World datelines

Afghanistan

KABUL — Several key Taliban leaders and about 50 fighters have been killed in a NATO-led operation to clear militants from Afghanistan's violence-plagued south, officials said Wednesday. Afghan forces are participating in the offensive in Kandahar's Panjwayi and Zhari districts.

Bulgaria

SOFIA — Death sentences handed down in Libya for five Bulgarian nurses accused of deliberately infecting 400 children with HIV triggered outrage Wednesday in Bulgaria, where the rulings were described as "a political farce" and a "mockery of justice." A court in Tripoli on Tuesday convicted the nurses and a Palestinian doctor and sentenced them to death, despite scientific evidence the youngsters had the virus before the medical workers arrived in Libya.

China

BEIJING — Ma Ji, a roly-poly Chinese comedian best known for his mastery of puns and satirical dialogues with other performers, died Wednesday of a heart attack, state media reported. He was 72.

Egypt

CAIRO — The deputy leader of al-Qaida, Ayman al-Zawahri, told the United States it is negotiating with the wrong people in Iraq, suggesting in a video released Wednesday that his terror group was the real power broker in the country.

Greece

THESSALONIKI — Rival groups of monks wielding crowbars and sledgehammers clashed Wednesday over control of a 1,000-year-old monastery in a community regarded as the cradle of Orthodox Christianity, police said. Seven monks were injured and transported by boat to receive treatment.

Iran

Britain and France circulated a revised U.N. sanctions resolution against Iran Wednesday and predicted it would be approved on Friday after it was amended to meet Russian objections.

Jamaica

KINGSTON — Neville Willoughby, a respected Jamaican radio broadcaster known for his interviews with reggae legend Bob Marley, has died from injuries sustained in a car accident. He was 69.

Malaysia