International

AP - The bearded young cleric yells at a young woman for lifting her traditional veil from her face while speaking to him on the street, and rants against Egyptians who adopt Western lifestyles and values. His followers beat up an opponent.

AFP - Greenpeace chief Kumi Naidoo on Friday likened Japan's treatment of two of its anti-whaling activists to the tactics of the former apartheid regime he once campaigned against in his native South Africa.

AP - As the last of 30,000 U.S. reinforcements arrive in Afghanistan, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Friday got a firsthand look at operations in the dangerous south where Afghan and international troops are ramping up security.

AP - An Indonesian volcano that was quiet for four centuries shot a new, powerful burst of hot ash more than 10,000 feet (three kilometers) in the air Friday, sending frightened residents fleeing to safety for the second time this week.

AFP - An Australian man was attacked by a shark which mauled his face and neck during a holiday in the South Pacific Solomon Islands, officials said on Friday.

AP - El Salvador has made it illegal to belong to a street gang in the wake of an attack on a passenger bus that killed 17 people.

AP - Dolphins have been herded into a cove as part of an annual hunt in the Japanese seaside town made famous by an Oscar-winning documentary about their slaughter, conservationist group Sea Shepherd said Friday. A town official said none were killed.

McClatchy Newspapers - WASHINGTON mdash; The first Middle East peace talks in nearly two years got off to a quick start Thursday, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas agreeing to meet again in two weeks and to commence work on the blueprint for a peace treaty.

The Christian Science Monitor - When Israeli-Palestinian peace talks move beyond today's summit in Washington, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas will face a tough balancing act as even his allies at home push back against US and Israeli pressures.

AFP - Human Rights Watch (HRW) has denounced the alleged torture by Moroccan police of seven prominent members of the country's leading Islamist association, the organisation said in a statement.

AFP - Afghan financial authorities and the owners of Afghanistan's biggest bank said Thursday that Kabul Bank was in no danger of collapsing, as people across the country rushed to withdraw their money.

AP - A report detailing hundreds of gruesome attacks against civilians in Congo over a 10-year period won't be released until October, the U.N.'s top human rights official said Thursday, after Rwanda angrily protested the findings in a draft version.

AP - Police say a 17-year-old teen was detained after he shot arrows with cell phones attached over the walls of a prison in southern Brazil to inmates waiting on the other side.

AP - Census takers counting China's more than 1.3 billion people already face a daunting task, and it's getting harder for the latest once-a-decade update.

AP - Afghan's finance minister reassured nervous customers at the troubled Kabul Bank on Thursday, saying every penny of their deposits would be guaranteed by the government.

AP - Renowned Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal worked for Israel's Mossad spy agency, providing information on war criminals and Germans working in Arab countries, according to a new book released Thursday.

McClatchy Newspapers - WASHINGTON mdash; Israelis and Palestinians on Thursday opened their first direct peace negotiations in 20 months, a long-shot attempt to end the conflict that host Secretary of State Hillary Clinton acknowledged is burdened by history and bitter disputes.

Time.com - In an essay exclusively adapted for TIME from his new memoir, A Journey, Britain's former Prime Minister Tony Blair reflects on the U.S. Presidents he has known and worked with -- and on their country

Time.com - Israelis feel prosperous, secure -- and disengaged from the peace process with the Palestinians. Is that wise?

AP - India has widened its security crackdown, asking all companies that provide encrypted communications mdash; not just BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion mdash; to install servers in the country to make it easier for the government to obtain users' data. That would likely affect digital giants like Google and Skype.