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July 4, 2008
Audacious plan frees hostages

By Frank Bajak BOGOTA, Colombia -- The plan was nothing if not audacious: An infiltrator persuades rebels to bring together their most prized hostages and march them some 150 kilometres through Colombia's wilderness. A month later, disguised commandos primed with acting lessons land in a helicopter and trick the rebels into handing them over.
China offers Tibet talks if Dalai Lama backs Games

BEIJING -- More talks could be held between envoys of the Dalai Lama and Chinese authorities if the Tibetan spiritual leader openly demonstrates his support for the Beijing Olympics, officials said.
No Iraq backtrack, Obama says

By Jennifer Loven FARGO, N.D. -- Democrat Barack Obama struggled Thursday to explain how his upcoming trip to Iraq might refine, but not basically alter, his promise to quickly remove U.S. combat troops from the war.
Assisted suicide raises uproar in Germany

By Patrick McGroarty BERLIN -- Bettina Schardt knew that the combination of drugs she drank in the living room of her home in Wuerzburg last week would kill her, and she died alone.
Officials snooped in celebrities' files, audit finds

By Glenn Kessler WASHINGTON -- U.S. government workers repeatedly snooped without authorization inside the electronic passport records of entertainers, athletes and other high-profile Americans, a State Department audit has found. One celebrity's records were breached 356 times by more than six dozen people.

July 3, 2008
Rampage on Jerusalem street

By Aron Heller JERUSALEM -- A Palestinian labourer driving a construction vehicle rammed into packed buses, tossed cars into the air and rolled over pedestrians in a deadly rampage Wednesday that killed three people and wounded dozens in Jerusalem.
Prince William helps in major cocaine bust

LONDON -- The Royal Navy ship on which Prince William is serving made a major cocaine bust in the north Atlantic, Britain's Defence Ministry said Wednesday.
Hostages rescued in Colombia

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Colombia freed Ingrid Betancourt and three U.S. military contractors from leftist guerrillas Wednesday after military spies tricked rebels into giving them up without a single injury, the defence minister said.

July 2, 2008
McCain's military record belittled
By Sheldon Alberts WASHINGTON -- It has become the battle of the Vietnam War heroes, pitting a former four-star general against America's most famous ex-prisoner of war. <Continued>
Obama backs Bush's faith-based programs
ZANESVILLE, Ohio -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, reaching out to religious voters who usually support the Republicans, said Tuesday he wants to expand the Bush administration's program of steering federal social-service dollars to religious groups. <Continued>
'Go hang,' Mugabe aide tells critics
By Anna Johnson and Paul Schemm SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt -- African efforts to encourage a deal between Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and his opponents showed no results Tuesday, while Mugabe's spokesman defiantly said his boss has no plans to step down and told western critics they can "go hang." <Continued>

June 30, 2008
Thousands riot in china
BEIJING -- Angry villagers set fire to police and government offices and overturned vehicles in southwest China to protest how officials handled a teenage student's death, a human rights organization and witnesses said Sunday. <Continued>
The World
Mugabe sworn in HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Longtime ruler Robert Mugabe was sworn in as Zimbabwe's president for a sixth term Sunday after a runoff election in which he was the only candidate. His main rival dismissed the inauguration as "an exercise in self-delusion." <Continued>

June 29, 2008
Land mine kills British soldier in Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan -- A British soldier has died when his patrol triggered an old land mine buried at an airfield in southern Afghanistan. <Continued>

June 28, 2008
Obama, Clinton together in Unity
By Sara Kugler UNITY, N.H. -- Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton sought Friday to turn the page on their bitter, history-making fight for the Democratic presidential nomination, declaring the next chapter is about beating Republican John McCain. <Continued>
Zimbabwe vote 'not an election,' says opposition
By Angus Shaw HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe can't take anything but victory from Friday's run-off in which he is the only candidate. <Continued>
North Korea demolishes symbol of N-power
YONGBYON, North Korea -- North Korea destroyed the most visible symbol <Continued>
Anti-monarchists claim Royals hardly a bargain
By Gregory Katz LONDON -- Buckingham Palace accountants insisted Friday that the cost of maintaining the Queen and the Royal Family is a bargain for taxpayers, despite a price tag of about C$80 million, while a prominent anti-monarchist group said many of the true costs are hidden. <Continued>