket fire that had violated a new cease-fire, the Defense Ministry said late Wednesday.

AFP - Unicredit, Italy's biggest bank by capitalisation, said on Thursday it planned to cut 9,000 jobs in western Europe and invest in central and eastern Europe to boost profits.

AP - Divers having difficulty removing bodies from a capsized ferry were forced to use heavy weights to help pull the dead out of the upside-down vessel, Philippine officials said Thursday.

AP - President Robert Mugabe faced deeper international isolation Wednesday, with African states demanding that a discredited runoff election be postponed and anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela rebuking the Zimbabwe leader for the first time.

AP - Roadside bombs killed four U.S. soldiers in northern Iraq, the military said Wednesday, in a spike of violence that pushed to at least 10 the number of Americans who have died here this week.

AP - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday she expected developments on North Korea's long-delayed nuclear declaration within hours, as she arrived in Japan to attend a meeting of foreign ministers from the Group of Eight industrialized nations.

AP - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday warned Zimbabwe's president against declaring victory in what she said will be an illegitimate run-off election this week.

AFP - A nickel mining partnership between BHP Billiton and an Indonesian firm in a protected island paradise has "strategic" importance and should proceed, Indonesia's investment chief said Wednesday.

AFP - Sudanese authorities have expelled from Darfur the head of the Dutch branch of the charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in the south of the war-stricken region, a humanitarian source said on Wednesday.

AP - A violin case slung over her shoulder, 10-year-old Daniela Fagundez trudges home along a row of muddy yards where chickens scratch among banana trees and laundry hangs drying on wire fences.

AP - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says his Cabinet will vote Sunday on a proposal to exchange prisoners with Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.

AFP - New mayor Boris Johnson has pulled out of a global campaign group that calls for nuclear disarmament, saying the city's membership was "not a priority", his office told AFP Wednesday.

AP - Iran's parliament speaker warned the West on Wednesday that it may face "a done deal" if it provokes Iran, a stern hint that Tehran could build nuclear weapons if attacked.

AP - A ship's sail, a crooked nail, or a giant headache — the people of Jerusalem can't agree about how best to describe the newest landmark their ancient city inaugurated Wednesday.

AP - A roadside bomb killed three American soldiers and an interpreter north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said Wednesday, and Iraqi police reported 14 Shiite gunmen were arrested after fighting south of the capital.