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HOUSTON (Reuters) - A slim majority of Americans, including more conservatives and Republicans than previously, want to keep religion out of politics, a survey released on Thursday found.

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Rio de Janeiro police are in a "real war" against militias and drug gangs, the state governor in charge of the region said on Thursday, two days after gunmen murdered seven slum residents.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain have agreed to speak at a New York City forum on public service to be held on September 11, the organizers said on Thursday.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A white South African farmer who was sentenced to life imprisonment for feeding a black worker to a pack of lions was released on parole on Thursday after serving 3 years in jail, the SAPA news agency reported.

TBILISI (Reuters) - A U.S. Navy warship will head through the Bosphorus on Friday taking relief supplies to Georgia, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy in Europe said.

PARIS (Reuters) - France paid tribute on Thursday to its 10 soldiers killed in an ambush in Afghanistan, and the government said parliament would debate the army's presence there after the country's worst military loss in 25 years.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Thursday declined to rule on whether lawsuits seeking to target President George W. Bush's warrantless wiretapping are covered by secrecy laws or can be challenged in court.

CHESTER, Virginia (Reuters) - Presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Thursday he would assemble a foreign policy team of the "best and the brightest" and mentioned some people who may be considered for jobs if he wins the White House.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Health officials released a regulation on Thursday to protect health professionals who do not want to provide abortions or certain other health care services.

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic got his wish for a different judge on Thursday when the U.N. tribunal for former Yugoslavia assigned his war crimes case to a new chamber on procedural grounds.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When Democrats gather in Denver next week to nominate Barack Obama for president, they'll be joined by such uninvited guests as Republicans Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney.

CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - President George W. Bush on Thursday thanked Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, who resigned this week, for efforts in fighting terrorism and called Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to pledge support for going after extremists, the White House said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - It's show time for Barack Obama and John McCain, with back-to-back presidential nominating conventions offering them tightly-scripted spectacles designed to polish their images and highlight their messages.

QUERETARO, Mexico (Reuters) - Wealthy Mexicans, terrified of soaring kidnapping rates, are spending thousands of dollars to implant tiny transmitters under their skin so satellites can help find them tied up in a safe house or stuffed in the trunk of a car.

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil will extradite Colombian drug lord Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia within a week to face drug and homicide charges in the United States, a senior justice ministry official said on Thursday.

BIR NABALA, West Bank (Reuters) - Israel, under international pressure to ease restrictions on Palestinians, removed a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank on Thursday that had curbed movement outside a main Palestinian city.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Suicide blasts and sinking financial markets added pressure on Pakistan's government to tackle the nation's mounting problems on Thursday after President Pervez Musharraf quit but a split threatens to tear the coalition apart.

KABUL (Reuters) - More than a dozen civilians have been killed in an air strike by U.S.-led coalition troops in Afghanistan's eastern province of Laghman, two provincial officials said on Thursday.

TBILISI (Reuters) - Leila Inauri laughed grimly at the irony of her situation.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's chief negotiator said on Thursday a Palestinian uprising could reignite if the international community piled too much pressure on the sides to paper over differences and rush into an agreement on statehood.