AP - Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim is the world's richest person, jumping past Americans Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to become the first person from a developing nation to top the list, according to Forbes magazine.

AP - Brazil's president came under withering criticism Wednesday at home and in Cuba for his deference to the island's communist government over political prisoners and hunger strikes for human rights.

AP - An open diplomatic row during the visit of Vice President Joe Biden has shined a spotlight on the U.S. failure to rein in Israeli settlement ambitions and deepened Palestinian suspicions that the United States is too weak to broker a deal.

AP - President Michelle Bachelet leaves office Thursday with a chunk of her country in ruins — and her popularity in the clouds.

AP - An Iranian pro-reform Web site says authorities have released a former senior official detained for suspected involvement in the country's postelection turmoil.

AFP - Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday denounced the "atrocious" bloodshed in Nigeria after a massacre of Christian villagers, as police said 49 people would be charged over the killings.

AFP - Two US missile strikes deep in Pakistan's northwest tribal belt killed up to 16 militants, with more bodies recovered from the wreckage on Thursday, security officials said.

AFP - Australian zoo keepers were keeping a round-the-clock vigil for "Mr. Shuffles", the miracle elephant calf who survived a marathon nine-day labour despite being declared dead.