BRISBANE, Australia, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- A large dust storm blanketed a rural area in northeastern Australia early Friday.

ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- Madagascar will hold elections in early 2010 to choose the members of the country's Parliament, the African country's military-backed leader says.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- Washington Mayor Adrian M. Fenty said signing a bill Friday that legalizes same-sex marriage is a "leap forward" for the District of Columbia.

KABUL, Afghanistan, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- NATO officials said Friday they will work with Afghan officials to investigate reports of civilian casualties from a military operation in Kandahar province.

AUSTIN, Minn., Dec. 18 (UPI) -- Authorities in Freeborn County, Minn., Friday said the man who was driving a bus that crashed in November, killing two people, will not face criminal charges.

OTTAWA, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- Canada's Supreme Court Friday denied a man a $200,000 insurance award, saying a rare side effect of genital herpes that paralyzed him was not an accident.

SASKATOON, Saskatchewan, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- The Canadian province of Saskatchewan's law banning biker gangs from wearing their "colors," or insignia, in public places is unconstitutional, a judge ruled.

NEW MADRID, Mo., Dec. 18 (UPI) -- The U.S. Geological Survey said the epicenter of Friday's 3.1-magnitude earthquake in the Midwestern United States was outside New Madrid, Mo.

ORLANDO, Fla., Dec. 18 (UPI) -- A judge in Orange County, Fla., ruled Friday that prosecutors can seek the death penalty against Casey Anthony, mother of slain 2-year-old Caylee Anthony.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- The U.S. Senate's top Republican, Mitch McConnell, Friday ripped the Senate majority leader's haste to push healthcare reform to a vote before Christmas.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- Broader research is needed in the area of healthcare utilization in regards to minorities in the United States, an expert says.

LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- The Mayon Volcano in the Albay Province of the Philippines is nearing possible eruption after days of volcanic activity, state volcanologists said Friday.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- Washington is committed to a strategic partnership with Pakistan that extends beyond plans for a regional U.S. military withdrawal in 2011, officials said.

JAKARTA, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- Police are hunting more suspects after killing a Papua separatist fighter believed to have been involved in the slaying of two Americans in 2002.

TEHRAN, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- The Iranian response to the opposition movement that emerged in the wake of disputed June elections has failed to quiet the voice of dissent, an activist says.