AP - U.S. and Iraqi forces freed one British and two Canadian hostages early Thursday in a military operation, ending a four-month hostage drama in which an American among the group was shot to death and dumped on a Baghdad street.

AP - British Treasury chief Gordon Brown said the country's economy is growing, with inflation on target, as he presented his 10th annual budget Wednesday.

AP - Rudy Abramson wanted to publish a reference book about Appalachia that went beyond the stereotypical images of hillbillies and poverty and presented a more realistic picture of the area's history and natural diversity.

AP - An Afghan man facing the death penalty for converting from Islam to Christianity may be mentally unfit to stand trial, a state prosecutor and presidential adviser said Wednesday.

AP - A videotape taken by an Iraqi shows the aftermath of an alleged attack by U.S. troops on civilians in their homes in a western town last November: a blood-smeared bedroom floor and bits of what appear to be human flesh and bullet holes on the walls.

Reuters - A video of civilians who may have been killed by U.S. Marines in an Iraqi town in November showed residents describing a rampage by U.S. soldiers that left a trail of bullet-riddled bodies and destruction.

AP - The emergencies were startlingly similar: a huge, swirling storm bearing down on coastal areas with frightening inevitability. Within a few hours of the most powerful cyclone in decades hitting Australia's northeastern coast Monday, state and federal governments had declared a state of emergency, prepared Black Hawk helicopters to run rescue missions and announced cash payouts for victims.

AP - Humphrey, the cat who shared 10 Downing Street with two British prime ministers but was evicted by current resident Tony Blair, has died. He was aged about 18.

AP - Hamas presented a proposed government Sunday, giving itself key ministries after failing to persuade more moderate parties to join in a coalition that could have softened its hard-line image and prevented likely economic sanctions.

AP - A powerful tropical cyclone ripped the roofs off buildings and uprooted trees, tearing across Australia's northeastern coast with powerful winds that kept emergency workers from responding to pleas from terrified residents.

AP - One of the six wheels on the Mars rover Spirit has stopped working and the solar-powered robot must propel itself up a slope to catch enough sunshine to keep operating, NASA said Friday.

AP - Mysterious cell-phone text messages warning of bloodshed on election day spread in the Belarusian capital on Saturday, a day before presidential voting that the opposition alleges is likely to be fraudulent.

AP - Hamas said it is ready to announce the formation of its government Saturday, two weeks ahead of a deadline but apparently without coalition partners that might have softened the militants' image.

AP - Physicists announced Thursday that they now have the smoking gun that shows the universe went through extremely rapid expansion in the moments after the big bang, growing from the size of a marble to a volume larger than all of observable space in less than a trillion-trillionth of a second.

The next generation of commercial satellites will offer higher resolution and more frequent image updates, so applications like Google Earth will come closer than ever to a real-time look at the globe. By Joanna Glasner.

Reuters - China is set to host its first major international forum on Buddhism since 1949 to complement President Hu Jintao's campaign to build a "harmonious society" and burnish China's tarnished image on religious freedom.

AP - Protesters bludgeoned three policemen and a soldier to death in daylong demonstrations Thursday to demand the closure of a massive U.S.-owned gold mine in eastern Indonesia, officials said.

Reuters - Independent film and television studio Lionsgate said on Thursday that it is considering nominating a slate of directors to Image Entertainment Inc's board to force the company to reconsider its takeover offer.

AFP - Spanish doctors have removed a giant tumour weighing 60 kilograms (132 pounds) from a female patient at a hospital in the northern city of Cruces.

AP - Having your entire music collection at your fingertips is simple enough if you own an iPod or other portable digital player with multiple gigabytes of storage — until you drop it. Or the PC that you use to synch your player has a meltdown. Then what?