World News

BAGHDAD - The U.S. military said Friday that bullets fired by American soldiers killed the 14-year-old son of the chief editor of a U.S.-sponsored newspaper during a gunbattle this week in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - A powerful explosion ripped through a car on a busy Gaza City beach Friday night, killing a Hamas field commander and three other people, security officials said.

BAGHDAD - Iraq's banned Olympic Committee has opened negotiations to try to regain its place in next month's Beijing Games after being shut out for political interference in Olympic affairs, a government spokesman said Friday.

GLASGOW (Reuters) - Britain's ruling Labour Party lost one of its safest parliamentary seats on Friday, deepening doubts in its own ranks about Prime Minister Gordon Brown's ability to win the next election.

LONDON (AFP) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown suffered another serious blow to his leadership Friday after his governing Labour Party lost one of its safest seats in a by-election in his native Scotland.

LONDON (AFP) - Former world record holder Asafa Powell grabbed a second pre-Olympics 100m win in three days on Friday when he cruised to victory at the London Grand Prix at Crystal Palace.

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - An al-Qaida driver who gave detailed, insider knowledge of the terror network to U.S. agents is seeing his words used against him at the first Guantanamo war crimes trial.

OJINAGA, Mexico - This hardscrabble Mexican border town welcomed 400 soldiers when they arrived four months ago to stop a wave of drug violence that brought daytime gunbattles to its main street.

BOGOTA, Colombia - Police have arrested the head of one of Colombia's main governing parties for alleged ties with far-right paramilitaries.

NAIROBI, Kenya - Somalia's new hard-line opposition leader promised Friday to pacify his shattered country through Islamic law, warning U.N. peacekeepers they will face attack if they deploy and support the government.

N'DJAMENA (Reuters) - Chadian rebels have freed a U.S. missionary after holding him hostage for more than nine months in the remote north of the central African country, his U.S. evangelical organization said on Friday.

ADDIS ABABA (AFP) - An advisor to President Omar al-Beshir threatened Friday that peacekeepers could be expelled from Darfur if the Sudanese leader is indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court.

MANILA, Philippines - The 346 passengers were cruising at 29,000 feet Friday when an explosive bang shook the Qantas jumbo jet. The plane descended rapidly. Oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling as debris flew through the cabin from a hole that had suddenly appeared in the floor.

GENEVA (AFP) - Indian Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said there was "no agreement" reached for a global trade pact but that there was some consensus on areas that dealt with enhancing prosperity.

BEIJING - A crowd of 30,000 people, baking in the heat and waiting for up to two days, swarmed a ticketing center Friday as the final batch of Olympic tickets went on sale. Police shoved and kicked them and used metal barricades to prevent a stampede.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Elections to fill three seats in Canada's House of Commons will be held on September 8 with the major issue likely to be the opposition Liberal Party's proposal to introduce a carbon tax.

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty told reporters on Friday that the government plans to present its fiscal update in October.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - U.S. regulators on Friday rejected a call by Canadian National Railway for a ruling by the end of the year on its purchase of the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railroad, but agreed to limit on how long the review will continue.

PERTH, Australia, July 25, 2008 (AFP) - The United States and Australia on Friday urged Pakistan to do more to control militant activity in its border areas to stem the growing insurgency in Afghanistan.

CANBERRA (Reuters) - An Australian lesbian couple have lost a controversial court battle after trying to sue their doctor for having healthy twins from an in vitro fertilisation procedure (IVF), with doctors on Friday praising the verdict.

CANBERRA, Australia - Australia's prime minister, who has won applause for apologizing to Aborigines for past wrongs, has revived plans for a constitutional revision to recognize the country's indigenous people.

MANILA, Philippines - The 346 passengers were cruising at 29,000 feet Friday when an explosive bang shook the Qantas jumbo jet. The plane descended rapidly. Oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling as debris flew through the cabin from a hole that had suddenly appeared in the floor.

BANGALORE, India - Seven synchronized small bombs shook India's high-tech hub Friday, killing two people and wounding at least five others, officials said.

SALZBURG, Austria (Reuters) - Maria von Trapp has taken a trip down memory lane to see her old family home just before it opens as a new hotel.