The U.S. military says coalition forces have captured an alleged Shi'ite militia leader and three other suspects during a raid south of Baghdad.

The Pakistani military says it has successfully test-fired a medium-range, nuclear capable ballistic missile.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and foreign minister colleagues from France and Britain issued a statement Thursday urging global pressure on Burma's military government to end human rights abuses and return the country to civilian rule. The appeal was issued at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland after Rice's departure for Washington. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.

Following a day of debate, the U.N. Security Council could not agree on language for a statement condemning the deterioration of the situation in the Gaza Strip. From U.N. headquarters in New York, VOA's Margaret Besheer has more.

The Society for Ecological Restoration International (SER) issued a position statement on global climate change during its joint conference with the Ecological Society of America (ESA) “Ecological Restoration in a Changing World” held this week in San Jose, CA. The SER position statement was endorsed by the ESA governing board. An estimated 4,500 people attended the meeting.

Microsoft Corp. issued the following statement in support of the 46-month sentence handed down by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia against Justin Harrison dba Sales International for trafficking in illicit certificates of authenticity for Microsoft® software:

Unless otherwise stated, all figures referenced below refer to the three months ended 30 June 2007 and the corresponding period last year.