AP - Surgeons successfully removed a gallstone from the Dalai Lama on Friday, just days after doctors had cleared the Tibetan spiritual leader during a medical checkup, a spokesman said.

AP - Qantas Airways said Thursday it will financially compensate all passengers who were on board a plane that made a terrifying plunge this week, tossing people around the cabin and injuring dozens.

AFP - A suicide attack struck a police complex in Islamabad and a roadside bomb killed 10 people in Pakistan's northwest on Thursday, underscoring the growing threat posed by Islamist militants.

AFP - Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Thursday blasted African leaders' fear of criticising each other saying it was stifling the continent's progress towards democracy.

AP - Pope Benedict XVI gave World War II pontiff Pius XII a push toward possible sainthood Thursday and defended his memory from accusations that he did little to spare Jews from the Holocaust.

AP - Peering into five pails of foaming milk, Wang Guifeng quickly jotted down the farmer's name before signaling the batch was OK. Every day he rejects milk from two or three farms whose cows don't meet hygiene standards or show signs of disease.

AP - Some rural Zimbabweans facing one of the hungriest years they could remember have been forced to live on a meal a day and in some cases only on wild fruits, the U.N. food aid agency said Thursday.

AP - North Korea announced Thursday that it is preparing to restart the facility that produced its atomic bomb, clearly indicating that it plans to completely pull out of an international deal to end its nuclear program.

AP - A suspected U.S. missile strike targeted two areas in a Pakistani tribal region near the Afghan border Thursday, killing at least nine people, intelligence officials said.

AFP - Poor visibility caused the crash at a tiny airstrip in Nepal's Mount Everest region that killed 18 people, including 12 German tourists, officials said Thursday.

AP - President Felipe Calderon on Wednesday unveiled plans for 53 billion pesos ($4.4 billion) in emergency spending on roads, schools, hospitals and an oil refinery next year to help Mexico combat the world financial crisis.