First Iraqi vote results likely on Thursday (AP)

Electoral workers sort through ballots cast in the national election in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, March 10, 2010. Iraqi and UN officials say the first results from this week's parliamentary elections are likely to be released on Thursday. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)AP - The top United Nations envoy in Iraq urged election officials Wednesday to release the results of this week’s historic vote as quickly as possible, saying Iraqis “have the…

APNewsBreak: German diocese to examine choir abuse (AP)

FILE - In this Sept. 13, 2006 file picture Pope Benedict XVI, right, walks with his brother priest Georg Ratzinger in Regensburg, southern Germany. The pope's brother says in a newspaper interview that he slapped pupils across the face after he took over a renowned German boys' choir in the 1960s. He also says he was aware of allegations of physical abuse at an elementary school linked to the choir, but did nothing about it.  In an interview with the Passauer Neue Presse published Tuesday March 9, 2010 , he said 'repeatedly administered a slap in the face' to pupils at the Regensburger Domspatzen boys choir. He says it was common then and he stopped after Germany banned corporal punishment in 1980. (AP Photo/Diether Endlicher,File)AP - A spokesman for the Regensburg Catholic diocese in Germany says the diocese will investigate allegations of physical and sexual abuse that have swirled around a famed choir once…

Israel apologizes for embarrassing Biden (AP)

U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden, left, talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ahead of their meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Wednesday, March 10, 2010. Israel's new plan to build 1,600 homes for Jews in Palestinian-claimed east Jerusalem overshadowed Vice President Joe Biden's visit to the West Bank on Wednesday. Biden was to hold talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, in part to ease their doubts about the latest U.S. peace efforts. (AP Photo/Tara Todras-Whitehill)AP - Israel apologized Wednesday for disrupting the visit of Vice President Joe Biden with its announcement of 1,600 new homes in disputed east Jerusalem, but made clear it had…

Iran leader: US playing `game’ in Afghanistan (AP)

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks during a joint press conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, unseen, at the presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan on Wednesday, March 10, 2010. Taking aim at the U.S., Ahmadinejad said Wednesday that it's the United States that is playing a 'double game' in Afghanistan, fighting terrorists it once supported.  (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)AP - Taking aim at the U.S., Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday that it’s the United States that is playing a “double game” in Afghanistan, fighting terrorists it once…

Taliban claim suicide attack on NATO-Afghan base (AP)

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, second left, tours through the town of Now Zad, Afghanistan, on Tuesday March 9, 2010. (AP Photo/Jim WATSON, Pool)AP - The Taliban claimed responsibility Wednesday for a suicide bombing inside a U.S.-Afghan base in eastern Afghanistan that killed two NATO service members.


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