AP - When they talk of their government's failure, South Africans in the tangle of shacks and narrow lanes that is Alexandra point to an unfinished modern brick and steel building near the edge of the township.

AP - It's quiet around here in farm country, south of Baghdad where al-Qaida once held sway. Just months ago U.S. foot patrols through the wheat fields nearby would regularly draw fire — if the soldiers managed first to elude al-Qaida-planted roadside bombs.

AP - Thousands of mourners gathered Thursday in a northern Israeli town to bury the first of two soldiers returned in a prisoner exchange with Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas.

AP - The world's natural resources are being squandered in the pursuit of "insatiable consumption," Pope Benedict XVI said Thursday in a speech urging followers to care more for the environment and reconnect with the principle of peace.

AP - Pope Benedict XVI ended a short vacation with a visit from some of Australia's exotic animals then took up residence in a gothic cathedral on Wednesday to prepare for his debut in front of some 200,000 pilgrims at the Roman Catholic youth festival.

AFP - The US-led coalition in Afghanistan admitted Wednesday to killing eight civilians during an air strike against militants, as an Afghan official said nine women and a boy had died.

AP - The Lambeth Conference, a once-a-decade summit of the world's Anglican bishops starting this week, will be a tense, closely watched family reunion.

AP - Nikolay Sazhin almost knocked out his opponent with a blow to the chin in the second round. But he had to take the queen to win the match.

AP - U.S. troops abandoned a remote outpost in eastern Afghanistan where militants killed nine of their comrades this week, officials said Wednesday, in another sign of the struggle facing foreign and Afghan security forces strung out along the mountainous border.

AP - While he didn't expect to travel much, Pope Benedict XVI is actually keeping pace with his globe-trotting predecessor John Paul II. The difference is their destinations.