AP - Militants flew an al-Qaida flag over a Baghdad neighborhood Thursday after killing 16 security officials and burning some of their bodies in a brazen afternoon attack that served as a grim reminder of continued insurgent strength in Iraq's capital.

AP - The discovery of the body of a second U.S. sailor who vanished in Afghanistan last week only deepened the mystery of the men's disappearance nearly 60 miles from their base in a dangerous area controlled by the Taliban.

AP - Raging forest fires encircled a southern Russian city and tore through provincial villages Thursday, forcing mass evacuations as Moscow suffered through a record, weeks-long heat wave and smog cloud caused by peat-bog fires.

AP - In just a few days, new Prime Minister David Cameron has openly declared Britain is no more than the "junior partner" of the U.S., irritated Israelis by calling Gaza a prison camp and enraged Pakistanis by suggesting their country exports terrorism.

AFP - A US senator said investigators could be sent to Britain to quiz witnesses who refused to travel to Washington to testify at a Senate probe into the release of the Lockerbie bomber.

AP - Syria on Thursday warned the United States to stop trying to interfere as Arab leaders try to defuse heightened tensions in the Middle East.

AP - One of the top three leaders of Mexico's most powerful drug cartel, Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel," was killed Thursday in a gunbattle with soldiers, the Mexican army announced.

AFP - King Mohammed VI of Morocco on Thursday granted pardons or reduced sentences to nearly 1,000 people to mark his 11 years on the throne, the justice ministry said.

AP - A criminal investigation into the leak of tens of thousands of secret Afghanistan war logs could go beyond the military, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday, and he did not rule out that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange could be a target.