Reuters - Talks to resolve Zimbabwe's political crisis have stalled after opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai refused to sign a framework for negotiations, his party said on Thursday.

AP - Five militants freed in a prisoner swap with Israel prayed and laid wreaths at the grave of a slain Hezbollah commander Thursday, vowing to fight Israel as supporters showered them with rice.

AP - Kuwait's official news agency says the tiny Gulf country has named an ambassador to Iraq for the first time since the 1991 Gulf War.

AP - Thousands of Israelis prayed and cried at funerals Thursday for two soldiers whose return from Lebanon in black coffins touched off a nationwide wave of anguish.

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 - They fan out across Baghdad in summer's scorching heat — men in blue overalls picking up trash, mowing the sparse grass in parks, and standing on ladders to paint highway underpasses and prune palm trees.

AFP - Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday delivered a stinging attack on pop culture, consumerism and "false idols" to 150,000 mainly teenaged Catholic pilgrims gathered in Australia for World Youth Day.

AFP - Pope Benedict XVI warned hundreds of thousands of young Catholics Thursday of the perils of pop culture and pillaging the earth's resources after a rapturous welcome at the world's biggest Christian festival.

AFP - Efforts to agree on a framework for talks aimed at ending Zimbabwe's political crisis stalled Thursday as state media accused the opposition leader of pulling out of a deal at the last moment.

AP - Argentina's Senate has narrowly rejected a grain-export tax package whose proposal has led to nationwide farm strikes and regional food shortages.