AP - A fundamentalist Muslim whom the U.S. suspects of collaborating with al-Qaida says he has taken over leadership of Somalia's opposition.

AP - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas plans to tell Barack Obama on Wednesday that he must immediately turn his attention to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict if he is elected U.S. president, or risk losing gains made in peace talks with Israel.

AP - Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama held a breakfast meeting Wednesday with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, the first event in a day packed with meetings and travel across Israel and the Palestinian territories.

AP - Just hours before Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was to meet with North Korea's top diplomat, Pyongyang insisted Wednesday it had met its commitments in nuclear negotiations and said Washington must completely abandon its "hostile policies" toward the regime.

AFP - An Indian-born surgeon charged with manslaughter over a series of patient deaths in Australia was Tuesday released on bail ahead of his trial, court officials said.

AFP - Nepal's Maoists said Tuesday they would not form the Himalayan nation's first post-royal government after the defeat of their candidate for president, setting off a new political crisis here.

AFP - Eritrea dismissed Tuesday as an "insult" a bid to put Sudan's President Omar al-Beshir on trial for war crimes in Darfur and said the move must be rejected.

AP - A former driver for Osama bin Laden knew the target of the fourth hijacked plane on Sept. 11, a prosecutor said Tuesday as he sought to undercut defense arguments that the Guantanamo prisoner was a low-level employee of the terrorist leader.

AP - Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama stepped into the thicket of Mideast politics Wednesday, declaring that neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians are strong enough internally to make the bold concessions necessary for peace.

AFP - Hollywood actor Christian Bale, star of the new Batman film "The Dark Knight", was arrested over allegations he attacked his mother and sister, police said Tuesday.

AP - India's government survived a hotly contested confidence vote Tuesday, clearing the way for it to finalize a landmark nuclear energy deal with the United States.

AP - And then there was one. Serbian authorities made a startling disclosure Tuesday in describing the arrest of Karadzic: They basically stumbled across him while searching for Mladic, a far more brazen figure who -- up until a few years ago -- reportedly made daring forays into downtown Belgrade.

AP - Someone had fun tinkering with the airline board at the old, disused terminal at Baghdad International Airport. It advertises a "special flight" on Japan Airlines from Basra to Sydney, Australia, while a flight from Baghdad to Mexico City is "delayed."

AP - Radovan Karadzic grew a long, white beard to conceal his identity and even managed to openly practice alternative medicine while in hiding, officials said Tuesday in revealing details of the war crimes fugitive's capture after a decade on the run.

AP - Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama stepped into the thicket of Mideast politics Wednesday, declaring that neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians are strong enough internally to make the bold concessions necessary for peace.