AFP - Pakistani troops backed by tanks and fighter jets Thursday killed as many as 100 militants in a restive northwestern tribal area near the Afghan border, officials said.

AP - Police divers searching a river Thursday pulled out a red duffel bag holding a small skull, bones and clothes they said probably was the body of a 4-year-old French girl believed killed by her mother's lover — the child's grandfather.

AFP - Sweden's Robert Karlsson gave Europe a Ryder Cup boost ahead of next week's clash with the USA with a first round 67 at the Mercedes-Benz Championship here on Thursday.

AP - A fire broke out Thursday on a train shuttling trucks under the English Channel between England and France, injuring six people and suspending traffic in the undersea tunnel, officials said.

AP - North Korea's Kim Jong Il had brain surgery after a stroke last month and could have partial paralysis on one side, media reports said Thursday, after the South Korean government said the communist leader remained in control of his country.

AP - Over the past 20 years, Japan has had 13 prime ministers. In a pattern rarely seen outside the communist world, individual leaders have come and gone, but the ruling party has remained the same.

AP - Pakistan's prime minister on Thursday backed a harsh rebuke of the U.S. by the Muslim nation's military chief, a sign of a strain in relations seven years after the Sept. 11 attacks forged the two countries' anti-terror alliance.

AP - Militants killed two U.S. soldiers eastern Afghanistan on the anniversary of 9/11, making 2008 the deadliest year yet for American forces in the country that sheltered al-Qaida while it plotted the terror attacks on New York and Washington.

AP - Malaysia's police and armed forces warned people Thursday not to make public remarks that could sour race relations, in a bid to scotch tensions following a Malay politician's diatribe against the ethnic Chinese minority.

AFP - The United States, Mexico and Costa Rica remained unbeaten in the semi-final phase of regional World Cup qualifying Wednesday, continuing their march toward South Africa 2010.

AP - A Druse politician in Lebanon who recently helped reconcile rival factions within his minority community was killed when a bomb tore through his car, police said.