AFP - US chemists have identified the odor that emanates from skin cancer, a development that researchers hope will advance diagnosis and treatment of the deadly disease, said a study out Wednesday.

AFP - Three ships -- German, Iranian and Japanese -- were hijacked by pirates off the Somali coast Thursday in an unprecedented series of attacks, a maritime watchdog said.

AP - U.S.-led coalition troops battled a group of militants in eastern Afghanistan, killing over 30 insurgents, while three NATO soldiers were killed in a roadside blast elsewhere, officials said Thursday.

Reuters - Lehman Brothers shares fell 4.3 percent on Thursday after a newspaper reported the bank had tried to sell a stake of itself to South Korean or Chinese parties and failed, and a Citigroup analyst reduced his estimates for the sector.

AP - Russia has halted all military cooperation with NATO, the Western alliance said Thursday, in the latest sign of East-West tension over the invasion of Georgia.

Reuters - Giant magnetic tentacles are the force that keeps a lacy pattern of glowing gas filaments in the giant elliptical galaxy NGC 1275 from evaporating in the surrounding hot gas or collapsing under the weight of their own gravity, British astronomers said on Wednesday.

AFP - Two suicide bombers blew themselves up outside Pakistan's main army munitions factory Thursday, killing 64 workers in the deadliest attack on a military installation in the country's history.