Reuters - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and prime minister designate Morgan Tsvangirai are deadlocked over appointing cabinet ministers after reaching a power-sharing agreement, an MDC party official said on Thursday.

AP - Venezuela and Russia are deepening military and energy ties, with plans to step up oil, weapons and technology cooperation.

AP - A U.S. military official said a mechanical problem appeared to be the reason for a helicopter crash Thursday that killed seven American soldiers in Iraq's southern desert, the deadliest such incident in Iraq in more than a year.

AP - The Kremlin is in crisis mode, pledging a $20 billion boost Thursday to shore up Russia's battered markets as it seeks to ward off a financial crash and restore confidence in its fragile banking sector.

AP - A French museum has found a previously unknown piece of music handwritten by Mozart, a researcher said Thursday. The 18th century melody sketch is missing the harmony and instrumentation but was described as important find.

AP - An ultra-Orthodox Jewish party run by an octogenarian rabbi who has said Hurricane Katrina was divine punishment emerged Thursday as the kingmaker in forming the next Israeli government.

AP - Thousands of parents anxious over tainted baby milk powder rushed their infants to hospitals for health checks on Thursday as the government said that a fourth child had died in the scandal that has engulfed one-fifth of the nation's formula makers.

AP - A U.S. soldier pleaded guilty to conspiracy to murder and was sentenced to seven months in prison Thursday in the deaths of four Iraqis, saying he stood guard from a machine-gun turret while the bound men were shot.

AP - At least 25 militants with suspected links to al-Qaida have been arrested in connection with the deadly attack on the U.S. Embassy in the Yemeni capital, a senior security official said Thursday.

AFP - The west's relations with Russia are at a turning point after its intervention in Georgia and a pact to sell Australian uranium to Moscow is in the balance, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Thursday.

AP - Japan's central bank agreed with the U.S. Federal Reserve Thursday to work together to swap dollars and yen as the Bank of Japan pumped more cash into financial markets amid worries about the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

Reuters - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has described his power-sharing deal with the opposition as a humiliation but intends to remain "in the driving seat," state media quoted him as saying on Thursday.

AP - Paraguay's new President Fernando Lugo visited Brazil Wednesday with one goal: launching talks to earn his poor country more money from a dam on the nations' shared border, the largest hydroelectric project in the world.

AFP - London shares edged higher Thursday after Lloyds TSB agreed a takeover deal for rival HBOS, and as investors grappled with a major central bank plan to boost liquidity.