WHEELING, West Virginia (AP) — No matter his audience, President George W. Bush is drawing on his plainspoken manner in freewheeling venues to defend his Iraq strategy.

MOGADISHU (AP) — Sporadic gunfire rang out in the Somali capital Thursday, witnesses said, a day after some of the heaviest recent fighting in Mogadishu killed at least 20 people when an Islamic militia battled forces that have challenged clerics’ growing power.

CAIRO — Jobless and broke, Hamada Ismail called off his wedding and broke up with his fiancee — all because of bird flu. Its outbreak last month in Egypt has forced the closing of hundreds of