ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Protests, some violent, erupted Thursday in many Pakistani cities after the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in Rawalpindi.The BBC reported Bhutto supporters thronged the Rawalpindi hospital where their leader was declared dead. Some of them wept while others became enraged and resorted to throwing stones at cars and breaking windows.In Karachi, a number of cars were reportedly set on fire. Shots were also reportedly fired. The city is capital of ... [full story]

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Benazir Bhutto, who rose to become prime minister twice in Pakistan, was assassinated Thursday as she campaigned to contest scheduled elections Jan. 8.The 54-year-old Harvard-educated scion of a prosperous family from Pakistan's Sindh province had returned to her country only in October from her long self-imposed exile after corruption charges against her were dropped by the government of President Pervez Musharraf.Bhutto, whose father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto also was the country's prime minister, ... [full story]

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, reacting to the killing of Benazir Bhutto, said Thursday his party would boycott elections Jan. 8, BBC reported.Sharif, who returned recently to Pakistan from exile in Saudi Arabia as did Bhutto from Dubai, called her assassination a tragedy for the entire country.He visited the hospital where Bhutto was taken after she was fatally wounded."I can't tell you what the feelings of the people of Pakistan are ... [full story]

BAGHDAD -- The U.S. Army said Thursday 12 al-Qaida in Iraq militants were killed and 37 detained in a multiday operation that also freed a hostage.An Army spokesman said the operation, conducted Saturday through Tuesday, near Muqdadiyah in the Diyala River Valley involved multiple confrontations with armed militants believed to be affiliated with al-Qaida in Iraq, KUNA, the Kuwait News Agency, reported Thursday.The hostage, an Iraqi man, was found Monday in a locked room at ... [full story]

RAMADI, Iraq -- Two men suspected in an attack that killed five U.S. soldiers and left two missing more than seven months ago have been arrested.The men were arrested in Ramadi, a former insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad, The Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.Unknown still are the whereabouts of Pvt. Byron Fouty, 19, of Waterford, Mich., and Spc. Alex Jimenez, 25, of Lawrence, Mass., who have been missing since May 12, when they were captured ... [full story]

ATLANTA -- Robbers in Lilburn, Ga., an Atlanta suburb, held a kidnapped couple's son hostage while demanding jewelry from their store, police said.Gwinnett County police said several armed robbers forced their way into the family's home about 9 a.m. Wednesday and ordered the couple, whose names were not released, to take them to the downtown Atlanta jewelry store they own, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Thursday.Officer David Schiralli, a police spokesman, said one of the suspects ... [full story]

YERMO, Calif. -- San Bernardino County, Calif., sheriff's deputies investigated the death of a woman who was mauled by a pack of dogs in the town of Yermo.Investigators said Kelly Caldwell, 45, was confronted by the dogs at about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, KABC-TV, Los Angeles, reported."I heard that she was going to get a ride from somebody to the store," said Carol Tanner, Caldwell's mother. "Two of the dogs were out and three others joined, ... [full story]

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- A new poll surveying the U.S. presidential race indicates that Sen. Hillary Clinton leads the Democratic pack in Iowa but the GOP contest is a dead heat.The American Research Group poll of people who plan to participate in the Iowa caucuses, has Clinton, at 34 percent approval, leading her closest rivals, Sen. Barack Obama and former Sen. John Edwards, by at least 14 points.Among Republicans, the poll has Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee ... [full story]

CHICAGO -- Pilots with Chicago's United Airlines said the company's massive delays this month were partly the result of crew shortages.The pilots and other sources said the airline's lean staffing and scheduling practices combined with bad weather that caused many pilots to prematurely reach their federally mandated maximum number of monthly hours to leave United short on crews to operate its planes."The weather wouldn't have mattered if they had enough people," said Herb Hunter, a ... [full story]

OCALA, Fla. -- Authorities in Ocala, Fla., say they won't press charges against a 10-year-old girl caught carrying a steak knife to her school cafeteria.The fifth-grader at Sunshine Elementary School in Ocala was placed under arrest Dec. 13 for bringing a weapon to school. She told teachers she had brought the knife from home to cut through the meat on her plate.Chief Assistant State Prosecutor Ric Ridgeway told the Ocala Star-Banner that a 10-day suspension ... [full story]