Reuters - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces rained rockets and bombs down on opposition-held neighborhoods of the city of Homs, reducing buildings to rubble and killing more than 80 people, including two Western journalists.

Reuters - U.S. and European officials are downplaying allegations that Iran and al Qaeda have recently stepped up cooperation in preparation for possible attacks on U.S. and other Western targets.

Reuters - Afghan President Hamid Karzai appealed for calm Wednesday after officials said six people were shot dead and dozens wounded in protests over the burning of copies of the Koran, Islam's holy book, at NATO's main base in the country.

Reuters - Vladimir Putin praised Cold War-era scientists on Thursday for stealing U.S. nuclear secrets so that United States would not be the world's sole atomic power, in comments reflecting his vision of Russia as a counterweight to U.S. power.

Time.com - In the face of continuing bloodshed in their homeland, one anti-Assad group courts the regime's allies in the Syrian business community and Moscow. Is it all in vain?

AP - The Swedish Royal Court says Crown Princess Victoria has been admitted to a hospital for the birth of her first child, who would be a future heir to the throne.

AP - Syrian gunners pounded an opposition stronghold where the last dispatches from a veteran American-born war correspondent chronicled the suffering of civilians caught in the relentless shelling. An intense morning barrage killed her and a French photojournalist — two of 74 deaths reported Wednesday in Syria.

AP - The first two cars were packed as usual for the morning rush, so tightly that people stood pressed flesh to flesh, sandwiched between bicycles and the few seats, many without so much as a strap to hold onto.

AP - The trial of a New Hampshire woman charged with lying about her role in the 1994 Rwanda genocide is expected to transport jurors back almost 18 years to a roadblock outside a family owned hotel in Butare where prosecutors say the defendant decided who would live and who would die.

AP - Former Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo pleaded not guilty to an electoral fraud charge Thursday at the opening of a landmark trial that is seen as a key test of her reformist successor's campaign to stamp out corruption.

Reuters - Air Canada's 8,600 mechanics, baggage handlers and cargo agents have rejected a tentative contract agreement with the country's biggest airline, a union spokesman said on Wednesday, marking another setback for the carrier during a year of rocky labor relations.

AP - Prime Minister Julia Gillard put her job on the line Thursday, announcing a leadership ballot in hopes of quashing a comeback by the premier she ousted in a Labor Party coup. But Kevin Rudd's supporters said that even if Gillard survives Monday's vote, the turmoil surrounding her unpopular government will continue until she is out.

The Christian Science Monitor - London is considered the most spied-on city in the world, courtesy of its ubiquitous CCTV cameras, purportedly there to reduce crime. But according to a recent report, there's been little or no change in London's crime rates since they were more widely installed in the mid 1980s.

Time.com - A celebrated American-born war reporter and a young French photographer were killed on Wednesday morning when Syrian forces bombed a makeshift media center in the besieged city of Homs

The Christian Science Monitor - After four days of daily protests, some violently dispersed, Spain is bracing for a cycle of social unrest against the harshest austerity measures in decades. At stake is not only Spain’s economic recovery, but that of the European Union.