Paralympic boon to China's disabled

The African nation goes to the polls to elect lawmakers for the first time in 16 years. The ruling party is expected to win, but there is a hunger for change. >>

Despite growing protests in Pakistan over a raid, many Pentagon officials favor a more aggressive approach to counter attacks in Afghanistan carried out by militants based in Pakistan. >>

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said today that her historic visit to former pariah state Libya proves that the U.S. never writes off another nation forever. >>

The U.S. vice president, appearing with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, pledges continued U.S. support for reconstruction. >>

The United Nations report says an ambitious goal embraced by wealthy countries to cut extreme global poverty by 2015 is in jeopardy. >>

He assures villagers that those responsible for civilian deaths will be punished. His government and the U.S. military continue to differ over the toll in the Aug. 22 strike. >>

China: Quake-hit schools were poorly built / Mexico: Three held in beheadings / Russia: Army kills 5 Muslim rebels in Dagestan >>

The move reflects concerns that widespread violence could return to the country. >>

Maliki and others have been targeted, according to the upcoming "The War Within." The book also says covert programs, not the troop "surge," led to the drop in violence. >>

Aleksander Dugin, a popular theorist in hard-line circles, advocates an alliance between the former Soviet Union and the Middle East. He says Georgia crisis could be start of a real conflict with U.S. >>

The downturn, strikingly similar to the one in the United States, has thrown tens of thousands of recent arrivals out of work. >>

A mass strike fails to materialize but tens of thousands remain at a government compound in Bangkok as they seek Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej's resignation. >>

Islamabad says helicopter-borne commandos, most likely Americans, attacked a hamlet just across from Afghanistan. It angrily protests the raid, saying it could inflame tensions in the tribal region. >>

Members of the Iraqi security forces are slain in a gunfight with U.S. troops on the Tigris River in Tarmiya, officials say. >>

Tropical Storm Hanna roared along the edge of the Bahamas today ahead of a possible hurricane hit on the Carolinas, leaving behind at least 61 dead in Haiti. >>

>>

The package includes humanitarian assistance and help in rebuilding infrastructure. It does not include money for the Caucasus nation's military. >>

3 Canadian soldiers slain in Afghanistan / 13 bodies found on migrant boat near one of Spain's Canary Islands / Two Israeli border policemen convicted of killing teen / Ex-priest in Australia charged with pedophilia / Journalist killed; another beaten n Russia's troubled North Caucasus >>

U.S. officials say it isn't clear how serious an effort the North is making to rebuild what it had dismantled. >>

Britain and Ireland appeal to Protestant leaders in Northern Ireland to accept a panel's verdict and deepen cooperation with Catholics in a partnership government. >>

John Wylie Needham was arrested Monday at his San Clemente condo, where Jacqwelyn Joann Villagomez was found severely beaten. He is being held on $1-million bail. >>

Russian officials have said Michael Lee White was a U.S. agent involved in the recent fighting between their troops and Georgia. They claim to have found the Army veteran's passport in Georgia's breakaway province of South Ossetia. >>

Nini Gogiberidze is among the activists who seek to foster democracy through peaceful means. She travels abroad to teach others how to agitate nonviolently for change. >>

Hisham Talaat Mustafa, a ruling-party lawmaker with ties to the Mubarak family, is accused of ordering the slaying of Suzanne Tamim. >>

Federal authorities say Aafia Siddiqui, a 36-year-old mother of three, had notes mentioning a 'mass casualty attack.' >>

Violence has marred Islam's holiest month since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. It's quieter this year, but electricity is still in short supply, and heat is not. >>

Vice President Dick Cheney arrived in Azerbaijan today, part of a tour of three ex-Soviet republics wary of Russia's intentions following last month's war between Russia and neighboring Georgia. >>

Parliament shelves a bill that the activists say would have curtailed the rights of women. But four of their leaders are sentenced to prison for contributing to banned websites. >>

>>

Containers sank into the Magdalena River when barge went down. Two are unaccounted for. >>