An American professor recalls her sojourn in Sri Lanka.

Almost six months after China cut off communications in a bid to control race riots in restive Xinjiang Province, it has given residents access to two party-controlled websites. But phone calls and text messages remain restricted.

Israel high court overturned a ban on Palestinian use of a highway that cuts through the West Bank ahead of a visit by US Middle East Envoy George Mitchell next week.

AP - Republican attorneys general in 13 states say congressional leaders must remove Nebraska's political deal from the federal health care reform bill or face legal action, according to a letter provided to The Associated Press Wednesday.

AP - Yemeni forces raided an al-Qaida hideout and set off a gunbattle Wednesday as the government vowed to eliminate the group that claimed it was behind the Christmas bombing attempt on a U.S. airliner.

AP - A suicide bomber at a base in Afghanistan's volatile east killed eight American civilians, U.S. officials said, the worst loss of life for Americans in the country since October. Four Canadian soldiers and a journalist were killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan's west, NATO said.