AP - Cycling's image is in tatters, and authorities inside and outside the sport are being tougher than ever on doping. Yet it hasn't stopped the drug cheaters at the Tour de France.

AP - Radovan Karadzic's secret life included a mistress, a bogus family he claimed he left behind in the U.S., and frequent visits to a Belgrade pub called "The Madhouse," acquaintances said Wednesday.

AP - Beijing will set up specially designated zones for protesters during next month's Olympics, a security official said Wednesday, in a sign China's authoritarian government may allow some demonstrations during the games.

AP - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama defended his proposal to negotiate with Iran Wednesday and said he would use "big sticks and big carrots" to persuade the country's leaders not to develop nuclear weapons.

AP - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pushed North Korea on Wednesday to accept terms to verify the dismantling of its nuclear weapons program, as the two countries held cabinet-level talks for the first time in four years.

AP - As violence in Afghanistan escalates, the U.S. is responding by scrambling to get in more troops. But it's far from clear how the strategy will work in a vast, rugged land where hiding places are many and suspicion of foreign forces is deep.

AFP - The UN Security Council is expected to discuss a tense military standoff between Cambodia and Thailand this week as more troops amassed along the border, officials said Wednesday.

AP - An FBI agent testifying at the first Guantanamo war crimes trial said interrogators did not advise detainees here of any rights because the military prison is dedicated to intelligence gathering, not law enforcement.

AP - A Jordanian security official says a Palestinian gunman who shot himself after wounding six people in Jordan's capital last week has died of his injuries.

AFP - A British soldier serving with NATO forces in Afghanistan was killed in fighting with insurgents, the Ministry of Defence in London said Wednesday.

AP - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is praising U.S. participation in the latest round of nuclear talks with Tehran as a "positive step forward."

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.