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]

LONDON -- A British parliamentary committee criticized the MI5 domestic and MI6 foreign intelligence agencies over its intelligence sharing with the United States. The parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee said the agencies should have advised the government as soon as they became aware the United States could be using shared data to detain terror suspects and fly them to third countries for interrogation, The Times of London reported. U.S. authorities call the practice "extraordinary renditions," ... [full story]

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- The Pakistani military reported a successful test of an enhanced near-stealth nuclear-capable cruise missile on Thursday. The Babur or Hatf VII missile's range was extended to 425 miles from its last test, when it was about 200 miles, various local media reported. Pakistan claims the missile it developed can carry convention or non-conventional warheads. It is a low-flying missile with high maneuverability that hugs the terrain and has radar avoidance capabilities, the ... [full story]

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly adopted a symbolic resolution that would prevent the U.S. military from establishing permanent bases in Iraq. Republicans offered little resistance to the resolution, which was sponsored by Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., The New York Times reported. By a 399-24 vote, the measure passed with language limiting federal spending "to establish any military installation or base for the purpose of providing for the permanent stationing of United States ... [full story]

WASHINGTON -- Partisan politics and procedural rules are leading to no progress in renewed U.S. Senate debate on piecemeal immigration reform. Last month, President George Bush's omnibus overhaul was defeated in the Democrat-controlled Congress, and the bill was broken into various elements, several of which are drawn along party lines. On Wednesday, a Republican effort to authorize $3 billion for new border security and immigration enforcement was voted down 52-44 based on Democrats' objections over ... [full story]