World News

AP - The Pashtun tribal leaders picked at the chocolate cake and fruit laid out for them at the conference table. Politely, they listened to speeches touting a new program to release detainees from Afghanistan's largest U.S.-run military prison if community leaders vouch for them.

AP - The Palestinians are threatening to pull out of U.S.-mediated peace talks with Israel before the negotiations even start.

AP - Not only is Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi effectively barred from upcoming elections, but she will not be allowed to vote — and her opposition party's landslide win at the last polls has been formally invalidated, according to new election laws published Thursday.

AP - The naming of Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim as the world's richest person — the first from a developing nation — underlines the loosening of America and Europe's stranglehold on the top spots in the billionaires' club.

AP - The whereabouts of a British boy kidnapped from his family's home in Pakistan was unclear Thursday, with conflicting reports about whether he has been found and diplomats scrambling for confirmation.

Time.com - A landmark court ruling has opened the way for women to seek greater protection through a new law being debated in parliament

Reuters - Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich secured a coalition majority in parliament on Thursday and lined up a close ally for prime minister, moving to restore stability needed to tackle a deep economic crisis.

AP - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday that Iranian support for the Taliban in Afghanistan isn't much of a problem for the United States — yet.

AP - Eight journalists have been kidnapped in a Mexican border city in a two-week span in a wave of abductions unprecedented in the Western Hemisphere, the Inter-American Press Association said Wednesday.

AP - An estimated 2.17 million Zimbabweans — perhaps a fourth of the country's population — are in need of food aid, the Red Cross said Thursday.

AP - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says Iranian support for the Taliban in Afghanistan isn't much of a problem for the United States — yet.

Reuters - Canadian parliamentarians tucked into a meal of seal meat on Wednesday to defy both animal right activists and the European Union, which has banned imports of seal products.

AP - An elephant calf that was believed to have died during a nine-day labor is feeding itself and has earned the nickname "Mr. Shuffles" since learning to stand, Taronga Zoo officials said Thursday.