- Gates: Some troops could leave Afghanistan early
(AP)
AP - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates raised the possibility Wednesday that some of the U.S. forces involved in the Afghanistan surge could leave the country before President Barack Obama's announced July 2011 date to begin withdrawal. - Biden's West Bank tour clouded by settlement plans
(AP)
AP - Israel's new plan to build 1,600 apartments for Jews in Palestinian-claimed east Jerusalem overshadowed Vice President Joe Biden's visit to the West Bank on Wednesday. - Dalai Lama: China aims to annihilate Buddhism
(AP)
AP - The Dalai Lama blasted Chinese authorities Wednesday, accusing them of trying to "annihilate Buddhism" in Tibet as he commemorated a failed uprising against China's rule over the region. - Oligarch wins suit against Russian broadcaster
(AP)
AP - Self-exiled oligarch Boris Berezovsky has won his libel case against a Russian broadcaster that accused him of masterminding the murder of a former Russian agent in London. - In paying for sex changes, Cuba breaks from past
(AP)
AP - Looking in the mirror used to make Yiliam Gonzalez sick to her stomach. - Israel: Did the Alleged Mossad Hit in Dubai Really Help?
(Time.com)
Time.com - While all the signs point to Mossad as the perpetrator and the Israelis are hardly denying it, the killing of a top Hamas operative may have caused the Israelis problems on other fronts - Swedish papers publish Prophet Muhammad drawing
(AP)
AP - At least three Swedish newspapers on Wednesday published a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog after an alleged plot to murder the artist who created it was uncovered in Ireland. - Egypt's top Muslim cleric dies of heart attack
(AP)
AP - Top Egyptian cleric Sheik Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, whose moderate views angered conservative Muslims, died of a heart attack Wednesday during a visit to Saudi Arabia, the state-owned news agency reported. He was 81. - Brazil's Silva: A Rousseff win would KO machismo
(AP)
AP - Brazil's president said his hand-picked candidate to succeed him in October's election would help do away with machismo by becoming the first female president of Latin America's largest and most influential nation. - US official: Sudan's elections to be crucial test
(AP)
AP - A U.S. official says Sudan's upcoming elections must be as transparent as possible to prepare for a referendum on independence for the oil-rich south in 2011. - Aid group attacked in northwest Pakistan; 6 dead
(AP)
AP - Suspected militants armed with grenades attacked the offices of a Christian aid group helping earthquake survivors in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing six employees and wounding several others, police and the organization said. - Air Canada learns that hockey trumps flying
(Reuters)
Reuters - Canada's largest airline has learned it sometimes has to take a back seat to the country's biggest sporting passion, ice hockey, the head of Air Canada said on Tuesday. - Indonesia confirms Bali bomb mastermind killed
(AFP)
AFP - Indonesia's president on Wednesday confirmed that a bombmaker believed to be behind the Bali bombings was killed in a Jakarta raid and vowed to keep hunting extremists in a landmark address to Australia's parliament. - Israel rebuffs Biden by announcing new settlement construction
(McClatchy Newspapers)
McClatchy Newspapers - JERUSALEM — Hours after the arrival Tuesday of Vice President Joe Biden to help launch indirect Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, Israel announced the construction of 1,600 homes in a settlement block in mostly Arab East Jerusalem, an open rebuff that led Biden to issue a sharply worded condemnation.