A Venezuelan watchdog group says the country's latest bloody prison clash came after a year in which 591 inmates were killed in the country's troubled prisons.

Animal protection groups in Britain say they are trying to rescue more than 100 seabirds that have washed up on the coast covered in an unidentified sticky substance.

The Turkish gunman who shot Pope John Paul II has changed his story once again, saying in a new autobiography that Iran's late leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini personally told him to kill the pope.

A truck carrying fireworks ahead of Chinese New Year celebrations exploded Friday on a bridge in central China, killing at least 26 people as it sent vehicles plummeting dozens of meters (yards) to the ground, state media said.

Mexico's interior minister says 25 people have died in an office building explosion at the state oil company headquarters.

Syria and Iran have threatened to retaliate for an Israeli air raid near the capital Damascus.

Mexico's state-owned oil company says 14 have died and 80 are injured in an office building explosion at its headquarters in the capital.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) - Fishermen using illegal nets are suspected of killing dozens of dolphins that were found this week off Sri Lanka's northwest coast.

WARSAW, Poland (AP) - A top Polish meat safety official says his country is DNA-testing meat samples at seven facilities to see if any are the source of horse meat discovered this month in Irish-produced burgers.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - Need a condom delivered to your doorstep in an hour? Then Dubai is the place to be.

BERLIN (AP) - Police say a fire has destroyed a camel farm in the Black Forest region of southwestern Germany, killing 86 animals and causing up to €2 million (US$ 2.7 million) in damage.

U.S. officials say Israel was targeting a weapons convoy when it launched a rare airstrike inside Syria late Tuesday.

A magnitude-6.7 earthquake has shaken northern Chile but authorities say there are no reports of injuries or damage.

TORONTO (AP) - The first in a new generation of long-awaited BlackBerrys will go on sale in the next week in Canada and the United Kingdom, but won't be released in the U.S. until March.

MILAN (AP) - Fiat SpA, the Italian automaker that controls Chrysler LLC, saw fourth quarter earnings more than double thanks to strong North American sales that more than compensated for a weak performance in Europe.

SANTA MARIA, Brazil (AP) - A lawyer representing the owner of the nightclub in southern Brazil where 235 people died in a fire last weekend says his client "regrets it very much" but insisted he was only partly to blame.

Germans are emptying fewer beer steins these days.

LONDON (AP) - A genetic variant commonly found in Chinese people may help explain why some got seriously ill with swine flu, a discovery scientists say could help pinpoint why flu viruses hit some populations particularly hard and change how they are treated.

BRUSSELS (AP) - King Albert of Belgium has told 600 dignitaries that recent scandals involving his family have given him "a lesson in humility."

WILLEMSTAD, Curacao (AP) - The first sign of debris from a missing plane that was carrying the CEO of Italian fashion house Missoni has surfaced in the Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao.

Japan's prime minister says he is willing to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping to help mend ties hurt by an island dispute.

A U.S. military official says the Pentagon is considering setting up a drone base in northwest Africa to increase intelligence collection on Islamic militants in the region.

There was no alarm, no extinguishers, no sprinklers and almost no escape from the nightclub that became a death trap for more than 200 Brazilian college students.

One expert says Iran's latest rocket achievement is "nothing to get too excited about."

Beijing's pollution has reached especially high levels again as smog blankets much of China's central and eastern areas.