Afghans airlift bodies as avalanche deaths hit 166
KABUL (AP) -- Helicopters ferried rescuers to and bodies away from the site of a massive avalanches that blocked an important mountain pass north of Kabul as the death toll soared Wednesday to 166, officials said. Hundreds more remained trapped in snowbound cars....

Britain discloses secret data on terror prisoner
LONDON (AP) -- Britain's government on Wednesday disclosed a once-secret description of "cruel, inhuman and degrading" U.S. treatment of a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, losing a long court battle to keep the material classified....

Pakistani officials confirm Taliban chief is dead
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) -- Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud has died, the country's top civilian security official told The Associated Press on Wednesday. It was the government's first categorical confirmation of the death of the feared militant, whose passing is likely to weaken, but not vanquish, the al-Qaida-linked insurgent network he led....

US: Iran enrichment plan risks cancer patients
VIENNA (AP) -- A senior U.S. envoy accused Tehran's leadership Wednesday of hypocrisy for opting to pursue "ever more dangerous nuclear technology" instead of accepting an international plan meant to assure the supply of medical isotopes to Iranian cancer patients....

Greek unions strike against austerity plan
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- A strike by civil servants shut schools and grounded flights across Greece on Wednesday, as unions challenged cutbacks aimed at ending a government debt crisis that has shaken the entire European Union....

Byzantine-era street uncovered in Jerusalem
JERUSALEM (AP) -- Archaeologists said Wednesday that they have unearthed a section of a stone street in Jerusalem that provides important new evidence about the city's commercial life 1,500 years ago....

Oil attack halves production at Baghdad refinery
BAGHDAD (AP) -- Attackers bombed an oil pipeline north of Baghdad, cutting production in half at a refinery in the capital, the oil ministry said Wednesday....

Chopper crashes during Sao Paulo rush hour, 1 dead
SAO PAULO (AP) -- A TV news helicopter pilot steered his crippled, out-of-control aircraft away from a busy highway before crashing in a grassy field during rush hour Wednesday, losing his own life but avoiding greater casualties. A cameraman onboard was seriously injured....

Kenya relocates thousands of animals to game park
SOYSAMBU, Kenya (AP) -- A senior Kenyan wildlife official says about 7,000 zebras and wildebeests are being moved to one of the country's premier game parks to restore the balance of predators and prey disrupted by last year's drought....

London to open 1st exercise area for older people
LONDON (AP) -- It may not be Swinging London - but the British capital's aging baby boomers may soon be flexing muscles that haven't gotten much use since the 1960s....