AP - Condoleezza Rice flexed America's muscles in the Middle East Thursday, forcefully warning Iran the U.S. won't ignore threats and will take any action necessary to defend friends and interests in the Persian Gulf.

AP - Iran test-fired more long-range missiles overnight in a second round of exercises meant to show that the country can defend itself against any attack by the U.S. or Israel, state television reported Thursday.

AFP - An Indian doctor should never have been charged with terrorism-related offences in Australia because there was insufficient evidence, state police said in documents released Thursday.

AP - Japanese shares rose Thursday on bargain-hunting in the financial sector, but buying sentiment fizzled amid continued uncertainty over oil prices and lingering fears over a slump in the global economy.

AFP - The most high-profile rebel group in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta said Thursday it was suspending a two-week-old unilateral ceasefire and threatened British interests in the region.

Reuters - Russia said on Thursday the United Nations war crimes tribunal in the Hague was biased and its activities should be phased out as soon as possible.

AP - Nearly every day for the past two years, two mothers have sat at their sons' bedsides and repeated almost the same words. "It's time to go home," they tell the young men. "Don't you want to leave the hospital?"

AP - Experts say Russia's threat of a military response if the U.S. and Czech Republic ratify a missile defense system is mostly bluster. But for Czechs, the timing couldn't be more jarring.

AP - Twelve-year-old Alexia Belen Moreno was afraid living in her father's house in Ciudad Juarez, where drug cartels are fighting a bloody war. She begged to move in with her mother just across the border in El Paso, Texas. Her parents agreed — but asked her to stay a few more weeks to finish school.

AP - A Turkish government official says there are signs that the gunmen who attacked the U.S. consulate in Istanbul might have been inspired by al-Qaida but there is no firm evidence yet.

AP - State television says Iran has test-fired medium- and long-range missiles in the Persian Gulf for a second day.

AP - Wearing T-shirts that read "Pope Go Homo" and "The pope is wrong, put a condom on!," a dozen demonstrators poked fun Wednesday at a new Australian law meant to protect participants of next week's World Youth Day from being annoyed by opponents.

AFP - Afghanistan's government and the United Nations launched a 404-million dollar appeal on Wednesday to help feed 4.5 million vulnerable Afghans.