Internet advertisements for prescription drugs sold at prices lower than those at your local pharmacy are certainly tempting. But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration wants to warn all Americans that succumbing to that temptation could have serious consequences. A recent FDA alert cautions American to beware of counterfeit drugs sold on 24 related Web sites and illustrates the potential for harm. Tests have shown that some prescriptions filled online from these sellers contain a ... [full story]

LONDON -- Flooding in central England was blamed Thursday for the deaths of two men in Tewkesbury who were overcome by fumes from a gas water pump. Police in the town in Gloucestershire said they were also concerned about a 19-year-old man who has been missing since early Saturday morning when waters started to rise, The Telegraph said. Public health concerns rose as a water treatment plant in the county was compromised by flood waters. ... [full story]

BEIRUT, Lebanon -- The Lebanese army, backed with heavy artillery, on Thursday made its first incursion into the rebel-held Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon. Using heavy tank fire, troops entered the near-deserted Nahr El-Bared refugee camp and house-to-house fighting was also reported, Lebanon's National News Agency said. Almost all of the 31,000 refugees have fled since fighting began May 20 between the Fatah al-Islam rebels and government forces at the camp. An undetermined number ... [full story]

SAN DIEGO -- A 56-year-old former San Diego respiratory therapist was sentenced to more than 45 years in prison for sexually abusing seriously ill children. San Diego Superior Court Judge Kenneth So said Wayne Albert Bleyle, 56, would have to serve at least 85 percent of the 45-years, 8-month sentence before being eligible for parole, the San Diego Union Tribune reported Thursday. Bleyle was arrested March 8 after a task force claimed he was trading ... [full story]

KABUL, Afghanistan -- NATO and Afghan forces said they killed more than 50 Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan in a 12-hour battle that ended Thursday. CNN, quoting a coalition statement, said the battle was in an area just north of the village of Qal'eh-ye Gaz in Helmand province. The militants are believed to be using the Musa Qala area in the region as a base of support. The coalition said the battle started after the ... [full story]

BEIJING -- China's official Catholic group said the Vatican can normalize relations with China if it ends ties with Taiwan and allows internal appointment of bishops. China Daily on Thursday quoted Liu Bainian, vice president of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, saying that the Vatican, the only European government to recognize Taiwan, wants China to grant the pope supreme authority to appoint bishops on the mainland. China Daily said Liu's remarks were in response to ... [full story]

ANGARSK, Russia -- Eight suspects have been arrested and several others were detained in an attack on environmentalists protesting a uranium enrichment facility in Russia. Angarsk police said one of the environmentalists, Ilya Borodayenko of Nakhodka, died of injuries received in the July 21 attack, Itar-Tass reported. Eight others were injured, including one who remains hospitalized. Police confiscated wooden bats and metal rods allegedly used in the attack. "All in all, 14 people have been ... [full story]

HYDERABAD, India -- A special Indian court has freed on bail Monica Bedi, a former movie star and a companion of Abu Salem who is a prime suspect in the 1993 bombings in Mumbai. Bedi, 32, who along with Salem was extradited from Portugal in 2005, was released Wednesday from a prison in the southern city of Hyderabad, where she had been held since November 2005 on a fake passport charge, various media reports said. ... [full story]

CHAMONIX, France -- Four climbers froze to death when trapped at 13,000 feet on Mount Blanc in the French Alps in a blizzard that left rescuers impotent to save them. The victims, whose bodies were found Tuesday, were Mark Emerson, 30, of York, Britain; his girlfriend, Jane Jerram of New Zealand; and two other female students from France and Chile, The Telegraph reported Thursday. They were engineering students at a Grenoble college, the newspaper said. ... [full story]

JAKARATA, Indonesia -- A 6.3-magnitude undersea earthquake rocked eastern Indonesia Thursday but there were no immediate reports of damage or threats of a tsunami. Indonesia's Antara news agency reported the quake was located below sea-level in Morotai waters, 146 miles south of Ternate city in North Maluku province. Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said the temblor showed no signs of causing tsunami. Indonesia is still recovering from the Dec. 26, 2004, tsunami that was triggered ... [full story]