• Gaza militants agree to halt rocket fire
  Hamas announced Saturday evening that it has reached an agreement with other militant groups in Gaza to stop firing rockets at southern Israeli towns to prevent retaliatory attacks.

• McCain links political correctness to shootings
  Sen. John McCain says he has no doubt that "political correctness" played a role in preventing concerns about the alleged Fort Hood gunman from reaching the right people.

• Saudi: 4 pilgrims die of swine flu before hajj
  Saudi health officials announced the first deaths from swine flu of this year's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, as four pilgrims succumbed to the disease soon after arriving in Saudi Arabia.

• Azerbaijan threatens force over Nagorno-Karabakh
  President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan said Saturday his nation may resort to military force if talks with Armenia on resolving a long-standing territorial dispute produce no result.

• Reports: 101-yr-old Brazil architect back at work
  Famed 101-year-old Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer is reportedly back at work just weeks after surgery for gallstones and an intestinal tumor.

• Afghan road builder's dream thwarted by violence
  Khalid Khan stares through the dusty window pane, down across the rooftops of the capital, and wonders if they really know where he lives.

• McCain says he enjoyed reading Sarah Palin book
  U.S. Sen. John McCain said Saturday that he enjoyed reading running mate Sarah Palin's new memoir and downplayed any tension between their campaign aides as "no big deal."

• Germany to send trial observer to NY
  A German government official says the nation will send an observer to the upcoming trial in New York of the professed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks and four accused henchmen.

• Iraq working for release of Americans held in Iran
  An Iraqi official says Baghdad has contacted Tehran in a bid to secure the release of three Americans detained in Iran, but has received no reply.

• Rocket hits outside luxury hotel in Afghan capital
  A rocket hit outside the luxury Serena Hotel in Afghanistan's capital late Saturday, wounding two people, the Interior Ministry said.

• Iran to hold war games to protect nuclear sites
  Iran will begin large-scale air defense war games Sunday aimed at protecting its nuclear facilities from possible attack, a senior military commander said Saturday, reflecting the country's concern that Israel could make good on threats to strike militarily.

• Pope and Anglican leader agree on closer relations
  After offering a home in his church to disaffected Anglicans, Pope Benedict XVI assured the archbishop of Canterbury on Saturday that he is still committed to seeking closer relations between Catholics and Anglicans.

• Life requested for US suspect in Italy murder case
  Prosecutors on Saturday requested life in prison for an American student and her ex-boyfriend accused in the fatal stabbing of her British roommate during a drug-fueled sex game - charges the U.S. woman dismissed as "pure fantasy."

• Sri Lanka to release 136,000 Tamil war refugees
  Sri Lanka will release next month the remaining 136,000 Tamil refugees still in the squalid and overrun government camps where they've been detained since the country's civil war ended six months ago, a top official said Saturday.

• Italian police arrest 2 linked to Mumbai attacks
  Italian police on Saturday arrested a Pakistani father and son who allegedly spent just over $200 to set up a reliable and untraceable phone network that was used by the militants who carried out last year's terror attacks in Mumbai, India.

• Buddhists from 2 Koreas hold joint ceremony
  Buddhist monks from South and North Korea held a joint ceremony at a temple in the communist country Saturday in a continuation of civic exchanges between the nations despite a bloody naval skirmish earlier this month.

• Chavez praises alleged terrorist Carlos the Jackal
  Hugo Chavez has defended the alleged terrorist mastermind Carlos the Jackal, saying the Venezuelan imprisoned in France was an important "revolutionary fighter" who supported the cause of the Palestinians.

• 3 men blow themselves up in Pakistani Kashmir
  Three suspected militants blew themselves up as police gave chase Saturday in the Pakistani part of disputed Kashmir, authorities said.

• Coal mine blast kills 42 in China, 66 trapped
  Rescuers working in frigid cold and darkness tried to reach 66 people believed trapped a third of a mile (half a kilometer) underground after a huge gas explosion Saturday ripped through a coal mine in northern China, killing at least 42 people.

• Pro-Castro mob attacks spouse of top Cuban blogger
  The husband of an acclaimed dissident Cuban blogger was punched and shouted down by a pro-government mob Friday after he challenged the presumed state agents who earlier roughed up his wife to a street corner debate.

• Mexico shifts strategy in border city violence
  Mexico's top domestic security official said Friday that sectors of the general public have cooperated with drug cartels in the violent border city of Ciudad Juarez, and the government is about to launch new social programs there to combat gangs.

• Argentina forces dirty war orphans to provide DNA
  Valuing truth over the right to privacy, Argentina's Congress has authorized the forced extraction of DNA from people who may have been born to political prisoners slain a quarter-century ago - even when they don't want to know their birth parents.

• McCain urges Obama to speed up Afghan decision
  U.S. Sen. John McCain predicted success in the Afghan war effort Friday if President Barack Obama makes a decision quickly to send the reinforcements requested by his top commander there.

• Mexican reporter on organized crime goes missing
  Authorities in the western Mexican state of Michoacan are investigating the disappearance of a journalist who wrote about organized crime.

• Mumbai still vulnerable 1 year after attack
  The walls that the rockets blew out have not been repaired, and the plaster is a dense scattershot of bullet holes. Dozens of holes, blasted by grenades, pockmark the linoleum floors.