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AMMAN - Syrian forces shot dead 20 protesters on Friday despite a pledge by President Bashar al-Assad that a crackdown was over, activists said as thousands marched across Syria, spurred on by U.S. and European calls for him to step down.
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GAZA - Israeli aircraft struck militant outposts in Gaza and Palestinians fired more than a dozen rockets into southern Israel on Friday as violence escalated following deadly gun attacks along Israel's desert border with Egypt.
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BEIJING - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Friday said China had ?nothing to worry about" concerning the safety of its vast holdings of Treasury debt, while China's Premier Wen Jiabao gave a ringing endorsement of the resilience of the debt-ridden U.S. economy.
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NEW DELHI - A vast and jubilant crowd cheered as Gandhian activist Anna Hazare walked out of jail in New Delhi on Friday to carry on a hunger strike in public, the latest act in a drama of popular fury over corruption that has put India's government in a bind.
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KABUL - Taliban attackers laid siege to a British cultural centre in the Afghan capital on Friday, killing at least nine people during an hours-long assault on the 92nd anniversary of Afghanistan's independence from British rule.
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SURMAN, Libya - Thousands of foreigners trapped in Tripoli by rebel advances that have cut off the Libyan capital will be evacuated in a massive international rescue, probably by sea, an international body said on Friday.
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MOGADISHU - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, keen to strengthen Ankara's ties with the African continent, said on Friday he would set up an embassy in Somalia and promised major infrastructure projects in Mogadishu.
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DIYARBAKIR, Turkey - Turkish warplanes and artillery pounded Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq for a second night, hours after the rebels mounted attacks on security forces in southeastern Turkey.
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CARACAS - Opposition lawmakers in Venezuela accused the government of repatriating the country's gold reserves from Western banks in a ploy to fill its coffers ahead of President Hugo Chavez's re-election bid next year.
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NEW YORK - Turbulence in world financial markets will add a sense of urgency to the work of a powerful new congressional committee charged with finding ways to cut the ballooning U.S. deficit, panel member Chris Van Hollen said on Friday.
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KHYBER, Pakistan - A teenage suicide bomber blew himself up among worshippers offering Friday prayers at a mosque in northwest Pakistan, killing at least 47 people and wounding more than 70, a top government official said.
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