FRANCE-ATTACKS
PARIS - Charlie Hebdo's defiant new issue sold out before dawn around Paris on Wednesday, with scuffles at kiosks over dwindling copies of the paper fronting the Prophet Muhammad. In the city still shaken by the deaths of 17 people at the hands of Islamic extremists, a controversial comic who appeared to be praising the men was detained.
TURKEY-CHARLIE HEBDO
ANKARA, Turkey - Police on Wednesday stopped trucks as they left a pro-secular newspaper's printing center and checked the paper's content after it decided to print a selection of Charlie Hebdo caricatures, the paper said. Cumhuriyet newspaper said police allowed distribution to proceed after verifying that the satirical French newspaper's controversial cover featuring the Prophet Muhammad was not published.
UKRAINE-AID CRUNCH
DONETSK, Ukraine - Valentina Dudareva's voice cracks with despair as she stands in the snow, surveying the bombed-out windows of her apartment block in Donetsk, the separatist capital in eastern Ukraine. Cold, poor and hungry, Dudareva is among the masses of people trapped by fighting between the government and Russian-backed militias, reliant on outside help that often fails to arrive. More than six months have passed since Dudareva last received her pension - and the Russian food aid packages so trumpeted by rebel authorities are nowhere to be seen.
EUROPE-BOND PURCHASES
FRANKFURT, Germany - An adviser to the European Court of Justice says the European Central Bank's offer to purchase government bonds of troubled countries - a key backstop in Europe's struggle against its debt crisis - is legal in principle. The bond purchase program helped calm market turmoil that threatened to break up the euro bloc when it was announced in 2012. It was never implemented, but its mere existence reassured markets.
ITALY-POLITICS
ROME - Italy's President Giorgio Napolitano has resigned as promised, less than two years after accepting an unprecedented second term as head of state because squabbling lawmakers couldn't agree on a successor.
RUSSIA-ECONOMY
MOSCOW - Russia's finance minister has promised to maintain a tight lid on spending as the country faces its worst economic downturn in 15 years. Anton Siluanov said an earlier plan to boost government spending by nearly 12 percent this year is unrealistic, and some of the planned expenditures should be cut.
BRITAIN-TAXI FEUD
LONDON - A European Union court has handed London's embattled taxi drivers some good news - they can keep their right to drive in bus lanes. Drivers of London's iconic - but expensive - black cabs face increasing competition from cheaper private cab firms and drivers from ride-sharing apps such as Uber.
AUSTRIA-HITLER'S HOUSE
VIENNA - Austria's government is looking at options that would allow it to expropriate the house where Adolf Hitler spent his early childhood. The move is the latest in efforts by the government to ensure that the house is not turned to a use that makes it even more of a shrine for Hitler's admirers.
BRITAIN-BURBERRY
LONDON - Luxury goods maker Burberry is reporting falling sales in Asia because pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong disrupted trade during China's crucial "Golden Week" national holiday.