Tara Todras-Whitehill / AP Karnit Goldwasser, left, wife of Israeli soldier Ehud Goldwasser, is comforted during her husband's funeral Thursday at a military cemetery in northern Israel.

ISRAEL

Thousands mourn at soldiers' funerals

NAHARIYA — Thousands of Israelis prayed and cried at funerals Thursday for two soldiers whose return from Lebanon in black coffins touched off a nationwide wave of anguish.

Across the border, a second day of celebrations swept Lebanon for the five militants freed by Israel in exchange for the soldiers' bodies. The five prayed at the grave of a slain Hezbollah military commander and vowed to keep fighting Israel.

The contrast in moods was tangible. In Israel, sorrowful pictures and sounds of the funerals of the two soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, dominated TV and radio broadcasts through the day, the tears of the widows and parents shown over and over.

AUSTRALIA

Pope tells followers to care for the planet

SYDNEY — Pope Benedict XVI said Thursday that mankind's "insatiable consumption" has scarred the earth and squandered its resources, telling followers that taking care of the planet is vital to humanity.

The 81-year-old pontiff, appearing rested and in good form, gave his first major speech for Roman Catholicism's World Youth Day before adoring crowds who had traveled from 168 countries to see him in Australia's largest city.

CAMBODIA

More troops sent to disputed border area

PREAH VIHEAR — Cambodia and Thailand sent more troops Thursday to their disputed border region surrounding an 11th century temple — despite agreeing to hold talks next week to avoid military action.

The standoff — now in its third day — is the latest escalation in a long-standing conflict over land that surrounds Preah Vihear temple, which is similar in style to the more famous Angkor Wat in northeastern Cambodia.

The confrontation came to a head last week when UNESCO approved Cambodia's application for World Heritage Site status for Preah Vihear.

SPAIN

Rulings move train attack closer to end

MADRID — A Spanish court absolved four men and upheld the acquittal of a fifth on Thursday in the convoluted legal proceedings relating to the 2004 Madrid commuter train bombings that killed 191 people in the deadliest attack by Islamic militants on European soil.

The rulings followed appeals of some of 21 convictions by a lower court after a five-month trial that ended in October. Seven other people were acquitted at that time.

Most dramatically, the court on Thursday upheld the acquittal of one of the bombing's accused masterminds, Rabei Osman, an Egyptian, who was found guilty in 2006 in Italy of belonging to a terrorist organization.

With the bulk of the convictions upheld and few channels of appeal now left available to those sentenced, some survivors said they saw Thursday's decisions as moving toward the closure one of the most painful episodes in Spain's modern history.

—From wire reports