ISLAMABAD (AP) — At least 17 children were burned to death in eastern Pakistan on Saturday when a faulty gas cylinder exploded on the bus taking them to school, police said.

BEIJING (AP) — A top North Korean envoy has delivered a letter from leader Kim Jong Un to Chinese President Xi Jinping and told him Pyongyang would take steps to rejoin stalled nuclear disarmament talks, in an apparent victory for Beijing's efforts to coax its unruly ally into lowering tensions.

VALLENAR, Chile (AP) — Chile's environmental regulator blocked Barrick Gold Corp.'s $8.5 billion Pascua-Lama project on Friday and imposed its maximum fine on the world's largest gold miner, citing "very serious" violations of its environmental permit as well as a failure by the company to accurately describe what it had done wrong.

PARIS (AP) — After two days of intense questioning from French magistrates, International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde said Friday a court named her as a key witness in an investigation into a controversial payoff to an outspoken businessman that was arranged while she was France's finance minister — stopping short of charging her outright.

LONDON (AP) — A tweet posted by the wife of Britain's parliamentary speaker about a politician wrongly linked to child sex abuse was libelous, the High Court ruled Friday.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — In the latest militant strike on the Afghan capital, Taliban gunmen backed by a suicide car bomber attacked an international aid group's compound on Friday, killing two guards and setting off an hours-long street battle with police in the heart of Kabul .

BEIRUT (AP) — Hezbollah's deputy chief says the European Union would be making a "big mistake" to label the Lebanese Shiite militant group "terrorist."

BEIRUT (AP) — Syria's government has agreed to attend a U.S.-Russian-brokered peace conference, according to Moscow. While this development might seem at first glance to be a step toward ending the civil war, strong skepticism persists on both sides.

LONDON (AP) — Britain scrambled fighter jets Friday to intercept a commercial airliner carrying more than 300 people from Pakistan, diverting it to an isolated runway at an airport on the outskirts of London and arresting two British passengers who allegedly threatened to destroy the plane.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's top nuclear negotiator, a candidate in next month's presidential elections, vowed Friday he will pursue a policy of resistance against the West if elected.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Syria said it targeted an Israeli vehicle that crossed a ceasefire line into its territory earlier this week because it was heading toward a village with a large rebel presence.

MILAN (AP) — The woman who prosecutors allege had sex with Silvio Berlusconi while he was Italy's premier in exchange for money spent her second day on the witness stand Friday, denying her own sworn descriptions of racy escapades at his "bunga bunga" parties and long lists of expensive jewelry and watches received from the media mogul.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — President Barack Obama's decision to impose more restrictive rules governing U.S. drone strikes and his prediction that they will be used less could pave the way for better relations with the new government of key ally Pakistan, officials and analysts said Friday.

LUXOR, Egypt (AP) — A mother and two daughters were allegedly killed by male relatives in southern Egypt who believed they'd had affairs, the latest apparent example of so-called "honor killings" in which women are slain for violating traditional morals in the conservative region, a security official said Friday.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — An American man killed his uncle, aunt and cousins in the Czech Republic and then flew to the United States, where he was arrested at an airport, authorities said Friday.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A look at legislation passed in Turkey's parliament early Friday that would ban all alcohol advertising and tighten restrictions on the sale of such beverages, and how such a law could affect tourists and liquor companies in the mainly Muslim but secular country.

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni fired his top military commander Friday, the ouster apparently linked to turmoil over Museveni's alleged plan to have his son succeed him as head of state.

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — A Zimbabwean human rights activist says he wants the nation's highest court to order prison authorities to ensure suspects in jail can receive their life-prolonging HIV/AIDS medications.

LONDON (AP) — The slaying of a British soldier in southeast London cast a spotlight on radical preachers that influenced Michael Adebolajo, the attacker seen in videos with bloody hands holding a butcher knife.

VIENNA (AP) — The U.N. nuclear agency responsible for probing whether Iran has worked on a nuclear bomb depends on the United States and its allies for most of its intelligence, complicating the agency's efforts to produce findings that can be widely accepted by the international community.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — President Barack Obama's speech on the use of drones and the fate of Guantanamo prisoners was largely welcomed Friday in two key countries affected by the policies— Pakistan and Yemen.

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged Israel's government on Friday to prevent further settlement construction where possible to help revitalize Middle East peace hopes, but stressed that the Jewish state and Palestinians alike should remain focused on the larger goal of restarting direct negotiations.

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — The 25,000 people at the soccer stadium and the millions more watching at home waited 90 minutes before the Australian evangelical preacher got to the message he had come to Communist-ruled Vietnam to deliver.

MOSCOW (AP) — The Syrian government has agreed to a conference on the country's future proposed by Russia and the United States, Russia's foreign ministry said Friday Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in televised remarks that the Syrian government had "agreed in principle" to participate in the conference in Geneva which is expected within two weeks.