AP - Israel's foreign minister declared victory Thursday in a tight race to replace Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as the head of the governing party, getting a chance to be the country's first female leader in 34 years.

AFP - Zimbabwe's ZANU-PF party is still in a dominant position after signing a power-sharing accord with the opposition, President Robert Mugabe told his party's central committee on Wednesday.

AP - Israel's ruling Kadima Party voted for a new leader Wednesday, choosing between Tzipi Livni, a popular foreign minister who would be the nation's first female prime minister in more than 30 years, and Shaul Mofaz, a gruff ex-general who favors a tough line against Iran, Syria and the Palestinians.

AP - Russia cemented its ties with Georgia's two breakaway provinces on Wednesday by signing friendship treaties envisaging close economic and military cooperation.

AP - The government was dispatching thousands of inspectors to monitor producers as officials reported Wednesday that the number of babies sick from tainted milk formula had climbed dramatically to nearly 6,200 from 1,200 a day earlier.

AP - Thailand's new prime minister showed his determination to mend political rifts by quickly shaking hands with the opposition leader Wednesday. But the gesture didn't appease anti-government protesters, who called him unfit for the job because of ties to a disgraced former leader.

AP - A suspected U.S. missile strike killed at least six people Wednesday, hours after the top U.S. military officer told Pakistani leaders that America respected Pakistan's sovereignty amid a furor over American strikes into Pakistan's northwest.

AP - The Olympic flame is out, the smog is back, and traffic again clogs the roads.

AP - Attackers armed with automatic weapons, rocket-propelled grenades and at least one suicide car bomb assaulted the U.S. Embassy in the Yemeni capital on Wednesday. Sixteen people were killed, including six assailants, officials said.

AFP - French Defence Minister Herve Morin on Wednesday said years of under-investment in defence by European countries was to blame for a critical shortage of international forces in Afghanistan.

AFP - US military chief Admiral Michael Mullen Wednesday held talks with Pakistan's top army official and prime minister amid tensions after recent cross-border raids by US forces based in Afghanistan.

Reuters - Nigerian militants threatened on Wednesday to broaden their "oil war" to offshore oilfields, after attacking another Shell-operated oil flow station in the Niger Delta.

AP - The message was clear when two explosions ripped through crowds of Mexican Independence Day revelers: Anyone, anywhere, is fair game when it comes to Mexico's intensifying violence.