AP - Students clashed with police and activists rampaged through a McDonald's restaurant and torched the entrance to a Gap store in the capital Saturday as demonstrations against a government plan to loosen job protections spread in a widening arc across France.

AP - Brad Boyes scored three goals for his first career hat trick, leading the Boston Bruins past the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2 Saturday for their second consecutive win.

AP - Goalie Tim Thomas signed a three-year contract extension with the Boston Bruins, general manager Mike O'Connell said Saturday.

AP - Ana Galeana was arranging geraniums at her Acapulco flower stall when heavily armed men in a convoy of jeeps opened fire on a police checkpoint across the street.

Two British men are jailed for six years in India for sexually abusing boys at a street children's shelter in Mumbai.

AP - Erosion by wind and water is a big part of the story at Makoshika State Park, a place of badlands and dinosaur fossils, bobcats and bluebirds. Now some people who enjoy firing guns at a range there fear erosion of what they have come to view as an entitlement.

AP - Jason Terry and Dirk Nowitzki scored 25 points apiece, and the Dallas Mavericks pulled away in the second half for a 104-94 victory over the Washington Wizards on Friday night.

Reuters - The head of a congressionally chartered panel questioned on Friday a Bush administration decision to sell China a high-tech system used to spot railroad-track glitches because of its potential to help China's military.

AP - More than 500,000 Dubliners and visitors cheered the Irish capital's St. Patrick's Day parade Friday, a massive event featuring face-painted troupes of children, American high school bands — and a major security effort to deter drunken violence afterward.

AP - London's benchmark stock index broke through the 6,000 barrier Friday for the first time in five years, spurred on by strong commodity prices and a burst of merger and acquisition activity.

Reuters - Israel detected its first cases of H5N1 bird flu on Friday, saying the virus had killed thousands of turkeys and chicken on two farms, and it hospitalized one person suspected of being infected.

AFP - At loggerheads with the United States over its nuclear programme, Tehran said it was ready to negotiate with the "Great Satan" to help stabilise neighboring Iraq.

Matthew Borghese - AHN Staff Writer Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Army Gen. Bantz J. Craddock, of U.S. Southern Command, says that South America is becoming less stable as illicit drug trafficking, urban gangs, kidnapping, criminals, and narco-terrorists strike at the heart of democratic...

The head of the UN inquiry into the killing of Rafik Hariri says improved co-operation from Syria is vital.

AP - After a taxing night, "Big Baby" needed some relief. "Can we get some AC up here please," LSU's Glen Davis said, folding a stat sheet and waving it in front of his face. "It's hot."

Reuters - Mike D professed his love for the Prince film "Purple Rain," fellow Beastie Boy MCA talked about drinking with hip-hop impresario Russell Simmons and Ad Rock dished on his favorite books during the rap trio's spirited hour-long discussion with fans at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas.

AP - Patrice Bergeron scored the winning goal in the shootout and Tim Thomas stopped three shots to help the Boston Bruins snap a six-game losing streak with a 3-2 win over the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night.

AFP - Prime Minister John Howard has rejected accusations he lied about the government's knowledge of sanctions-busting bribes paid to Saddam Hussein's Iraq by an Australian company.

Reuters - The head of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) criticized Major League Baseball on Thursday, saying he had serious concerns about the drug-testing being implemented during the World Baseball Classic.

AP - Ecuador's Supreme Court released former President Gustavo Noboa from house arrest on Thursday after reducing charges against him for allegedly mishandling the country's foreign debt negotiations during his three-year term.