AFP - French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday left for Beijing for the opening of the Olympics, after awarding China a "gold medal" for hosting the Games in a bid to mend ties frayed by his initial boycott threat.

AP - A rare bird's-eye look at Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta shows the devastation still left from Cyclone Nargis — broken levies, flooded farm roads, the shattered remains of bamboo huts and trees strewn like matchsticks along the coast.

AP - Pakistan's ruling coalition said Thursday it would seek the impeachment of President Pervez Musharraf, alleging the U.S.-backed former general had "eroded the trust of the nation" and increasing pressure on him to resign.

AP - Salim Hamdan pleaded with a military jury to spare him from a life in prison, apologizing Thursday for the "innocent people" who died in the Sept. 11 attacks and saying he worked as Osama bin Laden's driver only because he needed a job.

AP - Two Iraqi officials say the U.S. and Iraq are close to a deal under which all American combat troops would leave by October 2010 with remaining U.S. forces gone about three years later.

AFP - Australian police are reviewing 7,000 cases solved through the use of DNA evidence after a mistake was discovered in one murder case, a senior officer said Thursday.

AFP - Senior members of Zimbabwe's security forces have travelled to South Africa to meet mediators trying to resolve the country's political crisis, a newspaper reported on Thursday.

AP - Riot police used tear gas Wednesday as they blocked hundreds of Venezuelans protesting what they call new moves by President Hugo Chavez to concentrate his power. The demonstrators said a blacklist barring key opposition candidates from elections and a series of socialist decrees are destroying what's left of their democracy.

AFP - Barclays said on Thursday that net profit slumped 35 percent in the first half, hit by write-downs of 2.1 billion dollars (1.4 billion euros) for the US subprime housing and credit crises.

AP - When illustrating America's close ties to Asia, never forget the elephants.

AP - Osama bin Laden's former driver is expected to ask the Pentagon jury that convicted him of a war crime to spare him from life in prison Thursday, his defense lawyers said.