AP - When Condoleezza Rice spends a few hours in Libya and shakes hands with Moammar Gadhafi, she will close a nearly three-decade era of bitter animosity between the United States and the North African nation that has sometimes gotten personal.

AP - London Taxis are as British as bowler hats and Big Ben. But the latest models coming off this new assembly line are unlikely to ever touch an English road.

AP - Gold production in the world leading supplier South Africa fell more than 10 percent in the second quarter compared to the same period last year, the industry said Thursday, blaming electricity shortages since the beginning of the year.

AP - Entering a flooded city on inflatable boats, U.N. peacekeepers found hundreds of hungry people stranded for two days on rooftops and upper floors Wednesday as the fetid carcasses of drowned farm animals bobbed in soupy floodwaters.

AP - Syria's leader said Thursday he offered a proposal for peace with Israel but also refused to break off ties with Hezbollah and militant Palestinians — a key Israeli demand.

AFP - Kevin Keegan on Thursday resigned as Newcastle United manager bringing to an end his second spell in charge of the English Premier League side.

AP - Nearly four months after China's devastating earthquake, a government scientist acknowledged Thursday that a rush to build schools in recent years likely led to construction flaws causing so many of them to collapse.

AP - Swaziland and its king are throwing a joint 40th birthday bash this weekend, but the mood is far from celebratory in this small southern African land of paupers and princes, mud huts and palaces.

AP - For the first time since Golda Meir more than three decades ago, a woman is within reach of becoming the prime minister of Israel, a nation dominated by macho military men and a religious establishment with strict views on the role of women.

AP - Parliament condemned an American-led attack in Pakistani territory on Thurday after the government summoned the U.S. ambassador to protest the unusually bold raid in a troubled border region.

AP - Floodwaters frustrated efforts by Argentine peacekeepers to distribute food at orphanages marooned by Tropical Storm Hanna on Thursday. They hunkered down in their base as desperate people begged for food and water outside the gates.

AFP - Lawyers for detained former Bangladeshi premier Khaleda Zia said Thursday they will soon start lobbying authorities to free her now that her influential son has been released from custody.

Reuters - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is ready to go ahead and form a cabinet if opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai does not sign a power-sharing deal on Thursday, state media reported.

AP - Tropical Storm Hanna knocked out power to the southern Bahamas on Wednesday and officials from Nassau to South Carolina warned residents to prepare for possible evacuations as it moves north and grows into a hurricane.