The butterfly known as the Miami blue was once ubiquitous along the Florida coasts. But development and hurricanes shrank its habitat, and the last place it was seen was a state park in the Florida Keys in 2010.

For more than a year, it's been Bahia Honda State Park biologist Jim Duquesnel's mission to determine if the small butterfly, one of the rarest insects in the U.S., is still there, while fending off the iguanas threatening its habitat.

A fire swept through a prison in Honduras, killing at least 272 inmates, many of them burning to death in their cells, authorities said Wednesday.

Lucy Marder, chief of forensic medicine for the prosecutors' office, gave the death count to reporters in a radio news conference.

Syria's President Bashar Assad has decreed to hold a referendum for a new constitution on February 26, the official SANA state news agency reported on Wednesday.

"President Bashar Assad issued today a decree setting Sunday, February 26, as the date for the referendum on the draft constitution," SANA reported.

The international community must rule out military intervention as a solution to the Syrian crisis, the leader of a global Islamic group said Wednesday.

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary general of the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation, said he remained involved in "quiet diplomacy activities" with Syrian President Bashar Assad over the power struggle that has cost around 6,000 lives over the last 11 months. The violence has led to the country's most severe international isolation in more than four decades of Assad family rule.

The U.N. Security Council expressed concern Tuesday over food shortages in areas affected by clashes between Sudan and South Sudan and called on Khartoum to allow humanitarian access.

A statement by the council expressed "deep and growing alarm with the rising levels of malnutrition and food insecurity in some areas of Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile States in Sudan, which could reach emergency levels if not immediately addressed."

Iranian police and security forces deployed in several areas of Tehran on Tuesday, residents said, to head off any demonstration marking the anniversary of an opposition protest that resulted in two deaths and many arrests.

The forces transported by car, bus and motorbike, many in riot gear, took up positions on key squares and streets in the city, the residents said on condition of anonymity.

Novak Djokovic has been awarded the top state honor in Serbia.

President Boris Tadic has decorated the tennis great with the Karadjordjeva Star Medal, the highest honor in the Balkan country.

A string of blasts rattled Bangkok on Tuesday, seriously wounding a man believed to be Iranian when an explosive device he was carrying detonated in a residential area of the Thai capital.

The city has been on edge since the United States last month warned of a threat of a terrorist strike on Bangkok's tourist areas, but it was unclear whether there was any link.

Four pharmaceutical companies that make a crucial cancer drug for children that's suddenly in short supply are being urged to try to quickly step up production to prevent unnecessary deaths.

A senator and three doctor groups late Monday sent the pleas to the companies, saying that hospitals will run out of the drug in days to weeks, increasing chances that young patients who might otherwise survive will die.

World stock markets sagged Tuesday after ratings agency Moody's slapped credit downgrades on six European Union countries due to the region's weak economic outlook and uncertain attempts to implement reforms.

Benchmark oil hovered above $100 per barrel while the dollar rose against the euro and the yen.