UK police question alleged soldier killer's friend
LONDON (AP) -- Counterterrorism police on Saturday questioned a friend of alleged Islamic extremist Michael Adebolajo, one of two suspects in a savage killing of a British soldier on a London street that has horrified the country....

Hezbollah chief says group is fighting in Syria
BEIRUT (AP) -- The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah warned Saturday that the fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime would give rise to extremists and plunge the Middle East into a "dark period," and vowed his Shiite militant group will not stand idly by while its chief ally in Damascus is under attack....

Kerry makes 1st official sub-Saharan Africa visit
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) -- Making his first official trip to sub-Saharan Africa, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday demanded that Nigeria respect human rights as it cracks down on Islamist extremists and pledged to work hard in the coming months to ease tensions between Sudan and South Sudan....

Fragments of biblical treasure are up for sale
JERUSALEM (AP) -- Parts of the Dead Sea Scrolls are up for sale - in tiny pieces....

Female suicide bomber injures 18 in Russian region
MAKHACHKALA, Russia (AP) -- A female suicide bomber blew herself up in the southern Russian region of Dagestan on Saturday, injuring at least 18, including two children and five police officers, authorities said. The attacker was later identified as a widow of two Islamic radicals killed by security forces....

French soldier stabbed in throat outside Paris
PARIS (AP) -- A French soldier was stabbed in the throat in a busy commercial district outside Paris on Saturday, and France's president said authorities are investigating any possible links with the recent slaying of a British soldier....

'Yugonostalgia' as Croatia prepares to join EU
KUMROVEC, Croatia (AP) -- Forget the European Union, many in this Croatian village are saying. The group of nations being celebrated this weekend is one that died more than 20 years ago when Yugoslavia - now fervently remembered as a haven of peace, prosperity and equality - fell apart in a cascade of ethnic wars....

16 children, 1 teacher die in Pakistan bus fire
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) -- Sixteen schoolchildren and a teacher burned to death in eastern Pakistan early Saturday when a short-circuit near a leaking gas tank caused their minibus to burst into flames, police said....

The Dead Sea Scrolls at a glance
The Dead Sea Scrolls consist of more than 10,000 manuscript fragments representing 900 separate texts, including the oldest biblical texts ever found. They were discovered in caves in the Judean desert alongside the Dead Sea. Most of the scrolls are animal skin parchment, a few are papyrus, and one is made of copper. At least 90 percent are written in Hebrew, while the rest are in Aramaic and Greek....

Toronto mayor denies he smokes crack cocaine
TORONTO (AP) -- Toronto Mayor Rob Ford denied that he smokes crack cocaine and said he is not an addict, breaking a week of silence over reports of a video purportedly showing him using the drug. Critics were not appeased, with one city councilor questioning whether the mayor told "the whole truth" and another calling on him to resign....