UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - Iran will release American hiker Sarah Shourd "very soon," a diplomat at the Iranian mission at the United Nations announced Thursday.

BERLIN (AFP) - Germany's Bundesbank announced Thursday the resignation of a controversial member of the central bank, Thilo Sarrazin, accused of making racist remarks in a book published last month.

BANGUI (AFP) - Two attacks this week by Ugandan LRA rebels in the north of the Central African Republic left at 16 people dead including two civilians, the region's gendarmerie said Thursday.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The White House called on Iran to free all three detained US hikers, after the Iranian government said it would free one of the captives on Saturday.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US administration is weighing a possible direct appeal to a Florida pastor to ask him to call off plans to burn Korans, a Pentagon spokesman said Thursday.