AP - Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen are exchanging heavy fire in northern Gaza. Medics say one Palestinian has been killed.
AFP - Britain and the United States issued new travel alerts warning of an increased terrorist threat in China Friday, as Interpol said Beijing must prepare for a possible Al-Qaeda attack at the Olympics.
AP - A defense attorney met with suspected Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed for the first time at Guantanamo Bay, but the Pentagon-appointed lawyer said he could not reveal details because of "unnecessarily broad" military restrictions.
AFP - Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has called for an international tribunal to try Western leaders with war crimes over the war in Iraq, a spokesman for the organisers said.
AP - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged key players in Iraq on Friday to keep violence down and to put aside party, ethnic and sectarian interests so a real political dialogue and national reconciliation can take place.
Reuters - A cargo ship hired by the U.S.
military fired warning shots at approaching boats in the Gulf,
the U.S. Navy said on Friday, underscoring tension in the
region as the Pentagon sharpened its warnings to Iran.
AP - Iran is ratcheting up its support for militias in Iraq, providing them with newly manufactured weapons and bringing them across the border to receive training from members of Tehran's elite Republican Guard, U.S. military officials said Friday.
AP - As of Friday, April 25, 2008, at least 4,052 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes eight military civilians. At least 3,301 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.
AP - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Friday he failed to achieve any progress in Middle East peace talks with President Bush and was returning home with little to show for his visit.
AP - The State Department says terrorists may want to disrupt this summer's Olympics in China and warned of a heightened risk of terrorist attacks there in the coming months.