Top news: A bomb planted outside a girls' school in the Lower Dir district of Pakistan Northwest Frontier Province killed three U.S. soldiers, three children and a Pakistani soldier on Wednesday. The Americans were part of a small group of troops working to train the Pakistani Frontier Corps, which is responsible for security in the volatile northwest.
They were reportedly on their way to attend the inauguration of a school built with U.S. humanitarian assistance when the bomb went off. More than 50 people were injured in the blast. No U.S. soldiers are formally stationed in Pakistan, though a number are involved in intelligence and training missions. That U.S. troops are involved in development assistance was not previously known.
The U.S. carried out its largest ever drone attack in Northwest Pakistan on Tuesday night with a 16-18 missile barrage in Waziristan that killed at least 10 people.
Gays in the military: At a hearing on Capitol Hill, both Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen and Defense Secretary Robert Gates advocated ending the U.S. military's "don't ask don't tell" policy.
Middle East
- A motorcylce bombing killed at least 20 at a gathering of Shiite pilgrims in Karbala, Iraq.
- Iran successfully launched a research rocket into space.
- Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad now says he has "no problem" with shipping uranium abroad for enrichment.
Asia
- The White House says President Obama will go ahead with plans to meet the Dalai Lama, despite Chinese protests.
- Sri Lanka's elections commissioner says no rigging took place during the country's presidential voting but there were abuses during the campaign.
- Japanese prosecutors will probably not file charges against Democratic Party leader Ichiro Ozawa for misreporting funds.
Africa
- Appeals judges say the International Criminal Court was wrong in not charging Sudanese President Omar al Bashir with genocide.
- A Guinean inquiry has found one renegade soldier solely responsible for last September's massacre of protesters.
- The World Food Program says the number of people needing food aid in South Sudan has quadrupled to nearly 4 million.
Americas
- An orphanage director says many of the Haitian children that a U.S. baptist group was attempting to take out of the country last week had parents.
- Officials say Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab has begun talking to federal agents again.
- A shootout at a shopping center in Northern Mexico killed one policemen and seven suspected cartel gunmen.
Europe
- Former British cabinet minister Clare Short accused former Prime Minister Tony Blair of lying before the government's Iraq war inquiry panel.
- Ukraine and Russia have each accused each other of espionage ahead of Sunday's presidential election.
- During a visit to Britain, Pope Benedict criticized new gay rights legislation.
STR/AFP/Getty Images
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