WASHINGTON -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday the U.S. military was stepping up preparations for a relief mission in Myanmar, but he said he wouldn't imagine air dropping aid without permission from the closed regime.

Running gunbattles raged in parts of Beirut on Thursday after the leader of Hezbollah accused Lebanon's Western-backed government of declaring war on his Shiite militant group. At least four people were killed and eight wounded in the capital.

NEWARK, N.J. -- An actor who played Santa Claus and painted children's faces was arrested on child sex charges early Thursday after an international manhunt, just the second time Interpol sought the public's help to find a suspected pedophile.

SALT LAKE CITY -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says a federal prosecutor has been assigned to look for ways to help tackle the problems associated with polygamy in Southwestern states.

Police found the naked body of Diana Sylvester near her Christmas tree.

JERUSALEM -- Frustrated by years of on-and-off peace talks with Israel, Palestinians are losing hope for an independent homeland, and some are proposing a radically different cause: equal rights for Palestinians and Jews in a shared state.

SAN DIEGO -- San Diego State University has suspended six fraternities after a sweeping drug investigation that landed dozens of students in jail on suspicion of openly dealing drugs on campus.

JERUSALEM -- Sirens wailed across Israel Wednesday, bringing the nation to a standstill in a solemn two-minute ritual on the country's Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and victims of Palestinian suicide bombings and other attacks.

YANGON, Myanmar -- Hungry people swarmed the few open shops and fistfights broke out over food and water in Myanmar's swamped Irrawaddy delta Wednesday as a top U.S. diplomat warned that the death toll from a devastating cyclone could top 100,000.

JOHANNESBURG, S. Africa -- Gangs of ruling party youths beat to death 11 opposition activists in a single remote Zimbabwean town Monday, setting a gruesome new standard for the post-election violence surging through that nation, according to opposition party officials.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush said Wednesday that Cuba's post-Fidel Castro leadership has made only "empty gestures at reform" and rejected calls for easing of U.S. restrictions on the communist island.

Sam Aubrey

STILLWATER, Okla. -- Sam Aubrey, who played on a national championship team in 1946 and succeeded Henry Iba as Oklahoma State's basketball coach, has died. He was 85.