BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — Iraq's deadliest bombing in more than two years has killed at least 136 people and wounded as many as 600. Officials two suicide car bombs blew up almost simultaneously outside the Justice Ministry and city government offices in downtown Baghdad. At least 25 staff members of the Baghdad Provincial Council, which runs the city, are among the dead.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The leader of the Pakistani Taliban is threatening to make Pakistan "another Afghanistan or Iraq" if the army doesn't call off its anti-militant offensive. Pakistan is claiming progress in its assault on a Taliban stronghold along the Afghan border.

KABUL (AP) — Riot police in the Afghan capital fired shots in the air to disperse a demonstration by nearly 1,000 students today. They burned an effigy of President Barack Obama and chanted "down with Americans" to protest the rumored desecration of a Quran by U.S. troops. U.S. and Afghan authorities say the rumor isn't true and blame the Taliban for starting it.

ORANGE PARK, Fla. (AP) — The Florida town of Orange Park is hosting a carnival-like fundraiser today for the family of a murdered 7-year-old. A raffle, bake sale and bounce house are part of the effort to raise money so Somer Thompson's mother won't have to go back to work right away. The girl's body was found in a Georgia landfill Wednesday.

LILONGWE, Malawi (AP) — An official for Madonna's African charity says the star has arrived in Malawi to visit the school for girls she is building. The official says Madonna will take part in a groundbreaking ceremony for the school tomorrow. Two of Madonna's four children were adopted from Malawi.