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-Thousands of demonstrators have marched through London to protest the war in Iraq and demand the withdrawal of British troops from that country .
-Families of soldiers killed in the conflict joined the protesters who carried banners with such slogans as " Bush Number One Terrorist " and " Stop the Bombings . "
-They marched from the Houses of Parliament to a rally in Hyde Park .
-Police put the number of marchers at 10,000 while organizers claimed it was 1,00,000 .
-The protest comes on the eve of the annual conference of Britain 's ruling Labor Party in the southern English seaside resort of Brighton .
-The party is divided over Britain 's participation in the Iraq conflict and the continued deployment of 8,500 British troops in that country .
-The London march came ahead of anti-war protests today in other cities , including Rome , Paris , and Madrid .
-The International Atomic Energy Agency is to hold second day of talks in Vienna Wednesday on how to respond to Iran 's resumption of low-level uranium conversion .
-Iran this week restarted parts of the conversion process at its Isfahan nuclear plant .
-Iranian officials say they expect to get access to sealed sensitive parts of the plant Wednesday , after an IAEA surveillance system begins functioning .
-The step will allow the facility to operate at full capacity .
-The European Union , with U.S. backing , has threatened to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council , which could impose sanctions if it finds Tehran has violated the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty .
-Iran 's new President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday that European incentives aimed at persuading Iran to end its nuclear fuel program are an insult to the Iranian nation .
-Two Germans and four Nigerian oil workers were kidnapped by armed militants during a raid on a boat in Nigeria 's southern oil-rich Delta region .
-An official with the German firm Bilfinger Berger , Thomas Horbach , said the gunmen stopped the supply boat Wednesday as it sailed from Delta State to Bayelsa State to inspect an offshore oil field owned by Royal-Dutch Shell .
-The German firm works as a sub-contractor for Shell .
-Militant groups frequently attack oil operations in the Niger Delta to demand social services and better job opportunities from multinational companies .
-Poor residents often complain they have been cheated out of the huge riches extracted from their tribal lands - where the bulk of Nigeria 's 2.3 million barrels of petroleum are pumped daily .
-Suspected Islamist rebels have fired mortar shells at the palace used by Somalia 's interim President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmad .
-It was not immediately clear if the president was in the palace in Mogadishu when the attack occurred or if anyone was hurt .
-Local news reports said at least five mortar shells hit the palace compound and other mortars were fired elsewhere in Mogadishu Wednesday .
-The attacks occurred after the government said it will go ahead with a reconciliation conference to which more than 1,300 Somali elders , warlords and politicians are invited .
-Iraqi military officials say tanks and troops have arrived in the northern city Mosul for a new offensive against al Qaida in Iraq fighters .
-Officials will not say how many troops have arrived in the Sunni Arab and Kurdish city , where bombings last week killed at least 34 people and wounded more than 200 .
-U.S. commanders have not explained how American forces will participate in the offensive .
-Officials say al Qaida in Iraq fighters have fled successful campaigns against them in Anbar province and Baghdad to other northern provinces .
-Mosul is the largest city north of Baghdad and has long been a stronghold of Sunni militant fighters .
-In other violence , U.S. officials said one American soldier was killed while on patrol in Baghdad Sunday .
-Egyptian police have arrested at least 16 members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood as parts of the country prepare for parliamentary runoff elections Saturday .
-The arrests occurred Friday in Alexandria .
-A spokesman for the Brotherhood said the arrests are an attempt to cut the Brotherhood off from its supporters and punishment for winning parliamentary seats in earlier elections .
-The Muslim Brotherhood has tripled its strength in parliament in recent elections , raising the party 's total to 47 seats .
-In Saturday 's elections , voters will cast ballots in nine provinces where no candidate won a majority in the previous round of voting .
-The Muslim Brotherhood is banned as a political party , but it endorses so-called independent candidates whose allegiance to the party is known to voters .
-Hardline lawmakers in Pakistan 's North West Frontier Province have pushed through a law that aims to ensure " Islamic correctness " in public places and establishes a morality police to enforce decent behavior .
-A six-party coalition of religious based parties , the Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal , dominates the provincial assembly , so the bill was easily passed Thursday by a vote of 68-34 .
-The provincial governor must still sign the bill before it becomes law , a step seen only as a formality .
-The proposed law calls for setting up a " religious police force " to make sure people adhere to Islamic values in public places , and entertainment outlets close during weekly Friday prayers .
-Violators could be jailed for up to six months .
-The opposition has denounced the measure , comparing it to the draconian rule of the former Taleban in neighboring Afghanistan .
-British police say they have arrested a man who dressed as suicide bomber at a demonstration against the publication of cartoons depicting Islam 's Prophet Muhammad .
-Bedfordshire police said Tuesday that Omar Khayam was arrested in Bedford for breaching the conditions of his parole .
-Police said the British Home Office sought an investigation of Khayam 's behavior after he was photographed last week at a demonstration dressed in fatigues , a black cap , and a bulky belt .
-A Home Office spokesman told the Associated Press that if the behavior of a paroled offender gives cause for concern , he can be sent back to prison .
-The AP also reports Khayam has been on parole from prison since last year after serving half his six-year sentence for drug dealing .
-Pakistani officials say unidentified gunmen have killed three people , including a former government minister , in a semi-autonomous tribal region bordering Afghanistan .
-The officials say prominent tribal leader Malik Faridullah Khan was traveling in South Waziristan Sunday when his vehicle was ambushed in the Kani Wam area .
-His driver and a tribal elder were also killed .
-No one has claimed responsibility for the killings .
-The ambush came a day after a commander of Pakistani troops said the army has almost completely eliminated militants in South Waziristan .
-The area became a refuge for many al-Qaida and Taleban fighters after the Taleban government was ousted in Afghanistan in 2001 .
-A senior Pakistani military official says Pakistan wants to put what he calls the " sordid chapter " of proliferation by one of its top scientists behind it and build civilian nuclear ties with the United States .
-But he says Pakistan is not ready to make the nuclear scientist , Abdul Qadeer Khan , available for direct questioning over his sale of nuclear parts and secrets to states including Iran , Libya and North Korea .
-He said there are reasons of national sensitivities for not making him available .
-The Pakistani official was giving a background briefing to a small group of reporters in Washington .
-Khan admitted in 2004 that he operated a worldwide clandestine network to sell nuclear technology in the black market .
-He was placed under house arrest in Islamabad , but not jailed because he is considered the father of Pakistan 's nuclear bomb .
-U.S. Army officials said Wednesday that they will not renew a controversial multi-billion dollar contract with the Halliburton company to provide logistical support to U.S. troops in Iraq and elsewhere .
-Halliburton has been providing a long list of services , from meals to communication , for the military for several years .
-Critics of Halliburton include auditors and congressional Democrats .
-They say the company has produced some shoddy work and charges too much money .
-The company strongly denies the allegations .
-When the huge contract is put out for re-bidding , several companies will get a chance to compete for portions of the work .
-Representatives from the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Business Advisory Council are holding meetings this week to finalize their annual report for APEC leaders who will hold a summit on September 8 and 9 .
-VOA 's Nancy-Amelia Collins reports from Sydney .
-Energy , security , climate change , the World Trade Organization 's stalled negotiations , and investment are all expected to be among the major topics in the annual report of the APEC Business Advisory Council , known as ABAC .
-Tim Harcourt , the chief economist of the Australian Trade Commission , says ABAC plays an important role by informing governments where there are problems .
-" The most important thing the business groups can do is to tell the governments where there are logjams , where there are obstacles , where things can improve , " Harcourt said .
-" I think actually ABAC has played a pretty good leadership on that in talking about trade facilitation and basically making sure standards are consistent and harmonious across the region . "
-ABAC comprises up to three members of the private sector of each of the 21 economies that make up APEC .
-It meets three times a year .
-It was made a permanent body in 1995 to provide an independent business perspective within APEC .
-Members represent a range of business sectors , including medium and small businesses .
-ABAC says there is a need for businesses to improve energy efficiency and to encourage conservation practices , and is expected to include this in its annual report .
-Harcourt , of the Australian Trade Commission , says the ABAC report will also discuss ways to enhance regional cooperation .
-" I reckon they 'll talk a little bit about customs and quarantine , a little bit about having consistent security arrangements around the region , " Harcourt said .
-" And I think they 'll want a one-stop shop in terms of combining security , immigration , customs , and quarantine together … just to make sure it 's more streamlined and provides more certainty . "
-ABAC is the only non-governmental body that has an official role and formal dialogue with the leaders of the APEC economies .
-It will present its annual report at the APEC leaders meeting on Saturday .
-Sudan 's government says it will order troops to end attacks immediately in Darfur , and is asking rebels to do the same .
-Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail says Sudanese troops will also withdraw to positions held before an April cease-fire , if rebels in the western region agree to stop attacks .
-Mr. Ismail announced the decision after meeting with officials from the United Nations and African Union in Khartoum Sunday .
-In recent weeks , AU officials say Sudanese troops and rebels have repeatedly violated the April truce .
-Saturday , the head of AU forces in Darfur accused Sudanese government helicopters of bombing rebel sites in the South Darfur village of Labado .
-Khartoum says troops were defending their positions from rebel attacks .
-Aid workers say some relief efforts have been suspended in South Darfur due to recent attacks .
-Indonesian police have arrested three men in connection with the October 1 Bali bombings that left 23 people dead .
-Indonesian police said Wednesday the men were flown to Bali from neighboring Java island for questioning at Bali police headquarters .
-Australian and French news agencies say at least one of the men arrested ( Cholily ) was captured during a series of counter-terrorism raids last week in Indonesia .
-The raids ended with the death of alleged extremist bombmaker Azahari bin Husin .
-Indonesian authorities blame Azahari bin Husin for orchestrating last month 's attacks in Bali as well as the 2002 Bali bombings that killed more than 200 people .
-Gunmen have shot and killed a Roman Catholic nun and her bodyguard at the hospital where she worked in Islamist-controlled Mogadishu , Somalia .
-Some witnesses to the Sunday shooting said they feared the attack was linked to Muslim anger toward Pope Benedict .
-Two men with pistols attacked the nun , Sister Leonella Sgorbati , after she finished teaching a medical school class at the hospital in southern Mogadishu .
-Officials say one suspect was arrested .
-In Rome , a Vatican spokesman deplored the attack and said he hoped it was an isolated event , and not irrationality arising from comments made by the Pope which angered some Muslims .
-Authorities in Mogadishu have not determined a motive for the shooting .
-The pope has said he meant no offense to Muslims when he quoted a 14 century Byzantine emperor as saying some teachings of the Prophet Muhammed brought evil to the world .
-Pakistani forces have targeted militants in the northwest for a third day , launching airstrikes that they say killed at least nine suspected insurgents .
-Helicopter gunships Saturday pounded militant hideouts in the Orakzai tribal region , where many Taliban militants are believed to have fled to avoid an earlier military offensive in nearby South Waziristan .
-The Pakistani military launched its offensive in Orakzai to hunt Taliban insurgents .
-So far , nearly 100 militants have been reported killed in the region since Thursday .
-On Friday , five soldiers were killed when dozens of militants stormed a military checkpoint in Orakzai .
-At least 32 suspected militants were killed when troops launched a counter-attack .
-Elsewhere in the northwest , authorities on Saturday found the bodies of six people who had been shot dead in the Kurram region along the Afghan border .
-The six were kidnapped a few days ago .
-The U.S. military in Afghanistan says coalition forces killed 14 Taleban militants in separate clashes this week .
-The military said Saturday 13 guerrillas were killed in two encounters in the central province of Uruzgan .
-One Afghan soldier was killed and four others , including a U.S. soldier , were injured in the fighting .
-Another militant was killed by U.S. troops in eastern Paktika province .
-Separately , officials say four British soldiers from the NATO-led peacekeeping mission were wounded early Saturday in an attack in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif .
-It was not immediately clear what motivated the attack .
-Taleban rebels are not known to operate in northern Afghanistan and the area has been spared much of the bloodshed that has plagued southern and eastern regions .
-Russian officials say at least five more people have died from a wave of extremely cold weather gripping the nation , bringing the death toll to 43 in the past week .
-Emergency medical officials say the five victims died in Moscow from exposure , and another 19 people are hospitalized with hypothermia .
-Russia 's Itar-Tass news agency quotes a medical official as saying some of the victims were intoxicated or homeless .
-The unusually cold weather is affecting Russia , the Baltic states of Lithuania , Latvia and Estonia , and is moving into the Nordic countries .
-The death toll is expected to rise as temperatures continue to hover around minus 30 degrees Celsius or lower overnight .
-Emergency power rationing has been put into effect around Moscow .
-Health officials in Vietnam say a deadly strain of the bird flu virus has killed a second Vietnamese man this week , raising the country 's death toll from the virus to 50 .
-Officials say the 27-year old man from Vietnam 's northern Ninh Binh province died late Thursday and tested positive for the H5N1 strain of bird flu .
-Officials say the man fell ill after slaughtering two chickens at his home .
-He is the third person to die from avian influenza in Vietnam this year .
-Not counting the latest death , the World Health Organization says 227 people around the world have died from bird flu since 2003 .
-Most of the world 's cases , 103 , have occurred in Indonesia .
-Witnesses in Somalia say insurgents have burned and dragged the bodies of at least two soldiers through the streets of Mogadishu , after a clash between militants and Ethiopian forces killed seven people .
-The violence erupted Wednesday after insurgents attacked Ethiopian tanks rolling through an insurgent stronghold near the headquarters of the former Defense Ministry in southern Mogadishu .
-Witnesses say the Ethiopian troops returned heavy fire and that several people were wounded in the fighting .
-Ethiopia deployed soldiers to Somalia last December to help the interim government push an Islamist movement from power .
-Somalia 's internationally-recognized government has since been struggling to contain regular outbursts of violence by fighters loyal to the fallen Islamist movement .
-The African Union has deployed troops to Somalia to replace the Ethiopian forces , which Addis Ababa plans to withdraw .
-Top Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia says Israeli and Palestinian mediators have agreed to prepare a document outlining their progress toward a peace accord .
-In remarks to reporters , Qureia said the two sides agreed during recent meetings to begin writing out their positions on all issues discussed during peace negotiations .
-He did not elaborate on why negotiators had come to the decision .
-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas resumed U.S.-brokered peace talks last November , but progress has been slow .
-The two sides have expressed hope at reaching a peace deal before U.S. President George Bush leaves office early next year .
-But Qureia said Wednesday that reaching a peace agreement with Israel before Mr. Bush leaves office will take a " miracle . "
-He told reporters in the West Bank that there is still room for progress in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations .
-The Israeli military says Major General Udi Adam - the head of the army 's Northern Command - has announced his resignation .
-A military statement Wednesday , said General Adam has asked to leave his post " as soon as possible , " and the chief of staff has accepted the request to begin the process of his replacement .
-Adam was widely expected to leave the army after he was pushed aside near the end of the 34-day war against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon .
-He was replaced by another general as " coordinator of operations in Lebanon . "
-Israeli media say Adam had several disagreements with the army chief , Lieutenant General Dan Halutz , over the conduct of the war .
-A Washington-based research institute says Pakistan is building a nuclear reactor that could produce enough plutonium for 40 to 50 nuclear weapons a year .
-The Institute for Science and International Security reports that satellite photos show a possible construction site for a larger nuclear reactor near the small one in the Khushab district of Punjab province .
-The report says such a reactor could produce over 200 kilograms of weapons-grade plutonium , good for 40 to 50 nuclear weapons a year .
-According to some media reports , Pakistan is now capable of producing plutonium for just two warheads a year .
-Pakistan 's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam declined to say whether a new reactor is being constructed , but she said the presence of a nuclear weapons program and facilities at Khushab are well known .
-The American Diabetes Association reports the disease is the leading cause of new cases of blindness among adults .
-It is the leading cause of kidney failure .
-The rate of amputation is 10 times higher among those who suffer from the disease .
-Experts say those who learn how to manage the disease early , can live healthier and more normal lives .
-VOA 's June Soh found camps that provide children with this chronic disease a positive approach to living with diabetes while letting them just be kids .
-Amy Katz Narrates .
-Cuba and Panama have said they will restore consular relations , months after Havana broke ties with Panama City for pardoning four men convicted in connection with an assassination attempt against Cuban President Fidel Castro .
-The countries agreed to reopen their consulates , following a meeting Friday between Panamanian President Martin Torrijos and Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage .
-The meeting took place on the sidelines of the Ibero-American Summit in San Jose , Costa Rica , where heads of state were meeting to discuss a candidate to head the Organization of American States and other regional issues .
-Cuba severed ties with Panama in August , hours after Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso , in her final days in office , pardoned the men , preventing their extradition to Cuba .
-They were convicted of plotting to kill Mr. Castro during the 2000 Ibero-American summit in Panama City .
-The Israeli army has killed a Palestinian youth in the northern Gaza Strip and wounded at least three other people .
-The army says it targeted a man who was collecting a rocket launcher from an area used to fire rockets at Israel recently .
-Palestinian medical sources say the Israeli strike killed a teenager .
-The Israeli military began an offensive in Gaza after militants kidnapped an Israeli soldier in June .
-More than 200 Palestinians have been killed in the offensive .
-On Sunday , Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said his Hamas-led government will not recognize Israel .
-He said an Arab peace plan for the region is problematic because it requires Palestinians to recognize Israel in exchange for an Israeli pullout from Palestinian territories .
-He spoke after a week of deadly political infighting between Hamas and the rival Fatah party of President Mahmoud Abbas .
-U.S. automaker Chrysler has opened a $ 570 million engine plant in northern Mexico .
-During the ceremonial startup of the Saltillo plant Friday , Mexican President Felipe Calderon said Chrysler 's sixth plant in Mexico will create 700 jobs .
-Mr. Calderon said Mexico has become a worldwide leader in the auto industry .
-Chrysler plans to build its new fuel-efficient Pentastar V-6 engine for Chrysler , Dodge , Jeep and Ram vehicles .
-Mexican officials say the new plant will have the capacity to build 4,40,000 engines per year .
-A U.S. jury has found that drug maker Merck is not liable for the heart attack suffered by a man taking its painkiller Vioxx .
-The New Jersey jurists agreed with Merck that job stress and health risks caused the 60-year old postal worker to have a heart attack four years ago .
-The plaintiff argued Vioxx was responsible .
-The jury also rejected the man 's claim that Merck failed to properly warn users about the drug 's risks .
-Merck withdrew the popular drug last year after a study showed it doubled the risk of heart problems in long-term users .
-Merck is facing thousands of other lawsuits over Vioxx .
-Thursday 's verdict is only the second in a Vioxx case .
-In the first , Merck was ordered to pay millions of dollars to the widow of a Vioxx user .
-Merck is appealing that decision .
-The rumors are TRUE : Nicole Ritchie is pregnant .
-Speaking to ABC News interviewer Dianne Sawyer , the 25-year-old co-star of TV 's The Simple Life said she is almost four months along in her pregnancy .
-She said the father is her boyfriend , Joel Madden of the rock band Good Charlotte .
-Ritchie also spoke about her guilty plea last week to driving under the influence and the resulting four-day jail sentence .
-" I have a responsibility and it 's something that I did wrong , and if I could personally apologize to every single person that has lost a loved one from drunk driving , I would , " she said .
-" And unfortunately I ca n't , but this is my way of paying my dues and taking responsibility and being an adult . "
-The interview airs August 2 and 3 on Good Morning America , and later August 3 on 20/20 .
-U.S. Senator John Warner of the southeastern state of Virginia , a prominent Republican figure in the debate over the war in Iraq , says he will retire after finishing his term in 2009 .
-Warner told supporters outside of the University of Virginia Friday that he will not seek a sixth term in the 2008 elections .
-The former chairman of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee has openly criticized President Bush 's handling of the war in Iraq .
-He called on Mr. Bush earlier this month to begin withdrawing some U.S. troops from Iraq .
-His retirement will leave open what would have been a relatively safe seat for Republicans in the fight for Senate control in the elections .
-Democrats will now have a better chance to protect or expand their one-seat majority in the Senate .
-When he leaves office , the 80-year-old former Navy secretary will have served 30 years as a U.S. senator .
-The United Nations says December 's Indian Ocean tsunami caused around $ 520 million in damage to fishing industries in seven of the worst hit countries .
-The U.N. 's Food and Agricultural Organization ( FAO ) said the tsunami destroyed or damaged more than 1,11,000 fishing vessels in the region .
-It said the loss was significant in a region where fishing provides a vital source of food .
-The FAO 's estimate includes damage to fishing industries in Indonesia , Maldives , Somalia , Sri Lanka and Thailand .
-The agency says it has sent experts to help rebuild fishing industry infrastructure lost in the disaster and is developing strategies for long-term recovery in the region .
-Officials in Indonesia say another person has died from bird flu , bringing the country 's death toll from the disease to 96 since the outbreak started in 2003 .
-The latest victim was a 16-year-old girl from the town of Bekasi , on the eastern outskirts of Jakarta .
-Officials say she died Tuesday .
-Monday , officials reported that a 32-year-old woman from an area just west of Jakarta died of bird flu last week , at her home in the city of Tangerang .
-A statement from the health ministry said the woman 's family kept chickens in their backyard .
-Humans are usually infected with bird flu by direct contact with infected poultry , but experts fear the H5N1 virus may mutate into a form easily transmitted between people .
-Scientists fear such a mutation could spark a global pandemic with a potential death toll of millions .
-Thailand says it has photo evidence to prove its claim that Islamic militants responsible for violence in Thailand 's Muslim-majority south are training in neighboring Malaysia .
-Thai Deputy Interior Minister Sutham Saengprathum says the photos show the militants training in Malaysia 's northern Kelantan state , which borders southern Thailand .
-He said if Malaysia wants to see the photos , Bangkok will provide them .
-Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has said he believes some of the insurgents have been trained in Malaysia , Indonesia and southern Thailand .
-Malaysia and Indonesia have demanded proof of Bangkok 's allegations .
-More than 500 people have been killed this year in an insurgency that some say is supported by extremist Muslims in Indonesia and Malaysia .
-Anti-Japanese protests in the western Chinese city of Shanghai turned violent Saturday , with protesters pelting the Japanese consulate with rocks , bottles and eggs .
-Several thousand people took to the streets of Shanghai as part of a new wave of anti-Japanese protests over Japan 's bid for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council and Tokyo 's alleged downplaying of war atrocities .
-In Beijing , police are out in force waiting for protests to begin in the capital .
-State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan told the official Xinhua news agency that China 's government is urging people to protest in a calm and orderly manner .
-Japan 's Foreign Minister , Nobutaka Machimura , arrives Sunday in Beijing for talks with his Chinese counterpart , Li Zhaoxing , to discuss relations between the two countries .
-Organizers of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London have promised the " greenest games " in history and sought to soothe concerns about the rising cost of the event .
-With 2,012 days to go until the Games get under way , organizers said the design would champion low waste , low carbon emissions and environmentally friendly transportation .
-The Olympic Delivery Authority has promised to cut emissions 50 percent by generating energy on site and using renewable energy .
-Prime Minister Tony Blair said London is farther ahead in preparations at this stage than any other previous Olympic host city .
-The British government wants to have the Olympic budget finalized early this year , but costs have already risen substantially since London won the bid in July of 2005 .
-A select committee report due Wednesday is expected to be highly critical of the government 's financing of the Games .
-China 's giant pandas have been on endangered species lists for nearly 30 years .
-There are only about 1,600 pandas still living in the wild in China .
-One of the 2008 Olympic mascots is modeled on a panda called Jing Jing .
-Conservationists hope she will help draw attention to the threats facing the giant panda -- one of China 's national symbols .
-Sam Beattie reports from Jing Jing 's home in Sichuan province .
-British defense officials say 14 British military personnel have been killed in a crash of a NATO aircraft in southern Afghanistan .
-A NATO spokesman says the aircraft went off the radar and crashed in an open area near Kandahar Saturday .
-Officials say the aircraft was supporting a NATO mission in the country 's south , but there is no indication of enemy action causing the crash .
-The crash comes as NATO forces launched an offensive to drive Taleban remnants out of Kandahar .
-Officials say " Operation Medusa " is aimed at removing the Taleban threat so that stability , reconstruction and development can be achieved in the area .
-Sri Lankan authorities say a prominent Tamil journalist was found shot dead Friday in Colombo , hours after he was abducted by several attackers as he left a restaurant .
-Dharmeratnam Sivaram was a board member of the pro-rebel TamilNet Web site and a columnist for Sri Lanka 's english newspaper , the Daily Mirror .
-Mr. Sivaram 's Web site became popular for ongoing reports on the Sri Lankan civil war and was a prominent supporter of the Tamil Tiger rebel movement .
-Mr. Sivaram , who was also brutally attacked in 2001 , was found near a lake gagged with gunshot wounds to the head .
-No one claimed responsibility for the killing .
-Japan and North Korea say they are considering a resumption of bilateral talks as part of efforts to normalize relations .
-Japanese media reported Monday that the two countries hope to arrange to hold the talks in Beijing in early November .
-The talks could come before six-party talks on North Korea 's nuclear ambitions resume .
-Japan and North Korea have not had formal bilateral talks for about a year .
-Tokyo and Pyongyang are at odds over North Korea 's nuclear weapons program and the North 's kidnapping of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s .
-A human rights group has accused coalition forces in Iraq of failing to secure evidence considered vital to the upcoming war crimes trial of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein .
-Human Rights Watch , in a report released Thursday , said coalition forces failed to stop people from stealing thousands of Iraqi government documents in the months after the 2003 invasion of Iraq .
-The group also accused troops of failing to stop people from damaging several mass graves in the war-torn country .
-The Associated Press quotes a U.S. Defense Department spokeswoman as saying it has not reviewed the report .
-Saddam Hussein was arraigned in July at a U.S. military base on the outskirts of Baghdad .
-He faces charges of war crimes , genocide and crimes against humanity .
-Egypt 's government and the World Health Organization say three Egyptian children have been hospitalized with the deadly form of avian flu .
-The children come from different parts of the country .
-WHO says they are receiving treatment and are in stable condition .
-The organization says the children had a history of contact with dead birds .
-Thirty two Egyptians have contracted the H5N1 form of avian flu .
-Thirteen of them have died .
-Egypt has had the largest number of human bird flu cases outside of Asia .
-The head of the U.N. investigation into the Iraq oil-for-food program says Saddam Hussein illegally obtained more money from oil smuggling than from corruption in the U.N. program .
-Former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker says the smuggling began before the start of the oil-for-food program , and was known to the United Nations Security Council .
-In an interview with the U.S. government-funded alHurra television station , Mr. Volcker said there is a lot of confusion about how much money Saddam obtained from the oil-for-food program itself .
-He refused to provide specific estimates , but said large amounts that have been reported in the media were from smuggling and not from funds diverted from the program .
-The United Nations created the oil-for-food program after the first Gulf War to allow Iraq to sell oil and use the profits for the Iraqi people 's humanitarian needs .
-Kyrgyzstan 's Justice Ministry says four people , including parliament member Tynychbek Akmatbayev , have been killed at a prison near Bishkek after inmates took them hostage .
-Interior Minister Murat Sutalinov is at the prison to head negotiations with the inmates .
-The ministry gave no other details .
-It is not clear if the hostage-takers made any demands .
-Mr. Akmatbayev was involved in negotiations on Wednesday at another Kyrgyz prison where a riot over poor living conditions forced the staff to evacuate earlier this week .
-That prison , also near Bishkek , remained surrounded by security forces on Thursday .
-A commercial airplane taking off from Western Europe has landed in Iraq for the first time in nearly 20 years .
-The plane , operated by France 's Aigle Azur airline , took off from Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris late Saturday and touched down at Baghdad International Airport early Sunday .
-Officials said this first flight was largely ceremonial , and that most of the passengers were French diplomats and business leaders .
-One of the passengers , French Foreign Trade Minister Anne-Marie Idrac , called it a historic day for cooperation between France and Iraq .
-Regular service between Paris and Baghdad is not expected to start for at least several weeks .
-Aigle Azur is just one of a number of airlines to start flying to Baghdad .
-Etihad and Emirates airlines , both operating out of the United Arab Emirates , started flying to Baghdad earlier this year .
-A new government report shows U.S. businesses added a moderate 1,11,000 new jobs in January .
-The Labor Department Friday issued a report that also showed the U.S. unemployment rate increased for the first time in three months - to 4.6 percent .
-According to the report , American workers earned an average of $ 17.09 an hour in January - a slight increase from the previous month .
-Analysts say the Department of Labor report will help ease worries that a tight labor market will significantly inflate wages and costs .
-Earlier this week , the U.S. central bank decided to maintain a key interest rate , despite the risk of inflation .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has denounced Colombia 's defense minister as an obstacle to peace and a pawn of the United States .
-Mr. Chavez reacted sharply Sunday to the defense minister 's remarks about a meeting between Mr. Chavez and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe .
-The two presidents met Friday to try to mend ties between their countries .
-After the meeting , Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said he hoped Venezuela would follow through with promises made during the meeting .
-During a televised speech Sunday , Mr. Chavez called on President Uribe to put his defense minister in his place .
-Tensions between the two countries rose in March when Colombia attacked a rebel camp in Ecuador .
-Venezuela responded by sending troops to the Colombian border .
-China has lashed out at a U.S. report critical of Chinese policies on religious freedom , saying such criticism could harm U.S. - China relations .
-In its annual report issued Wednesday , the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said China continues to be responsible for pervasive and severe violations of religious freedom , regularly imprisoning and harassing religious leaders and practitioners .
-In a statement Saturday Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao accused the U.S. body of attempting to interfere with Chinese internal affairs under the guise of religious freedom .
-He said such criticism runs counter to the good development of U.S - China relations .
-Liu said China protects the religious freedom of Chinese citizens according to law , and that citizens enjoy full freedom of religion .
-China 's communist government allows worship only in state-approved and state-monitored churches , temples and mosques .
-People who worship in unauthorized ways are subject to arrest .
-President Bush has issued 14 pardons to convicted criminals , and has commuted the prison sentences of two others .
-The pardons , announced Monday , include no high-profile names .
-They were for people convicted of such acts as bank embezzlement , making FALSE statements to the federal government , unlawfully killing wildlife , and committing drug offenses .
-Including Monday 's actions , Mr. Bush has granted 171 pardons and commuted eight sentences while U.S. president .
-Pardons are one of the president 's absolute powers , and in recent years it has become typical for the president to issue pardons as he prepares to leave office .
-White House officials say he made the pardon decisions on a case-by-case basis , and will continue to review clemency requests .
-Uganda 's government and rebels of the Lord 's Resistance Army are nearing a peace deal to end more than 20 years of conflict .
-Officials close to the negotiations say an accord signed Friday provides for the disarmament and demobilization of the LRA .
-The two sides signed a permanent cease-fire agreement last Saturday during peace talks in Sudan .
-However , there is still uncertainty the rebels will sign the final peace deal until rebel leader Joseph Kony is granted immunity from international prosecution .
-Kony is one of five LRA officials sought by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes .
-LRA fighters are accused of murdering thousands of civilians and raping and mutilating others during the long insurgency in northern Uganda .
-World number one men 's tennis player Roger Federer has been nearly unbeatable in the past year .
-But his warmup for the Australian Open has abruptly ended with a rare loss .
-The Swiss star was upset Wednesday by German Tommy Haas in the opening match of the Kooyong Classic in Melbourne .
-Because he was playing in exhibition tournament , the loss will not count on his Association of Tennis Professionals Tour record .
-The 41st ranked Haas fended off three break points while serving for the match and closed a 03-Jun , 06-Apr , 06-Apr win with an ace .
-Federer said he is completely healthy and has no concerns that the ankle problem that curtailed his last season would flare up before the Australian Open , which starts Monday .
-The European Space Agency says it has received the first images and scientific readings from the surface of Saturn 's moon Titan .
-Officials at agency headquarters in Germany Friday say information taken from the Huygens space probe show what looks like drainage channels on the moon .
-They say the surface has canyons that were most likely caused by some type of liquid .
-The space probe began transmitting data to the Cassini spacecraft while landing on Saturn 's largest moon earlier Friday .
-Scientists say the information from Huygens - operated jointly by the American , European and Italian space agencies - may provide clues about how primitive Earth evolved into a life-bearing planet .
-Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye has been released on bail , after a judge ruled his detention by the military was illegal .
-Police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of Dr. Besigye 's supporters who took to the streets in Kampala after his release Monday .
-Uganda 's military had detained Dr. Besigye since November , when he returned from self-imposed exile to run against President Yoweri Museveni in next month 's presidential election .
-A military tribunal has charged Dr. Besigye with terrorism and possessing illegal weapons .
-But a Ugandan High Court Judge , John Bosco Katutsi , said his detention was illegal because the High Court had suspended the military trial .
-Dr. Besigye still faces rape charges , for which a civilian trial began Monday .
-He has denied all the charges , which supporters say were trumped up to keep him from running for president .
-U.S. President Barack Obama says improvements in the American health care system are inevitable .
-Mr. Obama made his comments in the White House Rose Garden Monday as he nominated an African-American woman , Regina Benjamin , to become the U.S. Surgeon General .
-The president said " naysayers and cynics " should not bet against the passage of health insurance legislation .
-He also said inaction on the issue is not an option .
-Mr. Obama has vowed to sign a health care bill into law this year .
-Democrats in the House of Representatives say they are nearly ready to unveil their health care reform plan .
-Controversy over extending health coverage to uninsured Americans centers on how to pay for it .
-It is expected to cost $ 1 trillion over 10 years .
-World Bank member nations meeting in Washington have approved a debt relief plan for 17 African and Latin American countries that could total $ 37 billion over 40 years .
-World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz said two-thirds of the bank members have now approved the plan , meaning the bank could start forgiving debts in July .
-The move follows July 's pledge from the wealthy G-8 countries to cancel the debt of the world 's poorest countries , many of which are located in Africa .
-The 17 countries now eligible for World Bank debt relief are Benin , Bolivia , Burkina Faso , Ethiopia , Ghana , Guyana , Honduras , Madagascar , Mali , Mozambique , Nicaragua , Niger , Rwanda , Senegal , Tanzania , Uganda and Zambia .
-Iran has closed government offices and schools in Tehran for two days because of wind-blown dust that has polluted the capital .
-Government authorities have declared Tuesday and Wednesday a public holiday , and Iranian media say many domestic airline flights have been canceled .
-Medical authorities are advising people with heart and respiratory problems to stay inside .
-Iran 's Press TV says Tehran 's Air Quality Control Company has found the amount of potentially harmful particulate in the air has reached dangerous levels .
-The dust has blown in from Saudi Arabia and neighboring Iraq , where a severe sandstorm recently blanketed the capital , Baghdad .
-Sandstorms can be caused by heavy winds blowing across deserts , or across land that has lost its fertile top soil and greenery .
-Shortly before midnight a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd of young Israelis waiting to get into a beachfront nightclub in Tel Aviv .
-Israeli police say the bomber was spotted and prevented from entering the club .
-They say if he had gotten inside the carnage would have been even worse .
-It is unclear who was behind the attack with major Palestinian militant groups saying they had nothing to do with it .
-A statement released by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah vowed to track down and punish those responsible , saying this was an attempt to sabotage the peace process .
-The bombing shatters weeks of calm after Mr. Abbas declared a truce during a summit with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Egypt earlier this month .
-Indonesian officials say they have signed an initial agreement with Russia to build a space launch center on the remote island of Biak off the coast of Papua New Guinea .
-An Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman says senior officials from both countries reached the preliminary agreement last week .
-They say the island is well-suited for the project because of its proximity to the equator , which makes it easier to launch satellites into some Earth orbits .
-The spokesman says a formal agreement on the project will be signed in June when Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is scheduled to visit Moscow .
-An Algerian man goes on trial Monday in France for terrorist attacks on the Paris subway in 1995 .
-Prosecutors say Rachid Ramda helped fund at least three bombings on the Paris metro .
-If he is convicted , Ramda could get life in prison .
-The 38-year-old is already serving a 10-year sentence in France after he was convicted last year on terrorism charges .
-Police say Ramda operated from London where investigators say they found evidence that he sent money to terrorists .
-He is accused of helping fund attacks carried out by an Algerian militant organization the Armed Islamic Group .
-British police arrested Ramda in 1995 .
-He fought extradition to France for 10 years .
-In Monday 's trial , Ramda is facing charges of being an accomplice to at least three bombings on the Paris subway , including the July 25 , 1995 attack that killed eight people and injured more than 150 .
-The United Nations says Sudanese refugees have begun returning from the Central African Republic under a new deal between the countries and the U.N. refugee agency .
-The U.N. says the deal , which was signed Wednesday , will allow some 16,000 Sudanese refugees living in the CAR to voluntarily return home .
-It says the first group of refugees was scheduled to fly home Thursday .
-Five thousand refugees are expected to return to Sudan by April .
-The rest will go home by the end of the year .
-The deal is one of several involving Sudan reached this week by the refugee agency and Sudan 's neighbors .
-The U.N. says the other agreements will allow for the return of 13,000 Sudanese refugees living in the Democratic Republic of Congo , and for the return of nearly 7,000 Congolese refugees currently in Sudan .
-Police in Japan say a teacher stabbed to death a 12-year-old girl Saturday in the country 's third killing of a school girl in less than three weeks .
-Yu Hagino , 23 , was arrested at the murder scene , a school in the western city of Uji .
-Police say the suspect confessed to stabbing the girl with a knife after arguing with her .
-The killing follows the recent murders of two school girls in the space of just over a week .
-The two were killed in separate incidents as they walked home alone from elementary school along deserted roads .
-Radical Islamic cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed has called on all Muslims to leave Europe .
-In an interview with French television to be broadcast Monday , Mr. Bakri says Muslims will one day return to Europe , and the Islamic flag will fly over Downing Street , the home of Britain 's prime minister .
-The interview took place in Beirut where Mr. Bakri lives after the British government stripped him of his residency in its campaign to rein in radical Islamic leaders .
-Mr. Bakri triggered British outrage after the July 7 bombings in London when he said he would never tip off police if he knew a Muslim was about to carry out an attack .
-In the France 3 interview , Mr. Bakri says the backgrounds of the four suicide bombers in the London attacks prove the message of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden has reached moderate communities .
-Iran 's defense minister has denounced remarks by the top U.S. military commander , who said Washington has not ruled out the use of force against Iran to prevent it from making nuclear weapons .
-Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen said Sunday that the U.S. has a plan to strike Iran .
-But Admiral Mullen said he hopes the military option is not needed .
-Iran 's defense minister , Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi , said Tuesday that U.S. threats to attack his country violate the United Nations charter .
-He warned that Tehran has drawn up defensive plans that would make its enemies regret any attack .
-The United States and other Western countries accuse Iran of secretly developing nuclear weapons under cover of a civilian energy program - a charge Iran denies .
-Admiral Mullen said he hopes the combination of sanctions and diplomatic efforts will resolve the dispute .
-Georgia 's president has announced plans for his country to get emergency natural gas supplies from Iran to help end the country 's shortage of both gas and electricity .
-President Mikhail Saakashvili told cabinet members Friday that gas from Iran is expected to begin flowing into Georgia beginning Sunday or , at the latest , Monday .
-Residents in the former Soviet republic have been enduring freezing weather with limited supplies after explosions on pipelines delivering Russian natural gas .
-Russian authorities deny Georgian charges that they deliberately cut supplies , and insist the pipelines were sabotaged .
-Repairs are due to be completed by Sunday .
-Georgia is heavily dependent on Russian natural gas .
-President Saakashvili says the agreement with Iran shows his country has alternative sources .
-Millions of Georgians have also been without electricity because of a breakdown of a unit at a power station , as well as downed power lines .
-Peru 's former President , Alberto Fujimori , has told authorities he is trying to form a political alliance to support his bid to run in next April 's presidential election .
-In a visit to the Peruvian consulate in Tokyo Wednesday , Mr. Fujimori had his signature validated on a document joining his Si Cumple party with two other political parties .
-The consulate said it notarized his signature , but not the contents of the document .
-The disgraced ex-president and son of Japanese parents fled to Japan in 2000 , where he was granted citizenship .
-The exiled president is wanted in Peru to face charges of corruption and human rights abuses related to the death squad murders of 25 people .
-Mr. Fujimori , Peru 's hard-line ruler from 1990 to 2000 , has denied the charges , calling them politically motivated .
-Tokyo has refused requests from Lima for his extradition .
-The British Embassy in Sudan 's capital has re-opened to the public , four days after it was closed because of a possible terrorist threat .
-The embassy said in a statement Thursday that " additional security " has allowed it to resume normal consular and visa services .
-The statement also thanked the Sudanese government for its cooperation .
-Earlier this week , the government said it had broken up a plot to attack several Western diplomatic missions in the capital , Khartoum .
-The state news agency reported that police had arrested eight Sudanese men and confiscated arms and explosives .
-The British Embassy has advised British citizens to avoid travel to Khartoum .
-Kenyan police have opened fire at hundreds of people demonstrating against cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad , as protests across the Muslim world showed no signs of abating .
-At least one Kenyan was wounded Friday when protesters tried to march on the Danish embassy in Nairobi , shouting anti-Denmark slogans and burning Danish flags .
-Muslims also demonstrated Friday in cities across the Middle East as well as in India , Pakistan , Afghanistan , Bangladesh , Malaysia , and Venezuela .
-In France , a Muslim organization - the French Council of the Muslim Faith - said it was launching legal action against French newspapers that published the cartoons , one of which depicts the Prophet Muhammad wearing a turban shaped like a bomb .
-Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi told an international conference Friday the Muslim world and the West must stop demonizing each other and " accept one another as equals . "
-The death toll from a coal mining accident in northwestern China rose to 32 Wednesday after searchers recovered the body of the last missing miner .
-China 's state-run media say 39 people were working at the privately-owned coal mine in Shaanxi province on Saturday when a gas explosion occurred .
-Seven miners managed to reach the surface , but the others were trapped .
-The Xinhua news agency says police have detained the owner and managers of the mine , but provided no other details .
-Chinese mines are among the most dangerous in the world .
-Thousands of people are killed every year in explosions , cave-ins and floods , despite government crackdowns on safety violations .
-India and Pakistan plan to hold a third round of peace talks in January with a focus on security , the Kashmir issue and confidence-building measures between the nuclear rivals .
-The two-day talks will begin on January 17 and they will be led by the countries ' foreign secretaries .
-They will review progress made so far and also chart a course for future negotiations .
-The talks will be under a peace process that the two sides began in January 2004 .
-A foreign office spokeswoman in Islamabad also said that the two sides have been holding secret talks on possible reduction of forces in Kashmir and a Pakistani proposal of self-rule in Kashmir .
-She did not give any more details and also declined to reveal at what level the talks are being held .
-India has not made any comment about the talks .
-Iraqi officials say at least two people were killed and several others wounded in a car bomb blast in central Baghdad Tuesday .
-Earlier reports said the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber .
-It came as the U.S. military announced it had rounded up 428 suspects over the past 30 hours in a major operation against insurgents in a western suburb of the capital .
-On Monday , dozens of people were killed and scores were hurt in a series of car bombings and other attacks in cities and towns across Iraq .
-Also Monday , an al-Qaida-linked group claimed responsibility for gunning down a top Iraqi security official ( Wael al-Rubaei ) and his driver in Baghdad .
-Iran 's hard-line Guardian Council has approved a bill that would block United Nations inspections of its nuclear facilities and allow it to resume uranium enrichment if it is referred to the U.N. Security Council .
-State media report Saturday that the 12-member council approved the measure after deciding it does not contradict the constitution or Islamic law .
-The parliament already approved the bill last month .
-The final step will be President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad 's signature .
-The move could jeopardize nuclear talks with Europe that Iran said it expects will resume within weeks .
-Those talks collapsed in August , when Tehran restarted converting uranium - the precursor of enrichment .
-Last year , Tehran suspended enrichment as a good faith measure to allay international concerns it is secretly pursuing nuclear weapons , a charge its government denies .
-Zambian officials say reports that President Levy Mwanawasa has died are FALSE .
-Information Minister Mike Mulongoti made a televised address Thursday to say the foreign media reports are not TRUE .
-He said President Mwanawasa remains in stable condition in a Paris hospital , and is being treated for hypertension .
-Mr. Mwanawasa was flown to France Tuesday after suffering a stroke Sunday while in Egypt for an African Union summit .
-The summit was dominated by the political crisis in Zimbabwe , and the absence of Mr. Mwanawasa , a critic of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe , was said to hurt attempts to put more pressure on Harare .
-Mr. Mwanawasa is 59 years old and has served as Zambia 's president since 2002 .
-He is also the current leader of the Southern African Development Community .
-He suffered a mild stroke two years ago .
-U.S. President Barack Obama has named Gene Sperling as the new head of the National Economic Council , which oversees the administration 's economic policies .
-Sperling had the same job in President Bill Clinton 's administration .
-He succeeds Lawrence Summers , another top economic official from the Clinton-era .
-Sperling has spent the first two years of the Obama administration as a counselor to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner .
-Mr. Obama made the announcement Friday during a visit to a window manufacturer located outside of Washington , D.C.
-Sperling 's appointment is the latest major staff change for the Obama administration as it begins dealing with a new Republican majority in the House of Representatives , and planning for the president 's likely re-election campaign in 2012 .
-On Thursday , Mr. Obama named another ex-Clinton official , William Daley , as his new chief of staff , replacing Rahm Emmanuel .
-Authorities in Bosnia-Herzegovina say they have arrested a former Bosnian Serb police officer for his suspected role in the 1995 massacre of Muslims near the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica .
-The state prosecutor 's office says 37-year-old Dragan Neskovic was arrested Wednesday in the northeastern town of Bijeljina on suspicion of genocide .
-No further details were released .
-More than 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed by Serb forces in July 1995 in what was supposed to have been a United Nations safe haven .
-The Srebrenica killings are considered the worst European massacre since World War II .
-The U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague has already sentenced 14 Serbs for their key roles in the killings .
-Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is currently on trial there , charged with genocide and crimes against humanity .
-The Bosnian war crimes court was established in 2005 to ease the workload of the Hague-based tribunal .
-China 's official Xinhua news agency says archaeologists have discovered the ruins of 29 villages that date back more than 4,500 years .
-The report said the ancient communities were discovered in the northern part of Shaanxi province , a region known for its archaeological treasures .
-Xinhua says the ruins show that people had mastered building techniques and had constructed houses and stone walls around their community .
-It said a total of 96 houses were unearthed , as well as the ruins of a sacrificial altar .
-The report quoted an official with the Shaanxi Provincial Archaeological Research Institute as saying the discovery will help scientists better understand the environment during the Neolithic period , also known as the New Stone Age .
-A United Nations expert on extrajudicial killings says he would like to visit Thailand to investigate last month 's deaths of 87 Muslim protesters .
-Philip Alston said he is deeply concerned by the October 25 incident .
-He said a visit to Thailand would allow him to speak with those involved and to recommend ways to bring peace and stability to the region .
-Thailand has not responded to Mr. Alston 's request .
-Meanwhile , Thailand 's revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej warned that the country could fall into ruin if the violence in the south does not end .
-He urged security forces to better cooperate to deal with the region 's turmoil .
-Hundreds of people have been killed since January when an insurgency flared up in Thailand 's three Muslim-majority southern provinces .
-Israeli soldiers have killed two Palestinians in the southern Gaza Strip .
-Witnesses say the two men were killed early Friday near the security barrier separating southern Gaza with Israel .
-Israeli military officials say troops had spotted the men attempting to plant bombs along the barrier .
-The killings were the latest in a series of clashes between the Israeli army and Palestinian militants .
-Israeli soldiers killed five Palestinians Thursday during an army operation in the West Bank city of Nablus .
-Officials say three of the dead were wanted militants from the al-Aqsa Martyrs ' Brigades , a violent offshoot of the mainstream Fatah Party .
-Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and incoming Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh Friday denounced the Israeli military 's sweep through the Nablus refugee camps .
-The head of U.S. troops in the Horn of Africa says terrorists and insurgents may begin leaving war zones in Afghanistan and Iraq and head for east Africa .
-Major General Timothy Ghormley says officials are concerned that instability and weak governments in east Africa could draw international terrorist groups seeking to establish a base of operations .
-General Ghormley says the joint task force in Djibouti has been helping to train foreign soldiers and build anti-terrorist capabilities of governments in the region .
-However , U.S. forces have yet to enter Somalia , which has been without a functioning central government for more than 10 years .
-Earlier this year , Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi warned an al-Qaida cell is already operating out of Somalia 's capital , Mogadishu .
-Ugandan Lord 's Resistance Army rebels are seeking a 12-month suspension in the arrest warrants against their leaders issued by the International Criminal Court .
-James Obita , the technical advisor to the rebels ' negotiating team , tells VOA the rebels will ask for the suspension when peace talks with the Ugandan government resume Thursday in Juba , southern Sudan .
-He says in connection with that request , the rebels will propose an " alternative justice system " to deal with war crimes committed during the rebels ' 20-year uprising in northern Uganda .
-LRA fighters are accused of killing and mutilating thousands of civilians during the conflict .
-The International Criminal Court has indicted five top rebel leaders on war crimes charges .
-The LRA has demanded those charges be dropped as a condition for signing any peace deal .
-The 10-month-old peace talks have achieved some progress , including a ceasefire that the sides extended in April .
-A group linked to al-Qaida in Iraq is denying Iraqi government reports that its leader was recently arrested .
-The Islamic State of Iraq says the man it claims is its leader , Abu Omar al-Baghdadi , is fine .
-The group says on an Islamist Web site it does not know the person who Iraqi authorities arrested last month and presented as al-Baghdadi .
-The Iraqi army said it captured the Sunni insurgent leader in the Iraqi capital , Baghdad .
-The United States did not confirm the report .
-Iraqi authorities in the past have announced the arrest or killing of major insurgent leaders , to only later say the reports were FALSE .
-In addition , U.S. military commander General Kevin Bergner previously had said al-Baghdadi may not be a real person , but rather a fictional character created to put an Iraqi face on the otherwise foreign leadership of al-Qaida in Iraq .
-U.S. military officials have announced changes to military trials of terrorism suspects being held at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay , Cuba .
-Air Force Brigadier General Thomas Hemingway said Wednesday the so-called " improvements " will bring the process closer to the American judge-and-jury system .
-He said the presiding officer at the trial will function more like a judge than under the previous system , and other officers will act like a jury .
-Some human rights groups rejected the changes for not going far enough , noting there is still no option for appeal to an independent court .
-U.S. military officials have filed charges against four detainees at Guantanamo , where more than 500 terror suspects are being held .
-Meantime Center for Constitutional Rights said some prisoners have launched a hunger strike to protest their conditions .
-A landmine blast in southern Afghanistan has killed nine Afghan soldiers .
-The Taleban later claimed responsibility for the blast in Kandahar province .
-An Afghan Army spokesman said the troops were traveling towards the nearby Pakistani border when their vehicle hit the mine .
-U.S.-led forces are hunting down remnants of Afghanistan 's ousted Taleban regime who frequently carry out hit and run attacks on coalition and Afghan government forces , mainly in the country 's eastern and southern regions .
-Four key Palestinian militant groups say they are ending a truce aimed at easing attacks on Israel .
-In separate statements issued Sunday , Hamas and the Popular Resistance Committees said they were no longer bound by the truce deal brokered last March by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas .
-The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and Islamic Jihad also scrapped the deal , and said they had fired rockets early today into southern Israel .
-In a separate development , gunmen in the Gaza Strip stormed a club for United Nations workers and blew up a hall where alcohol was served .
-There were no reports of injuries and no claim of responsibility .
-A short while later , gunmen in Gaza kidnapped an Italian activist near Khan Younis , but later released him .
-Coalition troops in Iraq have captured a suspected al-Qaida terrorist during a raid on the home of a senior Sunni Arab politician , Adnan al-Dulaymi .
-U.S. officials say they believe the man was involved in planning car bomb attacks on Baghdad 's Green Zone , which houses government , diplomatic and military offices .
-The man is identified as a bodyguard at Mr. Dulaymi 's home in the Iraqi capital .
-Officials say the raid does not imply the politician himself is involved in illegal activity .
-On Friday , Iraqi authorities imposed a curfew in Baghdad , because of fears of new violence .
-The ban on pedestrians and vehicles was expected to remain in effect until Sunday .
-In the northern city of Tal Afar , a car bomb exploded Saturday , killing two people and wounding 30 others .
-The U.S. military says the Iraqi army has captured three suspected al-Qaida in Iraq leaders involved in roadside bomb attacks .
-Statements Wednesday say the suspects were detained in separate operations north of Baghdad in Kirkuk province , and in the towns of Tarmiyah and Judaidah .
-The military says U.S. Special Forces advised the Iraqi army in all three operations .
-The U.S. military also says Iraqi special operations forces detained seven suspected criminals in and around Baghdad 's Sadr City district , a stronghold of radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr .
-U.S. and Iraqi soldiers have been fighting Shi'ite militants in Sadr City in recent weeks as part of a crackdown on illegal militias .
-The United Nations reports a halt to international aid work in the displaced persons ' camps of Zalinge , in Sudan 's Darfur region .
-The U.N. refugee agency says international groups suspended their activities in the camps after a mob killed three water workers on Thursday .
-It was unclear what caused the violence .
-Friday , spokesman Ron Redmond said agency is " extremely concerned " about what he called the continued deterioration in Darfur 's security situation .
-Redmond listed a number of attacks on relief groups over the past week , including one where an aid worker was shot dead in North Darfur .
-World leaders have been pressing Sudan to accept a U.N. peacekeeping force in Darfur .
-The government is still rejecting any U.N. deployment to the region , where more than three years of violence has killed nearly 2,00,000 people , and displaced some two million others .
-Iraq 's parliament has approved six new government ministers , including four from the country 's Sunni minority which held power under Saddam Hussein .
-However , the Sunni Human Rights appointee Hashem Ashibli quickly turned down the post , leaving a single vacancy in the 33-member cabinet .
-He said he could not accept a position awarded on a sectarian basis .
-A Sunni Arab , Saadoun al-Dulaimi , has been approved as defense minister , and a Shi'ite ( Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum ) will head the all-important oil ministry .
-Top slots in the ministries of industry and electricity were also filled , along with a third deputy prime minister position .
-Meanwhile , Iraqi police say gunmen assassinated a senior member of the Transportation Ministry Zoba Yass and his driver today in Baghdad .
-Separately , U.S. officials say coalition forces killed six insurgents and captured 54 suspects early Sunday near the western border town of al-Qaim .
-The U.S. government is delivering more bad news on the country 's struggling economy , saying first time claims for unemployment benefits are at a 26-year high .
-The Labor Department report , issued Thursday , said the number of laid-off workers applying for benefits for the first time soared to 6,26,000 last week .
-Officials said the total number of workers receiving unemployment benefits is now close to 4.8 million , another record .
-A comprehensive government report on unemployment is due out Friday .
-Economists surveyed by news organizations predict the nationwide jobless rate will rise three-tenths of a percent to hit 7.5 percent .
-Despite the rising claims for unemployment insurance , U.S. companies are squeezing more productivity out of their shrinking workforces .
-A second Labor Department report Thursday said productivity - a measure of how much an employee produces per hour - rose more than three percent for the last three months of 2008 .
-At least 17 people , including seven children , were killed and more than 70 others wounded in an explosion Monday at a home used for religious education in Pakistan 's Punjab province .
-Officials in the Mian Channu area said they believe the blast , which also flattened more than 20 nearby houses , was caused by a cache of explosives stored in the house .
-They said the rescuers were trying to recover people still trapped in the rubble .
-The house belongs to a Muslim cleric who has been accused of recruiting fighters for a banned militant group .
-It is unclear what triggered the blast , but local police searching through the debris say they found rocket launchers , grenades , and several suicide-bomber jackets .
-Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani condemned the blast and ordered an inquiry into the incident .
-A U.S. immigration judge has denied bail for Luis Posada Carriles , an asylum-seeking former CIA operative from Cuba .
-U.S. authorities arrested the 77-year-old Posada Carriles in May after he illegally entered the country through Mexico .
-Posada Carriles is wanted in Venezuela for his alleged role in a 1976 Cuban airliner bombing that killed 73 people .
-Some 20 years ago , a Venezuelan court acquitted him of a role in the bombing .
-He later escaped from prison while awaiting a new trial .
-In May , U.S. officials rejected a Venezuelan request for his arrest , citing a lack of evidence against the Cuban exile who holds Venezuelan citizenship .
-Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has sought the support of Pakistanis in the fight against religious extremism and terrorism .
-He underlined the need of ridding the society of extremism and terrorism , saying they are hurting Pakistan 's image by their actions .
-In a broadcast address to the nation Thursday , General Musharraf promised " stern action " against those involved in the printing , publication and distribution of hate material , including newspapers , magazines , pamphlets , and audio and video material .
-He said no outlawed organization will be allowed to collect donations and action will be taken against those who preach hate in mosques .
-Some Western leaders have said Pakistan should do more to curb militancy , and that extremists were operating in Islamic schools , or madrassas .
-General Musharraf said all madrassas in Pakistan must be registered with the government by the end of this year .
-U.S. health officials have called for updated quarantine procedures , including better access to airline and ship passenger lists , to protect Americans from infectious diseases , including bird flu .
-The changes , proposed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control , would apply to planes and ships arriving from outside the United States as well as some domestic flights .
-The CDC also called for giving U.S. health officials more authority to administer medical treatment and vaccinations to quarantined people .
-Health officials say the need for new regulations became apparent during the 2003 SARS , Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome outbreak , when authorities found it difficult to get in touch with airline passengers who may have been exposed to the illness .
-The proposals come amid growing concern about the spread of bird flu , which has killed more than 60 people in Asia since 2003 .
-Pakistani police have arrested four alleged members of an Islamic militant group in connection with the murder of a prominent Shi'ite Muslim cleric earlier this year .
-A senior police official , Saud Aziz , says the four wanted in connection with the slaying of Agha Ziauddin in the town of Gilgit in January were picked up in the city of Rawalpindi .
-The murder sparked sectarian violence that left at least 14 people dead .
-The official says the suspects belong to the Sunni Muslim Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and that they were plotting to attack Shi'ite events last week but changed their minds because of tight security .
-The banned group is accused of killing hundreds of Pakistani Shi'ite Muslims in recent years and is believed to have links to the al-Qaida terrorist network .
-The name " Latvia " originates from the ancient Latgalians , one of four eastern Baltic tribes that formed the ethnic core of the Latvian people ( ca. 8th - 12th centuries A.D. ) .
-The region subsequently came under the control of Germans , Poles , Swedes , and finally , Russians .
-A Latvian republic emerged following World War I , but it was annexed by the USSR in 1940 - an action never recognized by the US and many other countries .
-Latvia reestablished its independence in 1991 following the breakup of the Soviet Union .
-Although the last Russian troops left in 1994 , the status of the Russian minority ( some 30 % of the population ) remains of concern to Moscow .
-Latvia joined both NATO and the EU in the spring of 2004 .
-Bolivia is one of the poorest and least developed countries in Latin America .
-Following a disastrous economic crisis during the early 1980s , reforms spurred private investment , stimulated economic growth , and cut poverty rates in the 1990s .
-The period 2003 - 5 was characterized by political instability , racial tensions , and violent protests against plans - subsequently abandoned - to export Bolivia 's newly discovered natural gas reserves to large northern hemisphere markets .
-In 2005 , the government passed a controversial hydrocarbons law that imposed significantly higher royalties and required foreign firms then operating under risk-sharing contracts to surrender all production to the state energy company in exchange for a predetermined service fee .
-After higher prices for mining and hydrocarbons exports produced a fiscal surplus in 2008 , the global recession in 2009 slowed growth .
-Nevertheless , Bolivia recorded the highest growth rate in South America that year .
-During 2010 an increase in world commodity prices resulted in the biggest trade surplus in history .
-However , a lack of foreign investment in the key sectors of mining and hydrocarbons and higher food prices pose challenges for the Bolivian economy .
-Autonomy for the Swazis of southern Africa was guaranteed by the British in the late 19th century ; independence was granted in 1968 .
-Student and labor unrest during the 1990s pressured King MSWATI III , the world 's last absolute monarch , to grudgingly allow political reform and greater democracy , although he has backslid on these promises in recent years .
-A constitution came into effect in 2006 , but the legal status of political parties remains unclear .
-The African United Democratic Party tried unsuccessfully to register as an official political party in mid 2006 .
-Talks over the constitution broke down between the government and progressive groups in 2007 .
-Swaziland recently surpassed Botswana as the country with the world 's highest known HIV / AIDS prevalence rate .
-First colonized by the Spanish , the islands came under British control in the early 19th century .
-The islands ' sugar industry was hurt by the emancipation of the slaves in 1834 .
-Manpower was replaced with the importation of contract laborers from India between 1845 and 1917 , which boosted sugar production as well as the cocoa industry .
-The discovery of oil on Trinidad in 1910 added another important export .
-Independence was attained in 1962 .
-The country is one of the most prosperous in the Caribbean thanks largely to petroleum and natural gas production and processing .
-Tourism , mostly in Tobago , is targeted for expansion and is growing .
-The government is coping with a rise in violent crime .
-A GOATHERD , driving his flock from their pasture at eventide , found some Wild Goats mingled among them , and shut them up together with his own for the night .
-The next day it snowed very hard , so that he could not take the herd to their usual feeding places , but was obliged to keep them in the fold .
-He gave his own goats just sufficient food to keep them alive , but fed the strangers more abundantly in the hope of enticing them to stay with him and of making them his own .
-When the thaw set in , he led them all out to feed , and the Wild Goats scampered away as fast as they could to the mountains .
-The Goatherd scolded them for their ingratitude in leaving him , when during the storm he had taken more care of them than of his own herd .
-One of them , turning about , said to him : " That is the very reason why we are so cautious ; for if you yesterday treated us better than the Goats you have had so long , it is plain also that if others came after us , you would in the same manner prefer them to ourselves . "
-Old friends can not with impunity be sacrificed for new ones .
-A KIND-HEARTED Physician sitting at the bedside of a patient afflicted with an incurable and painful disease , heard a noise behind him , and turning saw a cat laughing at the feeble efforts of a wounded mouse to drag itself out of the room .
-" You cruel beast ! " cried he .
-" Why do n't you kill it at once , like a lady ? "
-Rising , he kicked the cat out of the door , and picking up the mouse compassionately put it out of its misery by pulling off its head .
-Recalled to the bedside by the moans of his patient , the Kind-hearted Physician administered a stimulant , a tonic , and a nutrient , and went away .
-Kids these days , they grow up too quickly and know entirely too much too soon .
-I mean this one friend of mine was trying to get his boy into Nursery Rhymes .
-All that happened was that the boy told his shrink that his Father had a lot of problems , including a fixation that a cow could orbit the moon .
-The fate of seven suspected Somali pirates who were captured by a Spanish warship is uncertain after Spanish prosecutors reversed plans to bring them to Spain to face trial .
-A Spanish judge , Fernando Andreu , ordered the Somali men released on Friday .
-However , he refused the prosecution 's request to surrender them to Kenyan authorities , saying it would violate the law , since proceedings were already taking place in Spain .
-A Spanish ship seized the men off the coast of Somalia Wednesday after their boat capsized during their alleged attempt to hijack a Panamanian-flagged vessel .
-France is prosecuting 15 piracy suspects in its own courts , though it has transferred others to Kenya , including 11 who were handed over on Friday .
-China says it punished more than 1,200 health workers last year for such corruption as taking commissions from drug companies and accepting bribes from patients .
-The official Xinhua news agency says investigators from China 's Health Ministry uncovered more than 200 cases of hospital staff members buying and selling medicine for personal profit .
-The health workers are said to have received $ 1.3 million illegally .
-Authorities also found that some doctors took bribes for surgeries , even after patients paid their hospital fees .
-More than 800 health workers were punished for charging illegal fees .
-China 's Health Minister Gao Qiang said at a nationwide health meeting Saturday that most hospital staff members are doing a good job .
-But he says those who become corrupt will be punished without mercy .
-A vault built to safeguard seed samples of the world 's important food crops has opened in the remote Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard .
-Norway 's Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and Nobel-Prize winning environmentalist Wangari Maathai on Tuesday placed the first seeds inside the vault , built in caverns 130 meters inside a frozen mountain .
-The repository is designed to shield plant seeds and preserve crop diversity in the event of disaster such as climate change , epidemic or nuclear war .
-The vault has the capacity to store 4.5 million seed samples .
-The Norwegian government spent $ 9 million to build the vault .
-Other countries can deposit seeds without charge and reserve the right to withdraw them upon need .
-More than two dozen Iraqi civilians and policemen have been killed in a wave of bombings Wednesday in Baghdad and parts of central and northern Iraq meant to intimidate voters less than two weeks ahead of national elections .
-Five bomb attacks were carried out in Baghdad .
-Wanted terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi 's group ( al-Qaida in Iraq ) claimed responsibility for four of them , including one outside the Australian embassy .
-The U.S. military reported at least 26 people were killed and many others wounded in those blasts .
-North of the capital , in Kirkuk , police say a human rights activist and a relative were killed , while in Irbil , a bomb targeted the convoy of the police academy chief , killing a bystander .
-And in Dohuk , the provincial governor escaped injury when a bomb hit his convoy .
-A policeman was also killed in a car bombing south of Baghdad , near Hilla .
-An Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip has killed a top Islamic Jihad commander and at least six other people , a day after an Islamic Jihad suicide bomber killed five people in central Israel .
-The Israeli military confirmed the Thursday evening helicopter strike near the Jabaliya refugee camp , saying it targeted an Islamic Jihad militant .
-Palestinians identified him as Shahdi Mohanna , the Islamic Jihad commander for the northern Gaza Strip .
-They said three other Islamic Jihad activists and three civilians were also among the dead , and at least 15 people were wounded .
-Earlier Thursday , Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced an offensive he said would not stop until the Palestinian Authority moves decisively to stop militant attacks .
-He also said he will not hold talks with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas until the attacks stop .
-A draft peace proposal under consideration by the Afghan government could offer Taliban leaders exile overseas if they agree to stop fighting .
-The draft plan , seen by reporters for British news organizations Reuters and the Guardian newspaper , also calls for " de-radicalization " classes for insurgents and thousands of new jobs to be created for militants who renounce violence .
-The proposal comes weeks before a grand council of Afghans , known as a jirga , meets in Kabul on May 29 to discuss how to make peace with the insurgents .
-Possible peace talks will be a key issue discussed when Afghan President Hamid Karzai meets with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington this week .
-Russia has ordered its fleet of Su-24 bombers grounded after one of the planes crashed during a training mission .
-Air force officials said Thursday that a technical problem caused the early morning accident in the Far East Khabarovsk territory .
-They said preliminary investigation indicates that a technical problem rather than pilot error cause the crash .
-Russian news media say rescue helicopters found the wreckage more than a 100 kilometers away from the airfield .
-The two pilots had ejected safely before the crash and were taken to a military hospital for a medical examination .
-Reports say there was no damage on the ground .
-The bomber flights are to remain suspended until investigators establish the cause of the crash .
-Pro-Russian demonstrators in Crimea have protested against the arrival of a U.S. naval frigate in Sevastopol , the Ukrainian port where Russia 's Black Sea fleet is based .
-News-agency reports from Sevastopol say the demonstrators shouted " NATO out " and " Yankee go home " during their protest Wednesday .
-Ukraine 's navy says the U.S. naval vessel is on a friendly visit to the Black Sea and is not taking part in any military exercises .
-Sevastopol 's naval base dates back to Soviet times .
-Through a lease agreement with Ukraine , Russia will operate the facility until 2017 .
-Ukraine 's campaign to win NATO membership has been strongly opposed by Moscow , which says it will not accept any further expansion of the western alliance on Russia 's borders .
-Egypt 's largest opposition group defied authorities and held anti-government protests in Cairo Sunday .
-Several thousand riot police prevented the Muslim Brotherhood from holding a rally outside the Egyptian parliament as planned .
-Instead , members of the group gathered in front of a Cairo mosque , shouting demands for political reforms .
-Authorities say they arrested at least 50 protesters .
-Estimates of the crowd range from several hundred to 3,000 .
-Smaller protests took place at two other Cairo locations .
-Egyptian authorities had arrested another 50 Brotherhood members before the protests .
-The Muslim Brotherhood calls for replacing Egypt 's secular government with an Islamic state .
-The group was formally banned in 1954 , but its members , running in elections as independents , hold enough seats to make the Brotherhood the largest opposition group in Egypt 's parliament .
-Russia says it is commissioning its first unit of new mobile intercontinental ballistic missiles .
-Monday told Russian television the new version of the Topol-M missile is capable of penetrating multi-layered missile defense systems .
-Ivanov said the missiles will form the core of Russia 's strategic missile forces .
-He called them a new generation of the stationary Topol system already in service .
-Western analysts say Topol missiles were first deployed in Russian silos in the late 1990s .
-The new missiles reportedly can carry a 1,200 kilogram payload and have an estimated range of about 10,000 kilometers .
-They are said to maneuver in ways that are difficult to detect .
-A massive blast at an ammunition shop in Afghanistan 's capital leveled shops and homes , killing at least six people and wounding around nine others .
-Bystanders joined rescuers Wednesday to dig through the rubble of collapsed buildings in an attempt to find survivors .
-Descriptions of the scope of the damage vary , with reports saying several to 25 buildings in Kabul were destroyed .
-Police have not said what caused the blast in the ammunition store .
-Also Wednesday , a suicide bomber in eastern Afghanistan blew himself up near a police convoy .
-Police officers in Khost said at least four civilians were killed and more than 30 other people were injured , among them Afghan policemen .
-Members of a violent Central American street gang have been sent to the southwestern U.S. state of Arizona to attack Minuteman Project volunteers , as they begin a month-long campaign to help patrol the southern U.S. border with Mexico .
-James Gilchrist , a Minuteman organizer frustrated by the U.S. government 's failure to control illegal immigration , tells the Washington Times newspaper that leaders of Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13 have sent gang members to confront his group in Arizona .
-More than 1,000 civilian volunteers are expected to converge on the city of Tombstone Friday to begin a 30-day border patrol .
-Likewise , Hispanics from the National Alliance for Human Rights are going to Tombstone to protest the Minuteman Project .
-Last year , 5,00,000 illegal aliens were caught in Arizona .
-MS-13 runs a major smuggling operation on the U.S.-Mexico border , running drugs , weapons and undocumented aliens from Central and South America into the United States .
-The World Bank has approved $ 257 million in loans for business development in Colombia and a project designed to improve the country 's environment .
-In a statement issued Thursday , the bank says its board of directors allocated $ 250 million to fund a business productivity and efficiency project designed to create businesses , improve their access to financing , and increase overall productivity in Colombia .
-The Bank allocated another $ 7 million to Colombia for a sustainable development project , aimed at reducing air and water pollution , improve hygiene and urban environmental management .
-The bank is also loaning El Salvador $ 27 million to support a poverty reduction program known as Red Solidaria , designed to help the poorest Salvadorans by improving health , nutrition and education in the country .
-Italian opposition politicians are demanding Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi apologize for using an obscenity to refer to anyone who would vote against him in Sunday 's election .
-During a speech to a group of shopkeepers Tuesday , Mr. Berlusconi used a word regarded by many as an obscenity and by others as an insult .
-He said using such language was rough but effective .
-The remark came a day after Mr. Berlusconi traded insults in a political debate with his chief political rival , center-left leader Romano Prodi .
-Both candidates assailed the other 's fiscal policies , with Mr. Berlusconi calling Prodi a " useful idiot " and Prodi saying the prime minister is like a " drunkard clinging to a lamppost . "
-Voters go to the polls Sunday and Monday to choose a new government .
-Polls show many of the voters are undecided .
-Iraqi police say a roadside bombing in Baghdad Saturday killed at least two people who were taking part in a Shi'ite Muslim religious procession .
-The attack , in the New Baghdad district , also wounded eight others .
-Iraqi authorities have boosted security measures as hundreds of thousands of Shi'ite pilgrims flock to Iraq 's holy shrine city of Karbala for the solemn Ashura holiday .
-Worshipers travel to the shrine each year to mourn the seventh-century killing of the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad .
-Several pilgrims were killed earlier this week in a spate of attacks targeting worshipers .
-On Friday , a roadside bomb blast killed at least six Shi'ites in the eastern Baghdad district of Sadr City .
-Other attacks this week in the city of Mosul targeted the Christian minority as they celebrated Christmas .
-Are the streets in America really paved with gold ?
-Moses Bittok probably thinks so .
-Mr. Bittok , who immigrated from Kenya to the United States , learned last week he had a winning ticket worth nearly $ 2 million from an Iowa lottery .
-And get this - he realized he had won shortly after taking the oath of U.S. citizenship .
-As he cashed in his ticket , Mr. Bittok said - quote - " It 's almost like you adopted a country and they netted you $ 1.8 million dollars . "
-He added that something like this can only happen in America .
-A top Japanese official is calling for U.N. economic sanctions against North Korea if Pyongyang tests a nuclear device .
-Shinzo Abe , acting secretary general of Japan 's ruling Liberal Democratic Party , said Sunday that it would be " unthinkable " for Tokyo to do nothing should North Korea conduct such a test .
-U.S. officials have warned that North Korea may be preparing for a nuclear test , citing satellite photos they say show suspicious activity near the coastal town of Kilju .
-Interviewed on the television program Fox News Sunday ,
-U.S. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said a nuclear test would be an act of defiance , and prompt Washington and its allies to discuss new steps to punish the North Korean government .
-North Korea has warned that it will consider any sanctions imposed against it a declaration of war .
-Authorities in Iraq say a car bomb exploded in central Baghdad early Monday , killing at least three people and injuring two others .
-The blast occurred near one of the gates to the heavily fortified Green Zone , where the headquarters of the Iraqi government , U.S. forces and most foreign missions are located .
-Separately , the U.S. military says more than 35 insurgents were killed when coalition air strikes hit five targets in a small western town ( Obeidi ) near the Syrian border .
-Officials say 25 other insurgents were captured .
-U.S. and Iraqi forces have been operating in the Euphrates River valley to stem the flow of insurgents and supplies from across the border , ahead of next month 's parliamentary elections .
-On Sunday , Iraq 's Sunni Arab leaders called for an end to large-scale military operations in mostly Sunni areas , saying they may discourage Sunnis from taking part in the vote .
-European Union Health Commissioner Markos Kypriano says the EU is increasing its pledge for the fight against bird flu to $ 120 million .
-The EU pledged the assistance in Beijing Tuesday at a donors conference organized by health experts to raise money to help developing countries contain bird flu .
-The World Bank and World Health Organization are hoping to raise $ 1.5 billion from rich countries to help poorer nations fight bird flu and prevent a global pandemic .
-The United States is expected to announce its pledge on Wednesday .
-Swiss drugmaker Roche said it will donate another batch of Tamiflu , an anti-viral medication , to treat an additional two million people in the event of a bird flu pandemic .
-A World Health Organization official , Margaret Chan , told the meeting there is a great risk of an epidemic , although the timing and severity is uncertain .
-The Inter-American Development Bank says the world Haitian disapora sent more than $ 1.6 billion back to families on the impoverished island in 2006 .
-The bank said Tuesday the money sent to Haiti from overseas equals more than one-third of the country 's gross national product .
-More than $ 1 billion came from the United States and the large Haitian communities in Boston , Miami , and New~York .
-Other large contributions came from Canada , France , and the Bahamas .
-The bank says many of the recipients of overseas money have incomes less than $ 500 a year .
-They use the extra funds for basic expenses , while others invest it in small businesses and education for their children .
-Ukraine 's Prime Minister Yury Yekhanurov says the signing of a controversial natural gas deal with Russia has been postponed again .
-The signing had already been delayed from Saturday to Wednesday .
-But Mr. Yekhanurov says experts continue to work on the documents .
-The draft agreement calls for Ukraine to pay Russia nearly twice as much for natural gas .
-The new price would be $ 95 per 1,000 cubic meters , up from the previous rate of $ 50 .
-The two sides reached the deal January 4 , after a three-day suspension of Russian gas deliveries to Ukraine .
-The agreement triggered a political crisis in Ukraine , and parliament voted to dismiss the government .
-The Chinese government has called for new measures to prevent the economy from overheating .
-The official Xinhua news agency reports the State Council moved on Friday to tighten controls on fixed asset investments and money supply after concluding they increased excessively in the first quarter .
-China 's banks doled out $ 156 billion in new loans in the first quarter , more than half the target for all of 2006 .
-The Chinese economy is growing at a rapid pace , topping nine percent in the last two years .
-Leaders are concerned the pace could raise inflation rates or lead to investment in unnecessary projects .
-The central bank said the growth of the broad money supply rose nearly 19 percent on a year-on-year basis to $ 3.9 trillion by the end of March .
-A media rights group says Burma 's military-led government has released two Burmese journalists working for a Japanese television station .
-Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association welcomed the release of the reporters after two days of detention .
-They say the journalists are in good shape - despite being shaken by the incident .
-The two journalists were arrested Monday after they went to a port near Rangoon to verify the arrival of a North Korean cargo ship .
-The reporters , Aung Shwe Oo and his daughter , Daw Sint Sint Aung , both work for Nippon News Network 's Bangkok bureau .
-Images of the Indian Ocean floor show a giant landslide at the starting point of the earthquake triggered tsunami that devastated regional coastlines on December 26 .
-The digital map has been produced by a British survey ship HMS Scott that has been collecting data off the coast of Indonesia 's Sumatra Island since early January .
-The probe of the area where two pieces of ocean floor collided shows a ridge of mud hundreds of meters thick where the seawater was forced up to form the tsunami .
-Scientists on the ship say that while the data will not help predict when earthquakes will occur , it could help in warning of future tsunamis .
-A Republican Congressman says he is temporarily stepping down from a House committee-chairman position while he is being investigated for corruption .
-Ohio Representative Bob Ney is the second lawmaker to relinquish a House leadership post in recent months .
-He said in a statement Sunday that the allegations against him have become a distraction to lawmakers , including those in the committee he chaired , the House Administration Committee .
-Ney has been identified as the unnamed lawmaker that lobbyist Jack Abramoff said accepted lavish gifts and financial contributions in exchange for favors and support .
-Abramoff has pleaded guilty to fraud and tax evasion .
-Ney denies any wrongdoing .
-Texas representative Tom DeLay stepped down as House Majority Leader late last year after being indicted for alleged campaign finance violations .
-DeLay had close ties to Abramoff and some of the congressman 's aides are being investigated in the Abramoff scandal .
-One of the suspected bombers in the failed July 21 attacks on London 's transport system is being extradited from Italy to Britain .
-A plane carrying Ethiopian-born Hamdi Issac , also known as Osman Hussain , left Rome 's Ciampino airport around midday Thursday , for London .
-Italian police arrested the British citizen in Rome a week after the July 21 attacks , which caused no fatalities but brought chaos to London two weeks after suicide bombers killed 52 people in the British capital .
-Hamdi Issac has admitted to taking part in the second set of attacks but has said the action was meant to scare people , not kill them .
-Italy 's highest court upheld his extradition order on September 13 .
-The surging Mississippi River spilled over levees in two towns in the state of Illinois and is threatening to deluge other parts of the central United States .
-The Army Corps of Engineers says 20 levees in the central U.S. have already overflowed - and up to 30 more are in danger of overflowing .
-Central U.S. river towns are at risk as floodwaters that submerged parts of two of the state of Iowa 's largest cities are now flowing downstream .
-Residents have joined members of the National Guard in a desperate effort to strengthen levees with sandbags .
-Meanwhile , Iowa is cleaning up after widespread flooding inundated homes , destroyed crops and cut off highways and bridges .
-At the White House Tuesday , U.S. President George Bush expressed concern for the flood victims .
-He is to visit Iowa Thursday to inspect the damage .
-A U.S. government audit shows that at least 232 civilians have been killed while working on U.S. reconstruction projects in Iraq .
-The report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction indicates the death toll of those employees for private contractors increased 93 percent in recent months ( the fourth quarter of 2004 ) .
-In addition to those killed , 728 claims were filed for employees who missed more than four days of work .
-The inspector 's report says " Iraq 's unsettled security environment continues to present grave risks for contractors and employees . "
-The quarterly report sent to U.S. Congress based its information on statistics from the U.S. Labor Department compiled from workers ' compensation claims filed by all U.S. government contractors .
-Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet has been indicted on human rights charges and placed under house arrest .
-Judge Victor Montiglio charged General Pinochet in connection with the kidnapping and disappearance of seven people in the early years of his 1973 to 1990 rule .
-The charges are part of a human rights case known as " Operation Colombo , " in which 119 dissidents disappeared while in custody .
-Mr. Montiglio 's indictment Thursday comes six days after he questioned the ex-dictator and the former head of the secret police , Manuel Contreras , to determine responsibility for the disappearance of the 119 Pinochet foes .
-This is the second indictment in two days against the former dictator .
-General Pinochet , who turns 90 on Friday , had just made bail following his indictment Wednesday on charges of tax evasion , corruption and using FALSE passports in a case involving an estimated $ 27 million hidden in foreign bank accounts .
-Leaders of the South American trade bloc Mercosur are meeting in Venezuela to formally welcome Venezuela into the group .
-Presidents of member nations Argentina , Brazil , Paraguay and Uruguay are to sign a document Tuesday extending voting rights and lower tariffs to Venezuela .
-With the new member , officials say the trade bloc will account for $ 1 trillion in annual economic activity and include 250 million people .
-Bolivian President Evo Morales also is to attend the summit for talks with his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to discuss the price of gas exports to Brazil .
-Bolivia is an associate member of Mercosur , formed in 1991 .
-Meanwhile , Paraguay 's President Nicanor Duarte has threatened to abandon the group because of alleged protectionist trade policies by Brazil and Argentina .
-A strong earthquake shook Indonesia 's Aceh province just before midnight Saturday ( about 1657 UTC ) , causing residents to flee their homes in panic .
-The magnitude 5.8 quake was centered 33 kilometers under the Indian Ocean and about 33 kilometers northwest of the provincial capital of Banda Aceh .
-Officials say there have been no reports of damage or casualties , but residents of the city ran out of their homes in panic after the quake jolted them awake .
-A magnitude 9 quake off the west coast of Aceh triggered the December 26 tsunamis , which the U.S. Geological Survey says killed more than 2,75,000 people around the Indian Ocean .
-That includes 1,31,000 in Aceh .
-U.S. Democratic senators have criticized President Bush 's proposal to revamp Social Security , on the eve of the retirement program 's 70th anniversary .
-Senator John Kerry , the 2004 democratic presidential candidate , said in a radio address delivered in Spanish Saturday that the president 's proposal to add private investments accounts to the program will hurt Hispanics .
-Democratic Senator Ken Salazar , from Colorado said in a separate English-language radio address Saturday the president is fabricating a crisis in the retirement program so he can push through his proposals to change it .
-President Bush says his plans will help the program avoid severe funding shortfalls over the next few decades .
-A key part of his proposal is to allow younger workers to privately invest some of their Social Security funds which are now managed by the government .
-More than 60 African migrants have drowned while crossing the Gulf of Aden on their way to Yemen .
-Witnesses say at least 15 others swam to safety after their vessel sank close to the Yemeni coast .
-The boat originated from Somalia and most of those on board are believed to have been Somalians .
-It is not clear how the boat capsized .
-Migrants frequently attempt the crossing to escape violence in Somalia and often rely on smugglers to help them cross .
-They often face abuse at the hands of smugglers , with many forced to disembark offshore to avoid Yemeni coast guard patrols .
-Earlier this month , the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees estimated 20,000 people have made the crossing this year and said at least 439 people have died and another 489 are missing .
-Police in Afghanistan say attackers have shot and killed an Afghan senator who briefly served as prime minister in the early 1990s .
-Authorities say Abdul Saboor Farid was killed late Wednesday outside his home in the capital , Kabul .
-Mr. Farid was Afghanistan 's prime minister for one month in 1992 during the chaos of a civil war that followed the defeat of the Soviet army .
-The motive for the senator 's killing is not clear .
-In another development , police say a remote-controlled roadside bomb tore through the side of an Afghan army bus Thursday in Kabul , killing the driver and wounding 29 people .
-Taleban militants claimed responsibility for the attack .
-Meanwhile , the British defense ministry says a British soldier serving with the NATO-led coalition in Afghanistan was killed during fighting with militants in the south .
-NATO has launched large-scale military operations in the region recently to pre-empt an expected Taleban offensive .
-Insurgents in Iraq killed at least nine people in attacks Sunday northeast of Baghdad .
-Police say a roadside bomb killed four policemen and wounded nine in Baquba .
-In another town , Balad Ruz , police say a rocket attack on a policeman 's house killed the man 's brother and four children .
-Military officials say on Saturday U.S. soldiers killed three gunmen who fired on a patrol in the northern town of Baiji .
-In northern Iraq , police say the bodies of an elderly tribal leader , Ibrahim Ali al-Nuimei , and his son were found near the town of Kirkuk .
-In a separate development , the trial of ousted leader Saddam Hussein is scheduled to resume Tuesday with a new presiding judge , and a Western diplomat says members of the former Baathist regime may testify .
-The United States Government , Wednesday [ May 14 ] officially added polar bears to the list of threatened animals under the Endangered Species Act .
-Bush administration scientists decided the species is at risk of becoming endangered .
-Officials cited warming trends and loss of sea ice as threatening the bears , opening a debate over whether to regulate greenhouse gases to protect the bear and its habitat .
-Paul Sisco reports .
-Iranian media report that inspectors from the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency will travel to Iran early next month .
-News reports Saturday quote an unnamed Iranian official as saying a delegation will visit on August 6 to discuss technical issues and regulations .
-Separately , the United Nations ' nuclear agency is set to inspect Iran 's heavy water nuclear reactor in a matter of days .
-That reactor is under construction in the industrial city of Arak .
-It will produce plutonium once it is completed .
-Enriched plutonium and uranium can be used to build nuclear weapons .
-The U.N. Security Council has imposed two sets of sanctions on Iran because of its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment .
-The United States and its Western allies accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons , but Iran says its atomic program is for peaceful purposes .
-Insurgents have launched two deadly attacks against Shi'ites in Iraq , just hours after U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld paid a surprise visit to American troops in the country .
-In the first attack , gunmen entered a bakery in a mainly Shi'ite neighborhood in Baghdad , killing at least nine people .
-A short time later , a car bomb exploded outside a Shi'ite mosque in the town of Balad Ruz , northeast of Baghdad .
-Abu Musab al-Zarqawi 's group claimed responsibility for that blast that killed 13 and injured 23 others .
-An American soldier was also killed when a bomb exploded in western Baghdad .
-The violence came as Mr. Rumsfeld visited U.S. troops in Mosul and Baghdad .
-He also observed Iraqi police and special forces perform training exercises , before he met with Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi .
-Nigerian authorities say kidnappers have released a Polish oil worker seized last week in the country 's restive Niger Delta region .
-The officials say the Polish national was released late Sunday .
-He was seized Thursday by six gunmen near the southern city of Warri .
-Abduction for ransom or to press political demands is frequent in the oil-rich Niger Delta .
-In all , more than 100 foreign oil workers have been kidnapped in the region this year .
-Most have been released unharmed , often after a payment of ransom .
-Some kidnappings have been carried out by criminal gangs , while others are the work of militants who want impoverished local villages to get more of the region 's oil wealth .
-The attacks on the oil industry have caused Nigeria to cut oil production by almost 25 percent .
-U.S. Treasury officials have frozen the assets of an Ohio-based nonprofit group because they say it has ties to the Palestinian militant organization Hamas .
-Officials said Sunday that the group named KindHearts has coordinated with Hamas leaders and has ties to two other U.S.-based charities accused of links to terrorism .
-Those groups were shut down by U.S. officials in late 2001 .
-KindHearts describes itself on its Web site as a nonprofit charitable organization administering humanitarian aid to the world 's poor .
-KindHearts officials have not commented on the alleged links to terrorism .
-Hamas dominated recent Palestinian elections , but U.S. officials regard it as a terrorist organization .
-The group refuses to recognize Israel 's right to exist and has organized suicide attacks against Israeli targets in the past .
-China says it has designated three parks in outlying parts of Beijing to be used for public protests during the Olympic Games next month .
-China 's head of Olympic security , Liu Shaowu , made the announcement Wednesday at a news conference .
-He said protesters may stage demonstrations if they apply to the government for a permit and are approved .
-He did not answer questions about whether foreigners could protest in the parks , or whether there would be restrictions on what people could protest about .
-The city of Athens , Greece , designated such protest areas when it hosted the Olympic Games in 2004 .
-The International Olympic Committee bars demonstrations at Olympic venues .
-The international portion of the Olympic torch relay was marred in some cities earlier this year by protests against China 's rule in Tibet .
-Childhood obesity affects children in most countries in the world according to the International Obesity Task Force .
-Now , a new study shows that one of the most effective ways of preventing obesity -- exercise -- is something children are not getting enough of .
-VOA 's Carol Pearson reports .
-The last Australian aid agency operating in Iraq says it is pulling out .
-World Vision Australia chief Tim Costello says the situation in Iraq is too dangerous for its staff to remain .
-He says the work the organization has been doing in Iraq will be handed over to local officials and any unspent funds will be returned to donors .
-Mr. Costello says the agency made the decision to leave Iraq before the apparent murder of international aid worker Margaret Hassan .
-World Vision Australia 's Iraqi head of operations , Mohammed Hushiar , was killed in late September in the northern city of Mosul .
-A published report says the Bush administration is pressing Iraqi leaders to end their political stalemate and form a new government .
-The New York Times newspaper says Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telephoned Iraq 's President Jalal Talabani on Friday to urge that the government be formed as soon as possible .
-It says Ms. Rice and Vice President Dick Cheney conveyed the same message in a White House meeting with Adil Abdul Mahdi , a leading Shi'ite politician named as one of the new Iraqi vice presidents .
-U.S. officials have said repeatedly that Iraqis must form their own government without American intervention .
-But efforts to name a new cabinet in Baghdad have failed , although nearly three months have passed since the Iraqi elections .
-Many Iraqis blame the political turmoil for a recent upsurge in violence .
-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is scheduled to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Wednesday in Jerusalem .
-Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the talks will focus on permanent-status issues , Israeli checkpoints and the fate of Palestinian prisoners .
-The meeting , at Mr. Olmert 's official residence , will be the first between the two since Mr. Olmert announced that he will step down after his Kadima Party chooses a new leader in September .
-The two leaders re-started peace talks in November with the goal of reaching a deal by this year 's end .
-Authorities in Afghanistan say nine Afghan soldiers and 10 Taleban rebels have been killed in two separate ambushes in the country 's restive south .
-A provincial government official says suspected Taleban rebels attacked the soldiers late Thursday when they were on patrol in the remote Chakul area of southern Helmand province .
-Later , a person claiming to be a Taleban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack .
-The U.S. military said 10 Taleban rebels also were killed Thursday during a U.S. helicopter raid in southeastern Khost province after five Afghan soldiers were wounded in an ambush .
-Taleban activity has eased during the harshest Afghan winter in decades , but officials believe upcoming warmer weather will result in a renewed surge of violence .
-Britain 's defense ministry has defended its decision to allow the sailors and marines freed by Iran last week to sell their stories - a reversal of usual policy .
-On Sunday , the ministry said that huge public interest made the circumstances exceptional .
-Members of the opposition Conservative Party immediately challenged the decision .
-Many families of British troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan have also said they find the decision distasteful .
-The two officers among the 15 service members detained in Iran for 13 days have said they have chosen not to profit from stories of their captivity , but others in the group have reportedly made lucrative deals with British media .
-Several of the the former captives have said they were mistreated during their detention .
-However , a video released Monday , by Iran shows the sailors and marines relaxing and socializing during their captivity .
-The weather in the western U.S. state of California has helped firefighters gain greater control of a massive wildfire that is burning near the populous city of Santa Barbara .
-Fire officials said the winds were calmer overnight and a dense fog rolled in Saturday morning helping firefighters gain control of 30 percent of the blaze , compared to 10 percent on Friday .
-Authorities said the fire has burned 35 square kilometers and has damaged 80 homes in the area known for its large mansions and scenic ocean views .
-Before now , strong overnight winds and dry conditions had been making it difficult to keep the blaze from spreading .
-The fire , which began on May 5 , has forced the evacuation of more than 30,000 .
-More than 4,200 personnel are battling the wildfire .
-A top aide to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says the government has launched an inquiry into the conduct of the execution of Saddam Hussein and how it was secretly filmed and distributed .
-The official execution tape , which had no sound , showed the former dictator being led to the gallows but not his actual hanging .
-However , video captured on a mobile phone camera showed footage and sound of Saddam being taunted and then dropping to his death .
-In the mobile phone footage , one person can be heard shouting " Moqtada , " the name of a radical Shi'ite cleric and opponent of Saddam .
-The unauthorized video has caused anger among many Saddam supporters , who say it shows that the execution was a sectarian act against the deposed Sunni Arab leader .
-Tuesday , Sunni Arab mourners in Saddam 's hometown Tikrit and other cities marched to pay their respects to the former dictator .
-Local officials in Afghanistan 's northeastern Nuristan Province say three Afghans who had been kidnapped earlier in the week have been found unharmed .
-The three had been reported abducted from a house in the Kamdesh district of Nuristan Province .
-At least two of the three Afghans were election workers .
-No further details were immediately available .
-More than three years after a U.S.-led coalition ousted the Taleban regime , loyalists are waging an escalating guerrilla campaign ahead of Afghanistan 's September parliamentary vote .
-In recent days in Kandahar Province , a judge and a district administrator were killed in attacks believed to have been carried out by insurgents .
-More than 700 people have been killed in the violence this year .
-World famous Russian cellist and conductor , Mstislav Rostropovich , who appeared frail at his 80th birthday celebration last month , has been hospitalized in Moscow for the second time this year .
-A spokesman for the cellist said Thursday he is undergoing routine treatment .
-Following his earlier hospitalization in February , Russian news media reported that he was being treated for cancer .
-At the time , Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the hospital to confer a medal honoring Rostropovich for his extraordinary achievements in music .
-Rostropovich and his wife , soprano Galina Vishnevskaya , left the Soviet Union in 1974 in response to political persecution .
-They returned to Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union and are running a charitable organization aiding orphaned children .
-The U.S. Internet giant Google is planning to install solar panels at its headquarters in the western state of California to run some of its operations with energy from the sun .
-The leading Internet search engine says it will install enough solar grids at its complex in Mountain View , California to generate 1.6 megawatts of electricity .
-That 's enough energy to light up about 1,000 California homes .
-The company hopes the sun will produce 30 percent of the power needed to run its 93,000 square meter complex .
-Google says it wants to set an example that renewable energy can be profitable .
-The Israeli parliament has rejected a bill calling for a national referendum on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon 's plan to evacuate settlers and troops from the Gaza Strip and four small West Bank enclaves later this year .
-Monday 's vote of 72-39 all but ends attempts by withdrawal opponents to derail the Gaza pullout .
-Under the withdrawal plan , all 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza are to be evacuated , along with four of 120 settlements in the occupied West Bank .
-A referendum would have delayed the withdrawal for months from its July starting date .
-Meanwhile , Israeli troops raided the West Bank Palestinian town of Jenin today , arresting eight accused members of Islamic Jihad .
-The Israeli army alleges the suspects were making crude rockets and mortars for future attacks .
-Popular American tennis star Andre Agassi has been knocked out of the quarterfinals at the Delray Beach International in Florida .
-The top seed and former world number one lost in straight sets Friday to Spain 's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez , 06-Apr , 06-Feb .
-The Spaniard next takes on defending champion Xavier Malisse of Belgium in the semifinals .
-The third-seeded Malisse rallied after dropping the first set to eliminate sixth-seeded Florian Mayer of Germany 06-Jul , 06-Feb , 06-Mar .
-Meanwhile , fourth-seeded Tommy Haas of Germany beat Luxembourg 's Gilles Muller in straight sets ( 06-Mar , 06-Feb ) .
-Haas next plays eighth-seeded American Vince Spadea , a straight-sets winner over Lee Hyung-taik of South Korea ( 06-Mar , 06-Mar ) .
-United Nations investigators have begun questioning top Syrian officials about the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri .
-Diplomatic sources say five Syrian officials are being questioned at U.N. offices in Vienna .
-The interviews are expected to continue until Wednesday .
-The sources say the suspects arrived in the Austrian capital late Sunday .
-Damascus recently agreed to allow its officials to be questioned outside Syria .
-Syria denies any involvement in the February 14 bombing in Beirut that killed Mr. Hariri and 20 other people .
-However , a report by a U.N. commission in October implicated top Syrian and Lebanese officials .
-The U.N. Security Council has warned Syria to cooperate fully with the probe or face consequences .
-Earlier this year , Syria was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon under intense domestic and international pressure .
-Aides to U.S. Senator - and former first lady - Hillary Rodham Clinton have confirmed that the New~York senator has invited supporters from the state of Iowa to her Washington , D.C. home for a private political fundraising event .
-Senator Clinton is facing re-election in New York in 2006 , but the invitation of Iowa supporters raises speculation that a 2008 bid for the U.S. presidency is likely .
-Iowa is traditionally the first state to hold political caucuses in which candidates from the same party compete against each other for their party 's presidential nomination .
-Mrs. Clinton 's former national finance director from her 2000 Senate campaign is currently on trial in Los Angeles federal court on charges he lied to regulators about the cost of a lavish Hollywood fundraiser .
-Neither Mrs. Clinton nor her husband , the former president , are accused of any wrongdoing .
-Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi met Saturday with a top United Nations official .
-Aung San Suu Kyi spoke to reporters Saturday at her lakeside home in Rangoon , and praised the talks with Vijay Nambiar , chief of staff for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon .
-The 65-year-old Nobel peace prize laureate has been vocal about pursuing democratic reforms since her release November 13 from more than seven years of house arrest .
-But she has also been careful not to verbally challenge Burma 's ruling generals .
-Nambiar also met Saturday with Burma 's foreign minister .
-He also planned to meet with diplomats and recently-elected lawmakers .
-Pakistani officials say security forces have arrested at least three al-Qaida suspects after a gunfight near the Afghan border .
-They say police opened fire Monday on a car carrying the suspects outside the northwestern city of Peshawar and forced it to stop .
-Reports say one of the suspects escaped while the others were arrested .
-This comes less than a week after Pakistani officials said a senior al-Qaida explosives expert was killed in a raid on a suspected insurgent hideout in the tribal region of North Waziristan bordering Afghanistan .
-Egyptian-born Muhsin Musa Matwali Atwah was wanted in connection with the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania .
-The United States offered a $ 5 million reward for his capture .
-Six other Islamic militants were killed in the raid .
-Rebels in eastern Sudan say government war planes have been bombing a rebel area near the border with Eritrea , wounding several people .
-A spokesman with rebels known as the Eastern Front said Friday , the bombing began Thursday in the Barka Valley region near the town of Tokar , 120 kilometers south Port Sudan on the Red Sea .
-The French news agency quotes a rebel spokesman as saying many civilians have been injured by the bombs , and much livestock has been killed .
-He says the bombings continue Friday .
-There has been no independent verification of the air strikes .
-Fighting broke out between the rebels and government troops near Tokar early this week .
-Two Sudanese rebel factions joined forces in February to form the Eastern Front .
-Pope Benedict XVI has visited the Italian city of L'Aquilla and other central Italian locales devastated earlier this month by a deadly earthquake .
-The pontiff Tuesday visited several sites in L'Aquilla , a medieval walled city of 70,000 residents .
-His stops included the site of a partially-collapsed college dormitory , and the ruins of the 13th century Santa Maria di Collemaggio basilica .
-Speaking to survivors , he called for " an examination of conscience " by builders and inspectors accused of shoddy construction practices linked to the collapse of numerous buildings .
-Benedict earlier visited the village of Onna , where 40 of 300 residents perished .
-The 6.4 magnitude quake on April 6 reduced large sections of the Abruzzo region to rubble .
-The Italian government has earmarked more than $ 10 billion for reconstruction in the region .
-Experts say it will take about $ 16 billion to rebuild the area .
-The top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan says Taleban insurgents could stage a high-profile attack over the next six to nine months , despite what he called their more limited " terrorist capabilities . "
-Lieutenant General David Barno told reporters Saturday the Taleban fighters are becoming more desperate to " change the course of events in Afghanistan . "
-General Barno said he expects a small hard-core remnant of the Taleban to continue fighting even as the group 's military strength fades away .
-Afghanistan is scheduled to hold parliamentary elections on September 18 , a little less than one year after the country 's first direct and democratic presidential elections .
-Three world leaders who had key roles in the reunification of Germany gathered Saturday to share their memories of the collapse of the Berlin Wall .
-Germany 's ex-chancellor Helmut Kohl , former U.S. president George Herbert Walker Bush , and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev were honored at a gathering in Berlin for their efforts in reunifying Germany .
-Former Chancellor Kohl now speaks with difficulty after a stroke and is confined to a wheelchair .
-He said that although Germany 's history was not always proud , Germans should be proud of their country 's reunification .
-At the close of World War II , Germany was divided into two separate countries governed under separate ideologies of democracy and communism .
-The wall was built starting in 1961 and came to symbolize the divide between the so-called Iron Curtain and the democratic West .
-The wall was breached on November 9 , 1989 as a worldwide audience watched on live television .
-Thousands of Icelanders marked the 90th anniversary of sovereignty from Denmark Monday by demanding the government resign over the country 's economic crisis .
-Hundreds of marchers tried to storm central bank headquarters in Reykjavik .
-They left after a tense hour-long standoff with riot police .
-The global financial crisis has left Iceland 's economy in shambles .
-Three major banks have collapsed , unemployment has soared , and the value of the krona has plunged .
-Prime Minister Geir Haarde has refused to resign or call for early elections .
-He blames Iceland 's economic calamity on commercial bankers .
-The government was forced to ask the International Monetary Fund and several countries for a multi-billion-dollar loan .
-Global health experts said cancer will become the leading cause of death in the world by 2010 , overtaking heart disease .
-A World Health Organization report issued Tuesday said one factor behind cancer 's growing deadliness is rising cigarette smoking in developing countries .
-40 percent of the world 's smokers are thought to live in China and India alone .
-The WHO report said an estimated 12 million people will be diagnosed with some form of cancer this year .
-It predicts that 7.6 million of them will die .
-Health experts predicted the number of people who die from cancer will soon be greater than deaths from AIDS , tuberculosis and malaria combined .
-The WHO said the number of new cancer patients may rise to 27 million a year by 2030 , with 17 million people dying from the disease .
-A civil liberties group says it has obtained documents that allegedly show U.S. military forces tried to suppress reports about the abuse of Iraqi prisoners .
-The documents - released by the American Civil Liberties Union on Tuesday - say staff members of the Pentagon 's Defense Intelligence Agency ( DIA ) witnessed several incidents of abuse , including prisoners being assaulted , deprived of sleep and humiliated .
-The documents also included complaints that DIA personnel had their e-mails monitored by special forces , and were ordered " not to talk to anyone in the U.S. " about what they witnessed .
-The ACLU obtained the documents after a federal court ordered the Pentagon to comply with a year-old request under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act .
-Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania says he supports democracy in Ukraine and hopes the upcoming Ukrainian presidential election will be free and fair .
-Mr. Zhvania , who is currently visiting the United States , made the comment Wednesday in an interview with the Voice of America .
-He also expressed satisfaction with his U.S. visit , which began Sunday , and says the United States has a great deal of interest in Georgia .
-Mr. Zhvania has met with a number of high-level U.S. officials , including National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice .
-He quoted Ms. Rice as saying that Washington recognizes Georgia 's territorial integrity in regards to Abkhazia , a pro-Russian enclave in Georgia that has run its own affairs since the early 1990s .
-Mr. Zhvania concludes his visit Thursday .
-South Korean police detained a group of anti-Japanese protesters in Seoul Friday after stopping their attempt to hold a mock funeral for Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi .
-Hundreds of riot police surrounded about 30 demonstrators who carried an empty coffin and Mr. Koizumi 's picture to a park near the Japanese embassy for the funeral .
-Earlier , the same group burned a coffin and an effigy of Japanese Ambassador Toshiyuki Takano in front of his residence .
-They also fired flaming arrows , which failed to reach the house .
-Anti-Japanese sentiment runs high in South Korea over territorial claims both countries make to a group of small islands controlled by South Korea , and over Tokyo 's approval of history books that critics say downplay Japan 's wartime atrocities .
-Venezuela 's defense minister says his country is considering building unmanned planes and may look to allied countries - such as Iran - for help .
-Defense Minister General Raul Baduel said Monday in Caracas that Venezuela has made progress in the development of pilotless planes .
-He also said that Venezuela will look to other countries for help in maintaining its aging U.S.-made F-5 fighter jets .
-Venezuela has had trouble maintaining the planes since the United States began blocking arms sales to the South American country .
-Iran 's foreign minister says nuclear talks remain stalled between his government and European negotiators .
-Speaking to reporters Wednesday in Tehran , Kamal Kharrazi said Iran has always sought a short-term suspension of its uranium enrichment activities , but Britain , France and Germany are pressing for a permanent one .
-Iran has suspended its enrichment activities as a good faith gesture during negotiations , but said it will decide in three months whether to continue the suspension .
-Highly enriched uranium can be used to make fuel for nuclear weapons .
-The head of Iran 's Atomic Energy Organization , Gholamreza Aghazadeh , called on the Europeans to speed up the talks .
-In remarks today , he expressed hope the negotiations would protect Iran 's scientific achievements , which he says the Islamic Republic will never give up .
-President Bush has declared a state of emergency for the Gulf Coast state of Louisiana , as it braces for the expected onslaught of Hurricane Katrina , set to make landfall on Monday .
-Saturday 's emergency declaration authorizes federal officials to coordinate all disaster relief efforts and provide appropriate assistance in several Louisiana parishes .
-Hours earlier , Louisiana and neighboring Mississippi declared their own states of emergency in preparation for the storm , and evacuations of low-lying areas began .
-Oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico were evacuated as well , as the 11th named storm of this year 's Atlantic hurricane season churned over the Gulf 's warm waters .
-At last report , Katrina had 185 kilometer-per-hour winds as it moved slowly toward the west-northwest .
-Hurricane Katrina slammed into southeast Florida Thursday , leaving at least seven people dead .
-Israel 's security cabinet has approved a plan to release 900 Palestinian prisoners and withdraw troops from the Palestinian town of Jericho .
-The plan calls for Israel to free 500 Palestinians after next week 's Israeli-Palestinian summit , and 400 others over the next three months .
-About 8,000 Palestinians are in Israeli custody .
-Both sides say they hope to reach agreement at the Cairo summit on a formal truce ending more than four years of violence .
-Meanwhile , Palestinian gunmen interrupted a two-week old de~facto truce Thursday with an attack on an Israeli military vehicle that wounded an Israeli soldier in the occupied Gaza Strip .
-Witnesses said Israeli soldiers returned fire and killed one Palestinian gunman .
-The attack came despite renewed efforts by the Palestinian Authority to stop militants from attacking Israeli targets .
-It was not immediately clear what , if any , effect it would have on summit plans .
-A Russian spacecraft carrying an American space tourist and two cosmonauts has docked with the International Space Station .
-The Soyuzcapsule reached the space station Monday -- two days after lifting off from Kazakhstan .
-It carried cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov and American computer software billionaire Charles Simonyi .
-He paid $ 25 million for the privilege of a spaceflight and visit to the space station .
-Simonyi brought with him a gourmet dinner to be eaten Thursday , which Russia marks as Cosmonauts Day -- the anniversary of Yuri Gagarin 's first manned space flight in 1961 .
-The current space station crew -- Russian Mikhail Tyurin and American astronauts Miguel Lopez-Alegria and Sunita Williams -- return to Earth with Simonyi on April 20 .
-Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says he wants a clear position from the United States regarding implementation of the " road map " plan for peace in the Middle East .
-Mr. Abbas made his comment to reporters as he arrived in Washington late Tuesday for his meeting Thursday with President Bush .
-A White House spokesman said Wednesday that Mr. Bush believes the road map is the best plan for achieving his vision of two states , Israel and Palestine , living peacefully side by side .
-The 2003 plan calls for Palestinians to crack down on terror groups and build democratic institutions ahead of final status negotiations aimed at ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict .
-Mr. Abbas said he will also ask for economic aid , and the two men are expected to discuss Israel 's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip .
-A published report in Spain says the armed Basque separatist group ETA has taken responsibility for five attacks in the northern part of the country in recent months .
-The Gara newspaper Tuesday published an ETA statement saying it carried out the five attacks in June and July .
-ETA says one target was La Peineta stadium , which was the centerpiece of Spain 's failed bid to host the 2012 Olympics .
-Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has offered to hold peace talks with ETA if it renounces violence .
-ETA has been blamed for more than 800 deaths since the 1960s , when it began its armed campaign for a separate Basque homeland in northern Spain .
-The Who cancelled a March 13 concert in Tampa , Florida , after lead singer Roger Daltrey fell ill .
-The 63-year-old Daltrey walked offstage during the first song ; guitarist Pete Townshend later told the crowd he was suffering from bronchitis and could barely speak .
-The crowd of 9,000 then cheered when Townshend said the show had been rescheduled for March 25 .
-The Who is currently touring in support of Endless Wire , its first album since 1982 .
-The band next performs March 17 in Mexico City .
-The U.S. State Department says the already poor human rights situation in Nepal worsened in the past year , with security forces and insurgents alike committing serious human rights abuses .
-However , the report says the governments of India and Sri Lanka generally respected the rights of citizens , although serious problems remain .
-The State Department criticizes Sri Lanka 's government and the Tamil Tiger rebel group for violating a ceasefire accord in place since 2002 .
-It also says Indian officials have used anti-terrorism laws to justify the use of excessive force against insurgents in Jammu and Kashmir .
-The report describes the human rights situation as poor in Afghanistan , a country recovering from 20 years of war .
-It notes violence against women and minorities , as well as restrictions on personal freedoms .
-Similarly , the report says the human rights situations in Bangladesh and Pakistan remain poor , as extrajudicial killings and politically motivated violence continue .
-Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas says he may resign if a Hamas-led government prevents him from advancing the Mideast peace process .
-In a British ( ITV ) television interview broadcast Sunday , Mr. Abbas said Hamas must abide by existing Palestinian Authority commitments recognizing Israel and denouncing the use of violence .
-He said that if he can not continue his policies regarding Israel , he will resign .
-Mr. Abbas was elected for a four-year term as president of the Palestinian Authority in January , 2005 .
-Hamas , considered a terrorist organization by the West , wrested control of the legislature from the ruling Fatah party in parliamentary elections last month .
-Hamas leader and Palestinian Prime Minister-designate Ismail Haniyeh said Sunday his militant group is ready to recognize Israel , if Israel gives the Palestinian people a state on lands occupied since the 1967 war .
-European Union Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson has called on EU governments to release blocked Chinese textile shipments , saying a failure to do so could cause economic hardship in Europe .
-The announcement followed talks with Beijing aimed at revising a June textile quota agreement limiting shipments to Europe .
-Those quotas filled so quickly that millions of items of Chinese-made clothing were left stranded at customs checkpoints .
-Mr. Mandelson Tuesday said the economic consequences of not allowing the goods to enter Europe will be severe for small retailers .
-He said delaying the shipments could also cause higher prices and shortages in the next few months .
-EU textile producers say the imports are harming their business , but retailers say they have already paid for the Chinese clothing and want the items released .
-Iraqi officials say authorities have regained control of the southern city of Diwaniyah , after fierce clashes with Shi'ite militiamen that claimed more than 70 lives .
-The office of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says 23 government soldiers and 50 gunmen were killed in the fighting Monday .
-Several civilians also were reported to have died .
-The fighting ended after a deal was reached between officials and Shi'ite militiamen loyal to radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr .
-Meanwhile , some 30 Iraqis were killed and a number of others wounded in a fuel pipeline explosion near Diwaniyah .
-The victims may have been trying to syphon fuel at the time of the blast .
-In Baghdad , police say they found the bodies of at least 20 people who had been shot and dumped in the capital .
-The U.S. military has reported the deaths of 10 American soldiers in hostile action in Iraq since Sunday .
-Sri Lankan military officials say at least 18 Tamil rebels and two government soldiers have died in separate clashes .
-Officials said Sunday that the navy attacked a rebel camp on Iranativu island off the northern coast Saturday , destroying a rebel boat and killing four Tamil fighters .
-The military says the other 14 rebels died in fighting across several northern districts Saturday .
-The military reports rebel casualties almost daily , and both sides are known to exaggerate the number of people killed .
-The latest fighting raged despite a cease-fire offered by the rebels to take place during a regional summit in the capital , Colombo .
-The rebels have been fighting for an independent homeland for ethnic Tamils in Sri Lanka 's north and east since 1983 .
-They complain of discrimination by the ethnic Sinhalese majority .
-President Bush has signed legislation reaffirming U.S. support for the continued expansion of NATO .
-The measure designates Albania , Croatia , Georgia , Macedonia and Ukraine as eligible to receive financial assistance as they pursue NATO membership .
-It also specifies that funds for military assistance for these countries should be included in next year 's budget .
-But the White House announcement did not specify a figure .
-Al-Qaida 's deputy leader , Ayman al-Zawahiri , has warned that the Persian Gulf region and Israel will be the terrorist group 's next targets .
-The Egyptian-born Zawahiri issued the threat in a videotaped message that was broadcast Monday - the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the United States .
-Zawahiri warned of " new events " and suggested that militants should target Western economic interests .
-The deputy-leader also accused Western powers of stealing " Muslim " oil .
-Zawahiri stressed that Western leaders should be more concerned about attacks in the Gulf or Israel than violence in Iraq or Afghanistan .
-He also made the first indirect threat against United Nations peacekeepers bound for Lebanon .
-Zawahiri said the force is " hostile to Islam . "
-The message was not dated , but Zawahiri referred to the war between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas .
-An animal rights group says more than 40 dolphins are being held under what it calls " appalling " conditions in the Solomon Islands .
-The World Society for the Protection of Animals says the dolphins are being kept in cages in overcrowded , shallow and polluted pens off the island of Gavutu in the Pacific island nation .
-The group says the dolphins suffer from cuts , scratches and sunburn , and appear to be undernourished and stressed .
-The group urged the Solomon Islands to rehabilitate and release the dolphins into the wild .
-Last year , 28 dolphins were transported by plane from the Solomon Islands to Mexico , sparking international criticism .
-A reporters ' advocacy group has condemned the shutdown of a Somali radio station and the detention of two of its reporters .
-The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists says it is alarmed by the closure of Radio Shabelle in the city of Baidoa on Sunday .
-Somalia 's transitional government shut down the station after it broadcast a report saying 300 Ethiopian soldiers had crossed into Somalia .
-Ethiopia has denied the report .
-The advocacy group quotes Radio Shabelle 's deputy director Mohamed Amiin as saying militiamen entered its premises and detained the two journalists , Mohamed Adawe and Ali Mohamed Saed , for about eight hours .
-It says the government gave no explanation for its action .
-The station remained off the air on Monday .
-Deputy Director Amiin says the station stands by its report that Ethiopian troops took up positions at Baidoa 's airport on Saturday .
-The U.S. military says the trials of three Army reservists charged with abusing detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison will be moved to the United States .
-In a statement released late Wednesday , officials say the courts martial of Specialist Charles Graner , Sergeant Javal Davis , and Specialist Sabrina Harman would be held early next year in Fort Hood , Texas instead of Baghdad .
-No reason for the change of venue was given .
-Three other U.S. troops have pleaded guilty in connection with prisoner abuse at the Baghdad prison .
-Most of those charged were part of a military police company based in the U.S. state of Maryland .
-The prisoner abuse scandal erupted in April when photographs of U.S. soldiers taunting and humiliating naked Iraqi prisoners became public , sparking worldwide condemnation .
-A Mexican diplomat says he has met with the leader of Colombia 's second largest rebel group in an effort to broker a peace deal between the group and the Colombian government .
-Mexico 's Andres Valencia told reporters late Tuesday his talks with National Liberation Army ( ELN ) leader Francisco Galan focused on ways to reduce differences between the rebels and the government in order to set up a possible meeting between the two sides in Mexico .
-The Colombian government is demanding the group disarm and cease its practice of kidnapping citizens .
-While other paramilitary groups in the nation have grown rich from the drug trade , the ELN funds itself through kidnapping .
-A top U.S. official says the importance of opium cultivation to Afghanistan 's economy is declining .
-Richard Boucher , the U.S. assistant secretary of state for south and central Asian affairs , says about one third of the Afghan economy was based on opium last year .
-But he added that its production was diminishing due to the growth of the regular economy , including the cultivation of other crops .
-He said more needed to be done to develop economic alternatives to opium production in Afghanistan .
-The country is the world 's number one producer of opium , a key ingredient in heroin .
-Boucher is attending an international conference in Berlin on the reconstruction of Afghanistan .
-Last week , the Bush administration announced it would spend more than $ 10 billion in Afghanistan for security and reconstruction .
-A U.S.-based human rights group says recently gathered information could lead to new charges against a notorious former Iraqi general who is accused of ordering the 1988 massacre of Kurds in northern Iraq .
-In a report issued Thursday , Human Rights Watch says the new information implicates Ali Hassan al-Majid - known as " Chemical Ali " - in the execution of hundreds of Shi'ite Muslims during an uprising in the southern city of Basra in 1999 .
-Iraqi officials say they expect Chemical Ali to be among the first of several top lieutenants of Saddam Hussein 's regime to go on trial for a range of crimes , including crimes against humanity and genocide .
-In December , Iraq 's interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said the trials of top officials of the ousted regime would begin within weeks .
-But so far , no trial dates have been set .
-A fugitive leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas has appeared in a videotape calling Israel 's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip a victory for Palestinian militants .
-Mohammed Deif , who has eluded Israeli authorities for more than a decade , said Israel 's pullout is a humiliation suffered at the hands of the armed resistance .
-The alleged bombmaker , who Israel accuses of being behind a string of suicide bombings , appeared in the video in profile with a dark shadow over his face .
-He warned the Palestinian Authority not to try to disarm the militant groups .
-But he did call for dialogue " to protect our Palestinian blood . "
-Western news agencies in Gaza received copies of the tape overnight Saturday .
-They say they believe the tape is authentic .
-Pope John Paul II has urged believers to proudly display the signs of their faith , saying the practice does not encourage intolerance or infringe on the separation of church and state .
-In an apostolic letter to Roman Catholics launching the Year of the Eucharist , the pope made no mention of specific problems .
-But the message follows sharp controversy in France over a government ban on conspicuous religious symbols such as Muslim headscarves , Jewish skullcaps or large crucifixes in the country 's schools .
-The pontiff also repeated his concern that too few Catholics are giving due reverence to the Eucharist or properly marking Sunday as the Lord 's Day .
-He also described faith as a means of counteracting violence and a way of bringing attention to such problems as poverty and hunger in the world .
-Former U.S. President Bill Clinton says that publishing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad was a mistake , but that violent protests by Muslims have wasted a chance to build bridges with the West .
-Clinton was speaking in Pakistan , the scene of some of the worst rallies against the drawings , where he was visiting survivors of last year 's South Asian earthquake and launching an HIV / AIDS project .
-He said he strongly disagrees with the publication of the cartoons , considered blasphemous by Muslims , and has no objection to the Muslim protests if they are peaceful .
-But he said by holding violent demonstrations that have killed 18 people , Muslims have missed an opportunity to build better ties with the West .
-Clinton arrived in Islamabad early Friday for a day-long trip and held talks with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz .
-Iran says it will allow United Nations nuclear experts to take environmental samples from a military site to disprove allegations Tehran is secretly developing nuclear weapons .
-A foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters Sunday in Tehran that International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors would only take samples from so-called " green areas " at the military site , and not from inside the installation .
-The head of the IAEA , Mohamed ElBaradei , said last week Iran had agreed to allow access to the site at Parchin , near the capital , and that inspectors would arrive there soon .
-The IAEA has been seeking access to Parchin , which has long been used by Iran to research , develop and produce missiles and other high explosives .
-The United States accuses Iran of secretly developing nuclear weapons .
-Iran asserts its nuclear program is only for producing electricity .
-Turkish police have detained at least 50 suspected al-Qaida-linked militants in raids across nine provinces .
-Local media say the militants , thought to be members of a group ( the Islamic Jihad League ) tied to al-Qaida , were planning attacks against U.S. , Israeli and NATO targets in Turkey .
-They say the suspects may have had contact with al-Qaida 's second-in-command , Ayman al-Zawahri , and may have been trained in Afghanistan .
-Turkey 's Hurriyet daily says police Thursday seized an unlicensed gun , documents , CDs and laptops during a search of homes and offices of suspected al-Qaida members in the eastern province of Van .
-A Moscow court has rejected the appeal of former Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky against his conviction on fraud and tax evasion charges , but the court reduced his prison sentence from nine to eight years .
-Khodorkovsky , once Russia 's richest man , was convicted in May in what his supporters call a political trial in retaliation for the tycoon 's backing of opposition politicians .
-Thursday 's proceedings got underway after the court repeatedly rejected defense motions for a delay to allow them more preparation time .
-In a statement to the court , Khodorkovsky proclaimed his innocence and accused bureaucrats opposed to his funding of the political opposition of responsibility for his conviction .
-Supporters of the former chief of the giant Russian oil firm Yukos say authorities had rushed through the appeal to prevent Khodorkovsky from running in a December parliamentary by-election .
-The African Union says it is temporarily suspending the deployment of troops to Sudan 's troubled Darfur region because of a fuel shortage .
-AU officials say the suspension will last several weeks .
-The Associated Press reports the fuel shortage was caused by the closure of a refinery in Sudan 's capital , Khartoum , for repairs .
-AU officials say heavy rains in Darfur are also hindering the deployment of troops as some roads have become impassable .
-Several thousand AU troops and police officers are already in Darfur .
-The force is expected to number more than 7,000 when the deployment is completed .
-The force is monitoring a cease-fire between Darfur rebels and pro-government Arab militia .
-The conflict has left 1,80,000 people dead and two million others displaced .
-China says at least 37 miners died early Sunday in a coal mine accident in the central province of Henan .
-The official Xinhua news agency says seven other miners are being treated in the hospital for their injuries after what was called a gas " outburst " in the private mine near the city of Dengfeng .
-The report said 108 people were underground when the accident occurred , and 64 of them escaped .
-The accident happened one day after a fire at a coal mine in northeastern China killed at least five miners and trapped 30 .
-Xinhua said the fire broke out Saturday at a mine in Hegang City , Heilongjiang province , while 44 miners were working underground .
-China 's coal mines are the world 's deadliest , with thousands of people dying every year in explosions , cave-ins and floods .
-Iraq says it will close its borders and extend curfew hours as part of an extensive security plan to foil insurgent attacks during Thursday 's parliamentary elections .
-The Interior Ministry says the curfews will begin Tuesday and last until Saturday .
-During that time , road travel will be restricted to vehicles with special permits .
-All airports will be closed from Wednesday to Friday .
-A coalition of Shi'ite religious parties is expected to win the biggest bloc of seats in the new legislature .
-But analysts predict that no party will win an outright majority , and that a coalition of Shi'ites and Kurds will likely govern .
-The polls will be the first under the constitution ratified in October in a national referendum .
-Meanwhile , the U.S. military says an American soldier was killed Sunday when a roadside bomb exploded near his patrol in western Baghdad .
-A former White House aide to former U.S. President George Bush has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for stealing nearly $ 6,00,000 from a government-funded program that promotes democracy in Cuba .
-A federal judge sentenced Felipe Sixto on Wednesday for the theft of funds from the Center for a Free Cuba .
-Sixto resigned as a special assistant to President Bush for intergovernmental affairs last year , after learning the center was taking legal action against him .
-He pleaded guilty to theft in December and apologized for the crime .
-Sixto has admitted he bought bulk shipments of radios through two companies he created , then resold the equipment to the center at a higher price .
-He was the center 's chief of staff before moving to the White House .
-The Center for a Free Cuba is a non-profit institution dedicated to promoting human rights and democracy in Cuba .
-A moderate earthquake struck northwest Pakistan Sunday , but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries .
-The U.S. Geological Survey measured the quake at a magnitude of 4.9 .
-Officials say the earthquake was centered in the Hindu Kush mountains of neighboring Afghanistan .
-Pakistani officials say the earthquake was felt in the capital , Islamabad , as well as Peshawar and Chitral .
-Police officials say there were no reports of deaths , injuries or damages .
-Iraqi Sunni leaders say they want more seats on the parliamentary committee charged with drafting the country 's constitution or they will boycott the process .
-A coalition of Sunni organizations said Wednesday they want to increase their current special allotment of 13 seats to 25 , strengthening their voice on a key committee that could have a total of some 75 seats .
-The Sunnis have already been granted 11 extra seats on the committee to make up for their small number of legislators - a result of the parliament election boycott by Sunni voters .
-Shi'ite leaders have not responded to the demands .
-Meanwhile , insurgent attacks across Iraq Tuesday killed at least 25 people , including three U.S. soldiers .
-Several hundred anti-war protesters have begun their second week of demonstrations outside President Bush 's Crawford , Texas ranch .
-At the center of the protests is a California woman whose son was killed in Iraq last year .
-Cindy Sheehan came to Crawford a week ago demanding to talk to Mr. Bush about the death of her son and the rationale behind the Iraq conflict .
-On Saturday , dozens of anti-war demonstrators squared off with counter-protesters outside Mr. Bush 's ranch .
-Authorities turned out in force to keep the two groups separated .
-Mr. Bush has said he understands the sentiments of anti-war protesters , but he repeated his position that U.S. troops will not be immediately withdrawn from Iraq .
-A presidential panel says U.S. intelligence about Iran 's arms capabilities is " inadequate . "
-The New York Times says the panel investigating U.S. intelligence on global weapons proliferation will submit the classified report to President Bush later this month .
-The commission is expected to also be critical of American intelligence on North Korea , but the newspaper says officials describe the lack of information about Tehran 's capabilities as particularly worrisome .
-The report says America lacks the intelligence on Tehran 's arms to allow firm judgments about its weapons programs .
-The United States says Iran is trying to covertly develop nuclear weapons .
-Tehran insists its nuclear program is for civilian purposes .
-The International Atomic Energy Agency has been skeptical of Tehran 's claims , but says it has seen no evidence of an Iranian nuclear weapons program .
-Police in Pakistan say at least five soldiers were killed in a suicide attack in the country 's northwestern Swat Valley .
-Security officials say a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into a security checkpoint in the town of Khawaza Kehla Saturday .
-At least four soldiers were wounded .
-Pakistan 's military launched an offensive in Swat and surrounding areas in late April after militants violated a peace deal and began advancing toward the capital , Islamabad .
-Officials call the operation a success and say most of the Taliban insurgents have been driven from the region .
-However , Pakistani forces have encountered some lingering resistance .
-The military says eight militants were killed Saturday in a clash that erupted as soldiers searched another area of Swat Valley .
-Two others were detained .
-Elsewhere in northwestern Pakistan , security officials say fighter jets targeted a suspected militant hideout in the South Waziristan tribal region Saturday .
-Iran 's top nuclear negotiator says Tehran will soon resume large-scale enrichment of uranium if Iran is referred to the United Nations Security Council .
-Ali Larijani also told a news conference Wednesday that Iran 's main enrichment plant is ready for use .
-He said all Iran has to do is inform the International Atomic Energy Agency that it would be resuming operations .
-His comments come one day before the IAEA board meets in Vienna .
-A draft resolution obtained by news agencies formally calls on the IAEA to report Iran to the U.N. Security Council over its nuclear activities .
-British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw met his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki in London today to tell him that Tehran has one last chance to convince the world that its nuclear program is peaceful .
-European and U.S. leaders accuse Iran of secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons .
-Iran denies the charge .
-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the Bush administration has a strategy to " assure victory " in Iraq .
-In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee , Ms. Rice said the plan is to clear out areas under insurgent control , hold those areas securely , and build durable , national Iraqi institutions .
-She said the United States will send in teams of diplomatic and military personnel working together to help Iraqis train police , and set up essential services .
-Ms. Rice 's testimony Wednesday comes just days after Iraqis voted in a referendum on a new constitution .
-Senators pressed the secretary for specifics , including when the 150-thousand U.S. troops in Iraq might start coming home .
-The secretary refused to offer a timetable , saying any withdrawal depends on Iraqi forces being able to fight the insurgents independently .
-English and Irish colonists from St. Kitts first settled on Montserrat in 1632 ; the first African slaves arrived three decades later .
-The British and French fought for possession of the island for most of the 18th century , but it finally was confirmed as a British possession in 1783 .
-The island 's sugar plantation economy was converted to small farm landholdings in the mid 19th century .
-Much of this island was devastated and two-thirds of the population fled abroad because of the eruption of the Soufriere Hills Volcano that began on 18 July 1995 .
-Montserrat has endured volcanic activity since , with the last eruption occurring in July 2003 .
-Georgia 's economy sustained GDP growth of more than 10 % in 2006 - 7 , based on strong inflows of foreign investment and robust government spending .
-However , GDP growth slowed in 2008 following the August 2008 conflict with Russia , and turned negative in 2009 as foreign direct investment and workers ' remittances declined in the wake of the global financial crisis , but rebounded in 2010 .
-Georgia 's main economic activities include the cultivation of agricultural products such as grapes , citrus fruits , and hazelnuts ; mining of manganese and copper ; and output of a small industrial sector producing alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages , metals , machinery , aircraft and chemicals .
-Areas of recent improvement include growth in the construction , banking services , and mining sectors , but reduced availability of external investment and the slowing regional economy are emerging risks .
-The country imports nearly all its needed supplies of natural gas and oil products .
-It has sizeable hydropower capacity , a growing component of its energy supplies .
-Georgia has overcome the chronic energy shortages and gas supply interruptions of the past by renovating hydropower plants and by increasingly relying on natural gas imports from Azerbaijan instead of from Russia .
-The construction on the Baku-T'bilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline , the Baku-T'bilisi-Erzerum gas pipeline , and the Kars-Akhalkalaki Railroad are part of a strategy to capitalize on Georgia 's strategic location between Europe and Asia and develop its role as a transit point for gas , oil and other goods .
-Georgia has historically suffered from a chronic failure to collect tax revenues ; however , the government , since coming to power in 2004 , has simplified the tax code , improved tax administration , increased tax enforcement , and cracked down on petty corruption .
-However , the economic downturn of 2008 - 9 eroded the tax base and led to a decline in the budget surplus and an increase in public borrowing needs .
-The country is pinning its hopes for renewed growth on a determined effort to continue to liberalize the economy by reducing regulation , taxes , and corruption in order to attract foreign investment , but the economy faces a more difficult investment climate both domestically and internationally .
-After discarding socialist economic policies in the mid-1990s , Madagascar followed a World Bank- and IMF-led policy of privatization and liberalization that has been undermined since the start of the political crisis .
-This strategy placed the country on a slow and steady growth path from an extremely low level .
-Agriculture , including fishing and forestry , is a mainstay of the economy , accounting for more than one-fourth of GDP and employing 80 % of the population .
-Exports of apparel have boomed in recent years primarily due to duty-free access to the US .
-However , Madagascar 's failure to comply with the requirements of the African Growth and Opportunity Act ( AGOA ) led to the termination of the country 's duty-free access in January 2010 .
-Deforestation and erosion , aggravated by the use of firewood as the primary source of fuel , are serious concerns .
-Former President RAVALOMANANA worked aggressively to revive the economy following the 2002 political crisis , which triggered a 12 % drop in GDP that year .
-The current political crisis which began in early 2009 has dealt additional blows to the economy .
-Tourism dropped more than 50 % in 2009 , compared with the previous year , and many investors are wary of entering the uncertain investment environment .
-Settled by both Britain and France during the first half of the 19th century , the island was made a French possession in 1853 .
-It served as a penal colony for four decades after 1864 .
-Agitation for independence during the 1980s and early 1990s ended in the 1998 Noumea Accord , which over a period of 15 to 20 years will transfer an increasing amount of governing responsibility from France to New Caledonia .
-The agreement also commits France to conduct a referendum between 2014 and 2019 to decide whether New Caledonia should assume full sovereignty and independence .
-ALL the Goods were once driven out by the Ills from that common share which they each had in the affairs of mankind ; for the Ills by reason of their numbers had prevailed to possess the earth .
-The Goods wafted themselves to heaven and asked for a righteous vengeance on their persecutors .
-They entreated Jupiter that they might no longer be associated with the Ills , as they had nothing in common and could not live together , but were engaged in unceasing warfare ; and that an indissoluble law might be laid down for their future protection .
-Jupiter granted their request and decreed that henceforth the Ills should visit the earth in company with each other , but that the Goods should one by one enter the habitations of men .
-Hence it arises that Ills abound , for they come not one by one , but in troops , and by no means singly : while the Goods proceed from Jupiter , and are given , not alike to all , but singly , and separately ; and one by one to those who are able to discern them .
-Turkish security officials say Kurdish rebels have killed 13 Turkish soldiers in a southeastern province near the border with Iraq .
-Reports from Turkey say the soldiers were killed Sunday in Sirnak province near an area where a Kurdish rebel was killed in earlier fighting .
-A Turkish army statement said an operation is under way to hunt down the attackers .
-It also said Turkish troops shelled areas near the Iraqi border to try to prevent rebels from reaching their bases in northern Iraq .
-Last week , rebels from the Kurdistan Workers ' Party , or PKK , ambushed a minibus in Sirnak and killed 12 passengers , including village guards .
-Ankara signed an agreement with Baghdad last month that commits Iraqi troops to crack down on PKK rebels who Turkey says use northern Iraq to attack Turkey .
-The deal does not allow Turkey to send its troops into Iraq .
-Afghanistan 's government says Afghan and U.S.-led troops have killed five Taleban insurgents in the east of the country .
-The Afghan Defense Ministry says the rebels were killed in a gun fight Saturday in the eastern province of Paktika .
-Afghan and coalition forces captured one insurgent .
-In other fighting Saturday , a Canadian soldier was killed in Kandahar province when militants ambushed his patrol with a roadside bomb and gunfire .
-Separately , Afghan police are searching for the gunmen who killed two German journalists early Saturday in a remote part of northern Afghanistan .
-The two Deutsche Welle journalists , a man and a woman , were shot dead as they spent the night in a tent in Baghlan province .
-The area has been relatively calm this year , and the motive for the shooting is unknown .
-German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier condemned the killings as atrocious and senseless .
-American Idol narrowed the field of hopefuls to 16 March 1 , bouncing two women and two men .
-This time , the axe fell on Alaina Alexander , who sang a tepid rendition of the Dixie Chicks ' " Not Ready To Make Nice , " and Nick Pedro , deemed lacking in charisma , according to judge Simon Cowell .
-Also removed were A.J. Tabaldo and Leslie Hunt , who both sang Nina Simone 's " Feeling Good " .
-Still in the race , however , is 20-year-old New Jersey native Antonella Barba , whose racy photos have become an Internet sensation .
-Burma 's detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has appealed to the ruling military against her home confinement .
-A spokesman for her National League for Democracy says the appeal was sent by the party to the cabinet .
-Aung San Suu Kyi approved the final draft of her legal appeal during a meeting with her lawyer Kyi Win in September .
-Last month , the military government released 9,000 prisoners , including ten political prisoners in an amnesty ahead of elections planned for 2010 .
-The NLD won a landslide victory in 1990 elections , but the military refused to acknowledge the win .
-The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has been under house arrest for 13 of the last 19 years .
-Pope Benedict is calling for swift global action to overcome hunger in the troubled Darfur region of western Sudan .
-Speaking Sunday , the pontiff said the most basic food needs of hundreds of thousands of people in Darfur are not being met .
-Earlier this month , the World Food Program said lagging donations had forced it to reduce food rations to 1,050 calories per day - about half of an average person 's daily requirement .
-The Khartoum government and Darfur 's main rebel group signed a peace deal May fifth to end fighting that has killed more than 2,00,000 people and displaced more than 2.5 million others since 2003 .
-But African Union peacekeepers have been unable to stop militia attacks on civilians since then .
-Prosecutors in Ukraine say they want to question former President Leonid Kuchma about the death of an investigative reporter five years ago .
-Officials will pose questions about Georgy Gongadze , an Internet journalist who had been critical of Mr. Kuchma 's government .
-No date has been set for the interview .
-The journalist disappeared in September 2000 and his decapitated body was found weeks later .
-Mr. Kuchma 's former bodyguard says he secretly recorded conversations during which the former leader allegedly implicates himself in the killing .
-The former president has denied any involvement in Mr. Gongadze 's death .
-Friday , his former interior minister , Yuri Kravchenko , apparently committed suicide hours before he was to be questioned in the case .
-U.S. first lady Laura Bush has visited a center for missing children and praised the work of those trying to reunite the families separated by Hurricane Katrina .
-Mrs. Bush greeted volunteers at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children outside Washington Friday .
-The center in Alexandria , Virginia says more than 2,000 children are still reported missing from the hurricane or are looking for their parents or other caregivers .
-Photographs and information of the missing , including adults , are posted on the center 's website .
-Some children are only listed by their first name , as their full identification is still unknown , nearly three weeks after the storm hit .
-The American Red Cross also has a registry of the missing .
-Former president Jimmy Carter says the U.S. military should close its detention camp at Guantanamo Bay , Cuba , following allegations of prisoner abuse .
-Mr. Carter told an audience in Atlanta Tuesday that closing the camp and several other secret detention centers around the globe would show that the United States is committed to defending human rights .
-Earlier this week , a leading Democrat in the Senate called on President Bush to shut down the Guantanamo camp and launch a massive probe into alleged abuses there .
-A report by the human rights group Amnesty International criticizes the U.S. military for holding terrorist suspects without charge and for other abuses .
-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has rejected the Amnesty report as " absurd , " and he says U.S. officials have no plans to close the camp at Guantanamo .
-NATO says it is investigating allegations that seven members of a private security company were killed Saturday during an Afghan and coalition force operation .
-A coalition statement says the deadly shooting happened after its service members had " peacefully detained " a Haqqani facilitator in Paktiya province .
-NATO says after the joint force used a bullhorn to call for occupants of a vehicle to " exit peacefully , " a man got out of the vehicle with an AK-47 .
-The alliance says the security force assessed the man " to be hostile " and shot him .
-NATO says several armed individuals then clashed with the force , resulting in seven deaths .
-NATO says it is assessing who the individuals were .
-Brazilian security forces , backed by tanks and helicopters , have carried out an operation to recover stolen weapons from a slum in Rio de Janeiro .
-More than 1,000 soldiers and police officers searched Monday for 10 assault rifles and a nine-millimeter pistol stolen from army barracks by a group of armed men on Friday .
-A homemade bomb was hurled at soldiers at the entrance of the Providencia slum in the early hours of Monday morning .
-No injuries were reported .
-Security officials say police and soldiers exchanged fire with slum residents .
-Rio is one of the world 's most violent cities .
-Its slums are often the scene of gang and drug-related violence that kills hundreds of people each year .
-China has issued a new set of rules that state-media said would better protect religious freedoms in the officially atheist country .
-The official Xinhua news agency said Sunday that the Religious Affairs Provisions explicitly specify the rights of religious groups , religious sites , and people .
-They also offer guidance on religious affairs involving state and public interests .
-Xinhua called the rules a significant step forward in the protection of Chinese citizens ' religious freedom .
-The U.S. State Department 's Annual Report on Religious Freedom last year rebuked China for poor respect for religious freedom and interference and harassment of people who do not belong to state churches .
-China requires people to worship in state-sanctioned churches and cracks down on groups outside of the government 's control .
-A new public opinion poll in the United States says President Bush 's job approval rating has fallen to an all-time low of 45 percent because of the war in Iraq and rising gasoline prices .
-The ABC News-Washington Post survey published Wednesday found that just over half ( 53 percent ) of the 1,600 people surveyed said the war in Iraq is not worth fighting , while 57 percent disapprove of the president 's handling of the conflict .
-The survey also said 73 percent disapprove of President Bush 's efforts to control the soaring gasoline prices in the United States .
-The poll said that Mr. Bush 's handing of the war against terrorism received 56 percent approval , the only issue on which he received a majority approval .
-The poll of randomly selected Americans has a three percent margin of error .
-Kenyan police say thieves tried to break into the home of Sarah Obama , the grandmother of U.S. presidential hopeful Barack Obama .
-The 85-year-old Obama told police and Kenyan media that the break-in attempt occurred early Wednesday at her home in the western village of Kogelo .
-She told a Kenyan newspaper , The Daily Nation , that the thieves tried to get into the house through the kitchen door and then tried to remove a solar panel from the roof .
-Police say they have arrested four suspects in connection with the incident and are now giving Obama 24-hour protection .
-Barack Obama was born to a white American mother and a Kenyan father .
-The Democratic Party candidate is wildly popular among Kenyans , who take pride in his run for the presidency .
-Sarah Obama is his step-grandmother .
-Supporters of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe have raised $ 2,50,000 to throw him a lavish birthday party , Saturday .
-The state-run Herald newspaper says Mr. Mugabe 's 85th birthday will be celebrated in the town of Chinhoyi , north of the capital Harare .
-Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai , the president 's longtime rival , plans to attend the event .
-The two men recently entered into a unity government under intense pressure from regional leaders .
-Mr. Tsvangirai has criticized the president 's birthday parties in the past , saying they waste money in a country crippled by poverty and food shortages .
-Iraqi Kurdish negotiators say they will resume talks Monday with the country 's dominant Shi'ite alliance to hammer out details of a coalition government .
-One of the negotiators , Fuad Masoum , says there are further , important issues that need to be resolved before a government is formed .
-Negotiators have been hoping to agree on a government before Iraq 's National Assembly convenes for the first time on Wednesday .
-Meanwhile , a roadside bomb south of Baghdad killed two American security contractors Sunday .
-To the north , in Mosul , witnesses say three Iraqi civilians were killed when a U.S. helicopter fired on insurgents .
-Also Sunday , a previously-unknown group claimed responsibility for last week 's bomb attack on a Shi'ite funeral that killed 50 people .
-It says the attack was to demonstrate opposition to Shi'ites who are set to take control of Iraq 's new government .
-A prominent U.S. newspaper says Washington wants to expand a secret Central Intelligence Agency operation in Pakistan designed to eliminate Islamic militants ' havens near the Afghan border .
-The Wall Street Journal reported late Friday the U.S. has asked Pakistan in recent weeks to allow more CIA officers and special operations military trainers into the country to participate in Washington 's efforts step up pressure on militants .
-The report says Islamabad has refused the requests for additional personnel because it remains " extremely wary " of a larger U.S. ground presence in Pakistan .
-The newspaper reports the number of CIA personnel in Pakistan is " highly classified , " but says it " has grown substantially " in recent years .
-The Wall Street Journal says Washington wants Islamabad to take " more aggressive action " against groups allied with al-Qaida .
-The death toll from a passenger train derailment in southern India has risen to at least 77 people , after rescue workers retrieved more bodies from the mangled wreckage .
-Authorities say the accident occurred Saturday , near the town of Veligonda in southern Andhra Pradesh state .
-They say heavy rains washed away a portion of the tracks and that the train derailed and fell into a swollen river .
-Officials say at least 100 injured passengers were rescued from the seven cars that plunged into the flood waters , but that many more remain trapped inside .
-Indian television images showed corpses lying on the soft marshy ground , many clad in brightly colored , but sodden clothes .
-Rescuers used ropes to help them wade through the water to reach the train carriages and then drag bodies onto higher land .
-A laboratory in Hong Kong has confirmed it was the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu that killed two Indonesian children from the same family this month .
-An Indonesian Health Ministry official said Saturday the deaths in West Java province raise the country 's toll from bird flu to 14 confirmed cases .
-A three-year-old boy died Tuesday at a provincial hospital .
-His 13-year-old sister died the previous week , and a third sibling is suffering symptoms of the virus .
-Elsewhere , Ukraine has confirmed a new outbreak of bird flu among birds in the southern Crimea Peninsula .
-Ukrainian officials say they do not yet know if the birds had the H5N1 strain .
-The World Health Organization has confirmed more than 80 deaths from bird flu in East Asia and Turkey since 2003 .
-An outbreak of cholera in West Africa has killed at least 177 people and sickened more than 9,000 in Guinea-Bissau within the past month .
-In an attempt to control the outbreak , the government has banned the sale of water at markets .
-Cholera is an intestinal infection usually spread through contaminated water or food .
-It causes life-threatening dehydration if not treated .
-Health officials say this year 's rainy season in Guinea-Bissau has created favorable conditions for the spread of the disease .
-Flooded latrines can contaminate nearby well water .
-The World Health Organization says Burkina Faso , Guinea , Liberia , Mali , Mauritania , Niger and Senegal also have seen a rise in cholera cases .
-Germany 's highest court has ruled that random data profiling for terror suspects is legal only when the country faces a specific threat to security or lives .
-Germany 's Constitutional Court ruled Tuesday that the general threat of terror since September 11 , 2001 , does not warrant random profiling .
-Analysts say the ruling could force many German states to revise laws on random searches .
-The measure stems from the case of a Moroccan student in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia , who challenged scanned data on five million men who were profiled following the 2001 terror attacks on the United States .
-No terror suspects were found in the data search .
-Bavarian Interior Minister Guenther Beckstein criticized today 's ruling , saying data profiling is an effective way to combat terrorism .
-Israeli soldiers on stand by in the Gush Katif bloc of Jewish settlements leading to the site were Palestinian militants attacked an army post near Egypt-Gaza border Israeli security officials say three soldiers have been wounded in an attack by Palestinian militants .
-Israeli officials say two militants fired light arms and rocket-propelled grenades at soldiers and civilians near any army post on the Gaza-Egypt border Sunday .
-Authorities say the soldiers returned fire , killing one of the attackers .
-The militant group Islamic Jihad said the attack was a joint operation between its militants and those affiliated with the Fatah movement of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas .
-Sierra Leone 's U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal has accused former Liberian President Charles Taylor of backing an attempt to kill Guinea 's president .
-The court 's chief prosecutor David Crane says the exiled former leader ordered the assassination of Guinean President Lansana Conte in January to punish him for allegedly supporting rebels in Liberia .
-A spokesman for Mr. Taylor has denied the charge .
-He has lived in exile in Nigeria since 2003 when he stepped down under pressure from advancing rebels and the United States .
-Before Mr. Taylor left office , the special court indicted him on war crimes charges for backing rebels during Sierra Leone 's 10-year civil war .
-Meanwhile , the United States House of Representatives is expected to pass a resolution calling on Nigeria to hand Mr. Taylor to the tribunal .
-Panama says drug-running Colombian rebels have planted landmines in Panama near the two countries ' shared border .
-Panamanian Security Minister Jose Mulino said Friday that whoever planted the mines is apparently " protecting something " in the area .
-Mulino did not say how many mines were found in the Darien region where two police officers were wounded last week in a mine blast .
-The region has been the scene of occasional incursions by rebels into Panamanian territory in the past .
-Palestinian officials say Israeli soldiers have shot and killed at least two Palestinians in separate incidents in the West Bank .
-Early Sunday , Israeli troops killed a member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in a refugee camp in Nablus .
-An Israeli army spokesman said soldiers opened fire on two gunmen , killing one and wounding the other .
-In the other incident , near Hebron , Israeli forces killed a man who was involved in a shootout between two Palestinian families .
-An Israeli army spokesman says the man was armed .
-Separately , in the Gaza Strip , Hamas security forces say they found a bomb near the Palestinian parliament building .
-Hamas blamed members of the rival Fatah movement for planting the device .
-Hamas seized control of Gaza in June after factional fighting with Fatah that killed more than 100 people .
-The Turkish Weightlifting Federation has been fined $ 1,00,000 and suspended from all international competitions until May 31 following a series of anti-doping violations .
-In a statement Tuesday after a meeting in Doha , Qatar , the International Weightlifting Federation 's executive committee sanctioned Turkey 's federation for " bringing the sport of weightlifting into disrepute . "
-The fine must be paid before Turkey can be readmitted to the sport 's International Federation , with the money to be used for anti-doping activities .
-The IWF also directed the Turkish Federation to identify and sanction athletes and coaches involved in the violations , and develop an anti-doping education program to be approved and monitored by the world body 's executive board .
-Brazil 's president is pledging to invest at least $ 1.7 billion to develop Rio de Janeiro 's slums .
-In a speech on Monday , Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the state should meet its obligations to slum dwellers or else drug traffickers will take over the shantytowns .
-He added that Brazil can defeat organized crime only if the government improves the country 's poorest areas .
-Mr. da Silva spoke a few days after a police raid on drug gangs killed at least 13 people in a slum .
-The announced investment will provide basic services such as water and sewage systems , as well as basic facilities such as schools and hospitals .
-The money is expected to benefit two million families in the state and city of Rio de Janeiro .
-Brazil 's federal , state , and municipal governments will all contribute to the fund .
-Before Hurricane Gustav even made landfall , the American Red Cross had spent $ 12 million organizing 5,000 workers and supplies for disaster relief .
-Now , hundreds of Red Cross chapters nationwide are getting ready for the next group of storms .
-VOA 's Carolyn Presutti shows how that is accomplished .
-The United Nations Security Council is expected to discuss a build-up of peacekeeping troops in Ivory Coast later Monday .
-U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has officially requested the transfer of 200 additional peacekeepers and a police unit from Liberia to protect U.N. personnel and property .
-On Sunday , Mr. Annan urged the Council for a quick approval .
-He said in a statement that he is deeply concerned by continued threats against U.N. personnel and by reports that more violent protests and attacks are being planned .
-The U.N. evacuated hundreds of staffers from Ivory Coast last month after supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo assaulted U.N. compounds .
-The U.N. currently has 7,000 peacekeepers in Ivory Coast , working with 4,000 French troops trying to uphold a shaky peace agreement .
-The West African nation has been divided into a rebel-held north and government-controlled south since a 2002 civil war .
-U.S. Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has met with a federal grand jury investigating the leak of a covert CIA operative 's identity .
-Lawyers in the case have said Mr. Fitzgerald may ask the jury to issue charges against President Bush 's chief advisor , Karl Rove , and Vice President Dick Cheney 's chief of staff , Lewis Libby .
-Mr. Fitzgerald has been conducting a nearly two-year investigation into whether someone in the Bush administration blew the cover of a CIA operative ( Valerie Plame ) in 2003 .
-It is a federal crime to knowingly reveal a covert agent 's identity .
-The grand jury is scheduled to expire Friday unless extended by a federal judge .
-The White House has generally refused to comment on the probe , although media reports indicate Bush administration officials are bracing for at least one indictment .
-United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan will formally present Monday a report that calls for major reforms of the world body .
-Among changes Mr. Annan will call for during a speech to the General Assembly is expanding the Security Council from its current 15 members , which includes five permanent seats - the United States , Britain , France , China and Russia .
-If the Council expands , India , Brazil , Germany and Japan are among nations wanting to be added as permanent members .
-Another proposal is the creation of a smaller human rights panel to replace the current Commission on Human Rights .
-The commission has been criticized for allowing some accused human rights abusers to use their membership to protect each other from condemnation .
-Calls for U.N. reform have increased in recent years , fueled in part by financial scandal in the Iraq oil-for-food program , and the U.S. decision to invade Iraq without Security Council approval .
-The U.N. nuclear agency says its investigation into an alleged secret nuclear reactor in Syria has made a " good start " after inspectors visited the site .
-Chief inspector Olli Heinonen said Wednesday that he and two colleagues achieved what they wanted from their first trip to Syria as part of the investigation .
-The International Atomic Energy Agency official was speaking on his return to Vienna after four days in Syria .
-Heinonen said his team took samples at the Al Kibar complex in northeastern Syria that Washington says housed a covert nuclear reactor built with North Korean help .
-Israeli warplanes destroyed the building last September .
-Heinonen said the agency still has work to do in analyzing samples from the site .
-He did not say when U.N. inspectors may return to Syria .
-Damascus denies U.S. intelligence allegations that it built a secret nuclear reactor and accuses Washington of fabricating evidence .
-Nepal 's new government has released more Maoist rebels detained under a scrapped anti-terror law .
-At least 182 rebels are now free .
-The government of interim Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala announced Monday that it was dropping terrorism charges against hundreds of rebels .
-They were imprisoned by the former royalist government of King Gyanendra .
-Friends and relatives greeted the former prisoners Tuesday afternoon .
-The rebels raised their fists in a Maoist salute and chanted Maoist slogans .
-A Maoist rebel spokesman , Krishna Mahara , says the government has promised to free 350 rebels , although hundreds more will remain in jail .
-The government decision to release the rebels came following talks on Sunday between Nepal 's home affairs minister , Krishna Prasad Sitaula , and Maoist leader Prachanda in a remote western village .
-U.S. Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has proposed a clampdown on energy speculation which he believes is responsible for record-high oil prices .
-Senator Obama Sunday announced the proposal , which would close a legal provision that exempts energy commodies from government oversight .
-Critics say the deregulation measure , signed in 2000 by then-President Bill Clinton , opened the way to uncontrolled speculation in the oil markets .
-The price of gasoline has become a campaign issue between Obama and presumptive Republican nominee John McCain .
-Senator McCain wants Congress to lift a ban on offshore oil drilling , while Obama says such a measure would not help the problem in the short term .
-Obama 's announcement concides with a major energy summit in Saudi Arabia on ways to rein in the high oil prices .
-The teenage boy at the center of the latest Michael Jackson scandal says the pop star sexually molested him twice in the singer 's bedroom .
-The accuser , who testified in a California court Thursday , was a 13-year old cancer patient at the time of the alleged incidents .
-Mr. Jackson had invited him and his family for a visit in 2003 .
-The teen also testified that the entertainer urged him to drink wine aboard his private jet and hard liquor at the singer 's ranch .
-Mr. Jackson has denied all the charges against him .
-Thursday 's testimony came after the judge threatened to jail Mr. Jackson and revoke his bail when he arrived more than one hour late for court .
-A Jackson spokesman said the star had been hospitalized for a serious back injury .
-Pakistan has denied allegations by Moscow that militants have been training on Pakistani territory to carry out terrorist attacks in Russia and the former Soviet central Asian nations .
-Foreign ministry spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani in Islamabad Saturday said there are no militant training facilities in Pakistan .
-He said the role and sacrifices made by Islamabad , a key U.S. ally in the war on terror , have been acknowledged by the international community .
-His comments come one day after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow had information that people are being trained in Afghanistan and Pakistan with the help of Taleban insurgents to carry out attacks inside Russia .
-He also alleged that militants have already crossed into the Fergana Valley of Uzbekistan , Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan .
-Jordan says it will host a regional conference next week to discuss ways to help hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees who have fled their country 's violence .
-The state-owned Petra news agency said Thursday Jordan has invited officials from Syria , Egypt , Iraq , the Arab League and the United Nations to attend the meeting in Amman on July 26 .
-Petra says representatives of Iran , Turkey , Russia and Japan also will take part as observers .
-It says the delegates will discuss how to ease the burden of countries hosting large numbers of Iraqi refugees .
-The U.N. refugee agency says Jordan has about 7,50,000 Iraqi refugees , while 1.4 million Iraqis have fled to Syria in recent years .
-The agency has warned that Iraqi refugees in Syria and Jordan are putting severe strains on healthcare , education systems and housing .
-Greek journalists and public transportation workers are stopping work in the latest round of strikes protesting Greece 's economic austerity measures .
-Bus , subway , and tram services ceased in Greece 's capital Athens Thursday , while Greek journalists stopped radio and television broadcasts .
-Greek newspapers planned not to print Friday .
-Greece has seen several rounds of labor strikes since the government earlier this year began to raise taxes , freeze civil service pay , and cut pensions in efforts to decrease the country 's massive debt .
-Greece agreed to take those steps in return for a massive emergency loan from the European Union and International Monetary Fund .
-South Korea 's ambassador to China is being quoted saying the two countries could open talks on a free trade agreement next year .
-The report in the state-run China Daily quotes Ambassador Yu Woo-ik as saying the sides " are expected to initiate official FTA talks in 2011 . "
-China is Asia 's largest economy and South Korea is fourth-largest on the continent .
-South Korea sends almost one-quarter of its exports to China , but faces growing competition from Taiwan , which just completed a trade agreement with China .
-South Korea has been pursuing other trade deals to prop up its export-driven economy .
-An agreement signed last year with the European Union is pending , but a deal with the United States has been stalled in Congress since 2007 because of concerns from the American beef and auto industries .
-News outlets in the United States are reporting that Christopher Hill , the lead American negotiator on North Korea , is expected to be nominated as the next U.S. ambassador to Iraq .
-There has been no official confirmation of the reports Monday on CBS , ABC , the Associated Press and Reuters , which quote unnamed officials who say Hill is expected to be the nominee .
-Hill is currently the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs .
-Hill has previously served as ambassador to South Korea , Poland and Macedonia .
-He was also special envoy to Kosovo .
-Before he started his career in the foreign service , Hill served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon .
-If nominated and confirmed by the U.S. Senate , Hill would replace another career diplomat , Ryan Crocker , as Washington 's top diplomat in Iraq .
-Israeli police say a car bomb in central Tel Aviv has killed the suspected leader of one of the country 's top crime families .
-Officials say they believe a rival crime family targeted Ya'akov Alperon Monday , in the attack .
-The blast also slightly wounded two bystanders , including a 13-year-old boy .
-Media reports say Alperon was returning from a court hearing for his son , Dror , who is facing extortion charges .
-Witnesses say they heard a huge explosion , and some thought it was a terrorist attack .
-In June , another car bomb in Tel Aviv killed one of Israel 's top criminal lawyers , in what police said was a criminal , not a terrorist , act .
-The lawyer , Yoram Haham , had represented several notorious mobsters during his career as a criminal lawyer .
-U.S. President George Bush has issued a proclamation putting into effect a free trade agreement with Peru .
-U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab said Friday the proclamation marks an important milestone in the relationship between the U.S. and Peru .
-The agreement gives Peru permanent , duty-free access to the U.S.
-In return , Peru will eliminate duties on most U.S. industrial and consumer products .
-The pact was initially approved after discussions between President Bush and Peruvian President Alan Garcia , but Democrats in Congress forced U.S. officials to reopen negotiations and add stronger labor and environmental provisions .
-Peru 's Congress this week passed modifications to earlier legislation to conform with the trade pact .
-The agreement will take effect on the first of February .
-Burma has confirmed additional outbreaks of the H5N1 strain of bird flu virus among poultry in the suburbs of Rangoon .
-The latest outbreaks were discovered in Hlinethaya , a western suburb of Rangoon .
-Earlier this week Burmese authorities confirmed a new outbreak of the H5N1 virus on poultry farms , also in Rangoon 's western suburbs .
-No human cases have been announced in the country .
-More than 160 people have died from bird flu since late 2003 .
-Most of the victims came in contact with infected poultry .
-Experts fear the virus could mutate into a form that is easily transmissible by human-to-human contact .
-The mayor of Los Angeles , Antonio Villaraigosa , says authorities know of no credible threats to the western U.S. city , following a warning from a suspected al-Qaida member .
-The warning came in a videotaped statement aired by the U.S. television network ABC on Sunday .
-A masked man on the tape says " Allah willing , " Los Angeles and the Australian city of Melbourne will be attacked .
-ABC says the tape was delivered to its office in Pakistan on Saturday .
-It says the speaker is probably Adam Gadahn , a U.S. citizen wanted for questioning by the FBI for possible terrorist activity .
-Officials in both Los Angeles and Melbourne say the tape was meant to instill fear , and have advised residents to go about their normal lives .
-U.S. intelligence officials have refused to comment on whether the taped warning is authentic .
-The U.S. military says it has uncovered a large stockpile of weapons inside a Fallujah mosque led by a key insurgent leader .
-The military did not specify the number of weapons found , but called it the " largest weapons cache to date in the city " - a one-time rebel bastion .
-U.S. and Iraqi government forces are continuing to sweep Fallujah after an assault on the city earlier this month .
-In southern Iraqi city of Basra , police said they arrested five Arab foreigners suspected of planning attacks .
-A senior police official said the two Saudi nationals , two Tunisians and one Libyan , who were arrested late Wednesday , had escaped from Fallujah four days ago .
-European Union officials say transportation and other logistical problems are holding up some of the massive amounts of humanitarian aid European countries have offered to victims of Hurricane Katrina .
-In Brussels Tuesday , a spokeswoman for the European Commission said a Swedish plane loaded with food and water treatment tools was ready to take off , but had not received approval from Washington to enter U.S. airspace .
-She said EU authorities have suggested to the Bush administration that aid could flow more easily if it was placed aboard military planes at U.S. air bases in Europe .
-More than 20 countries have offered emergency aid teams , tents , meals , water and aircraft to help in the massive relief effort .
-Meanwhile , U.S. officials say all aid flights from abroad will be directed to an Air Force base in Arkansas , before being sent to the devastated U.S. Gulf Coast .
-The United Nations nuclear agency says it has no information to support a recent media report of an undeclared nuclear facility in Syria .
-A spokeswoman , Melissa Fleming , for the International Atomic Energy Agency says her agency would investigate any relevant information on the subject .
-She said the IAEA expects any country with information about nuclear-related activity of another country to provide that information to the IAEA .
-The New York Times newspaper reported Sunday that an Israeli air strike on Syria last month targeted a partially built nuclear reactor .
-The article , which cited unidentified U.S. and foreign officials , said the nuclear reactor was modeled on one North Korea used for stockpiling nuclear fuel .
-U.S. officials said the site was identified by satellite photographs earlier this year .
-The IAEA says it is in contact with Syrian authorities to verify the authenticity of the report .
-The United Nations envoy to the Middle East has urged Israel to accept a new Syrian proposal to renew peace talks .
-Terje Roed-Larsen made the appeal in a meeting with the Israeli parliament 's Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee Tuesday .
-Mr. Roed-Larsen , who visited Damascus last week , said he feels Syria has stretched out , what he called , a genuine hand of peace and Israel should grab the opportunity .
-Israel leaders have dismissed as insincere Syrian President Bashar al-Assad 's offer to resume peace talks without any preconditions .
-They accuse Syria of harboring groups that want to destroy the Jewish state .
-Syria and Israel last held peace talks in January 2000 .
-Colombian authorities say they have captured a wanted drug lord who allegedly led a major ring with his twin brother , who was killed by police earlier this week .
-Authorities say Miguel Angel Mejia was captured early Friday in the Tolima region , about 100 kilometers west of Bogota .
-The brother , Victor Manuel Mejia , was killed Tuesday at a farmhouse in the northern state of Antioquia , along with two of his associates .
-The United States had offered a $ 5 million reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of each of the brothers .
-The two allegedly ran illegal drugs into the United States via Mexico .
-Authorities say the brothers were also members of a right-wing paramilitary group that demobilized in recent years as part of a peace deal with the government .
-But the twins went on the run instead of turning themselves in as part of the deal .
-The family of Brad Delp says his death was a suicide .
-The 55-year-old Delp , who sang in the multi-million-selling rock band Boston , was found March 9 by his fiancee at his home in the northeastern state of New Hampshire .
-Toxicology tests by the state medical examiner 's office confirmed he committed suicide by sealing himself inside a bathroom with two charcoal grills .
-He died from carbon monoxide poisoning .
-Delp left two notes taped to a door , along with letters to his family and his fiancee , Pamela Sullivan .
-A police representative says the contents of the letters are not known .
-Brad Delp 's family is reportedly planning a public memorial .
-John Garang
-South Sudan 's leader John Garang says his former rebel group is ready to deploy up to 12,000 troops in war-torn west Sudan 's Darfur region to help displaced people return to their villages .
-In an interview with VOA in Washington Wednesday , Mr. Garang said his Sudan People Liberation Army ( SPLA ) would be deployed alongside African Union troops .
-The two-and-half year conflict in Darfur between mainly local rebels and pro-government militias has killed 1,80,000 people and displaced about two million others .
-Mr. Garang 's rebel group and the Sudanese government in Khartoum signed a peace accord in January ending more than 20 years of civil war .
-Under the accord Mr. Garang becomes first vice president of Sudan 's national government .
-Isolated grass fires continue to burn in the southern U.S. states of Oklahoma and Texas , but they have weakened since killing one elderly woman and scorching dozens of homes on Tuesday .
-Officials said decreased winds and slightly cooler temperatures have helped firefighters contain the blazes .
-But there are worries that continuing drought conditions could lead to new fires .
-The initial fires are being blamed on children playing with fireworks or people being careless with discarded cigarettes .
-On Tuesday , Texas governor Rick Perry dispatched National Guard troops to help battle the blazes and declared the fires a disaster .
-U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney has left Singapore after his plane underwent repairs for a minor mechanical problem .
-U.S. officials say Cheney 's plane made a scheduled stop Sunday at Singapore 's Paya Lebar Air Base to refuel .
-While there , the plane underwent repairs for a minor electrical problem .
-Officials did not describe the problem but said it was not a safety concern and had not affected flight plans .
-Earlier , Australian Prime Minister John Howard had said Cheney 's plane was diverted to Singapore because of unspecified problems .
-Cheney traveled to Singapore from Australia , where he held talks with Mr. Howard and opposition leader Kevin Rudd .
-Earlier in the week , Cheney visited Japan and the U.S. Pacific island of Guam to discuss regional security issues , and rally support for the Iraq war .
-French authorities have announced April 22 , 2007 , as the date for the first round of the country 's presidential election , with a run-off if needed on May 6 .
-Officials say voting for a new National Assembly , the lower house of parliament , will be held June 10 and June 17 .
-Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy is expected to be the presidential candidate of the ruling Union for a Popular Movement .
-The front-runner for the Socialist nomination is Segolene Royal , head of the Poitou-Charentes region in western France .
-The term of incumbent President Jacques Chirac expires in May .
-The French leader , who has been in office since 1995 , has not announced whether he plans to seek re-election .
-But most analysts do not believe he will seek another term .
-Burmese officials have defended the recent 800 percent increase in fuel prices , saying the hike is a reasonable move to keep pace with world oil prices .
-The overnight increase last week raised prices for gasoline from less than four cents per liter to more than 30 cents per liter .
-The rate is still much lower than many other countries , but is relatively expensive for Burmese consumers .
-Burma 's information minister Brigadier General Kyaw Hsann said the government has been subsidizing gasoline at a loss for years .
-Reports indicate prices on everyday goods have jumped following the gas price hike .
-The information minister denied the rise was linked to fuel prices , blaming the increase on what he called greedy business people .
-The largest U.S. supplier of parts for the automotive industry has filed for bankruptcy protection .
-Delphi Corporation filed a motion with the federal bankruptcy court in New York Saturday to reorganize its U.S. operations .
-Delphi , which split off from its former parent , General Motors , six years ago , recently failed to win financial concessions from unions .
-The company 's chairman and chief executive officer , Robert Miller , told the Associated Press he hopes Delphi can emerge from bankruptcy protection within two years .
-He said the firm will continue to negotiate with General Motors and its unions to lower labor costs .
-Delphi lost nearly $ 5 billion in 2004 and $ 750 million in the first half of this year .
-It has a reported debt load of $ 6 billion .
-Former U.S. President Bill Clinton has checked into a New~York hospital in preparation for more surgery Thursday , this time to remove fluid and scar tissue from his left chest cavity .
-Mr. Clinton said Wednesday he is not worried about his condition , a complication that doctors have described as uncommon but not high risk .
-Surgeons will drain fluid that has accumulated around the former president 's left lung after his quadruple heart bypass operation last September .
-He is expected to be in the hospital for three to 10 days , but doctors say they expect a full recovery .
-The 58-year-old Mr. Clinton spent the day before his surgery playing in a charity golf tournament for tsunami relief in the southeastern state of Florida .
-He has told reporters he feels fine despite the condition , which causes some shortness of breath .
-Kuwait has found the deadly H5N1 variety of avian flu in one of two infected birds culled by authorities .
-The strain was found in a migrating flamingo , while a second , imported bird had the milder H5N2 variant .
-Later Friday , Thai officials said a one-year-old boy in Bangkok has been diagnosed with the virulent H5N1 strain , but is expected to fully recover .
-Meanwhile , Vietnam says it will set up a medical facility for Cambodian bird flu patients near the border between the two countries in an effort to contain the spread of the virus .
-Health officials said the small ward will mean Cambodian patients do not have to travel more deeply into Vietnam for treatment .
-And on Thursday , China reported another outbreak of bird flu in a flock of chickens in northeastern Liaoning province , the country 's seventh outbreak in a month .
-The sentencing phase begins Tuesday for Army Private Lynndie England , who was convicted of abusing detainees at Iraq 's Abu Ghraib prison .
-On Monday , a military jury in Fort Hood , Texas , found her guilty of maltreating detainees , committing an indecent act , and conspiracy .
-She faces up to 10 years in prison .
-England became a central figure in the scandal after photographs emerged of her humiliating prisoners .
-She is seen grinning , and in one picture , holding a leash around the neck of a naked prisoner .
-Her lawyers argued she is overly compliant and was easily controlled by the accused ringleader of the abuse , then-Specialist Charles Graner , who is now serving a 10-year prison sentence .
-Early this year , England pleaded guilty to abuse charges as part of a plea bargain , but a judge later canceled the deal and ordered the case to trial .
-Nepal 's main political parties say they are ready to hold talks with Maoists on forming a broad front against King Gyanendra , provided the rebels stop killing civilians .
-A member of the main Nepali Congress party told reporters the parties will set up a team for talks with the rebels .
-But , he said , no date has been fixed .
-He said human rights groups and activists would be asked to monitor whether the rebels had ended their attacks on civilians before any dialogue is held .
-The decision by the seven parties came after Maoist leader Prachanda last month agreed to key conditions set by them .
-Prachanda promised that the rebels would stop extortion and also targeting unarmed civilians .
-There has been no reaction by the royalist government , which describes the rebels as terrorists .
-Mexican authorities have discovered the decapitated bodies of 12 men , including some believed to be soldiers , in the southern state of Guerrero .
-Earlier media reported there were nine bodies found in and around the state capital , Chilpancingo .
-Authorities said the heads of the men were found in plastic bags in a separate , nearby location .
-Authorities found a sign near some of the bodies that read : " For every one of mine that you kill , I will kill 10 . "
-Mexico is caught in a rising wave of violence as drug cartels battle for territory and fight a nationwide crackdown led by President Felipe Calderon , who has deployed tens of thousands of troops and federal police across Mexico to try to stop the violence .
-Police say the cartels are battling for control of smuggling routes into the United States .
-There have been nearly 5400 drug-related homicides across Mexico this year .
-The U.S. military says a soldier is being held in Iraq for allegedly killing two other American servicemen during an argument .
-A military statement released Tuesday says Specialist Neftaly Platero was detained after the killing of two soldiers in Fallujah , Iraq , last Thursday .
-Colonel Barry Johnson says a " verbal altercation " broke out among four soldiers .
-The military spokesman says Platero allegedly took out his weapon and began shooting at the other soldiers .
-A third soldier was wounded in the incident .
-The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization says 36 countries are currently dependent on external food aid , and says civil strife and bad weather are primarily to blame .
-The organization says the majority of dependent countries continue to be in Africa , where 23 states rely on food assistance from abroad .
-In its report , the U.N. agency warns that conflict and drought in the troubled Sudanese region of Darfur will most likely lead to a below-average harvest .
-The organization warned of diminishing crops in Eritrea and Kenya , and says below-normal rainfall in southern Africa could adversely affect Zimbabwe , Lesotho , and Swaziland
-The report also says the food situation remains critical in the west African country of Mauritania , and says the conflict in Ivory Coast is disrupting agriculture and market activities there .
-A senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday Mr. Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will meet Monday in the West Bank town of Jericho .
-The announcement comes less than a week after U.S. Secretary of State Condolezza Rice met separately with each leader and called for a deeper dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians .
-Mr. Abbas and Mr. Olmert have held periodic meetings in recent months .
-Abbas aide Nabil Amr says this week 's meeting is an opportunity for both sides to make progress on key areas ahead of an international peace conference proposed for later this year in the United States .
-Rice said during her trip to the region last week the international conference could " advance Palestinian statehood . "
-Zambia 's deputy leader says President Levy Mwanawasa has undergone minor surgery in France to improve his breathing .
-Zambian Vice President Rupiah Banda says Tuesday the president is in stable condition following the operation which took place Monday afternoon .
-Mr. Mwanawasa suffered a stroke during a visit to Egypt on June 29 and was transferred to a Paris military hospital last week for treatment .
-Mr. Mwanawasa is 59 years old and has served as Zambian president since 2002 .
-He suffered a mild stroke in 2006 before being re-elected that year .
-Mr. Mwanawasa also is the leader of the Southern African Development Community .
-Organizers of this week 's British Grand Prix Formula One race say that the competition will go ahead as scheduled despite Thursday 's bombings in Central London .
-Race organizers said in a statement that the Silverstone course has a well-established set of security measures that have been planned in detail with police and other agencies .
-The statement said that organizers are confident the security is adequate to ensure the safety of all attending the race Sunday .
-Practice for the race is Friday with qualifying on Saturday .
-The event was disrupted two years ago when a kilted protester ran onto the track during the race .
-The number two leader of the al-Qaida terror network has urged Muslims to oppose a referendum proposed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas .
-Ayman al-Zawahiri made the statement in a videotape aired Friday by the Arabic television network al-Jazeera .
-He said Palestine is a house of Islam and not subject to any compromise .
-Mr. Abbas has proposed to hold a referendum on a Palestinian statehood plan that recognizes Israel .
-Mr. Abbas of the Fatah party has given the militant group Hamas until the end of the week to agree to the statehood plan or he will call the referendum .
-Mr. Abbas has been in a power struggle with Hamas since the militant group took control of the Palestinian Authority earlier this year .
-Former Portuguese Prime Minister Anibal Cavaco Silva was sworn-in Thursday as the country 's first center-right president in 32 years .
-A number of foreign dignitaries attended the inauguration , including former U.S. President George H.W. Bush .
-Mr. Cavaco Silva has promised to revitalize Portugal 's economy .
-He says he is entirely ready to cooperate with the ruling Socialists to achieve his goals .
-The country has been suffering with high unemployment and less than one percent economic growth .
-The Portuguese president has no executive powers , but does have the authority to dissolve parliament , appoint prime ministers , and veto laws .
-Mr. Cavaco Silva was elected in January .
-He is Portugal 's first conservative president since the country became a democracy in 1974 .
-A report in Sunday 's New York Times says the Bush administration may have tried to influence Iraq 's January elections by covertly supporting certain political parties .
-The report cites an article written by investigative journalist Seymour Hersh that will appear in the coming issue of The New Yorker magazine .
-Mr. Hersh asserts the administration proceeded with the plan despite Congressional objections .
-A National Security Council spokesman told the New York Times that , in the end , the president decided not to help individual candidates for Iraqi office .
-As the newspaper noted , the response did not make clear whether certain parties were helped .
-The spokesman added that White House officials were concerned about what they saw as extensive Iranian support for pro-Shiite parties .
-President Bush has repeatedly called for free and fair elections in Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries .
-Thousands of Africans flocked to churches across the continent to remember Pope John Paul II , as many more gathered around televisions to watch his funeral in Rome .
-Several African states declared Friday a national holiday or a day of national mourning for the pope .
-State television broadcast the funeral live in countries such as Nigeria , South Africa , Ivory Coast and the Democratic Republic of Congo .
-In the capital of the Republic of Congo , Brazzaville , a giant television screen was set up for those without one at home .
-Officials in Madagascar say people gathered in town halls where the funeral was being shown on television powered by generators .
-Africans praised Pope John Paul II for his efforts to help the poor and promote peace during many trips to the continent , which now has one of the fastest growing Roman Catholic populations in the world .
-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has announced plans for a summit with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on June 21 in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm al-Sheikh .
-A statement from the Israeli prime minister on Wednesday said officials from both sides will hold talks before the summit to discuss an ongoing truce and Israel 's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in August .
-Separately , Israeli police say they have arrested five members of the Islamic Jihad militant group who they said were planning to carry out a bomb attack in Jerusalem on Thursday .
-Also the Israeli parliament was expected to hold a debate late Wednesday on plans to demolish the homes of nearly 90 Arab families in East Jerusalem to make room for a national park .
-Palestinian officials have criticized the plan .
-The terrorist group al-Qaida in Iraq has criticized the country 's moderate Sunni Arabs for taking part in last month 's parliamentary elections and called on them to abandon electoral politics .
-The remark came in an audio tape posted on an Islamist web site Sunday .
-The speaker sounded like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi , but the authenticity of the tape could not be verified .
-In the tape , he denounced the Iraqi Islamic Party for endorsing a new constitution , and said the largest Sunni Arab party should not be involved in reconciliation because it will lead to the destruction of the Sunni community .
-Zarqawi said his group could have disrupted the December 15 balloting , but did not want to harm the Sunni people .
-He also criticized Arab countries that met in Cairo in November to seek reconciliation between Iraq 's political factions .
-He said those countries were out to destroy Iraq and cooperate with America .
-Egyptian authorities have tentatively identified the remains of one of the bombers who struck a Red Sea resort on Saturday , killing scores of people .
-Security sources say they believe a known Sinai militant , Youssef Badran , was at the wheel of a vehicle that exploded in front of a hotel .
-Authorities were performing DNA tests Tuesday to confirm the identity .
-Egyptian sources say police have been looking for links between Saturday 's attacks and two Sinai bombings last year that killed 34 people .
-The possible links surfaced after two militant groups claiming credit for Saturday 's attack said they also carried out bombings last October near a resort in Taba .
-Meanwhile , the Egyptian Health Ministry says 64 people died in the blasts , while local doctors say they account for 88 fatalities .
-Several reports quote hospitals as saying the ministry count excludes some sets of body parts .
-Iraq 's foreign minister says Syria is refusing to stop insurgents and foreign fighters from entering Iraq .
-Hoshyar Zebari told the Associated Press Thursday Syria and other authoritarian governments in the region are frightened of Iraq 's efforts to build a democratic nation in the heart of the Middle East and want to see it fail .
-The Iraqi foreign minister said these governments are not helping stem the flow of foreign fighters and weapons into Iraq , despite pledges to do so .
-Syria 's U.N. Ambassador Fayssal Mekdad insisted Wednesday that his country has been cooperating with Iraq by deploying 10,000 troops on the border , erecting barriers and arresting hundreds of potential infiltrators .
-Earlier this month , President Bush said Syria faces growing international isolation because of what he calls its failure to stop fighters from crossing its border into Iraq .
-Burma 's military government has blamed ethnic Karen rebels for a land mine explosion that killed two people and wounded 11 others in the country 's east .
-Burmese state media said a passenger bus hit the explosive last Sunday as it was traveling in Karen State about 200 kilometers from Rangoon .
-The reports said the junta blamed the Karen National Union for the blast .
-It was not immediately clear why the incident was reported only Saturday - nearly a week later .
-The military has accused the Karen National Union of responsibility for a series of bombings in recent months , including a December blast in Karen state that killed seven people .
-The Karen National Union has been fighting for greater autonomy for ethnic Karen people in Burma for more than 60 years .
-Traditional fishermen in poor countries around the world face tough competition from international industrial fishing operations .
-In the fishing-rich West African nation of Guinea , there are laws meant to preserve some waters for the local fishermen .
-But a lack of money means these laws often are not enforced .
-Kari Barber reports from Conakry that many traditional fishermen feel they are being squeezed out of their livelihoods .
-President Bush will pay tribute at a Memorial Day ceremony later Monday at Arlington National Cemetery to members of America 's military who died in combat .
-Mr. Bush will make remarks and lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns which contains the remains of unidentified U.S. service members who died in World Wars I and II - and in the Korean War .
-On Sunday thousands of motorcycle riders conducted a parade through downtown Washington to honor missing soldiers and prisoners of war .
-In the United States , the Memorial Day holiday marks the unofficial start of summer , and is an occassion for picnics and parties as well as for observances at military cemeteries around the country .
-A key U.S. congressional panel has approved legislation to reform the American health care system .
-The House of Representatives ' Energy and Commerce committee voted 31 to 28 late Friday to back a measure aimed at extending health insurance to Americans not now covered .
-Congress is about to adjourn for an August recess .
-But now that the committee has approved the bill , it can move to the full House as early as September .
-A major part of the legislation involves creating a public health insurance plan .
-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi - a Democrat - says the changes will stop the insurance industry from coming between doctors and patients .
-But minority Republicans say the proposal costs too much and is the first step toward a government takeover of health care .
-Bangladeshi authorities have slaughtered nearly 20,000 chickens after bird flu was detected at a government-run poultry farm .
-Officials Tuesday said the latest infection of the potentially deadly H5N1 virus occurred at the farm in Mirpur , just outside Bangladesh 's capital , Dhaka .
-The bird flu was first detected in Bangladesh in March of 2007 at a state-owned poultry farm .
-Since then , the government has slaughtered more than 3,00,000 chickens .
-No human cases of infection have been reported so far .
-Officials say Bangladesh has about 1,50,000 poultry farms , with an annual turnover of $ 750 million .
-Russia says it agrees with the United States that Iran must be prevented from acquiring nuclear weapons , but Moscow sees no reason to refer Tehran to the United Nations Security Council for possible sanctions .
-Russia 's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made the comment Saturday , after talks in Moscow with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice .
-Mr. Lavrov said the issue should be handled within the International Atomic Energy Agency .
-But Secretary Rice insisted that the Security Council option remains open if Iran fails to agree to negotiations on its nuclear program .
-Iran denies U.S. and European accusations that it is secretly trying to develop atomic weapons .
-Secretary Rice later met with Russian President Vladimir Putin , who praised the success of her trip through five Asian countries .
-She stops in Britain before returning home .
-The U.S. attorney general has defended the use of sting operations against suspected terrorists during a speech to a Muslim rights group .
-Eric Holder told Muslim Advocates that such operations are essential to identifying and preventing terror attacks on all citizens .
-The California-based group had expressed concern that Justice Department tactics bordered on entrapment in some cases .
-During his speech , Holder defended a case last month , in which a Somali-born man in Oregon was arrested after trying to detonate what he thought was a bomb near Christmas tree lighting .
-Undercover FBI agents provided the suspect with the fake bomb .
-The director of the Muslim Advocates says it still has concerns and that fairness should be the cornerstone of each probe .
-Ukraine 's foreign minister says the Commonwealth of Independent States has no future in its present form but indicated his country is not planning to quit the organization that groups 12 former Soviet republics .
-Boris Tarasyuk told reporters in Kiev Tuesday that the commonwealth , long criticized for being dominated by Russia , has become stagnant .
-Georgia has said it is considering quitting the group .
-Ukrainian authorities are currently preparing for a summit Monday of leaders from another grouping of former Soviet republics known as GUAM , a group that brings together Georgia , Ukraine , Azerbaijan and Moldova .
-Tarasyuk says one purpose of next week 's meeting is to strengthen and reorganize the smaller group , which , he said , could bring in other countries .
-An Israeli security guard has shot dead a Palestinian man in Jerusalem 's Old City after the Palestinian grabbed a gun from another Israeli guard and opened fire .
-Israeli police say the gunfight Friday began when the Palestinian snatched a gun from an Israeli guard outside a Jewish seminary in the Old City 's Christian quarter .
-They say the attacker , roughly 20 years old , shot and wounded the guard and fled .
-Another Israeli guard chased the Palestinian and shot him dead after a brief exchange of fire .
-Ten bystanders also were wounded by the gunfire .
-Several witnesses say the Israeli guard kept shooting after the attacker fell to the ground .
-Israeli police say the security guard acted appropriately in response to a terrorist incident .
-In May , Israeli security forces killed two Palestinian gunmen who opened fire in an Arab neighborhood of East Jerusalem .
-Two Israeli officers were wounded in that attack .
-The former U.S. administrator for Iraq has praised Sunday 's election as a victory for democracy , and says it has proved skeptics wrong .
-Speaking on American television ( NBC 's Today Show ) Monday , Paul Bremer said the election was a great victory for the Iraqi people , for democracy and for President Bush 's message of freedom .
-Mr. Bremer said it is a mark of the resilience and courage of the Iraqi people that they have come this far .
-But he added that despite the apparent success of the vote , he expects more violence ahead .
-Mr. Bremer also expressed optimism that Iraq would not fracture along ethnic and religious lines , and that the Sunni minority , which appears to have largely boycotted the vote , would have a voice in the new government .
-Security sources in Yemen say tribesmen have blown up an oil pipeline in retaliation for raids targeting al-Qaida sympathizers .
-Officials say tribesman in eastern Maarib province sabotaged the pipeline Saturday , after government forces raided the homes of tribal leaders thought to be harboring al-Qaida operatives .
-On Wednesday , more than 20 people were wounded when security forces clashed with tribesmen in eastern Yemen during the operation to apprehend Hassan al-Aqili .
-Aqili is wanted for the death of a senior army officer , killed in an ambush last Saturday .
-Reigning champion Canada defeated Italy , 07-Feb , while Sweden defeated Kazakhstan , 07-Feb , in first-round action at the Olympic men 's ice hockey tournament in Turin .
-Canada scored five consecutive goals in the second period after Italy had tied the Group-A game 01-Jan . Jarome Iginla , Dany Heatley , Shane Doan , Martin St. Louis and Brad Richards all scored for Canada .
-Meanwhile in Group-B , Daniel Tjarnqvist scored twice while brothers Daniel and Henrik Sedin had one goal each to lead Sweden past Kazakhstan in their first-round game .
-Later games have Finland against Switzerland , Germany playing the Czech Republic , Russia taking on Slovakia , and the United States against Latvia .
-China says it will deploy unmanned aircraft or drones over its Olympic sailing venue in the coastal city of Qingdao during the Beijing Games to watch for suspicious activities .
-The state-run Xinhua news agency says police tested one of the drones Friday during a drill in the Shandong provincial capital of Jinan , not far from Qingdao .
-Reports say it is the first time that China has used the unmanned , low-flying reconnaissance aircraft .
-Xinhua says the drones will scout out suspicious activity and transmit photos and video back to a command station .
-It did not say what threats the sailing event could face .
-China has said terrorism is the biggest threat to the Beijing games and already claims to have foiled terrorist plots targeting athletes and foreigners during the Olympics .
-Iran 's chief religious leader is urging Arab nations to boycott an upcoming U.S.-hosted peace conference .
-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued the call Saturday during a sermon in Tehran .
-The conference next month is aimed at resolving the issue of Palestinian statehood , but Ayatollah Khamenei says the real goal is to prop up Israel , which he called the " Zionist regime . "
-The cleric says previous peace conferences have been at the expense of the Palestinian people .
-He questioned the need for Arab states to attend the forum , since the Palestinians themselves are not taking part .
-He did not mention talks between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas , preparing for the conference .
-In Saturday 's sermon , the ayatollah also blamed the United States for the chaos in Iraq .
-Police in Afghanistan say Afghan and NATO forces have killed 18 Taleban rebels in clashes in the country 's volatile southern region .
-The fighting took place Tuesday near the village of Garmser in Helmand province .
-There were no casualties reported among the NATO and Afghan troops .
-Also on Tuesday , three British soldiers were killed in the same province when suspected Taleban insurgents ambushed a NATO patrol .
-NATO took over security operations this week from U.S.-led coalition forces in six southern Afghan provinces .
-A car exploded just outside Afghanistan 's capital , Kabul , killing one person in the vehicle Wednesday , and wounding at least two others .
-Police say they are not sure if the blast was a suicide attack .
-At least one of the people injured was in the vehicle at the time of the explosion .
-Colombian authorities say leftist rebels have attacked a military convoy in southern Colombia with explosives , killing 10 servicemen .
-A military commander says the attack was carried out by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia ( FARC ) in Putumayo state , one of Colombia 's biggest cocaine-producing regions .
-The FARC , along with a smaller rebel group and rightist paramilitaries , is locked in a long-running war with the government that leaves thousands of people dead each year .
-Self-sufficient Gibraltar benefits from an extensive shipping trade , offshore banking , and its position as an international conference center .
-Tax rates are low to attract foreign investment .
-The British military presence has been sharply reduced and now contributes about 7 % to the local economy , compared with 60 % in 1984 .
-The financial sector , tourism ( almost 5 million visitors in 1998 ) , gaming revenues , shipping services fees , and duties on consumer goods also generate revenue .
-The financial sector , tourism , and the shipping sector contribute 30 % , 30 % , and 25 % , respectively , of GDP .
-Telecommunications , e-commerce , and e-gaming account for the remaining 15 % .
-In recent years , Gibraltar has seen major structural change from a public to a private sector economy , but changes in government spending still have a major impact on the level of employment .
-Poland is an ancient nation that was conceived near the middle of the 10th century .
-Its golden age occurred in the 16th century .
-During the following century , the strengthening of the gentry and internal disorders weakened the nation .
-In a series of agreements between 1772 and 1795 , Russia , Prussia , and Austria partitioned Poland among themselves .
-Poland regained its independence in 1918 only to be overrun by Germany and the Soviet Union in World War II .
-It became a Soviet satellite state following the war , but its government was comparatively tolerant and progressive .
-Labor turmoil in 1980 led to the formation of the independent trade union " Solidarity " that over time became a political force and by 1990 had swept parliamentary elections and the presidency .
-A " shock therapy " program during the early 1990s enabled the country to transform its economy into one of the most robust in Central Europe , but Poland still faces the lingering challenges of high unemployment , underdeveloped and dilapidated infrastructure , and a poor rural underclass .
-Poland joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004 .
-With its transformation to a democratic , market-oriented country largely completed , Poland is an increasingly active member of Euro-Atlantic organizations .
-This thoroughly modern market economy features a high-tech agricultural sector , state-of-the-art industry with world-leading firms in pharmaceuticals , maritime shipping and renewable energy , and a high dependence on foreign trade .
-Denmark is a member of the European Union ( EU ) ; Danish legislation and regulations conform to EU standards on almost all issues .
-Danes enjoy among the highest standards of living in the world and the Danish economy is characterized by extensive government welfare measures and an equitable distribution of income .
-Denmark is a net exporter of food and energy and enjoys a comfortable balance of payments surplus , but depends on imports of raw materials for the manufacturing sector .
-Within the EU , Denmark is among the strongest supporters of trade liberalization .
-After a long consumption-driven upswing , Denmark 's economy began slowing in 2007 with the end of a housing boom .
-Housing prices dropped markedly in 2008 - 9 .
-The global financial crisis has exacerbated this cyclical slowdown through increased borrowing costs and lower export demand , consumer confidence , and investment .
-The global financial crises cut Danish GDP by 0.9 % in 2008 and 5.2 % in 2009 .
-Historically low levels of unemployment rose sharply with the recession but remain below 5 % , based on the national measure , about half the level of the EU ; harmonized to OECD standards the unemployment rate was about 8 % at the end of 2010 .
-Denmark made a modest recovery in 2010 in part because of increased government spending .
-An impending decline in the ratio of workers to retirees will be a major long-term issue .
-Denmark maintained a healthy budget surplus for many years up to 2008 , but the budget balance swung into deficit during 2009 - 10 .
-Nonetheless , Denmark 's fiscal position remains among the strongest in the EU .
-Despite previously meeting the criteria to join the European Economic and Monetary Union ( EMU ) , so far Denmark has decided not to join , although the Danish krone remains pegged to the euro .
-The eastern half of the island of New Guinea - second largest in the world - was divided between Germany ( north ) and the UK ( south ) in 1885 .
-The latter area was transferred to Australia in 1902 , which occupied the northern portion during World War I and continued to administer the combined areas until independence in 1975 .
-A nine-year secessionist revolt on the island of Bougainville ended in 1997 after claiming some 20,000 lives .
-The UK established a protectorate over the Solomon Islands in the 1890s .
-Some of the most bitter fighting of World War II occurred on this archipelago .
-Self-government was achieved in 1976 and independence two years later .
-Ethnic violence , government malfeasance , and endemic crime have undermined stability and civil society .
-In June 2003 , then Prime Minister Sir Allan KEMAKEZA sought the assistance of Australia in reestablishing law and order ; the following month , an Australian-led multinational force arrived to restore peace and disarm ethnic militias .
-The Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands ( RAMSI ) has generally been effective in restoring law and order and rebuilding government institutions .
-THE OLIVE-TREE ridiculed the Fig-Tree because , while she was green all the year round , the Fig-Tree changed its leaves with the seasons .
-A shower of snow fell upon them , and , finding the Olive full of foliage , it settled upon its branches and broke them down with its weight , at once despoiling it of its beauty and killing the tree .
-But finding the Fig-Tree denuded of leaves , the snow fell through to the ground , and did not injure it at all .
-AN Editor who was always vaunting the purity , enterprise , and fearlessness of his paper was pained to observe that he got no subscribers .
-One day it occurred to him to stop saying that his paper was pure and enterprising and fearless , and make it so .
-" If these are not good qualities , " he reasoned , " it is folly to claim them . "
-Under the new policy he got so many subscribers that his rivals endeavoured to discover the secret of his prosperity , but he kept it , and when he died it died with him .
-On July 8 , 1947 , witnesses claim a spaceship with five aliens aboard crashed on a sheep-and-cattle ranch outside Roswell , an incident they say has been covered up by the military .
-March 31 , 1948 , nine months after that day , Al Gore was born .
-That clears up a lot of things .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has rallied hundreds of thousands of supporters in Caracas in advance of the December 3 presidential vote .
-Mr. Chavez told the crowd Sunday that his goal is not to merely win , but to outdo previous triumphs in a way that is overwhelming and crushing .
-Polls show Mr. Chavez well ahead of his opponent Manuel Rosales .
-Mr. Chavez has built strong support in Venezuela for his criticism of the Bush administration and for programs he says will improve the lives of the nation 's poor .
-Mr. Rosales is the governor of Zulia state .
-He has criticized Chavez ' ties to Cuba 's Fidel Castro , saying Venezuelans want modernity , not the Cubanization of their country .
-Mr. Rosales held a campaign rally Saturday that also attracted hundreds of thousands of supporters .
-Officials say a journalist with state-controlled Russian television was found dead in his Moscow apartment early Friday .
-Firefighters who came to put out a fire at his apartment found the body of 32-year-old Ilyas Shurpayev .
-Police said he appeared to have been strangled with a belt and had multiple stab wounds .
-Shurpayev moved to Moscow from the mostly Muslim Dagestan province and had reported extensively from Russia 's violence-ridden North Caucasus region and neighboring areas of Georgia .
-More than a dozen journalists have been slain in contract-style killings in Russia since 2000 .
-Many journalists appear to have been targeted for beatings and killings because of their attempts to report on allegations of official corruption .
-Iranian state media are reporting that Iran is operating nearly 500 new uranium-enriching centrifuges at its Natanz nuclear facility .
-The Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Friday an unnamed source familiar with the program as saying that the centrifuges are part of 3,000 installed last year at the complex .
-On Tuesday , Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced Tehran plans to install 6,000 new centrifuges at Natanz .
-Meanwhile , a senior Iranian nuclear official denied Iran is having technical difficulties in expanding its nuclear activities .
-Iran currently faces three sets of United Nations Security Council sanctions and international isolation for its refusal to halt uranium enrichment , which can be used in building nuclear weapons .
-The United States has accused Iran of secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons .
-Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes .
-Authorities in Afghanistan say four policemen were killed and four others wounded by militants who attacked a security checkpoint in southern Kandahar province .
-Police say one militant also was killed during the assault - a drive-by shooting - late Sunday in Maywand district , west of Kandahar city .
-Less than 24 hours earlier , two U.S. soldiers were wounded in an attack on their patrol in southern Zabul province .
-Two weeks ago , American and Afghan forces launched a winter offensive , dubbed " Operation Lightning Freedom " , to hunt for Taleban militants ahead of planned parliamentary elections next year .
-The operation is aimed at strengthening security to ensure that the parliamentary election , in about four months , can be conducted as smoothly as Afghanistan 's landmark presidential ballot in October .
-Australian Prime Minister John Howard says his government has received information about a specific terror threat against the country .
-Mr. Howard told a news conference Wednesday , the government received information this week that caused " serious concern . "
-He would not provide details .
-The prime minister said he would try to push new anti-terror legislation through parliament Wednesday , to help law enforcement agencies fight the threat .
-Counter-terrorism laws under consideration in Australia would allow suspects to be electronically watched or held in custody for up to 14 days without charge .
-They would also create tighter checks on citizenship applicants and authorize jail terms for inciting violence .
-Rights organizations have criticized the measures , saying they threaten civil liberties and violate international law .
-U.S. Senate investigators say the former head of the U.N. oil-for-food program for Iraq may have netted more than $ 1 million through oil deals with Saddam Hussein 's government .
-A Senate panel has released Iraqi Oil Ministry documents that suggest program chief Benon Sevan was given the right to sell Iraqi oil contracts .
-The panel began hearings Tuesday on allegations of corruption in the now-defunct United Nations-run program .
-A U.N. commission headed by former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker is conducting a separate investigation into whether Mr. Sevan received money through the program .
-The commission 's preliminary report said Mr. Sevan solicited oil deals for a Panamanian company , an act the commission called a " conflict of interest . "
-Mr. Sevan has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing .
-The death toll from a gas explosion at a Chinese coal mine has climbed to 87 , with rescuers still searching for 21 miners .
-Officials with the local coal mine safety bureau said Friday that gas density in the mine is so high it makes rescue efforts dangerous .
-The latest explosion happened Wednesday at the Liuguantun mine near Tangshan city in Hebei province .
-Only 30 miners are known to have survived the blast .
-China 's mines are the deadliest in the world .
-Thousands of miners are killed each year .
-On Tuesday , rescuers recovered the body of the last miner missing in a November 27 coal dust explosion in Heilongjiang province , bringing the number of deaths in that blast to 171 .
-China 's Xinhua news agency reports the top Communist Party official in a northern Chinese city and 26 other officials have gone on trial for their alleged involvement in a deadly attack on a shantytown .
-More than 200 people attended the opening of the trial in Hebei province .
-The news agency says last June , hundreds of apparently hired thugs armed with guns , clubs and knives killed six people and injured dozens of others protesting land seizures in the village of Shengyou .
-Villagers were angry over the low compensation officials offered for their land .
-Such disputes have become more common as Chinese developers turn residential and farm land into shopping malls , apartment buildings and other projects .
-Residents often accuse authorities of forcing them off land without proper compensation .
-The author of new book about Burmese military ruler Than Shwe describes the general as smarter and better informed than most people realize , but also ruthless and adept at manipulating others .
-During interviews promoting the book , entitled Unmasking Than Shwe , British journalist Benedict Rogers said he relied on conversations with Burmese military defectors and foreign diplomats to gain an insight into one of the world 's most secretive leaders .
-Rogers says Than Shwe 's reputed interest in astrology should not lead outsiders to underestimate him .
-He said the general is an astute judge of people and trained in psychological warfare , making him an expert at divide-and-rule tactics .
-The author says no one should believe that planned elections this year will loosen Than Shwe 's grip on power .
-Rogers also says the actions documented in his book provide ample grounds for Than Shwe to be brought to trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity .
-Israel has re-opened its border crossings with the Gaza Strip .
-Military spokesman Peter Lerner says the Sufa , Karni and the Nahal Oz crossings opened Wednesday .
-He said cement shipments will delivered for the first time in a year into the Gaza Strip .
-The border crossings were closed on Tuesday in response to a rocket attack on southern Israel on Monday .
-There were no causalities in the incident .
-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Tuesday warned Palestinian militants that Israel will respond militarily if they continue attacks from the Gaza Strip in violation of a truce .
-He said Israel 's restraint in the face of rocket attacks up to now should not be interpreted as a weakness .
-South African health officials say they have confirmed six new cases of a deadly and extremely drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis .
-The officials Wednesday said five of the patients diagnosed with so-called XDR-TB are from Gauteng province , which includes Johannesburg .
-A spokesman said three of the patients have been hospitalized , while authorities try to track down the other three .
-The find has fueled fears the strain may be spreading .
-A recent outbreak in South Africa 's Kwazulu-Natal province killed at least 55 people .
-South African Health Minister Mento Tshabalala-Msimang has requested an urgent meeting with the World Health Organization to deal with the outbreak .
-The world health body has warned that XDR-TB is a virulent form of tuberculosis resistant to most , perhaps all of the drugs used to treat it .
-Arsonists burned down an Afghan school for boys and girls in Kandahar early Sunday after another school was saved from the same fate in another part of the city .
-A local education official , provincial education chief Hayabullah Rafiqi , blames both incidents on Islamic insurgents .
-At least two school workers were rescued from the Qabail Primary School before it burned down Sunday .
-The education official says that attack came hours after gunmen tried to set fire to another school in Kandahar , but its guards scared away the suspected Taleban arsonists .
-The Taleban is against educating women or sending them for work outside the house .
-There has been a spate of attacks on schools that accept girls across Afghanistan since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taleban in 2001 .
-Chinese President Hu Jintao marked New Year 's Eve Saturday with a speech stressing the country 's commitment to peaceful development .
-In a speech broadcast on China Central Television , Mr. Hu said China 's development is peaceful , open , cooperative and harmonious .
-He said the Chinese people will strive for world peace through their own development .
-The Chinese leader offered New Year 's greetings to people in Taiwan , and said Beijing would seek peaceful reunification with the island , which China regards as a rogue territory .
-He added that China would never sway from the " one China " principle .
-Afghan officials say a mass grave discovered in eastern Afghanistan is thought to contain the bodies of more than 500 soldiers of the communist regime that was toppled in 1992 .
-Interior Ministry spokesman Yousuf Stanizai says the grave was discovered in Paktika and a team has been sent there to investigate .
-He said there are reports that more than 500 bodies are in the grave .
-Officials believe they were defeated soldiers of Soviet-backed President Najibullah , who were killed after they surrendered to the mujahedin fighters .
-Mr. Najibullah was executed later by the Taleban in 1996 .
-If proven TRUE , it would be the first mass grave found in Afghanistan containing communist soldiers .
-Other graves have been found with the bodies of thousands of anti-communist mujahedin fighters .
-French rally driver Sebastien Loeb has continued his dominance of the Rally of Turkey , stretching his lead to more than one minute after the second day of the event .
-Loeb , in a Citroen , expanded his lead to 1.16 minutes over Subaru driver Petter Solberg of Norway .
-Former world champion Marcus Gronholm of Finland in a Peugeot is third overall , 1.24 behind Loeb .
-Mitsubishi 's Gigi Galli of Italy , who briefly led the rally Friday , dropped to ninth place after suffering a turbo charger malfunction in the 10th stage .
-Loeb now has a total time of 3:34:33.2 hours .
-The French driver leads the season standings with 45 points .
-Petter Solberg and Markko Martin of Estonia are tied for second with 34 points .
-Spain 's Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso says Croatian war crimes suspect General Ante Gotovina will be extradited to the United Nations tribunal in The Hague as soon possible .
-He did not specify a time , but police officials say they expect it to take place early Saturday .
-Police arrested General Gotovina in Spain 's Canary Islands Wednesday .
-The tribunal indicted him in 2001 for the deaths of 150 civilians in a Serb-held region of Croatia in 1995 .
-The arrest has increased pressure on Serbia to capture the tribunal 's most wanted suspects , former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and military commander General Ratko Mladic .
-Serbian authorities Friday turned over to U.N. prosecutors a secret file on General Mladic , including a number of pages they earlier had withheld .
-In Belgrade , visiting French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy urged Serbian officials to arrest and surrender the two fugitives .
-Western security officials in Afghanistan say searchers have found the wreckage of an Afghan passenger jet missing since Thursday .
-Security officials say the Kam Air Boeing 737 was found Friday near Kabul , the Afghan capital .
-It was not immediately clear if any survivors were found .
-Airline officials say the plane was carrying 104 people , including a number of foreigners .
-Nine of the passengers are believed to be Turkish nationals , and three were American women working for a health services agency .
-Six Russian crew members and two Afghan staff were also on board .
-The plane was traveling from the western city of Herat to Kabul , but was turned away from the capital 's airport because of a severe snow storm .
-Officials say the pilot had contacted an airport in neighboring Pakistan seeking permission to land , but that the plane never arrived there .
-Thousands of demonstrators have marched in Oaxaca , Mexico , to continue their call for the resignation of the state 's governor .
-A student was wounded Sunday when a gunmen fired on a group of protesters .
-Thousands of protesters marched through the city center and gathered near Mexican federal police -- who were sent to restore order in Oaxaca .
-Police searched vehicles for weapons .
-For the past five months , protesters have demanded the resignation of Oaxaca State Governor Ulises Ruiz over corruption allegations .
-Ruiz has refused to step down .
-On Wednesday , police re-opened a central square in the city after clearing out protesters .
-At least nine people , including a U.S. journalist , have been killed in the crisis in recent weeks .
-Chinese authorities are being ordered to prepare for new flooding as the death toll from weeks of weather-related disasters continues to rise .
-The official Xinhua news agency said Monday that two more periods of heavy rainfall are forecast across China .
-It said local authorities have been instructed to evacuate residents from high-risk areas and set up emergency shelters well in advance .
-More than 2,300 people have died across China in weeks of flooding and mudslides triggered by torrential rains .
-The toll now stands at 1,254 dead in Zhouqu , a town in northwest Gansu province that was partly buried by mud a week ago .
-A town official told the French news agency that roads to the town are still clogged with mud , hampering relief efforts .
-Gunmen killed at least 31 people in Pakistan 's southern port city of Karachi as a by-election was held Sunday to replace a lawmaker murdered earlier this year .
-The violence broke out Saturday night when gunmen opened fire in several parts of the city ahead of the vote .
-Police say they have arrested at least 20 suspects in connection with the killings .
-The election was being held to replace provincial lawmaker Raza Haider from the Muttahida Quami Movement ( MQM ) , who was gunned down in August .
-The assassination sparked four days of violence that killed at least 85 people .
-MQM , which largely represents the Urdu-speaking community , and the rival Awami National Party , representing ethnic Pashtuns , blamed each other for the violence .
-Karachi has been plagued by ethnic and sectarian killings , crime and kidnappings .
-Ivory Coast 's prime minister says he is " convinced " that new African Union president Denis Sassou-Nguesso will fully support the U.N. peace plan for his country .
-Charles Konan Banny spoke to reporters Sunday after meeting with the AU and Congolese president in the Republic of Congo 's capital , Brazzaville .
-Mr. Sassou-Nguesso was named AU president last week after Sudan 's bid to head the 53-nation block failed because of concerns over its human rights record .
-Mr. Banny heads a transitional government tasked with arranging elections in Ivory Coast , which has been split between rebel-held and government-controlled areas since a 2002 civil war .
-The United Nations removed some staff from Ivory Coast following attacks on U.N. offices there earlier this month .
-The attacks were carried out by militant supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo , after U.N.-backed foreign mediators recommended that parliament be dissolved to advance the peace process .
-The White House has expressed doubts about a Russian proposal for a Middle East peace conference , saying diplomats should focus on Israel 's upcoming Gaza withdrawal .
-Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested holding such a conference Wednesday after meeting in Cairo with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak .
-Both Russia and the United States sponsored the Middle East road map peace plan along with the European Union and United Nations .
-Mr. Putin 's talks in Egypt made him the first Russian leader to visit Cairo in four decades .
-He then went to Israel for talks Thursday with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon before he is to meet Friday with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank .
-Mr. Putin is the first Russian or Soviet leader to visit Israel .
-Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko says her government plans to review some 3,000 privatizations to ensure they were conducted fairly .
-The Interfax news agency quotes her as saying Wednesday that the state will get back what was illegally handed over to what she called " private but dishonest hands . "
-She has already ordered authorities to begin the process of returning the country 's largest steel mill , Kryvorizhstal , to government control .
-A consortium that included the son-in-law , Viktor Pinchuk , of former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma purchased the complex last year for $ 800 million , far below its estimated market value .
-Many privatizations in Ukraine took place under questionable circumstances after the fall of the Soviet Union .
-China says it plans to issue its first ever white paper on the country 's political democracy .
-China 's official Xinhua news agency said Tuesday that the Information Office of China 's State Council will issue the document Wednesday .
-The announcement said the white paper will give a detailed account of the " inception , development , contents and principles of the country 's political democracy . "
-Xinhua said the document will also mention the problems Beijing faces in building democracy .
-International rights organizations and several countries , including the United States , have criticized Beijing for not speeding the pace of political reform .
-China rejects the criticism , saying internal affairs should be handled by China 's government and citizens , not outsiders .
-Iraqi authorities say a roadside bomb struck a police patrol northeast of Baghdad late Wednesday , killing at least two police officers and wounding four others .
-The explosion occurred in the town of Jalawla in Diyala province .
-Insurgents frequently target local and international security forces .
-Turkish media are reporting that two bombs have exploded in the southern Turkish resort city of Antalya , wounding at least six people .
-Turkey 's Anatolia news agency says the explosions Tuesday were in two different locations , but occurred just minutes apart .
-One of the bombs was planted in a trash can that exploded as workers were emptying it .
-Anatolia reports that the second blast also came from a trash can and wounded three people , including a tourist .
-It is unclear who planted the bombs .
-Kurdish rebels from the banned Kurdistan Workers Party have recently launched several attacks on Turkish resort towns .
-Other terrorist attacks in the country have been blamed on Islamic terrorists .
-Antalya , on Turkey 's Mediterranean coast , is a popular vacation resort .
-A lingering ankle injury will keep tennis great Andre Agassi from playing in the Australian Open , the first Grand Slam tennis tournament of the season .
-Agassi 's management company issued a statement in Australia Thursday saying the former Australian Open champion would not play in the event beginning January 16 .
-The 35-year-old Agassi has also withdrawn from the Kooyong exhibition event next week .
-Agassi sustained a severe sprain to his left ankle on October 12 while playing racquetball .
-The injury initially forced his withdrawal from the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai in November .
-Agassi finished 2005 ranked number seven by the Association of Tennis Professionals .
-Agassi has won eight career Grand Slam titles .
-Half of them were at the Australian Open .
-India and Saudi Arabia have signed a memorandum of understanding to combat terrorism .
-The two sides also inked three other agreements on bilateral investment promotion and protection , avoidance of double taxation , and cooperation in the field of youth affairs and sports .
-The accords were signed Wednesday following a meeting between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and visiting Saudi King Abdullah in New Delhi .
-The Saudi monarch is the guest of honor at Thursday 's Indian Republic Day celebrations .
-During his four-day stay , aimed at boosting energy and trade ties between the two sides , he will also hold talks with President Abdul Kalam and other top ranking officials .
-King Abdullah arrived in India from China , where he signed several economic deals with Chinese President Hu Jintao .
-At least 43 people were killed Wednesday , when three car bombs exploded in close succession in central Baghdad .
-Nearly 80 other people were wounded .
-Police say two car bombs exploded within minutes of each other at a major bus station , that services cities in mainly Shi'ite southern Iraq .
-A short time later , a suicide bomber detonated his explosives outside a nearby hospital as the wounded were arriving for treatment .
-Wednesday 's violence comes as political leaders resume negotiations to try to hammer out a draft constitution .
-Negotiators took a one-day break in talks after missing Monday 's draft deadline .
-Parliament has voted an extension until midnight August 22 .
-If there is no document by then , the interim constitution dictates that parliament and the government must be dissolved and new elections held .
-A pro-U.S.-immigration rally has been held in the same Los Angeles park where a similar rally earlier this month ended in a clash between demonstrators and police .
-Hundreds of activists gathered in the city 's MacArthur Park Thursday after marching from a church , where they held a meeting .
-Demonstrators called for fair treatment for 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States .
-Hours earlier , the Bush administration reached agreement with several U.S. senators on a plan that would provide legal status and a path to citizenship to the immigrants .
-At a rally on May 1 , riot police fired rubber bullets at demonstrators and beat many of them with batons .
-Police said they responded after being hit by rocks and bottles .
-The FBI is investigating possible civil rights violations .
-Iraqi security forces have surrounded a town south of Baghdad where gunmen believed to be Sunni militants have taken at least 60 Shi'ite Muslims hostage .
-Authorities say the gunmen have threatened to kill the hostages in Madaen unless Shi'ites leave the town .
-The town has a mixed population of Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims .
-The abductions are the latest in a series of violent incidents throughout the country .
-A bomb explosion Saturday at a restaurant in Baquba a town north of Baghdad killed up to seven people , including at least two police officers .
-Meanwhile , gunmen have killed one policeman and at least one Iraqi soldier in separate incidents in the city of Kirkuk .
-And further to the north , in Mosul , a car bomb damaged a U.S. military convoy .
-Causality reports from that incident are not yet available .
-Officials and witnesses in Somalia say at least one person was killed when a roadside bomb exploded in Mogadishu Saturday near the convoy of the capital city 's two deputy mayors .
-The convoy was traveling through northern Mogadishu when the bomb was detonated .
-A teenage boy was killed , and four government troops were wounded .
-The deputy mayors narrowly avoided injury .
-Guerrilla attacks have increased in Mogadishu since government troops allied with Ethiopian forces battled Islamist forces in March and April , killing more than 1,000 people .
-Somalia has been without an effective government since 1991 , when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned against each other .
-Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin visited Somalia Saturday to discuss the security situation with government officials .
-Officials in the Somali capital of Mogadishu say a bomb explosion near the mayor 's convoy Sunday has killed two people and wounded several others .
-Mogadishu mayor Mohammed Dheere and his convoy escaped unharmed .
-He says security forces killed the suspected bomber as he tried to flee .
-Dheere told reporters his convoy was traveling on a road north of the city when the explosion occurred .
-It is unclear whether the device was a remote-controlled bomb or a grenade .
-The mayor blames remnants of the Islamic courts movement for the attack .
-Last Thursday , the convoy of Interim Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi was also attacked while traveling in Mogadishu .
-No injuries or deaths were reported in that incident .
-The owner of a Venezuelan pro-opposition television channel has told U.S. media that he has asked for political asylum in the United States .
-Globovision president Guillermo Zuloaga made the comment Wednesday in an interview with CNN 's Spanish language channel .
-Zuloaga fled to the U.S. in June after the government in Caracas issued a warrant for his arrest based on fraud charges relating to another business , an auto dealership .
-Zuloaga denied the charges and said Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez ordered his arrest on trumped-up charges .
-Zuloaga has also denied allegations of involvement in a $ 100-million scheme to assassinate the Venezuelan president .
-Mr. Chavez has waged a long-running campaign against Globovision .
-The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights said earlier this year that it is concerned about the use of the punitive power of the state to silence opponents in Venezuela .
-The British Broadcasting Corporation ( BBC ) says unidentified gunmen shot and wounded one of its journalists in the Somali capital , Mogadishu .
-The broadcaster says Kate Peyton was rushed to a local hospital after the attack and underwent surgery .
-Hospital officials say she is in stable condition .
-Witnesses say the attackers opened fire on Ms. Peyton outside her hotel ( Sahafi Hotel ) and fled the scene in a vehicle .
-A colleague working with her was unhurt in the attack .
-Ms. Peyton had traveled from her home in South Africa this week to report on a visit by Somalia 's new government to Mogadishu .
-Somali officials are readying plans to move the new government from its current base in Kenya later this month .
-Somalia has been without a central government for 14 years , having been ruled by warring factional leaders .
-An Indian diplomat has been formally charged with spying for India 's longtime rival Pakistan .
-Officials say Madhuri Gupta was charged Tuesday under the Official Secrets Act .
-She is alleged to have passed classified information to Pakistan 's intelligence agency .
-The 53-year-old junior diplomat worked at the press and information wing of the Indian embassy in Islamabad for three years .
-Gupta was taken into custody in April after being called back to New Delhi on the pretext of consultations .
-Tensions run deep between India and Pakistan , whose dispute over Kashmir has led to decades of hostility and triggered three wars .
-China 's central government has formally launched its official Web site .
-The www.gov.cn site serves as a platform for the central and regional governments to release information and provide some online services .
-There is also an English-language section with information on recent government news , biographies of officials and information for travelers to the country .
-China 's official Xinhua news agency quotes the Web site 's editor-in-chief as saying the site works to increase government transparency and prevent " miscommunication " between the government and the people .
-China 's central government has come under criticism in recent months for moves that tighten control over the Internet .
-New regulations forbid Internet news sites from publishing information that goes against what the government calls China 's security and public interest .
-A double suicide attack on a Pakistani military checkpoint near Quetta has killed at least 11 people and wounded several others .
-Officials say the first bomber detonated explosives Thursday near a line of vehicles waiting at the checkpoint in southwestern Baluchistan province .
-As people gathered near the wreckage , a second suicide bomber triggered another explosion .
-Among the dead are five Pakistani soldiers .
-Baluchistan province experiences regular bombing and shooting attacks , usually blamed on Baluch nationalists battling the central government for more autonomy and a larger share of the region 's oil and natural gas reserves .
-But suicide attacks are more commonly carried out by pro-Taliban Islamic extremist groups , based north of Baluchistan in Pakistan 's tribal regions .
-Afghan police say U.S.-led forces have wounded at least six civilians in two separate incidents involving cars that ignored orders to stop .
-Authorities in eastern Khost province say that , in the first incident late Monday , a newborn baby , her mother and two other women were hurt when soldiers opened fire at their car after the driver failed to stop .
-Hours later , in the same province , a driver of a truck and a six-year-old boy were injured in a similar incident .
-Meanwhile , the U.S. military in Afghanistan says Afghan and coalition troops killed five suspected Taleban insurgents Monday in northeastern Kunar province , where they launched a major offensive last week .
-Some 2,500 troops are participating in " Operation Mountain Lion " aimed at disrupting insurgent activities by killing , incapacitating or capturing terrorists operating in the region .
-The Air Transport Association predicts fewer domestic airline passengers in the U.S. this summer , between June 1 and August 31 .
-The airline trade group says higher fuel prices and a weak economy have reduced airline carrying capacity which has led to higher ticket prices .
-Those factors could have an impact on the number of passengers planning to travel in the U.S. during the traditionally busy summer vacation months .
-VOA 's Mil Arcega reports .
-Energy ministers of Russia and Ukraine have adjourned until Thursday their talks in Moscow on a huge price hike sought for deliveries by Russia 's state-run natural gas company , Gazprom .
-Ukrainian Fuel and Energy Minister Ivan Plachkov and his Russian counterpart , Viktor Khristenko met late Wednesday and agreed to continue discussions .
-After the meeting Mr. Plachkov said he believes a compromise is possible .
-The Gazprom is threatening to cut natural gas supplies to Ukraine on January 1 if no deal is reached .
-Ukraine 's Prime Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov has rejected Gazprom 's plans to more than quadruple natural gas prices , calling it an unacceptable move aimed at putting direct economic pressure on Ukraine .
-Mr. Yekhanurov told officials in Kiev his country will take all necessary legal steps if the dispute is not resolved .
-Nepal 's Supreme Court has issued a stay-order to temporarily halt the closure of a private radio station that defied a ban on broadcasting news .
-Judge Anup Raj Sharma issued an interim order on Wednesday requiring Nepal 's royalist government to immediately suspend the closure of Nepal FM radio station .
-Mr. Sharma also questioned the grounds on which the government closed down the station .
-Now the station will continue operating until a final ruling by the Supreme Court determines its future .
-The Ministry of Information and Communication issued a letter requesting the station be shut down because it defied a ban imposed by King Gyanendra .
-Nepal FM aired programs that included weather forecasts , information on cultural events and government announcements .
-Afghan police say a suicide bomber has killed at least three people in the south of the country .
-Local police chief Jawid Ahmad said the bomber was also killed Saturday when he detonated his explosives while riding his motorcycle in the border town of Spin Boldak in Kandahar province .
-Eight people , including women and children , were wounded in the attack .
-Spin Boldak is a major crossing point between Afghanistan and Pakistan .
-Wednesday , a suicide bomber killed at least five security guards escorting a NATO convoy in a similar attack in the area .
-Syria 's ambassador to the United States says his government will fully withdraw from Lebanon as soon as possible , perhaps in less than two months .
-Speaking at Georgetown University in Washington , Wednesday Ambassador Imad Moustapha said the timing of the withdrawal will be determined by Syrian and Lebanese military officials , who are set to meet next week .
-Earlier , U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had agreed to present by early next month a firm timetable for the pullout .
-Mr. Annan also said he will soon release the findings of the U.N. investigation into the February assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri .
-But he added that a second probe may be needed .
-Mr. Annan spoke after news reports said early findings show signs of negligence and possible evidence tampering by Lebanese authorities .
-Two Egyptian children have tested positive for bird flu , bringing the total number infected in the country to 29 .
-The health ministry said Tuesday , the two children are from different areas south of Cairo .
-They were taken to the hospital and both are in stable condition .
-Sunday , a three-year-old girl from the southern town of Aswan tested positive for the potentially deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu .
-The girl 's condition is improving .
-Egypt has the largest number of human cases of bird flu outside Asia .
-At least 13 people have died since the first confirmed case in the country about a year ago .
-Thousands of people in the Haitian capital have demonstrated in support of presidential candidate Rene Preval .
-As election workers continued to tally votes in the close race , demonstrators gathered outside the election commission , with some demanding Preval be declared the winner .
-But election officials said Saturday that the former president has just over 49 percent of the vote , with about three-quarters of the ballots counted .
-He needs to win a majority for an outright victory .
-Another former president , Leslie Manigat , is second with 12 percent .
-International observers say the election was free and fair and have urged Haitians to respect the outcome .
-But candidate Charles Baker , who has about eight percent of the vote , has called for an investigation into reports of people voting multiple times .
-Officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigations say violent crime in the U.S. has increased for a second straight year in 2006 .
-In its annual crime report , released Monday , the FBI says violent crime increased nationwide by 1.3 percent .
-The increase follows a rise of 2.3 percent in 2005 .
-The report shows that murders in large cities , with populations over one million , were up by 6.7 percent .
-They include cities such as Miami in the southeastern state of Florida , Oakland in the western state of California and Phoenix in the southwestern state of Arizona and New York City , among others .
-Around the country incidences of forcible rape decreased by nearly two percent .
-Robbery saw an overall increase of near six percent .
-The statistics were collected from more than 11,700 law enforcement agencies nationwide .
-Deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya has given the de~facto government until Monday to consider his counter-proposal for ending the country 's political crisis .
-A representative of the ousted leader , Ricardo Martinez , said if no agreement is reached by then , the dialogue is broken .
-Mr. Zelaya 's proposal would authorize the Honduran Congress to decide whether to reinstate him .
-The Zelaya camp rejected a proposal by Interim President Roberto Micheletti calling for the Supreme Court to make the decision .
-The ousted leader 's chief negotiator called the proposal " absurd . "
-Mr. Micheletti has been under intense international pressure to restore Mr. Zelaya , since he was removed from power in a June 28 coup .
-Mr. Zelaya 's opponents say he was ousted because he was trying to illegally change the constitution to extend his term in office .
-Japan says it will deliver a second installment of food aid to North Korea , despite its disappointment with recent talks on the fate of Japanese nationals kidnapped by Pyongyang decades ago .
-Japan announced the decision Wednesday , one day after saying it would consider imposing sanctions on North Korea , including a suspension of aid .
-Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda says Tokyo is analyzing new evidence from Pyongyang on the abductions .
-He said such analysis could take time .
-Five Japanese kidnapped by North Korea returned to Japan two years ago .
-Pyongyang contends eight others are dead .
-Japan believes there are two additional abductees whom North Korea has never acknowledged .
-An Israeli airstrike has killed a Palestinian man in the Gaza Strip , east of Gaza City .
-The Israeli military says aircraft fired at three Palestinian gunmen who were within meters of the security fence separating the Gaza Strip from Israel .
-Palestinians give a different account .
-A Palestinian militant group , the Popular Resistance Committees , says a bystander was killed when an Israeli helicopter fired at a car carrying several of its fighters .
-The violence comes three days before Palestinian parliamentary elections .
-The international medical aid group , Doctors Without Borders ( Medecins Sans Frontieres ) , says one of its aid workers was killed in Sudan 's western Darfur region during an attack by government troops .
-The aid group said Wednesday the Sudanese employee was shot dead December 17 in front of the group 's warehouse in the town of Labado in the southern part of Darfur .
-Doctors Without Borders also said 29 other local staff in the town are missing following fighting between government troops and rebels .
-It says the slain man was the second Sudanese employee to be killed in the last three months .
-On Tuesday , the British charity Save the Children announced it is evacuating all its staff from Darfur after four of its workers were killed in the past two months .
-Iraqi President Jalal Talabani says in a statement he does not intend to seek re-election when his term expires at the end of the year .
-But the Kurdish leader says he will remain active in politics .
-The 75-year-old Talabani has been president since 2005 .
-He had heart surgery in the United States last year .
-Officials say he wants to take a rest .
-Iraq 's prime minister , Nouri al-Maliki , holds most of the power in the country .
-Parliament chooses the president and two vice presidents .
-Their terms end when a new parliament is elected at the end of this year .
-Afghanistan and its neighbors have ended a two-day conference in Kabul with a pledge to boost economic cooperation in a region reaching from China to Turkey and the Persian Gulf .
-In a joint declaration , delegations from 12 nations pledged cooperation in areas including electricity , counternarcotics , and water resource management .
-Britain co-chaired the Regional Economic Cooperation Conference as current holder of the G8 presidency .
-British Foreign Office Minister Kim Howells said the Kabul Declaration marks the " moment when Afghanistan has become a real player in bringing peace and stability to the region . "
-The meeting brought together six nations bordering Afghanistan -- Tajikistan , Uzbekistan , Turkmenistan , Iran , Pakistan and China , as well as India , Turkey , the United Arab Emirates , Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan .
-The death toll from a fireworks explosion on a bus carrying guests from a wedding in eastern Pakistan has risen to at least 38 , with scores of others injured .
-Police officials at the scene in Lahore warned the death toll may rise further since many of the injured are in serious condition .
-Witnesses say the bus was engulfed by flames in seconds Sunday , giving people no time to escape .
-Some of the victims were burned beyond recognition .
-The French news agency , AFP , quotes local residents as saying the blast occurred just seconds after one of the bus passengers was seen throwing firecrackers out of a rear window .
-The U.S. space shuttle Discovery 's upcoming mission to the International Space Station has been delayed again , as NASA continues work to repair the shuttle 's external fuel tank .
-The U.S. space agency says it is now considering potential launch dates in late February , not early in the month as previously planned .
-Cracks in some of the metal supports of Discovery 's fuel tank were discovered when a hydrogen leak led NASA to cancel a planned launch attempt in early November .
-NASA officials now say the shuttle could launch as early as February 24 .
-At this point , the Discovery supply mission is the next-to-last in the agency 's 30-year shuttle program .
-But another flight could be added mid-year , before the fleet is set to retire this year .
-Final results from last month 's presidential runoff election in Guinea-Bissau give the victory to former military ruler Joao Bernardo Vieira .
-Electoral officials say Mr. Vieira , also known as " Nino , " received 52 percent of the vote , compared with 48 percent for his rival , interim leader Malam Bacai Sanha .
-Mr. Sanha has said he will not accept the results , alleging voter fraud .
-Both candidates in the July 24 runoff election had pledged to end years of political instability .
-Guinea-Bissau has been plagued by numerous coups and coup attempts since gaining independence from Portugal in 1974 .
-Mr. Viera took power in a 1980 coup and ruled 19 years until he was ousted during a civil war .
-South Korea says it will not stage another large-scale rescue of North Korean refugees .
-South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young told reporters Tuesday that Seoul has no plans to repeat last July 's airlift of 468 North Korean refugees from a third country that was never officially identified but believed to be Vietnam .
-The mass defection angered North Korea , which responded by boycotting ministerial talks in August .
-Analysts say Mr. Chung 's comments may be part of efforts by South Korea to encourage North Korea to resume bilateral talks .
-Last month , South Korea announced it would strengthen background checks on North Koreans seeking asylum in the South , as well as cut financial subsidies to North Korean defectors .
-World oil prices rose Wednesday after Iran test-fired some missiles .
-Investors assumed the tests indicate continued tensions between Iran , a major oil producer , and Israel and the United States , which might disrupt oil supplies at a time of strong demand and tight inventories .
-The price of oil for future delivery rose more than two dollars to go as high as $ 138.28 a barrel in New York trading .
-Earlier , U.S. government energy experts said members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will have net export revenues of $ 1.2 trillion this year , nearly double the gain from 2007 .
-The increase is driven by record-high oil prices which hit an all time high of $ 145.85 a barrel on July 3 .
-The average retail price of gasoline in the United States remains at a record high of just over $ 1.08 a liter ( $ 4.11 a gallon ) .
-A commander of Dutch troops in southern Afghanistan says forces from the Netherlands have killed dozens of suspected Taleban fighters in recent months .
-In an interview published Saturday in the Netherlands ' daily newspaper NRC Handelsblad , Colonel Henk Morsink said troops in troubled Uruzgan province recently have been involved in six clashes with insurgents .
-He also said a senior Taleban leader is believed to be among those killed .
-Morsink stressed that his figures are based on estimates that can not always be verified .
-More Dutch troops , along with additional forces from Britain and Canada , will soon be deployed in Afghanistan 's volatile south , as NATO members increase troop levels in the country from 9,000 to 16,000 .
-A top U.S. diplomat is in Turkey for talks on the situation in neighboring Iraq as it prepares for elections January 30th .
-Outgoing Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage was slated to meet with Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul as well as top lawmakers and Turkey 's army chief-of-staff .
-Earlier Sunday , in Syria , Mr. Armitage said Damascus has improved security along its border with Iraq .
-But he also urged Syrian leaders to do more , and repeated U.S. claims that members of Saddam Hussein 's ousted regime are " going back and forth from Syria " into Iraq .
-The U.S. envoy spoke after meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad .
-Mr. Armitage visited northern Iraq on Saturday , and will also visit Jordan before returning home early this week .
-South Africa has lifted a 13-year ban on killing elephants , despite an outcry from conservationists and animal rights activists .
-The government earlier this year authorized the move , which took effect Thursday , as a way of controlling the rising elephant population , which has more than doubled since 1995 , to 18,000 .
-In related news , a conservation group says 14 elephants have been illegally killed during the last two weeks in the Democratic Republic of Congo 's Virunga National Park .
-Wildlife Direct says in a statement released Thursday that rebels , soldiers and local villagers killed the elephants .
-The group blames the surge in poaching on the liberalization of the ivory trade being pushed by South Africa , and the increased presence of Chinese operators in the area who feed a demand for ivory in their home country .
-The park was estimated to have an elephant population of 350 as of 2006 .
-U.S. military officials say a television cameraman killed in Iraq Monday died in a gunbattle between Marines and insurgents , contradicting an account from his news agency .
-Dhia Najim , an Iraqi freelance cameraman working for Reuters , was shot and killed in the town of Ramadi , west of Baghdad .
-U.S. military officials say Mr. Najim was hit by a bullet in the neck while taping a clash between Marines and insurgents .
-But Reuters says video pictures taken at the time of Mr. Najim 's death show he was shot by a sniper and that there was no fighting at the time .
-The press freedom group , Reporters Without Borders , has called on the Pentagon to make what it calls a proper investigation .
-Russia is warning it will take retaliatory steps if any country deploys weapons in space .
-Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov says Moscow 's position on the issue has remained unchanged for decades in that Russia remains categorically against the militarization of space .
-He made the comments Thursday in Kazakhstan .
-Last month , White House press secretary Scott McClellan said the United States is reviewing a draft updated national space policy - but that policy does not look at the weaponization of space .
-However , he did say that protecting U.S. space systems is something that has to be considered .
-The Interfax news agency also quotes Mr. Ivanov as saying Moscow is prepared to negotiate an agreement on controlling tactical nuclear weapons - but only when all countries with such weapons keep them within their own territories .
-The United States has such weapons in Europe .
-The Israeli navy has ordered a Libyan ship carrying humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip to turn back .
-Officials say the ship , the Al Marwa , was carrying some 3,000 tons of aid when it was stopped by the Israeli navy .
-Israel says there was no physical confrontation when it ordered the ship to turn around .
-Palestinian officials say the ship is now sailing to the Egyptian port of El-Arish .
-Gaza 's borders have been largely sealed by Israel and Egypt following a violent takeover by the militant Hamas last year .
-The blockade has been stepped up in recent weeks due to a surge in border clashes between the Israeli military and Palestinian militants .
-The regional government in Iraq 's Kurdish region has signed seven new foreign oil deals .
-The Kurdish Regional Government said in a statement on its Web site Tuesday all revenues from petroleum activities in the Kurdish region will be shared proportionately throughout Iraq under Iraqi law .
-The government in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq has approved its own law governing the oil industry , while the Iraqi national parliament is still working on a hydrocarbon law that would regulate the industry throughout the country .
-Iraqi oil minister Hussein al-Shahristani had declared as " illegal " a previous agreement between the Kurdish regional government and a foreign oil company , Hunt Oil .
-The Kurdish regional government said the new contracts are for the Mala Omar and Shorish Blocks , the Akre-Bijeel Block , the Shaikan Block , the Rovi and Sarta Blocks , and a block in Dihok province .
-Iraq 's Shi'ite politicians have postponed until Sunday a decision to select a new prime minister .
-The United Iraqi Alliance met Saturday , to choose between two contenders - Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari and Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi .
-Each is supported by two major factions in the Shi'ite alliance .
-But Shi'ite sources say followers of radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr wanted more time to discuss the candidates .
-Iraq 's Shi'ite alliance won the largest number of parliament seats in the nation 's December 15th election .
-Under Iraq 's constitution , the new parliament should convene within the next two weeks .
-Separately , Kuwait 's al-Rai television station says the kidnappers in Iraq of American journalist Jill Carroll are threatening to kill her if their demands are not met by February 26 .
-The militants previously had demanded that all Iraqi women prisoners be freed .
-The Sri Lankan navy says it has arrested five Indian nationals and confiscated their trawler carrying 61,000 bomb detonators .
-A navy spokesman said the five men were detained late Wednesday off the island 's northern coast , an area under Tamil Tiger rebel control , and were handed over to police .
-He said authorities are trying to determine if the shipment was meant for the rebels .
-The seizure came hours after the government and the rebels agreed to hold a new round of peace talks in Switzerland , easing fears that the country may slide back into full-scale civil war .
-Meanwhile , Sri Lanka 's stock market staged a major rally Thursday as investors cheered the agreement between Colombo and the rebels .
-Tamil rebels also released a Sri Lankan policeman in what they call a goodwill gesture , four months after capturing him when he strayed into rebel territory .
-Greek officials say a moderate earthquake has struck off the coast of some of the country 's islands in the Aegean Sea .
-The Athens Geodynamic Institute says Friday 's magnitude 5.1 quake was centered near the eastern islands of Kos and Astypaleia , about 300 kilometers from the Greek capital .
-There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries .
-Iranian state television says the country 's Revolutionary Guards have test-fired several long-range missiles with the capability of carrying cluster bombs .
-The state-owned Al-Alam network says the missiles were launched Thursday from a desert site near the central Iranian town of Qom .
-The tests mark the beginning of a 10-day Iranian military exercise that will also include drills in the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman .
-The Iranian report says the missile tests involve the Shahab-3 missile , which has a range of up to 2,000 kilometers .
-The Revolutionary Guards are the ideological wing of the Iranian armed forces , and have a separate command structure from the regular army .
-Iran is conducting military maneuvers after United States held naval exercises in the Persian Gulf earlier this week .
-The U.S.-led drills involved 25 nations and were aimed at training forces to block the transport of weapons of mass destruction .
-Russia is defending its plans to sell Venezuela assault rifles and helicopters .
-Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed concerns expressed by the United States that the guns and aircraft could fall into the hands of leftist rebels in Colombia .
-Mr. Lavrov said the arms deal is a bilateral issue in line with international law .
-U.S. officials fear Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez , who has strained relations with Washington , could export small arms to rebel movements , including rebel groups in neighboring Colombia .
-A State Department spokesman says the United States has raised the issue with Russia on several occasions .
-Earlier this week , Venezuelan Vice President Jose Rangel said his country is buying the weapons to strengthen its national security and that the purchase should not concern Washington .
-Security is tight in the Afghan capital , Kabul , on the eve of the inauguration of the country 's first parliament in more than 30 years .
-Police and troops were deployed days ahead of the Monday ceremony , during which 351 new lawmakers will be sworn in by President Hamid Karzai .
-The event will be attended by many foreign dignitaries , including U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney .
-Concerns that the Taleban insurgents could disrupt the opening of a landmark parliamentary session were heightened after rebels attacked a police checkpoint near Kandahar overnight , killing three policemen .
-A Taleban insurgent was also killed in the ambush .
-Meanwhile , France 's Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie , visiting Kabul on Sunday , said Paris will increase the number of its troops in Afghanistan in 2006 when NATO expands operations there .
-Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov says Russia will soon begin testing a new intercontinental ballistic missile system .
-The Russian minister told reporters his country would develop weapons based on the Topol-M mobile missiles and the sea-based Bulava system .
-The Interfax news agency quotes Mr. Ivanov as saying Moscow plans to produce nuclear weapons that can penetrate any defense system .
-Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende says a " no " vote in next week 's referendum on the European Constitution would damage the country 's reputation as a champion of European integration .
-In an interview with Dutch newspapers Saturday Mr. Balkenende said European leaders currently view the Netherlands as a country that works " constructively and critically " with international institutions .
-Reuters news agency quotes the Netherlands leader as urging voters not to use the referendum as an opportunity to express discontent with Dutch government policies , but to read the document and vote on its substance .
-Latest public opinion polls indicate that more than half of Dutch citizens plan to vote against the treaty in the June first referendum .
-Diabetics have a greater than average chance of having a heart attack or stroke .
-But new research indicates that lowering blood pressure and cholesterol below recommended guidelines seems to reduce these risks .
-VOA 's Carol Pearson tells us about the study .
-U.S. presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama have responded cautiously to North Korea 's declaration of its nuclear activities .
-Senator McCain Thursday called the declaration " a modest step forward , " but said it was only a step covering one part of North Korea 's activities .
-He said the expected destruction of a nuclear cooling tower Friday would be another step , but said it is important to remember that the goal is a full , permanent , and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula .
-Senator Obama said critical questions about North Korea 's nuclear program remain unanswered .
-He said sanctions against the country are an important part of leverage to pressure North Korea to act .
-President George Bush promised to lift trade restrictions now that North Korea submitted the declaration .
-Sales of new homes in the United States declined 1.6 percent in May , evidence that the slump in the housing market is continuing for a second year .
-Tuesday 's report from the Commerce Department showed that if sales continued at May 's pace for a year , just 9,15,000 new homes would change hands .
-Analysts blame rising interest rates and a glut of unsold homes for the decline .
-Besides the housing market , consumers tell researchers they are also worried about jobs and high energy prices .
-A separate report by a business group showed consumer confidence declining in June ( by 4.6 points to a reading of 103.9 ) .
-Economists track consumer confidence for clues about the consumer spending that drives most of the U.S. economy .
-A U.S. federal judge has awarded more than $ 90 million in Cuban assets to the families of two men executed in Cuba in 1961 after the failed Bay of Pigs invasion attempt .
-The ruling Friday in the northeastern state of New York ordered a bank holding frozen Cuban assets to pay sums to the families of Howard Anderson and Thomas Ray , both Americans .
-Anderson was arrested and executed in Cuba for counter-revolutionary activities , while Ray 's CIA plane was shot down over Cuba .
-Both men were executed by the Cuban government .
-The families of the men sued Cuba under a U.S. federal law allowing citizens to bring lawsuits against foreign governments in cases of terrorism .
-The Bay of Pigs invasion was a CIA-backed attempt by Cuban exiles to overthrow Fidel Castro .
-Sales of previously-owned homes in the United States declined in May as higher mortgage interest rates cut demand .
-Tuesday 's report from a business group , the National Association of Realtors , says re-sales fell more than one percent .
-If home sales continued at this rate for a full year , 6.7 million homes would change hands .
-Tuesday 's report on existing home sales contrasts sharply with Monday 's figures on sales of newly-built homes , which increased .
-But analysts say new home sales are likely to decline under pressure from rising interest rates .
-U.S. central bankers are expected to announce another in a long series of interest rate increases later this week .
-A separate report said U.S. consumer confidence increased slightly this month .
-Consumer confidence figures give experts clues about consumer spending , which drives most U.S. economic activity .
-Russia 's state-owned natural gas firm Gazprom has announced plans to buy a controlling stake in the Russian daily Izvestia .
-A spokesman for Gazprom media says negotiations are almost complete , with an announcement in coming days .
-The Vedomosti business daily quotes industry officials as speculating the deal could be worth between $ 10 million to $ 20 million .
-Critics call the move a Kremlin effort to tighten its influence on the media .
-The government already controls national television and radio networks .
-An editor at Izvestia resigned last year in what he said was a dispute over the newspaper 's coverage of the Beslan school crisis in which more than 330 people were killed .
-He said he was forced to resign over coverage the paper 's leadership deemed too shocking .
-The newspaper printed graphic pictures of the bloody siege .
-Some speculated that coverage upset the Kremlin .
-Jennifer Lopez will come to your party - for a price .
-Russian banking tycoon Andrei Melnichenko is reportedly paying the singer-actress $ 2 million to perform at his wife 's 30th birthday party .
-International media report Lopez will receive $ 1.2 million for her 40 minute performance in the UK , with an additional $ 8,00,000 earmarked for expenses .
-The 35-year-old Melnichenko 's personal fortune is estimated near $ 5 billion .
-In other Jennifer Lopez news , the U.S. Magazine Us has named her its Style Icon of the Year ; she 'll pick up her prize at a ceremony in Hollywood .
-The top U.S. weapons inspector for Iraq says the search for weapons of mass destruction has " gone as far as feasible " and has found nothing .
-The assessment by CIA special advisor Charles Duelfer , head of the Iraq Survey Group , was contained in an addendum , posted on the Internet late Monday , to last year 's final report on Iraq 's weapons program .
-Mr. Duelfer concludes there is no reason to keep many detainees who are held because of their knowledge of Iraq 's weapons program , saying that after more than 18 months , the weapons investigation and debriefing of weapons-related detainees has been exhausted .
-The United States maintains that the Iraqi authorities will make the final decision whether to release those detainees .
-Mr. Duelfer also warns that there is a risk some Iraqi scientists might share their skills with terrorists or insurgents , who are making concerted efforts to gain chemical weapons capabilities .
-NATO has expressed its solidarity with Britain over Thursday 's deadly terrorist attacks in London .
-Ambassadors of the 26 alliance states , meeting in Brussels , condemned terrorism in all its forms and reaffirmed NATO 's determination to combat terrorism and defend the alliance 's values of freedom , tolerance and democracy .
-Earlier , NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer condemned the bombings as heinous crimes and stressed that they underscored the need for alliance unity in fighting terrorism .
-Spanish police have arrested seven people suspected of helping fund Islamic militants with links to the al-Qaida terrorist group .
-Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso says the seven , arrested in the Costa del Sol region of southern Spain , had provided funds and logistical support to the Algerian-based Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat .
-Spanish authorities have stepped up efforts against Islamic militants since last year 's al-Qaida-linked bombings of Madrid commuter trains that killed 191 people .
-Last month , police arrested 11 people on charges of providing financial support for the same Algerian-based group in raids in other areas of southern Spain .
-Two senior U.S. diplomats are meeting with the new leader of southern Sudan 's former rebel movement Wednesday in an effort to ensure that the sudden death of Vice President John Garang will not derail the peace process .
-The visit by Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Connie Newman and special envoy for Sudan Roger Winter follows two days of riots in response to news of the death of Mr. Garang , the former rebel leader who became Sudan 's vice president as part of a peace deal .
-At least 42 people died in the violence .
-Mr. Garang was killed in a helicopter crash Saturday evening .
-He was a key player in the deal that ended 21 years of civil war between rebels in southern Sudan and the Khartoum government .
-The U.S. diplomats plan to hold talks with government officials in Khartoum after their meetings in the south of the country .
-A lawyers for two British journalists being held in Zimbabwe has accused prosecutors of deliberately delaying the proceedings after state witnesses failed to turn up at court .
-Beatrice Mtetwa told the court in the northern town of Norton Friday that prosecutors are seeking " to prolong the accused 's agony . "
-The Sunday Telegraph 's chief foreign correspondent Toby Harnden and photographer Julian Simmonds have been in custody for more than a week on charges of reporting on last week 's parliamentary elections without accreditation .
-The journalists were granted bail last week .
-But the state appealed , forcing the men to remain in custody .
-Ms. Mtetwa said Friday 's proceedings lasted less than one hour because not all of the state 's witnesses showed up in court .
-Reports from Baghdad say two bombs have exploded near a market in central Baghdad , killing at least 10 people .
-Police say the second bomb was detonated Tuesday after a crowd had gathered at the site of the first blast , near a shop just outside the Bab al-Sharjee market .
-Hours earlier , two Iraqi civilians were killed and four policemen were wounded in two separate roadside bombings in southern Iraq ( at Yousifiyah , south of Baghdad , and in Basra province ) .
-A U.S. military announcement today says three Marines were killed Monday near the restive town of Hit in western Anbar province .
-A fourth Marine has died of wounds suffered in a similar attack in the same region on Sunday .
-The U.S. military in Iraq has sent a team of forensic experts to the northern city of Mosul to investigate the cause of Tuesday 's massive explosion at an American military base that killed 22 people and wounded 72 others .
-Initial reports said the base 's dining hall was struck by either a mortar or rocket .
-But the military says it is not ruling out anything .
-The militant group that claimed responsibility for the attack said it was carried out by a suicide bomber .
-Among the dead were 14 American military personnel , four U.S civilian contractors and four Iraqi security force members .
-Most of the wounded were also American servicemen .
-Wednesday , the streets of Mosul were deserted and the city 's five bridges were closed .
-American tanks and troops were positioned across the city and helicopters hovered overhead .
-The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has inducted its newest members at a star-studded ceremony in New York City .
-The 2006 class of inductees includes heavy metal band Black Sabbath , punk rockers the Sex Pistols , southern rock mainstays Lynyrd Skynyrd , and the late jazz legend Miles Davis .
-Members of the new wave band Blondie also were inducted into the Hall of Fame , Monday .
-The hall also gave a lifetime achievement award to trumpeter Herb Alpert and business partner Jerry Moss , the founders of A&M Records .
-Musicians become eligible for Hall of Fame consideration 25 years after their first recording .
-The Hall of Fame has a museum in Cleveland , Ohio to honor the history and personalities of rock music .
-Russia says a strain of bird flu virus found infecting fowl in Siberia is the deadly H5N1 strain that can be transmitted to humans .
-A spokesman for the agricultural ministry in Moscow Friday said the investigation of the bird flu outbreak in Russia 's Novosibirsk region indicated the need for wider quarantine measures .
-The outbreak in Siberia began earlier this month when large numbers of chicken , geese and other fowl began dying .
-Strains of the virus have been hitting flocks throughout Asia , and more than 50 people in southeast Asia have died from exposure to the virus since 2003 .
-Health experts fear a global pandemic if the virus mutates into a form easily passed among humans .
-Two car bomb blasts near the Shi'ite shrine city of Karbala in southern Iraq have killed at least 20 people and wounded more than 50 others .
-Iraqi officials say the attacks targeted Shi'ite pilgrims heading to Karbala for an important Sh'ite holiday this week .
-Earlier Monday , another car bomb exploded in front of the Baghdad offices of Al-Arabiya television , killing at least four people and wounding 16 others .
-Al-Arabiya staffers said the explosion badly damaged the building and left a huge crater .
-Iraqi officials had previously warned the network about the threat of an insurgent attack .
-Monday 's bombing was not the first time Al-Arabiya has been targeted in Iraq .
-The network 's Baghdad bureau chief escaped harm in 2008 after a bomb was found strapped to his car .
-The Arabic-language station is owned by Saudi Arabia and based in Dubai .
-A Jewish settler in the West Bank has been indicted by an Israeli court in the shooting deaths of four Palestinians in northern Israel earlier this month .
-Defendant Asher Weisgan has been in Israeli custody since allegedly opening fire on a group of Palestinian workers at an industrial zone at the West Bank settlement of Shiloh on August 17 .
-At the time of the assault , police said a gunman seized a rifle from an Israeli security officer at the work zone and then shot and killed two Palestinians he had driven to the job site .
-He then opened fire on a crowd of nearby workers , killing two more and wounding a fifth worker .
-Police said the attacker launched the attack to protest Israel 's recently concluded evacuation of the Gaza Strip .
-The leader of Germany 's Social Democratic Party says he will not run again for that post and might not serve in a new cabinet .
-Franz Muentefering spoke Monday after the Social Democrats ' executive committee named a left-wing party member to run for party general secretary , rejecting Mr. Muentefering 's chosen candidate .
-The committee nominated Andrea Nahles to run , rejecting Kajo Wasserhoevel .
-Mr. Muentefering was set to become vice chancellor in a government led by Christian Democrat Chancellor-designate Angela Merkel .
-The Social Democrats will elect their general secretary in mid-November .
-Iraqi Shi'ite leaders say they have made their final compromise proposal to Sunni Arabs on the text of a new constitution .
-A Shi'ite official said Friday the proposal addresses the two main Sunni Arab objections : federalism , and efforts to exclude former members of Saddam Hussein 's Ba'ath Party from public life .
-The announcement comes following a phone call from President Bush to Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim , the leader of Iraq 's largest Shi'ite party .
-The White House says it is doing everything it can to assist the Iraqis in moving the democratic process forward .
-In other developments , the U.S. military launched multiple airstrikes Friday against a building sheltering about 50 suspected terrorists in the western province of Al-Anbar , close to the Syrian border .
-No casualty figures were released .
-The Russian state-owned oil firm Rosneft has rejected a statement by the giant natural gas company Gazprom about their planned merger .
-Wednesday , Gazprom chief Alexei Miller said the Yuganskneftegaz production unit would become an independent state company led by Rosneft head Sergei Bogdanchikov .
-Rosneft Thursday said the statement does not correspond with reality , and should be taken as opinion .
-The merger would give the state a controlling stake in Gazprom , which would allow the lifting of a ban on foreign ownership of its shares .
-The government had seized Yuganskneftegaz for failure to pay taxes and sold it at auction last year .
-Rosneft acquired the unit from a previously unknown company that purchased it at the auction .
-Critics accuse the Kremlin of trying to tighten control of the oil market and retaliate for former Yukos chief Mikhail Khodorkovsky 's support of the political opposition , charges authorities deny .
-Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for closer cooperation with Syria , as both countries face continuing diplomatic pressure from Western governments .
-Mr. Ahmadinejad 's comments Sunday in Tehran came in a joint news conference with visiting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad .
-The Iranian news agency quotes Mr. Ahmadinejad as saying common threats require more bilateral cooperation to protect the Middle East from foreign aggression .
-Both governments remain on a U.S. list of countries supporting terrorism , and Washington accuses both countries of failing to stop Islamic insurgents from crossing their borders into Iraq .
-Additionally , the United States and European governments accuse Iran of seeking to build atomic weapons .
-Both governments deny the charges .
-Authorities in Angola say 14 more people have died from the Marburg virus , raising the death toll from the outbreak to 146 .
-This makes it the worst outbreak of the Ebola-like virus since 123 people died in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo between 1998 and 2000 .
-The World Health Organization has deployed 20 experts to Angola to help combat the virus , which is characterized by headaches , vomiting and diarrhea .
-The outbreak has been mainly confined to the northern province of Uige .
-Store owners in the capital city of Luanda say panicked residents have bought out all their stocks of household bleach to help guard against the virus .
-Ethiopia 's elections body has rejected opposition calls for a re-run of last month 's parliamentary poll , won by the ruling party in a landslide .
-A coalition of six parties said the May 23 election was rigged , and that voters and opposition candidates were harassed .
-The National Electoral Board said Wednesday that the opposition claims were not backed by any evidence .
-Election results showed the ruling EPRDF coalition and allied parties taking 534 out of 537 parliamentary seats .
-Opposition leaders say the government 's near-total victory could not be accomplished without cheating .
-Both the United States and the European Union criticized the election as falling short of international standards .
-Ethiopian officials have said the voting was free , fair , and democratic .
-The election was Ethiopia 's first parliamentary poll since a disputed 2005 vote that led to violent unrest .
-Security forces killed nearly 200 people while putting down demonstrations after that poll .
-Election authorities in Liberia have begun releasing returns from the country 's first post-war election , in which large numbers turned out to elect a new president and parliament .
-With ballots from about one percent of the polling stations counted , former World Bank economist Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has 24 percent of the vote .
-Soccer ( football ) star George Weah , one of her opponents in the presidential race , has 21 percent .
-The head of Liberia 's National Elections Commission , Frances Johnson Morris , says it could take three to seven days of vote counting before the new leader is known .
-United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and the U.S. ambassador to Liberia , Donald Booth , have praised Liberians for conducting a peaceful and orderly election .
-Liberia 's vote is seen as a step toward restoring stability to a country beset by war and corruption .
-The Philippines will keep its peacekeeping force in Haiti despite a sniper attack on a Filipino enlisted man Thursday .
-Staff Sergeant Rodrigo Galam was standing guard outside the Christopher Hotel in Port-au-Prince when he came under sniper fire .
-His body armor saved him from injury by deflecting two bullets .
-The hotel will be the future headquarters of the UN peacekeeping forces in the country .
-Philippine ambassador to the United Nations Lauro Baja said in a statement that the attack would not in any way alter Manila 's resolve to help bring peace and stability to Haiti .
-The Philippines deployed 135 troops to Haiti in December .
-IRAQ-POVERTY ( Washington )
-Rep. Tony Hall , D-Ohio , urges the United Nations to allow a freer flow of food and medicine into Iraq .
-Hall , who recently returned from a trip to Iraq , said U.N. economic sanctions have hurt millions of civilians there .
-By AUSTIN ZALKIN .
-The economy suffers from the typical Pacific island problems of geographic isolation , few resources , and a small population .
-Government expenditures regularly exceed revenues , and the shortfall is made up by critically needed grants from New Zealand that are used to pay wages to public employees .
-Niue has cut government expenditures by reducing the public service by almost half .
-The agricultural sector consists mainly of subsistence gardening , although some cash crops are grown for export .
-Industry consists primarily of small factories to process passion fruit , lime oil , honey , and coconut cream .
-The sale of postage stamps to foreign collectors is an important source of revenue .
-The island in recent years has suffered a serious loss of population because of emigration to New Zealand .
-Efforts to increase GDP include the promotion of tourism and financial services , although the International Banking Repeal Act of 2002 resulted in the termination of all offshore banking licenses .
-Economic aid from New Zealand in FY08/09 was US $ 5.7 million .
-Niue suffered a devastating typhoon in January 2004 , which decimated nascent economic programs .
-While in the process of rebuilding , Niue has been dependent on foreign aid .
-British influence and control over what would become Nigeria and Africa 's most populous country grew through the 19th century .
-A series of constitutions after World War II granted Nigeria greater autonomy ; independence came in 1960 .
-Following nearly 16 years of military rule , a new constitution was adopted in 1999 , and a peaceful transition to civilian government was completed .
-The government continues to face the daunting task of reforming a petroleum-based economy , whose revenues have been squandered through corruption and mismanagement , and institutionalizing democracy .
-In addition , Nigeria continues to experience longstanding ethnic and religious tensions .
-Although both the 2003 and 2007 presidential elections were marred by significant irregularities and violence , Nigeria is currently experiencing its longest period of civilian rule since independence .
-The general elections of April 2007 marked the first civilian-to-civilian transfer of power in the country 's history .
-In January 2010 , Nigeria assumed a nonpermanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2010 - 11 term .
-Britain conquered Burma over a period of 62 years ( 1824 - 1886 ) and incorporated it into its Indian Empire .
-Burma was administered as a province of India until 1937 when it became a separate , self-governing colony ; independence from the Commonwealth was attained in 1948 .
-Gen. NE WIN dominated the government from 1962 to 1988 , first as military ruler , then as self-appointed president , and later as political kingpin .
-In September 1988 , the military deposed NE WIN and established a new ruling junta .
-Despite multiparty legislative elections in 1990 that resulted in the main opposition party - the National League for Democracy ( NLD ) - winning a landslide victory , the junta refused to hand over power .
-NLD leader and Nobel Peace Prize recipient AUNG SAN SUU KYI , who was under house arrest from 1989 to 1995 and 2000 to 2002 , was imprisoned in May 2003 and subsequently transferred to house arrest .
-She was finally released in November 2010 .
-After the ruling junta in August 2007 unexpectedly increased fuel prices , tens of thousands of Burmese marched in protest , led by prodemocracy activists and Buddhist monks .
-In late September 2007 , the government brutally suppressed the protests , killing at least 13 people and arresting thousands for participating in the demonstrations .
-Since then , the regime has continued to raid homes and monasteries and arrest persons suspected of participating in the pro-democracy protests .
-Burma in early May 2008 was struck by Cyclone Nargis , which claimed over 1,38,000 dead and tens of thousands injured and homeless .
-Despite this tragedy , the junta proceeded with its May constitutional referendum , the first vote in Burma since 1990 .
-Parliamentary elections held in November 2010 , considered flawed by many in the international community , saw the junta 's Union Solidarity and Development Party garnering over 75 % of the seats .
-Parliament convened in January 2011 and selected former Prime Minister THEIN SEIN as president .
-The vast majority of national-level appointees named by THEIN SEIN are former or current military officers .
-Grenada relies on tourism as its main source of foreign exchange especially since the construction of an international airport in 1985 .
-Hurricanes Ivan ( 2004 ) and Emily ( 2005 ) severely damaged the agricultural sector - particularly nutmeg and cocoa cultivation - which had been a key driver of economic growth .
-Grenada has rebounded from the devastating effects of the hurricanes but is now saddled with the debt burden from the rebuilding process .
-Public debt-to-GDP is nearly 110 % , leaving the THOMAS administration limited room to engage in public investments and social spending .
-Strong performances in construction and manufacturing , together with the development of tourism and an offshore financial industry , have also contributed to growth in national output ; however , economic growth was stagnant in 2010 after a sizeable contraction in 2009 , because of the global economic slowdown 's effects on tourism and remittances .
-One day a countryman going to the nest of his Goose found there an egg all yellow and glittering .
-When he took it up it was as heavy as lead and he was going to throw it away , because he thought a trick had been played upon him .
-But he took it home on second thoughts , and soon found to his delight that it was an egg of pure gold .
-Every morning the same thing occurred , and he soon became rich by selling his eggs .
-As he grew rich he grew greedy ; and thinking to get at once all the gold the Goose could give , he killed it and opened it only to find nothing .
-Greed oft o'er reaches itself .
-A Doe had had the misfortune to lose one of her eyes , and could not see any one approaching her on that side .
-So to avoid any danger she always used to feed on a high cliff near the sea , with her sound eye looking towards the land .
-By this means she could see whenever the hunters approached her on land , and often escaped by this means .
-But the hunters found out that she was blind of one eye , and hiring a boat rowed under the cliff where she used to feed and shot her from the sea .
-" Ah , " cried she with her dying voice ,
-" You can not escape your fate . "
-A WOLF followed a flock of sheep for a long time and did not attempt to injure one of them .
-The Shepherd at first stood on his guard against him , as against an enemy , and kept a strict watch over his movements .
-But when the Wolf , day after day , kept in the company of the sheep and did not make the slightest effort to seize them , the Shepherd began to look upon him as a guardian of his flock rather than as a plotter of evil against it ; and when occasion called him one day into the city , he left the sheep entirely in his charge .
-The Wolf , now that he had the opportunity , fell upon the sheep , and destroyed the greater part of the flock .
-When the Shepherd returned to find his flock destroyed , he exclaimed :
-" I have been rightly served ; why did I trust my sheep to a Wolf ? '
-Documents released by the White House show that the Democratic National Committee asked Al Gore to make 140 calls to campaign donors , but he only connected on 56 of them .
-The other 84 hung up because he sounds just like a dial tone .
-When NASA first started sending up astronauts , they quickly discovered that ball-point pens would not work in zero gravity .
-To combat this problem , NASA scientists spent a decade and $ 12 billion developing a pen that writes in zero gravity , upside down , underwater , on almost any surface including glass and at temperatures ranging from below freezing to over 300 °C .
-The Russians use a pencil .
-Krygyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev says he is ready for any new proposals from the U.S. government to stabilize the situation in Afghanistan .
-Mr. Bakiyev made his comments to the British Broadcasting Corporation Wednesday .
-But Kyrgyz officials said Thursday the government will not reverse its decision to evict U.S. forces from a key military base that supports Western troops in Afghanistan .
-Last week , Kyrgyzstan ordered U.S. forces to leave the Manas air base within six months after President Bakiyev signed the decision into law .
-U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he believes the issue is not " closed , " and that the U.S. will try to reach a new agreement with Kyrgyzstan .
-As an alternative , Gates said the U.S. is considering other supply routes .
-Manas Air Base is currently the only U.S. military supply route in Central Asia .
-A top U.S. military officer said Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have agreed to allow the transit of non-lethal U.S. cargo through their territory to Afghanistan .
-Washington also has received permission from Russia and Kazakhstan to send supplies to Afghanistan by rail .
-President Bakiyev had complained that Washington was not paying enough rent for the base .
-He announced plans to close it after Russia pledged to give Kyrgyzstan about $ 2 billion in loans and aid .
-Most U.S. and NATO shipments into Afghanistan have been arriving by road through Pakistan , but those convoys have increasingly come under attack from Taliban and al-Qaida militants .
-Palestinian security officials say a clash between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants near the West Bank town of Jenin has left three militants dead .
-The officials identified the victims as a local leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and two members of Islamic Jihad .
-They say the fighting erupted when Israeli troops raided Jenin early Thursday morning .
-Wednesday , Israel 's military warned it may bombard the Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun , if necessary , to stop Palestinian rocket fire into Israel .
-The militants have been firing rockets from the area , despite earlier pledges to stop such attacks .
-In Washington , a State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has been pressing both sides to end the violence .
-President Bush is to meet with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas at the White House next month for talks on peace efforts .
-The U.S. military says the death toll from Thursday 's suicide bomb attack on a Shi'ite funeral in the northern city of Mosul has risen to 50 .
-More than 80 other people were injured in the blast , many critically .
-No group has claimed responsibility for the attack .
-Friday , grieving families buried their dead in private , canceling plans for a mass funeral procession because of fears it would be attacked .
-On the political front , Iraq 's main Shi'ite alliance , which swept the January 30 elections , is finalizing a deal with Kurdish leaders to form a coalition ahead of the new parliament 's first session next Wednesday .
-And a Polish newspaper quoted Warsaw 's defense minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski , as saying Poland will withdraw several hundred of its troops from Iraq in July .
-The leaders of the 53-member African Union have opened their two-day summit , where they will focus on debt relief and a greater voice in the United Nations .
-The African summit beginning Monday is being held just days before the leaders of the Group of Eight industrialized nations gather in Scotland to discuss debt relief for the war-torn , poverty-stricken continent .
-The G-8 summit is expected to give final approval to an agreement that forgives $ 40 billion of debt held by the world 's poorest nations , mostly in Africa .
-The AU leaders are also expected to support a proposal calling for the continent to get two permanent seats and two non-permanent seats on an expanded U.N. Security Council .
-A secular coalition led by Iraq 's former prime minister has taken a slight lead in overall votes as ballot counting from parliamentary elections continues - but it remains behind in the key provincial tally .
-With about 93 percent of the ballots counted , election officials said Saturday that former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi 's secularists lead the Shi'ite coalition headed by current Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki by about 8,000 votes .
-The lead has repeatedly shifted between Mr. Allawi and Prime Minister Maliki since the March 7 vote .
-But Mr. Maliki 's State of Law coalition is still ahead in seven of Iraq 's 18 provinces - compared to five provinces held by Mr. Allawi 's Iraqiya alliance .
-Seats in Iraq 's 325-member parliament are won according to how well a coalition does in a province , not according to the overall vote .
-Officials say they hope to have final results by the end of the month .
-Pakistan 's Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has arrived in New Delhi for talks with Indian leaders to review the on-going peace process between the two neighbors .
-A day before his arrival , Mr. Aziz warned not to expect a breakthrough during his talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh , which he described as part of a continuing dialogue .
-On Monday , Mr. Aziz said India 's reduction in troops in disputed Kashmir has helped reduce tensions .
-But he added that a permanent solution is likely to be some time off .
-Mr. Aziz also plans to meet Kashmiri separatist leaders during his visit .
-His trip to India is part of a regional tour as the outgoing chairman of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation , or SAARC .
-According to the World Bank , 300 million people in China - a number roughly equal to the population of the United States - live on less than a dollar a day .
-As China 's government works to control record high inflation , the country 's poor are struggling to put food on the table .
-And the recent earthquake , officials say , is likely to fuel even higher inflation because of the damage to the country 's agriculture .
-Sam Beattie reports from Beijing .
-German authorities have released a Lebanese man arrested in connection with an alleged plot against Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi .
-But prosecutors have issued arrest orders against three others accused of planning to attack Mr. Allawi during his visit to Germany last week .
-Prosecutors identified the three as suspected members of the Islamic militant group Ansar al-Islam , which U.S. authorities have linked to al-Qaida .
-Authorities detained the suspects in several German cities just hours before a meeting Friday between Mr. Allawi and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in Berlin .
-The Iraqi leader changed his travel plans after the alleged plot was uncovered .
-U.S. embassy officials in Iraq say an American teen who skipped school and flew to Baghdad without his parents ' permission is on his way home .
-In a brief statement Friday , the U.S. consul-general in Baghdad announced that 16-year-old Farris Hassan has left Iraq .
-The boy , of Iraqi descent , says he went to the war-torn country to pursue his interest in news reporting , cultivated in a high school journalism class .
-The student from Florida bought a plane ticket and left the United States on December 11 , arriving in Kuwait , where he called his parents .
-He later flew to Iraq on a flight from Lebanon .
-Earlier this week , the boy entered the Iraqi offices of the Associated Press news agency .
-Journalists immediately called the U.S. embassy , where officials had been looking for the teen , at his parents ' request .
-The Israeli army says troops raided the West Bank town of Jenin Monday , arresting eight militants suspected of involvement in making crude rockets and mortars .
-The army says the detained men are members of the Islamic Jihad militant group .
-It says one soldier was slightly wounded during the operation .
-On Sunday , Israel delayed handing over the town of Qalqilya to Palestinian security control , saying the Palestinians have failed to move against militants in Jericho and Tulkarem - the two towns already transferred to them .
-Qalqilya is the third of five West Bank towns Israel is to hand over to Palestinian security control under an agreement the two sides reached last month .
-There is no word on when the remaining two towns - Jenin and Ramallah - will be transferred .
-A powerful earthquake has shaken the area around Tibet in China .
-The U.S. Geological Survey says the quake had a 6.9 magnitude and was centered about 245 kilometers north of Qamdo prefecture , which borders China 's Sichuan province .
-At least one strong aftershock with a 5.2 magnitude struck about 30 minutes later .
-There were no early reports about damage or injuries .
-A massive 7.9 quake hit Sichuan province in 2008 , killing close to 90,000 people .
-Officials at the United States Embassy in Nepal say they are alarmed by the possibility of an alliance between Maoist rebels and political parties in the Himalayan kingdom .
-An official statement released by the Embassy says the United States supports the restoration of democracy in Nepal as well as the prevention of a Maoist takeover .
-Nepal 's seven major political parties recently offered to talk to the Maoists about forming a broad front opposed to King Gyanendra on the condition that the rebels end violent attacks aimed at civilians .
-The king assumed emergency powers earlier this year and ousted the kingdom 's four-party government for failing to make progress in the battle against the rebels , who have been fighting since 1996 to overthrow the monarchy .
-Some economists say cyclone damage to Burma 's key rice-growing areas might cut supplies of the key food and lead to a further increase in global rice prices .
-Burma , also known as Myanmar , was expected to export about 4,00,000 metric tons of rice this year .
-The President of the Thai Rice Exporters Association , Chookiat Ophaswongse , says in a story by the Bloomberg financial news service that , Burma may now have to import rice instead .
-Rice is the staple food for about half of the world 's population and its prices hit record highs in late April after some other rice-producing nations put restrictions on some exports .
-While in Pakistan , President Bush tried to learn the game of cricket and how it differs from baseball .
-Mr. Bush bowled and batted several times on a small cricket pitch set up on the grounds of the U.S. embassy , as students from the Islamabad College for Boys looked on and encouraged him .
-He got a quick lesson on how to hold the bat from the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board , Shaharyar Khan .
-Khan also explained to the former owner of a Texas baseball team how cricket , the popular sport of the old British empire , differs from baseball .
-Pakistani cricket team captain Inzamam-ul-Haq and famous batsman Salman Butt were also on hand to share their expertise with Mr. Bush .
-The government of Nepal is responding to international criticism of controversial municipal elections held earlier this week .
-A statement from Nepal 's foreign ministry Saturday called the criticism objectionable and unacceptable .
-The statement further urged foreign governments to refrain from making what it described as " insolent comments " about Nepal 's internal affairs .
-The response followed allegations by several other countries , including India , Japan , Britain and the United States , who all said Wednesday 's vote was flawed .
-Seven major opposition parties boycotted the vote and the election sparked almost daily anti-government demonstrations .
-The vice chairman of Nepal 's cabinet , the royal council of ministers , Tulsi Giri , is promising to proceed with general elections in April regardless of whether opposition parties participate .
-King Gyanendra took absolute power last year with a promise to crush the Maoist rebellion and restore multi-party democracy .
-Russian energy giant Gazprom has blasted European calls to ratify an agreement to guarantee Russian gas shipments to Europe .
-Gazprom deputy chief executive Alexander Medvedev Tuesday criticized a proposed energy charter between the EU and Russia , saying the document no longer represents market conditions .
-Part of the charter would require Russia to effectively allow third-party access to the state-owned Gazprom 's export pipeline network .
-Europe currently relies on Russia for a quarter of its natural gas .
-Gazprom officials have threatened to sell the gas elsewhere if European countries move to limit the company 's expansion .
-Earlier this year , Gazprom temporarily cut gas supplies to Ukraine in a price dispute .
-The blockage sharply reduced deliveries to other European countries , prompting calls from some EU members for applying the bloc 's anti-monopoly rules to the Russian firm .
-Former Croatian General Ante Gotovina , who many Croats still consider a hero , goes on trial Tuesday in The Hague for war crimes committed during the closing months of the war in Croatia in 1995 .
-The United Nations War Crimes Tribunal has charged Gotovina and two other ex-generals - Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac - with doing nothing while soldiers murdered at least 37 ethnic Serbs in Krajina .
-The troops also burned and plundered villages , and stabbed civilians who tried to escape .
-The court says some family members were forced to watch their relatives being killed .
-All three defendants have pleaded not guilty .
-Gotovina was indicted in 2001 but was at large until his arrest four years later in the Canary Islands .
-Many Croats regard Gotovina as a national hero for re-taking Croatian land seized by Serb rebels .
-Western and Muslim leaders and activists are meeting in Austria for a conference on Islam and ways to promote understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims .
-Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik says the three-day " Islam in a Pluralistic World " is also aimed at increasing dialogue between different religions .
-Scheduled speakers include Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani who is expected to discuss Islam 's role in a world of interwoven interests and economies .
-Other attendees include former Iranian president Mohammed Khatami and Iranian human rights attorney Shirin Ebadi , who won the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize .
-The conference comes as the riots in France have forced new dialogue on how Muslims are viewed in European society .
-If the housing crisis is not pressing enough , rising credit card debt is creating more hardship for many Americans .
-An analysis by the newspaper USA Today shows credit card debt grew between 2001 and early 2006 , fueled in part , by rising home equity , the value of a home minus its outstanding loans .
-Some consumer advocates blame the banking industry for taking advantage of homeowners who now find themselves in a credit trap .
-VOA 's Mil Arcega reports .
-Al-Qaida 's number two leader has appeared in a video praising Abu Musab al-Zarqawi , the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq killed on June seventh by a U.S. air strike .
-Ayman al-Zawahiri 's video aired Friday on Al Jazeera .
-In it , Zawahiri appeared in front of a portrait of Zarqawi .
-He called Zarqawi the prince of martyrs and said that no member of al-Qaida would die without avenging him .
-He also criticized several Iraqi government officials and the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq .
-Zawahiri did not mention Zarqawi 's successor as leader of al-Qaida in Iraq , Abu Hamza al-Muhajer .
-The omission may mean the tape was made before Muhajer was appointed or that Zawahiri does not endorse him .
-Zawahiri , along with al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden , is thought to be hiding somewhere along the rugged border dividing Afghanistan and Pakistan .
-Thousands of Cubans gathered around the U.S. diplomatic office in Havana Tuesday , to demonstrate against what President Fidel Castro has called " provocations " from Washington .
-The marchers are protesting an electronic message board posted on the side of the building that since last week has been displaying passages from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and quotes from slain American civil rights leader , Martin Luther King .
-Mr. Castro called for the march on Sunday during a speech on national television , accusing Washington of human rights violations in Iraq and Afghanistan .
-Tuesday 's march also was timed to coincide with the court appearance of Cuban exile Luis Posada Carriles , who is being held at a U.S. federal detention center on immigration charges .
-Cuba says the Bush administration is protecting Posada Carriles , who is wanted for his alleged role in the bombing of a Cuban airliner in 1976 .
-Nigeria 's president has inaugurated the nation 's energy board with a promise to commission the country 's first nuclear power plant within 10 to 12 years .
-President Olusegun Obasanjo said Monday in the capital , Abuja , that the nuclear capacity would be strictly for peaceful purposes to strengthen the nation 's electrical system .
-He stressed that Nigeria is " unequivocally committed to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty . "
-Mr. Obasanjo made the comments to the Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission , which he chairs .
-He said the commission will be working to enhance electricity capabilities for Nigeria 's impoverished population .
-Israel says clashes have broken out between Israeli forces and Hezbollah guerrillas on the Lebanon border for a second straight day .
-The Israeli army said the fighting in the Shebaa Farms region erupted early Thursday , and was continuing .
-But , a Hezbollah spokesman told Reuters news service in Beirut that guerrilla fighters did not respond to Israeli firing .
-Wednesday , one Israeli soldier and one Hezbollah fighter were killed , when guerillas fired rockets on Israeli military positions , and Israeli warplanes bombed targets in a village nearby .
-Shebaa Farms has been the focus of Hezbollah attacks and Israeli counter-attacks since Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000 , after a 22-year occupation .
-Lebanon and Syria say the area is Lebanese .
-But cartographers say it belongs to a part of Syria that has been occupied by Israel since the 1967 war .
-South Africa 's ruling party has promised to improve services and create jobs for the country 's poor majority .
-President Thabo Mbeki unveiled a $ 65 billion spending plan Sunday at a rally launching the African National Congress ' campaign for municipal elections .
-The ANC 's election manifesto says the money would be used to build roads , dams , power plants , rail networks , and communications infrastructure .
-It says every household will have access to running water , electricity , and decent sanitation by 2012 .
-The ANC has ruled South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994 but faces growing dissent over poor basic services and Mr. Mbeki 's firing of popular Deputy President Jacob Zuma .
-The ANC says Mr. Zuma , who faces rape and corruption charges , will still help the party campaign for the March 1 elections .
-German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and his challenger , Angela Merkel , are campaigning in the eastern city of Dresden ahead of Sunday 's vote for the only seat left undecided in this month 's parliamentary elections .
-Both sides hope to gain an edge in talks on a new government after the inconclusive September 18 balloting left Ms. Merkel 's Christian Democrats just three seats ahead of the Chancellor 's Social Democrats .
-The two sides have been discussing forming a so-called " Grand Coalition " of their two parties after neither side could get enough backing in parliament to form a government .
-But the talks are stalled because both Chancellor Schroeder and Ms. Merkel continue to claim the right to be the next chancellor .
-Sunday 's Dresden vote was delayed for two weeks by the death of a candidate from a far-right party shortly before the election .
-German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has confirmed that he will not be part of the country 's next government to be headed by Christian Democratic Union leader Angela Merkel .
-Mr. Schroeder made the comment Wednesday in a speech to trade union members in his hometown of Hanover .
-Ms. Merkel 's conservative party narrowly beat Mr. Schroeder 's Social Democrats in the September 18 parliamentary elections .
-The two parties agreed to a coalition deal Monday under which Ms. Merkel will become the new chancellor while the Social Democrats control a majority of cabinet posts .
-In Washington , a White House spokesman says President Bush telephoned Ms. Merkel to congratulate her on her selection as chancellor .
-Mr. Bush said he looks forward to working with her to build a strong foundation of U.S.-German relations .
-A new United Nations report says insurgent and terrorist violence in Afghanistan sharply increased last year , with more than 8,000 conflict-related deaths .
-In his report issued Monday , U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he is concerned that a fifth of those killed were civilians .
-He also cited increased attacks on humanitarian workers and aid convoys .
-Mr. Ban said Taliban insurgents , related armed groups and drug trafficking all represent serious threats to Afghanistan 's stability , with violence spreading to the previously calm northwest .
-His report also highlights the way the conflict has changed from a conventional war between western forces and the Taliban to an insurgency using suicide attacks , assassinations , abductions and roadside bombings .
-As expected , Mr. Ban recommended that the mandate for the U.N. mission in Afghanistan - which expires later this month - be extended for another year .
-The U.S. military says one U.S. Marine and one Afghan government soldier have been killed in fighting with militants in eastern Afghanistan .
-A military statement says four other Afghan soldiers were wounded in the clash Thursday as they tried to " disrupt enemy forces " in Kunar province to prepare for next month 's parliamentary elections .
-The wounded Afghan soldiers were taken to a nearby U.S. base in the city of Asadabad for treatment .
-Two of them later returned to duty .
-The deaths came on the same day that two U.S. soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in the southern province of Kandahar .
-Violence in Afghanistan has surged in recent months as Taleban insurgents try to sabotage next month 's parliamentary polls .
-Rescuers in Latin America have resumed their search Friday for survivors of mudslides and floodwaters triggered by Hurricane Stan .
-At least 223 people have been killed and many others are missing in Latin America after several days of heavy rains , mudslides and flooding from the storm , which came ashore Tuesday on Mexico 's eastern Gulf Coast .
-Rescuers in Guatemala Thursday pulled 40 bodies from a mudslide about 100 kilometers west of Guatemala City .
-Scores of other people were killed in Mexico and Central America after the storm ripped through the region , knocking down power lines and ripping apart houses .
-Tens of thousands of people fled their homes , and many remain homeless .
-The United Nations says it is rushing assistance to El Salvador and Costa Rica , and remains ready to mobilize international support for emergency relief and recovery efforts .
-Burmese officials say ethnic Karen rebels attacked a convoy of trucks and buses on a highway in southern Burma , killing eight people and wounding 15 others .
-Officials say a gunfight broke out between security forces and the Karen National Union rebels during the pre-dawn attack Thursday on two trucks and 12 passenger buses along the Dawei-Ye highway between Dawei and Rangoon .
-Among the dead were a university student and a teacher .
-The vehicles included two buses carrying students and lecturers from Dawei University .
-The rebels are reported to have taken about $ 3,400 in cash and jewelry from passengers before the gunmen fled .
-The KNU is the only major rebel group not to have signed a cease-fire with the military government .
-Pakistan 's President Asif Ali Zardari is meeting Britain 's Prime Minister David Cameron on Thursday for the first time since the British leader 's remarks suggesting that Islamabad is promoting " the export of terror . "
-Mr. Zardari will have dinner with Mr. Cameron at the British prime minister 's country retreat Chequers , outside London .
-The leaders hold formal talks on Friday .
-During a trip to India last week , Prime Minister Cameron suggested Pakistan was not doing enough to counter terrorist groups within its borders that threaten India , Afghanistan and other nations .
-The comments angered Pakistan .
-Earlier this week President Zardari told the French newspaper Le Monde that Pakistan is paying the " highest price of human life " in the war on terrorism .
-Mr. Cameron has stood by his remarks .
-President Zardari traveled to Britain from France on Tuesday .
-European Union officials have confirmed the first outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu in an EU country this year .
-European Commission officials say laboratory tests have confirmed the presence of the deadly strain in geese found dead in Csongrad County in southeastern Hungary .
-They say tests were conducted because of an abnormally high mortality rate among the birds .
-Hungarian officials have slaughtered all 3,000 birds in the affected flock .
-They also have set up a three-kilometer protection zone and a 10-kilometer surveillance zone around the area .
-The discovery is the first in an EU country since last August .
-EU experts are to meet Friday to review the situation .
-Meanwhile , Croatia has banned poultry imports from Hungary following the announcement .
-Bird flu has killed more than 150 people worldwide since 2003 , mostly in Asia .
-The U.S. men 's national football team has completed a 10-day training camp in Cary , North Carolina ahead of the World Cup finals next month in Germany .
-U.S. coach Bruce Arena says he is satisfied that his team is healthy and ready for the first of three tuneup games .
-At Sunday 's final practice , Arena reminded his players numerous times not to fight too hard for the ball and save their aggression for World Cup games .
-The Americans host Morocco on Tuesday in Nashville , Tennessee before facing Venezuela on Friday in Cleveland , Ohio .
-The last warmup game is next Sunday against Latvia in East Hartford , Connecticut .
-The Americans , who made an impressive quarterfinal run at the 2002 World Cup , will face the Czech Republic , Italy and Ghana next month at the global football tournament .
-Russia has criticized a recent White House report that calls for greater democratic reforms in Russia 's neighbors .
-In a statement Monday , Russia 's foreign ministry said the report showed that U.S. officials are seeking an active democracy-building role in the region .
-It warned that , in its words , " artificial " and " forceful " attempts at planting democracy in other countries may not be successful .
-It added that no one has a monopoly on interpreting the basis of democracy .
-The statement follows the release last week of President Bush 's new national security strategy , which criticized Russia for falling off the path to democracy .
-Referring to Russia , it said recent trends " regrettably point toward a diminishing commitment to democratic freedoms and institutions . "
-Mr. Bush said future relations will depend on Russia 's domestic and foreign policies .
-A top international security organization has urged the candidates in Kyrgyzstan 's July 10 presidential election to agree to a code of conduct for the sake of the country 's stability .
-The statement by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe comes more than two months after a popular uprising ousted President Askar Akayev .
-Mr. Akayev fled to Russia in March after a revolt spurred by complaints over vote-rigging in parliamentary elections earlier this year .
-Earlier Wednesday , several dozen young people forced their way into Kyrgyzstan 's Supreme Court building and evicted supporters of rival political groups who occupied the building since April .
-Witnesses say several people were injured in the fighting .
-The activists forced to flee the building backed politicians who had been disqualified by courts from running in this year 's parliamentary elections .
-A Venezuela-based television station begins limited broadcasts Sunday as a counter to what its creators say is biased media coverage by European and U.S.-run channels .
-Telesur is a joint venture funded by Venezuela , Argentina , Cuba and Uruguay .
-Organizers say they aim to develop a hemispheric television network to provide programs from a Latin American perspective .
-The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday passed an amendment authorizing radio and television broadcasts to Venezuela .
-The amendment was to a bill authorizing State Department programs .
-The amendment 's author , Florida Republican Connie Mack , said the U.S. broadcasts would offer what he called a consistently accurate , objective and comprehensive source of news to Venezuela .
-The measure still requires Senate approval .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says his government will " jam the signal " of any broadcasts from the United States .
-Ukrainian lawmakers have set Tuesday for a repeat vote on Yulia Tymoshenko 's nomination as prime minster .
-Members of the unicameral parliament Verkhovna Rada also agreed Friday to vote by raising hands to ensure transparency .
-Ms. Tymoshenko failed to win the absolute majority by one vote Tuesday .
-Ms. Tymoshenko accused her political rivals of tampering with the electronic voting system , saying the device failed to register two votes cast in her favor .
-The vote will follow President Viktor Yushchenko 's decision Wednesday to again nominate her for the post .
-Belgian tennis star Justine Henin-Hardenne has won the women 's title at the Sydney International tournament in Australia .
-She lost the first set and trailed Italian Francesca Schiavone 04-Jan in the second set before rallying to win Friday 's final , 04-Jun , 07-May , 07-May .
-Two years ago , Henin-Hardenne won this tournament and went on to take the season 's first major at the Australian Open two weeks later .
-This year 's Australian Open begins Monday .
-Earlier in the day , in a men 's semifinal , American James Blake overcame a 04-Feb first-set deficit to upset second-seeded Nikolay Davydenko of Russia , 06-Apr , 06-Feb .
-Blake will play the Sydney final on Saturday against Russia 's Igor Andreev , who beat Andreas Seppi of Italy , 06-Feb , 02-Jun , 06-Feb .
-Andreev and Blake will be vying for their fourth career ATP tournament wins .
-Ukrainian troops have joined their U.S. counterparts in NATO military exercises as tensions mount over the aspirations of former Soviet republics to enter the alliance .
-The two-week NATO " Sea Breeze " exercises along the Black Sea coast also include forces from Armenia , Azerbaijan , Georgia , and key countries of western Europe .
-Turkey , Macedonia and Latvia are also participating .
-The exercises include naval and air maneuvers as well as large-scale armored exercises .
-Separate maneuvers are being held this week in Georgia .
-Armenian , Azerbaijani , Ukrainian and U.S. troops are participating .
-Small groups of anti-NATO protesters were reported encamped along the Ukrainian coast .
-Ukraine and Georgia are actively seeking NATO membership , despite official warnings that Moscow will not tolerate an additional NATO presence on its borders .
-Last month , Ukraine 's pro-Western leadership hosted a NATO delegation , which was also confronted by several hundred anti-alliance protesters .
-New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg says a strike by the city 's transit union is " morally reprehensible . "
-The union went on strike early this Tuesday morning after negotiations broke down with the state 's transportation authority .
-The walkout will shutdown the city 's huge bus and subway network , and throw the daily commute of its seven million customers into chaos .
-Mr. Bloomberg says he will ask a judge to take legal action against the union .
-Contract talks between the two sides have deadlocked over such issues as wage increases and at what age new employees will be eligible to receive a full pension .
-Union head Roger Toussaint calls the dispute a fight over whether " hard work will be rewarded with a decent retirement . "
-An emergency plan is in effect to prevent massive traffic jams on New York 's streets .
-Former U.S. president Bill Clinton has signed an agreement with the Cambodian government to expand medical treatment for children living with H.I.V. and AIDS .
-Mr. Clinton and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen signed the deal Monday in the capital , Phnom Penh .
-The former president is in Cambodia to tour AIDS-related projects and local organizations supported by his development group , the Clinton Foundation H.I.V./AIDS Initiative .
-Mr. Clinton praised the government for making " steadfast " efforts to fight H.I.V . He said there is hope Cambodia can be a model for the rest of Asia and possibly the world .
-Cambodia has reduced adult infection rates from about three percent in 1998 , to just under two percent in 2004 .
-The country still has one of the highest AIDS prevalence rates in the region .
-Prime Minister Hun Sen says Mr. Clinton 's visit will raise awareness about H.I.V. and help prevent discrimination against people living with the virus .
-Britain 's defense ministry has launched what it calls an urgent military police investigation into alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners caught on videotape .
-A ministry statement says it condemns all acts of abuse and brutality and treats allegations of wrongdoing very seriously .
-British television broadcast the videotape Sunday after it was released by the News of the World newspaper .
-The British soldiers are seen beating detained young Iraqi protesters with batons and kicking them .
-The newspaper says the tape was shot in 2004 in southern Iraq .
-British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Sunday the incident will be fully investigated .
-He says the overwhelming majority of British troops in Iraq are doing a great job helping Iraq become a democracy .
-A medical official in the Somali capital , Mogadishu , says at least 17 people have been killed in fighting between Islamist militants and government forces .
-Ali Muse , who is head of Mogadishu 's ambulance service , says at least 45 others were wounded in the fighting Wednesday .
-Mogadishu residents say insurgents attacked African Union peacekeepers , prompting soldiers to launch an artillery barrage .
-Many of those killed died when shells landed in the city 's busy Bakara market .
-Insurgent groups al-Shabab and Hizbul Islam are trying to topple the government and establish a strict Islamic state .
-The current government controls only parts of Mogadishu and relies on AU peacekeepers in order to stay in power .
-Somalia has experienced nearly two decades of violence and lawlessness since the fall of the last functioning central government .
-The founder of Microsoft , Bill Gates , has received a rousing welcome in Vietnam by thousands of university students eager for a glimpse of the world 's richest man .
-Students climbed trees and pushed through crowds at Hanoi University Saturday , where Gates was delivering a speech on information technology .
-Earlier , Gates met Prime Minister Phan Van Khai and President Tran Duc Luong , who both took time away from the ruling Communist Party National Congress .
-During the meeting , the Vietnamese leaders and Gates signed an agreement to use Microsoft software in Vietnam 's government systems .
-Gates ' trip to Hanoi is seen as another major boost for Vietnam 's high-tech sector .
-Earlier this year , the government landed a high tech deal when leading chipmaker Intel Corporation announced it was building a plant in the country .
-The World Health Organization says a massive shortfall of a key malaria drug will last well into next year , leaving poor countries with about half of what they need to fight the disease .
-The WHO says Chinese suppliers have not shipped enough of a key ingredient used to make anti-malaria drugs to companies which manufacture the combination therapy .
-The ingredient , called artemisinin , is extracted from a plant primarily grown in China .
-The WHO says it will set up a system of priorities to deliver the drug to those who need it most .
-It says the combination therapy is the most effective way to fight the deadliest form of malaria , called falciparum .
-The mosquito-born disease has become resistant to treatment with older , more traditional medication .
-The WHO estimates that malaria kills more than one million people worldwide , with more than 90 percent of fatalities occurring in sub-Saharan Africa .
-Kandani Ngwira , who works for a newspaper that publishes scandals involving public figures , says he has been taken into custody and not told why
-A Malawi journalist who works for a newspaper that publishes scandals involving public figures has confirmed his own arrest .
-Kandani Ngwira contacted media outlets on Tuesday , saying he had been taken into custody and not told why .
-Ngwira works for the Weekly Times , a newspaper that the Malawian government tried to ban in November of last year .
-National police spokesman , Willy Mwaluka , says he had no information about Ngwira 's detention .
-The journalist says he was arrested in Blantyre and transported to the capital , Lilongwe .
-Blantyre Newspapers Limited , which owns the Weekly Times says it is providing a lawyer for Ngwira .
-Israel and some Palestinian militant groups say they are willing to observe a cease-fire , if certain conditions are met .
-The Al Aqsa Martyrs ' Brigades , the armed wing of the Fatah movement , said Saturday it would agree to a truce if Israel promises to release Palestinian prisoners and stop military operations , including raids to make arrests , and targeted killings of Palestinian militants .
-Other groups have made similar comments .
-For its part , Israel signaled it could ease military operations against Palestinian gunmen if they halt attacks against Israelis .
-The conciliatory messages follow efforts by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to persuade militants to end their campaign of anti-Israeli attacks so he can negotiate for a Palestinian state on Israeli-occupied lands .
-India 's industrial production has increased at its fastest pace in 16 months , another sign that Asia 's third largest economy is pulling out of the international financial crisis .
-The government statistics agency said Wednesday that manufacturing output surged 7.8 percent in June from a year earlier .
-The 16 nations using the euro as their currency have not done as well .
-Eurozone industrial output fell 17 percent in June , compared to last year .
-Job cuts and a shorter supply of bank loans has weakened consumer demand , depressing Europe 's industrial output .
-Data released in London Wednesday showed Britain 's unemployment rate has hit a 14-year high , with 2.43 million people out of work .
-The number of jobless increased by 7.8 percent ( 2,20,000 jobs ) in the three months to June .
-A senior Russian veterinary official says a bird and animal market in southern Moscow is the source of last week 's bird flu outbreak on nearby farms .
-Alexei Alexeyenko said Sunday the section of the market where the outbreak began has been closed .
-Tests are also being carried out on the dead birds to determine if they carried the H5N1 strain , which is deadly to humans .
-Russian authorities say they found bird flu on two farms south and north of Moscow .
-They say they do not yet know the origin of the dead birds found in the market , but the Moscow region 's chief veterinary official , Valery Sitnikov , said bio-terrorism can not be ruled out .
-The H5N1 bird flu strain has killed 167 people since 2003 .
-Most of the victims were Asians .
-North Korea has invited Washington 's chief U.S. nuclear negotiator to Pyongyang to discuss the North 's nuclear program .
-The North 's Deputy Foreign Minister , Choe Su Hon , said Pyongyang would impose no conditions on a visit by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill .
-Washington has not commented on the proposal .
-Also Thursday , North Korea said the United States should provide it with civilian nuclear reactors " as soon as possible " to build confidence in Monday 's nuclear disarmament agreement .
-Washington has rejected that demand .
-Meanwhile , Japan 's Kyodo news agency reports Pyongyang has agreed to talks with Japan in October on a range of issues , including Pyongyang 's nuclear weapons program .
-Their disputes include North Korea 's missile program and the unresolved cases of Japanese citizens kidnapped by Pyongyang in the 1970s and 80s .
-Lawyers for a former California gang leader have asked the state supreme court to block his execution Tuesday , while California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger considers granting clemency .
-Stanley " Tookie " Williams has been convicted of four murders and was the co-founder of the infamous Crips street gang .
-His case has attracted international attention because Williams is the author of a series of children 's books warning young people about the dangers of gangs .
-His lawyers argue that the books are evidence that Williams has turned his life around during his 24 years in prison .
-Williams has apologized for his gang activity , but denies committing the 1979 murders .
-In an earlier appeal , the California high court upheld Williams ' conviction .
-Mr. Schwarzenegger 's decision on clemency is expected Monday .
-In two other death penalty cases he has refused clemency appeals .
-Saturday is the last day for Iran 's presidential hopefuls to apply as candidates in the June election .
-Applicants on the final day include former state broadcasting chief Ali Larijani , a conservative who once was an advisor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei .
-Former foreign minister Ibrahim Yazdi also signed up for the ballot to elect a successor to President Mohammad Khatami .
-Hundreds of people have applied to run in the election - among them highly favored two-time president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani .
-The past chief of the national police , Bager Qalibaf , and the mayor of Tehran , Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , are also seeking the presidency .
-After the registration period ends , applicants will be screened by the Guardians Council , which will determine the make-up of the presidential ballot .
-The leader of the Shi'ite militant group Hezbollah is blaming President Bush for last week 's sectarian violence in Lebanon .
-Speaking to a large crowd in Beirut Tuesday , Hassan Nasrallah accused Mr. Bush and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice of seeking to spark a civil war in Lebanon .
-He also asserted that the Bush administration ordered Israel to attack Hezbollah positions in the country last year .
-The July-August war between Israel and Hezbollah killed about 1,200 people in Lebanon and about 160 Israelis .
-On Monday , President Bush said Hezbollah , along with Syria and Iran , are responsible for last week 's violence in Lebanon between government supporters and the Hezbollah-led opposition .
-Seven people were killed and more than 100 wounded .
-Some in Lebanon are concerned that sectarian tensions will spin out of control and might lead to a civil war like the one that raged from 1975 to 1990 .
-United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan says it is very unlikely that security operations in Iraq would be transferred from U.S.-led troops to U.N. peacekeepers .
-Speaking on the sidelines of a security conference in Munich , Mr. Annan said at this stage , the United Nations hopes to help more with Iraq 's post-war reconstruction .
-Mr. Annan told the British Broadcasting Corporation the world body could help with training ministry officials and rebuilding the war-damaged country .
-On another issue , Mr. Annan said he has no plans to resign over allegations of bribes and kickbacks in the U.N.-supervised oil-for-food program in Iraq .
-Competitive diving is one of the sports guaranteed to attract a large audience at the Summer Olympics in Beijing .
-Recreational diving is also a growing amateur sport in the U.S.
-Unfortunately , the joy of jumping off the diving board at the local swimming pool has too often been spoiled by a trip to the emergency room .
-VOA 's Melinda Smith has details of a new study showing that at least 6,000 children in the U.S. are hurt every year in diving accidents .
-Venezuelan authorities say a new outbreak of fighting among inmates at a crowded prison has left six more prisoners dead .
-Earlier this week , 16 prisoners were killed at Uribana prison when rival gangs fought for control of two cell blocks .
-National guard troops were called to maintain order at the prison , located west of the capital , Caracas .
-Riots , murders and other violence are common in Venezuela 's overcrowded prisons .
-An official with Canada 's spy agency has said that potential terrorists already reside inside the country , and that some have been schooled in al-Qaida training camps .
-Jack Hooper , the deputy director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service , spoke Monday in Ottawa to a legislative committee studying Canada 's involvement in Afghanistan .
-Hooper told the lawmakers Canada faces a threat from home-grown terrorists .
-He said that all the circumstances which produced the London transit bombing are present now in Canada .
-Hooper said that many of the home-grown terrorists are Canadian citizens .
-He also cautioned that his agency has been able to investigate only 10 percent of the immigrants who have come to Canada during the past five years from Pakistan and Afghanistan .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has met twice with the ailing former Cuban leader Fidel Castro during a short visit to Havana .
-Cuba 's state-run media says the first meeting took place after Mr. Chavez arrived Friday night .
-The Venezuelan leader met again with Mr. Castro and his brother , Cuban President Raul Castro , on Saturday before Mr. Chavez 's afternoon departure .
-The former Cuban president and Mr. Chavez were reported to have discussed their countries ' " fruitful ties " and the global economic crisis and its consequences for Latin America and the Caribbean .
-No images of Fidel Castro were released from the meetings .
-He has not been seen in public since 2006 when he underwent surgery and ceded power to his younger brother .
-The trip to Cuba was President Chavez 's first since winning a referendum this month that removes term limits on his presidency and allows him to seek re-election .
-The Organization of American States says it will send election observers to monitor Suriname 's parliamentary elections to be held May 25 .
-The OAS and Suriname officials agreed to the monitors Friday in Washington .
-The ruling coalition in Suriname faces opposition from the National Democratic Party , which says its leader , former dictator Desi Bouterse , would become president if the party wins the elections .
-The United States has warned that relations with Suriname would suffer if Bouterse takes power .
-He was convicted in the Netherlands six years ago for illegal drug trafficking , and sentenced to 11 years in prison .
-However , he was never sent to the Netherlands as the two countries do not have an extradition agreement .
-Bouterse , who is an elected member of parliament , led a successful military coup in Suriname in 1980 , and ruled the South American country for nearly a decade .
-The Vatican says Pope John Paul has canceled his scheduled audiences for the next few days because he has the flu .
-The Roman Catholic pontiff also canceled his audiences on Monday .
-It is the first time in more than one year the pope has had to miss an audience due to illness .
-John Paul began to fall ill on Sunday , and doctors advised him to cut back on his activities .
-The Vatican Tuesday issued a brief statement announcing the cancellations on the pope 's schedule , but did not release any specific information about his condition .
-The increasingly frail , 84-year-old pope suffers from Parkinson 's disease and arthritis , but continues to maintain a full travel schedule , hold audiences and perform his papal duties .
-President Bush has called on Congress to make his tax cuts permanent , saying they will keep the economy on track to cut the deficit in half by 2009 .
-In a radio address to the nation Saturday , Mr. Bush said some Democrats in Congress want to repeal the tax cuts or let them expire over the next few years .
-Mr. Bush said the cuts instituted in 2001 have put $ 880 billion back into the hands of American citizens .
-He said giving citizens more spending power helps the economy grow .
-Mr. Bush said eliminating the tax cuts will present American families with a big tax increase that they do not expect and will not want .
-Israel completed its handover of the West Bank town of Tulkarem to the Palestinians Tuesday .
-Tulkarem is the second town transferred to the Palestinians , after Jericho last week .
-The transfer of five West Bank towns is one of the steps Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed to at a summit in Egypt last month .
-Israel has yet to hand over three other towns - Qalqiliya , Bethlehem and Ramallah .
-Meanwhile , Israel confirmed plans to build 3,500 new homes in Maale Adumin , the largest Jewish settlement in the West Bank .
-Palestinians condemned the move as a violation of the internationally-backed " Road Map " peace plan and said it threatens the newly-energized Middle East peace process .
-The peace plan calls on Israel to freeze its settlement activity in the West Bank .
-It also requires the Palestinians to dismantle militant groups .
-A group of armed men stormed into a bar in western Mexico and threw five human heads on the floor in an incident apparently linked to illegal drug trafficking .
-Witnesses say the 20 men fired shots in the air as they entered the bar in Michoacan state before dawn Wednesday .
-The group also left a note saying the killings were part of what it called " divine justice . "
-Officials say relatives of three of the victims had identified their bodies and claimed they were not connected to illegal drug gangs .
-Mexican police have found several victims from similar attacks earlier this year .
-Mexico 's President-elect Felipe Calderon has vowed to crack down on violent crime when he takes office in December .
-Pakistani authorities say at least 18 women and children were killed in a stampede in the southern city of Karachi , where they were waiting to get free flour .
-Medical officials say at least 25 others were injured in the crush in the city 's crowded Khori Garden neighborhood .
-A private charity group was giving out the flour in honor of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan .
-Dozens of impoverished women and children had gathered in the narrow lanes and alleys outside the distribution point .
-Witnesses say some people on line started pushing , and panic ensued when a security guard used force to restore order .
-Officials say most of the victims died of suffocation .
-Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani ordered medical treatment for the injured and an investigation into the incident .
-Police have detained the event 's organizer , saying they were not notified of the planned distribution .
-A group of Israeli actors , writers and directors is vowing not to perform in Jewish settlements in the West Bank .
-More than 50 members of Israel 's theater community have signed a petition to boycott performances at a state-funded theater in the northern West Bank settlement of Ariel .
-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his Cabinet Sunday that the Israeli government does not need to provide funding to the performers taking part in the boycott .
-Mr. Netanyahu said the performers ' actions play into the hands of international efforts to delegitimize Israel with economic and cultural boycotts .
-The protest comes as Israeli and Palestinian leaders prepare to meet in Washington this week to resume stalled Middle East peace talks .
-Both Israelis and Palestinians say they hold little hope that U.S.-mediated direct talks will yield any results or make progress toward ending the decades-old conflict in the Middle East .
-Somalia 's transitional government-in-exile met Tuesday to try to bridge deep divisions over plans to relocate to the war-shattered nation .
-A group of Somali ministers walked out of a meeting Monday , before a majority voted to return to Somalia but not to the capital , Mogadishu , which the prime minister says is too dangerous .
-The ministers voted instead to relocate to the central towns of Baidoa and Jowhar until security improves in the capital .
-The Somali government currently operates out of Nairobi , Kenya .
-Lawmakers are also bitterly divided over plans to deploy a peacekeeping force to provide security once the government returns to Somalia .
-The regional bloc - IGAD - has decided to initially exclude troops from nations bordering Somalia .
-Opponents of the force say border nations have backed violent factions during years of civil war .
-A Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman says three French nationals have been killed in northwestern Saudi Arabia .
-The spokesman says gunmen shot at a group of nine French nationals as they rested at a roadside , killing three and injuring at least one other .
-The spokesman says the group was traveling to the holy city of Mecca , where some of them were to perform the minor pilgrimage known as Omra .
-Only Muslims are allowed in Mecca .
-The spokesman said the French nationals were residents of the Saudi kingdom .
-It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the killings .
-Saudi Arabia has been battling al-Qaida militants in the kingdom , and the terrorist group has targeted Westerners in the past .
-Several hundred inmates who escaped from a prison in Haiti are believed to still be at large Sunday , after an attack on the national penitentiary left one guard dead .
-Haitian officials say as many as 500 of the prison 's 1,200 detainees may have escaped .
-It is unclear how many have been recaptured .
-The prisoners fled after gunmen fired on the facility Saturday .
-The French news agency , AFP , quotes a government source as saying the raid was aimed at freeing drug traffickers .
-Two high-ranking officials from the government of ousted Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide were among the prisoners who were quickly recaptured .
-Haitian authorities say former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune and former Interior Minister Jocelerme Privert are back in custody .
-Both men have yet to be indicted .
-They are accused of violence against Aristide opponents .
-U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan says the situation between Ethiopia and Eritrea has reached a " dangerous stalemate " and suggested possible changes to the U.N. mission in the region .
-Mr. Annan presented the U.N. Security Council with six options for the U.N. mission , ranging from maintaining the status quo to a full withdrawal .
-Other options include moving the U.N. mission headquarters from Eritrea to Ethiopia and downgrading the operation to either an observer or liaison effort .
-Mr. Annan did not recommend any particular option and said none offered an ideal way out of the stalemate .
-Both Eritrea and Ethiopia have increased troops along their shared border .
-Eritrea has also imposed restrictions on U.N. peacekeepers in its territory .
-The Security Council has threatened sanctions against both countries if the situation is not reversed .
-In this photograph released by the Iraqi Special Tribunal on June 13 , 2005 , former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is seen being questioned by investigating magistrates Iraq 's special tribunal has filed its first charges against former president Saddam Hussein for crimes committed during his 24-year rule .
-The chief investigating judge says the ousted dictator has been charged in connection with the 1982 deaths of dozens of villagers in Dujail .
-Authorities allege the villagers were killed in retaliation for an attempted assassination of Saddam .
-The judge told reporters a trial date could be announced within days .
-He also said other investigations are continuing or nearing their final stages .
-The Dujail case is widely seen as relatively uncomplicated compared to cases of alleged genocide and crimes against humanity still under investigation .
-Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri has denied a newspaper report that says he will ask a U.N. tribunal to stop its investigation into the 2005 assassination of his father , former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri .
-Mr. Hariri 's office said Wednesday the report by Ad-Diyar newspaper was not accurate .
-Media reports say the tribunal may soon indict members of the Shi'ite militant group Hezbollah in the killing of Rafiq Hariri and 22 other people in a 2005 blast in downtown Beirut .
-Hezbollah denies involvement and promises a backlash if its members are indicted .
-Hezbollah , part of the nation 's fragile political coalition , is deemed a terrorist group by Western nations .
-New data from China 's National Bureau of Statistics show inflation in the country at an 11-year high of 8.7 percent .
-That is nearly double what Chinese leaders set as a goal for 2008 -- a rate of 4.8 percent .
-Sam Beattie reports for VOA from Beijing .
-Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has paid a rare visit to mainly Kurdish southeastern Turkey , where he repeated government promises to solve problems in the restive region .
-Speaking Sunday in Diyarbakir , Mr. Erdogan told a political conference his government wants to eradicate imbalances between the impoverished region and the rest of Turkey .
-Mr. Erdogan 's visit coincides with an upsurge in violence blamed on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party said to be operating from bases in northern Iraq .
-Dozens of soldiers and suspected Kurdish rebels have been killed in recent months .
-The prime minister also condemned last week 's bombing of a minibus carrying soldiers ' children home from school in the city of Hakkari .
-Authorities say 11 children were among the 17 people wounded .
-Kurds in Turkey began a campaign for an independent homeland in the southeast in 1984 .
-More than 30,000 people have been killed since then .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has begun a visit to Brazil for talks with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on energy cooperation and regional issues .
-President Chavez arrived in the northern city of Recife Wednesday to meet with the Brazilian leader and tour the construction site of a refinery that , once completed , is expected to process 2,00,000 barrels of oil daily .
-Officials have said the project will involve Brazil 's state-run Petrobras oil company and Venezuela 's state-run Petroleos de Venezuela , PDVSA .
-Separately , the presidents were expected to discuss Venezuela 's pending membership in the South American trade bloc , Mercosur , which groups Argentina , Brazil , Paraguay and Uruguay .
-Mercosur accounts for $ 1 trillion in annual economic activity and includes 250 million people .
-The United Nations nuclear agency says Iran has started enriching uranium at an underground facility .
-The International Atomic Energy Agency also says Iran has set up more than 1,000 centrifuges for enrichment at the plant at Natanz .
-The IAEA made the claim in a confidential document .
-The enrichment process can be used to create fuel for nuclear reactors or in the creation of nuclear weapons .
-Last week , Iran said it had reached an industrial scale in uranium enrichment .
-But nuclear experts said Iran 's program was not yet at that level .
-The United States and its allies have accused Iran of trying to develop atomic weapons .
-Iran says its nuclear program is for the peaceful production of energy .
-The popular Web site Twitter is now functioning after a cyber attack took the service offline for several hours .
-Twitter said in a status blog earlier Thursday it was " defending against a denial-of-service attack . "
-Users of the social networking Web site Facebook also encountered problems on Thursday .
-Unlike Twitter , Facebook never became completely inaccessible , but users did experience long delays while accessing their online profiles .
-It is not clear if the attacks on the Web sites are related , but Twitter and Facebook officials say they are working with online search engine Google to investigate .
-Even though both sites are now functioning , Twitter says users will continue to experience longer load times and slow response .
-The Twitter outage follows a wave of similar cyber attacks last month that disrupted access to several high-profile U.S. Web sites , including the White House site .
-A U.S. judge has agreed to review the government 's decision to repatriate 15 Cuban migrants after they reached an abandoned bridge in the Florida Keys .
-U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno Thursday questioned the government 's reasoning for sending back the migrants earlier this week .
-Moreno called the bridge " as American as apple pie " - an expression common in the U.S. to indicate something is certainly American - even though it does not connect to dry land .
-A Cuban advocacy group had filed a legal complaint on behalf of the repatriated Cubans .
-The U.S. employs a " wet foot , dry foot " policy for illegal Cuban immigrants .
-The policy allows Cuban refugees who reach U.S. soil to stay in the United States , while those intercepted at sea are sent back home .
-Insurgents in Iraq launched a series of new attacks on Saturday , killing at least seven people , including two British contractors .
-British officials say the two contractors were traveling in a British consular convoy that was hit by a roadside bomb .
-The attack in the relatively quiet town of Basra also injured two Iraqi children .
-In Baghdad , Iraqi police said a suicide car bomber attacked a police checkpoint , killing at least five people and injuring 25 others .
-Meanwhile , a Sunni Arab leader , Sheikh Khalaf al-Ilayan , said he was not hurt in an assassination attempt by gunmen wearing Iraqi military uniforms .
-And officials said kidnappers seized an Iraqi health ministry official from her Baghdad home .
-Police also reported finding the bodies of three Baghdad airport employees kidnapped earlier this week .
-India won its first home test series against Pakistan in 27 years when the third and final test in Bangalore ended in a draw .
-Indian spin bowler Anil Kumble took five wickets in Pakistan 's second innings as the visitors reached 162-7 before bad light ended play .
-The score was in response to India 's second innings score of 284-6 declared .
-The final score : India 626 and 284-6 declared .
-Pakistan 537 and 162-7 .
-India had not won a home test series with Pakistan since 1980 .
-The host nation won the first test by six wickets and the second test was a draw .
-India won the five-match one-day series , 03-Feb .
-An Ethiopian court has convicted former President Mengistu Haile Mariam of genocide .
-The 12-year trial of Colonel Mengistu ended Tuesday in Addis Ababa , when a three-judge panel found him guilty of genocide and other charges .
-The former dictator was convicted in absentia .
-He fled to Zimbabwe in 1991 after he was ousted by a guerrilla campaign led by current Prime Minister Meles Zenawi .
-Only 34 of the more than 70 people accused of atrocities were present in court Tuesday .
-A total of 25 were tried in absentia , while 14 others have died since the trial began in 1994 .
-Those convicted of crimes against humanity and genocide could be sentenced to death .
-Mengistu 's rule from 1974 to 1991 is considered among the most brutal in Africa .
-An estimated 50,000 people , including students , political figures and members of the middle class , were killed for opposing his regime .
-A Libyan official is denying reports that up to 20 Somali prisoners have been killed during an attempted jailbreak in the city of Banghazi .
-Libya 's ambassador to Somalia told reporters in Mogadishu Tuesday that there was no prison escape that he is aware of , and that no Somali prisoners have been killed .
-On Monday , VOA 's Somali service interviewed a prisoner , Abdullahi Abdi Siad , who said five inmates were killed when guards opened fire during the escape attempt .
-The prisoner added that guards put the death toll at 20 .
-That is the number reported Tuesday by two Somali news outlets .
-Britain has pressured Libya to improve conditions in its prisons , which were once notorious for overcrowding , poor sanitation , and poor health care .
-The British Foreign Office says on its Web site that conditions have improved in recent years , though overcrowding remains a problem .
-Four U.S. soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan by a roadside bomb in eastern Kunar province .
-A U.S. military statement said the soldier 's vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device while on patrol Sunday .
-Also Sunday , Sibghatullah Mujaddedi , who chairs the upper house of Afghanistan 's parliament , escaped with minor injuries from a suicide bombing in Kabul .
-The bombing killed two bystanders and two suicide bombers .
-Mujaddedi said he believed Pakistan 's intelligence agency organized the bombing .
-Pakistan denied the charge .
-Meanwhile , the Taleban claimed responsibility Sunday for kidnapping four Albanians and four Afghan men working for U.S. forces in southern Afghanistan .
-Taleban spokesman , Qari Mohammed Yousaf said his group kidnapped the men Saturday .
-He also said the Taleban 's fugitive leader Mullah Mohammad Omar would decide what would happen to the men .
-All eight worked for a cleaning company employed by coalition forces .
-Authorities in Indian Kashmir say suspected Islamic militants have detonated a grenade , wounding at least six people , including two policemen .
-The authorities say the blast occurred Saturday near a security post in a crowded business district in the heart of Srinagar .
-They say the attackers apparently missed their intended target , a patrol of paramilitary soldiers .
-The wounded were taken to nearby hospitals .
-Police cordoned off the area and were searching for the attackers .
-No one has claimed responsibility for the attack .
-Muslim separatists in Indian Kashmir have been fighting for an independent Kashmir or its merger with neighboring Pakistan since 1989 .
-Their fight against Indian rule has killed tens of thousands of people .
-Russia 's energy minister says United Nations sanctions will not get in the way of the country 's plans to develop Iran 's oil and gas sectors .
-Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko met with his Iranian counterpart , Masud Mir-Kazemi , in Moscow Wednesday to sign a " road map " document outlining energy cooperation .
-Shmatko said Russian companies are prepared to deliver oil products to Iran , despite sanctions .
-Russian state energy company Gazprom has agreed to help Iran further develop its oil and natural gas fields , but most projects are currently on hold because of sanctions .
-Western governments have urged their companies to cut ties with Iran because of its controversial nuclear program .
-Western nations accuse Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons under cover of a civilian energy program , a charge Tehran denies .
-The United States says there are more than 13,000 American military personnel giving relief support to nations affected by the Asian tsunami .
-Admiral Thomas Fargo , who is commander of the U.S. Pacific Command , said Tuesday more personnel and ships are pouring into the region .
-He said the military initially dispatched ships that could treat drinking water and that carried medical and engineering supplies .
-Admiral Fargo added that the military is looking at sending the hospital ship , Mercy , to the region .
-He said authorities are considering configuring the ship for humanitarian assistance and staffing it largely with members of non-governmental organizations .
-So far , the U.S. military has delivered more than 200 tons of relief supplies .
-Those supplies and equipment are being delivered by helicopters , cargo planes and ships .
-The Israeli army says Palestinian militants detonated a car bomb near a shrine in the West Bank city of Nablus overnight , but caused no injuries or damage .
-A spokesman said the bomb went off next to Joseph 's Tomb shortly after midnight , when Israeli troops were guarding a small group religious Jews praying inside .
-Meanwhile , Israel 's Vice Prime Minister and Labor Party leader Shimon Peres held talks with Palestinian Cabinet Minister Mohmmed Dahlan in Tel Aviv late Wednesday .
-It was the first high level contact between the two sides since last week 's suicide bombing in Tel Aviv that killed five Israelis .
-Mr. Peres told Israeli radio one of the topics he discussed was a possible hand over to the Palestinians of businesses held by Jewish settlers in the Gaza Strip , when Israel pulls out of the territory later this year .
-The U.S. official overseeing relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina says rescuers are finding many fewer bodies than expected .
-In an interview with the television program Fox News Sunday , Coast Guard Vice Admiral Thad Allen said it was hard to estimate a final death toll from the disaster .
-But the admiral joined a growing chorus of officials suggesting fears that Katrina killed up to 10,000 people may be unfounded .
-Authorities continue a block-by-block search for bodies in the city of New Orleans as floodwaters there continue to recede .
-The official death from Katrina toll now stands at nearly 400 , with 154 in New Orleans .
-President Bush returns to the southern U.S. coast later Sunday to get a first-hand look at the cleanup and recovery effort .
-Investigators in China have ruled out terrorism in the crash of a passenger plane Sunday that claimed the lives of 54 people .
-State media said Monday that investigators sent from Beijing had n't determined the cause of the crash but found no evidence of sabotage .
-The China Eastern Airlines Shanghai-bound jet plunged into a lake just seconds after taking off from Baotou city in Inner Mongolia .
-Witnesses said they heard a blast while the plane was still in the air .
-All 53 people on board and one on the ground were killed .
-Divers have yet to find the two in-flight recorders that could help determine the cause of the accident .
-The plane was a Canadian-made CRJ-200 .
-China has grounded all its other CRJ-200s .
-Pakistani helicopter gunships and fighter jets pounded militant hide-outs in the country 's northwest Saturday , killing at least 12 militants .
-Security officials say the airstrikes targeted three suspected militant positions in Orakzai region , where a military transport helicopter crashed the day before , killing at least 26 military personnel .
-Pakistani officials say the helicopter crashed Friday outside the city of Peshawar due to a technical failure .
-But the Taliban claims it shot down the aircraft .
-Elsewhere in the northwest , clashes between a pro-government tribal militia and militants killed at least 12 people late Friday in the remote Mohmand region , along the Afghan border .
-Pakistan 's military has been fighting Taliban militants throughout the country 's northwest for more than two months .
-Security officials also are on high alert following the launch this week of a major U.S. offensive against Taliban militants in neighboring Afghanistan .
-A leading Syrian human rights activist , who faces trial for allegedly defaming Syria 's image , has been awarded a prestigious international human rights award .
-Syrian lawyer-activist Aktham Naisse was chosen unanimously by the 11 international human rights groups that make up the Geneva-based Martin Ennals Foundation .
-In announcing the 2005 award , the jury panel said the 53-year-old Mr. Naise has for 30 years " embodied the soul of the democratic movement in Syria . "
-Mr. Naisse was arrested last April in Damascus , one month after his group - the Committees for the Defense of Democratic Liberties and Human Rights in Syria - organized a rare protest outside Syria 's parliament .
-The protest highlighted demands for political reform and the repeal of Syria 's emergency laws .
-The group says he faces trial next week , January 16 , on charges of " disseminating FALSE information aimed at weakening the state . "
-The U.S. military says at least two Marines are dead and three Marines and a sailor are missing after a suicide car bomb blast struck their convoy in Fallujah late Thursday .
-The military says that 13 other service members were wounded in the attack , which took place as the convoy was traveling through the city .
-Officials released no further details about the incident .
-In Baghdad , a British security firm guarding Iraq 's main airport has temporarily stopped work because of a contract dispute with the Iraqi government .
-Following the move , all commercial flights at the airport were halted .
-And in Mosul , local officials say one Iraqi woman was killed by an errant mortar round fired at a nearby police academy .
-A congressional investigation says tens of millions of dollars of U.S. taxpayer funds are indirectly being paid to Afghan warlords , public officials and even the Taliban to ensure safe passage of U.S. supply convoys in Afghanistan .
-A lengthy report released late Monday says eight Afghan-based private contractors working with the Defense Department through a $ 2.1 billion transportation contract are paying several thousand dollars per truck for guards .
-The contract covers at least 70 percent of all goods and services used by U.S. forces .
-Congressional investigators say trucking contractors raised the issue with military officials , but their concerns were never properly addressed .
-The report was completed by the House of Representative 's national security subcommittee , which will hold hearings on the report Tuesday .
-The U.S. military says it has begun investigating reports of corruption in Afghanistan , and has created a task force to determine the impact of its contracting processes on corruption .
-Reports from Iran say police have exchanged gunfire with militants following an explosion near a school in the southeastern part of the country .
-Iranian news agencies said late Friday that police in the city of Zahedan cordoned off the neighborhood where the incident took place .
-Electrical power to the area was cut off .
-It is not clear if there were casualties .
-On Wednesday , a car bomb blast in the same city killed 11 Iranian Revolutionary Guards .
-A Sunni Muslim group , Jundollah , claimed responsibility for that attack .
-Officials say the group is linked to al-Qaida .
-Zahedan is the capital of Sistan-Baluchistan province , which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan .
-Iran has accused the United States of backing militants in the sensitive border area to destabilize the country .
-Family members carry coffin of police officer Mohamed Badr for burial in Baghdad Insurgents in Iraq launched a third straight day of stepped-up attacks Sunday , killing at least nine Iraqis .
-Authorities say five Iraqi policemen manning a security checkpoint were shot to death in a surprise attack shortly after dawn .
-Later , a car-bomb attack on a U.S. military convoy in southeast Baghdad killed at least four Iraqi civilians and injured 12 others .
-Violence in Iraq has increased dramatically since Thursday , when the nation 's first democratically elected government was formed following the fall of Saddam Hussein .
-Suicide attacks , car bombings and other guerrilla strikes in Baghdad and nearby areas have killed at least 75 people since Friday .
-The U.S. military says coalition forces have killed 25 militants and arrested 10 more during a series of raids across Afghanistan .
-A military statement says 15 militants were killed Wednesday during a raid on suspected militants in the southern city of Kandahar .
-The U.S. says two other operations took place in southeastern Afghanistan , where ten militants were killed in separate raids .
-Elsewhere , government officials say unknown gunmen killed five police officers in southern Helmand province .
-Authorities suspect fellow police officers linked to the Taliban may have taken part in the deadly attack .
-Five other police officers also went missing .
-At least six people have been killed and more than a dozen others wounded in a bomb explosion in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta .
-The bomb exploded Friday near a military truck parked in the center of the city , the capital of Baluchistan province .
-Officials say the bomb was strapped to a bicycle .
-Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed condemned the blast , calling it a heinous act that would not go unpunished .
-A recent increase in violence in Baluchistan has been blamed on local tribesmen , who want a bigger share of the revenue from the region 's mineral and oil resources .
-Pakistan 's military says at least 30 militants and six soldiers have been killed during fighting Sunday in the North Waziristan tribal region .
-An army spokesman ( Major General Waheed Arshad ) says that security forces attacked the pro-Taleban militants after they ambushed a military convoy Saturday evening near the town of Mir Ali .
-He says fighting was also taking place in other parts of the area .
-Violence has been escalating in Pakistan 's northern tribal regions bordering Afghanistan since July , when a peace pact with militants broke down in North Waziristan , and army commandos stormed a radical mosque in the capital , Islamabad .
-The United States and North Korea have held a third one-on-one meeting as they seek to narrow still wide differences on how to dismantle Pyongyang 's nuclear program .
-U.S. officials say U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill and North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan met for two hours Thursday in Beijing , on the sidelines of the six-nation negotiations being hosted by China .
-There was no immediate word on how the talks went or what was discussed .
-Wednesday the United States and North Korea each said the other must make the first move to denuclearize the Korean peninsula .
-The six-nation talks include the two Koreas , the United States , China , Japan and Russia .
-The native Amerindian population of Cuba began to decline after the European discovery of the island by Christopher COLUMBUS in 1492 and following its development as a Spanish colony during the next several centuries .
-Large numbers of African slaves were imported to work the coffee and sugar plantations , and Havana became the launching point for the annual treasure fleets bound for Spain from Mexico and Peru .
-Spanish rule eventually provoked an independence movement and occasional rebellions that were harshly suppressed .
-US intervention during the Spanish-American War in 1898 assisted the Cubans in overthrowing Spanish rule .
-The Treaty of Paris established Cuban independence from the US in 1902 after which the island experienced a string of governments mostly dominated by the military and corrupt politicians .
-Fidel CASTRO led a rebel army to victory in 1959 ; his iron rule held the subsequent regime together for nearly five decades .
-He stepped down as president in February 2008 in favor of his younger brother Raul CASTRO . Cuba 's Communist revolution , with Soviet support , was exported throughout Latin America and Africa during the 1960s , 1970s , and 1980s .
-The country faced a severe economic downturn in 1990 following the withdrawal of former Soviet subsidies worth $ 4 billion to $ 6 billion annually .
-Cuba at times portrays the US embargo , in place since 1961 , as the source if its difficulties .
-Illicit migration to the US - using homemade rafts , alien smugglers , air flights , or via the southwest border - is a continuing problem .
-The US Coast Guard intercepted 982 individuals attempting to cross the Straits of Florida in fiscal year 2009 .
-Cote d'Ivoire is heavily dependent on agriculture and related activities , which engage roughly 68 % of the population .
-Cote d'Ivoire is the world 's largest producer and exporter of cocoa beans and a significant producer and exporter of coffee and palm oil .
-Consequently , the economy is highly sensitive to fluctuations in international prices for these products , and , to a lesser extent , in climatic conditions .
-Cocoa , oil , and coffee are the country 's top export revenue earners , but the country is also producing gold .
-Since the end of the civil war in 2003 , political turmoil has continued to damage the economy , resulting in the loss of foreign investment and slow economic growth .
-GDP grew by more than 2 % in 2008 and around 4 % per year in 2009 - 10 .
-Per capita income has declined by 15 % since 1999 , but registered a slight improvement in 2009 - 10 .
-Power cuts caused by a turbine failure in early 2010 slowed economic activity .
-Cote d'Ivoire in 2010 signed agreements to restructure its Paris Club bilateral , other bilateral , and London Club debt .
-Cote d'Ivoire 's long term challenges include political instability and degrading infrastructure .
-An independent kingdom for much of its long history , Korea was occupied by Japan beginning in 1905 following the Russo-Japanese War .
-Five years later , Japan formally annexed the entire peninsula .
-Following World War II , Korea was split with the northern half coming under Soviet-sponsored Communist control .
-After failing in the Korean War ( 1950 - 53 ) to conquer the US-backed Republic of Korea ( ROK ) in the southern portion by force , North Korea ( DPRK ) , under its founder President KIM Il Sung , adopted a policy of ostensible diplomatic and economic " self-reliance " as a check against outside influence .
-The DPRK demonized the US as the ultimate threat to its social system through state-funded propaganda , and molded political , economic , and military policies around the core ideological objective of eventual unification of Korea under Pyongyang 's control .
-KIM Il Sung 's son , the current ruler KIM Jong Il , was officially designated as his father 's successor in 1980 , assuming a growing political and managerial role until the elder KIM 's death in 1994 .
-In 2010 , KIM Jong Il began the process of preparing the way for his youngest son , KIM Jong Un , to succeed him in power .
-After decades of economic mismanagement and resource misallocation , the DPRK since the mid-1990s has relied heavily on international aid to feed its population .
-North Korea 's history of regional military provocations , proliferation of military-related items , long-range missile development , WMD programs including tests of nuclear devices in 2006 and 2009 , and massive conventional armed forces are of major concern to the international community .
-The regime has marked 2012 , the centenary of KIM Il Sung 's birth , a banner year ; to that end , the country has been focused on development of the economy .
-The Czech Republic is a stable and prosperous market economy , which harmonized its laws and regulations with those of the EU prior to its EU accession in 2004 .
-While the conservative , inward looking Czech financial system has remained relative healthy , the small , open , export-driven Czech economy remains very sensitive to changes in the economic performance of its main export markets , especially Germany .
-When Western Europe and Germany fell into recession in late 2008 , demand for Czech goods plunged , leading to double digit drops in industrial production and exports .
-As a result , real GDP fell 4.1 % in 2009 , with most of the decline occurring during the first quarter .
-Real GDP , however , has slowly recovered with positive quarter-on-quarter growth starting in the second half of 2009 and continuing throughout 2010 .
-The auto industry remains the largest single industry and , together with its suppliers , accounts for as much as 20 % of Czech manufacturing .
-The Czech Republic produced more than a million cars for the first time in 2010 , over 80 % of which were exported .
-Foreign and domestic businesses alike voice concerns about corruption , especially in public procurement .
-Other long term challenges include dealing with a rapidly aging population , funding an unsustainable pension and health care system , and diversifying away from manufacturing and toward a more high-tech , services-based , knowledge economy .
-A BULL was striving with all his might to squeeze himself through a narrow passage which led to his stall .
-A young Calf came up , and offered to go before and show him the way by which he could manage to pass .
-" Save yourself the trouble , " said the Bull ;
-" I knew that way long before you were born . "
-A WOLF , passing by , saw some Shepherds in a hut eating a haunch of mutton for their dinner .
-Approaching them , he said , " What a clamor you would raise if I were to do as you are doing ! "
-Two neighbors had been fighting each other for nigh on four decades .
-Bob buys a Great Dane and teaches it to use the bathroom in Bill 's yard .
-For one whole year Bill ignores the dog .
-So Bob then buys a cow and teaches it to use the bathroom in Bill 's yard .
-After about a year and a half of Bob 's cow crapping in Bill 's yard ; being ignored all the while , a semi pulls up in front of Bill 's house .
-Bob runs over and demands to know what 's in the 18-wheeler .
-' My new pet elephant , ' Bill replies solemly .
-Inscribed in stone over the great front doors of an old church being restored was : " This is the Gate of Heaven . "
-Just below it someone had placed a small cardboard sign which read : " Use Other Entrance . "
-Officials Wednesday said Savo Todovic requested more time to fully comprehend the 18 charges against him .
-He was extradited to the tribunal after surrendering to police in the Bosnian Serb Republic on Saturday .
-Prosecutors indicted Mr. Todovic for his role as deputy commander of a notorious Serb prison , The Dom , in the city of Foca in eastern Bosnia-Herzegovina .
-They say he selected detainees for killings , beatings , interrogations and forced labor .
-Mr. Todovic is the first suspect the Bosnian Serb government has handed over to The Hague war crimes tribunal .
-International officials have been pressing the Bosnian Serbs to cooperate with the court in the arrest and extradition of war crimes suspects as required by the Dayton Peace Accord that halted the Bosnian conflict .
-An international meeting set to begin in Ethiopia on Thursday will focus on how to reverse African poverty and gain greater support from developed nations , including more debt relief .
-The British-sponsored Commission for Africa is intended , in part , to map out an African policy agenda for Britain to press when it heads the G8 and European Union in 2005 .
-The commission aims to propose action from the West on boosting aid , making trade rules more fair for African exporters , and obtaining more debt relief .
-Industrialized nations at meetings of the G7 nations on Friday and the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Saturday and Sunday failed to agree on a strategy for reducing the heavy burden of debt faced by some of the world 's poorest nations .
-Spain 's King Juan Carlos has defended the country 's parliamentary monarchy as a guarantor of national stability .
-The monarch told university students in the northern city of Oviedo that the monarchy had contributed to the longest period of stability and prosperity in democratic Spain .
-His speech came more than two weeks after separatists in Catalonia burned posters of the king and his wife , Queen Sofia , in the town of Girona , northeast of Barcelona .
-The separatists also shouted pro-independence slogans , such as " Catalonians have no king . "
-Both the Socialist government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and the opposition Popular Party have defended and backed the monarch .
-Outside Catalonia and the Separatist Basque region to the west , Juan Carlos remains extremely popular .
-Many Spaniards respect him for helping to thwart a rightist military coup in 1981 and strengthening democracy in the country .
-More than 2,00,000 people have been left without electricity in Spain 's Canary Islands after a powerful tropical storm ripped through the area , killing at least seven people .
-Local officials say tropical storm Delta struck the region Monday , hitting the islands of Tenerife and La Palma the hardest .
-The storm forced ports and airports to close .
-The victims were a man who fell from his roof as he attempted to repair it and six migrants who drowned when their boat sank while it was trying to reach the islands from Africa .
-Weather officials say the storm is expected to weaken as it heads toward northwestern Africa .
-China 's state-run media say a 19-year-old Chinese soldier has been hospitalized with bird flu .
-It is not immediately clear if the soldier has been infected with the often deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu .
-Fifteen people have died in China since the outbreak in 2003 .
-Worldwide , the virus has killed 186 people , mostly in Southeast Asia .
-The virus is mainly passed on to humans through contact with infected poultry .
-But experts fear the virus could spark a pandemic if it mutates into a form easily transmissible upon human to human contact .
-President Barack Obama calls on Congress to provide new incentives to encourage Americans to make homes more energy-efficient .
-U.S. President Barack Obama is calling on Congress to provide new incentives that would encourage Americans to make their homes more energy-efficient .
-Speaking Tuesday at a large hardware store near Washington , Mr. Obama said the incentives would help consumers cut their energy costs enough to pay for the changes they make .
-He also said it would help the economy by boosting consumer spending , and would put a lot of people to work in the construction industry , which has high unemployment .
-The plan is part of a program the president previously announced to spur job creation .
-It also calls for tax cuts for business and more spending on roads , broadband networks and other infrastructure .
-Gulbuddin Hekmatyar In Afghanistan , 17 members of the Hezb-e-Islami militant group have laid down their arms and surrendered to authorities in the southeast of the country .
-The Hezb-e-Islami is led by former Afghan prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar , who is on the United States ' most wanted list of terror suspects .
-The governor of Khost province , Merajudeen Patan told reporters the 17 men are from different districts of Paktia and Khost provinces , and that they have returned from Pakistan to join the political process and help rebuild war-torn Afghanistan .
-Afghan President Hamid Karzai offered an amnesty to rank-and-file Taleban fighters last year .
-He said all but a hard core of 150 militants wanted for human rights violations would be able to rejoin the political process .
-U.S. border officials have found a tunnel under the U.S.-Mexican border in southern California and say they suspect it was used to smuggle drugs or people .
-A spokeswoman for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency says the tunnel is near the border town of San Ysidro , south of San Diego .
-She says the tunnel is about 11 meters long and one meter square in diameter .
-She says trash and other evidence was found in the tunnel indicating it had been used recently .
-Each year , thousands of people illegally enter the United States from Mexico .
-U.S. lawmakers recently ordered construction of security fencing along the border to curb illegal crossing .
-Millions of Americans are gathering with family and friends Thursday , to reflect on their blessings for the Thanksgiving holiday .
-In towns and cities across the United States , Thanksgiving is marked by parades , charity events and traditional turkey dinners .
-The American Automobile Association estimates that some 37-million Americans will travel 80 kilometers or more from home this holiday , a slight increase over last year .
-After several weeks of almost non-stop travel , President Bush is spending the holiday at his ranch in Crawford , Texas to spend a few quiet days with his family .
-Mr. Bush said Wednesday he is thinking of American military personnel serving abroad , as well as their families .
-He said Americans are thankful for their sacrifices .
-Thanksgiving is observed each year on the fourth Thursday in November .
-It dates back to 1621 , when European settlers and native American Indians ate together to celebrate a bountiful harvest .
-Bolivia 's elections court has confirmed that President Evo Morales ' party won more than half the seats in the nation 's constituent assembly election last week .
-The official count released Tuesday shows that Mr. Morales ' Movement Toward Socialism ( MAS ) party won 137 of the assembly 's 255 seats .
-That result leaves MAS short of the two-thirds needed to control the assembly , which will rewrite the constitution .
-Coming in second was the main opposition PODEMOS alliance with 60 seats .
-A referendum held at the same time on whether the national government will grant Bolivian states greater autonomy failed in a majority of states .
-Chad 's parliamentary election has been postponed for two years as part of a deal between the government and the opposition parties that boycotted last year 's presidential election .
-President Idriss Deby and a coalition of about 20 opposition parties called " Coordination for the Defense of the Constitution " signed the agreement Monday after six months of negotiations .
-The new accord delays elections until December 2009 to allow for the creation of computerized and tamper-proof electoral lists , as well as biometric voting cards to prevent fraud .
-In the meantime , members of the opposition will have more of a role in the current government .
-Some analysts say the agreement will do little to change Chad 's political climate , considering President Deby has managed to keep a firm hold on power .
-Opposition parties boycotted the 2006 presidential balloting that led to Mr. Deby 's re-election .
-They accused the ruling party of electoral corruption .
-The United Nations has condemned the killing of a U.N. security officer in southern Somalia .
-Mohamuud Musse Gurage , a Somali national , was shot by two unidentified gunmen Monday night in the port town of Kismayo in Somalia 's Lower Juba region .
-The United Nations says it has evacuated its staffers from the area .
-Foreigners and Somali nationals with international ties have been targeted by assassins in Somalia , which has been ruled by warring factions since the collapse of the government in 1991 .
-A fragile transitional administration is now in place following peace talks in Kenya but security concerns continue .
-In July , prominent Somali peace activist Abdulkadir Yahya Ali was gunned down in the capital , Mogadishu .
-And a journalist with the British Broadcasting Corporation was murdered outside her hotel in the capital in February .
-The U.S. military says it expects an increase in insurgent attacks in Iraq as its newly elected government forms and final results from last month 's general elections are released .
-Brigadier-General Don Alston says insurgents will use Iraq 's transition to a new government as an opportunity to try to derail the democratic process .
-He spoke Thursday as Iraq was in a relative period of calm during the Muslim holiday of Eid Al-Adha .
-Meanwhile , lawyers for former Iraqi deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz say he is in poor health and may have just weeks to live .
-They say Aziz , one of the most recognizable figures of Saddam Hussein 's former regime , is suffering from numerous ailments .
-But U.S. officials say Aziz has suffered no serious deterioration while he has been in U.S. custody .
-A U.S. military helicopter has crashed northwest of Baghdad .
-There is no immediate word on casualties .
-The U.S. military confirmed that an Apache attack helicopter with two pilots on board went down around 11 a.m. local time in a field , and that an investigation is under way to determine the cause of the crash .
-In Baghdad , authorities say two Iraqi civilians were killed in a roadside bomb blast near a police station in a Sunni district of the city .
-Elsewhere in the capital , at least two people , including a child , were killed in a drive-by shooting , and the U.S. military says a soldier was killed by small-arms fire while investigating a burning vehicle .
-Sunday , at least 30 people , including many policemen , were killed in a series of car bombings in the northern city of Mosul .
-German Chancellor Angela Merkel is headed to Washington to meet with President Bush Wednesday .
-The two leaders are expected to focus on the international response to Iran 's controversial nuclear program .
-Germany has held months of negotiations with Tehran , alongside Britain and France .
-This is Ms. Merkel 's second trip to the United States since she took office last November .
-Ms. Merkel will travel to New York for several hours on Thursday for economic meetings , and will return to Washington later that day to speak at the American Jewish Committee , which works to safeguard Jews and Jewish life worldwide .
-Some officials in Washington and Berlin view the visits as a chance for the two allies to re-build ties that were strong during the Cold War , but frayed over differences between President Bush and former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder over the Iraq war .
-Russian officials say they are destroying thousands of domestic birds in an effort to contain the spread of a bird flu outbreak that began in Siberia and has spread west to the Ural mountains region .
-Health officials and the Emergency Situations Ministry say the outbreak of the highly potent H5N1 strain of virus could pose a threat to humans .
-They also say it could spread to the Mediterranean area and the Middle East as birds migrate westward to avoid the harsh Russian winter .
-Officials say the illness , which can be fatal , has not yet spread to humans in Russia .
-At least 60 people in southeast Asia have died from bird flu since 2003 .
-On Monday , authorities said the virus had been discovered in the Chelyabinsk region , but it is not clear whether it was the H5N1 strain .
-Millions of Muslims across South Asia have celebrated the annual Eid al-Fitr Islamic holiday , marking the end of the month-long Ramadan .
-And millions of them will celebrate it on Wednesday because of different sightings of the new moon at different places .
-Afghan President Hamid Karzai called on the world 's Muslims to help his country rid itself of insurgents .
-In New Delhi , government offices closed , and thousands packed into the main 17th-century mosque known as " Jama Masjid " Tuesday morning to pray .
-Eid was also celebrated Tuesday in the eastern Indian states of Bihar and West Bengal , and southern Karnataka and Kerala states .
-But in other parts of the country it will be observed on Wednesday .
-In Bangladesh , Eid will also fall on Wednesday .
-In Pakistan , the official day of Eid will be Wednesday , though in some parts people celebrated it on Tuesday .
-The European Parliament has started its own investigation into reports of CIA secret prisons in Eastern Europe .
-The lawmakers agreed Thursday in Brussels to set up a 46-member committee to look into the matter .
-Several EU countries have set up their own probes .
-The committee will recommend what political action should be taken against any country deemed to be involved .
-Reports saying the CIA has secret detention centers in Europe first appeared in November in the Washington Post newspaper .
-Human rights groups subsequently singled out Poland and Romania as possible sites for such facilities .
-Both countries denied any involvement .
-Meanwhile , Bulgaria 's Foreign Minister Ivaylo Kalfin has denied there are secret CIA prisons in his country .
-His comment comes after a Swiss newspaper said local security officials had intercepted an Egyptian government document mentioning CIA prisons in several eastern European countries including Bulgaria and Ukraine .
-Seven & I Holdings , the Japanese company that owns 7-Eleven convenience stores in the U.S. , Japan and elsewhere , has reached a deal to take over department stores Seibu and Sogo .
-The $ 1.1 billion acquisition will make Seven & I the largest retailer in Japan by sales .
-Under the deal announced Monday , Seven & I will buy a 65 percent stake in Millennium Retailing , which runs the Seibu and Sogo chains .
-Millennium is currently controlled by an affiliate of Japanese brokerage Nomura Securities .
-Seven & I plans to buy up the remaining shares of Millennium by March of next year .
-The takeover of Seibu and Sogo will help 7-Eleven 's parent company expand into the luxury retail market , at a time when Japanese consumer spending is surging .
-Night time curfews have gone into effect in more than 30 French cities and towns , and the country 's worst unrest in decades is showing signs of abating .
-Police say 482 vehicles were burned across the country overnight , and 203 people were arrested .
-But there were no reports of injuries , and police say the number of violent incidents has dropped since the curfews took effect .
-Police say a school in the eastern town of Belfort was destroyed overnight and vandalism at an electricity station caused a power blackout in Lyon .
-The area around Paris was reported quiet , despite the absence of curfews there .
-Muslim youths of North African descent have mainly been responsible for the two weeks of riots .
-The government has promised to address what many French say are the causes of the violence - unemployment , poor schools and housing , and racism .
-The Committee to Protect Journalists says it is alarmed by Niger 's attempt to censor coverage of hunger and malnutrition in parts of the West African nation .
-In a statement from New York , the media rights group was reacting to the Niger government 's move revoking permission for a local BBC team to report on hunger issues .
-The CPJ said the government was putting its desire to protect its image ahead of the desperate needs of its own citizens .
-It called on the government to allow full coverage of the humanitarian needs of the local population .
-On Wednesday , a Niger government spokesman , Ben Omar , told VOA Hausa service that journalists were giving incorrect impressions about the country 's food situation .
-Aid agencies say that some three million people suffered from severe food shortages in Niger in 2005 .
-The World Health Organization is urging greater cooperation among nations to tackle the growing number of cross-border threats to public health .
-To mark World Health Day Saturday , the WHO issued a report that warns of emerging international threats to health security .
-The report says infectious diseases such as HIV / AIDs , Ebola , the SARS ( Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ) outbreak in Asia , and human cases of the H5N1 bird flu have emerged in unprecedented numbers .
-The WHO says natural disasters , environmental change , bioterrorism and chemical spills also pose major challenges .
-WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said countries have to share responsibility and take pre-emptive action against such threats .
-As part of that effort , the Geneva-based U.N. body has revised its international regulations to help countries identify and respond earlier to health challenges .
-Indonesian health officials say a 16-year-old boy who had tested positive for bird flu has died .
-If confirmed by the World Health Organization , the death would be Indonesia 's 43rd from the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus .
-Health Ministry officials say the patient had been in contact with sick chickens in the West Java district of Bekasi .
-Officials say samples from the boy are being sent to a laboratory in the United States for secondary testing .
-Health experts are closely watching Indonesia .
-Seven members of a single family died in a north Sumatra village last May .
-The deaths were the largest cluster of its kind since the global outbreak began in 2003 , and raised concerns about human-to-human transmission of the virus .
-The international press freedom watchdog group , Reporters Without Borders , is condemning what it calls a " climate of violence " against the media in Afghanistan .
-In an open letter to President Hamid Karzai Thursday , the group expressed concern about recent violence and disciplinary actions against media outlets in the country .
-The organization cited an incident Wednesday in which media representatives were barred from parliamentary proceedings after a legislator complained of video that showed her asleep during debates aired on national television .
-The letter also addresses alleged acts of violence against reporters and the government 's detention of a radio journalist for more than seven months without evidence .
-A spokesman for the Afghan embassy in Washington , Ashraf Haidari , told VOA Thursday that the country 's constitution guarantees freedom of expression .
-He said the growth of private radio stations and hundreds of newspapers illustrates the Afghan government is protecting the media .
-Spain 's National Court has sentenced a Spanish citizen , released last year from the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay , Cuba , to six years in prison for membership in al-Qaida .
-The court announced the sentence in the case of Hamed Aberrahman Ahmed Wednesday .
-Prosecutors say Mr. Ahmed had gone to Afghanistan to train with Osama bin Laden 's followers .
-He has denied al-Qaida membership .
-Mr. Ahmed was arrested in Pakistan in late 2001 .
-Pakistani authorities later handed him over to U.S. forces , who sent him to the military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay .
-U.S authorities turned him over to Spain in February of last year .
-United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan says he expects the Bosnian Serb government to follow up its apology for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre with a drive to arrest and prosecute those responsible for the killings .
-Mr. Annan 's spokesman , Fred Eckhard , says the UN chief welcomes last week 's Bosnian Serb apology and condolences to the relatives of Srebrenica massacre victims .
-The Bosnian Serb government has acknowledged that Bosnian Serb forces killed almost 8,000 Muslim men and boys in July 1995 , after overrunning the Muslim enclave of Srebrenica .
-Following the apology , Bosnian Serb President Dragan Cavic urged indicted war crimes suspects to surrender to authorities , saying it is crucial for the future of the Bosnia Serb Republic .
-In connection with the massacre , the U.N. war crimes court in The Hague has indicted several Bosnian Serb officials and commanders , some of whom remain at large .
-The trial of Saddam Hussein and seven co-defendants has resumed in Baghdad after a five-day break .
-The prosecution is presenting experts Monday , in an effort to confirm signatures of the former Iraqi leader and his co-defendants on documents related to the crackdown on Shi'ites in the 1980s .
-The chief judge , Raouf Abdel Rahman , ruled last Wednesday that Saddam 's handwriting was authentic on documents related to the incident .
-The ousted Iraqi dictator and the seven co-defendants are on trial for the 1982 killing of more than 140 Iraqi Shi'ites in the village of Dujail .
-The United Nations human rights envoy for Burma is calling on that country 's government to substantially improve human rights before the 2010 elections .
-In a report Wednesday , envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana said that if the elections take place in an atmosphere in which human rights are fully respected , the vote will be seen as credible .
-He outlined a series of measures that Burma should take , including amending laws that limit fundamental rights , such as freedom of expression , opinion and peaceful assembly .
-The U.N. envoy said political prisoners should be released .
-He said such a move would inspire political participation in the upcoming elections .
-The envoy also suggested a number of changes for Burma 's judiciary , including guaranteeing due process and setting up mechanisms to investigate human rights abuses .
-Argentine media is reporting that a Cuban dissident has sought refuge at the Argentine embassy in Havana .
-The Argentine newspaper La Nacion reported Thursday renowned brain surgeon Hilda Molina and her 84-year-old mother had entered the embassy to request political asylum .
-Dr. Molina has been petitioning the Cuban government to allow her to travel to Argentina to see her son , who lives in exile there .
-Earlier this month , Argentine President Nestor Kirchner wrote to his Cuban counterpart , Fidel Castro , asking him to allow Dr. Molina to visit Argentina .
-Mr. Castro responded that Dr. Molina 's family should visit her in Cuba .
-Ukraine has denied reports there are secret prisons run by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency on Ukrainian territory .
-Foreign Ministry spokesman , Vasilily Filipchuk Tuesday called a Swiss media report saying Ukraine allowed the covert U.S. interrogation centers on its soil " absurd . "
-Russia 's Novosti news agency says Ukraine 's penitentiary and security service officials also dismissed the Swiss report .
-The Swiss newspaper Sonntags-Blick says Swiss security officials intercepted an Egyptian government document mentioning secret CIA prisons in several eastern European nations , including Ukraine , Romania , Macedonia , Bulgaria as well as in Serbia 's province of Kosovo .
-Iran 's foreign minister has postponed a visit to Saudi Arabia , which was to be part of a tour of Gulf States aimed at gathering support for Iran 's controversial nuclear program .
-Manouchehr Mottaki was to hold talks with his Saudi counterpart Prince Saud al-Faisal in Jeddah Wednesday .
-Instead he traveled to the United Arab Emirates , following talks in Oman .
-Iranian and Saudi officials said the meeting was postponed because of differences in the men 's schedules , and the two would meet in the future .
-They also dismissed reports of tension between the two nations sparked by the Iraq war .
-Prince Saud has expressed concerns over Iran 's alleged interference in Iraq , including the entry of people , money and weapons to Iraq .
-Iran has denied the allegations .
-News reports quote American officials as saying police in Zambia have detained a man whom U.S. authorities suspect of involvement in the deadly July 7 bombings in London .
-The reports Thursday by CNN Television and The Los Angeles Times newspaper identify the man as Haroon Rashid Aswat , a British citizen of South Asian descent in his early 30s .
-The reports say U.S. and Zambian officials are holding talks to determine where to prosecute Mr. Aswat .
-Reports say Mr. Aswat came to the attention of U.S. authorities in connection with alleged attempts to set up an al-Qaida training camp in the western United States several years ago .
-Separately , British police are still conducting a nationwide manhunt for the three remaining fugitive suspects in last week 's failed bomb attacks on the London transit system .
-Police arrested a fourth suspect Wednesday .
-African Union observers say Sudan has failed to meet a deadline to abide by a cease-fire and stop attacking rebels in the western Darfur region .
-AU officials reported fresh fighting Sunday , after mediators in Nigeria threatened to take Sudan and the rebels to the U.N. Security Council .
-Unknown gunmen also fired Sunday at an African Union helicopter in Darfur .
-There are no reports of casualties .
-Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman had earlier announced an immediate halt to all military operations in Darfur and asked the United Nations to make the same demand of the rebels .
-But a rebel spokesman told the Reuters News Agency that Sudan has failed to keep earlier promises to stop attacks .
-Fighting between largely Arab pro-government militias and non-Arab rebels in Darfur has left tens of thousands dead , including many civilians .
-A top U.N. official says indirect talks between the Ugandan government and northern rebels have provided the best chance for peace in 18 years of conflict .
-U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland praised the Ugandan government Wednesday for its renewed efforts to seek dialogue .
-Mr. Egeland says the conflict has forced up to 90 percent of the population in some areas of northern Uganda from their homes , adding that hundreds of thousands of lives are at stake .
-Rebels from the Lord 's Resistance Army are notorious for attacking civilians and kidnapping children for use as soldiers or sex slaves .
-Over the last few weeks , the rebels and the Ugandan government declared a temporary cease-fire and held talks through mediators .
-The government says it is extending the truce for another week in the hopes of starting formal peace talks by then .
-South Africa has offered a higher wage increase to public service workers in an effort to avert a strike by some 9,00,000 members of the civil service .
-The public services ministry announced Thursday it has offered to raise salaries by 7 percent .
-The previous offer was 6.5 percent , but unions are demanding an 8.6 percent raise .
-The ministry said its offer of about $ 86 ( 630 rand ) for a housing allowance had not changed .
-Unions have asked for nearly $ 140 ( 1,000 rand ) .
-One union , the 2,10,000 member Public Servants Association , had threatened to begin its strike Thursday .
-The other workers have threatened to walk off their jobs next week .
-Public Service and Administration Minister Richard Baloyi has called for any strikes to be delayed until he is able to meet with union leaders Thursday .
-Peru 's President has urged the use of the military to destroy jungle factories that produce cocaine .
-Alan Garcia said Monday in Lima that Peru should use its military attack aircraft to bomb and machine-gun coca processing facilities and the airports used to transport drugs .
-Mr. Garcia announced Sunday that Peru would resume the destruction of coca crops in Peru 's Amazon region .
-Officials had previously agreed to allow farmers to produce coca , a key raw material in the production of cocaine .
-A United Nations report released last year said Peru is the world 's second largest cocaine producer behind Colombia .
-According to the report , Peru produces some 30 percent of the world 's cocaine .
-African Union leaders have convened their summit in Khartoum Monday with host Sudan 's bid to head the continental bloc casting a cloud over the meeting .
-Five African leaders have appealed to Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to withdraw his bid to hold the AU chairmanship because of ongoing violence in Sudan 's western Darfur region .
-Tens of thousands of people have been killed and two million displaced since fighting broke out in 2003 between government-backed Arab militias , known as Janjaweed , and rebel forces .
-Militia fighters are accused of carrying out atrocities against civilians .
-The United States has accused Mr. al-Bashir 's government of committing genocide in Darfur .
-Human rights group have also been very critical of Sudan , and Darfur rebels have threatened to boycott AU-sponsored peace talks if Khartoum assumes chairmanship of the 53-nation African Union .
-Taiwan 's future president , Ma Ying-jeou , is a U.S.-educated lawyer who served as minister for justice and minister without portfolio during the 1990s .
-Mr. Ma unseated Chen Shui-bian , the current president , as Taipei mayor in 1998 .
-Last August , Mr. Ma was cleared of corruption charges filed against him .
-The charges prompted his resignation as party chairman .
-Prosecutors accused him of misusing $ 3,65,000 in government funds while Taipei mayor .
-Mr. Ma has vowed not to provoke China with independence moves , so the two sides can co-exist and promote economic integration .
-He has said he wants to open direct air and shipping links with China .
-Tibetan leader cancels foreign travel .
-Tibetan exiles in India fasted and prayed for peace on Saturday , and their spiritual leader , the Dalai Lama , joined in from a hospital bed in Mumbai .
-The 73-year-old Tibetan Buddhist leader is being treated for abdominal pain .
-But a spokesman says he still joined in the 12-hour fast after doctors gave him permission to do so .
-The Dalai Lama canceled two upcoming foreign trips to undergo medical tests , after experiencing discomfort during recent travels .
-He spends several months a year traveling to promote Tibetan causes , and recently returned to India after a visit to France .
-A spokesman says he expects the Tibetan leader to return to his home in Dharamsala , in northern India , in a day or two .
-Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia has asked the United States for help in stopping Israel from expanding its largest West Bank settlement .
-In Ramallah Thursday , Mr. Qureia asked visiting envoys Elliott Abrams and David Welch for a " clear and firm " U.S. position on Israeli plans to build 3,500 new homes in the Maale Adumim settlement near Jerusalem .
-The Israeli plan appears to clash with the U.S.-backed " road map " peace blueprint , which calls for a halt to settlement expansion on all Palestinian land captured by Israel in the 1967 war .
-Analysts say the latest expansion is aimed at linking Maale Adumim to greater Jerusalem , which Israel claims as its eternal capital .
-Palestinians want Arab East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state .
-Wednesday , the two U.S. diplomats asked Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to clarify the expansion plans .
-European Union Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso is expected in Moscow Thursday to prepare for next month 's summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and EU leaders .
-The EU Commission says Mr. Barroso 's talks with President Putin aim at finding ways to improve cooperation with Russia .
-The summit , on May 10 , will take place one day after ceremonies in Moscow commemorating the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe .
-The two sides are trying to create four major areas of cooperation : the economy ; freedom , security and justice ; external security ; and research , education and culture .
-However , officials say there remain areas of disagreement , including on the introduction of a more liberal visa policy between the EU and Russia .
-The Sudanese army has strongly denied involvement in a series of raids on villages and a displaced persons camp in Darfur in which at least 44 people were killed .
-On Saturday , the African Union accused Sudanese government forces of coordinating attacks with pro-government militiamen , known as the Janjaweed , of launching attacks in the western region over the past two weeks .
-The Sudanese army says the information provided by A.U. Ambassador Baba Gana Kingibe is incorrect and unreliable .
-Meanwhile , the Sudanese government and two Darfur rebel groups began face to face talks in Nigeria Monday for first the first time since opening the latest round of negotiations in mid-September .
-The proceedings began with a condemnation of the recent violence from the African Union 's chief mediator , Salim Ahmed Salim , who said attacks on civilians and continued banditry in Darfur are not understandable .
-A bad economy can impact people 's health as well as their wealth .
-Carol Pearson reports on the impact plunging stock markets are having on Americans .
-The largest civil rights organization of American Sikhs has expressed outrage at a new U.S. airport security policy that allows random searches of turbans .
-The Sikh Coalition said it had been informed by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration that under new guidelines the religious headdress could be subject to pat-downs even if the turban wearers had passed a metal detector test .
-On its website , the Coalition says it is concerned that the new policy amounts to religious profiling .
-The organization urged Sikhs to sign a petition to the TSA to demonstrate grassroots concern with the new procedures .
-It also asked all Sikhs to document their experience with the new headgear screening procedures .
-The TSA said on its website it does not conduct ethnic or religious profiling .
-Britain 's Prime Minister Tony Blair has called for automatically deporting foreigners who commit crimes , following criticism of the country 's deportation program .
-Mr. Blair spoke in the House of Commons Wednesday , saying that the government 's deportation system has been failing for years .
-He added that Home Secretary Charles Clarke is working to fix those problems and ensure that foreigners are sent to their home countries after serving their prison sentences .
-But opposition lawmakers are calling for Clarke to resign .
-They say he is to blame for the failure to deport more than 1,000 former prisoners since 1999 , including some violent criminals .
-Recent media reports say a suspect in the killing of a police officer last year is a Somali man who was not deported after an earlier prison term .
-The criticism of the ruling Labor Party comes ahead of local elections on Thursday .
-Opinion polls indicate Labor candidates will fare poorly .
-Police have broken up a Europe-wide child trafficking ring involving mostly Bulgarian children trained in petty crime .
-Italian police led the operation , arresting 41 Bulgarian nationals in Italy , Bulgaria , Austria , and Germany .
-Investigators said Monday impoverished Bulgarian families sold more than 100 children to the traffickers who then smuggled them across Europe to carry out such petty crimes as picking pockets .
-The investigators said the suspects shared some of the stolen money with the parents .
-Police also said some of the children were sexually abused .
-Iraqis living outside the country can begin voting Tuesday in the country 's parliamentary elections .
-Expatriates will be able to cast ballots through Thursday , the day when Iraq itself holds the elections .
-Fifteen countries have set up polling stations for Iraqis living abroad .
-Authorities in Iraq are preparing tough security measures for Thursday 's elections .
-The country 's borders will be closed , road traffic will be restricted except for vehicles with special permits , and night-time curfews will be extended starting tonight .
-Early voting was held in Iraq Monday for soldiers , prisoners and hospital patients .
-Meanwhile , Iraqi police say gunmen shot dead a leading Sunni Muslim Arab politician .
-Mizhar al-Dulaimi of the Free Progressive Iraqi Party was killed while campaigning in Ramadi , the capital of western Anbar province .
-He had been urging Iraqis to vote in the parliamentary election .
-Burma has opened a three-day World Buddhist Summit , which has been marred by the pullout of its main sponsor .
-Burmese Prime Minister General Soe Win joined monks , officials and other delegates from several countries at Thursday 's opening ceremony in Rangoon .
-Chinese state-run media report Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and Lao Prime Minister Bounnyang Vorachit also attended the ceremony .
-Japan 's Nenbutsushu Buddhist sect announced last month that it will not provide funding for the summit .
-The pullout came after October 's ouster of Burmese Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt .
-Previous World Buddhist Summits have been held in Japan , Thailand and Cambodia .
-An Israeli television station has broadcast the first video images of Israel 's controversial Dimona nuclear facility .
-The privately owned station , Channel 10 , showed the video Friday as part of a documentary about the plant .
-It did not explain how the video was obtained , but it said the showing had been authorized by Israeli military censors .
-The Israeli government has prohibited journalists from viewing the Dimona plant and has denied safety inspections by foreign nuclear experts .
-In 1986 , the first still pictures of the facility were released by former technician , Mordechai Vanunu .
-He was later jailed for 18 years on treason charges .
-Foreign experts say Dimona is being used to produce nuclear warheads .
-Israel has neither acknowledged nor denied having a nuclear arsenal .
-Afghan President Hamid Karzai has described as ridiculous a message by al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden that calls on European nations to stop supporting the U.S.-led mission in Afghanistan .
-A statement from Mr. Karzai 's office said bin Laden 's remarks are contrary to Islamic culture and human values .
-It also said bin Laden is the reason terrorism plagues the country and blamed the al-Qaida chief for causing the deaths of thousands of innocent Afghans .
-On Thursday , excerpts of a recorded message said to be the voice of Bin Laden was broadcast on the Arabic television network Al-Jazeera .
-On it , bin Laden says he is responsible for the September 11th , 2001 , attacks on the United States , and that the Afghan people had nothing to do with them .
-He also calls on Europeans to stand against Washington and allied governments that are fighting extremists and overseeing reconstruction projects in Afghanistan .
-A top Hamas leader says the Palestinian militant group is willing to discuss options for statehood in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as well as a truce with Israel .
-Hassan Youssef , the top Hamas official in the West Bank , is quoted by news agencies as saying the group could accept a long-term truce and the creation of an independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders , a reference to lands Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East War .
-The comments may indicate a shift in Hamas ' long-standing policy of destroying Israel and replacing it with a Palestinian state .
-Meanwhile , earlier Friday , Israeli troops shot dead a member of the Islamic Jihad militant group in the West Bank .
-Israeli army officials say the militant was carrying a weapon when he was shot .
-The United States has rejected a North Korean demand to lift sanctions against Pyongyang as a condition for resuming nuclear disarmament talks .
-State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Tuesday the two issues are not related .
-He said he does not see why the sanctions are preventing the North Korean government from rejoining six-party talks .
-White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Tuesday the North Korean demand is another pretext to delay the talks .
-Tuesday , North Korea said it will not return to the talks until the United States ends economic sanctions against Pyongyang .
-In October , Washington blacklisted eight North Korean companies allegedly involved in proliferation of weapons of mass destruction .
-U.S. officials also accuse Pyongyang of counterfeiting , money laundering and drug trafficking .
-The list of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed 's confessions released by the Defense Department , ranges from real terror attacks to plots that never happened .
-One claim was censored .
-Mohammed claimed responsibility for beheading Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan in 2002 .
-He also took responsibility for a " shoe-bombing " plot to bring down two U.S. airplanes .
-Mohammed said he planned dozens of other attacks that never happened , including plots to kill former U.S. presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton , the late Pope John Paul II , and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf .
-He also said he planned to blow up the Panama Canal , and to destroy U.S. embassies in Indonesia , Australia and Japan .
-Indian authorities say at least 32 people have been killed in two road accidents in northern and western parts of the country .
-Officials in Indian Kashmir say at least 15 people died when a bus veered off a steep mountain road and plunged into a gorge .
-Reports from the area say at least 15 other people were injured but survived Wednesday 's accident .
-Survivors say the driver lost control of the bus on a sharp curve , and the vehicle plunged 250 meters down a mountainside .
-Villagers and police used ropes to reach the wreck .
-Hours later , in western Gujarat state , a truck carrying sacks of salt and 19 people overturned and crashed into a flooded ditch .
-Local officials say 17 people did not survive the plunge .
-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice , who is on a tour of the Middle East , met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Wednesday .
-Rice and Mr. Mubarak were to discuss the aftermath of the militant group Hamas 's victory in the Palestinian elections .
-She also met with Egyptian democracy activists Wednesday .
-Few details were given about those meetings .
-Rice 's Middle East tour is aimed at convincing Arab governments to take a stance against a Hamas-led Palestinian government .
-Her next stop will be Saudi Arabia and then she will wrap up her tour in the United Arab Emirates .
-On Tuesday , Rice met with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit in Cairo .
-During their meeting , Rice said Hamas must choose between terrorism and politics if it wants to successfully lead a Palestinian government .
-Egypt says it will build a nuclear power plant to meet its growing energy needs .
-The country 's energy minister Hassan Younes told the state-owned newspaper Al-Ahram that Egypt plans to build a 1000 Megawatt nuclear power plant on the Mediterranean coast .
-He said the project will cost $ 1.5 billion and that the government will seek foreign investment .
-The announcement comes three days after President Hosni Mubarak said Egypt should create a nuclear program for peaceful uses .
-Egypt abandoned plans for nuclear energy in 1986 after the accident at the Soviet nuclear plant in Chernobyl .
-Cairo has been largely silent on the dispute between Iran and major powers over Tehran 's nuclear enrichment activities .
-The U.S. believes Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapon .
-Egypt has long called for a Middle East free of nuclear weapons .
-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says Iran is a very dangerous state with dangerous policies .
-In a television interview on CNBC 's Closing Bell Friday , Rice said while Washington is committed to a diplomatic solution , Iran must know " there are coercive elements " to U.S. policy as well .
-She said that with Iran becoming " increasingly dangerous , " the United States and its allies are discussing new sanctions to further curb Tehran 's access to the international financial system .
-She said that despite two U.N. Chapter 7 resolutions - the U.N. 's most serious Security Council resolution - Iran continues to pursue technologies that could lead to a nuclear weapon .
-When asked if the United States should consider military retaliation , Rice said President Bush " is never going to take his options off the table . "
-Tehran denies it is trying to build a nuclear weapon .
-Palestinians in Israel and Lebanon turned out Friday to mark what they call the Naqba , or " catastrophe " of Israel 's creation 62 years ago .
-Demonstrators staged protests in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and in Beirut .
-Lebanon is home to thousands of Palestinian refugees .
-Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat released a statement saying the Naqba continues .
-He accused Israel of refusing to recognize the " basic rights " of Palestinians .
-More than 7,00,000 Palestinians are estimated to have fled , or were forced from their homes during the Arab-Israeli war , which began in 1948 .
-Meanwhile , authorities in Israel say a Palestinian teenager in the West Bank was found dead Friday from a gunshot wound .
-Palestinians allege Jewish settlers shot the teenager after he threw rocks at their cars .
-Venezuela 's National Assembly has approved new joint venture deals with foreign oil companies , months after the companies were forced to give up their majority stakes to government control .
-The agreements approved Tuesday create mixed companies consisting of Venezuela 's state oil company and foreign minority partners ( France 's Total , Norway 's Statoil , Britain 's BP , and U.S.-based Chevron ) .
-As part of the deals , the foreign companies will make multi-million dollar payments .
-This money will be subtracted from the amount Venezuela owes the companies for taking over their majority stakes in oil fields and refining plants .
-Chevron 's agreement does not include a monetary contribution clause .
-Venezuela 's President Hugo Chavez seized majority control of the oil operations in the Orinoco Basin in May , offering foreign companies minority stakes .
-A report from the investigative arm of the U.S. Congress says a new tracking system is needed to see if economic sanctions against Iran are effective .
-The Government Accountability Office , GAO , says several U.S. agencies need to measure if sanctions are helping to curtail Iran 's alleged support of terrorist groups .
-The report says the agencies also need to assess the status of Iran 's controversial nuclear program .
-The United States imposed economic sanctions on Iran in 1987 , but this new report from the GAO says the impact of those long running sanctions is difficult to determine .
-The report comes as President Bush completes a visit to the Middle East aimed , in part , at securing support for increased pressure on Iran .
-Palestinian officials say security forces have arrested two Palestinian militants over rocket attacks on Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip .
-Authorities said Friday the members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades were detained for questioning .
-The group is loosely affiliated with the ruling Fatah movement .
-An al-Aqsa spokesman confirmed that two of the group 's militants had been detained .
-Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas recently vowed to use an " iron fist " against militants to enforce a truce between Israel and the Palestinians .
-Iranian media report that Iran 's supreme leader has told President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to dismiss his chosen top deputy , after the selection angered conservative Iranians .
-Semi-official news agencies in Iran quote the deputy speaker of the parliament Mohammad Hassan Aboutorabi-Fard as saying Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sent Mr. Ahmadinejad a letter calling for the removal of the first vice president .
-Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie has been sharply criticized for stating last year that Iran is a friend of all people in the world , including Israelis .
-Iran does not recognize Israel .
-To this point , Mr. Ahmadinejad has refused to back down on his selection of Mashaie , despite pressure to do so .
-Leading conservative Iranian cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami also has called on Mr. Ahmadinejad to reconsider Mashaie 's appointment , saying it defies the president 's constituency .
-Mashaie and Ahmadinejad have family ties .
-Mashaie 's daughter is married to Mr. Ahmadinejad 's son .
-Burma 's state-run media say the military government has dismissed eight deputy Cabinet ministers and one supreme court judge , without giving reasons for the moves .
-Those dismissed include the Deputy Minister of Defense , Major-General Khin Maung Win , and Deputy Minister of Industry Thein Thun .
-The dismissed Supreme Court judge was Khin Maung Aye .
-New appointments to fill the posts were not announced .
-Since assuming power in 1988 , the leaders of the present regime and its cabinet have undergone a number of changes .
-Last month , the government dismissed two Cabinet ministers and appointed four new ministers and four new deputy ministers .
-Pakistan says the commander of its paramilitary Frontier Corps was wounded when his helicopter came under rocket attack in troubled Baluchistan province Thursday .
-Officials say Major-General Shujaat Zamir Dar was on an inspection flight when he was hit in the leg by shrapnel from the exploding rocket .
-The helicopter 's pilot flew the aircraft safely back to its base .
-Wednesday , rebels fired eight rockets during a visit to southwestern Pakistan by President Pervez Musharraf .
-No one was injured in the attack , which was claimed by the separatist Baluchistan Liberation Army .
-President Musharraf was laying the foundation for a military garrison outside the town of Kohlu , ( 300 kilometers ) east of the provincial capital , Quetta .
-Baluch rebels have been fighting a low-level insurgency against Pakistan 's central government for years .
-They want more jobs and higher royalties from Islamabad in return for their region 's natural resources .
-French workers at a U.S.-run manufacturing plant in southeastern France have detained four managers , to protest plans to cut hundreds of jobs .
-The workers at a Caterpillar heavy equipment plant in Grenoble were refusing Tuesday to let the managers , including the factory director , leave the premises .
-Caterpillar is set to cut 733 workers at two plants in France .
-The seizures , on the eve of the G20 global economic summit in London , mark the third time in recent weeks that French workers have hijacked executives to protest job losses .
-Police did not intervene in the earlier incidents , and the hostages were released unharmed .
-The French news agency quoted a union official , Benoit Nicolas , as saying a deal resulting in the release of the latest captives was within reach .
-US officials say an al-Qaida leader killed in a drone attack in northwestern Pakistan was not Osama bin Laden .
-U.S. officials say a top al-Qaida leader has been killed in a drone attack in restive northwestern Pakistan .
-The officials did not identify the person killed , but they said it was not al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden .
-A U.S. television network , NBC , first reported the drone attack earlier this week .
-The exact date of the attack is unclear .
-Earlier this week , Pakistani officials said a suspected U.S. drone attack killed at least three people in northwestern Pakistan .
-Intelligence officials say the pace of attacks by drones ( unmanned aircraft ) has increased under the Obama administration .
-The U.S. State Department says it is encouraged by Nicaragua 's decision to ratify the Central American Free Trade Agreement ( CAFTA ) .
-In a statement issued Tuesday , Deputy Spokesman Adam Ereli called the economic pact " Nicaragua 's best opportunity " to gain the benefits of trade and investment .
-He also said Nicaragua has taken positive political steps since Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick visited last week .
-President Bush has said the deal will strengthen democracy and reduce poverty in the Latin American nations that have signed the bill .
-The economic deal removes trade barriers between the United States and Costa Rica , El Salvador , Guatemala , Honduras , Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic .
-In the United States , supporters of the plan say it will open new markets for U.S. goods and services .
-Critics say it will send U.S. jobs to Central America , where labor is cheaper .
-An Iranian official says his country will continue cooperating with the U.N. nuclear agency to prevent the imposition of more Security Council sanctions .
-Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini made the comment Sunday .
-On Friday , world powers meeting at the U.N. agreed to put off until November efforts to approve new sanctions .
-But , the United States , other permanent Security Council members and Germany said they will seek a third round of sanctions against Iran unless diplomacy can resolve the dispute by November .
-The United States and its allies accuse Tehran of trying to build atomic weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program .
-Iran denies the charge .
-The United States , France and Britain favor imposing new sanctions on Iran for its refusal to suspend sensitive nuclear activities .
-Russia and China say Tehran should be given more time before further sanctions are imposed .
-The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations is dismissing charges by Venezuela 's foreign minister that he was mistreated by New York airport security , calling the diplomat 's protest " street theater . "
-U.S. envoy John Bolton said Monday , there was no incident at the John F. Kennedy airport , where Venezuela 's Nicolas Maduro was detained by authorities Saturday .
-Maduro says officials frisked and physically threatened him .
-Bolton said Maduro purchased his plane ticket in a time and manner that raised security concerns , and instead of complying with a secondary screening , Bolton says Maduro called reporters about the incident .
-Bolton labeled Maduro 's actions " propaganda . "
-Maduro rejected a U.S. apology for the incident , which capped a tense week for U.S.-Venezuelan relations .
-At the U.N. General Assembly last week , Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called President Bush " the devil . "
-The United Nations war crimes tribunal has reduced to 40 years the life prison term of a former Bosnian Serb mayor convicted of overseeing detention camps for Croats and Muslims .
-The appeals chamber of the Hague-based court Wednesday said Milomir Stakic 's conviction would stand , but cut his prison term .
-The court said the lower judge had made errors in the sentencing procedure , but called the impact of the problem limited .
-In 2003 , Stakic was the first person to be sentenced to life in prison by the tribunal .
-He was convicted of helping to set up three prison camps near the town of Prijedor , in northwestern Bosnia-Herzegovina where he was mayor .
-The court acquitted him of genocide charges .
-More than 20,000 Bosnian Muslims and Croats were driven from their homes in Prijedor , and more than 15,000 were killed .
-Police in Chile have used water canons and teargas to disperse student demonstrators calling for educational reform .
-About 1,000 students attempted to march through downtown Santiago Monday .
-They were met by police who broke up the protest .
-Students threw rocks at police vehicles and tried to block roads with burning tires .
-The protest was smaller than one conducted last week by some 8,00,000 students .
-The students demanded free public transportation and fee waivers for college entrance exams .
-They also wanted reform of the education law created under former dictator General Augusto Pinochet .
-Negotiations between the students and the government ended Friday with no agreement .
-President Michelle Bachelet has promised to reduce fares for student bus passes , but rejected demands for free transportation , saying it is too costly .
-Shi'ite negotiators in Iraq have announced a compromise deal that will place 25 more Sunnis on the pan-Iraqi committee drafting a new constitution .
-Thursday 's agreement breaks weeks of deadlock over the size and conditions of Sunni participation on the drafting committee .
-Under the deal , 15 Sunnis will join two others already on the committee .
-The remaining 10 Sunnis will serve as advisors .
-Iraqi President Jalal Talabani , a Sunni Kurd , last week backed Sunni Arab demands for 25 seats on the panel .
-But Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari and fellow Shi'ites argued that any more than 15 Sunni seats would create an imbalance on the 55-member panel .
-Both the United States and the European Union have backed calls for greater Sunni participation on the committee , which has four months to write a permanent constitution before a referendum set for October .
-British film director Mike Leigh has canceled a trip to Israel to protest against a proposed loyalty oath .
-Israel 's Cabinet last week passed a bill that would require non-Jewish immigrants to pledge loyalty to a " Jewish and democratic " state - language seen as discriminatory toward Israel 's Arab minority .
-Leigh , the award-winning director of Naked and Secrets & Lies , said he was no longer prepared to take part in the " great masters " program at the Sam Spiegel Film & Television School in Jerusalem .
-In a letter to school director Renen Schorr , Leigh , who is Jewish , said he opposed Israel 's policies toward Palestinians and called the loyalty oath the " last straw . "
-Bangladesh is planning what a U.N. agency calls the biggest measles vaccination campaign in history , hoping to inoculate 33.5 million children between the age of nine months and 10 years .
-Officials in Dhaka say the three-week program , organized with the United Nations Children 's Fund , will help curb the disease that kills an estimated 20,000 Bangladeshi children every year .
-The U.N. agency 's spokesman says the campaign will start on February 25 and will end on March 16 .
-The agency says the program will involve approximately 50,000 skilled vaccinators and 7,50,000 volunteers .
-The Bangladeshi government developed and adopted the plan of action to control measles in accordance with the current World Health Organization and UNICEF Global Measles Reduction strategy .
-The price of crude oil dropped more than two percent in New York trading Wednesday , falling to the lowest level in about a month .
-The price of a barrel of crude oil for future delivery was off nearly $ 2 and went as low as $ 73.83 .
-The decline came as a government report said the total supply of crude oil and refined fuels in the United States was more than 1.1 billion barrels , the highest level in at least two decades .
-An abundant supply of petroleum products generally pushes prices downward .
-Officials in Thailand say at least 47 Burmese refugees have left a camp on the Thai-Burma border this week to begin life in the United States .
-The officials say the group of ethnic Karen refugees are the latest to leave the Than Him camp since the resettlement operation began August 15 .
-The U.S. government has agreed to allow at least 2,500 of the refugees to resettle in the United States by the end of this year .
-The refugees fled to escape fighting between Karen guerrillas and the Burmese army .
-Some have been in the overcrowded camp for more than 20 years .
-The United States issued a waiver to its immigration laws in May to allow many of the refugees to apply for resettlement in the U.S.
-The U.S. embassy in Iraq says a rocket attack on Baghdad 's heavily fortified Green Zone has killed three people and wounded 15 others .
-The embassy said those killed in the attack Thursday include two Ugandans and a Peruvian .
-All of the victims were working for an American security contractor .
-The Green Zone is home to Iraqi government buildings as well as the U.S. embassy .
-Elsewhere in Iraq Thursday , gunmen killed at least two people in separate attacks , including a Sunni cleric .
-Police say the cleric ( Fathi al-Nuaimi ) was killed in the northern city of Mosul .
-In another attack in the city , gunmen killed a bystander after opening fire on a policeman .
-Police say the officer and another civilian were wounded in the attack .
-Mosul has remained an active area for insurgents , even as security in other parts of the country has improved and violence has diminished .
-Oil prices fell more than two percent Wednesday as the U.S. government reported a bigger-than-expected rise in crude supplies .
-The price of oil fell $ 1.16 from Tuesday 's close ( or 2.2 percent ) to $ 52.82 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange .
-A U.S. government report said U.S. crude supplies rose by 3.3 million barrels in the week that ended March 20 to a total of 356.6 million barrels .
-Analysts had expected a rise of just over one million barrels .
-Oil prices had jumped to a 3-month high of $ 54 a barrel Monday on expectations that a U.S. government plan to help ailing banks will trigger an economic recovery and boost energy demand .
-Chinese President Hu Jintao is offering aid to some of the world 's poorest countries - but made much of the deal contingent on the state 's recognition of China over Taiwan .
-Addressing the U.N. General Assembly Wednesday in New York , President Hu said China will eliminate tariffs on most products from the 39 least-developed countries with diplomatic ties to China .
-He also announced a series of aid measures for poor countries that includes job training , medicines , debt forgiveness and a $ 10 billion loan program .
-He did not make clear whether all the aid measures he mentioned would apply only to China 's diplomatic partners .
-Beijing does not allow countries to recognize both China and Taiwan , which it sees as a renegade province .
-Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is in Turkey , for talks on the stalled Middle East peace process and the impact of a European freeze on aid to the Hamas-led Palestinian government .
-Mr. Abbas is to meet with Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his two-day visit .
-He visits Norway , Finland and France later this week .
-The United States and the European Union cut off direct aid to the Palestinian government earlier this year , after Hamas refused to renounce violence and recognize Israel .
-Turkey maintains close ties with both Israel and the Palestinians , and has frequently offered to mediate their long-standing conflict .
-In February , the Ankara government angered Israel when it hosted a Hamas delegation for talks described as a push to persuade Hamas to renounce violence .
-Pakistani officials say security forces have killed at least 23 militants in fighting that took place during a search operation in the country 's northwest .
-The clash took place in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Tuesday , a day after militants launched a suicide bomb attack near a paramilitary base , killing one soldier .
-Officials say Tuesday 's gunbattle began when militants opened fire on troops searching the area .
-Pakistan 's military carried out a major offensive against the Taliban in Lower Dir and neighboring Swat Valley last year .
-Zimbabwe 's main labor union says two South African-based trade union workers were deported Wednesday shortly after they arrived in Harare where they were planning to discuss the establishment of a trade union school .
-The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions ( ZCTU ) said immigration officials told Bobbie Marie and Vihemina Prout to return home , because they did not have a clearance from the Ministry of Labor to meet union officials .
-ZCTU secretary-general Wellington Chibebe said the latest deportation proves that Zimbabwe is a nation " under seige . "
-Last week , Zimbabwe expelled a delegation of the South African trade union COSATU , which tried to conduct a fact-finding mission in the country .
-The European Union 's Court of Human Rights has fined Russia for banning homosexual parades in Moscow .
-The Strasbourg-based court ruled Thursday that gay rights organizer Nikolai Alexeyev was discriminated against based on sexual orientation .
-It ordered Russia to pay more than $ 41,000 in damages and court costs to Alexeyev .
-Alexeyev told the court he and other organizers were denied permission to hold gay pride marches in 2006 , 2007 and 2008 .
-The European rights court said the risk of a disturbance stemming from a demonstration was not sufficient to justify banning the parade .
-Former Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov once described gay parades as " satanic . "
-He was fired last month by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev .
-Members of a delegation from the Congress of South African Trade Unions ( COSATU ) say they have been denied entry to Zimbabwe as they arrived in the capital , Harare for a fact-finding mission early Wednesday .
-The delegation members told reporters they were met at the airport by Zimbabwean officials who turned the group back .
-The delegation is expected to return to Johannesburg later today .
-Zimbabwe 's government expelled a similar delegation last October and had warned the COSATU members that they would be deported or jailed .
-The labor group said it intended to investigate Zimbabwe 's political climate ahead of general elections scheduled for next month .
-German Defense Minister Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg says Army Inspector General Wolfgang Schneiderhan failed to provide adequate information about the incident in which civilians were killed .
-Germany 's top army officer has resigned over an investigation into a September air strike in Afghanistan in which civilians were among those killed .
-German Defense Minister Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg announced Thursday that General Wolfgang Schneiderhan had resigned .
-Guttenberg told parliament that Schneiderhan failed to provide adequate information about the incident .
-An Afghan government-appointed commission said 30 civilians were killed in the September 4 air strike in northern Kunduz province .
-A commission investigator says 69 Taliban members were also killed after a German commander ordered the NATO strike on militants who had seized two fuel trucks .
-Initial NATO investigations indicated that civilians were among the victims .
-Turkish authorities say troops killed 10 Kurdish rebels in two operations since Monday .
-The officials say seven rebels were killed in fighting with soldiers in Siirt province .
-Three other rebels were shot and killed in Van province .
-Authorities believe the three entered the area from Iran .
-Turkey 's military has recently intensified operations against the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party ( PKK ) .
-The PKK has been fighting for autonomy in Turkey 's mainly Kurdish southeast since 1984 .
-The United States , the European Union and Turkey classify the PKK as a terrorist group .
-The Sultanate of Brunei 's influence peaked between the 15th and 17th centuries when its control extended over coastal areas of northwest Borneo and the southern Philippines .
-Brunei subsequently entered a period of decline brought on by internal strife over royal succession , colonial expansion of European powers , and piracy .
-In 1888 , Brunei became a British protectorate ; independence was achieved in 1984 .
-The same family has ruled Brunei for over six centuries .
-Brunei benefits from extensive petroleum and natural gas fields , the source of one of the highest per capita GDPs in Asia .
-First inhabited by Arawak and later by Carib Indians , the Virgin Islands were settled by the Dutch in 1648 and then annexed by the English in 1672 .
-The islands were part of the British colony of the Leeward Islands from 1872 - 1960 ; they were granted autonomy in 1967 .
-The economy is closely tied to the larger and more populous US Virgin Islands to the west ; the US dollar is the legal currency .
-Aided by peace and neutrality for the whole of the 20th century , Sweden has achieved an enviable standard of living under a mixed system of high-tech capitalism and extensive welfare benefits .
-It has a modern distribution system , excellent internal and external communications , and a skilled labor force .
-In September 2003 , Swedish voters turned down entry into the euro system concerned about the impact on the economy and sovereignty .
-Timber , hydropower , and iron ore constitute the resource base of an economy heavily oriented toward foreign trade .
-Privately owned firms account for about 90 % of industrial output , of which the engineering sector accounts for 50 % of output and exports .
-Agriculture accounts for little more than 1 % of GDP and of employment .
-Until 2008 , Sweden was in the midst of a sustained economic upswing , boosted by increased domestic demand and strong exports .
-This and robust finances offered the center-right government considerable scope to implement its reform program aimed at increasing employment , reducing welfare dependence , and streamlining the state 's role in the economy .
-Despite strong finances and underlying fundamentals , the Swedish economy slid into recession in the third quarter of 2008 and growth continued downward in 2009 as deteriorating global conditions reduced export demand and consumption .
-Strong exports of commodities and a return to profitability by Sweden 's banking sector drove the strong rebound in 2010 .
-El Salvador achieved independence from Spain in 1821 and from the Central American Federation in 1839 .
-A 12-year civil war , which cost about 75,000 lives , was brought to a close in 1992 when the government and leftist rebels signed a treaty that provided for military and political reforms .
-A HARE one day ridiculed the short feet and slow pace of the Tortoise , who replied , laughing :
-" Though you be swift as the wind , I will beat you in a race . "
-The Hare , believing her assertion to be simply impossible , assented to the proposal ; and they agreed that the Fox should choose the course and fix the goal .
-On the day appointed for the race the two started together .
-The Tortoise never for a moment stopped , but went on with a slow but steady pace straight to the end of the course .
-The Hare , lying down by the wayside , fell fast asleep .
-At last waking up , and moving as fast as he could , he saw the Tortoise had reached the goal , and was comfortably dozing after her fatigue .
-Slow but steady wins the race .
-AN OWL , in her wisdom , counseled the Birds that when the acorn first began to sprout , to pull it all up out of the ground and not allow it to grow .
-She said acorns would produce mistletoe , from which an irremediable poison , the bird-lime , would be extracted and by which they would be captured .
-The Owl next advised them to pluck up the seed of the flax , which men had sown , as it was a plant which boded no good to them .
-And , lastly , the Owl , seeing an archer approach , predicted that this man , being on foot , would contrive darts armed with feathers which would fly faster than the wings of the Birds themselves .
-The Birds gave no credence to these warning words , but considered the Owl to be beside herself and said that she was mad .
-But afterwards , finding her words were TRUE , they wondered at her knowledge and deemed her to be the wisest of birds .
-Hence it is that when she appears they look to her as knowing all things , while she no longer gives them advice , but in solitude laments their past folly .
-Six Afghan police officers and two U.S. soldiers have been killed in separate roadside bombings in southern Afghanistan .
-Afghan officials say the police officers were killed and four others wounded Monday when a bomb ripped through their vehicle in the Khakrez district of Kandahar province .
-The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack .
-Two American soldiers were killed in separate bomb attacks in the south Monday .
-NATO did not give details .
-Militants have stepped up attacks as U.S.-led NATO and Afghan forces work to clear Kandahar and surrounding areas of Taliban insurgents .
-The latest violence comes as the Afghan government prepares to host a major international conference on Afghanistan in Kabul Tuesday .
-VOA 's Creole Service has set up a hotline to help Haitians everywhere reach their loved ones , after Tuesday 's devastating earthquake destroyed much of the capital , Port-au-Prince .
-People can call the Creole service at 202-205-9942 to leave messages for their family members that will be broadcast on the service 's radio programs .
-Messages can be left in either Creole or English .
-Creole service chief Ronald Cesar says VOA Creole also has extended its broadcast hours and is reaching out on Facebook and Twitter .
-VOA continues to broadcast on shortwave .
-But because most of its satellite affiliates in Haiti are off the air , the Creole service also is using a Florida-based AM frequency to reach listeners in the country .
-The French government said it has arrested the suspected military leader of the Basque terrorist group ETA near the Spanish border .
-From Paris , Lisa Bryant reports for VOA the arrest marks a further blow for hardline members of ETA .
-The French government said it had arrested suspected ETA miliatry leader Garikoitz Aspiazu Rubina along with a female colleague early Monday in the Pyrenees region near the border with Spain .
-Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie outlined some details of the arrests to French radio .
-Alliot-Marie said Aspiazu Rubina - known by his alias Txeroki - was suspected of killing two young police officers a year ago .
-Spain has also been hunting for him on suspicion of being behind a number of other attacks there .
-They include a 2006 bombing of a Madrid airport that killed two people .
-Both France and Spain have hailed the arrest as a blow to ETA , which is blamed for more than 800 deaths in Spain during its 40-year campaign for an independent Basque state .
-Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said ETA was weaker and Spanish democracy was stronger because of the arrest .
-Analysts said it further undermines ETA 's hard-line leadership , which has already suffered from the arrests of a number of its members in recent years as part of stepped up French and Spanish efforts against the group .
-Some experts believe the arrests may give voice to moderates in the Basque group who back dialogue rather than arms to achieve their aims .
-ETA has been blamed for killing five people after renouncing a unilateral ceasefire in 2007 .
-The U.S. military says coalition soldiers in Iraq have killed 24 insurgents who attacked a coalition convoy outside Baghdad .
-Authorities say six troops and seven insurgents were wounded in the fighting , which occurred late Sunday about 30 kilometers southeast of the capital .
-Elsewhere , authorities say a car bomb exploded Monday in the center of Samarra , wounding at least 10 people .
-The Associated Press says a truck loaded with explosives apparently detonated prematurely near a hospital .
-Separately , one U.S. soldier was killed in an insurgent attack in Kirkuk , while another soldier and a Marine were killed during security operations in Al Anbar province , west of Baghdad .
-U.S. auto giant General Motors is reported to be in preliminary talks with Chrysler about a possible merger .
-The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal cite people familiar with the discussions .
-They say the talks began last month between GM and Cerberus Capital Management , a private equity firm that owns Chrysler .
-The possible merger could reduce the so-called " Big Three " automakers of Detroit to the Big Two .
-Ford is also based in Detroit .
-The New York Times reports Cerberus is also in talks with other automakers , including Nissan and Renault .
-The global financial crisis has increased fears the Unites States ' biggest automakers could be forced into bankruptcy .
-Car sales have fallen sharply and analysts say potential car buyers can not get loans .
-Delegates to the United Nations Climate Change conference in Montreal have agreed to launch more talks on long term cuts in greenhouse gasses after marathon negotiations extended into an unscheduled 13th day .
-The officials reached agreement early Saturday after all-night meetings .
-The talks had stalled when the U.S. delegation did not approve the text of a Canadian proposal for future talks on the issue .
-President Bush withdrew from the current Kyoto Protocol in 2001 , saying its limits on greenhouse gasses would harm the U.S. economy because developing countries were not held to the same standards .
-Former president Bill Clinton says the Bush administration is " flat wrong . "
-Also Saturday , Kyoto Protocol members agreed to hold more talks among themselves on emission cuts beyond the current phase of the treaty which ends in 2012 .
-African Union mediators who are brokering peace talks among warring parties in Sudan 's Darfur region have extended by 48 hours a deadline on negotiations .
-The initial deadline expired at midnight Sunday , but the lead mediator for the AU , Salim Ahmed Salim said early Monday the deadline was extended following a request from the United States .
-The government of Sudan had said it was prepared to sign the peace agreement which was the result of two years of talks .
-But rebel groups said on Sunday they would not sign and insisted on changes .
-The rebels said they wanted better terms for integrating their forces into the Sudanese army , and for disarming pro-government Janjaweed militias .
-Three years of violence in Darfur between government-backed forces and Darfur rebels have left tens of thousands of people dead and more than two million displaced .
-U.N. troops have exchanged gunfire with gang members in Haiti 's largest slum in the first such confrontation in weeks .
-U.N. officials late Thursday said the trouble happened Wednesday , in the Cite Soleil slum after gunmen shot at the peacekeepers .
-Officials could not confirm reports of casualties but said no peacekeepers were injured .
-Cite Soleil was a focal point of violence following the February 2004 ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide .
-Also this week , Haiti 's Parliament approved a new Cabinet in a vote that formally confirms President Rene Preval 's choice for prime minister , Jacques Edouard Alexis .
-President Preval was sworn in last month after winning elections in February .
-Turkish media say the prosecutor 's office has started a legal process to shut the country 's main pro-Kurdish political party , alleging it has ties to Kurdish rebels .
-The reports say Turkey 's chief prosecutor , Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya , filed a case at the Constitutional Court to ban the Democratic Society Party - the DTP .
-The move follows the DTP 's call for autonomy for the mainly Kurdish region of southeastern Turkey as a way to resolve more than two decades of separatist violence spearheaded by the Kurdistan Workers Party - the PKK .
-In the past , Turkey has banned pro-Kurdish parties for links to PKK rebels .
-Turkey has been pressing Iraq to crack down on PKK guerrillas who shelter in northern Iraq .
-Turkey has also threatened cross-border military operations against the PKK .
-The Iraqi election commission says the main Shi'ite coalition has maintained a strong showing in Sunday 's landmark elections .
-Partial results show the United Iraqi Alliance , which has the support of influential Shi'ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani , with 2.2 million of the 3.3 million votes counted so far .
-The party of interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi is in second place with less than 20 percent support .
-The results so far are from mainly Shi'ite regions , and a complete tabulation is not expected for another week .
-Meanwhile , the U.S. military says an American soldier was killed Thursday when a troop convoy was hit by a roadside bomb in the northern city of Mosul .
-Thousands of Ugandans took to the streets Monday to celebrate the release on bail of opposition leader Kizza Besigye .
-Dr. Besigye walked out of a Kampala courthouse Monday after a Ugandan High Court judge , John Bosco Katutsi , ruled his detention by the military was illegal .
-Police fired tear gas to disperse the celebrating supporters .
-The military had held Dr. Besigye since November , when he returned from self-imposed exile to run in next month 's elections against President Yoweri Museveni .
-A military tribunal has charged Dr. Besigye with terrorism and illegal firearms possession .
-But the judge said the military 's authority to hold him expired last month , when the High Court ordered the tribunal suspended .
-Dr. Besigye still faces civilian charges of rape and treason .
-He has denied all the charges , which supporters say are politically motivated .
-Official Iranian news reports say parliament has rejected President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad 's third nominee for the post of oil minister .
-The reports say Mohsen Tasalouti - a trained architect - failed Wednesday to win a vote of confidence , after lawmakers argued he was not qualified to run the all-important ministry .
-Oil exports generate 80 percent of Iran 's public revenues .
-The president 's first nominee for the post , Ali Saeedlou was rejected in August by lawmakers who said he was not qualified .
-A second nominee , General Sadeq Mahsouli - a Revolutionary Guards commander with no oil experience - withdrew his candidacy earlier this month when it became clear parliament would reject him as well .
-The ministry is currently being run by a deputy oil minister under former President Mohammed Khatami .
-Israel 's elder statesman , Nobel laureate Shimon Peres , has been ousted as the Labor party leader by a trade unionist who says he will quit the ruling coalition government and force early elections .
-Trade union chief Amir Peretz won a vote among 1,00,000 rank-and-file Labor Party members Thursday .
-A short while after his upset win , Mr. Peretz said he would press Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to set a date for national elections .
-Mr. Peretz linked Labor 's pullout from the ruling coalition to party opposition to free market reforms and spending cuts .
-Mr. Peres brought his party into the ruling coalition last year as a junior partner to help back Prime Minister Sharon 's evacuation of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip .
-Most analysts had expected Mr. Peres , a former prime minister , to retain his party 's leadership post .
-A spokesman for Iran 's Supreme National Security Council is denying a report that says the council head and top nuclear negotiator Hassan Rowhani has resigned .
-Spokesman Ali Agha-Mohammadi says the resignation announcement published Wednesday by the state news agency IRNA was " completely " FALSE .
-The IRNA report quoted an informed source as saying Mr. Rowhani , who heads ongoing nuclear talks with the European Union , has sent his resignation letter to outgoing President Mohammed Khatami .
-There has been growing media speculation in recent days that Mr. Rowhani would quit to allow President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to fill the position .
-India and Burma have signed several new agreements to build stronger economic and defense ties , during a visit to India by Burma 's reclusive military ruler .
-Senior General Than Shwe , received a formal welcome Tuesday in New Delhi , where he met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other Indian officials .
-The two countries signed five agreements following the talks , including a plan to jointly combat arms smuggling across their shared border .
-India also agreed to help Burma in a host of projects such as building roads , developing waterways , and a port .
-Rights groups have criticized India for engaging with Burma , citing concerns about the Burmese government 's continued repression of its political opponents .
-Pro-democracy activists have held demonstrations in New Delhi to protest against Than Shwe 's five-day visit .
-Aside from their shared border , Burma is of important strategic interest to India because of its large natural gas reserves .
-Gunmen in the Somali capital , Mogadishu , have killed the head of the U.N. Development Program for Somalia .
-Osman Ali Ahmed was shot dead Sunday as he left a Mogadishu mosque .
-Witnesses say another man also was wounded in the attack .
-No one has claimed responsibility .
-Attacks on aid workers and other officials are common in Somalia , where Islamist insurgents are fighting the Ethiopian-backed interim government .
-On Saturday , a land mine killed a Mogadishu city official and at least three security guards .
-Somalia has not had a fully functioning central government since 1991 , when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and turned on each other .
-The United States has called North Korea 's missile programs a global threat after the communist nation reportedly fired two missiles near its border with China .
-Media reports differed on whether the missiles were launched as a test or by mistake .
-However , a White House spokesman , Scott McClellan , said the launches were similar to previous tests carried out by North Korea .
-Pyongyang has offered no public information about the missile launches .
-Meanwhile , the chief U.S. negotiator at stalled nuclear talks , Christopher Hill , says North Korea is blocking progress in the negotiations .
-Earlier Wednesday , a senior North Korean diplomat , Li Gun , repeated Pyongyang 's refusal to return to talks over its nuclear program until the United States lifts financial sanctions on North Korean assets .
-The United Nations anti-drug chief has called for a strong military action by NATO forces to destroy the opium industry in southern Afghanistan .
-Head of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime Antonio Maria Costa Tuesday urged NATO countries to give the alliance the mandate to stop what he called the vicious circle of drugs funding terrorists and terrorists protecting drug traffickers .
-In an unrelated development , a U.S.-led coalition soldier died and another one was injured when their armored vehicle rolled over during a combat mission in eastern Kunar province late Monday .
-Separately , unknown gunmen kidnapped a Colombian aid worker and two Afghan employees of a French-funded aid agency in central Wardak province .
-Local officials say the three disappeared Sunday and that police are looking for them .
-It is not clear why they were in the remote area .
-The U.S. has reopened its embassy and other offices in South Africa , three days after closing them because of a security threat .
-U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Sharon Hudson-Dean said the embassy in Pretoria and other facilities were open for business Friday .
-U.S. officials have not given any details about the threat that prompted them to close the embassy , three consulates , and U.S. aid offices on Tuesday .
-However , a South African newspaper said the United States took action following a threat from an al-Qaida splinter group .
-In a Thursday report , The Pretoria News said the splinter group telephoned the embassy Monday and apparently gave detailed information about possible attacks against several U.S. government buildings in South Africa .
-The newspaper says its information is from " well-placed security sources . "
-It cites an intelligence source as saying the call to the embassy is believed to have come from South Africa .
-Defending champion Serena Williams of the United States has advanced to the third round of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne , taking less than an hour to beat Camille Pin of France 06-Mar , 06-Jan .
-Top seeded American Lindsay Davenport won her second round match today , beating Karolina Sprem of Croatia 07-Jun , 06-Mar .
-Fourth seeded Maria Sharapova of Russia dispatched of Ashley Harkleroad of the United States in straight sets , 06-Jan , 07-May .
-Other women advancing Wednesday included sixth seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia and eighth-seeded Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium .
-On the men 's side , second seeded Andy Roddick of the United States advanced to the third round , after beating South African Wesley Moodie , 07-May , 06-Mar , 06-Feb .
-Also winning their second round matches were seventh seeded Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia , eighth seed Gaston Gaudio of Argentina and number 20 James Blake of the United States .
-A group of Croatian activists , opposed to President Bush 's visit , have signed a huge postcard inviting the U.S. president not to return to their country .
-The activists Saturday presented the postcard , which included the phrase " Do n't Come Back , " to the Croatian Foreign Ministry , after police prevented them from presenting it to Mr. Bush directly .
-They hope the ministry will send it on to the United States .
-Those signing urged Mr. Bush , among other things , to halt activities that hurt the environment , ratify the Kyoto Protocol , withdraw U.S. troops from the Middle East and close down the terrorist detention center at the U.S. Naval base in Guantanamo Bay , Cuba .
-An African Union official says two of the mission 's peacekeepers have been killed in an ambush in Sudan 's volatile Darfur region .
-The acting head of the AU mission in Sudan , Jean-Baptiste Natama , said the two peacekeeping soldiers , as well as two civilian contractors , were killed Saturday during a surprise attack in South Darfur .
-More than 6,000 African Union peacekeepers are deployed to the region .
-Fighting between Sudanese rebels and government-backed Arab militia in Darfur has killed tens of thousands of people and driven more than two million others from their homes since 2003 .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has accused the United States of supporting an alleged separatist movement in Venezuela 's oil-rich Zulia state .
-Mr. Chavez said on Venezuelan television this week that the United States backs an effort in Zulia state by a group called Rumbo Propio , or " our own path , " to hold a referendum on breaking away from the government in Caracas .
-The head of the ruling MVR party , William Lara , has accused the U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela , William Brownfield , of meeting with the group .
-But the U.S. embassy in Caracas told the Daily Journal newspaper there is no record of such a meeting .
-Officials announced this week that Rumbo Propio is under investigation for possible treason .
-President Chavez has repeatedly accused the United States of plotting to overthrow his government .
-President Bush and Macedonian Prime Minister Vlado Buckovski have met at the White House to discuss reforms in Macedonia and the situation in Iraq .
-Following their talks , Mr. Bush praised Macedonia for showing the world it is possible for people of different backgrounds to live together in peace .
-He said his discussions with Mr. Buckovski also covered Macedonia 's aspirations to join NATO .
-Mr. Bush also thanked Mr. Buckovski for sending Macedonian troops to Iraq and Afghanistan .
-The Macedonian leader said his forces will stay in those countries for as long as they are needed .
-Mr. Buckovski is also meeting at the Pentagon with U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld .
-Friday , he will be in New York for a United Nations Development Program donors ' conference on Macedonia .
-He winds up his U.S. trip with a stop in Detroit for a meeting with Macedonian-American community leaders .
-The Palestinian parliament has approved a new cabinet dominated by technocrats and professional appointees .
-The approval Thursday comes after Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia bowed to lawmakers ' demands to replace several officials closely associated with the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat .
-The new lineup includes Arafat-allies Nabil Shaath , who becomes deputy prime minister , and Nasser al-Qidwa , Mr. Arafat 's nephew , who replaces Mr. Shaath as foreign minister .
-Saeb Erekat , who was an Arafat ally and former minister of negotiations , was left out .
-The cabinet was approved after President Mahmoud Abbas pressured the dominant Fatah faction to accept a revised lineup .
-Mr. Abbas made reform of the Palestinian Authority a key platform of his recent presidential campaign .
-The Authority was plagued with corruption under Mr. Arafat , who died in November .
-Parliament approved the new cabinet in a vote of 54 to 12 with four abstentions .
-London-based Amnesty International has called on Iranian authorities to release dozens of journalists it says are in jail after being arrested during protests since the disputed June 12 election .
-The human rights group says the journalists are at risk of torture in detention .
-Amnesty International says most of the journalists being jailed worked for the newspaper Kalameh Sabz , which was established by the runner-up in the poll , Mir Hossein Mousavi .
-A spokesman for the group said the organization assumes Iran 's government is trying to hide evidence of abuse , and further silence any critical voice .
-In addition to the imprisonment of journalists , Amnesty condemns efforts by authorities to interrupt the Internet inside Iran , ban coverage of the unrest in local publications and prevent foreign journalists from doing their work properly .
-Nigerian police say armed men wearing camouflage uniforms have kidnapped a German oil industry worker in the country 's Niger Delta region .
-A police spokesman says the kidnappers took the worker from his car near the southern city of Port Harcourt Thursday .
-The German man works for the company Bilfinger Berger .
-Police have not named any suspects in the case .
-Kidnappings are common in the delta region .
-Local militants want residents to receive more of the region 's oil revenues .
-On Monday , Nigerian militants released eight soldiers and 16 oil workers they had held hostage at an oil pumping station for a week .
-Nigeria normally produces about 2.5 million barrels of oil per day .
-But recent attacks on oil facilities and the kidnappings have slashed production by at least 20 percent since February .
-Two of the fastest men in the world , Jamaicans Asafa Powell and Usain Bolt , have finished in first and second place respectively in the 100-meter race at the DN Galan meet in Stockholm .
-Powell won the highly anticipated rematch Tuesday in 9.88 seconds .
-Bolt was slow out of the starting blocks , but nearly caught up and finished just one-100th of one second back .
-Bolt set the world record of 9.72 seconds on May 31 , breaking Powell 's mark by two-100ths of one second .
-But at the Beijing Olympics next month , both Jamaicans will also battle American sprinter Tyson Gay , who ran the fastest time ever recorded for the 100 meter distance .
-Gay clocked a wind-assisted time of 9.68 seconds on June 30 .
-The United States says it will send a team of diplomats to the Horn of Africa region to try to resolve the border dispute between Eritrea and Ethiopia .
-The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations , John Bolton , says the delegation will focus on " how to begin implementation of the border demarcation process . "
-He said the delegation will be led by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African affairs Jendayi Frazer .
-Mr. Bolton spoke to reporters after the U.N. Security Council discussed Eritrea and Ethiopia in a closed-door meeting Monday .
-Eritrea says the U.N. has done too little to make Ethiopia accept a borderline drawn by an independent panel .
-U.N. officials have said the situation on the two countries ' border remains " tense and potentially volatile . "
-Eritrea and Ethiopia fought a border war between 1998 and 2000 that killed 70,000 people .
-Thousands of anti-globalization activists marched in the streets of Hong Kong Sunday as the city prepares to host the World Trade Organization 's ( WTO ) annual summit .
-The peaceful two-hour march by nearly 4,000 protesters was said to have a carnival-like atmosphere , with dozens of groups holding gaudy props while wearing colorful costumes .
-The march was the first of three large demonstrations planned for the summit .
-Another will be held Tuesday when the ministerial conference kicks off .
-The final protest rally is scheduled for the closing day next Sunday .
-Authorities in Hong Kong have been worried about a repeat of the violence , which marred previous trade meetings in Cancun and Seattle .
-Thousands of police have been put on alert for the Hong Kong summit .
-Brother of Iraqi policeman cries over coffin during funeral in Baghdad , Friday
-A series of insurgent attacks across Iraq killed at least 30 people Saturday , including a number of police recruits .
-A suicide bomber blew himself up outside a police recruiting station in central Baghdad , killing at least 16 people .
-Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility in an Internet posting , although the statement 's authenticity could not be confirmed .
-Two separate suicide bomb attacks in a city south of Baghdad - one at a police checkpoint and a second attack targeting civilians - left another 10 people dead .
-A bomb hidden in a vegetable cart exploded south of Baghdad as the funeral procession for a slain top Shi'ite cleric passed close by , killing two people .
-No one in the funeral party was injured .
-Gunmen and roadside bombs also targeted police officials and Iraqi soldiers in separate attacks elsewhere in Iraq .
-Three-time U.S. college basketball champion coach Mike Krzyzewski of Duke University has been officially named as the U.S. men 's national team coach .
-His primary task is to bring the Olympic title back to the United States .
-The announcement by USA Basketball Wednesday came two weeks after Krzyzewski 's appointment was widely reported .
-The move puts a college coach in charge of the U.S. team for the first times since National Basketball Players first began playing in the 1992 Olympics .
-The United States ' " Dream Team " won gold at the 1992 Barcelona Games .
-Teams with NBA players repeated the feat in 1996 and 2000 .
-But the U.S. team finished sixth in the 2002 World Championship and took the bronze medal in Athens last year .
-The United Nations says it is investigating Eritrean claims that Ethiopian troops entered its territory and attacked a village .
-Eritrea 's Information Ministry said Wednesday Ethiopian troops crossed into a remote Eritrean village in late November , set fire to 10 houses and kidnapped five people .
-The commander of the U.N. peacekeeping force for Eritrea and Ethiopia said Thursday an investigation is underway .
-He said the 1,000 kilometer border between the two countries continues " peaceful and stable , " despite allegations of an Ethiopian incursion .
-Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a two and a half year border war between 1998 and 2000 that left more than 70,000 people dead .
-Both countries agreed to a ceasefire and international mediation , including an independent boundary commission whose decision would be final and binding .
-China is denying a United Nations investigator 's report of widespread torture in China , and accuses the envoy of jumping to conclusions .
-Speaking Tuesday in Beijing , a Foreign Ministry spokesman , Qin Gang , said the U.N. rapporteur on torture , Manfred Nowak , presented a report that was not factual because he only visited three Chinese cities during his two-week visit .
-The spokesman also denied Mr. Nowak 's claim that Chinese officials obstructed his fact-finding mission , particularly when visiting detention centers .
-Mr. Nowak told VOA that officials monitored his interviews with lawyers and family members of prisoners .
-However , he said he was able to determine that torture is widespread , including beatings , the use of electric shock batons , and dunking in filthy water .
-Mr. Nowak 's visit to China included stops in Tibet and the Muslim-majority region of Xinjiang .
-The trip resulted from 10 years of negotiations .
-A Russian general says placing elements of a U.S. anti-missile system in Poland and the Czech Republic would be a " clear threat " to Moscow .
-Lieutenant General Vladimir Popovkin , the chief of Russia 's Space Forces , disputed the U.S. contention that the system 's sole aim was to defend Europe against intercontinental missiles fired by hostile states outside the region .
-Poland and the Czech Republic have agreed to start detailed discussions with Washington on hosting anti-missile defenses .
-Russian officials have repeatedly opposed the project , calling it a veiled attempt to change the strategic balance between Russia and the West .
-Both Poland and the Czech Republic are former communist Warsaw Pact countries that are now NATO members .
-Israel is pushing ahead with its campaign against Palestinian rocket attacks , with a series of air strikes Monday that killed at least five Palestinians .
-In the deadliest attack , an air strike on a car killed at least four Islamic Jihad militants in the northern Gaza Strip .
-On Sunday , Palestinian officials said an Israeli air strike on the Gaza City home of a Hamas lawmaker killed eight people .
-The attack outraged Hamas , which promised revenge .
-Israel launched the attack hours after its security Cabinet said it would intensify operations in Gaza to stop Palestinian militants from firing rockets into Israel .
-Cabinet ministers threatened to target Hamas leaders .
-Nearly 40 Palestinians have been killed since Israel began its campaign last week .
-European Union Foreign Policy chief Javier Solana has left on a visit to the Middle East to urge an end to the violence .
-Palestinian health officials say a Hamas militant is dead and that 16 people have been wounded in an explosion Saturday at a home in Gaza City .
-Officials say two of the wounded are in critical condition .
-Witnesses say the home belonged to the victim , a Hamas activist named Nader Abu Shaban .
-Officials say the cause of the explosion is under investigation .
-Several Palestinians have been killed after explosives being stored , or made , in their homes accidentally detonated .
-A leading Hong Kong newspaper is reporting that Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa has informed his cabinet he is stepping down .
-Tuesday 's South China Morning Post quotes an unidentified cabinet minister who says Mr. Tung is quitting because he is tired and his health is not good .
-No timetable was given .
-Hong Kong media reported last week that Mr. Tung had submitted his resignation to Beijing .
-He has made no official comment on those reports .
-Mr. Tung has two years remaining on his five-year term .
-Pro-democracy advocates fear Beijing will give his successor a fresh five-year term , further blocking hopes for greater autonomy .
-But a senior Chinese official says any successor would have to complete Mr. Tung 's term in office .
-Pakistan says the kidnapped employee of its Baghdad embassy appears to have been abducted for ransom .
-A Foreign Ministry spokesman Jalil Abbas told reporters in Islamabad Monday that Malik Mohammed Javed is safe and well and is in contact with senior officials at the embassy .
-Mr. Javed has not been seen since Saturday , when he left home for evening prayers at a Baghdad Mosque .
-Scores of foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq over the past year , some by groups with political demands , others by criminals seeking ransom .
-There has been no word about three Romanian journalists and an Iraqi assistant kidnapped nearly two weeks ago on the outskirts of Baghdad .
-The fate of an Iraqi general abducted last week is also not known .
-A suicide bomber has killed at least 30 people and wounded nearly 20 others on a bus in Baghdad .
-The bus was crowded with people , traveling to the mostly Shi'ite city , Nasiriyah , southeast of Baghdad .
-The bus was about to depart the al-Nahda station in the east Baghdad town of Rusafa , early Thursday , when the attack occurred .
-Witnesses told police that they believe a suicide bomber , wearing an explosive belt , climbed onto the bus minutes before the explosion .
-The bus station is a major hub for vehicles traveling to and from the mostly Shi'ite cities in the south of the country .
-In August , three car bombs exploded at the station , killing more than 40 people .
-Suicide attacks have been on the rise ahead of crucial national elections in Iraq next Thursday .
-The al-Qaida in Iraq terrorist group has claimed responsibility for several of the large attacks .
-Grieving families in northern Iraq have canceled plans for a mass funeral for dozens of suicide bomb victims because of concerns it would be attacked .
-Religious leaders say families and politicians agreed to hold private funerals across the city of Mosul , Friday .
-The decision came as a mortar round landed near a Shi'ite mosque where a suicide bomber blew himself up Thursday , killing 47 people and wounding more than 80 others .
-On the political front , Iraq 's main Shi'ite alliance , which swept the January 30 elections , was finalizing a deal with Kurdish leaders to form a coalition ahead of the new parliament 's first session next Wednesday .
-Meanwhile , a Polish newspaper quoted Defense Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski as saying Poland will withdraw several hundred of its troops from Iraq in July .
-The price of oil hit another new record Friday - $ 147 a barrel .
-U.S. airlines are lightening their loads by cutting back on luxuries that weigh down airplanes .
-Meanwhile , the U.S. Congress is considering proposed laws that some say would help stabilize the price of oil .
-VOA 's Carolyn Presutti reports .
-Hundreds of Afghan students have held a protest over an American magazine report that copies of the Koran were desecrated at the U.S. jail in Guantanamo Bay , Cuba .
-The students marched through the eastern city of Jalalabad Tuesday chanting " Death to America " and burning an effigy of President Bush .
-A recent edition of U.S. Newsweek magazine reports that in an effort to rattle imprisoned terrorism suspects , American interrogators placed Korans on toilets and in one case flushed one of the holy books down the toilet .
-The government of neighboring Pakistan has called for an inquiry into the matter .
-The United States is holding more than 500 people at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay , many of them al-Qaida and Taleban suspects captured following the September 11 , 2001 attacks on America .
-A U.S. rights organization says a group of jailed Burmese activists are staging a hunger strike to demand medical treatment for an injured colleague .
-The Washington-based U.S. Campaign for Burma says 41 detained pro-democracy activists have been on a hunger strike since August 30 .
-It says they are demanding treatment for another jailed activist whose leg was broken during his arrest by Burmese police .
-The rights group also is calling on Burma 's military government to give Red Cross workers access to the prisoners .
-Authorities have barred the International Committee of the Red Cross from Burmese prisons since December 2005 .
-Burma 's opposition says police have arrested more than 100 activists in a crackdown on recent protests around the country .
-The government puts the figure at around 50 .
-Burmese activists have held a series of rare public demonstrations in recent weeks to protest the government 's decision to sharply increase the price of fuel .
-Mexican authorities are investigating an explosion at an oil pipeline in Puebla State that killed at least 28 people , including at least 12 children .
-Officials say the blast may have been set off by thieves trying to steal crude oil , but have not ruled out a possible mechanical malfunction .
-Puebla state officials described the scene in the town of San Martin Texmelucan as " rivers of fire in the streets . "
-At least 30 homes were destroyed and dozens more damaged , forcing people to flee for their lives .
-More than 50 people were injured .
-The state-owned Pemex oil company said the pipeline was carrying crude oil under high pressure .
-Fuel theft is rampant in the area , with hundreds of millions of dollars lost each year .
-American gymnast Paul Hamm has announced that he will not be able to compete at the Beijing Olympics and defend his men 's all-around title .
-Hamm officially notified USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic Committee on Monday that he is withdrawing from the team .
-He said his right hand , which he broke at the national championships in May , had not healed enough for him to compete .
-Hamm also hurt his rotator cuff in an accelerated recovery effort designed to get him ready for the Beijing Games .
-The 25-year-old Hamm decided it would be better for the team to take a fully healthy gymnast to Beijing in his place .
-The loss is a blow to the American squad 's medal hopes .
-Hamm had been expected to participate in all six events in team qualifying and probably all six in the team finals as well .
-One of three alternates will take Hamm 's spot in Beijing .
-Ukrainian officials say they are considering imposition of a quarantine throughout the country 's Crimean Peninsula after a British laboratory confirmed that the bird flu in the area is a variety deadly to humans .
-Agriculture Ministry spokesman , Oleksander Horobets , says the British laboratory confirmed that the virus is the deadly H5N1 strain that has killed more than 70 people in East Asia since 2003 .
-He said authorities in the next few days will consider further measures .
-President Viktor Yushchenko declared a state of emergency after the virus was first detected in northeastern Crimea earlier this month and then spread to at least 15 villages .
-Authorities have destroyed more than 60,000 domestic birds despite strong opposition from villagers who depend on them for food .
-The poultry are thought to have contracted the virus from migrating wild birds that travel by the millions over the area .
-Pakistani authorities say a bomb blast at a Shi'ite mosque in the North West Frontier Province has killed four people and wounded at least three others .
-Police say the bomb went off Monday as worshipers were leaving the mosque in Dera Ismail Khan after evening prayers .
-The bomb destroyed the mosque 's front wall and damaged its dome .
-Police cordoned off the area as people searched the rubble for survivors .
-No one has claimed responsibility for the attack .
-Dera Ismail Khan has a history of sectarian violence .
-Last month , gunmen killed at least six Shi'ite Muslims in two suspected sectarian attacks in the city .
-Pakistan has a history of violence between the majority Sunni and minority Shi'ite Muslims .
-The communities generally coexist peacefully , but militants from both sides have attacked each other since the 1980s , killing thousands of people .
-Environment ministers from haze-hit Southeast Asian nations are gathering in Indonesia to discuss ways to combat annual blazes that create a choking cloud of smoke over the region .
-Ministers from Indonesia , Singapore , Malaysia , Thailand and Brunei are meeting Friday in the Indonesian town of Pekanbara on Sumatra island , one of the worst areas hit by haze each year .
-Jakarta said Thursday that it would sign a regional treaty to boost cooperation in tackling the problem .
-President Susilo Bambang Yudhyono apologized earlier this week for the smoke that has blanketed the region .
-Malaysia , Singapore and other regional neighbors have been calling on Indonesia to take serious action against the fires , lit each year by plantation companies and farmers to clear land .
-The haze hit its worst levels from 1997 to 1998 , costing the Southeast Asian region $ 9 billion in losses from declines in tourism and business activities .
-Jordan 's King Abdullah says his country is seeking its own nuclear energy program .
-In an interview with Israel 's Haaretz newspaper Friday , King Abdullah said Jordan wants nuclear power for peaceful purposes and has been discussing plans with the West .
-In response to a question about Iran 's nuclear program , King Abdullah said that Jordan had previously advocated a nuclear-free Middle East , but he said " the rules have changed " throughout the region .
-He also noted that Egypt and the Gulf Cooperation Council have begun looking into nuclear programs .
-King Abdullah said he believes that any country with a nuclear program should conform to international regulations .
-The United States and its Western allies say Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons .
-Tehran denies the charges .
-A Los Angeles judge has ruled that Phil Spector 's ex-girlfriend may testify that he twice pointed guns at her head .
-The April 10 ruling means that jurors at the music producer 's murder trial will hear that Spector has twice before engaged in what prosecutors allege are strikingly similar gun incidents .
-Phil Spector 's lawyers unsuccessfully attempted to bar the testimony of Devra Robitaille , his ex-girlfriend and employee .
-They claimed her evidence , citing incidents from the 1970s and '80s , was irrelevent and would delay the start of the trial .
-Opening statments in the case are expected to begin in late April or early May .
-Phil Spector , a pop music producer famed for his " wall of sound " technique , is accused of the fatal 2003 shooting of actress Lana Clarkson .
-He has pleaded innocent , saying she committed suicide .
-Austrian alpine skier Benjamin Raich has padded his lead atop the season 's overall standings by winning a World Cup super-combined event in Wengen , Switzerland .
-American Bode Miller was second-fastest in the morning 's downhill run and appeared to have won after the afternoon slalom but was disqualified for straddling a gate just meters from the finish line .
-Raich was only 13th after the downhill run , but he skied a fast slalom leg to win with a combined time ( of 2.38.46 ) that was 0.19 seconds faster than Kjetil Andre Aamodt of Norway ( 0.110474537 ) .
-Italian Peter Fill posted his first career podium result in a World Cup event , placing third ( 0.110625 ) .
-The super-combi is a new version of the traditional combined race .
-It adds the times from a shortened downhill run in the morning to a single slalom leg a few hours later .
-Iraqi police say a suicide car bomber attacked a security checkpoint in central Baghdad Monday , killing at least two people and wounding five others , mostly policemen .
-The attack took place near a gate into the Iraqi capital 's heavily fortified Green Zone , where most U.S. and Iraqi government offices are located .
-Separately , the U.S. military said two American airmen were killed and another wounded in a roadside bomb blast on Sunday near an airbase ( Taji ) north of Baghdad .
-In another development , the trial of ousted leader Saddam Hussein is scheduled to resume Tuesday , but it is not yet clear who will preside in court .
-News reports say senior officials are urging chief judge Rizgar Muhammad Amin to stay on .
-The jurist resigned earlier this month after criticism of his handling of the trial .
-The tribunal has not yet accepted his resignation .
-Major U.S. professional sports organizations are adding a financial boost to relief efforts following Hurricane Katrina .
-The National Football League says it is donating $ 1 million to the American Red Cross to assist hurricane victims in Louisiana , Mississippi and Alabama .
-The NFL also says it is working on other ways to assist .
-The National Basketball Association and Women 's NBA are combining their aid efforts .
-Players are making donations and helping directly with the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency .
-The American Red Cross is raising money at WNBA playoff games in Los Angeles and Indiana .
-Major League Baseball teams are also gathering money and donating items to help .
-Clothes and non-perishable food items were collected Wednesday at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles .
-Congolese President Joseph Kabila has suspended mining in a volatile region of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo .
-President Kabila ordered the suspension during a visit to the mining hub town of Walikale , reportedly to try to clean up the sector and weed out rebel groups fueling conflict there .
-More than 240 people were raped near Walikale during attacks by Rwandan Hutu and Congolese rebels between July 30 and August 3 .
-It was not immediately clear if the president 's ban applied to areas outside of Walikale .
-Eastern Congo 's provinces are rich in minerals like coltan and cassiterite , which are used by Western companies in the manufacturing of mobile phones and computers .
-However , control over those minerals has fueled persistent conflict between armed militias competing for dominance .
-The conflict is also fueled by ethnic hatred leftover from the 1994 slaughter of Tutsis in neighboring Rwanda as well as Congo 's civil wars .
-U.S. military officials in Iraq say American soldiers and Iraqi police have detained more than 50 people during raids in search of insurgents around the city of Baquba , north of Baghdad .
-A statement Sunday says a number of weapons were also found during Saturday 's raids , around the towns of Buhriz and Hib Hib .
-Elsewhere Saturday , at least 10 Iraqis and a U.S. Marine were killed in several insurgent attacks across the country .
-In another development , Dinesh Dharmendra Rajaratnam , a Sri Lankan truck driver set free by Iraqi militants last week after he was kidnapped in October , returned home Sunday , where he was reunited with his family .
-Pakistan has successfully tested a surface-to-surface missile with a range of 2,500 kilometers .
-In a military statement Saturday , the South Asian country said the test was the second for the Hatf Six missile , which was earlier tested in March of 2005 .
-Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz witnessed the test , which was carried out at an undisclosed location .
-Aziz congratulated the scientists , engineers and the technical staff of Pakistan 's Strategic Organization .
-The military statement said Hatf Six is Pakistan 's longest range ballistic missile system and can carry nuclear and conventional warheads with great accuracy .
-Regional rivals Pakistan and India have routinely conducted missile tests since they both conducted underground nuclear tests in 1998 .
-The U.S. defense secretary is in Macedonia , where he will participate in a meeting of the region 's defense ministers .
-Robert Gates arrived Tuesday in the southwestern town of Ohrid for the annual meeting of the Southeast Europe Defense Ministers .
-He will attend an informal meeting of NATO defense officials in the Hungarian capital , Budapest , on Thursday and Friday .
-Macedonia is a candidate for NATO membership , but alliance member Greece has blocked Macedonia 's bid because Macedonia shares its name with a Greek province .
-Gates arrived today from Kosovo , the Serbian province that declared independence in February .
-In the capital , Pristina , Gates reaffirmed U.S. support for Kosovo 's territorial integrity and vowed to maintain a U.S. military presence there until at least 2009 .
-Secretary Gates is the most senior U.S. official to visit Kosovo since it declared independence .
-More than 1,000 people gathered in Istanbul Saturday to protest attacks by separatist Kurdish rebels in southeast Turkey .
-Demonstrators walked silently through the streets of the capital carrying Turkish flags and banners calling for an end to terror .
-The marchers were responding to a call by the Turkish military for mass opposition to the attacks by the Kurdistan Workers Party , known as the PKK .
-The Turkish government , along with the United States and the European Union , consider the Kurdish group a terrorist organization .
-The PKK has been fighting for autonomy since 1984 and an estimated 30-thousand people have died in the violence .
-United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has strongly condemned the killing of an African Union interpreter in the Kalma refugee camp in Sudan 's Darfur region .
-On Monday , the top U.N. humanitarian official Jan Egeland fled the camp when a large group of demonstrators asking for protection from peacekeepers turned violent .
-The U.N. group fled , but a translator was later killed by the angry mob .
-In a statement issued Tuesday , Mr. Annan also criticized other recent attacks on humanitarian groups working in Darfur and Chad , including a U.N. staff member who was shot and critically wounded last week in eastern Chad .
-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is scheduled to appear at the U.N. Security Council today to call for speeding up the deployment of peacekeepers to the Darfur region .
-Sudan is under pressure to allow the United Nations to take over peacekeeping efforts from the African Union .
-Election officials in Afghanistan say they have dismissed some 50 employees for suspected fraud in last month 's legislative elections .
-Chief of operations for the joint U.N.-Afghan election commission , Richard Atwood , says more than 650 ballot boxes - or about three percent of votes - have been taken out of the counting process because of suspicions they were stuffed .
-But Mr. Atwood ruled out a recount , saying the fraud was not widespread and does not affect the integrity of the election .
-Accusations of irregularities in the count of the September 18 vote sparked demonstrations across the country .
-Meanwhile , human rights advocates warned that many of the winning candidates have links to armed groups , and that at least two former members of the Taleban have been elected to parliament .
-Cuba has officially ended circulation of the U.S. dollar , a move Cuban leader Fidel Castro says is in response to tightening U.S. sanctions .
-The ban on the dollar went into effect Monday , preventing hotels , stores and restaurants from using the currency .
-Those business will now only accept a " convertible peso " which has a face value equal to the dollar , but no value internationally .
-Mr. Castro announced the dollar ban two weeks ago .
-The Cuban government has also encouraged Cubans living abroad to send money to their relatives in other currency , such as British pounds or Euros .
-Cuba legalized the dollar in 1993 in the face of an economic crisis sparked by the collapse of the Soviet Union .
-In many rural areas of North America , cowboy churches are attracting people that might shy away from traditional Christian churches .
-These religious gatherings are generally held during the week and feature a very casual style .
-For producer Yi Suli , Elaine Lu has more on one cowboy church in North Carolina .
-Another tropical storm has formed in the Atlantic Ocean , one day before the busiest and costliest Atlantic hurricane season on record officially comes to a close .
-U.S. forecasters say Tropical Storm Epsilon took shape Tuesday and was slowly moving westward over the central Atlantic Ocean .
-At last report , the storm was nearly 1,300 kilometers east of Bermuda .
-Officials say Epsilon is not expected to directly affect Bermuda , but they warn that dangerous surf conditions are possible in the next day or two .
-This year , an unprecedented 26 tropical storms have raged in the Atlantic since the season began on June first .
-Half of those strengthened into hurricanes .
-The busy season meant forecasters exhausted their list of names , forcing them to use the Greek alphabet to name storms for the first time .
-They also warn the next hurricane season could be just as bad .
-Police in Mexico say they have found nine bodies - seven men and two women - buried near the drug-smuggling hub of Ciudad Juarez , just across the U.S. border .
-Investigators say they have not ruled out finding more bodies at the site .
-Thousands of soldiers and federal police are posted around Juarez in an effort to quell violence involving warring drug gangs .
-The cartels are fighting for control of trafficking routes into the United States .
-The turf wars have turned Juarez into Mexico 's most violent city .
-It is located just across the border from the U.S. city of El~Paso , Texas .
-Rescue workers in central China are searching for 59 police trainees who were swept away in a landslide triggered by Typhoon Longwang 's torrential rain .
-China 's official Xinhua news agency says the police recruits were in two training school barracks in Fuzhou , Fujian Province late Sunday night when the buildings were swept away .
-Currently three people are confirmed dead from the storm .
-The typhoon also killed one person in Taiwan before it hit China 's mainland .
-In a separate development , Xinhua says authorities have evacuated about 13,000 people from their homes in central China along , the Hanjiang River , a tributary of the Yangtze River .
-It says heavy rains in Hubei province have cut off several roads , and more rain is expected in the next two days .
-Police in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir say five girls have been killed by a cluster bomb .
-Authorities say the young girls were playing with the toy-shaped explosive when it went off Friday in Kel village , near the line of control dividing Pakistani and Indian Kashmir .
-Officials say such cluster bombs were used in large numbers by Indian forces along the line of control before a ceasefire three years ago .
-They say the Pakistani army has defused many bombs , grenades and toy-shaped bomblets , but that some are still lying in the farm fields .
-Pakistan and India have a history of bitter relations and fought three wars over Kashmir .
-Sporadic clashes and shelling along the border ceased following the ceasefire .
-Pakistan and India also have started a peace process to resolve the Kashmir conflict .
-Turkey 's parliament has set the dates for a presidential election after an earlier attempt in April to select a new president was blocked .
-The parliament Friday set the first round of voting for August 20 , followed by a second round on August 24 and a third round on August 28 .
-The presidency is decided by a vote of parliament members only , not by a nationwide vote of Turkish citizens .
-In April , a secularist campaign blocked the Islamist-rooted governing party of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan from electing a member of his party as president .
-Turkey 's newly-elected parliament on Thursday voted overwhelmingly to choose ruling Justice and Development Party member Koksal Toptan , a secular politician , as the new speaker .
-The prominent tribe of Jordanian-born terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has published a declaration disowning him .
-In a half-page notice printed Sunday in Jordanian newspapers , 57 members of the al-Khalayleh family , including Zarqawi 's brother and cousin , said they are severing all links to the fugitive " until doomsday . "
-The family also pledged strong allegiance to Jordan 's King Abdullah , who Zarqawi threatened last week to kill .
-The family statement was published two days after the al-Qaida in Iraq leader defended the November 9 bombings at three hotels in Amman that killed 59 people .
-He also warned of more attacks .
-The family statement said anyone who carries out such attacks in Jordan is not Jordanian and has nothing to do with Jordan .
-U.S. President Barack Obama is scheduled to meet Tuesday with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero .
-The two leaders are to have a working lunch at the White House and then make statements to reporters .
-Later Tuesday , President Obama , first lady Michelle Obama , Vice President Joe Biden and his wife , Jill Biden , are to attend a concert on the White House South Lawn celebrating Hispanic musical heritage .
-The concert will include a number of well-known Hispanic performers including Gloria Estefan , Marc Anthony , Jose Feliciano , George Lopez and Thalia .
-The president is to make brief remarks at the beginning of the concert .
-The event is to be televised nationally at a later date .
-The incoming administration of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama is assembling a team of advisors and staffers , most of whom worked for the last Democratic administration under former President Bill Clinton .
-Mr. Obama has put together a team of experts to conduct a review of the State , Defense and Treasury Departments .
-The six team leaders picked for the task all worked under Mr. Clinton .
-Democratic officials say Vice President-elect Joe Biden has picked as his chief of staff Ron Klain , who was chief of staff for former Vice President Al Gore .
-Biden and his wife Jill are scheduled to meet outgoing Vice President Dick Cheney Thursday for a tour of the official vice presidential residence in Washington .
-Thursday 's meeting on the vice presidential transition follows talks Monday between President George Bush and President-elect Obama .
-Interpol police in Afghanistan says four Taleban prisoners who escaped from one of Afghanistan 's prisons earlier this year have been recaptured in Bulgaria and Uzbekistan .
-The Interpol chief said Monday that the four men were captured last month .
-Two were captured in Bulgaria and two in Uzbekistan , and they will be sent back to Afghanistan as soon as identification procedures have been completed .
-The four were among seven Taleban inmates who disguised themselves as visitors to escape the high security Pol-e-Charkhi prison on the outskirts of Kabul .
-The other three remain at large .
-At the time of the escape , the prisoners did not wear special uniforms .
-So the seven militants duped the guards by marking their hands with a fake ink stamp similar to one used to identify visitors to the jail .
-Russian President Dmitri Medvedev has sent parliament a draft law on extending the term of the country 's president from four to six years .
-The Russian leader first made the proposal in his state-of-the-nation address last week .
-The measure also calls for extending the term of the lower house of parliament , the State Duma , from four to five years .
-Some Russian news reports raised the possibility the changes would require new presidential elections in Russia .
-This , they said , would allow former Russian President Vladimir Putin , who now is Russia 's prime minister , to quickly seek to return to the presidency .
-But Russian officials have downplayed the possibility , noting that the changes would not apply to Mr. Medvedev 's current term .
-Taiwan says it is asking the United States to clarify recent comments by a top State Department official who indirectly likened the island to a " landmine " in U.S.-China relations .
-State Department officials were not immediately available to comment on the request .
-In a televised interview this month with U.S. Public Broadcasting , Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage was asked where the landmines are in China 's relationship with the United States .
-He replied that Taiwan is " probably the biggest . "
-Mr. Armitage also repeated the U.S. official policy that recognizes Taiwan as part of China 's territory , and he mentioned the Taiwan Relations Act that requires the United States to keep military forces in the Pacific to deter an attack .
-The interview was broadcast on December 10 , but Mr. Armitage 's remarks were not published on the State Department 's website until Monday .
-Freed American hostage Jill Carroll , 28 , arrived at Ramstein Air Base in Germany Saturday as she headed home to the United States after 82 days in captivity in Iraq .
-The journalist was released by her abductors Thursday .
-Carroll 's father says the video in which she praised her Iraqi captors was made under duress .
-Jim Carroll says his daughter felt compelled to make statements strongly critical of President Bush in order to be released by her captors .
-Following her release Thursday , her kidnappers released a video , taped before she was set free , in which she praised the Iraqi insurgency and criticized the U.S. war effort .
-Indonesian officials say the World Health Organization has confirmed the country 's eighth human death from bird flu .
-The officials said Saturday , tests conducted at a laboratory in Hong Kong show that a 25-year-old woman who died earlier this week had the H5N1 strain of the virus .
-Meanwhile , officials in Ukraine have reported the country 's first outbreak of bird flu in poultry .
-The Agriculture Ministry says the virus was detected in Ukraine 's Crimea peninsula , but it is not known yet if the virus is the strain that is dangerous to humans .
-Bird flu has killed nearly 70 people in Asia since 2003 , and has also spread among poultry flocks in many European countries .
-Health experts fear the virus could mutate into a form that could be easily transmitted between humans and kill millions of people .
-Egypt 's state-run media have predicted an overwhelming victory for incumbent President Hosni Mubarak , based on preliminary election results .
-Newspapers Friday proclaimed a fifth term for Mr. Mubarak , reporting he won more than 80 percent of the votes in the country 's 26 governorates .
-Voter turnout was low , by some estimates only around 30 percent of the 32 million registered voters , but state media downplayed its significance with editorials praising Mr. Mubarak .
-The 77-year-old leader faced nine challengers , including Ayman Nour of the liberal Tomorrow ( Ghad ) Party , who appears to have come in a very distant second , ahead of Noaman Gomaa of the Wafd Party .
-Independent monitors and Western news agencies reported multiple problems with Wednesday 's election , including vote-buying and intimidation .
-But the election commission rejected a petition from Mr. Nour demanding a revote .
-Final results are expected by Saturday .
-Venezuela 's oil minister has said OPEC countries have reached consensus to cut back crude oil production by one million barrels a day , beginning December first .
-OPEC says it is currently producing 28 million barrels per day .
-Rafael Ramirez said Friday in a television interview that OPEC oil ministers agree on the cut and will hold a meeting to discuss the mechanics of the cut .
-An Opec official said a meeting is expected on October 20 in Qatar .
-Ramirez said Venezuela would try to keep the price of oil above $ 55 a barrel .
-He said Venezuela has already implemented a 50,000 barrel per day output reduction .
-The White House announced Saturday that U.S. President Barack Obama will travel to Russia , Italy and Ghana in July .
-Mr. Obama will visit Moscow from July 6 to 8 for meetings with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev .
-The two leaders are expected to talk about ways to reduce the stockpile of nuclear weapons , cooperate on nonproliferation and resolve differences over a U.S. planned missile defense system in central Europe .
-The president will travel to L'Aquila , Italy to attend a G-8 summit of industrialized nations from July 8 to 10 .
-President Obama and world leaders are expected to discuss the economy , energy , and climate change .
-Mr. Obama will then travel to the sub-Saharan African country of Ghana , where he will visit the city of Accra on July 10 and 11 .
-Mr. Obama will meet with Ghanaian President John Atta-Mills to discuss a range of bilateral and regional issues .
-Police in Afghanistan say an explosion in the capital , Kabul , has killed two policemen and wounded their commander .
-Officials say the commander , Ali Shah Paktiawal , appears to have been the target of Wednesday attack .
-He is the head of criminal investigations in the Afghan capital .
-Paktiawal survived the blast with injuries , but two of his officers died .
-Police say the bomb exploded when Paktiawal and his team were investigating the deaths of three of their colleagues .
-The three were killed in an overnight attack on a police post in the western outskirts of Kabul .
-A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for both attacks .
-The World Health Organization ( WHO ) says Indonesia has one of the fastest growing HIV epidemics in Asia .
-The U.N. body published a report Saturday saying drug users and sex workers account for most of the spread of the virus that causes AIDS .
-The report says HIV has become a particular concern in the remote eastern province of Papua , where infection rates are more than 20 times the national average .
-Health authorities say about two percent of Papua 's population is infected with HIV .
-U.N. officials say Indonesia 's underdeveloped health care system and lack of resources make it difficult for the country to deal with HIV and AIDS .
-About 7,000 AIDS cases have been reported in Indonesia , although the real figure is believed to be much higher .
-Brazilian police say they have broken up a smuggling network , involving foreign diplomats from at least five embassies .
-Police say the foreign envoys used their diplomatic privileges help smuggle items into the country tax free .
-The luxury products such as whiskey and perfumes were sold to the upper class in the capital of Brasilia .
-Federal police said Friday that embassies from three African and two Middle Eastern countries were allegedly part of the ring .
-U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney is heading Sunday to the Middle East for visits to Oman , Saudia Arabia , Israel , the West Bank , and Turkey .
-U.S officials say Mr. Cheney 's talks will cover Iraq , the situations in Lebanon and Syria , Iran 's rising influnce in the region , violence in Gaza , and soaring gasoline prices in the United States .
-He is expected to encourage Saudi Arabia to step up diplomatic ties with Iraq .
-Cheney also is expected to encourage Israel and the Palestinians to move forward with a peace deal .
-In Turkey , the U.S. vice president is expected to discuss Turkey 's recent incursion against Iraq-based rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party .
-Pope Benedict has marked the start of the new year with a call for protection of the family , which he said is vital for world peace .
-In the homily at his first Mass of 2008 , the pontiff called the family the primary means for assuring peace .
-And he warned that any negation of family rights threatens the foundations of peace .
-The pope has frequently turned to the topic of the traditional family based on marriage between a man and a woman , responding to calls by activists for recognition of same-sex marriage .
-The Roman Catholic Church celebrates January first as its World Day of Peace .
-The international aid group Doctors Without Borders ( Medecins Sans Frontieres ) says it is outraged by the arrest of its regional head in Sudan over a report accusing Sudanese soldiers and militiamen of rape .
-Monday , officials arrested Paul Foreman and accused him of publishing FALSE information for failing to turn over medical records supporting the report .
-That report says some 400 rape victims identified their attackers as soldiers or members of the pro-government militia .
-But Mr. Foreman says he will not violate doctor-patient confidentiality by handing over the documents .
-He has been released on bail , and authorities told him not to leave the country .
-Sudan 's Attorney General Mohamed Farid says Mr. Foreman should have submitted the report to the government before publishing it .
-If he is found guilty , Mr. Foreman could serve up to three years in prison .
-President Bush says the United States must change its habits and reduce its dependence on foreign oil .
-President Bush says the country 's reliance on fossil fuels harms the environment and puts Americans at the mercy of nations that do not enjoy the same freedoms .
-American consumers , for their part , appear to be changing their habits , but they are doing so for more practical reasons .
-VOA 's Mil Arcega reports .
-Iran says Russia is selling Tehran advanced anti-aircraft missiles , but did not say when they will arrive .
-The S-300 air defense system has a radar that can track many targets at the same time , and missiles that can hit targets anywhere from just above the treetops to 27 kilometers in the sky .
-The S-300 compliments a shorter-range Russian system sold to Iran earlier .
-Iran 's announcement that it is upgrading its air defenses was made during a time of international tensions over Iranian nuclear programs that western nations fear could be used to make nuclear weapons .
-The United States has never ruled out military action against the suspected nuclear weapons projects , but a recently published U.S. intelligence report said Iran stopped its nuclear weapons program several years ago .
-Iranian President Mohammad Khatami is on an official visit to Venezuela , where he is expected to sign a number of bilateral agreements with President Hugo Chavez .
-Oil and commercial accords are aimed at strengthening ties between the two nations , both of which have been the focus of criticism from the United States .
-The Bush administration has been a vocal opponent of Iran 's nuclear program , and of Venezuelan President Chavez 's treatment of the opposition and the media in his country .
-The United States is Venezuela 's largest oil customer .
-President Khatami will also attend the inauguration of a tractor assembly plant .
-India celebrated its 58th Republic Day Friday , with military parades in the nation 's capital and various cities across the country .
-Security forces were on high alert for suspected insurgent attacks , but there were no reports of violence during the festivities .
-Russian President Vladimir Putin joined Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Abdul Kalam as the guest of honor for this year 's celebrations in New Delhi .
-On Thursday , New Delhi police said they arrested a suspected militant carrying more than two kilograms of explosives .
-India 's Republic Day marks the founding of the Indian republic in 1950 , three years after its independence from Britain .
-Campaigning has begun for Afghanistan 's first parliamentary polls since the fall of the Taleban in 2001 , amid warnings by a human rights group that female candidates need more protection .
-On Wednesday , authorities launched a month of official campaigning featuring free radio or television slots for each of the nearly 6,000 candidates running for the national assembly or for local councils .
-The campaign will end on September 15 , three days ahead of the September 18 vote .
-The polls have already been pushed back twice from last year , and the United Nations has said it could be the most challenging elections the international community has ever organized .
-Human Rights Watch says the fairness of the vote will be jeopardized if Afghan and international authorities do not do more to shield the nearly 600 female candidates .
-Russian and Chinese forces are wrapping up the second phase of joint military exercises as they prepare for live-fire drills to begin Tuesday in eastern China 's Shandong Peninsula .
-Nearly 10,000 troops from land , sea , and air forces of both nations are participating in the first-ever large-scale war games between the two countries .
-The China Daily newspaper says the third phase of the eight-day exercise , dubbed " Peace Mission 2005 , " will involve firing with live ammunition by warplanes and military vessels as part of an amphibious landing on the Shandong peninsula .
-The joint maneuvers began in the Russian port city of Vladivostok Thursday .
-The United States is not attending as an observer , but says it is closely monitoring the drills .
-A Ugandan official says a massive landslide in eastern Uganda has killed at least 106 people .
-Minister of State for Disasters Mussa Ecweru told VOA 's Swahili service that 300 people remain missing .
-The landslide engulfed three villages in the Bududa region near Mount Elgon late on Monday , following more than a week of heavy rain in the area .
-Police and armed forces are taking part in efforts to find survivors .
-Officials say the mudslide destroyed homes , markets , schools , and a health clinic .
-France says it will conduct a fourth search for additional wreckage of an Air France jet that crashed into the Atlantic last year with 228 people on board .
-The French Transport Ministry said Thursday that the latest search should begin in February .
-Officials were quoted as saying the " best equipment currently available " will be used .
-Air France Flight 447 crashed off Brazil 's coast in June 2009 as it headed to Paris from Rio de Janeiro .
-The initial search found wreckage and bodies , but the flight data recorders , which could provide clues as to what happened to the aircraft , have not been found .
-Search teams looking for the missing recorders called off operations in May after failing to locate them .
-The plane went down in water some 7,000 meters-deep above a mountainous ocean floor .
-A preliminary report concluded that a faulty speed-sensing system may have led to the crash .
-Prosecutors in Indonesia have asked a panel of judges for the death penalty against an Australian accused of being a mastermind of a drug smuggling ring on the resort island of Bali .
-The defendant , Andrew Chan , is one of nine people arrested last April for allegedly trying to smuggle about eight kilograms of heroin out of Bali .
-Earlier this week , prosecutors sought the death penalty for the group 's alleged ringleader Myuran Sukumaran .
-They have requested life sentences for six other male defendants , and a 20 year prison term for the only female defendant .
-The trial is the latest of several high-profile drug cases in Indonesia involving Australians .
-Indonesia 's Supreme Court recently reinstated a 20-year prison sentence for an Australian Schapelle Corby , convicted of marijuana smuggling .
-Thousands of ethnic Albanians have marched through Kosovo 's capital , Pristina , to protest the killing of a police officer last week .
-The demonstrators carried photographs of the officer , Triumf Riza , who was shot to death in a parking lot .
-Reaction to the shooting has highlighted citizens ' frustration with the high rate of crime in the area .
-The United Nations administrator of Kosovo , Joachim Ruecker , released a statement expressing full support for the demonstrators .
-He called the murder of the policeman " a heinous crime and a terrible tragedy . "
-He said the outpouring of emotion after Riza 's death is a sign that the people of Kosovo do not accept crime and violence .
-Kosovo has been under U.N. administration since 1999 .
-Uganda 's Health Ministry says the country has confirmed its first case of H1N1 swine flu .
-Ugandan health official James Kakooza said Thursday that a 40-year-old British man tested positive for the virus after arriving in Entebbe on June 26 .
-Kakooza said the man came from London through Nairobi , Kenya .
-Uganda is the seventh sub-Saharan nation to report swine flu cases - along with Kenya , Cape Verde , Ethiopia , Ivory Coast , Mauritius , and South Africa .
-The World Health Organization said that as of Wednesday , 332 people have died from the swine flu virus , and more than 77,000 people have been diagnosed worldwide .
-In June , the WHO declared an influenza pandemic for the first time in more than 40 years .
-The H1N1 strain of swine flu is a highly contagious new virus that quickly spread around the world this year .
-Saudi Arabia has an oil-based economy with strong government controls over major economic activities .
-It possesses about 20 % of the world 's proven petroleum reserves , ranks as the largest exporter of petroleum , and plays a leading role in OPEC .
-The petroleum sector accounts for roughly 80 % of budget revenues , 45 % of GDP , and 90 % of export earnings .
-Saudi Arabia is encouraging the growth of the private sector in order to diversify its economy and to employ more Saudi nationals .
-Diversification efforts are focusing on power generation , telecommunications , natural gas exploration , and petrochemical sectors .
-Almost 6 million foreign workers play an important role in the Saudi economy , particularly in the oil and service sectors , while Riyadh is struggling to reduce unemployment among its own nationals .
-Saudi officials are particularly focused on employing its large youth population , which generally lacks the education and technical skills the private sector needs .
-Riyadh has substantially boosted spending on job training and education , most recently with the opening of the King Abdallah University of Science and Technology - Saudi Arabia 's first co-educational university .
-As part of its effort to attract foreign investment , Saudi Arabia acceded to the WTO in December 2005 after many years of negotiations .
-The government has begun establishing six " economic cities " in different regions of the country to promote foreign investment and plans to spend $ 373 billion between 2010 and 2014 on social development and infrastructure projects to advance Saudi Arabia 's economic development .
-The first Sinhalese arrived in Sri Lanka late in the 6th century B.C. , probably from northern India .
-Buddhism was introduced in about the mid-third century B.C. , and a great civilization developed at the cities of Anuradhapura ( kingdom from circa 200 B.C. to circa A.D. 1000 ) and Polonnaruwa ( from about 1070 to 1200 ) .
-In the 14th century , a south Indian dynasty established a Tamil kingdom in northern Sri Lanka .
-The coastal areas of the island were controlled by the Portuguese in the 16th century and by the Dutch in the 17th century .
-The island was ceded to the British in 1796 , became a crown colony in 1802 , and was formally united under British rule by 1815 .
-As Ceylon , it became independent in 1948 ; its name was changed to Sri Lanka in 1972 .
-Tensions between the Sinhalese majority and Tamil separatists erupted into war in 1983 .
-After two decades of fighting , the government and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam ( LTTE ) formalized a cease-fire in February 2002 with Norway brokering peace negotiations .
-Violence between the LTTE and government forces intensified in 2006 , but the government regained control of the Eastern Province in 2007 .
-By May 2009 , the government announced that its military had defeated the remnants of the LTTE .
-Since the end of the conflict , the government has resettled tens of thousands of internally displaced persons and has undertaken a number of massive infrastructure projects to reconstruct its economy .
-The Pacific Ocean is a major contributor to the world economy and particularly to those nations its waters directly touch .
-It provides low-cost sea transportation between East and West , extensive fishing grounds , offshore oil and gas fields , minerals , and sand and gravel for the construction industry .
-In 1996 , over 60 % of the world 's fish catch came from the Pacific Ocean .
-Exploitation of offshore oil and gas reserves is playing an ever-increasing role in the energy supplies of the US , Australia , NZ , China , and Peru .
-The high cost of recovering offshore oil and gas , combined with the wide swings in world prices for oil since 1985 , has led to fluctuations in new drillings .
-The Polynesian Maori reached New Zealand in about A.D. 800 .
-In 1840 , their chieftains entered into a compact with Britain , the Treaty of Waitangi , in which they ceded sovereignty to Queen Victoria while retaining territorial rights .
-In that same year , the British began the first organized colonial settlement .
-A series of land wars between 1843 and 1872 ended with the defeat of the native peoples .
-The British colony of New Zealand became an independent dominion in 1907 and supported the UK militarily in both world wars .
-New Zealand 's full participation in a number of defense alliances lapsed by the 1980s .
-In recent years , the government has sought to address longstanding Maori grievances .
-Belarus has seen limited structural reform since 1995 , when President LUKASHENKO launched the country on the path of " market socialism . "
-In keeping with this policy , LUKASHENKO reimposed administrative controls over prices and currency exchange rates and expanded the state 's right to intervene in the management of private enterprises .
-Since 2005 , the government has re-nationalized a number of private companies .
-In addition , businesses have been subjected to pressure by central and local governments , including arbitrary changes in regulations , numerous rigorous inspections , retroactive application of new business regulations , and arrests of " disruptive " businessmen and factory owners .
-Continued state control over economic operations hampers market entry for businesses , both domestic and foreign .
-Government statistics indicate GDP growth was strong , surpassing 10 % in 2008 , despite the roadblocks of a tough , centrally directed economy with a high rate of inflation and a low rate of unemployment .
-However , the global crisis pushed the country into recession in 2009 , and GDP grew only 0.2 % for the year .
-Slumping foreign demand hit the industrial sector hard .
-Minsk has depended on a standby-agreement with the IMF to assist with balance of payments shortfalls .
-In line with IMF conditions , in 2009 , Belarus devalued the ruble more than 40 % and tightened some fiscal and monetary policies .
-On 1 January 2010 , Russia , Kazakhstan and Belarus launched a customs union , with unified trade regulations and customs codes still under negotiation .
-In late January , Russia and Belarus amended their 2007 oil supply agreement .
-The new terms raised prices for above quota purchases , increasing Belarus ' current account deficit .
-GDP grew 4.8 % in 2010 , in part , on the strength of renewed export growth .
-In December 2010 , Belarus , Russia and Kazakhstan signed an agreement to form a Common Economic Space and Russia removed all Belarusian oil duties .
-A BULL finding a lion 's cub asleep gored him to death with his horns .
-The Lioness came up , and bitterly lamented the death of her whelp .
-A wild-boar Hunter , seeing her distress , stood at a distance and said to her , " Think how many men there are who have reason to lament the loss of their children , whose deaths have been caused by you . "
-THE HARES waged war with the Eagles , and called upon the Foxes to help them .
-They replied , " We would willingly have helped you , if we had not known who you were , and with whom you were fighting . "
-Count the cost before you commit yourselves .
-SAVE petrol by pushing your car to your destination .
-Invariably passers-by will think you 've broken down and help .
-American billionaire Bill Gates is donating another $ 258 million to the fight against malaria , which kills more than one million people each year , mostly African children .
-The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced Sunday it is granting the money to groups working on new drugs , a vaccine and better mosquito control to stop malaria .
-A new report by a the Malaria Research and Development Alliance says the $ 258 million donation equals more than three-quarters of the entire global spending on research into the disease last year .
-Mr. Gates told reporters Sunday it is " a tragedy that the world has done so little " to stop the disease that kills 2,000 African children every day .
-Mr. Gates , who founded computer software giant Microsoft , is the world 's wealthiest person .
-The United Nations says an upsurge in violence in Sudan 's western Darfur region is threatening security and humanitarian aid to hundreds of thousands of people .
-U.N. spokeswoman Radhia Achouri says about two-thirds of south Darfur are considered hazardous and no-go areas because of recent attacks on peacekeepers .
-In the western Darfur city of Geneina , U.N. staff face increased constraints in delivering aid due to banditry and clashes between rebels and government-backed militias .
-In recent days , African Union peacekeepers and civilians have been killed or kidnapped in violence that AU officials have blamed on Darfur 's main rebel group , the Sudan Liberation Movement .
-More than two million people have been displaced and tens of thousands of others killed during more than two years of conflict .
-The government of Afghanistan says reprimands of U.S. soldiers involved in burning the bodies of two dead Taleban insurgents is a very lenient punishment .
-The U.S. military said Saturday that the soldiers will face disciplinary action over the incident , but will not be prosecuted .
-It said an investigation concluded the troops burned the bodies for hygienic purposes , but that junior officers who ordered the cremation will be reprimanded for showing a lack of cultural and religious understanding .
-The Afghan Foreign Ministry said that whatever the purpose and the reason , the burning of human bodies is unacceptable to Islam and local traditions , and by no means should be repeated .
-News of the incident surfaced last month when an Australian television channel aired a video purportedly showing the American soldiers burning the bodies of two militants they had killed near Kandahar .
-World oil prices rose in early trading Tuesday , ending a three-day slide .
-The price of crude oil for future delivery gained 2.5 percent during trading in New York to more than $ 72 a barrel .
-Oil industry analysts say the increase is due to renewed interest in oil , and other commodities , from investors who are worried about the declining value of the U.S. dollar .
-The U.S. dollar lost value compared to other currencies Tuesday after Russian President Dmitri Medvedev suggested the world should lessen its dependence on the dollar , which many countries use to pay off their debts .
-Oil prices have more than doubled since the beginning of this year as investors have grown increasing optimistic that the world will eventually pull out of recession , causing demand for oil to increase .
-Still , oil is trading far below the all-time high of $ 147 a barrel set last July .
-Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko is warning parliament not to hold a planned opening of its fall session Tuesday , saying any decisions it makes will be illegitimate .
-Mr. Yushchenko said in a nationwide television address Monday that under the constitution , the parliament would have no authority .
-He called the opposition members provocateurs and said their plan to hold an opening session is an attempt to derail parliamentary elections later this month .
-Mr. Yushchenko dissolved parliament in March , accusing his chief political opponent , Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych , of illegally enticing Yushchenko supporters to join the opposition .
-The lawmakers refused to dissolve and many still say their parliament still exists .
-The president and prime minister agreed to hold early general elections on September 30 .
-U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy , a Democratic Party leader who is suffering from brain cancer , has returned to Washington to work on the issue of health care reform .
-Senator Kennedy released a statement Monday , saying he would lay the groundwork for early action by Congress on health reform after President-elect Barack Obama takes office in January .
-Kennedy also said he was grateful for the prayers and good wishes he has received in recent months .
-The Massachusetts senator , who was first elected in 1962 , underwent surgery in June for a malignant brain tumor .
-He made a brief appearance in the Senate in July , and delivered a speech supporting Mr. Obama at the Democratic National Convention in August .
-Two of his brothers , President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert Kennedy , were assassinated in the 1960s .
-Another brother , Joseph Kennedy , was killed while serving in World War II .
-Police in Denmark have arrested four Danish Muslims suspected of plotting a terror attack in Europe .
-The four , aged between 16 and 20 , were arrested in and around Copenhagen on Thursday and ordered held while police conduct an investigation .
-The arrests were made on a tip the Danish intelligence service PET had received from another country .
-Authorities say the arrests are linked to an investigation in Bosnia , in which a Turk , a Swede and a Bosnian were arrested in Sarajevo on October 19 and 20 on suspicion of preparing a terrorist attack .
-Following the July 7 bus and subway bombings in London , Denmark , an American ally in Iraq , has also been identified as a terrorist target .
-Dozens of people in Vietnam staged a short anti-Japan protest outside the Japanese Embassy in Hanoi Sunday .
-The demonstrators , wearing headbands and carrying banners in Chinese characters , stood outside the embassy and shouted slogans .
-The protesters were believed to be Chinese nationals living in Vietnam .
-A heavy presence of Vietnamese police was on hand to prevent violence .
-Demonstrations are rare in Vietnam where the communist government keeps a tight lid on dissent .
-Today 's demonstration comes after days of violent protests in China over Japan 's wartime past and its bid for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council .
-Insurgents in Iraq killed nine American troops Thursday in the latest violence in the run up to Iraq 's January 30th elections .
-Seven of the U.S. soldiers were killed when their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device in Baghdad during a routine patrol .
-To the west of the capital , in Al Anbar province , two U.S. Marines were killed while conducting security operations .
-The attacks came as Iraq 's interim prime minister , Iyad Allawi , extended emergency laws for another month .
-The laws , which have been in place for two months , give Iraq 's government the power to impose curfews and restrict movement between cities .
-Meanwhile , the French newspaper Liberation , says it has not heard from its Baghdad correspondent , Florence Aubenas , and her Iraqi interpreter in over 24 hours , raising concerns for their safety .
-Pakistani officials say Sunni and Shi'ite militants are battling each other for a third day in the country 's North-West Frontier Province .
-A Pakistani administrator in the tribal region , Sahibzada Mohammed Anis , says the confirmed death toll from the fighting is 15 , with scores of people wounded .
-On Saturday , another official said 40 people had been killed .
-The administrator says tribal elders are trying to negotiate an end to the violence .
-Heavy fighting between majority Sunnis and minority Shi'ites erupted Friday in and around the town of Parachinar in the semi-autonomous Kurram region .
-Pakistani officials say the fighting in Parachinar subsided Saturday after the military imposed a curfew and government helicopters patrolled the area .
-But , they say battles continued Sunday in nearby villages .
-The cause of the sectarian violence has not been independently confirmed , but residents say it began after one group held a demonstration denouncing the other sect .
-Colombian police say U.S. and Colombian drug enforcement agents have dismantled a major narcotics smuggling operation .
-Authorities say the drug ring had been smuggling huge amounts of heroin and cocaine into the United States from Latin America .
-At least 27 people were arrested in the operation , most of them in Colombia .
-Police say they also confiscated 61 kilograms of heroin and at least 129 kilograms of cocaine , worth more than seven million dollars .
-Colombia is the world 's largest producer of cocaine , most of which is shipped to the United States .
-Macedonia 's delegation says it is leaving the NATO summit in Bucharest early to protest the alliance 's failure to invite it to begin membership talks because of a dispute over the country 's name .
-Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki told reporters in the Romanian capital that the Macedonian delegation will leave shortly after a meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush .
-The Macedonian News Agency ( MIA ) reports that President Branko Crvenkovski and Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski have canceled all other meetings scheduled for later Thursday and Friday .
-NATO leaders said Macedonia fulfilled requirements for a membership , but held off extending the invitation after Greece threatened a veto .
-Greece demands that Macedonia change its name , which is the same as the name of a northern Greek province .
-Greece contends that the former Yugoslav republic 's refusal to change its name implies territorial claims , a charge Macedonia denies .
-Iraqi police say a roadside bomb blast south of Baghdad has killed seven police officers .
-The policemen were in a convoy traveling on a road east of the city of Diwaniyah .
-The region south of Baghdad is known for frequent clashes between rival Shi'ite groups and violence against U.S.-led forces .
-North of Baghdad , authorities say a suicide truck bomber hit a checkpoint operated by Kurdish peshmerga militiamen at Jalawla in Diyala province , killing one and wounding 10 .
-Separately , the U.S. military says coalition forces detained 15 suspects in operations targeting al-Qaida in Iraq terrorists in central and northern parts of the country early Wednesday .
-Afghan police and U.S. troops in the eastern city of Jalalabad have opened fire to break up rioting by students angry at alleged desecration of the Koran at the U.S. jail in Guantanamo Bay , Cuba .
-Local health officials say at least three people were killed and some 60 others wounded -- some seriously .
-Demonstrators chanting " Death to America " marched through streets Wednesday , smashing cars , damaging shops and throwing stones at U.S. troops .
-Protests erupted after Newsweek magazine reported that interrogators at Guantanamo placed copies of the Muslim holy book on toilets to rattle terrorist suspects .
-The United States has condemned the alleged desecration of the Koran , saying such activity would be reprehensible and contrary to U.S. policy .
-The U.S. military says any kind of violation of the religious rights of detainees will be treated very seriously .
-Iraqi authorities say two car bombs in Baghdad have killed at least 23 people .
-More than 80 people were wounded in the blasts , which went off in short succession .
-The two blasts went off within moments of each other , one at a busy intersection near a security ministry building in the north of the capital .
-The second car bomb exploded in western Baghdad , outside a mobile phone company and close by a popular restaurant .
-There were no immediate claims of responsibility .
-In a third incident Sunday , authorities said that at least one man was killed when a home-made bomb attached to his car exploded .
-The bombings are the deadliest since the U.S. officially changed the name of its mission in Iraq earlier this month from one of combat to advice and training , a move accompanied by a drawdown in U.S. forces .
-A U.S. newspaper says the Bush administration has been unsuccessfully trying to find someone to oversee the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan .
-The Washington Post says the White House wants to appoint a so-called " czar " to coordinate both the civilian and military efforts on the two battle fronts .
-The Postsays the person would report directly to President Bush , and would have the authority to issue directions to the State Department , Pentagon and other agencies .
-The report says the White House has offered the job to at least three retired top-ranked generals , and all three have declined the post .
-Former U.S. Marine General John J. " Jack " Sheehan , one of the generals , says Vice President Dick Cheney and others who still believe the Iraq war can be won , continue to hold more power within the administration than " pragmatists looking for a way out of Iraq . "
-Authorities in Belarus have detained several key members of the campaign staff of opposition presidential candidate Alexander Milinkevich .
-The detentions came after the candidate held a rally outside a movie theater in the capital , Minsk , ahead of the country 's March 19 presidential election .
-The opposition website , Charter97 identifies one of those detained as Vintsuk Vyachorka , leader of the Belarus Popular Front .
-The website says other campaign workers had no information about the detainees for several hours , but then learned they had been taken to a Minsk prison .
-The incident is the latest instance of harassment of candidates challenging President Alexander Lukashenko in the election .
-Mr. Lukashenko has ruled the former Soviet republic since 1994 , and is seeking a third term .
-The West has criticized him for his poor human rights record and for quashing political opposition .
-The United States has called him Europe 's last dictator .
-A U.S. government oversight agency says Afghanistan 's reconstruction program has no coherent spending strategy to implement its goals .
-A report by the U.S. Congress 's Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction released late Thursday says the U.S. has appropriated , but not fully spent , $ 32 billion for humanitarian aid in the country , while other nations have donated $ 25 billion .
-The report found that reconstruction efforts have been fragmented and lack a central plan to complete U.S. goals .
-Those goals include rebuilding Afghan infrastructure , re-establishing political institutions , providing services to the Afghan people , and maintaining security necessary for reconstruction projects .
-The report also says government officials in Afghanistan want a greater say in building plans .
-Congress created the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction under the authority of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 .
-The measure was signed into law one year ago .
-Burmese activists have gathered outside the Russian Embassy in Malaysia to call on Moscow to end its support for building a nuclear research center in Burma .
-Some 50 protesters took part in the demonstration Tuesday .
-In May , Russia announced that it had agreed to help build a nuclear research center in Burma .
-The United States has expressed concern about the deal , saying Burma does not have the regulatory or safety provisions to successfully handle that type of nuclear program .
-Russia and China have become major suppliers of arms to Burma since the West imposed sanctions in 1988 over Burma 's poor human rights record .
-Former Czech President Vaclav Havel has delivered a letter to the Belarus Embassy in Prague , calling on Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to step down .
-Mr. Havel says he was denied entry to the building Tuesday and left the letter in the embassy 's mailbox .
-He said the letter was meant as an act of solidarity with those in Belarus struggling for more freedom .
-He added that the Czech people know the importance of such solidarity .
-Mr. Havel also called on European Union countries to , in his words , resist evil from the very beginning and not wait for what he called " catastrophic consequences . "
-An international human rights group is urging NATO to stop transferring detainees to Afghan security forces because of reports they torture their prisoners .
-Amnesty International says the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force could be exposing prisoners to mistreatment and abuse by placing them in the custody of the Afghan National Directorate of Security .
-The rights group wants ISAF to temporarily suspend all prisoner handovers to Afghan authorities until proper safeguards are in place .
-The group says , in particular , ISAF troops from Belgium , Britain , Canada , Norway and the Netherlands could be in violation of an agreement they signed with the Afghan government on prison transfer and monitoring .
-Amnesty says the agreement does not provide enough safeguards .
-Amnesty International called on those countries not to rely on bilateral agreements to protect prisoners from harsh treatment once they are transferred .
-The rights group is calling for a complete reform of the Afghan detention system .
-Vietnamese health officials say a woman in the north of the country has died from bird flu as a new outbreak is reported in southern China .
-The director of Vietnam 's preventive medicine department , Nguyen Huy Nga , said the 23-year-old teacher died Monday after testing positive for H5N1 strain of avian influenza .
-Her death brings the number of people in Vietnam killed by the virus to 50 , out of 105 total human infections .
-In separate news , Chinese health officials Monday reported a new outbreak in the southern province of Guizhou .
-Authorities said nearly 4,000 poultry have died from the disease and a further 2,38,000 have been culled .
-China earlier announced the death in Guangdong province of a 44-year-old woman - the country 's 19th fatality and the third this year .
-Wal-Mart said Friday it will pay the U.S. government $ 11 million to settle charges that it used illegal immigrants to clean its stores in the United States .
-Wal-Mart is the world 's biggest retailer , with $ 256 billion in sales , 1.5 million employees , and more than 5,000 stores in the United States and eight other nations .
-News reports say since 1998 , federal authorities have found hundreds of cases of illegal immigrants working for contractors in Wal-Marts across the country .
-The company says it did not adequately check to see whether employees hired by cleaning contractors could work in the United States legally .
-The company vowed to do better in the future .
-Trade unions in Nigeria have begun a planned three-day nationwide strike over a salary dispute with the government .
-The two unions want the government to raise the monthly minimum wage to $ 120 , a significant increase over the current $ 50 minimum salary .
-Witnesses say many state and government workers in Nigeria 's largest city , Lagos , and Abuja , the capital , are not on the job .
-The Nigeria Labor Congress and the Trade Union Congress decided to go ahead with the strike despite an emergency meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan Tuesday evening .
-But the union leaders plan to meet later Wednesday to discuss their next course of action .
-The two labor federations represent workers in most sectors of Nigeria 's economy .
-Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas and the exiled political leader of the militant group Hamas have held a rare meeting in Cairo , their first since their parties formed a coalition government .
-Mr. Abbas of the moderate Fatah movement and Hamas ' political chief Khaled Mashaal met Friday in Cairo .
-They had been expected to discuss an exchange of prisoners with Israel , the internal situation in the Palestinian territory , and an effort to lift international sanctions against the Palestinian government .
-Details of the meeting have not been released .
-The rival Palestinian groups Fatah and Hamas formed a unity government in March .
-The two sides hoped to end a Western embargo against the Palestinian authority and to end months of factional fighting that killed more than 130 people .
-A suicide bomber in the Russia 's Chechnya republic killed six people and wounded at least 10 others outside a theater in the capital of Grozny on Sunday .
-Four of the victims were police officers who stopped the bomber from getting inside the concert hall just before a show was to start .
-Other victims included a Turk and a Georgian .
-The bomber , who was also killed , has not yet been identified .
-Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov says the attack will not stop efforts to wipe out Chechen rebels .
-Russian forces have been fighting Islamic separatists in southern Russia for most of the last 15 years .
-The state-run Russian company building Iran 's nuclear power station says the launch date has been postponed because of Iran 's payment delays .
-Officials at Atomstroyexport say it is impossible to launch the reactor in September .
-They added there will be no delivery of nuclear fuel this month as earlier agreed .
-Russia has accused Iran of missing payments on the nuclear plant .
-Iran has denied the claim .
-Iranian and Russian officials met in Moscow last week , but failed to solve their financial dispute .
-Russia 's Interfax news agency quotes a Russian foreign ministry spokesman , Andre Krivtsov , as saying Moscow hopes the two countries will find a mutual solution to their funding problem .
-The United Nations Security Council has expressed concern that Iran could use uranium enrichment technology to develop nuclear weapons .
-Iran says its nuclear program is only for energy purposes .
-A 15-member U.N. Security Council delegation is in Haiti to assess the work of peacekeepers trying to stabilize the country following last year 's ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide .
-Brazilian Ambassador Ronaldo Sardenberg is leading the delegation , which arrived in Port-au-Prince Wednesday for the four-day visit .
-The fact-finding trip comes at a time when the Security Council is preparing to vote on extending the mandate of the U.N. peacekeeping force in the country , which expires at the end of May .
-U.N. peacekeepers and the interim government have been struggling to contain violence in Haiti since Mr. Aristide was removed from power in February 2004 .
-Mr. Sardenberg has described the situation in the country as " dire . "
-Peruvian officials say they will not free a U.S. woman serving a 20-year sentence for terrorist collaboration , even if a regional human rights court orders her release .
-Foreign Minister Manuel Rodriguez said Saturday if the Inter-American Court of Human Rights orders Lori Berenson 's release , Peru would refuse .
-The Costa Rica-based court is set to discuss the case this coming week .
-Berenson was arrested in 1995 and accused of involvement in a failed attempt by the rebel Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement to seize Peru 's Congress .
-A military court initially convicted and sentenced Berenson to life in prison for treason .
-That sentence was overturned and she was re-tried by a civilian court .
-She was acquitted of being an active member of the rebel group but convicted of helping the guerrillas plan the attack on the Congress .
-Berenson has maintained her innocence .
-Saudi state media say authorities have destroyed nearly 1,60,000 birds following the discovery of bird flu south of the capital , Riyadh .
-The Saudi Press Agency reports Tuesday that the birds tested positive for the H5N1 strain of bird flu , which can be deadly to humans .
-The outbreak was discovered on a farm in the al-Kharj region , about 80 kilometers south of the capital .
-Authorities destroyed thousands of birds in the region last November to contain another outbreak of the virus .
-Various forms of bird flu are common in birds and rarely affect humans .
-The World Health Organization says the H5N1 strain of the virus has killed at least 223 people worldwide since 2003 .
-Saudi Arabia has not reported any human cases of the disease .
-Victims generally contract the disease from sick or dead birds , but health authorities are concerned the virus could change into a form easily passed between humans .
-Police in central Pakistan 's Punjab province say three suspected militants were killed Saturday when a bomb they were carrying on a bicycle accidentally exploded .
-The explosion happened in Cheecha Watni , a town about 100 kilometers from the city of Multan .
-It is not immediately clear what sort of attack the men were planning .
-Police say at least two of the suspected militants were students at a local seminary , and had links to Sipah-e-Sahaba , an outlawed Sunni Muslim group .
-Police have been on high alert in Pakistan after a series of suicide bomb attacks in recent weeks .
-Last week , a suicide bombing killed at least 15 people in a courtroom in Baluchistan province .
-At least 36 suspects have been detained in connection with that attack .
-Baluchistan borders Afghanistan and Iran .
-It is widely believed to be used by Taleban leaders for planning attacks against Afghan and U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan .
-Several bomb explosions in Afghanistan , blamed on Taleban insurgents , have killed four American troops and two Afghan policemen , and wounded two U.S. Embassy officials .
-A roadside bomb in southern Zabul province killed the four soldiers and wounded three others early Sunday .
-A U.S. commander , Major-General Jason Kamiya , said the blast would not weaken the resolve of coalition forces .
-In another part of the province , two Afghan policemen were killed in a similar blast .
-Meanwhile , in the western outskirts of Kabul , a roadside bomb exploded near a convoy of U.S. Embassy vehicles , slightly wounding two officials .
-In the southern province of Kandahar , gunmen on motorcycles killed a pro-government cleric , while in the eastern province of Kunar , rebels ambushed two tankers supplying fuel to U.S. military base .
-Palestinian political rivals Hamas and Fatah have called-off scheduled talks on forming a unity government .
-In an apparent sign that deep differences remain , aides to President Mahmoud Abbas said he canceled Tuesday 's meeting with Hamas leaders in Gaza .
-No new meeting date was announced .
-Earlier , Hamas said it is serious about reaching a deal on a unity government .
-Mr. Abbas has said any unity government including Hamas would have to accept interim peace deals with Israel .
-Hamas leaders say they want to share power with Fatah , but they will not accept language that explicitly recognizes Israel .
-The militant group 's charter calls for the destruction of the Jewish state .
-Hamas has said that it would instead support a long term truce with Israel .
-The Palestinian president has accused Hamas of violating an agreement reached earlier this month on the political platform for a unity government .
-Hamas denies the charge .
-A meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell has been postponed so the two sides have more time to prepare .
-The Israeli prime minister was due to meet with Mitchell in Paris , France , Thursday , but an Israeli official said his side is seeking to conduct " more professional work " on the issues before the meeting .
-Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barack is expected to meet Mitchell instead in Washington next week .
-Officials close to Mr. Netanyahu denied Israeli media reports that the meeting was called off because of a disagreement over Israeli settlement activity .
-The United States has said Israel must halt settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank as part of a comprehensive peace plan .
-Israel has resisted the notion , saying some degree of expansion must continue to support the natural growth of settler communities .
-U.S. and Iraqi forces have ended a four-day operation , Spear , aimed at clearing insurgent bases and training camps in western Iraq .
-Military officials say forces killed some 50 fighters and discovered more than a dozen car bombs in and around the town of Karabilah during the campaign .
-U.S. officials also say a roadside bomb killed an American soldier in a separate incident in western Iraq .
-In Baghdad , the new U.S. ambassador to Iraq , Zalmay Khalilzad , expressed horror at ongoing attacks by insurgents against Iraqi civilians .
-Mr. Khalilzad made the comment after presenting his credentials to President Jalal Talabani in a meeting Tuesday .
-Meantime , a top U.S. military commander , General John Vines , says some U.S. forces may begin leaving the country after elections scheduled for later this year .
-Iranian state television says a bus carrying pilgrims on their way to holy sites in Iraq has crashed into a warehouse in western Iran , killing at least 28 people .
-Monday 's reports say nine others were injured when the bus crashed near Ilam , some 710 kilometers southwest of Tehran .
-Officials blamed high speed and mechanical problems for the accident .
-Iran has one of the worst road safety records in the world .
-Official statistics show that more than 26,000 people die in road accidents in Iran each year due to unsafe vehicles , disregard for traffic rules and inadequate emergency services .
-Iraq 's government says Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will make his first official visit to Iran on Monday .
-Officials say his two-day visit will focus on security issues and promoting bilateral relations .
-Earlier this week , Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh led a delegation of officials on a visit to Iran aimed at enhancing economic ties between the two nations .
-Iraq and Iran fought a bloody war in the 1980s when then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was in power .
-The neighboring countries have tried to build closer ties in recent years .
-The U.S. national security advisor says Pakistan , Afghanistan and the United States have to cooperate more closely if they are to stem the threat posed by terrorists operating in Pakistan 's border areas .
-Stephen Hadley made the comment at a news conference in Kabul , following a meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai .
-Mr. Hadley said Washington is working very closely with both Pakistan and Afghanistan to counter the threat .
-But , he said , this is a very hard problem and there is no quick fix .
-The U.S. official stressed the only way to successfully counter the threat is to learn to work effectively together .
-He said that although all three nations had made progress , they have a responsibility to do a lot more .
-Pakistan has agreed to allow Indian diplomats to visit a jailed Indian man who was sentenced to death for spying .
-A spokesman for Pakistan 's foreign ministry said Friday , that officials for the two countries will work out a date for the visit .
-India has been pressing its neighbor for access to the man , Sarabjit Singh , whose 1991 conviction on spying and involvement in a series of bombings was upheld last week by Pakistan 's Supreme Court .
-Singh 's family denies the charges , saying he is a farmer who accidentally strayed onto Pakistani soil 15 years ago .
-The Indian government has been pressing Pakistan to spare the man 's life .
-President Bush has started the new year by visiting wounded troops at a military hospital in San Antonio , Texas .
-The president traveled from his ranch in Crawford to the medical facility at Fort Sam Houston earlier today .
-A White House spokesman said he would award nine Purple Hearts to wounded soldiers .
-Mr. Bush is expected to return to Washington later today , wrapping up his week-long Christmas holiday in Texas .
-Mr. Bush faces several key issues at the start of the new year , including lobbying Congress to reapprove the Patriot Act , ushering his Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito through the Senate confirmation process , and overseeing military deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq as some lawmakers call for troop withdrawals .
-Israel 's Defense Minister - harshly criticized for his performance during last summer 's war in Lebanon - says he will leave the defense ministry , probably after his Labor party holds a leadership election late this month .
-Amir Peretz said in a Saturday interview on Israeli Television ( Channel 2 ) he intends to hand the defense ministry portfolio over to the Kadima party and ask for the finance ministry in exchange .
-Peretz and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert have been under pressure to resign since the release of a report that said the two men were responsible for serious failures in the war in Lebanon .
-Many Israelis consider the war a failure because Israel did not defeat Hezbollah or get back the two soldiers whose kidnapping by the Islamic militant group triggered the war .
-Hundreds of protesters in Russia 's republic of Ingushetia have demanded the resignation of its president .
-A heavy security presence shadowed Monday 's rally in the city of Nazran as protesters called for the resignation of President Murat Zyazikov , a former KGB general who was elected in 2002 with significant Kremlin support .
-Police in the predominantly Muslim republic reportedly arrested one of the protest organizers , Boris Arsamokov .
-The Associated Press reports that participants also demanded the Kremlin redraw the boundary between Ingushetia and North Ossetia to return territory that belonged to ethnic Ingush .
-North Ossetia is a neighboring republic dominated by Orthodox Christians .
-Ingushetia also borders Chechnya , where separatists have fought pro-Moscow forces for more than five years .
-Prosecutors at the trial of Saddam Hussein have presented a document they said is signed by Saddam approving the execution of 148 Shi'ite Muslim villagers .
-The prosecutors Tuesday said the June 1984 document confirmed the death sentences passed by a tribunal .
-Saddam and seven others are on trial for the killings in Dujail , which happened in a crackdown following an assassination attempt against Saddam .
-Their trial resumed briefly Tuesday after a two week break with the defendants and their legal team present .
-They had boycotted previous sessions .
-Chief Judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman announced the five-judge panel rejected a defense request to remove him and the chief prosecutor from the trial .
-Saddam 's head defense lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi said he would appeal the decision and asked for a halt in the court 's proceedings .
-He then walked out of the court .
-The trial has been adjourned until Wednesday .
-The defendants face hanging if convicted .
-Thousands of people demonstrated in northern Japan Saturday in advance of next week 's summit of leaders of the world 's eight richest nations .
-The protesters gathered in the city of Sapporo to demand the Group of Eight leaders take action on a number of issues , including soaring food prices .
-They also denounced the G8 itself for such ills as war , discrimination , poverty and global climate change .
-Foreign activists , farmers and non-governmental organizations made up the ranks of the protesters .
-Thousands of riot police were deployed along the march route .
-Officials say at least four people were arrested .
-Sapporo is the capital of Hokkaido Island .
-The G8 leaders will convene at a nearby luxury resort on Monday for a three-day summit .
-The G8 includes the United States , Japan , Russia , France , Britain , Canada , Italy and Germany .
-BBC journalist Alan Johnston , released Wednesday by Palestinian kidnappers in the Gaza Strip , has received an award for human rights reporting from Amnesty International .
-Amnesty International 's director for Britain , Kate Allen , said the judges of the annual media awards were determined not to let Johnston 's kidnapping affect their judgment .
-She said they were impressed by his insight and commitment to telling stories of everyday life in Gaza .
-The award was one of nine that Amnesty gave out during a ceremony in London Wednesday just hours after Johnston 's release .
-His father accepted the award for him , saying , " It 's been quite a day . "
-Johnston was the only Western reporter based in Gaza when he was abducted in March .
-After his release , he compared his four months in captivity to being buried alive . "
-The White House says it can not intervene in the New York City public transit strike , but it has encouraged the parties involved to resolve their differences .
-A White House spokesman , Scott McClellan , told reporters Wednesday that federal mediators have offered to help resolve the conflict over city transit workers ' pay and pension issues .
-Meanwhile , New Yorkers commuted to work for the second day on foot , on bicycle , or crowded four-at-a-time into taxi cabs .
-The city 's subway and buses shut down early Tuesday after talks deadlocked between the city and the Transport Workers Union .
-Later that day , a judge imposed a fine against the union of $ 1 million for each day of the strike .
-Merchants are concerned about plummeting sales just before the Christmas and New Year holidays - normally the busiest shopping days of the year .
-The United States says it is being forced to suspend food aid to North Korea because of Pyongyang 's decision to stop allowing the United Nations to distribute the food .
-State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said Thursday U.S. policy requires that international relief workers be able to monitor the distribution of its food .
-That safeguard will disappear when the U.N. World Food Program ( WFP ) stops distributing food in North Korea this month .
-Mr. Ereli said it is a common practice for North Korea to " ignore the needs of its people " and " let them starve for inexplicable reasons . "
-North Korea announced in August that it no longer wanted U.N. food aid because it said domestic food production had improved .
-The WFP said it would close all its food-processing plants in North Korea by the end of this month .
-Danish police are holding seven people suspected of planning terrorist attacks in the Scandinavian country .
-Authorities say security police launched a raid early Tuesday and detained nine suspects in Vollsmose , a mostly immigrant neighborhood in the city of Odense .
-Police released two of the suspects .
-Justice Minister Lene Espersen said police seized materials used to make explosives , and she said most of the suspects are thought to be Danish citizens of foreign origin .
-Espersen declined to disclose further details but she said evidence showed the group had been plotting to stage an attack somewhere in Denmark .
-Last month , authorities charged four suspects with trying to obtain explosives to carry out a terrorist attack .
-Also in early August , a Moroccan-born Dane was charged with inciting Muslims to carry out terrorist acts .
-Police in northwest Pakistan say suspected Taliban militants have blown up a primary school that educated girls .
-Officials say there were no casualties in Tuesday 's blast because the school was closed for the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan .
-Al-Qaida and Taliban-linked militants who oppose the education of women have destroyed hundreds of girls schools across the country .
-On Monday , police killed a suicide bomber trying to assassinate a regional education minister , also in the northwest .
-In other violence , Pakistani security forces say they have arrested 11 suspected militants , including three Afghanis , during security operations in Malakand and Swat districts .
-In a statement released Tuesday , officials say they also found four inter-linked tunnels and bomb-proof bunkers during a separate search operation near Swat 's Biakand area .
-NATO says two alliance soldiers have been killed and three others wounded in a firefight with Taliban insurgents in eastern Afghanistan .
-In a statement , the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force says the fighting erupted when insurgents ambushed a joint NATO-Afghan troop patrol in the Korangal Valley of Kunar province late Thursday .
-NATO did not identify the nationalities of the dead and wounded soldiers .
-NATO and U.S. forces are battling a resurgent Taliban presence in Afghanistan .
-The group increasingly has used suicide attacks and roadside bomb blasts since U.S.-led forces ousted it from power in the late 2001 .
-Staff from Arabic television station al-Jazeera protested Thursday around the Middle East in the wake of a British news report that alleged President Bush considered bombing the channel 's headquarters last year .
-Dozens of al-Jazeera reporters and staff members demonstrated outside the station 's headquarters in Doha , Qatar and in other cities .
-They called for an investigation into the allegations raised in the Daily Mirror article , which was based on an allegedly leaked official memorandum .
-In Cairo , Beirut and Gaza City , al-Jazeera staffers were joined by colleagues from other Arab media .
-The White House has dismissed the tabloid report as " outlandish and inconceivable . "
-After its front-page story Tuesday , the Daily Mirror and two other British papers said Britain 's government threatened them with legal action if they publish further details of the top secret document .
-The United States is temporarily closing its consulate in the Mexican border city of Nuevo Laredo because of escalating violence .
-In a statement from Mexico City Friday , Ambassador Tony Garza said the consulate will close for one week , beginning August 1 .
-He says Thursday 's battle on the streets of Nuevo Laredo forced the closure to assess the security situation for employees and travelers .
-Rival gangs clashed with machine guns , grenades and a rocket launcher late Thursday .
-No one was killed , but the neighborhood has been described as resembling a war zone .
-The closure announcement comes days after the ambassador asked the U.S. State Department to extend its travel advisory warning Americans about attacks in Mexico .
-More than 100 people have been killed in the town since June , including 18 policemen , as gangs compete for drug-smuggling routes into the United States .
-Pakistan has sentenced five people to death for plotting to kill President Pervez Musharraf two years ago .
-Army spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan said Friday that the sentences were given to one soldier and four civilians involved in the plot to ram an explosives-laden vehicle into Mr. Musharraf 's motorcade .
-The president was unhurt in the attack in Rawalpindi , but 15 others died .
-Earlier this month , authorities hanged a soldier linked to that attack and an earlier plot against the president .
-Mr. Musharraf has become a target for Islamic militants since joining the U.S.-led war on terrorism after the September 11 , 2001 attacks in the United States .
-Pakistani officials say the suspected mastermind of the plot uncovered in London last week to blow up U.S.-bound airplanes is hiding in a mountainous region of northeastern Afghanistan .
-The officials said Friday they told the U.S. military that the suspect , an al-Qaida operative , is believed to be in Afghanistan 's Kunar province , which borders Pakistan .
-They have not disclosed his name .
-They say the information was obtained by interrogators questioning British suspect Rashid Rauf , who was arrested in eastern Pakistan and is regarded as a key figure in the foiled plot .
-Twenty-three people are in detention in Britain , and Pakistan is holding seven suspects in the plot .
-A flurry of reports Tuesday shows problems for the U.S. economy in the services , retail , factory , and housing sectors .
-Services make up the vast majority of the world 's largest economy , but were hit hard in December as consumers cut spending and housing slumped .
-However , the industry group the Institute for Supply Management that tracks the data says December 's figures showed the services sector shrinking at a slower rate than the prior month .
-Retail sales are also troubled .
-Big discounts following the Christmas holiday , December 25 , had consumers shopping for bargains , but were not enough to help retailers salvage a disappointing holiday shopping season .
-An industry group , the International Council of Shopping Centers , says sales fell almost one percent last week , compared to the same time last year .
-Other reports Tuesday show U.S. factory orders falling sharply and pending home resales off sharply in November .
-Janice Karpinski
-The U.S. Army has demoted the reserve officer who commanded the military police unit at Iraq 's Abu Ghraib in a highly publicized prisoner abuse scandal .
-The Army says Brigadier General Janice Karpinski was found guilty of dereliction of duty , and , upon President Bush 's approval , she was demoted to colonel .
-However , the Army says no action or lack of action by General Karpinski contributed specifically to the abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib .
-General Karpinski is the highest-ranking U.S. officer to be punished in the wake of the prison scandal .
-Earlier this week , a U.S. military judge threw out the guilty plea of Army Private First Class Lynndie England in connection with the scandal .
-Her case will now be sent back to military authorities for further consideration .
-International human rights groups say gunmen in the Democratic Republic of Congo have killed a prominent rights activist in the east of the country .
-In a joint statement Monday , Amnesty International , Human Rights Watch , and Front Line called on Congo 's government to investigate the slaying of Pascal Kabungulu Kibembi .
-He was executive director of the human rights group Heirs of Justice , based in Congo 's South Kivu region .
-The organizations say that on Sunday , three armed men in uniform broke into Mr. Kabungulu 's home in Bukavu , and shot him in front of his family .
-The groups are urging the Congolese government to find and prosecute those responsible and to develop an effective plan to protect human rights workers .
-They say some rights activists have fled the country because of increased threats .
-Witnesses say nearly 20 dead whales have washed up Wednesday on a beach in Dakar , Senegal .
-Dakar journalist Ricci Shryock tells VOA national police are removing the carcasses in trucks .
-She said the whales measure some 3.5 to 4.5 meters .
-Local villagers say as many as 100 whales swam up to shore late Tuesday night .
-Fisherman were able to tow some of the animals out to sea .
-It is unclear why the animals swam close to shore .
-U.S. President Barack Obama called the heads of the nation 's largest banks to the White House for talks Friday , in the latest effort to find ways to bolster the battered U.S. economy .
-Earlier this week , the Obama administration proposed a plan to help troubled banks by using a government and private partnership to buy up to $ 1 trillion in bad loans and other " toxic assets " from them .
-Thursday , Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner urged Congress to approve the administration 's plan to expand the government 's powers to monitor large financial firms .
-There may be some faint signs the effort is working .
-Economic data published Friday shows consumer spending rose slightly and consumer sentiment improved a small amount in February .
-Economists track consumer spending and their views of the economy because consumer demand drives two-thirds of U.S. economic activity .
-U.S. military officials say the death toll from Wednesday 's helicopter crash in southeastern Afghanistan has risen to 16 , including at least four American crew members .
-A U.S. statement says two other people listed on the flight manifest are missing .
-The Chinook helicopter was returning to Bagram air base from Ghazni province , southwest of the capital , Kabul , when it went down near Ghazni city .
-The U.S. military suggests severe weather was to blame for what is the deadliest military crash in Afghanistan since the start of U.S.-led operations to oust the Taleban in late 2001 .
-The European Union will start talks with Bosnia on Friday on an accord to move the country closer to joining the 25-nation bloc .
-The EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn will travel to Bosnia to open talks on the Stabilization and Association Agreement .
-EU foreign ministers say Bosnia 's progress on the agreement depends on its willingness to continue reforms and cooperate with the U.N. war crimes tribunal .
-Two key Bosnian war crimes suspects , Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and army commander Ratko Mladic , remain at large .
-The EU Monday also extended the mandate for the more than 6,000 peacekeeping troops in Bosnia through next year .
-The EU decisions came as senior Bosnian and U.N. diplomats meet in Washington to mark the 10th anniversary of the Dayton Peace Accords , which ended the three-year war in Bosnia-Herzegovina .
-Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov has accused some NATO countries of illegally supplying Soviet-made arms to Georgia .
-The Russian official Friday did not name the countries allegedly involved , but he said they were from among the seven formerly communist-ruled East European countries that joined the alliance in 2004 .
-Ivanov made his comments following a meeting with defense ministers of the 26 NATO countries in the Slovenian seaside resort of Portoroz .
-Georgian officials filed espionage charges against Russian military officers this week .
-Ivanov alleged the move was part of efforts to force Moscow to withdraw its troops from Georgia and clear the way for Georgian authorities to pursue a military solution in secessionist areas of the country .
-NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer called on both sides to de-escalate tensions .
-Earlier this month , NATO angered Russia by approving intensified dialogue with Georgia .
-Pakistan has released 17 former Guantanamo Bay detainees who had been freed from U.S. custody nine months ago and detained for further investigation on their return to Pakistan .
-The released men are part of a group of 35 Pakistani detainees who were cleared by U.S. authorities last September .
-A religious affairs adviser for the government in Punjab province says the men were finally released today after they promised not to take part in militant activities .
-Hundreds of Pakistanis went to Afghanistan to fight alongside the Taleban militia against the United States .
-After the Taleban regime was ousted in late 2001 , many Pakistanis were jailed in Afghanistan , and some were sent to Guantanamo .
-United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan says he believes another investigation will be necessary into last month 's assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri .
-In a speech Wednesday to Arab leaders meeting in Algiers , Mr. Annan said that within the next few days he expects to release a report on a fact-finding mission into the February 14th killing .
-But he added that another more comprehensive probe might be necessary .
-News reports from Lebanon say the U.N. fact-finding report is expected to accuse Lebanese authorities of negligence and evidence tampering .
-Lebanon 's pro-Syrian government has said it was investigating the massive bombing in Beirut that killed Mr. Hariri .
-But there has been no official statement on the probe .
-Meanwhile , Mr. Annan said he expected the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon to be completed before Lebanese parliamentary elections set for May .
-Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov says the government is cutting its troops in Chechnya by 1,000 .
-Mr. Ivanov made the announcement Friday at a military installation in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don .
-He gave no reason for the action .
-The Itar-Tass news agency says airborne troops and marine units in the mountainous regions of Chechnya will be withdrawn .
-Mr. Ivanov says the only forces that will remain next year in the war-torn breakaway republic will be an infantry division and Defense Ministry commando forces .
-Russia has been fighting separatists in Chechnya for most of the past decade , in a conflict that has devastated the region .
-President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said the fighting is dying down , but the violence continues .
-U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has urged all Iraqis to refrain from acts of violence and put aside their differences , in the wake of Monday 's suicide car bombing in Hilla that killed at least 125 people .
-A statement issued through his spokesman condemned the attack as a flagrant violation of international law that seeks to undermine the prospects of peace , democracy and prosperity .
-The attack , the deadliest of its kind since the fall of Saddam Hussein 's regime in 2003 , wounded more than 100 other people .
-Witnesses say the bomber drove a car into a crowd of people seeking medical checkups needed for government jobs .
-There has been no claim of responsibility .
-The White House condemned the attack .
-U.S. lawmaker Connie Mack says Arabic-language al-Jazeera television , which has allied with Latin America 's Telesur network , is nothing more than a mouthpiece for terrorists .
-The Republican congressman from the southeastern U.S. state of Florida tells VOA he is very concerned about that alliance .
-Earlier , he said it would create a global network for terrorists and other enemies of freedom .
-He is calling for Congress to pass a plan authorizing the U.S. government to begin radio and television broadcasts into Venezuela .
-Thursday , Venezuela 's Communications Ministry said Congressman Mack 's comments represent a veiled threat that the United States will attack Telesur 's headquarters in Caracas .
-A spokesman for the State Department said Friday it is not up to the U.S. government to dictate what sort of business deals media organizations can make .
-President Bush will visit the U.S. Gulf Coast Sunday as the region continues to clean-up from Hurricane Katrina .
-The visit will be Mr. Bush 's third trip to the area since the devastating storm hit nearly two weeks ago .
-Cleanup and recovery efforts in New Orleans are showing signs of progress .
-The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers now says it will take 40 days to pump the floodwaters out of the city , cutting its original estimate in half .
-The city 's Louis Armstrong International Airport will reopen to passenger traffic on Tuesday .
-Meanwhile , the block-to-block search continues for those killed when Katrina hit landfall .
-Officials now cautiously say the death toll may be far lower than the thousands originally feared .
-The death toll now stands at nearly 400 across the region , with 154 in New Orleans .
-Maoist rebels in Nepal have raided a western town , in one of their largest assaults since ending a unilateral ceasefire earlier this month .
-Security officials say at least six policemen were missing , but no casualties were reported when the rebels fired on a police station as well as banks and offices in the town of Dhangadi overnight .
-The officials say Nepalese soldiers returned fire , and reclaimed control of the town after a prolonged gunbattle .
-Maoist rebels have carried out a series of attacks in western Nepal since they canceled a four-month long truce on January second .
-The guerillas say they resumed hostilities because Nepal 's royalist government refused to match the ceasefire .
-The Maoists have been fighting to overthrow Nepal 's monarchy since 1996 .
-At least 12,000 people have died in the fighting .
-The foreign ministers of Japan and South Korea have discussed their strained relations in a meeting on the sidelines of an Asian summit in Malaysia 's capital , Kuala Lumpur .
-During talks Saturday , Seoul 's Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon told his Japanese counterpart , Taro Aso , that visits by Japan 's prime minister to a controversial war shrine are disrupting bilateral relations .
-The shrine honors Japan 's war dead , including convicted war criminals .
-Critics , including South Korea and China , say the shrine glorifies Japan 's wartime past .
-But Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi says he visits the shrine to pray for peace .
-Thursday , China ruled out holding a meeting with senior leaders from Japan and South Korea during the regional summit , which officially begins Monday .
-The three nations have met on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit for the past six years .
-NATO has acknowledged responsibility for killing 12 Afghan civilians during a major U.S.-led offensive against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan .
-NATO says the civilians were killed when two rockets fired at insurgents missed their intended target .
-Afghan President Hamid Karzai expressed sadness at the incident .
-He has ordered an investigation into the deaths in the Nad Ali district .
-The large-scale military operation began early Saturday , concentrated on the farming community of Marjah in southern Helmand province .
-Some 15,000 U.S. , British and Afghan soldiers are involved in the offensive , designed to oust the Taliban from an area that has been an insurgent stronghold .
-Afghan officials said Sunday that at least 27 insurgents have been killed during the fighting .
-NATO says one American and one British soldier were killed on the first day of the offensive .
-During an interview Sunday on CNN , U.S. National Security Advisor James Jones described the operation as going well .
-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the Bush administration is still considering setting up a diplomatic mission in Iran .
-Rice refuted an Associated Press report that the administration had decided to hand the issue to its successor .
-She told reporters that Washington continues to look at the idea .
-On a flight from India to Kazakhstan for talks on other matters , Rice called the idea interesting .
-She did not comment further .
-The United States and Iran are at odds over the Middle East country 's nuclear program .
-Iran has ignored U.N. resolutions demanding that it stop uranium enrichment .
-U.S. and European governments fear that Iran is trying to build a nuclear bomb .
-Tehran denies that and says it wants only to produce low-grade fuel for nuclear energy .
-The same enrichment process also could be used to produce highly enriched uranium for nuclear weapons .
-Sri Lanka 's military says rebels have ambushed a navy bus in the east of the country , wounding 12 sailors and sparking a gunbattle in which two civilians also died .
-Officials blame Tamil rebels for Tuesday 's attack in Trincomalee .
-They say the rebels set off a fragmentation mine as the navy bus passed by , and then opened fire on the bus with small arms .
-Officials say the sailors shot back , and two civilians were killed in the crossfire .
-Sri Lanka 's government says at least 69 security personnel have been killed by rebels since early December .
-The violence has severely strained a ceasefire signed by both sides in 2002 .
-Russian officials say they will send a naval task force to the Caribbean later this year for possible joint exercises with Venezuelan forces .
-A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman , Andrei Nesterenk , says the nuclear-powered battle cruiser Peter the Great will lead the naval mission , which will also include the destroyer Admiral Chabanenko and other vessels including a fuel tanker .
-The spokesman said anti-submarine aircraft will also be sent to Venezuela , possibly in November .
-The spokesman said the visit was planned long before the outbreak of the Georgian conflict and is not directed against any third country .
-Russian authorities have accused the United States of rearming Georgia while using military vessels to deliver humanitarian aid to the Caucasus country .
-U.S. officials have denied the charge Venezuela 's leftist President Hugo Chavez , a harsh critic of the U.S. government , has forged closer ties with Moscow , including arms purchases and other economic deals .
-The U.S. military in Iraq says a roadside bomb has killed one of its troops south of the capital , Baghdad .
-The military says the soldier was killed Thursday when his vehicle hit the bomb during a combat patrol near Iskandariyah .
-The United States invaded Iraq in 2003 , citing concerns about alleged weapons of mass destruction programs .
-No such weapons were found .
-Iraqi officials say the country 's deputy minister of electricity , Raad al-Harith , and seven of his bodyguards have been freed hours after their abduction in Baghdad .
-The fate of 12 other bodyguards kidnapped with them is not known .
-Gunmen wearing camouflage uniforms intercepted the minister 's convoy early Tuesday .
-The abduction was the second high-profile kidnapping in Baghdad in less than a week .
-On Saturday , gunmen kidnapped a Sunni Arab legislator , Tayseer al-Mashhadani , and seven of her bodyguards .
-Sunni lawmakers have since boycotted parliament and demanded her release .
-Separately , the U.S. military says coalition forces detained three suspected al-Qaida in Iraq terrorists , including a senior member of the group , Monday during a raid near Tikrit .
-The U.S. military also says Iraqi soldiers rescued three Red Crescent employees from kidnappers Monday near the Al-Nida Mosque in Baghdad .
-The U.S. space agency NASA is counting down toward a nighttime launch of the space shuttle Endeavouron a 16-day mission to the International Space Station .
-The shuttle is scheduled to launch early Tuesday morning with seven astronauts and some high-tech freight on board .
-Endeavour will deliver the first module of a Japanese space laboratory and a Canadian robot designed to handle some of the jobs performed by spacewalking astronauts .
-The Japanese lab is called Kibo , a Japanese word for hope .
-If shuttle flights go according to schedule , its final module should be delivered next year to the space station .
-The Canadian robot , called Dextre , can be operated by the crew inside the station or by flight controllers on the ground .
-Astronauts intend to perform five spacewalks during their stay at the space station .
-The 16-day mission will be the longest shuttle mission to the space station to date .
-Top Palestinian officials have arrived in Lebanon for the first visit by Palestinian leadership in more than two decades .
-The head of the Palestine Liberation Organization , Mahmoud Abbas , and Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia are due to meet with Lebanese President Emile Lahoud and other top officials Wednesday .
-Monday , Mr. Abbas was in Syria for landmark talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to discuss plans for future peace efforts with Israel .
-The trips by Palestinian leaders to Lebanon and Syria are aimed at improving relations that were strained under Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat , who died last month .
-Both countries opposed Mr. Arafat 's signing of the Oslo peace accords in 1993 , saying the agreement derailed a joint Arab approach to peace with Israel .
-More than 100 countries with delegates at a global conference on racism have agreed on a declaration calling for an end to intolerance and xenophobia .
-The declaration , adopted Tuesday in Geneva , reaffirms a 2001 statement issued at the first United Nations conference on racism in Durban , South Africa .
-The decision Tuesday by consensus came a day after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stirred controversy with an address in which he described Israel as " cruel , repressive and racist . "
-Mr. Ahmadinejad 's address sparked a walkout by delegates from 23 European Union nations .
-The United States and eight other Western countries boycotted the conference over fears that it would become a forum for anti-Semitism .
-U.N. and Western diplomats criticized the Iranian president 's remarks as outrageous , anti-Semitic and an incitement to hatred .
-U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the Iranian leader used the meeting " to accuse , divide and even incite . "
-Israel says it has launched fresh airstrikes against Palestinian militant targets in the Gaza Strip .
-Army officials say Israeli aircraft attacked at least eight roads and bridges Sunday leading to sites used by militants to launch rockets into Israeli territory .
-It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties .
-On Saturday , Palestinian officials said a Palestinian militant was killed and three others wounded in an explosion in the Gaza Strip .
-Security officials said Israeli aircraft fired a missile at a car carrying the militant ( said to be a member of the Abu Rish Brigades ) .
-Israel denied the report .
-Officials in Pakistan say suspected tribal rebels blew up three natural gas pipelines Saturday in southwestern Baluchistan province .
-Gas company officials say the attacks disrupted natural gas supplies to several districts , but caused no injuries .
-No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombings .
-Elsewhere , Pakistani security forces say they attacked a militant hideout near the Afghan border , killing between 15 and 20 suspected militants .
-A military statement said the operation began before dawn in the North Waziristan tribal region , where foreign militants and their local supporters are hiding .
-Pakistan is trying to clear its rugged , semi-autonomous border lands of militants , many of whom fled there after the overthrow of the Taleban in Afghanistan .
-The White House says President George Bush has reaffirmed strong U.S.-Pakistani relations , in a phone call he made to Pakistan 's President Pervez Musharraf .
-Friday 's conversation between the two leaders took place a day after Mr. Musharraf dismissed media speculation he is ready to resign .
-He also said there are no differences between him and the chief of the country 's powerful military , General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani .
-Mr. Musharraf was referring to a report in a Pakistani newspaper , The News Daily , that speculated he was about to quit following a meeting with the general on Wednesday .
-The military said the two men discussed routine matters .
-The landmark trial of a Congolese war crimes suspect has been temporarily adjourned after the first witness suddenly recanted his earlier testimony .
-The young man was testifying Wednesday against Thomas Lubanga , the first suspect to go on trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague .
-The witness , whose name was not released , initially said Lubanga 's men recruited him off a street and sent him to a military training camp .
-But after a break , the witness told the court his earlier account was incorrect .
-Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda requested a delay to investigate what caused the man to change his testimony , and to review measures designed to protect his safety .
-Lubanga , a former Congolese militia leader , is accused of recruiting and using children under the age of 15 as soldiers during hostilities in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo .
-A published report says U.S. military officials in Iraq knew that American forces were abusing detainees throughout that country , more than a month before mistreatment at the Abu Ghraib prison was uncovered .
-The Washington Post newspaper Wednesday , says a confidential report about the abuse was given to Army generals in Iraq in December 2003 , before military investigators received photographs of the abuses at Abu Ghraib .
-That Abu Ghraib scandal became public several months later when news media published photographs of the abuse .
-The Post says the confidential report was written by retired Colonel Stuart Herrington .
-He disclosed that members of a special joint military and Central Intelligence Agency task force TF-121 were abusing detainees throughout Iraq and using a secret interrogation facility to hide their activities .
-A Pentagon official told the Post the Herrington report was taken very seriously , and that its findings were passed on to U.S. Central Command .
-At least 15 more Iraqi police and national guardsmen have been killed , as insurgents press their campaign to disrupt upcoming national elections .
-A suicide car-bomb explosion in Baghdad near the headquarters of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi 's political party killed two police and a civilian and wounded more than 20 people .
-North of the capital , U.S. authorities say a car bombing near a U.S. military base in Balad killed four Iraqi guardsmen and wounded 14 .
-In Tikrit , six guardsmen were reported killed by roadside bombs , and two more Iraqi officers were killed at a checkpoint in the nearby town of Baiji .
-Separately , officials say a policeman was killed in Mosul when he tried to move a decapitated body that was rigged with explosives .
-Security officials say they expected an increase in insurgent attacks before January 30 elections .
-Mexico 's Institutional Revolutionary Party has selected Roberto Madrazo as its candidate for the 2006 presidential election .
-Mr. Madrazo easily defeated challenger Everado Moreno during Sunday 's PRI primary election .
-Mr. Madrazo is a former Tobasco state governor who headed the PRI until recently .
-His nomination was virtually assured after his main challenger Arturo Montiel dropped out last month amid allegations of corruption .
-The presidential primary is the party first since it was defeated by President Vicente Fox and his National Action Party in 2000 after the PRI held power for seven decades .
-During that time , Mexican presidents handpicked their successors in the party .
-With conservative president Fox not allowed to run again , Mr. Madrazo will face conservative Felipe Calderon and leftist Andres Manual Lopez Obrador in next July 's election .
-Mr. Obrador is currently leading most opinion polls .
-U.S. Congressional officials say the White House intends to seek $ 40 billion in emergency funds to finance the next phase of recovery from Hurricane Katrina .
-President Bush has already signed a $ 10.5 billion emergency package for hurricane victims .
-But one U.S. lawmaker , Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid , says the hurricane could cost the federal government $ 150 billion .
-Earlier , Mr. Bush said he plans to oversee an investigation into what went wrong with the government 's response to Hurricane Katrina .
-His administration has come under heavy criticism over the government 's relief efforts following the powerful storm .
-Federal Emergency Management Agency Chief Michael Brown has also been the focus of widespread criticism .
-Some U.S. lawmakers have called for his removal , but the White House has rejected calls for top federal emergency officials to be replaced .
-Iran 's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Saturday the United States and Israel are his country 's main enemies .
-In a televised speech , Khamenei said hatred toward the U.S. is growing around the world .
-His remarks come just three days after the United States rejected an Iranian suggestion to hold higher-level talks on the security situation in Iraq .
-Iran suggested the talks as U.S. and Iranian ambassadors to Iraq met in Baghdad to discuss Iraq 's security .
-The U.S. has accused Iran of supplying weapons and training to Shi'ite militias in Iraq .
-Iran denies the charge .
-Khamenei 's comments came as he marked the birthday of Imam Ali , the first Imam of Shia Muslims .
-The United States and Iran have had little official contact for 27 years .
-Washington broke off diplomatic relations in April 1980 several months after Iranian activists seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran and took its staff hostage .
-The Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad says it has ordered its gunmen in the Gaza Strip to stop firing rockets at Israeli targets while Israel prepares for and completes its Gaza evacuation .
-The group issued a statement Wednesday , a day after errant rocket fire into southern Israel killed a Palestinian child and wounded eight other Palestinians .
-The Jihad statement denied responsibility .
-Meanwhile , thousands of Jewish settlers and their right-wing supporters are protesting for a second straight day in southern Israel against the mid-August Gaza evacuation .
-The protesters , encamped near the Israeli border town of Ofakim , have vowed to march to nearby Gaza later Wednesday , despite Israeli warnings that 15,000 police deployed in the area will stop them .
-Israel closed Gaza to all Israeli non-residents last month , and police and troops have blocked earlier attempts by protesters to enter the territory .
-Australia 's cricket team has scored 376-7 by stumps on the first day of its second test match against India in Sydney .
-After winning the toss and electing to bat first , Australia lost four wickets in rapid succession .
-However , Andrew Symonds was able to lift his team out of trouble with an unbeaten 137 runs , his second career test century .
-Indian bowler R. P. Singh was Apr-28 in 21 overs .
-Harbhajan Singh finished Feb-88 .
-Symonds resurrected the home team 's innings with partnerships of 173 with Brad Hogg and 69 with Brett Lee .
-Hogg was caught out for 79 runs while Lee was not out for 31 .
-Australia won the first test of the series by 337 runs in Melbourne .
-The Aussies are hoping to win their 16th test match in a row .
-The third test starts in Perth on January 16th .
-Authorities in Indian Kashmir say at least 15 people died when a bus veered off a steep mountain road and plunged into a gorge .
-Reports from the area Wednesday say at least 15 other people on the bus were injured but survived the accident .
-Survivors ' accounts indicate the driver lost control of the bus on a sharp curve , and the vehicle plunged 250 meters down a mountainside .
-Villagers and police used ropes to reach the wreck .
-The bus had been traveling through the Tajouri district , nearly 200 kilometers northwest of Jammu city , Indian Kashmir 's winter capital .
-The United States is formally protesting China 's decision to deny a visa to U.S. Olympic gold medalist and Darfur anti-violence campaigner Joey Cheek .
-White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Wednesday the U.S. is disturbed to learn that China has refused his visa .
-Cheek , a speedskater who competed in the 2006 Winter Olympics , had planned to go to Beijing to support Olympic athletes who are members of Team Darfur .
-The group aims to call attention to the humanitarian crisis in Sudan 's Darfur region .
-China is a major investor in Sudan and has come under increasing pressure to help end the violence in Darfur .
-International experts say more than 2,00,000 people have died and some 2.5 million have been displaced from their homes since Darfur rebel groups rose up against the Sudanese government in 2003 .
-Sudan says Western governments and media have exaggerated the scale of the conflict .
-Taliban militants have shot and killed a man for teaching English in eastern Afghanistan , sparking a gunbattle that left two militants and two policemen dead .
-Provincial officials Thursday said the man was teaching English courses at a school in the eastern Paktia province when he was killed Wednesday .
-Police arrived on the scene and clashed with militants , resulting in casualties on both sides .
-Taliban militants have destroyed a number of schools in Afghanistan and repeatedly target those seen as sympathetic to foreign governments .
-Separately , U.S-led coalition troops Thursday said they killed several militants in an operation on Wednesday in the southern Helmand province .
-This year has been the deadliest in Afghanistan since a U.S.-led invasion ousted the Taliban government in 2001 .
-Taliban militants have established strongholds in the south and east , attacking U.S. and NATO troops and Afghan soldiers in ambushes and suicide bombings .
-Polish prime minister-designate Donald Tusk says he wants to pull Polish troops out of Iraq next year .
-In an interview Wednesday with a daily newspaper , Polska , Tusk is quoted as saying his new government would want to finish the mission of the 900 troops still in Iraq .
-Tusk also said he wants to continue good relations with Washington , but needs more information before deciding whether to back U.S. plans to build part of a European missile defense system in Poland .
-He says he wants to know if housing 10 U.S. interceptor missiles in Poland increases or diminishes security .
-In Washington , a White House spokeswoman , Dana Perino , expressed appreciation for the cooperation of countries working with the U.S. led coalition in Iraq .
-She said the United States understands the difficulties in continuing the troop presence , but stressed their importance in guaranteeing security .
-Signs are mounting that the dominant Fatah faction of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas may consider delaying key parliamentary elections scheduled for July .
-The issue has emerged one month after the militant Palestinian Islamic group Hamas announced that it would end a nearly decade-long boycott and participate in the July elections .
-Palestinian lawmakers say the election may be delayed because a modified election law may not be adopted in time .
-But other officials say parliamentary leaders want to delay the vote for fear Hamas , which has gained considerable public support , would undercut Fatah 's power in parliament .
-Hamas emerged as a key player in Palestinian politics after winning an overwhelming victory in its Gaza Strip strongholds in January 's municipal elections .
-Junoon means " obsession " in the Urdu language .
-It is the name of one of Pakistan 's and perhaps South Asia 's most popular rock bands .
-The group is based in Karachi , and was formed in 1990 by guitarist , songwriter and medical doctor Salman Ahmad .
-Sometimes when Junoon performs in the United States , an American-based singer of Indian origin , known as Falu , opens for the group .
-VOA 's Ravi Khanna brings us a glimpse of Falu 's life and music , based on an interview by VOA 's Ethnomusicologist , Brian Q. Silver .
-An international donor 's conference has opened in Beijing , where world health officials hope to raise $ 1.5 billion to help stop the spread of bird flu .
-Officials from about 90 countries are attending the two-day meeting sponsored by The World Bank , European Union , and China .
-United Nations bird flu official , Dr. David Nabarro , says the $ 1.5 billion is to help poor countries set up prevention programs .
-He says much more would be needed if bird flu becomes a global pandemic .
-Health experts fear the deadly H5N1 strain could mutate into one that is easily spread among humans and create a worldwide catastrophe .
-Bird flu has killed more than 80 people in southeast Asia , China , and Turkey since 2003 .
-Russian President Dmitri Medvedev has arrived the Kazakhstan capital , Astana , on his first trip abroad since taking office earlier this month .
-Mr. Medvedev will also travel to China , arriving in Beijing on Saturday .
-Traditionally new Russian leaders visit European countries on their first official foreign trips .
-However , the visit to Asia highlights the importance that Russia places on energy resources in the region .
-Mr. Medvedev is expected to discuss energy and space cooperation .
-Since the collapse of the Soviet Union , Moscow has tried to regain influence over the former Central Asian republics .
-Russia has competed with the West and China over access to oil and gas reserves in Central Asia .
-Mr. Medvedev is due to visit Germany in early June on his first official trip to a European country .
-The African Union says gunmen in Sudan 's troubled Darfur region have killed another A.U. peacekeeper .
-An A.U. spokesman says the unidentified attackers shot the peacekeeper and stole his vehicle late Saturday near the entrance of an A.U. compound in Al-Fasher , the capital of North Darfur state .
-The nationality of the dead peacekeeper was not disclosed .
-Seven A.U. troops have been killed in Darfur so far this month .
-U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte had visited the A.U. compound in Al-Fasher Saturday .
-He is in Sudan to try to persuade the government to permit the deployment of U.N. troops in Darfur .
-The 7,000 A.U. peacekeepers currently in Darfur are poorly-equipped and have failed to ease the violence obstructing humanitarian work in the region .
-A Rwandan peacekeeper with the A.U. force was shot dead last Tuesday , while gunmen killed five Senegalese peacekeepers on April 1 .
-The moderate faction of Indian Kashmir 's main political separatist alliance says it will urge Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to include them in talks with India on the future of the divided region .
-The chairman of the alliance , Mirwaiz Umar Farooq , says he intends to tell General Musharraf that the Kashmir dispute can not be solved without the inclusion of Kashmiris .
-The Pakistani leader is due to meet the separatists in New Delhi during a visit Sunday to watch an India-Pakistan cricket match .
-The two South Asian nuclear rivals have twice gone to war over Kashmir since they gained independence from Britain .
-But their relations have improved since the launch of a peace process last year .
-The process received a boost last week when the two sides re-opened a historic bus route across the military line-of-control for the first time in nearly 60 years .
-Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the recent outbreak of bird flu in Turkey is under control , as health officials confirmed the country 's 15th human case of the H5N1 virus .
-Mr. Erdogan said agricultural officials continue to closely monitor the situation .
-Agricultural workers say they have slaughtered some 3,00,000 birds and have stepped up an information campaign to inform people about the dangers posed by infected birds .
-Some 70 people in Turkey are hospitalized with symptoms of avian influenza , but the Associated Press quotes health officials as saying most of them have tested negative for bird flu .
-In Ukraine , health officials Tuesday confirmed new cases of H5N1 in birds at three poultry farms on the Crimean peninsula .
-Bird flu has killed more than 70 people in Asia since 2003 , and at least two people in Turkey .
-Democratic Party officials say U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd of the northeastern state of Connecticut will seek the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination .
-The 62-year-old veteran lawmaker is expected to announce his candidacy Thursday on a nationally syndicated radio show .
-The son of a former U.S. senator , Dodd was elected to the House of Representatives in 1974 , and served three terms before his election to the Senate in 1980 .
-He voted to authorize military action against Iraq in 2002 , but has since become a vocal critic of President Bush 's handling of the war .
-Dodd joins a growing field of official candidates , including former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina , Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack , and Representative Dennis Kucinich of Ohio .
-Two other sitting senators , New York 's Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama of Illinois , are also considering seeking the nomination .
-The U.S. military has released more than 400 male Iraqi prisoners , after an Iraqi-led review board found no reason to continue to keep them in custody .
-The releases were announced Saturday .
-A U.S. statement said that since August 2004 the cases of about 28,000 detainees have been examined and about half of them have been released .
-Meanwhile , authorities say a U.S. soldier was killed Saturday by a roadside bomb in Baghdad .
-Separately , at least three Iraq police were killed in another roadside explosion in the city .
-Also , police say the bodies of two blindfolded and bound men were found in Baghdad - apparent victims of reprisal attacks by Shi'ite and Sunni extremists .
-The Iraqi Interior Ministry is probing allegations that Shi'ite death squads are operating within Iraqi police ranks .
-Russia 's upper house of parliament has approved President Vladimir Putin 's controversial plan to end direct elections to choose regional governors , and allow the Kremlin to appoint them instead .
-The Federation Council adopted the measure Wednesday by 145 votes to one , with two abstentions .
-It now goes to the Kremlin to become law with Mr. Putin 's signature .
-The president says such changes are necessary to block terrorists from trying to influence Russia 's local elections .
-But critics across the political spectrum say the plan is a step back from democracy .
-Under the new law , the Kremlin would select gubernatorial candidates , whose appointments would require confirmation by regional lawmakers .
-If a provincial parliament rejects a governor chosen by Moscow , the new law says Mr. Putin has the authority to dissolve that legislature .
-French President Jacques Chirac is preparing for a high-profile television appearance to try to boost uncertain prospects for French ratification of the European Union constitution .
-Mr. Chirac will open his public campaign for the constitution this Thursday evening in a televised debate with an audience of 80 young voters .
-His appearance follows a string of opinion polls that have shown French voters planning to reject the constitution in a referendum on May 29 .
-Pollsters say opponents plan to vote against the constitution to highlight their fear of Turkish EU membership or to register their discontent with Mr. Chirac 's socio-economic policies .
-Some critics say the constitution could cost French jobs and destroy the country 's social welfare system .
-The constitution , aimed at streamlining EU decision-making , requires ratification by all of the union 's 25 member states to take effect .
-World oil prices soared to yet another record high in Thursday 's trading , increasing the threat of inflation and dimming prospects for global economic growth .
-The price of crude oil for future delivery went as high as $ 145.85 a barrel in New York trading .
-Analysts blamed the price hikes on a weak U.S. dollar , concerns about conflict in the Middle East , and lower crude oil inventories .
-Raising the price of oil boosts the cost of making many goods and increases the cost of delivering everything , so soaring energy costs are increasing the threat of inflation .
-Thursday , the European Central Bank tried to fight inflation by raising interest rates a quarter of a point to 4.25 percent .
-Increasing interest rates slows the economy by raising the cost of borrowing money to buy equipment to expand businesses or purchase homes .
-Zimbabwe is preparing to nullify thousands of legal challenges by white farmers who had their land seized under the country 's controversial land reform program .
-A report in Zimbabwe 's Sunday Mail newspaper says authorities will file court papers Monday to officially end the litigation under a new constitutional amendment that nationalizes all seized farms and bans any legal challenges .
-An official in the attorney general 's office says 4,000 cases pending before the courts will be nullified .
-President Robert Mugabe began the land seizures in 2000 and transferred ownership to landless blacks .
-Mr. Mugabe says the land seizures were necessary to correct ownership imbalances created under British colonial rule .
-But critics say the program has been a failure and has led to the collapse of Zimbabwe 's economy .
-A court in Venezuela has ordered four people detained for their alleged involvement in the assassination of a leading government prosecutor .
-Those ordered held by the court Friday include newspaper editor Patricia Poleo and businessman Nelson Mezerhane .
-They are accused of plotting the assassination of Danilo Anderson , who was leading the prosecution of hundreds of people accused of backing a 2002 coup against President Hugo Chavez .
-Mr. Anderson was killed by a car bomb last November .
-Ms. Poleo and Mr. Mezerhane are accused of plotting the assassination with two others who have been detained - retired general Eugenio Anez Nunez and Salvador Romani , a Cuban dissident .
-Since Mr. Anderson 's killing last year , Venezuelan police have arrested at least two other suspects , while two others were killed in a gunfight with police .
-Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has arrived in the country 's southern port city of Karachi to try to quell unrest that has killed at least 85 people .
-Monday 's assassination of provincial lawmaker Raza Haider triggered four days of riots , with protesters opening fire and burning vehicles and shops .
-Haider was a member of the Muttahida Quami Movement or MQM , which is part of the ruling political coalition in both Sindh province and the federal government .
-The party , which largely represents the Urdu-speaking community , and the Awami National Party or ANP , which represents ethnic Pashtuns , have blamed each other for the violence .
-Pakistan 's Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said Taliban-linked militants looking to fuel political tensions were behind Haider 's assassination .
-Malik met with representatives from both the MQM and ANP on Friday .
-Political leaders were due to meet with Prime Minister Gilani later in the day .
-Pakistan and India have ushered in the new year by exchanging lists of their civilian nuclear facilities .
-Pakistan 's Foreign Ministry Tuesday said the two countries participated in the annual exchange , as part of a 1998 agreement prohibiting attacks on each other 's nuclear installations .
-The lists of nuclear facilities were handed over at India and Pakistan 's respective foreign ministries in New Delhi and Islamabad .
-India and Pakistan have fought three wars since partition in 1947 .
-But relations have improved since the two countries launched a slow moving peace process in 2004 to resolve their disputes , including the conflict over Kashmir .
-India and Pakistan both conducted nuclear weapons tests in 1998 .
-The White House says President Bush will make an evening address to the nation on Monday , the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the United States .
-It will be the latest in a series of speeches about terrorism that the President has made in the past two weeks .
-He has been highlighting what he calls the nation 's progress in the war on terrorism , ahead of key midterm elections in November .
-A presidential spokesman said Friday that Mr. Bush 's speech will be non-political and will focus on what the September 11 attacks have meant to the nation .
-On Sunday and Monday the president is scheduled to visit the sites of the attacks in New York City , Shanksville , Pennsylvania and the Pentagon in Washington .
-Democrats accuse Mr. Bush of emphasizing anti-terror efforts lately to distract from the increasingly unpopular war in Iraq .
-The foreign relations committee of Pakistan 's upper house of parliament has condemned what it called the Israeli " aggression " on Lebanon and urged the international community to pressure the Jewish state to halt the strikes .
-The demand came through a unanimously adopted resolution at a special session of the Senate committee held in Islamabad .
-Pakistan has no diplomatic relations with Israel .
-Some 800 Pakistani students staged demonstrations in the southern port city of Karachi to protest against the Israeli action .
-In neighboring Bangladesh , Foreign Minister M. Morshed Khan urged Western countries " to restrain Israel " from such attacks and said many Western countries use a double standard in dealing with the Middle East .
-Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi launched his political campaign Saturday for the snap general election he has called on September 11 .
-The prime minister says the focal point of the election will be his proposal for privatization of Japan 's national postal system , a sprawling business empire that includes savings institutions with three trillion dollars in assets .
-Mr. Koizumi dissolved Parliament and called a general election about two weeks ago after Japan 's upper house voted down postal reforms - with members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party joining the majority .
-LDP leaders have withdrawn support for lawmakers who voted " no " on August 8 , and say they will not be allowed to run for re-election .
-A Yomiuri newspaper poll this week shows support for Mr. Koizumi has risen to 53.2 percent , up 5.5 percentage points since he dissolved Parliament .
-Presidents from most South American countries have gathered in Brazil for a meeting of the Mercosur trading group .
-The two-day meeting in Rio de Janeiro began Thursday .
-One of the main issues under discussion is how to make Mercosur more responsive to the social concerns of the member countries .
-The push for a change of direction for the five-member alliance is coming from Venezuela 's leftist President Hugo Chavez .
-Ecuador and Bolivia , both also led by leftist governments , are seeking to join the group .
-Officials say the trade bloc now accounts for one trillion dollars in annual economic activity and includes 250 million people .
-Argentina , Brazil , Paraguay and Uruguay formed Mercosur in 1991 .
-Venezuela joined in July of last year .
-Chile and Bolivia are associate members .
-Afghan officials say President Hamid Karzai is considering offering a government post to a powerful regional warlord , despite concerns over his role in alleged human rights abuses .
-A presidential spokesman Jawed Ludin told a news briefing in Kabul Tuesday that General Abdul Rashid Dostum held several meetings with the president to discuss a possible government position .
-Asked about charges that General Dostum was guilty of human rights abuses and war crimes , the spokesman said it was a completely different issue .
-He stressed that everyone in Afghanistan has the right to fulfill their responsibilities and be given opportunity to do so .
-General Dostum 's faction helped U.S.-led coalition forces oust the former Taleban regime in 2001 .
-He finished fourth in last year 's presidential elections and narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in January .
-Economic activity is limited to providing services to military personnel and contractors located on the island .
-All food and manufactured goods must be imported .
-Financial services - banking , fund management , insurance - account for about 23 % of employment and about 55 % of total income in this tiny , prosperous Channel Island economy .
-Tourism , manufacturing , and horticulture , mainly tomatoes and cut flowers , have been declining .
-Financial services , construction , retail , and the public sector have been growing .
-Light tax and death duties make Guernsey a popular tax haven .
-The evolving economic integration of the EU nations is changing the environment under which Guernsey operates .
-The Jamaican economy is heavily dependent on services , which now account for more than 60 % of GDP .
-The country continues to derive most of its foreign exchange from tourism , remittances , and bauxite / alumina .
-Remittances account for nearly 15 % of GDP and exports of bauxite and alumina make up about 10 % .
-The bauxite / alumina sector was most affected by the global downturn while the tourism industry was resilient , experiencing an increase of 4 % in tourist arrivals .
-Tourism revenues account for roughly 10 % of GDP , and both arrivals and revenues grew in 2010 , up 4 % and 6 % respectively .
-The Economic growth faces many challenges : high crime and corruption , large-scale unemployment and underemployment , and a debt-to-GDP ratio of more than 120 % .
-Jamaica 's onerous public debt burden - the fourth highest in the world on a per capita basis - is the result of government bailouts to ailing sectors of the economy , most notably to the financial sector in the mid-to-late 1990s .
-In early 2010 , the Jamaican government created the Jamaica Debt Exchange ( JDX ) in order to retire high-priced domestic bonds and significantly reduce annual debt servicing .
-The Government of Jamaica signed a $ 1.27 billion , 27-month Standby Agreement with the International Monetary Fund for balance of payment support in February 2010 .
-Other multilaterals have also provided millions of dollars in loans and grants .
-Despite the improvement , debt servicing costs still hinder the government 's ability to spend on infrastructure and social programs , particularly as job losses rise in a shrinking economy .
-The GOLDING administration faces the difficult prospect of having to achieve fiscal discipline in order to maintain debt payments , while simultaneously attacking a serious crime problem that is hampering economic growth .
-High unemployment exacerbates the crime problem , including gang violence that is fueled by the drug trade .
-Since the 1960s , South Korea has achieved an incredible record of growth and global integration to become a high-tech industrialized economy .
-Four decades ago , GDP per capita was comparable with levels in the poorer countries of Africa and Asia .
-In 2004 , South Korea joined the trillion dollar club of world economies , and currently is among the world 's 20 largest economies .
-Initially , a system of close government and business ties , including directed credit and import restrictions , made this success possible .
-The government promoted the import of raw materials and technology at the expense of consumer goods , and encouraged savings and investment over consumption .
-The Asian financial crisis of 1997 - 98 exposed longstanding weaknesses in South Korea 's development model including high debt / equity ratios and massive short-term foreign borrowing .
-GDP plunged by 6.9 % in 1998 , and then recovered by 9 % in 1999 - 2000 .
-Korea adopted numerous economic reforms following the crisis , including greater openness to foreign investment and imports .
-Growth moderated to about 4 - 5 % annually between 2003 and 2007 .
-With the global economic downturn in late 2008 , South Korean GDP growth slowed to 0.2 % in 2009 .
-In the third quarter of 2009 , the economy began to recover , in large part due to export growth , low interest rates , and an expansionary fiscal policy , and growth exceeded 6 % in 2010 .
-The South Korean economy 's long term challenges include a rapidly aging population , inflexible labor market , and overdependence on manufacturing exports to drive economic growth .
-Officials in Afghanistan say Taleban , al-Qaida and hundreds of other inmates at a high-security prison in Kabul have taken control of a prison block after clashing with security guards .
-Prison officials say the riot erupted Saturday night after a group of prisoners refused to wear new prison uniforms intended to prevent inmates from mingling with visitors and possibly escaping .
-Seven Taleban inmates used such a method to escape last month .
-Officials say at least 1,300 prisoners were involved in the riot .
-Shots were heard at the Pul-e-Charkhi prison Saturday and early Sunday .
-Authorities say no guards were hurt , but several prisoners were injured .
-Pul-e-Charkhi prison is a huge facility built in the 1970s where thousands of Afghans opposing communist rule in the 1980s were tortured and killed .
-The prison now holds common criminals as well as al-Qaida and Taleban-linked militants .
-Witnesses in Somalia 's capital say an exchange of mortar fire has killed at least seven people and injured 12 others .
-Residents say Wednesday 's fighting began when an African Union plane landed at Mogadishu 's main airport in defiance of a ban by the Islamist militant group al-Shabab .
-The insurgents fired mortars at the airport , triggering a counter-attack .
-It is not clear whether those shells came from African Union peacekeepers , Ethiopian troops , or Somali government forces .
-Al-Shabab warned last month that it would attack any planes landing or taking off from the airport .
-The group said the flights benefit Ethiopia , which has thousands of troops in Somalia backing the interim government .
-The Somali government has urged airlines to use the airport despite the threat .
-On at least two other occasions , Islamists fired on the facility after planes successfully landed .
-One of Iraq 's top Sunni political groups has agreed to support a new constitution in Saturday 's referendum , after reaching a deal with negotiators to consider future changes to the draft .
-Iraq 's Shi'ite and Kurdish-dominated parliament is to discuss the deal at a special session later Wednesday .
-Late Tuesday , Iraq 's main Sunni Arab political party ( the Iraqi Islamic Party ) announced its support for the draft constitution , after Shi'ite and Kurdish negotiators agreed to allow Parliament to consider amendments to the constitution .
-It is unclear if other Sunni groups not involved in negotiations will reverse their calls for voters to reject the constitution .
-U.S. officials have also been pressing Sunnis to back the constitution in the hope it will weaken the insurgency and enable the withdrawal of foreign troops .
-In Baghdad today , Iraqi police say at least six people were injured when a suicide car bomber struck a government convoy .
-U.S. Senator Trent Lott has introduced a bill to re-establish the Federal Emergency Management Agency as an independent group reporting directly to the President .
-The Republican from Mississippi says thousands of people in his state are still without enough help more than five months after Hurricane Katrina .
-He blamed the bureaucratic inefficiencies created when FEMA was placed under the Department of Homeland Security .
-FEMA was merged into the department in a massive federal restructuring after the September 11 , 2001 terrorist attacks .
-Senator Lott says he questioned the wisdom of the move at the time .
-Former FEMA Director James Lee Witt said Thursday that FEMA has become a disgrace since the merger .
-Witt , who headed the agency during the Clinton administration , said the continued emphasis on terrorism has " minimized and demoralized emergency management . "
-Millions of striking workers brought parts of India to a standstill Tuesday as they protested price hikes and alleged anti-labor policies .
-Leftist trade unions called the nationwide day-long strike to express building anger and frustration over the rising cost of living and plans by government to disinvest from public sector companies .
-The strikes , which only materialized in the eastern state of West Bengal and the southwestern state of Kerala , shut down schools , shops , banks and disrupted some airline flights .
-About one million bank employees joined in the work stoppage .
-Tuesday 's demonstrations come two months after main opposition parties led a one-day strike over fuel prices hikes , leaving some regions at a similar standstill .
-Inflation in India has been nearing double digits in recent months .
-Bulgaria has extradited the nephew of former Turkish president Suleyman Demirel to Turkey , where he is wanted for massive fraud .
-Yahya Murat Demirel and his wife , Aysegul Esenler , were arrested in the Black Sea port city of Bourgas on December 31 when they tried to enter Bulgaria illegally .
-Mr. Demirel had been forbidden by Turkish courts to leave the country , where he is on trial in connection with the collapse of Turkish Egebank , which he owned .
-He and his wife were delivered to Turkish authorities Friday morning .
-Campaigning draws to a close Sunday in Egypt 's first multi-candidate presidential election .
-Incumbent president Hosni Mubarak , who faces nine rivals , is expected to hold a final rally of his ruling National Democratic party today before Wednesday 's poll .
-Despite facing electoral opponents for the first time , President Mubarak is widely expected to win a fifth term .
-Ayman Nour , one of Mr. Mubarak 's most prominent opponents , addressed a crowd in the heart of Cairo late Saturday after touring the country .
-Mr. Nour and his Ghad party have led the most aggressive campaign , linking the Mubarak government to years of oppression , economic crisis , and joblessness .
-In February , President Mubarak proposed holding contested presidential elections to replace a system where parliament nominated a single candidate for approval in a referendum .
-The U.S. military says rescue teams have reached the wreckage of a helicopter that went down Tuesday in eastern Afghanistan , but there is still no word on the fate of the 17 U.S. troops on board .
-A spokesman , Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara , told reporters in Kabul Thursday that military rescuers are at the site and that recovery operations are continuing .
-He did not elaborate .
-Military officials say it appears the Chinook helicopter was brought down by hostile fire .
-The helicopter crashed in remote mountainous terrain west of Kunar province 's capital , Asadabad , while transporting troops as part of an ongoing operation against suspected Taleban and al-Qaida terrorists .
-Shortly after the crash , the Taleban said it shot down the aircraft .
-The Egyptian ambassador to Pakistan says no Pakistanis were involved in Saturday 's bombings in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh that killed nearly 90 people .
-Ambassador Hussein Haridy said Tuesday that Egyptian authorities have not accused any Pakistani of involvement in those attacks .
-Monday , Egyptian police circulated photographs of several Pakistanis who had arrived in Sharm el-Sheikh earlier this month but later disappeared after leaving their passports at a hotel .
-Also Monday , police clashed with Bedouin tribesmen as they searched for suspects in the mountains of Sinai 's interior .
-And in Washington , President and Mrs. Bush visited the Egyptian embassy to express their condolences .
-An electric company in the sunny western U.S. state of California plans to begin installing solar panels on rooftops of commercial buildings to produce environmentally friendly energy .
-VOA 's Paul Sisco has the story .
-Iran 's main reformist party is accusing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of hurting the nation 's poor .
-At an annual meeting of the Islamic Iran Participation Front Thursday , party leader Mohsen Mirdamadi attacked both the president 's foreign and economic policies .
-The party hopes to field former president Mohammad Khatami to challenge Mr. Ahmadinejad in next year 's presidential election .
-Mr. Khatami has not yet said if he will run .
-Mr. Ahmadinejad said Wednesday Iran must base its budget on oil worth as little as $ 30 a barrel .
-It is a drastic downward revision likely to lead to spending cuts .
-In recent months , when oil was nearly $ 150 a barrel , the president promised to spread the nation 's oil wealth .
-But with the plummeting price , and inflation at about 30 percent , he has had to postpone his economic reform plans .
-Police in northwestern Pakistan say a suicide car bomber has killed four police officers and wounded at least eight other people .
-Local authorities say the attacker blew up his explosives-laden car early Wednesday on the outskirts of Peshawar , the capital of Khyber Pakhtoonkhaw province .
-The blast came a day after Pakistani security forces killed 11 militants in clashes in nearby Orakzai tribal region .
-Pakistan 's military launched an anti-Taliban offensive in Orakzai in March to target militants who are believed to have fled an earlier offensive in South Waziristan .
-In other violence , gunmen killed a university professor in a drive-by shooting in Quetta , the capital of southwestern Baluchistan province .
-Kenyan police say they have asked U.S. officials from the FBI to help investigate the killing of three policemen .
-Police commissioner Mathew Iteere said Saturday that he expects the FBI to join in the probe .
-Kenyan police say they hope to draw on the FBI 's experience dealing with explosives and tracing the origins of arms .
-The three policemen were killed in two attacks in the capital , Nairobi , Friday .
-One police officer was killed when a grenade was thrown into his vehicle .
-The two other officers were killed in a gun attack when two men on a motorbike opened fire .
-Police say the two attackers were chased by police and shot and killed .
-Officials are trying to identify the attackers and determine the motive for the killings .
-The opposition in Kyrgyzstan has chosen a former prime minister as its candidate to challenge incumbent President Kurmanbek Bakiyev in upcoming elections .
-Social Democratic Party leader Almazbek Atambayev addressed supporters after he was named on Monday .
-He repeated opposition charges the government is trying to fix the polls , set for July 23 .
-Atambayev has run for president twice before ; once in 2000 , and again five years later .
-In 2007 , he served as prime minister to Mr. Bakiyev , but later broke with the president .
-The opposition in Kyrgyzstan is fractured and has been hurt by the arrests of some of its members .
-It has accused the government of intimidation .
-The president has strongly denied the allegations .
-Israeli officials say they will allow 16 Palestinians who were expelled to the Gaza Strip to return home to the West Bank Friday , in the latest goodwill gesture to the Palestinians .
-The 16 are the first of an expected 55 to be allowed to return after the Israeli army expelled them for security reasons .
-Also Thursday , the Israeli army announced that Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz decided to stop the controversial practice of destroying the family homes of Palestinians suspected of carrying out suicide attacks against Israeli targets .
-The army referred to a study that found the policy did little to deter militant attacks and that it spawned hatred towards Israel in the Palestinian territories .
-U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy is undergoing further tests at a hospital in the northeastern state of Massachusetts - two days after having a seizure .
-A spokeswoman for Kennedy Monday said it is not clear when his doctor will release information about his condition .
-The 76-year-old Democrat is expected to stay in the hospital for the next couple of days .
-Associates of Kennedy said Sunday he was resting , eating and watching sports on television .
-Kennedy , who has had health problems in the past , was rushed to the hospital on Saturday after suffering a seizure .
-The Massachusetts lawmaker has served in the Senate for more than 45 years , and is the youngest brother of the late President John F. Kennedy , who was assassinated in 1963 .
-Danish naval officials said they have turned over five suspected Somali pirates to officials in the Netherlands .
-A spokesman for the Danish Navy said Tuesday that the men have been handed over to a Dutch representative in Bahrain and are expected to be flown to the Netherlands to stand trial .
-The navy said the men were captured January 2 after they allegedly attacked a Dutch cargo ship off the coast of Somalia .
-The Danish combat ship Absalon came to the scene and fired a flare at the pirates ' boat , which caught fire and began to sink .
-The alleged pirates were pulled from the sea and had been held prisoner on the Absalon since the incident .
-The Danish ship is part of an international anti-piracy force patrolling the waters off Somalia .
-Somali pirates have hijacked three ships this year , after seizing more 40 vessels during 2008 .
-Arab diplomats are due to meet with Lebanese leaders in Beirut Monday to discuss an Arab League proposal to resolve the political crisis in the country .
-Sudanese presidential adviser Mustafa Ismail will meet government and opposition leaders after talks with Syrian officials in Damascus .
-Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa will join him in Beirut Tuesday .
-Both men held separate talks in Beirut last week .
-Hundreds of thousands of Hezbollah protesters and allies of the Shi'ite militant group attended a rally in central Beirut Sunday .
-The demonstrators were pressing demands for a national unity government that grants more power to Hezbollah and its allies .
-Ismail told Arabiya television that all parties in Lebanon had agreed to Arab League mediation .
-The mediation proposal is reported to include a unity government , early national elections and passage of a U.N.-proposed international tribunal to try suspects in last year 's assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri .
-South Africa 's public sector unions are threatening to strike during the World Cup because of a wage dispute .
-The unions , which represent some 1.2 million workers , issued the threat on Thursday after rejecting the government 's latest wage offer .
-A strike would put nurses and police officers off the job as South Africa hosts one of the world 's biggest sporting events .
-Manie de Clerq , head of the Public Servants Association , says a strike may also include immigration officials , who may be needed to help World Cup tourists .
-Other South African unions have taken advantage of the World Cup to demand and receive significant pay increases .
-Most recently , port and railroad workers received an 11 percent wage hike after a three-week strike .
-The public sector unions are demanding an 8.5 percent pay increase .
-The government has offered 6.2 percent .
-Gunmen attacked a truck stop just outside of the Pakistani capital Wednesday , killing seven people and torching a convoy of tankers and trucks bound for NATO forces in Afghanistan .
-Pakistani officials say 10 to 15 gunmen began shooting at the depot , just 10 kilometers from Islamabad , early Wednesday before setting about 60 containers on fire .
-They say the attackers then fled in cars and on motorcycles .
-Officials say some of the casualties were truck drivers .
-One driver says he was sitting inside his truck when the attack began and heard the gunmen saying " kill the drivers " and not to let anyone escape .
-Militants have attacked trucks carrying supplies for U.S. and NATO forces in the past , but this is the first attack to take place so close to Islamabad .
-Officials are investigating and surveying the damage as the charred trucks sit jumbled together at the depot .
-The Italian Foreign Ministry says a group of tourists , including 21 Italians , have been found in southeastern Niger a day after an attack by bandits .
-Details of the incident are sketchy , but the ministry said in a statement Tuesday that the tourists may have been kidnapped in Niger near the border with Chad on Monday .
-It added that the group may have been held for a ransom demand .
-Earlier , the ministry said it was sending a diplomat to Niger from its mission in Ivory Coast in an effort to resolve the situation .
-Russian officials say drawings by an acclaimed Russian artist worth millions of dollars have vanished from a state archive .
-Authorities said Tuesday that about 2,000 drawings by avant-garde artist and architect Yakov Chernikhov are missing from the state archive of literature and art .
-Officials say 274 drawings have been found with antiques dealers and will be returned .
-This is the second major art theft announced in Russia in the past week .
-Last week , officials said more than 220 objects had been taken from St. Petersburg 's famed Hermitage museum .
-At least three people have been detained in connection with that crime , including the husband and son of a museum curator .
-Authorities say several of the items have been recovered , including a gilded silver cross and a silver ladle found Tuesday outside the St. Petersburg headquarters of the Russian security service , the F.S.B .
-Doctors at Jerusalem 's Hadassah Hospital have inserted a feeding tube into the stomach of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon .
-A hospital statement says Mr. Sharon remained in critical but stable condition after the procedure , called a gastrostomy .
-It did not say why the operation was necessary .
-One stroke expert says the procedure is recommended when patients are not expected to make a swift recovery .
-Mr. Sharon suffered a massive stroke on January 4 .
-Surgical teams at the hospital operated twice on the prime minister to reduce swelling in the brain .
-Since then , attempts to bring Mr. Sharon out of a coma have been unsuccessful .
-Mr. Sharon did open his eyes briefly .
-Medical experts have said it is unlikely that the prime minister , if he does emerge from the coma , will be able to resume normal activities .
-Deputy prime minister Ehud Olmert is serving as acting prime minister .
-A Lebanese prosecutor has charged a retired general and three other people with spying for Israel .
-Retired Brigadier General Abid al-Aalam , his wife , nephew and a fourth suspect were charged Thursday with providing information to Israel about military and civilian Lebanese and Syrian centers , with the aim of facilitating Israeli attacks .
-If convicted , the four could face the death penalty .
-Aalam , his wife , Hayat Saloumi and nephew were arrested earlier this month on suspicion of espionage .
-The fourth suspect remains at large .
-Judicial officials say Aalam also is charged with the illegal possession of weapons , and that he and his wife allegedly crossed into Israel without permission .
-Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah fought a 34-day war in 2006 , which killed 1,200 Lebanese and nearly 160 Israelis .
-The United Nations says about 20,000 people have crossed into Uganda to escape fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo .
-A statement from the U.N. refugee agency Sunday says the refugees are camped at two locations and lack food , water , shelter and sanitation .
-The fighting erupted Thursday when forces loyal to renegade DRC Army General Laurent Nkunda occupied several towns and villages .
-DRC government soldiers chased them out of some areas but clashes have continued , with U.N. peacekeepers aiding the government .
-The fighting is around the town of Rutshuru in North Kivu province .
-U.N. and government troops have been trying to subdue various rebel and militia groups in the area in preparation for nationwide elections later this year .
-A United Nations Human Rights Council investigation has criticized Israel 's military for attacking civilians in Lebanon during the conflict with Hezbollah earlier this year .
-In a report issued Tuesday , a team of rights experts said the civilian attacks were " flagrant violations " of human rights laws .
-They also said Israel 's military engaged in a pattern of " excessive , indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force " in the month-long conflict .
-The report also accused Hezbollah militants of using United Nations officials as human shields to launch attacks against Israeli forces in Lebanon .
-But the inquiry did not include a mandate to study Hezbollah actions in the conflict .
-Also Tuesday , the rights group Amnesty International urged U.N. officials to do an independent probe into alleged violations during the conflict .
-Italian car company Fiat says it is interested in taking over Opel , the German division of financially troubled U.S. carmaker General Motors .
-Fiat chief Luca Cordero di Montezemolo told Italy 's Corriere della Sera newspaper that Opel is an " ideal partner . "
-He said a takeover would be an " extraordinary opportunity . "
-Opel has been suffering through the world economic crisis along with many other global automakers .
-But the German government says it has no plans to offer direct help to Opel .
-Fiat is involved in plans to buy another beleaguered U.S. car company , Chrysler , which entered into bankruptcy protection last week .
-U.S. military prosecutors have filed terror-related charges against an Afghan detainee accused of launching missiles toward U.S.-occupied areas in Afghanistan several years ago .
-Mohamed Kamin , who is believed to be 30 years old , was charged Wednesday with one count of providing material support for terrorism .
-The charge must be approved by the Defense Department before Kamin can be tried .
-Kamin allegedly trained at an al-Qaida camp .
-He is also accused of conducting surveillance on U.S. military bases .
-He is the 14th detainee at the U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay , Cuba , selected for prosecution under a special U.S. military war-crimes tribunal .
-The Guantanamo facility holds at least 275 terror suspects captured in Afghanistan and elsewhere .
-Cuba 's government says it will raise pension payments to retirees and increase the salaries of some government workers .
-Sunday 's announcement says the pay hikes will target those workers who earn the least amount of money .
-A statement from the government says the increases will apply to pensioners and some employees who work in the Cuban court system .
-It says other workers will have to wait for pay increases because the country " does n't have the necessary resources at the moment . "
-The move comes after much speculation that pay hikes were coming .
-New Cuban President Raul Castro has spoken publicly about making changes to the government 's salary structure .
-Since taking office , Mr. Castro has instituted a series of reforms , among them authorizing Cubans to buy mobile phones and computers .
-The White House says it is renewing a U.S. ban on trade with Burma because it says the actions and policies of Rangoon 's military government are hostile to U.S. interests .
-A White House statement Tuesday said the ban enacted in 1997 has been renewed for another year because Burma 's military government is committing large-scale repression of the Burmese democratic opposition .
-Also Tuesday , the State Department issued a warning to Americans traveling in Burma , telling them to use caution in public places because of the danger of more bombings like the three blasts that killed at least 20 people in Rangoon on May 7 .
-Burmese authorities Tuesday doubled the reward for anyone giving information leading to the bombers ' arrests .
-The new reward equals nearly $ 11,000 .
-A declassified letter from a U.S. congressional leader suggests the National Security Agency ( NSA ) may have begun domestic eavesdropping without specific permission from President Bush .
-The letter from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi , dated October 2001 , asked General Michael Hayden , then NSA chief , if the president had specifically approved the expansion of NSA surveillance powers described in a House intelligence committee briefing .
-General Hayden replied later that month that he used only " his authorities " to adjust NSA information-collecting and reporting policies .
-Parts of both letters were edited for security reasons .
-Newspaper reports revealed the domestic spying program last month .
-President Bush has said he ordered the agency , which normally monitors foreign communications , to begin domestic wiretapping in order to fight terrorism .
-Critics say the operation disregards U.S. privacy law .
-The Pakistani army says its troops pushed farther into a northwestern militant stronghold Sunday , a day after the military said it captured the hometown of a Taliban leader .
-The military says helicopters provided air support as Pakistani ground troops pushed from the strategic town of Kotkai and moved deeper into South Waziristan along the Afghan border .
-Kotkai is the hometown of Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud .
-Elsewhere , authorities say a suicide bomber killed one police officer east of the capital , Islamabad , on Sunday .
-Officials say the bomber detonated his explosives when police stopped his car for a search .
-Police say they detained another man who had been in the car but left the vehicle before the bomb exploded .
-Meanwhile , the Pakistani army has raised the death toll from Saturday 's helicopter crash in the Bajur tribal region .
-It says six soldiers died in what officials are calling an accident .
-A senior leader for the Palestinian militant group Hamas is in Egypt to resume talks on the future of Egypt 's border with the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip .
-Palestinian and Egyptian security sources say Mahmoud al-Zahar crossed into Egypt Thursday with a small delegation of Hamas officials .
-They say the delegation will meet with Egyptian security officials in the Mediterranean coastal town of El~Arish for talks on the border situation .
-Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians streamed into Egypt to buy food and supplies after Hamas militants blew up a section of the border wall last month in response to an Israeli blockade of Gaza .
-Egyptian forces resealed the barrier February 3 .
-Zahar met with Egyptian authorities in Cairo earlier this month to discuss ways to restore control at the Gaza border .
-Egypt has since said it will no longer tolerate Palestinians trying to enter the country illegally through the border .
-Romania 's main opposition candidate has called for a repeat of Sunday 's first round of presidential and parliamentary elections , alleging widespread electoral fraud .
-Among other allegations , centrist coalition leader Traian Basescu said Tuesday the ruling Social Democrats chartered dozens of buses to allow supporters to go from precinct to precinct and cast ballots several times .
-With 90 percent of the votes counted , Prime Minister Adrian Nastase and his Social Democrats lead Mr. Basescu 's centrist alliance 36 percent to 31 percent in the parliamentary election .
-The presidential election tally has Mr. Nastase ahead of Mr. Basescu 40 to 34 percent .
-The two candidates are scheduled to face each other in a runoff election on December 12 .
-Pro Democratia , a Romanian civil rights group , says it will pull its election monitors from the second round of voting to protest reported irregularities .
-The death toll from Saturday 's roof collapse in southern Poland has risen to 65 as rescue workers pulled three more bodies from the wreckage .
-Among the victims recovered Tuesday was a Hungarian , bringing to nine the number of foreigners who died in the accident .
-The eight other foreigners were from Slovakia , the Czech Republic , Germany , the Netherlands and Belgium .
-At least 160 other people were injured .
-About 500 people from across Europe were in a large exhibition hall in the Katowice area when the building 's snow-covered roof caved in .
-A team of experts is trying to determine why the building collapsed .
-Polish authorities blame the weight of the snow on the roof .
-President Bush has outlined the agenda for his second term in office and has asked for the support of all Americans , but Democrats have expressed reservations .
-In his weekly radio address Saturday , Mr. Bush promised to reach out to international allies to promote global development and progress , defeat terrorists and encourage democracy .
-In this country , he pledged to introduce medical malpractice , education and tax code reform and to save the threatened U.S. Social Security system .
-Responding to the President 's remarks in her own radio address , House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said Democrats stand ready to work with Mr. Bush .
-But the minority leader said they will fight the President 's plans on Social Security if he proposes to privatize the system or cut benefits .
-Ms. Pelosi proposed a nationwide transportation construction bill that she said would create 1.7 million new jobs .
-An independent polling firm in Venezuela says President Hugo Chavez is gaining support for a February 15 referendum that would abolish term limits and allow him to seek re-election indefinitely .
-The Datanalisis firm says a survey of 1,300 people indicates that more than 51 percent of voters support a constitutional amendment to end term limits for all elected officials .
-Last month , another Datanalisis poll put support for President Chavez 's proposal at below 40 percent .
-The current constitution bans the president from running again when his term ends in 2012 .
-In late 2007 , voters narrowly rejected a package of measures including one that would have eliminated presidential term limits .
-In a speech at that time , Mr. Chavez said the defeat was only " for now " and that he would continue his battle to build socialism .
-Mr. Chavez was first elected in 1998 .
-He won approval for a new constitution the following year .
-Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili is expected in Kiev Friday to take part in a New Year 's Eve celebration rally with Ukraine 's apparent president-elect Viktor Yushchenko and his supporters .
-The two men , who have warm personal ties , will ring in the new year together , days after Ukraine 's Central Election Commission declared Mr. Yushchenko the winner of last Sunday 's runoff election .
-Mr. Saakashvili came to power in January after accusing his country 's government of electoral fraud and mounting a protest movement that forced then-Georgian leader Eduard Shevardnadze out of power .
-Mr. Yushchenko 's supporters have cited Mr. Saakashvili 's " rose revolution " as an inspiration for their own movement .
-Meanwhile , Ukraine 's Central Election Commission has rejected complaints of election fraud filed by Kremlin-backed Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych , who ran against Mr. Yushchenko .
-But a spokesman for the prime minister says he will not concede the election .
-An influential Iranian cleric is calling on Muslim nations to help Lebanon 's Hezbollah guerrillas in their fight against Israel .
-Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati , who heads the powerful Guardian Council , told the Iranian Students News Agency Tuesday that he wants Muslims worldwide to provide arms for Hezbollah , as well political and financial support for the militants .
-Israel , the United States and allied Western states accuse Syria and Iran of supporting Hezbollah with arms and cash .
-Iran says it provides only moral and diplomatic support for the Shi'ite Islamic group .
-The Olympic torch relay has reached Turin in northern Italy , where the 20th Olympic Winter Games open Friday .
-The Olympic flame was carried by more than 10,000 torchbearers in a 64-day journey that covered 11,300 kilometers .
-The flame was lit at Olympia in Greece two months ago .
-Shortly before midday local time Thursday , the torch entered Turin through the Piazza Massaua .
-It was received by the City Police Band before being carried to the city center .
-Turin-born Livio Berruti , the 200-meter gold medalist at the 1960 Olympics , will light the cauldron in Piazza Palazzo di Citta .
-But the identity of person who will light the Olympic cauldron on Friday remains a tightly guarded secret .
-The games end February 26 .
-Togo 's election commission says ruling party candidate Faure Gnassingbe is the winner of Sunday 's presidential election .
-The commission chief ( Kissem Tchangai-Walla ) says Mr. Gnassingbe , son of the late longtime leader Gnassingbe Eyadema , won with just over 60 percent of votes cast .
-Minutes after the announcement , angry opposition youths poured onto the streets of Togo 's capital , Lome , setting up burning barricades , throwing rocks and attacking cars .
-Street violence and allegations of fraud on both sides marred Sunday 's election , which was organized under pressure by West African leaders after the military briefly installed Mr. Gnassingbe following his father 's death in February .
-According to the electoral commission , opposition candidate Emmanual Akitani-Bob won just over 38 percent of the vote .
-The third candidate , Harry Olympio , came in last with under one-percent ( 0.55 ) .
-A convoy of dozens of trucks transporting a massive oil drilling machine arrived Friday at the site of the San Jose gold and copper mine in Chile , where 33 miners are trapped .
-The drill is the third one being employed to try to rescue the miners , who have now been underground for 36 days .
-It has been labeled " Plan C " and it is hoped that it will speed the rescue effort .
-However , freedom for the trapped miners is likely to still be months away .
-The 33 men were trapped by a mine cave-in on August 5 .
-But it was not until August 22 that they were discovered alive .
-Rescuers have been sending food , medicine and relatives ' letters through a chute to where the miners are located , 700 meters below the surface .
-A White House report has called for changes in the government 's response to disasters such as Hurricane Katrina .
-The report , by domestic security adviser Frances Townsend , says 11 reforms are urgently needed before the start of a new hurricane season in June .
-President Bush discussed the report with his cabinet Thursday , saying the reforms will help the government be better prepared for future disasters .
-The changes include improved coordination with military officials during relief operations , a review of local evacuation plans and getting help more quickly to disaster victims .
-The report also found flaws in the government 's response to Hurricane Katrina last year , such as failures in disaster management and planning .
-Earlier this month , a congressional investigation blamed failures at all levels of government for the suffering and loss of life in the Gulf Coast storm .
-Typhoon Longwang has hit mainland China after pounding Taiwan Sunday , where it left one person dead and disrupted flights and electricity .
-Officials say it hit China 's Fujian province with strong winds and heavy rains .
-More than 3,00,000 people were evacuated .
-In Taiwan , a 60-year-old man died after he was hit by flying debris .
-A woman is missing and feared dead after being washed away by flash floods in the central town of Hoping .
-And 46 people were injured during the typhoon , most by flying debris .
-European Union representatives are traveling to the Middle East Sunday in hopes of persuading Israeli and Palestinian leaders to move toward a humanitarian truce in the Gaza Strip .
-The EU says it is sending Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenburg along with the EU 's external relations commissioner and Schwarzenburg 's French and Swedish counterparts .
-It says the team will visit Egypt today before meeting with Israel 's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem on Monday .
-The team will then go to the West Bank town of Ramallah and finish up its Middle East trip in Jordan on Tuesday .
-The EU says French President Nicolas Sarkozy will also attend the meeting in Ramallah with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas .
-Mr. Sarkozy also plans to visit Israel , Egypt , Syria and Lebanon this week .
-The European Union is the biggest foreign aid donor to the Palestinian territories .
-France 's interior minister says at least 10 French citizens are in Iraq ready to become suicide bombers .
-Nicolas Sarkozy told France-3 television Monday that French intelligence has lost track of at least 10 young Frenchmen who have gone to Iraq .
-He said 10 others have died in combat or suicide bombings or are prisoners of the U.S. led coalition .
-France has no soldiers in Iraq .
-Mr. Sarkozy defended the government 's planned new anti-terrorism measures , saying the risk of an attack in France is very high .
-The new measures include more video surveillance on the streets and public places , and increased monitoring of overseas travelers .
-Mr. Sarkozy said a French citizen who suddenly goes to Afghanistan for three months should account for his travels .
-The United Nations has certified the list of registered voters in the Ivory Coast ahead of next month 's presidential elections .
-On Friday , U.N. representative Choi Youn-jin called the voter list " fair , solid and balanced " .
-The Ivory Coast presidential election is set for October 31 .
-The election has been postponed multiple times during the past five years due in part to disputes about the nationality of names listed on the official voters ' list .
-The civil war that has spilt the country for most of the decade centers around land reform and grounds for citizenship , in a nation of migrant workers helping the world 's largest producer and exporter of cocoa beans .
-The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency celebrated Earth Day this week in Washington ( 22 April ) by showcasing environmentally friendly new designs that could be the wave of the future .
-Producer Zulima Palacio prepared this report .
-A prominent human rights group says Hamas militants committed war crimes when they launched rocket attacks against Israel .
-A Human Rights Watch spokesman said Hamas rocket attacks that targeted Israeli citizens were " unlawful and unjustifiable " .
-A new report released by the group says Hamas militants fired rockets that placed about 8,00,000 Israeli civilians at risk and killed two Israeli girls .
-It also says militants that launched rockets from densely populated areas placed Gaza civilians at risk of Israeli counter strikes .
-The report focuses on Hamas tactics used just before and during Israel 's three-week offensive in Gaza , from last November to mid-January .
-Human Rights Watch and other rights groups have repeatedly accused Israel of committing war crimes .
-At least 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed during the Israeli offensive .
-Some of the latest secret U.S. cables released by WikiLeaks say Saudi Arabia proposed deploying an Arab military force backed by the U.N. , U.S. and NATO to crush Hezbollah forces in Lebanon .
-According to the cables , Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said in May 2008 that what he called a " security response " was needed to prevent the militant group - and its patron , Iran - from taking power in the Lebanese capital , Beirut .
-The exchange between al-Faisal and U.S. diplomat David Satterfield took place days after Hezbollah had briefly seized control of large sections of Beruit during fighting with pro-government supporters .
-Al-Faisal told Satterfield that only the Lebanese prime minister , Jordan , Egypt and the Arab League were aware of the plan .
-The U.S. responded by questioning the political and military feasibility of the plan .
-The U.S. space agency , NASA , is preparing to put a long-armed lander on the icy north pole of Mars to search for water and possible signs of life .
-Scientists working on the Phoenix Mars project said Thursday they plan to launch the $ 386 million spacecraft in August 2007 and land 10 months later .
-The probe will use its long robotic arm to dig into the ice and terrain to gather soil samples near the arctic surface .
-Scientists say ice is interesting because if there is any life on Mars , it is most likely to be found near water .
-An earlier mission called Mars Odyssey first detected icy soil at the north pole of Mars in 2002 .
-The U.S. military in Iraq says coalition forces have captured a suspected terrorist with close ties to Iran 's elite Quds force .
-A military statement Friday said the suspect was detained in a raid Thursday near Baqubah , and that he allegedly facilitated the transport of weapons and personnel from Iran to Iraq .
-The statement said the suspect also is believed to have facilitated the flow of sophisticated roadside bombs into Iraq from Iran to be used against coalition forces .
-The bombs - known as explosively formed projectiles or EFPs - can penetrate armor .
-Iran has denied U.S. charges that it is providing weapons and training to Shi'ite militants in Iraq .
-Iran and the U.S. discussed Iraq 's security situation in May , during the highest-level talks between the two countries in nearly 30 years .
-Both sides have said they are ready for a second round of talks on Iraq .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has arrived in Syria for a three-day diplomatic visit .
-Syrian state media say President Bashar al-Assad met Mr. Chavez Tuesday at the airport in Damascus .
-The two leaders are expected to hold talks on bilateral cooperation .
-The Venezuelan president has built close ties with Syria , Iran and other countries in the Middle East , while relations have grown tense with Israel .
-Earlier this month , Israel recalled its ambassador to Venezuela after Mr. Chavez said that Israeli attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon were " genocide . "
-Previously , President Chavez withdrew Venezuela 's ambassador to Israel to show what he called his " indignation " over the Israeli military offensive in Lebanon .
-The World Health Organization estimates that between five and 10 percent of us suffer from depression at any given time .
-But fewer than a third of those with depression receive appropriate care .
-In the United States , more than 21 million people suffer from depression .
-For millions , no treatment works .
-Now , doctors are trying an experimental technique that shows promise in treating some difficult cases of depression .
-VOA 's Carol Pearson reports .
-The agency that monitors daily images of the Arctic ice pack reports the ice in early September reached its minimum but did not retreat as much this year as last .
-But scientists warn that in about the last decade , the world 's sea ice has melted faster than expected .
-The National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder , Colorado , which monitors the daily updates of NASA 's satellite images , says the northern winter ice now has begun to re-form .
-VOA 's Paul Sisco spoke with NASA Ice Science Project chief scientist Jay Zwally about this year 's near record summer melt .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is in Havana for talks with Cuban leader Fidel Castro .
-The two close allies met at the Palace of the Revolution Tuesday .
-Their agenda was not made public , but experts say they likely discussed Cuba 's energy needs .
-Venezuela provides about one-third of Cuba 's oil .
-Mr. Castro has appeared in public in a wheelchair since an accidental fall in October .
-But he was shown standing next to Mr. Chavez in an official photo taken when he welcomed him at the Havana airport late Monday .
-The two countries have close political , economic and cultural ties .
-Havana has sent hundreds of health care workers and teachers to its South American ally .
-Police in South Korea have arrested a man and six women who they say used the Internet to buy and sell human eggs , in violation of the country 's bioethics law .
-Seoul police arrested the man Saturday .
-They say he is in his late 20s and identified him only as Kim .
-Police say the women sold or bought the eggs , using web sites created by Mr. Kim to arrange the deals .
-Police said the deals involved thousands of dollars .
-Under South Korean law , buyers and sellers of human eggs or sperm face up to three years in prison .
-The broker faces two years .
-An Indonesian newspaper is reporting that Indonesian police have arrested a man believed to have played a key role in September 's car bombing outside the Australian Embassy in Jakarta .
-Indonesia 's leading newspaper , Kompas , quotes police sources as saying Iwan Darmawan , also known as Rois , was arrested two weeks ago on Java island .
-The newspaper quoted the police sources as saying Mr. Darmawan is accused of having a key planning role in the September 9 embassy attack , which killed 10 people .
-He is also accused of being involved in the 2002 Bali bombings , as well as last year 's car bombing attack on a Jakarta luxury hotel .
-Police have said two Malaysian militants , who remain at large , are the masterminds of the embassy attack .
-A Sri Lankan aid agency with ties to Tamil Tiger rebels says two of 10 reportedly kidnapped employees have returned to their families , but that eight others are still missing .
-The Tamil Rehabilitation Organization says five aid workers disappeared Tuesday after leaving Batticaloa district by vehicle .
-It says a day earlier , five other staff members traveling from the same district also were kidnapped .
-Agency officials say they are not sure exactly what happened because the two employees , both women , are too scared to talk .
-The rebels have accused Sri Lankan authorities of being behind the abductions .
-The authorities say the claims are untrue .
-After the first reported kidnapping , the rebels threatened to pull out of upcoming peace talks in Switzerland unless the government does more to protect Tamils .
-Here are prices of some key commodities traded in New York :
-Crude oil for June delivery rose $ 0.7 Thursday , closing at $ 50.83 cents a barrel .
-Coffee for May delivery fell a bit more than two cents to close at $ 1.224 per pound .
-Cocoa for May delivery fell $ 16 to close at $ 1452 per ton .
-Copper for May delivery settled at $ 1.459 per pound , unchanged from yesterday .
-Israeli doctors say the condition of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has deteriorated more than six months after he fell into a coma .
-A spokesman for the hospital treating Mr. Sharon says over the past two days , doctors have identified a deterioration in his kidney function and changes in brain tissue .
-The hospital in Tel Aviv says doctors are carrying out more tests to determine the appropriate treatment for Mr. Sharon .
-He went into the coma after suffering a massive brain hemorrhage January 4 .
-Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has visited eastern Ukraine , the stronghold of his election rival , former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych .
-Happy supporters and hostile opponents greeted the Ukrainian leader as he arrived in Donetsk Thursday for a brief visit .
-Mr. Yushchenko said he was in the mining region for a friendly visit , decried the economic problems facing the area , and pledged to help improve the lives of citizens .
-He also introduced the region 's new governor , Vadym Chuprun .
-Most area residents backed Mr. Yanukovych in last year 's presidential election .
-Some politicians even suggested autonomy for eastern Ukraine as the country dealt with months of political uncertainty before and after a flawed November presidential election .
-Mr. Yushchenko went on to win a court-ordered re-vote in December , but was not officially declared the winner until January , while the Supreme Court reviewed election complaints from Mr. Yanukovych .
-Turkey has warned France that ties between the two countries will suffer what it called " irreparable damage " if French lawmakers approve a measure making denial of the Armenian genocide 90 years ago a criminal offense .
-A Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman , Namik Tan , told reporters in Ankara his country 's views on the issue are being conveyed to French officials .
-The proposed bill would provide fines and imprisonment for denying that Armenians in the Ottoman Empire were victims of genocide during World War One If adopted , the bill would follow a 2001 French parliament decision that the deaths of one and a half million Armenians amounted to genocide .
-That vote infuriated Turkey , which acknowledges the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Armenians but insists that as many Turks also died in civil strife and a Russian-backed Armenian uprising against Ottoman rule .
-Hundreds of Cubans lined up outside the Spanish embassy in Havana Monday , hoping to apply for citizenship based on their Spanish ancestry .
-A law now in effect in Spain offers citizenship to the descendants of Spaniards who fled the country for political reasons .
-The measure targets families who emigrated during and after the Spanish Civil War and the ensuing dictatorship of General Francisco Franco .
-Those accepted do not have to renounce their current citizenship .
-But citizens of communist Cuba must get permission from the Havana government to travel to Spain if they are accepted for Spanish citizenship .
-Officials estimate that some 5,00,000 people living in Latin American countries such as Cuba , Argentina , Mexico , Venezuela , Chile and Uruguay are eligible for citizenship .
-Argentina alone is expected to have some 3,00,000 eligible beneficiaries .
-People in Bangladesh are bracing for a cyclone that will likely make landfall in the next few days .
-Cyclone Nargis is about 1,000 kilometers from the southeastern port city of Chittagong .
-Meteorologists are warning the storm could become a powerful Category Four cyclone .
-Authorities are telling residents to stay alert and be prepared to evacuate .
-There is also concern the storm has the potential to damage a bumper rice crop , although the country 's Agriculture Ministry spokesman , Abdulla Al-Shahin , is denying reports officials have asked farmers to rush harvesting the rice .
-Farmers in Bangladesh have been in the fields harvesting the crop .
-Completing the harvest could take another two weeks .
-The country is still recovering from Cyclone Sidr , which hit last November , killing an estimated 3,500 people and leaving another two million homeless .
-The cyclone also destroyed roughly two million tons of rice .
-China 's prime minister says his country is moving toward a more flexible foreign exchange rate , but that it will be done gradually .
-Wen Jiabao spoke to reporters Wednesday after a meeting with European Union officials in The Hague , Netherlands .
-He said China plans to move away from its current system , which pegs the Chinese yuan to the U.S. dollar , and toward a free-floating exchange .
-But he said China will make the change on its own timetable , to preserve the nation 's economic stability .
-The United States and other nations have pressed China to end its fixed rate , saying it keeps the yuan 's value unfairly low , making Chinese goods cheaper than their competition in the global marketplace .
-The United Nations refugee agency says four armed men attacked one of its field offices in Darfur , shooting a guard in the leg .
-Spokeswoman Jennifer Pagonis says no one else was hurt in the attack .
-It occurred late Monday in Habila , in western Darfur .
-She says the men stole communications equipment before leaving .
-It is unclear whether the attackers belonged to any of the rebel groups or government-backed militias active in the western Sudanese region .
-Violence still plagues Darfur despite a recent peace agreement between the Sudanese government and Darfur rebel groups .
-Some rebels have refused to sign the accord .
-It is designed to end more than three years of fighting that has killed more than 1,80,000 people .
-A new report from the International Monetary Fund urges officials in Latin America to help the poor cope with rising food prices to help fend off social unrest .
-Friday 's IMF report also says the region has been helped by a boom in prices for the commodities that it sells , helping these nations weather an economic downturn in the United States , a key trading partner .
-But the report also predicts that commodity prices will decline and that Latin America 's economic growth rate will slow by two percent , to just 3.6 percent in 2009 .
-The slowing growth rate may help policy makers in the region continue their relatively successful recent efforts to contain inflation .
-Tropical Storm Beta , the record 23rd storm of the Atlantic hurricane season , has strengthened since developing in the southwestern Caribbean late Wednesday .
-The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Beta is expected to dump up to 25 centimeters of rain across western Panama , Costa Rica , northeastern Honduras , Nicaragua , and the Colombian islands of San Andres and Providencia .
-At last report the storm was located 115 kilometers south-southeast of San Andres Island and about 260 kilometers east of Bluefields , Nicaragua .
-Forecasters say Beta is expected to continue slowly drifting north , bringing its center near San Andres on Friday .
-Colombia has issued a hurricane warning for San Andres and Providencia .
-A hurricane watch is in effect for Nicaragua 's entire Caribbean coast .
-Tropical Storm Beta is not expected to threaten the United States .
-The National Football League playoffs continue Saturday when the Pittsburgh Steelers host the New York Jets and Atlanta takes on Saint Louis .
-The Jets are coming off last week 's 20-17 overtime win over the San Diego Chargers .
-Pittsburgh had last week off , and beat the Jets , 17-Jun , the last time the two teams played in December .
-Meanwhile , the Atlanta Falcons host a Saint Louis Rams team that is coming off a 27-20 win over the Seattle Seahawks .
-The Falcons had a first-round bye and beat the Rams in their only meeting this year , 34-17 , at the Georgia Dome .
-The playoffs continue Sunday when the reigning Super Bowl champion New England Patriots host the Indianapolis Colts , and the Philadelphia Eagles take on Minnesota .
-The United States has welcomed Ukraine 's decision to invalidate the results of a disputed presidential runoff election .
-White House spokesman Scott McClellan called Friday 's court ruling an important step toward a peaceful , democratic resolution that reflects the will of the people .
-Meanwhile , two top European officials are returning to Ukraine to help mediate the dispute .
-The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe says its secretary general , Jan Kubis , will make his third such visit to Ukraine in a week , beginning Friday .
-The OSCE says Mr. Kubis will seek ways the 55-nation group can help resolve Ukraine 's political situation .
-Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus will also visit , for the third time in 10 days .
-Earlier , Russia 's lower house of parliament accused Western European institutions of aggravating tensions over the election .
-The presidents of Venezuela , Bolivia , and Argentina met Friday in the southern Bolivian town of Tarija .
-Venezuela 's Hugo Chavez , Bolivia 's Evo Morales , and Argentina 's Nestor Kirchner signed agreements to share the costs of energy production .
-They agreed to fund the construction of a gas-separation plant near Bolivia 's border with Argentina .
-Mr. Chavez has been campaigning for more integration of the energy industry in South America .
-Bolivia is his last stop on a four-nation tour meant to promote South American energy production .
-The four nations on Chavez 's tour include Argentina , Uruguay , Ecuador , and Bolivia .
-He announced intentions to buy as much as one-billion-dollars worth of Argentine bonds and guaranteed Uruguay access to Venezuelan oil for decades .
-Mr. Chavez has been lobbying to join the South American trade block Mercosur , which is comprised of Argentina , Brazil , Paraguay , and Uruguay .
-The United States and Britain have called for international pressure against Syria after a U.N. report implicated Syrian officials in the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri .
-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw made the appeal in a joint interview with British radio on Sunday .
-Ms. Rice said a firm response is needed .
-The U.N. report also said that Syrian officials gave FALSE testimony to investigators in the case .
-Syrian officials have denied the allegations .
-And Sunday , a key Syrian political group - National Progressive Front - rejected the U.N. report , saying it was based on testimony from people lacking credibility .
-Syria 's official news agency reported President Bashar al-Assad sent a message to members of the U.N. Security Council , which is expected to consider sanctions over the killing .
-The U.S. House of Representatives has narrowly passed a plan to cut federal spending by nearly $ 40 billion over the next five years .
-The bill includes cuts in health care and other social welfare programs .
-Lawmakers approved the measure by a vote of 212-to-206 .
-During the overnight session , the house also passed a $ 453 billion dollar defense bill by a vote of 308-to-106 .
-It includes money for hurricane relief , bird flu preventive measures , oil drilling in Alaska 's Arctic wildlife refuge , and military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan .
-Many Democrats complained they were forced to approve the oil drilling provision , which they oppose , because it was attached to the defense bill .
-The measures will be debated by the Senate this week .
-Lawmakers are trying to finish major pieces of legislation before a long holiday recess .
-The chairman of Ghana ’s independent electoral commission says there is one more constituency yet to be determined before declaring the winner of Sunday ’s election run-off .
-Chairman Kojo Afari Djan , however said the winner of the election would be determined Friday after voters in Tain constituency in the Brong Ahafo region cast their votes .
-This comes after both the ruling New Patriotic party ( NPP ) and main opposition National Democratic Congress ( NDC ) parties made allegations of fraud , which forced the electoral commission to suspend voting in that constituency .
-Tain is expected to be a stronghold of the opposition NDC .
-An Australian man has been jailed for more than five years for duping people into sending him millions of dollars in a global Internet scam .
-Nick Marinellis pleaded guilty Monday in the New South Wales District Court to 10 counts of fraud for taking part in a hoax called the Nigerian Scam .
-The deception promises people millions from Nigerian bank accounts in return for an " administration fee . "
-Prosecutors say Marinellis fleeced his victims of $ 3.8 million .
-ConocoPhillips , the third-largest U.S.-based oil company , reports an 89 percent jump in profits to a record $ 3.8 billion for the third quarter .
-Earnings for the three-month period ending in September reflected strong prices for the company 's crude oil and natural gas .
-ConocoPhillips ' officials say their U.S. Gulf Coast operations were " significantly " hurt by hurricanes , but say repairs to refineries and other facilities are well under way .
-They call the company 's operating performance " good . "
-Conoco is the first of the major U.S. oil companies to report third-quarter earnings .
-ExxonMobil , the world 's largest publicly traded company , is scheduled to release results on Thursday .
-Chevron , the number two producer , is set to report earnings on October 28 .
-An investment analyst says those companies are also expected to report increased profits .
-Russia 's state-controlled natural gas monopoly Gazprom says it is seeking to more than double the gas price for neighboring Georgia , amid a simmering political crisis between the two sides .
-Gazprom officials said Thursday that it plans to charge Tbilisi $ 230 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas , up from $ 110 now .
-The announcement comes after Georgia 's Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili held talks in Moscow Wednesday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov - the first high-level meeting between the countries since tensions increased over alleged spying .
-Georgia arrested four Russian military officers on suspicion of spying in September , releasing them a few days later .
-Moscow retaliated by cutting all transportation and postal links with Georgia .
-Tensions between the two countries were already high because of the presence of Russian peacekeepers in the two breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia .
-The president of Iraq 's Kurdish autonomous region , Massoud Barzani , has rejected the Iraq Study Group 's recommendations on ways to stabilize the country .
-In a statement Friday , Barzani said the U.S. group 's report has some unrealistic and inappropriate recommendations .
-He said , in his words , " we are in no way abiding by the report . "
-Barzani - a longtime U.S. ally - criticized the report 's authors for never visiting the Kurdish region of northern Iraq in their months-long fact finding mission .
-He particularly criticized the report 's recommendation on Kirkuk , an ethnically mixed city that is key to Northern Iraq 's oil industry .
-Iraq 's constitution calls for referendum on the issue before the end of 2007 , but the report calls for international arbitration to decide the city 's future because a referendum would be explosive .
-Barzani says delaying the vote will have grave consequences .
-The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries kept oil production targets unchanged at a meeting Friday in Vienna , rebuffing a request from President Bush to increase output .
-Many members of OPEC have said current high oil prices are the result of speculation by investors , not a shortage of oil on the market .
-Oil producers are also concerned that economic problems in the United States could depress demand for energy , which would push down the price of oil .
-OPEC pumps about 40 percent of the world 's oil , while the United States is the world 's largest economy and energy consumer .
-An audit by a U.S. inspector says the U.S.-led authority that governed Iraq after the 2003 invasion failed to keep track of nearly $ 9 billion it transferred to Iraqi ministries .
-The audit released Sunday by the U.S. Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction says the Coalition Provisional Authority failed to establish control systems to verify how the money was spent , which opened it to corruption .
-In some instances , money was used to pay what the report calls " ghost " employees , explaining that out of 8,206 guards on the payroll at one ministry , only 602 could be accounted for .
-Former CPA chief Paul Bremer rejected the findings , saying the report assumes western-style accounting procedures could have been quickly set up during wartime .
-Mr. Bremer says delaying payment to Iraqi public servants could have created additional security threats .
-The European Union 's second highest court has ruled the bloc has the right to freeze the assets of citizens the United Nations suspects of terrorist links .
-The Luxembourg-based Court of First Instance says the EU has the right freeze the accounts of individuals in connection with the fight against international terrorism .
-It issued the ruling Wednesday in response to a case brought by at least three people whose assets were frozen because of suspected links to Osama bin Laden .
-The court added that freezing assets does not violate universally recognized human rights .
-The U.N. Security Council in 1999 called on nations to freeze the assets of groups and individuals with suspected links to Osama bin Laden 's al-Qaida network and Afghanistan 's ousted Taleban regime .
-Brazilians have soundly rejected a proposal to ban all gun sales in the country .
-With over 90 percent of the vote counted , the electoral court says that 64 percent of those who went to the polls voted against the ban in Sunday 's referendum , while 36 percent favored it .
-Over 36 thousand people were shot and killed in Brazil last year .
-The United Nations ranks Brazil second in the world in gun deaths , behind only Venezuela .
-Supporters of the ban on gun sales said that people voted against it because they have no confidence in the government and its ability to provide security .
-In recent weeks opponents had waged a media campaign , arguing that average Brazilians need guns to protect themselves from drug gangs and thieves .
-Final results are expected Monday .
-Floods and landslides in the wake of Hurricane Stan have killed at least 617 people throughout Central America and Mexico .
-More than 500 people were killed in Guatemala , which sustained the worst blow from last week 's storm .
-At least 1,400 other people are missing and presumed dead in the Guatemalan village of Panabaj .
-The Mayan Indian village was buried in a mudslide triggered by Stan 's torrential rains .
-Rescue workers are digging through tons of mud and rock searching for victims , but the town may eventually be declared a mass burial site .
-The remainder of the dead are scattered throughout El Salvador , Nicaragua and Mexico .
-Entire families are either dead or missing in some communities .
-The disaster has left thousands of people homeless .
-Rescue crews have been unable to reach some isolated communities because many bridges and roads were washed out in the storm .
-Germans could find out who their next leader will be after Monday 's coalition talks between Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and conservative leader Angela Merkel .
-The two ended several hours of discussions Sunday without comment .
-But German news reports say a deal could be announced Monday in which Ms. Merkel would become the new chancellor while giving additional cabinet posts to the rival party .
-Ms. Merkel 's Christian Democrats won four more seats than Mr. Schroeder 's Social Democrats in last month 's parliamentary elections .
-Neither party won a mandate , and Mr. Schroeder has so far refused to concede defeat .
-Even after a deal is struck , both parties say it would take weeks to form a new government .
-A public display of affection got Richard Gere in trouble with Indian moviegoers .
-Irate fans burned the Hollywood actor in effigy April 16 , after he repeatedly kissed movie actress Shilpa Shetty during an AIDS awareness event in New Delhi .
-The 58-year-old Gere was in India to participate in a safe sex campaign directed at truck drivers .
-Of all nations , India has the largest number of people living with HIV .
-During the ceremony , Gere repeatedly kissed Shetty 's hand and cheeks .
-Protesters say the actions , shown repeatedly on Indian television , violate standards of propriety .
-Thirty-one-year-old Shilpa Shetty attracted headlines earlier this year after winning Britain 's " Celebrity Big Brother " reality TV contest .
-Her spokesman Dale Bhagwagar said the media should concentrate on AIDS education rather than sensationalizing trivial incidents .
-Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has marked his first 100 days in office with a vow to maintain the struggle against poverty as his main priority .
-He made the comments in pre-recorded message marking the 100-day milestone .
-Mr. Yushchenko was elected in a re-vote in December after the country 's Supreme Court threw out flawed November elections .
-Tens of thousands of Yushchenko supporters had packed the streets of Kiev to demand the fresh election .
-During his time in office , pensions and some incomes have increased , and he has sought to expand integration with the West .
-A recent public opinion poll from the Democratic Initiatives Foundation put his approval rating at 60 percent .
-But some in Ukraine have complained about the economy and inflation after a decision to revalue the national currency .
-Members of the former government say they are victims of political persecution as the new administration pursues anti-corruption efforts .
-U.S weather forecasters say hurricane warnings have been posted for Mexico 's Yucatan peninsula as Hurricane Wilma continues to churn slowly through the Caribbean .
-A statement from the National Hurricane Center says Wilma is still a strong category 4 hurricane with winds near 250 kilometers per hour .
-It is centered 345 kilometers southeast of Cozumel , Mexico .
-It warns that the storm could strengthen again later Thursday .
-Meteorologists say that if Wilma comes ashore in the Yucatan , it will bring a storm surge of two to three meters above normal along with large , battering waves .
-Forecasters say Wilma is moving west to northwest at 13 kilometers per hour .
-Computer models show it turning sharply toward the east and the Florida coast later this week . .
-At least 10 people in Haiti were killed in mudslides caused by the storm .
-Police in Belarus have detained about 40 activists who tried to stage a protest outside the Russian embassy in Minsk .
-Authorities blocked off access to the embassy before the planned protest and picked up the activists as they gathered .
-Those detained included United Civic Party leader Anatol Liabedzka .
-Opposition activists gather in various locations in Minsk on the 16th of each month to mark a day of solidarity with political prisoners .
-The date was chosen after a leading opposition activist , Anatoly Krasovsky , disappeared on September 16 , 1999 .
-Activists say they chose the Russian embassy as the site of Sunday 's protest in hopes of bringing the situation in Belarus to the attention of the Group of Eight summit in the Russian city of St. Petersburg .
-Activists in Belarus have repeatedly staged protests since the country 's March presidential election which western governments and opposition groups have described as fraudulent .
-NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels have agreed the alliance will boost its training force for Iraqi security forces .
-NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer says the number of personnel will increase from its current level of 60 to 300 officers .
-He says several countries , including Poland , Hungary and the Netherlands have volunteered to provide troops .
-Other countries like France and Germany have refused to contribute , saying they do not want the alliance to be drawn into peacekeeping duties in Iraq .
-The ministers also discussed expanding the 5,000 strong NATO-led peacekeeping force in Afghanistan .
-At a separate meeting , the NATO ministers and their Russian counterpart , Sergei Lavrov , urged Ukrainians to work to ensure a free , fair and violence-free process in the upcoming run-off presidential election .
-The NATO meeting was the last for U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell , who is leaving the Bush administration .
-Britain 's American colonies broke with the mother country in 1776 and were recognized as the new nation of the United States of America following the Treaty of Paris in 1783 .
-During the 19th and 20th centuries , 37 new states were added to the original 13 as the nation expanded across the North American continent and acquired a number of overseas possessions .
-The two most traumatic experiences in the nation 's history were the Civil War ( 1861 - 65 ) , in which a northern Union of states defeated a secessionist Confederacy of 11 southern slave states , and the Great Depression of the 1930s , an economic downturn during which about a quarter of the labor force lost its jobs .
-Buoyed by victories in World Wars I and II and the end of the Cold War in 1991 , the US remains the world 's most powerful nation state .
-Over a span of more than five decades , the economy has achieved steady growth , low unemployment and inflation , and rapid advances in technology .
-This desolate , arctic , mountainous island was named after a Dutch whaling captain who indisputably discovered it in 1614 ( earlier claims are inconclusive ) .
-Visited only occasionally by seal hunters and trappers over the following centuries , the island came under Norwegian sovereignty in 1929 .
-The long dormant Beerenberg volcano resumed activity in 1970 ; the most recent eruption occurred in 1985 .
-It is the northernmost active volcano on earth .
-The Turks and Caicos economy is based on tourism , offshore financial services , and fishing .
-Most capital goods and food for domestic consumption are imported .
-The US is the leading source of tourists , accounting for more than three-quarters of the 1,75,000 visitors that arrived in 2004 .
-Major sources of government revenue also include fees from offshore financial activities and customs receipts .
-Bermuda was first settled in 1609 by shipwrecked English colonists headed for Virginia .
-Tourism to the island to escape North American winters first developed in Victorian times .
-Tourism continues to be important to the island 's economy , although international business has overtaken it in recent years .
-Bermuda has developed into a highly successful offshore financial center .
-Although a referendum on independence from the UK was soundly defeated in 1995 , the present government has reopened debate on the issue .
-Europeans began to set up trading posts in the area of Bangladesh in the 16th century ; eventually the British came to dominate the region and it became part of British India .
-In 1947 , West Pakistan and East Bengal ( both primarily Muslim ) separated from India ( largely Hindu ) and jointly became the new country of Pakistan .
-East Bengal became East Pakistan in 1955 , but the awkward arrangement of a two-part country with its territorial units separated by 1,600 km left the Bengalis marginalized and dissatisfied .
-East Pakistan seceded from its union with West Pakistan in 1971 and was renamed Bangladesh .
-A military-backed , emergency caretaker regime suspended parliamentary elections planned for January 2007 in an effort to reform the political system and root out corruption .
-In contrast to the strikes and violent street rallies that had marked Bangladeshi politics in previous years , the parliamentary elections finally held in late December 2008 were mostly peaceful and Sheikh HASINA Wajed was elected prime minister .
-About a third of this extremely poor country floods annually during the monsoon rainy season , hampering economic development .
-THE HARES harangued the assembly , and argued that all should be equal .
-The Lions made this reply :
-" Your words , O Hares ! are good ; but they lack both claws and teeth such as we have . "
-The U.S. military in Iraq says coalition forces have killed an estimated 70 terrorists in separate operations in areas of Al Anbar province west of Baghdad .
-A military statement says 20 insurgents were killed Sunday when U.S. troops called in aircraft to bomb a group of suspects preparing to plant roadside bombs near Ramadi .
-The military says another 50 insurgents were killed in clashes and air strikes in the region .
-Local residents say at least half of the dead were civilians .
-Meanwhile , President Bush praised Iraqis for turning out in large numbers to vote in Saturday 's constitutional referendum , despite the threat of insurgent violence .
-Mr. Bush also praised U.S. and Iraqi security forces for preventing violence at polling stations .
-As the vote count continues , Iraqi officials say initial results indicate that voters have approved the constitution , including in two key Sunni Arab dominated provinces ( Diyala and Nineva ) where analysts had expected residents to vote against the charter .
-Maoist rebels in Nepal say they will stop military operations during the country 's most popular religious festival .
-Rebel leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal , who is also known as Prachanda , said Friday the insurgents will halt attacks from October 20 - 28 in recognition of the festival of Dasain .
-The rebels have observed similar cease-fires in the past .
-The insurgency for a communist state to replace Nepal 's constitutional monarchy has killed more than 10,000 people since it began in 1996 .
-Lebanon 's government has removed the country 's top prosecutor and fired three security chiefs , in a push to purge the new administration of pro-Syrian influence .
-Prime Minister Najib Mikati 's cabinet also appointed a new police commander and a new head of military intelligence .
-Thursday 's moves came as a United Nations team arrived in Lebanon to prepare for an international probe of the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri .
-A second U.N. team is verifying that Syria 's military and intelligence withdrawal from the country on Tuesday is complete .
-Mr. Hariri was killed February 14 in a Beirut bombing that stunned Lebanon and reverberated in Western capitals .
-The Lebanese opposition accused Beirut and its Syrian sponsors of complicity in the assassination , despite denials from both capitals .
-Two weeks later later , massive protests led to the downfall of Lebanon 's pro-Syrian Prime Minister Omar Karami and his government .
-German Chancellor Angela Merkel is in India for talks on economic cooperation and climate change .
-Ms. Merkel arrived in New Delhi Monday , in her first visit to the country as chancellor .
-She is expected to meet Tuesday with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Prabtibha Patil .
-Ms. Merkel also has meetings scheduled with India 's vice president , parliamentary leader , and opposition leader .
-The officials are expected to discuss political cooperation , efforts to slow global warming and trade ties .
-The German leader said in a speech Friday that Germany should expand its ties with India , as it has with China , both nations which have seen their economies grow rapidly in recent years .
-Trade between India and Germany amounts to about $ 15 billion a year .
-The United Nations refugee agency says many residents who fled the Iraqi city of Fallujah before a November U.S.-led offensive to crush insurgents , are waiting until after the January 30 elections to decide whether they will return .
-About half of the city , which is home to more than a quarter-of-a-million people , has been re-opened for returning residents .
-But the U.N. agency estimates that fewer than 10,000 have returned to stay .
-Through interviews conducted by its local partners , the refugee agency says many Fallujans are reluctant to return because of the tense security situation and the lack of services , including hospitals , water and electricity .
-Many are waiting until after the parliamentary elections to see how the situation is affected .
-Others have bought land outside Fallujah , indicating they do not plan to return to the devastated city .
-Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has directed law enforcement agencies to launch a national crackdown against banned extremist organizations , targeting their weapons , finances and meeting places .
-In a meeting of many top police officers from across the country on Friday , General Musharraf issued a stern directive .
-He demanded that all hate material , including pamphlets , books , CDs and videos be removed from all Pakistani public markets by December .
-The president says the crackdown is intended to stop the " extremist minority " harming Pakistan 's interests and tarnishing the image of Islam .
-Pakistan 's new campaign against extremism follows last week 's suicide bombings in London .
-Three of the four bombers are alleged to be Pakistani Britons .
-A series of car bombs in and around Baghdad has targeted mainly Iraqi security forces , killing one person and wounding at least 11 others .
-Police said a roadside bomb in Taji , north of the city , killed a civilian and wounded five other people .
-In Baghdad 's Adhamiya neighborhood , at least two bombs strapped to parked cars wounded six people .
-The attacks come as troops tightened security around Shi'ite mosques , shrines and political party offices ahead of a massive funeral procession for prominent Shi'ite leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim .
-Thousands of people are expected to mourn the leader of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council later this week before he is buried in the holy city Najaf .
-Hakim died Wednesday in Tehran following a two-year battle with lung cancer .
-The U.S. military in Iraq says three Marines have died of wounds sustained due to enemy action in western Al Anbar province .
-A statement issued Thursday said the Marines died Wednesday but did not provide further details .
-Also Thursday , Iraqi witnesses said U.S. forces opened fire on a minibus in Baghdad , killing four people and wounding eight .
-They say the bus was carrying workers through the city 's Sadr City neighborhood .
-The U.S. military has not commented on the report .
-And Iraqi officials say 100 people were killed in insurgent attacks and sectarian violence across the country Wednesday .
-A U.N. report says more than 3,700 Iraqi civilians were killed in October - - the highest monthly toll since U.S. forces invaded the country in 2003 .
-A new United Nations report says melting glaciers and ice sheets caused by global warming could disrupt drinking and agricultural water supplies for up to 40 percent of the world 's population .
-The report released Monday said the depletion of ice caps could also contribute to global warming because the ice sheets reflect the sun 's heat away from the Earth 's surface .
-It also warns that such low-lying countries as Bangladesh and Indonesia could face severe flooding by melting glaciers and rising sea levels .
-Global warming will be a major topic at this week 's Group of Eight summit in Germany .
-German Chancellor and summit host Angela Merkel says she will not compromise in getting the G8 nations to agree to cut greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming .
-The United Nations Security Council on Thursday unanimously agreed to extend the U.N. mission in Afghanistan for another year .
-The 15-member council 's approval focuses on improving U.N. coordination with the Afghan government and NATO-led forces fighting Taliban insurgents .
-The resolution also empowers the new U.N. special envoy in Afghanistan - Norwegian diplomat Kai Eide - to directly coordinate support provided by international donors to the Afghan government .
-A lack of coordination among dozens of aid agencies has led to failed reconstruction projects .
-The United States and Britain hailed the adoption of the resolution .
-Meanwhile , violence in Afghanistan continues .
-An exchange of gunfire between British troops and Afghan police in southern Helmand province Thursday left an Afghan policeman dead .
-Local officials say British soldiers opened fire on the policemen patrolling in Lashkar Gah , the provincial capital .
-The incident is under investigation .
-Tens of thousands of flag-waving Lebanese mourners packed central Beirut Thursday for the funeral of outspoken Syrian critic Gebran Tueni .
-The 48-year-old publisher and parliamentarian was killed Monday in a Beirut car bombing .
-Banks , businesses and schools closed today , as a huge contingent of Lebanese police and soldiers deployed in Beirut 's Martyrs Square to ensure security for the funeral .
-Mr. Tueni is the third anti-Syrian figure to be killed since the February 14 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri .
-Mass protests triggered by the Hariri murder forced Syria to end its three-decade military presence in Lebanon .
-In similar scenes today , crowds denounced Damascus and demanded that Lebanon 's pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud step down .
-Syria has denied involvement in any of the killings .
-The U.S.-based toy giant , Mattel , has recalled about 1,55,000 of its toys in the United States because they contain small parts that pose a risk of choking for children .
-A statement from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said Tuesday the recall involves a play kitchen learning toy made in Mexico and imported by Fisher-Price , a division of Mattel .
-The commission said there have been 48 reports of small parts separating from the toy , including two reports of children gagging on pieces and one of a child who choked on a piece .
-The European Commission has confirmed that Mattel also is recalling about 17,000 toys in Europe because of the same child safety concerns .
-Mattel has recalled tens of millions of Chinese-made toys in recent months because of what are described as design flaws and toxic levels of lead .
-Turkish authorities say 20 people have been wounded in a bomb blast at a resort in western Turkey .
-The explosion occurred Sunday in the Aegean coastal town Cesme , a popular tourist destination near the port city of Izmir .
-There has been no claim of responsibility for the blast .
-The regional governor said two foreigners were among the injured , but did not identify their nationalities .
-In April , a bomb attack in the nearby resort town Ksusadasi left a police officer dead .
-A Kurdish separatist group claimed responsibility for that blast .
-The Saudi branch of the al-Qaida terror network is promising more attacks on Saudi oil facilities , after failing in an attempt to bomb the world 's largest oil refinery , located on the kingdom 's Gulf coast .
-In a statement , al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula said their militants will not stop attacks until " infidels " ( Westerners ) have been eliminated from Saudi soil .
-The Internet statement , posted Saturday , has not been authenticated .
-It identifies the two terrorists who died in Friday 's attack , and calls the assault on the Abqaiq facility a success .
-Authorities say both of the attackers were on a Saudi list of 36 most-wanted militants .
-Saudi authorities say two security officers also died in Friday 's attack , and said the explosion did not affect operations at the plant .
-A Lebanese lawmaker wounded in the February bombing in Beirut that killed former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has died of his injuries .
-Former Lebanese minister of economy Bassel Fleihan passed away Monday in a hospital in Paris .
-Mr. Fleihan was riding in the car with Mr. Hariri on February 14 when a huge bomb detonated outside their motorcade .
-The blast instantly killed the former prime minister .
-Mr. Fleihan , one of Mr. Hariri 's top aides , suffered severe burns over most of his body .
-Reports from Beirut say Mr. Fleihan is the 21st victim to die as a result of the bombing .
-U.S. authorities have declared a public health emergency for the entire Gulf Coast region and warned of the possible spread of diseases in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina .
-Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt warned of worsening sanitary and health conditions in the stricken areas , and said officials are gravely concerned about potential outbreaks of cholera , typhoid and other illnesses .
-He called on residents to use caution when consuming food and not to drink standing water .
-He told a news conference in Washington that authorities are setting up a network of up to 40 medical shelters that will have a total of up to 10,000 beds .
-He said those who need further treatment will be moved to facilities elsewhere .
-Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff said the situation in the region remains very dangerous .
-Officials have warned of unstable structures and have called on residents not to return to the affected areas .
-An aid group says more than 54,000 North Koreans are dead or missing after widespread flooding .
-The South Korea-based Good Friends organization released that figure Wednesday and added that another 2.5 million people are believed to have been left homeless .
-The new estimate is far higher than earlier death tolls .
-The North Korean government has estimated the death toll in the hundreds .
-Earlier this month , South Korea announced it will give an aid package worth more than $ 10 million to independent aid groups to help flood victims in North Korea .
-North Korean officials formally requested the help from South Korea , after initially turning down aid offers from foreign relief agencies .
-Seasonal rains have caused landslides and destroyed vital crops , raising concerns the impoverished country could face famine .
-Tony Blair Russian officials say British Prime Minister Tony Blair will not attend the upcoming World War II commemorations in Moscow .
-The Kremlin Friday said Mr. Blair expressed regret that intensive work on forming a new Cabinet would prevent him from attending the ceremonies Monday .
-Mr. Blair 's Labor Party on Thursday won a third straight general election victory .
-The Kremlin says Mr. Blair announced the decision in a phone call to Russian President Vladimir Putin .
-Dozens of world leaders , including President Bush , are to attend the events in Moscow .
-Adolfo Aguilar Zinser , Mexico 's former ambassador to the United Nations , has died in an automobile accident in central Mexico .
-Authorities in the state of Morelos say the 55-year-old ex-diplomat was driving on a highway Sunday when his vehicle hit a bus .
-Mr. Aguilar Zinser was a vocal opponent of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq during his tenure at the UN . Mexican President Vicente Fox removed Mr. Aguilar Zinser from the UN post after he accused the United States of treating Mexico with disdain .
-Mr. Aguilar Zinser spent years as a leftist politician in the Mexican legislature .
-But he later joined forces with the conservative Fox , and played a key role in Mr. Fox 's historic election in 2000 .
-He served Mr. Fox as national security advisor before taking the UN post .
-Seismologists say a strong earthquake has struck off the coast of the South Pacific island nation , Vanuatu .
-Officials at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in the U.S. state of Hawaii say there is no threat of a tsunami .
-The U.S. Geological Survey says the 6.7 magnitude quake hit 75 kilometers southeast of the city of Lugansville on Vanuatu 's second largest island of Espiritu Santo .
-Scientists say the earthquake 's epicenter was 150 kilometer below the earth 's surface .
-There are no immediate reports of any injuries or major property damage .
-Vanuatu is an archipelago of some 80 islands located about 2,200 kilometers off the northeast coast of Australia .
-British police have questioned Prime Minister Tony Blair in their investigation of charges that his Labor Party awarded seats in the upper house of parliament in exchange for millions of dollars in political contributions .
-A spokesman for the prime minister says the informal interview took place Thursday at his Downing Street office .
-He said Mr. Blair did not have a lawyer present and was treated as a witness rather than a suspect .
-The probe was launched after the Scottish National Party alleged that Mr. Blair had nominated wealthy businessmen for non-elected seats in the House of Lords in exchange for loans to his Labor Party .
-Earlier this year , authorities said they were probing questionable loans worth 26 million dollars that helped bankroll the Labor Party 's 2005 elections campaign .
-Police arrested Labor 's chief fundraiser , Michael Levy , earlier this year in connection with the probe .
-They later released him on bail .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is expected Wednesday to present his proposals for constitutional reform to the National Assembly .
-Specific plans for the reforms have not been released , but Chavez has previously said he would like to end presidential term limits .
-Currently the president may serve no more than two six-year terms .
-The National Assembly is expected to approve his changes , as it is controlled by Chavez supporters .
-If the plan passes the legislature , Venezuelan citizens must vote in a referendum to accept or reject it .
-Health officials in Bangladesh are launching a campaign to vaccinate at least 18 million children against polio after a nine-year-old girl was diagnosed with the disease earlier this year .
-The health ministry says the campaign will start Sunday and will focus on children under the age of five .
-The government had thought it had eradicated polio , with no new cases reported since 2000 .
-But last month , polio was confirmed in a girl from the eastern district of Chandpur .
-The girl was first stricken in January .
-The World Health Organization reports that a lab in India linked the virus carried by the girl to a strain found in India where polio is still common .
-South Korea 's military says it is preparing for the possibility that North Korea may try to provoke a naval skirmish along their disputed sea border .
-A Defense Ministry report to parliament Wednesday said the military is preparing for the possibility that the North may launch attacks on naval ships or seize South Korean fishing boats .
-Relations have been steadily deteriorating in recent weeks as Pyongyang has sealed off its border .
-North Korea has also ordered the expulsion of hundreds of South Koreans working at a joint industrial estate in the North .
-The North says its actions are in protest of what it calls " South Korea 's confrontational policies . "
-Ties have steadily worsened since conservative South Korean President Lee Myung-bak stepped into office in February .
-Mr. Lee campaigned on pledges to take a tougher stance on cross-border ties .
-His election marked the end of 10 years of liberal rule in South Korea .
-Pope Benedict left Rome Saturday for Australia , where he will join hundreds of thousands of young people celebrating World Youth Day .
-The pope told reporters that he would use his 10-day pilgrimage to Australia to offer apologies to victims of sexual abuse by priests , as he did during his recent trip to the United States .
-He called such abuse " incompatible " with behavior required of priests .
-In a telegram to Italian President Giorgio Napolitano just before leaving , the pope said he was filled with a great desire to meet the youth of the entire world to exhort them to become courageous witnesses of the love of Christ .
-The pope will arrive in Darwin , Australia on Sunday .
-Pakistani intelligence officials say an air strike by a suspected U.S. drone ( unmanned aircraft ) has killed at least six people in a northwestern tribal region near the Afghan border .
-Officials said the missile struck a house next to a Muslim school in South Waziristan , in an area believed to be a stronghold of al-Qaida militants .
-They said the identities of those killed in the strike were not immediately known .
-There have been more than 30 missile strikes targeting alleged militants in Pakistan since August .
-They are believed to have been carried out by U.S. remote-controlled aircraft .
-U.S. authorities have refused to confirm or deny responsibility for the attacks .
-The Pakistani government has strongly condemned the air strikes , saying they undermine Pakistan 's counter-terrorism efforts .
-U.S. officials say Uzbekistan has given the United States formal notice that it must leave an airbase that is a key link for military and humanitarian supplies sent into Afghanistan .
-State Department spokeswoman Nancy Beck said Saturday Uzbekistan delivered a notice to the U.S. embassy in Tashkent late last week informing officials of the termination of the agreement to use the Karshi-Khanabad airbase .
-The Central Asian nation asked the United States to remove all of its aircraft , personnel and equipment from the base within six months .
-Uzbekistan did not give a reason for the move , but Ms. Beck said this was a bilateral agreement that could be terminated at any time by either nation .
-Relations between Tashkent and Washington have been tense since May , when President Islam Karimov 's government killed hundreds of people while suppressing protest demonstrations in Andijan province , near the border with Kyrgyzstan .
-Indonesia 's health ministry says a 31-year-old woman has died of bird flu , raising the national death toll from the disease to 102 .
-Officials say the woman died late Thursday , at a Jakarta hospital .
-She is at least the seventh person to die this year from the disease .
-They say the woman was from Tangerang , a city outside of Jakarta , and that she lived in a neighborhood with backyard farms and near a traditional market that sells poultry .
-Most cases in Indonesia involve contact with infected poultry .
-Bird flu has killed more people in Indonesia than any other country since it began spreading in Southeast Asia in late 2003 .
-The World Health Organization says 224 people around the world have died from the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu since 2003 .
-Health experts fear it will mutate into a form that could be easily spread among humans , triggering a global pandemic .
-The boom in wind power is creating opportunities in some economically depressed areas of the United States .
-In the Great Plains states of the country , where wind is in plentiful supply , the growing number of wind energy projects is helping to supplement declining farm incomes and creating new jobs .
-VOA 's Mil Arcega reports .
-Pakistani security officials said a suspected U.S. drone ( unmanned ) aircraft has fired missiles at a site in the tribal region of northwestern Pakistan .
-Officials said the missiles struck a compound Saturday in South Waziristan , near the Afghan border , killing at least eight people .
-Their identities were not immediately known .
-The region is seen as a stronghold of al-Qaida and Pakistani Taliban militants .
-Suspected U.S. drones have carried out at least 30 missile strikes on militant targets in northwest Pakistan over the past year .
-The United States rarely discusses the strikes , which Pakistan has criticized as counterproductive and a violation of its sovereignty .
-The latest missile attack comes as Pakistani security forces are battling extremist militants elsewhere in northwestern Pakistan , around the Swat valley .
-New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin says his city can only support half the population it did before Hurricane Katrina struck in August .
-In an interview with the Washington Post published Wednesday , Mayor Nagin says New Orleans ' shattered infrastructure can support about 2,50,000 residents over the next year .
-That compares with nearly 5,00,000 people who lived in the city before the hurricane .
-Mr. Nagin says more than 2,50,000 homes are uninhabitable and that some neighborhoods are still lacking basic services .
-Thousands of New Orleans residents who evacuated the city remain in temporary housing in other cities and states .
-Mayor Nagin has vowed to resurrect the city , some 80 percent of which was flooded after Katrina .
-Authorities in Turkey have released five people who had been detained since Saturday on suspicion of planning to attack Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan .
-The Anatolia news agency said police rounded them up in the southern city of Adana , shortly before the prime minister visited the city for an election campaign rally .
-Judicial officials did not say why the five were released , and provided no details about the alleged plot .
-The Pakistani government has summoned envoys of nine European countries to protest the publication of cartoons of the prophet Mohammed .
-On Saturday , diplomats from France , Germany , Italy , Spain , Switzerland , the Netherlands , Hungary , Norway and the Czech Republic were called to the Foreign Ministry in Islamabad to hear the protest from the world 's second-largest Muslim nation .
-A spokesperson said the diplomats were told that freedom of expression is not a license to disparage the values and beliefs of other people .
-The cartoons , published in European newspapers , have enraged Muslims because Islamic tradition forbids any depiction of the prophet Mohammed to prevent idolatry .
-The diplomatic protest comes a day after Pakistan 's parliament denounced the publication of the cartoons .
-A Russia envoy says North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has confirmed Pyongyang will not develop nuclear weapons and continues to support the six-party agreement reached last month .
-Russia 's Interfax news agency says presidential envoy Konstantin Pulikovsky just returned from North Korea 's 60th anniversary celebrations for the founding of the country 's communist party .
-The agency quotes Mr. Pulikovsky as saying he met with the North Korean leader , and he clearly confirmed his country 's renunciation of nuclear weapons .
-The Russian envoy also reported the 63-year-old leader is in excellent health , saying " he is lively and joyful . "
-North Korea agreed last month during six-nation talks in Beijing to abandon its nuclear weapons program in return for economic aid , energy assistance and security assurances .
-The next round of talks is scheduled for November .
-Israeli President Shimon Peres has strongly denied a report that he offered nuclear warheads to the white minority South African government in 1975 when he was the Israeli defense minister .
-In a statement Monday , Mr. Peres said " there exists no basis in reality for the claims published " by the British newspaper , The Guardian .
-Mr. Peres said The Guardian wrote its article based on the " selective interpretation of South African documents and not on concrete facts . "
-The report published Sunday quoted newly released South African documents about top secret meetings in which Mr. Peres allegedly offered the warheads to South African officials in 1975 .
-Israel has never confirmed or denied the widely held belief that it has nuclear weapons .
-South Africa developed nuclear weapons during white minority rule , but dismantled its nuclear program in 1991 .
-Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama says if elected president he plans to make college affordable for everyone .
-Speaking to students at a community college in Michigan Tuesday , Obama discussed several initiatives he says he would implement including a $ 4,000 tax credit for students who can not afford college .
-He also said he would require student loans be provided by the federal government .
-The Illinois senator said there would be requirements to receive the tax credit , including 100 hours of community service .
-On Monday , former U.S. Vice President Al Gore endorsed Obama , saying in Detroit , Michigan , that Obama is the candidate to lead the country toward a better future .
-The presumptive Republican presidential nominee , John McCain , is campaigning Tuesday in Texas , where the veteran Arizona lawmaker is to call for the lifting of a ban on offshore U.S. oil and natural gas exploration .
-Iraqi officials say President Jalal Talabani has arrived in Jordan for medical treatment after falling ill from hard work in recent days .
-Iraqi sources say President Talabani experienced a drop in blood pressure , but the sources ruled out a possible heart attack .
-His son , Qubad Talabani , told VOA Kurdish service that his father is suffering from exhaustion and dehydration .
-Media reports quoting the officials say Mr. Talabani will be treated at a hospital in the Jordanian capital , Amman .
-A statement from Mr. Talabani 's office said there is no cause for concern .
-The Iraqi president is in his early 70s .
-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon 's office says he and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas spoke by telephone Sunday and agreed to meet in the near future .
-The two leaders were to have met today , but the meeting was canceled after a 10-day upsurge in violence .
-Earlier today , Israel suspended its Gaza offensive , following a lull in rocket attacks by Palestinian militants .
-The army said it will restart the operation if the rocket fire resumes .
-In a separate development , Israel is warning vacationers to avoid Egypt 's Red Sea resorts over the upcoming Jewish holidays .
-A government statement says Israeli tourists could be kidnapped by pro-Palestinian militants .
-Thousands of Israelis ignored a similar warning last year ahead of bombings that killed 34 people at two Sinai resort areas .
-Indonesia says it has captured one of the nation 's most wanted terrorist suspect , Abdullah Sonata .
-Authorities said two of his aides were arrested and another follower was killed during coordinated raids Wednesday on the main island of Java .
-Sonata , a follower of the deceased terror leader Noordin Mohammed Top , is accused of playing a key role in recruiting terrorists and setting up a training camp that was discovered last month in western Aceh province .
-Police said participants in the camp had been planning an armed attack on luxury hotels favored by tourists and an assault aimed at killing the president and foreign guests during independence celebrations in August .
-A bomb hidden inside a backpack was also discovered during Wednesday 's raids , police said .
-A day earlier , a court sentenced two men to prison for assisting Noordin Top , who was killed during a police raid in Central Java last September .
-A New York-based media rights group is urging the Iraqi government to reverse a ban on journalists from the immediate aftermath of bomb attacks .
-The government announced earlier this month that reporters will not be allowed at a bombing site for one hour following an attack .
-Reasons given for the ban include protecting reporters from secondary attacks and preserving evidence from attacks .
-However , the executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists , Joel Simon , says the restriction appears to be an attempt to limit media coverage of unwelcome news .
-In a letter to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki , Simon says there is no justification for news coverage to be obstructed .
-He called on the prime minister to allow the press to carry out its reporting without hindrance .
-The International Whaling Commission is meeting in the northern U.S. state of Alaska to decide whether to drop a moratorium on commercial whale hunting .
-The ban was enacted in 1986 to help prevent several species of great whales from becoming extinct .
-Representatives from 75 member countries will debate the issue during their annual meeting , which ends Thursday .
-Pro-whaling nations such as Japan , Norway and Iceland argue that the ban can be lifted since whale populations have recovered .
-Approval from 56 member nations would be needed to overturn the ban .
-Last year , IWC members voted 31-30 against a similar motion to repeal the ban .
-Norway and Iceland are currently the only member nations to openly ignore the moratorium .
-Japan , which kills about 1,000 whales a year , says it hunts the animals strictly for scientific purposes , although the meat is sold to restaurants and shops .
-Indonesian prosecutors are seeking an eight-year jail term for the governor of tsunami-hit Aceh province , who is accused of misusing more than $ 1 million in government funds to buy a helicopter .
-Prosecutors said Monday that Abdullah Puteh did not comply with state bidding regulations when he purchased a Russian helicopter for the province .
-The governor was arrested prior to last year 's tsunami .
-Mr. Puteh , who denies the allegations , also faces a fine of up to $ 1,07,000 if he is convicted .
-The case is seen as a key test of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono 's anti-corruption drive .
-Insurgents pressing a campaign of violence against Iraq 's Shi'ite Muslims struck again Saturday , detonating a car bomb at a market on the outskirts of Baghdad , killing at least 14 people .
-Hospital and security officials say at least 10 other people were wounded in the early evening attack in a poor Shi'ite Nahrawan neighborhood .
-Since Wednesday , a wave of bombings and shootings in and around Baghdad has killed more than 200 people and injured some 600 others .
-Meanwhile , the U.S. military reports it has captured two key al-Qaida leaders in the northern city of Mosul .
-The military says the men - Taha Ibrahim Yasin Becher and Hamed Sa'eed Ismael Mustafa - directed the terrorist organization 's daily operations and were responsible for numerous attacks against Iraqi and coalition forces .
-Israel 's justice ministry says it has ordered a criminal investigation into Prime Minister Ehud Olmert 's role in the sale of an Israeli bank two years ago .
-Media reports say police will question Mr. Olmert about allegations that he tried to help two friends buy Bank Leumi , one of Israel 's largest financial institutions , which was going private .
-The friends were unsuccessful in their bids .
-Israeli media have said police might also want to question Mr. Olmert about another case involving appointments he made to a business authority when he was industry minister in 2004 .
-The investigation announced Tuesday is the latest involving the prime minister .
-The state comptroller has already investigated Mr. Olmert 's real estate dealings but has found no wrongdoing .
-Recently Mr. Olmert 's personal secretary , Shula Zaken , was placed under house arrest as part of a corruption probe .
-A top U.S. official says the levee system that failed in New Orleans earlier this year will be rebuilt " stronger and safer than ever before " .
-But the federal head of reconstruction efforts , Donald Powell Thursday stopped short of saying the new , reinforced levees would withstand a hurricane stronger than Katrina , which triggered the levee failure in August .
-Katrina was a Category Three storm , on a scale that reaches a devastating Category Five .
-At the same White House news conference , New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said it is time for his city 's residents to return home .
-He said the city now has the three things needed to lure residents and businesses back - tax incentives , money for new housing and reconstruction , and the new levee system , set to be completed before the beginning of next year 's hurricane season .
-Former Salvadoran President Francisco Flores has withdrawn his candidacy to head the Organization of America States , just days ahead of the scheduled vote .
-Mr. Flores ' decision to step aside Friday leaves two candidates in Monday 's election -- Chilean Interior Minister Jose Miguel Insulza and Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez .
-Officials from 34 nations will meet in Washington to choose a new secretary-general .
-Mr. Flores said he wanted to avoid splitting regional votes with Mexico 's candidate , Mr. Derbez .
-The United States , which endorsed Mr. Flores ' candidacy , says it respects his decision .
-A State Department official says Washington will consult with its OAS partners to elect the best possible candidate .
-The post became vacant in October , when former Costa Rican President Miguel Angel Rodriguez resigned to face corruption charges at home .
-The top United Nations investigator into the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has presented his latest findings to Secretary-General Kofi Annan .
-The report from Detlev Mehlis is to be delivered to the U.N. Security Council Monday , and Mr. Mehlis will brief the council Tuesday .
-Mr. Mehlis has said the probe should continue and said he plans to request more interviews with Syrian officials .
-An earlier report from U.N. investigators implicated Lebanese and Syrian officials in Mr. Hariri 's death .
-Meanwhile , Syria 's President Bashar al-Assad told Russian television that he would punish any Syrians proven to have been involved in the February killing .
-He also warned against possible sanctions by the U.N. Security Council , which has sought to pressure Syria to cooperate with the U.N. probe .
-The Colombian Army says it has killed the number two leader of the powerful rebel group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC .
-Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said Saturday that the army killed Raul Reyes , a top rebel commander who often served as a FARC spokesman .
-Santos said Reyes was killed during a combat operation along the southern border with Ecuador .
-The death is a victory for Colombian President Alvaro Uribe who has been under increasing international pressure to ease the long-running conflict with the country 's main leftist rebel group .
-FARC is believed to be holding about 750 prisoners in jungle hideouts .
-The government has been negotiating the swap of hostages , four of whom were released to Venezuelan authorities on Wednesday .
-The new leader of Israel 's main opposition Labor Party is threatening to back a plan to topple Prime Minister Ariel Sharon 's government and force early elections .
-Amir Peretz says he wants to meet with Mr. Sharon by Wednesday when a bill will be introduced by a smaller opposition party , National Religious Party , calling for parliament to be dissolved .
-Mr. Peretz says he will back the measure if he does not meet with Mr. Sharon before then .
-Mr. Peretz made the comments after the prime minister postponed a meeting planned for Sunday .
-Israel is not scheduled to hold parliamentary elections until next November , but Mr. Peretz is proposing they be held by March .
-He defeated Shimon Peres for the Labor Party leadership in elections Thursday , vowing to pull the party from Mr. Sharon 's fragile coalition government .
-Google , one of the Internet 's most successful companies , is gearing up to compete better with its popular rival , Facebook .
-The Wall Street Journal reports Google is holding talks with makers of on-line games in the hope of boosting profits by offering a new service to its many customers .
-Advertisers pay the Internet giants for the right to post advertising that reaches the hundreds of millions of people who use the services .
-The fast-growing on-line gaming sector of the industry could boost revenue by attracting larger audiences and holding them for a longer time .
-Nigerian police are searching for 15 school children who were kidnapped in southeastern Nigeria by gunmen .
-Police said Tuesday the kidnappers hijacked the school bus the children were riding in and have demanded a ransom of more than $ 1,00,000 .
-They say the attack took place early Monday while the nursery and primary school children were being driven to the Abayi International School , in Abia state .
-There have been a number of kidnappings for ransom in Abia state , near Nigeria 's oil-rich Niger Delta region .
-Most of the kidnappings in the Niger Delta initially involved foreign oil workers , but more recently attackers have also targeted the children and relatives of wealthy Nigerians .
-Most of those who are abducted are later released unharmed , usually after a ransom is paid .
-An Ariane rocket has lifted off from Kourou , French Guiana , carrying seven satellites , including at least one that is to gather intelligence for France 's military .
-The Helios 2A military satellite , launched from the European Space Agency 's center , is to gather both optical and infrared intelligence .
-The other satellites include the Parasol designed to study cloud formations in the upper atmosphere .
-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has ordered his government to cut all contact with the Palestinian Authority after a militant attack late Thursday killed six Israeli civilians .
-Mr. Sharon 's office said there would be no contact until newly elected Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas reins in the militants and halts attacks .
-All border crossings with Gaza were also closed .
-Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat called on Mr. Sharon to reconsider his decision , saying the best way to restart the peace process is to resume dialogue .
-Earlier Friday , Mr. Abbas , who is to be sworn-in Saturday , condemned both the militant attack , as well as deadly Israeli raids in the occupied territories , saying they do not benefit the peace process .
-The militant groups Hamas , the Popular Resistance Committee and al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades all claimed responsibility for Thursday 's attack on the Karni crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip .
-Russia says it withdrew its last troops based in Georgia Thursday , months ahead of schedule .
-A train carrying the last 150 Russian troops and military equipment left the Georgian city of Batumi on the Black Sea late Wednesday night and crossed into Armenia early Thursday .
-It marks the end of two centuries of Russia 's military presence in Georgia .
-However , Russia still maintains peacekeeping forces in Georgia 's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia .
-Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has accused the Russian troops of supporting the separatists and wants the Russian peacekeepers replaced with United Nations forces .
-Russia has based troops at former Soviet bases in Georgia since 1991 and had promised to pull them all out by 2008 .
-Investors got a mixed bag of U.S. economic information on Friday .
-The huge General Electric corporation reported an 18 percent increase in profits in the last three months of 2004 .
-GE officials say strong industrial sales along with an " excellent " global economy helped them make nearly $ 5.4 billion during the period .
-Measured by its value on the stock market , GE is the biggest U.S. corporation .
-Researchers say U.S. consumers have a different view of the economy .
-On Friday the University of Michigan said its index of consumer confidence declined 1.3 percent in early January , to a reading of 95.8 .
-Experts track consumer confidence for hints about future consumer spending , which drives much of the economic activity in the United States .
-The senior leader of Hamas says the Palestinian militant group will not disarm or change its policies toward Israel , following its landslide election victory .
-Speaking from his base in Damascus , Syria , Khaled Mashaal said Saturday Hamas and the Palestinian people will be as effective in politics and reform as in fighting Israel .
-He also rejected international threats to cut off Palestinian aid , saying the Palestinian people will not be blackmailed .
-Hamas , which routed the Fatah party in parliamentary elections Wednesday , has claimed numerous suicide attacks against Israel in recent years and has vowed to destroy the Jewish state .
-Tensions remain high in the Palestinian territories Saturday with fresh calls for demonstrations by Fatah party activists .
-Witnesses say Fatah gunmen climbed the roof of the Palestinian parliament in Ramallah and fired shots in the air as supporters cheered below .
-Pope Benedict is urging nuclear-armed nations to get rid of their arsenals .
-The pope issued the plea Saturday at the Vatican after Japan 's new ambassador to the Holy See presented his credentials to the pontiff .
-Pope Benedict called nuclear weapons a source of tension and mistrust .
-He said the 65th anniversary of bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki should serve as a reminder of the horror nuclear weapons can cause .
-The United States dropped atomic bombs on both cities in August of 1945 , killing more than 200 people .
-Japan surrendered unconditionally shortly afterwards , ending World War Two .
-Pope Benedict praised Japan for setting an example since the bombings , for always trying to find peaceful solutions to conflicts .
-Britain 's High Court has cleared the way for a Tunisian terror suspect to be extradited to Spain to face charges of helping the September 11 hijackers .
-Hedi Ben Yousseff Boudhiba is accused of belonging to an al-Qaida cell that provided FALSE passports and money to the planners of 2001 attacks on New York and Washington .
-Boudhiba was arrested in Liverpool in August of 2004 as he tried to board a flight to Barcelona .
-Britain agreed to extradite Boudhiba to Spain after he was indicted by a Spanish judge .
-Lawyers for the 45-year-old Tunisian tried to block the move , arguing he is mentally disabled .
-But British Justice Janet Smith rejected Boudhiba 's appeal , saying she was confident Spanish authorities would determine if he is fit to stand trial .
-The Israeli military has proposed a plan to destroy up to 3,000 Palestinian homes in the southern Gaza Strip , in order to dig a huge trench meant to halt Palestinian weapons smuggling from nearby Egypt .
-Israel 's Maariv newspaper says the plan presented to the Israeli Attorney General proposes a trench along the five-kilometer border separating southern Gaza from Egypt .
-One scenario calls for a 10-meter wide trench that would destroy 200 homes .
-A 20-meter wide proposal would eliminate 700 homes , while a 30-meter trench would destroy 3,000 homes .
-Israel began soliciting bids last year for a 25-meter wide trench authorities hoped to have dug before Israel 's planned Gaza withdrawal later this year .
-The Gaza Egypt border is rife with weapons smuggling and is the scene of frequent fighting between Israeli troops and Palestinians .
-Health workers have fanned out in northern and western Sudan to vaccinate more than five million children against the crippling effects of polio .
-United Nations officials say fighters in the western Darfur region laid down their weapons Monday at the start of the three-day campaign .
-The United Nations is working with Sudan 's government and the World Health Organization to carry out the vaccinations , which will include southern Sudan and other areas in coming weeks .
-Officials say the massive program was needed after the virus was detected in more than 100 people , mostly in the Sudanese capital , Khartoum .
-A UNICEF spokeswoman told the Associated Press that the cases have been traced to Nigeria , where local officials in the northern state of Kano boycotted a vaccine drive in 2003 .
-Kano officials later agreed to resume polio immunizations , using an alternate source of vaccine .
-Afghanistan 's lower house of parliament has approved a law that would grant amnesty to all Afghans accused of human rights abuses during the past 25 years of conflict in the country .
-The bill adopted Wednesday would rule out the prosecution of any political or militia group involved in the country 's wars .
-Supporters of the law say it will promote reconciliation and peace in Afghanistan .
-But , some Afghan lawmakers and government officials say there can not be peace if war criminals escape justice .
-International rights groups have urged the Afghan government to hold trials for Afghans accused of rights abuses , including some who are members of parliament .
-The amnesty law must be approved by the upper house of parliament and signed by President Hamid Karzai to take effect .
-The body of Coretta Scott King - the widow of slain U.S. civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. - has arrived back in the city where she lived , Atlanta , in the southern state of Georgia .
-Police cars early Wednesday escorted a hearse carrying her body to a funeral home .
-Local reports say funeral arrangements have not yet been made .
-Mrs. King died early Tuesday at an alternative medicine clinic in Mexico .
-Doctors say the 78-year-old was battling ovarian cancer and ultimately died of respiratory failure .
-The death of the woman known as the " first lady of the civil rights movement " brought expressions of sadness as well as tributes from civil rights advocates , politicians and religious leaders .
-Mrs. King carried on her husband 's work after his assassination , creating the Martin Luther King Jr. Center For Non-Violent Social Change in Atlanta .
-Ukraine 's parliament speaker and the European Union say fresh elections are needed to end the dispute over the former Soviet republic 's presidential runoff .
-The speaker , Volodymyr Lytvyn , made the suggestion Saturday , during an emergency session to debate the disputed election .
-Meanwhile , the Dutch foreign minister , speaking on behalf of the EU presidency , also called for fresh elections in light of numerous allegations of fraud .
-Also due to meet Saturday , is a multilateral committee tasked with resolving the political stalemate .
-It comprises representatives of both candidates : opposition challenger Viktor Yushchenko , and Moscow-backed Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych .
-Mr. Yushchenko late Friday called for fresh elections to be held on December 12 .
-Disputed official results indicate the pro-Western politician narrowly lost the runoff .
-President Bush has called on Arab nations to help Palestinian leaders reach a peace agreement with Israel , and to work toward a larger reconciliation with the Jewish state .
-Mr. Bush made the comments in his weekly radio address delivered from Kuwait Saturday during a tour of the region .
-He said the United States will do all it can to encourage negotiations , but he said the international community has a responsibility to support the peace effort as well .
-The president said he believes leaders can reach an agreement defining a Palestinian state this year , but he said the United States can not impose such a deal .
-He said he will urge Arab leaders in the Gulf to do their part , during his visits to their nations over the next few days .
-Mr. Bush met with the Israeli and Palestinian leaders in Jerusalem and Ramallah earlier this week as part of his Mideast tour .
-George W. Bush
-President Bush says he does not think the published photos Friday of a nearly-naked Saddam Hussein in his prison cell will spark more anti-American sentiment in Iraq .
-Questioned by reporters at the White House , Mr. Bush said a photo does not inspire murderers .
-He said the insurgents are motivated by a vision of the world that is , " backward and barbaric " and by a desire to thwart freedom in Iraq .
-The White House said the president was briefed earlier by senior aides about the incident and strongly supports what it said is " the aggressive and thorough investigation that is already under way . "
-Pakistan 's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto says the participation of the country 's two main opposition parties will help ensure next month 's elections are free and fair .
-She told reporters Tuesday that the government will either allow a fair vote or it will so thoroughly manipulate the results that the rigging will be exposed .
-Opposition leaders discussed boycotting the elections but failed to agree on a set of demands for taking part .
-Ms. Bhutto 's Pakistan People 's Party and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif 's Pakistan Muslim League Party , the largest opposition parties , have now said they will participate .
-On Monday , Mr. Sharif said Ms. Bhutto undermined a united opposition boycott of the polls by not supporting the reinstatement of deposed Supreme Court judges .
-European Union energy officials will hold an emergency meeting next week amid concerns that the Russian-Ukrainian dispute over natural gas prices could affect EU gas supplies .
-An EU statement released Friday says the meeting is aimed at finding a common approach .
-It also expresses the European Commission 's concern about the situation , but says the EU top executive body remains confident an agreement will be reached .
-A Russian cut-off of supplies to Ukraine will reduce the amount of natural gas flowing through the main pipeline toward Europe .
-But the commission says there is no risk of a gas shortage in the short term .
-German officials say they are hoping for a quick resolution to the dispute .
-Government spokesman , Ulrich Wilhelm says officials have been in contact with both sides at a working level , but will not mediate .
-Cuba 's state newspaper has published new photographs of ailing leader Fidel Castro , which show him greeting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez .
-The communist daily Granma said the two leaders met in Havana on Sunday , to mark Mr. Castro 's 80th birthday .
-The photographs show the Cuban leader laying in bed , shaking hands with Mr. Chavez and receiving a portrait of Mr. Castro as a gift .
-Mr. Castro has not been seen in public since he underwent surgery more than two weeks ago to stop intestinal bleeding .
-Sunday , a communist youth newspaper Juventud Rebelde published a message from Mr. Castro , saying he will fight for his life .
-He urged Cubans to be optimistic about his health , but warned of possible " adverse news . " Mr. Castro temporarily handed power to his brother , Raul , because of the surgery last month .
-Zimbabwe 's President Robert Mugabe has freed three men who were jailed for murder and sabotage as they battled South Africa 's anti-apartheid African National Congress in 1988 .
-Zimbabwean state media reports the president pardoned the Zimbabwean nationals on humanitarian grounds .
-The three ( Kevin Woods , Michael Smith and Phillip Conjwayo ) were sentenced for the murder of a Zimbabwean driver they hired to deliver a bomb to a house owned by the African National Congress .
-The bomb detonated and killed the driver before he reached the destination .
-South Africa 's apartheid government granted the men citizenship after the crime .
-An Israeli airstrike has killed five Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip .
-Israeli military officials said on Saturday the five were preparing to launch a rocket attack against southern Israeli communities when they were hit .
-No other information was available on the militants ' identities .
-The militant Palestinian group Hamas controls the Gaza Strip where Israel has routinely targeted rocket launchers .
-Colombia 's second-largest rebel group has released a soldier it kidnapped last month , turning him over to the Red Cross on Thursday .
-Red Cross officials say the hostage , identified by El~Tiempo newspaper as Anderson Mauricio Zapata , is in good health .
-The Associated Press quotes the rebel group known as ELN as saying that the release is meant to contribute to peace talks with the government .
-In recent months , ELN delegates have held peace talks with the Colombian government , after decades of civil war pitting at least two rebel groups against the national army .
-The country 's largest rebel group , known as the FARC , has refused to participate in peace talks .
-The U.S. dollar fell to a seven-month low against the yen and near-record lows compared to the euro on Monday .
-Analysts say the huge gap between what the United States buys abroad and what it sells hurts the dollar 's value .
-The U.S. budget deficit also contributes to the dollar 's decline .
-On a visit to Ireland , U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow said Washington supports a " strong dollar " but said the value is best set by open markets .
-He was re-stating long-standing administration policy .
-Economists say a weaker dollar makes goods exported from the United States less expensive and more attractive on foreign markets .
-Iraqi authorities have imposed tight security in and around Baghdad and the holy city of Karbala where Shi'ite Muslim pilgrims are converging for a major religious ceremony .
-Officials expect two million pilgrims to join the main Ashura observances Thursday , marking the 13th century martyrdom of Imam Hussein , one of Shi'ite Islam 's most revered leaders .
-Government troops have sealed off Karbala to vehicles and are body-searching the arriving pilgrims .
-Police in Baghdad also imposed tight security in Kadhimiya district - another site of Shi'ite pilgrimage - and set up checkpoints around the city .
-Despite the security , Iraq 's higher education minister survived a bomb attack in Baghdad that wounded three people .
-In the past , insurgents have attacked pilgrims during Ashura observances .
-In 2004 , about 170 people were killed .
-Chinese officials say they may dam a major river to stop a toxic chemical slick from reaching Russia , and the city of Khabarovsk .
-The China Daily reports water ministry officials are doing a site survey to study the feasibility of the temporary dam project suggested by Russia .
-China has for weeks been evaluating methods to deal with 100 metric tons of highly poisonous benzene that flowed into the the Songhua River after a chemical plant explosion November 13 in the city of Jilin .
-The slick could reach the Russian border as soon as Sunday .
-It has already disrupted the normal flow of fresh water to millions of Chinese who live near the river .
-The governor of Colombia 's Arauca state has escaped unharmed from a bomb attack on his motorcade .
-A government spokesman says explosives planted under a bridge detonated Tuesday as Governor Julio Enrique Acosta Bernal 's motorcade passed through Arauca city , the provincial capital .
-The governor 's armored vehicle was heavily damaged but no one was seriously injured .
-Governor Acosta Bernal has survived eight attacks during his political career .
-Authorities in Arauca province say they suspect the latest attempt to kill him could have been staged by rebels from the FARC - the Revolutionary Armed forces of Colombia .
-Colombia 's main oil fields are located in Arauca state , near the border with Venezuela .
-Frequent activity by rebels and other criminal gangs has forced the government to keep the area under virtual military control for the past three years .
-The United States is sending an official observer mission to Sunday 's Palestinian election .
-The State Department says the delegation will be led by Senators John Sununu and Joseph Biden and will include prominent Palestinian-Americans .
-The team plans to visit polling stations and meet with Israeli and Palestinian officials .
-The State Department says successful elections will require close cooperation between Israel and the Palestinians .
-Earlier Tuesday , Israeli tanks fired shells in northern Gaza , killing seven Palestinians , six of whom were members of the same family .
-The Israeli military says the tanks fired at militants who had fired mortars into a nearby Jewish settlement .
-But witnesses say the victims were farmers and that militants had fled by the time the tank shells hit .
-China says Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is set to visit the country this month , amid signs the two nations are looking to increase their energy ties .
-In a statement Tuesday , the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced that Mr. Chavez will visit Beijing from August 22 to August 27 .
-The leaders are expected to discuss oil exports , as China seeks fresh energy supplies to fuel its rapid economic growth .
-Venezuela has some of the world 's largest oil reserves and is trying to increase its fuel shipments to China .
-Mr. Chavez has said he wants oil exports to China to reach 3,00,000 barrels a day .
-The Venezuelan leader 's visit to China will follow recent trips to Russia , Iran , Vietnam and Mali .
-Indian authorities say separatist rebels have killed 16 Indian soldiers in an ambush in the country 's northeastern Tripura state .
-Police say the soldiers were guarding a road construction project near the town of Dangabari when they were ambushed Tuesday morning .
-Reports say some 50 rebels attacked the soldiers , killing 15 .
-Another soldier died of his wounds while being brought to a local hospital .
-One rebel was killed in the firefight .
-Police officials also say the rebels took weapons and ammunition from the dead soldiers .
-Authorities have blamed the National Liberation Front of Tripura - which is fighting for an independent homeland in the area - for the attack .
-Russia and Moldova have reached a short term agreement on a new price for natural gas two weeks after Moscow cut supplies to the former Soviet state .
-Moldova will pay $ 110 per 1,000 cubic meters of natural gas over the next four months .
-Talks on a fixed price will continue .
-Moldova had been paying $ 80 for gas .
-Russia 's state-owned natural gas company , Gazprom , wanted to double the price to bring Moldova in line with the world market .
-Gazprom cut supplies to Moldova January 1 .
-Russia also cut supplies to Ukraine the same day .
-That dispute was settled three days later .
-Police in the western Indian state of Maharashtra say 26 women drowned after two boats capsized in the Wainganga River late Saturday .
-Local authorities say four women and two crew members managed to swim to safety , but that eight women are still missing .
-Police say the women - poor farm laborers on their way home from work - started panicking after seeing a bolt of lightning .
-Their panicked movements caused the boats to capsize .
-The accident happened in Bhandara district , some 925 kilometers northeast of the state capital , Mumbai .
-President Bush has telephoned his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai to express his support for Sunday 's legislative elections .
-A White House spokesman says Mr. Karzai told President Bush that his nation was ready to vote , and that the people of Afghanistan were enthusiastic about the polls .
-The Afghan leader also invited Mr. Bush to visit and address the new parliament once it convenes .
-Meanwhile , the election campaign in Afghanistan has officially ended , with candidates making their final pitches .
-With campaigning forbidden 48 hours before the polls open , candidates scrambled to woo voters , while organizers raced to spread their message on how to cast the ballots .
-More than 12 million Afghans are registered to vote Sunday to elect a national parliament and local councils in all 34 provinces .
-Afghan officials say at least six suspected Taleban militants have been killed and 15 arrested , including one of the militia 's commanders , in separate incidents in southern Afghanistan .
-The six insurgents were killed Sunday as they fled after attacking a security post close to Tirin Kot , the capital of restive Uruzgan province .
-The officials say the Afghan National Army and US-led forces also captured 9 suspected Taleban fighters , including local commander Mullah Janan , in a village near Tirin Kot , and six others were arrested in another district of Uruzgan province .
-Meanwhile , in the Souray district of neighboring Zabul province , one suspected Taleban rebel was killed and one was wounded by a bomb they were planting on a road used by Afghan and US forces .
-Violence has surged ahead of next month 's parliamentary elections in Afghanistan .
-The U.S. dollar hit record lows against the euro Tuesday .
-It took more than one dollar and 48 cents to buy one euro .
-The dollar has been battered by a series of problems , including continuing gloom in the key U.S. housing sector , and the slowing U.S. economy .
-Some speculators are selling dollars because they expect the U.S. central bank will try to stimulate the economy by cutting interest rates again soon .
-Lower U.S. interest rates can cut the return on some investments .
-The falling dollar is prompting some oil-rich nations around the Persian Gulf to consider ending the practice of linking the value of their currencies to that of the dollar and instead peg the value to a " basket " of other currencies .
-Such a move would reduce demand for dollars , and further weaken the U.S. currency .
-Afghan officials say suspected Taleban insurgents have killed two more pro-government Muslim clerics , just days after a bomb Friday killed a mullah in a mosque in the eastern Khost province .
-The officials say Mullah Mohammad Gul was gunned down late Sunday while walking home after prayers at a mosque in Lashkargah , the capital of southern Helmand province .
-Hours later , unknown assailants broke into a home of the head of the religious council for eastern Kunar province , Noor Ahmad Jan , and shot him dead .
-Following the Friday killing , at least 5,000 Afghans staged a peaceful protest in Khost , urging the government to provide better security for religious leaders .
-In the past , Taleban insurgents have killed several influential clerics who had denounced the militants and expressed support for President Hamid Karzai .
-The man who trained 1,000 white pigeons to be released over Hanoi on the city 's 1,000-year anniversary says more than half the birds have been killed - many to appear on Vietnamese dinner tables .
-In recent interviews , Pham Tai Thu has expressed his disappointment at the loss of the birds , which he had hoped would thrive as a lasting symbol of peace .
-He said some of the birds have been poisoned or died of diseases , while others were captured and sold to restaurants .
-Thu said he painstakingly raised the birds and trained them to return to the Hanoi Botanical Garden after their release during the city 's anniversary ceremonies in early October .
-He said he had hoped they would create large flocks to represent the city 's emergence from decades of war .
-United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan is expected to ask for manpower and equipment for a peacekeeping force for Sudan when he meets with President Bush later Monday .
-Mr. Annan is scheduled to meet with Mr. Bush at the White House to discuss a peacekeeping mission for Sudan 's war-torn Darfur region .
-The peacekeeping force has been mandated by the U.N. Security Council to take over from an African Union force of seven thousand .
-Last week , Mr. Annan said the U.N. force will have to be bigger and better equipped , which , he said , will require the participation of big and powerful countries with highly trained troops - including the U.S. U.S. officials have said they hope to arrange a U.N. mission to Darfur by the end of this month .
-Fighting between rebel and government forces in Darfur has killed tens of thousands and displaced two million
-A North Korean cargo ship has dropped anchor in the South Korean port of Ulsan , marking the first visit of its kind in more than two decades .
-The ship will be loaded with fertilizer intended to help the North deal with perpetual food shortages .
-South Korea agreed to give 2,00,000 tons of fertilizer to the North after four days of bilateral talks concluded last week .
-Two more North Korean vessels are expected to cross into South Korean waters later today and early Monday .
-South Korea began shipping fertilizer by land on Saturday when several trucks crossed the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas .
-Some of information for this report provided by AFP .
-Fans of The Sopranos can now own a little piece of the much-honored TV series : bricks from mobster Tony Soprano 's fictional hangout , Satriale 's Pork Store .
-Manny Costeira , who owns the Kearny , New Jersey building , is selling 2,000 white stone bricks online before the structure is demolished next month .
-A condominum complex called The Soprano will be built on the site .
-Costeira said the bricks will sell for $ 25 to $ 50 apiece , and will include a serial number and certificate of authentication .
-Speaking to The Jersey Journal of Jersey City , Costeira said he 's received a few angry e-mails asking why he 's demolishing the joint where Tony and his pals often gathered .
-The Sopranos aired its 86th and final episode on June 10 , 2007 .
-Pakistani security forces backed by helicopter gunships have pounded suspected militant hideouts near the border with Afghanistan .
-The violence Friday is the latest in a series of attacks in the North Waziristan area , where the Pakistani military has been battling Taleban and al-Qaida militants .
-There has been no official word on casualties .
-This assault comes as local and military officials continue to search for 16 missing soldiers believed to be kidnapped by Taleban militants .
-The men disappeared on Thursday while traveling to a military base in South Waziristan in Pakistan 's northwestern tribal region .
-Also on Thursday , Pakistani security forces said at least 10 militants were killed during a military operation in North Waziristan .
-A military spokesman says the militants were killed while fleeing the site of a roadside bombing that wounded five soldiers .
-Iran has denied receiving a proposal from Moscow to build a joint uranium enrichment facility in Russia .
-An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman , Hamid Reza Asefi , told a news conference Sunday that Tehran has received no such proposal , and would only consider proposals that recognize Iran 's right to enrich uranium on its own soil .
-Russia said Saturday its embassy in Tehran presented Iranian authorities with a note saying its offer to set up a joint uranium enrichment facility in Russia remains valid .
-Under a deal signed earlier this year , Moscow agreed to supply enriched uranium fuel for Iran 's Bushehr reactor .
-But Russia also demanded the return of spent fuel to ensure Tehran did not reprocess it into bomb-grade material .
-The United States and the European Union say Tehran is using its nuclear program to develop atomic weapons .
-Iran says it is only for peaceful purposes .
-Led by a group of military families , about 200 people have held a rally in Washington to show support for President Bush and the war in Iraq .
-The participants gathered on the National Mall Sunday carried banners and signs proclaiming support for the more than 130-thousand U.S. troops deployed in the war-torn country .
-Speakers hailed the efforts to bring democracy to Iraq and Afghanistan and denounced those who protest against it .
-The rally came a day after 100-thousand people gathered on the Mall , demanding the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq , in the largest such demonstration since the war began .
-Russia 's Economic Development and Trade Minister says leading state firms should stay in the private sector , weeks after a state-owned company gained control of a major private competitor .
-In an interview with the Kommersant daily , Minister German Gref said state-owned Rosneft and its new unit Yuganskneftegas should be privatized , in case they become one state-owned company .
-Rosneft gained control of privately-owned Yuganskneftegas last month after a government-ordered auction .
-Yuganskneftegas was a leading unit of oil giant Yukos , which was owned by oil tycoon and Kremlin critic Vladimir Khodorkovsky .
-The purchase has raised fear among liberal economists that the government is nationalizing Russia 's energy industry .
-Mr. Khodorkovsky is in prison on fraud charges .
-A Kenyan court has released nine Somali men accused of piracy , saying it has no jurisdiction to try their case .
-High Court Judge Mohammed Ibrahim ordered the men to be released and repatriated Tuesday after saying Kenyan courts could not deal with matters that take place outside of the country .
-The nine men were captured by a German naval vessel in the Gulf of Aden in March 2009 after an attack on the German-owned freighter MV Courier .
-The ruling comes just days after a separate court released 17 suspected Somali pirates due to lack of evidence .
-More than 100 suspected Somali pirates are currently being held in Kenyan prisons .
-The death toll from a bomb blast in Indian Kashmir has risen to at least 14 people , after more people succumbed to their injuries .
-Security officials say the explosion , Monday , at a busy market in Pulwama , south of Srinagar , also wounded more than 70 others and damaged a school , a police station and several shops .
-The officials say three soldiers are among the dead .
-Authorities say the bomb was planted aboard a truck carrying construction materials .
-The charred remains of a man who they say detonated the explosion was recovered from the scene .
-Police fired tear gas to disperse mobs of angry and grief-stricken people who poured into the streets of Pulwama to denounce the attack .
-No one has claimed responsibility for the bombing .
-But the French News Agency quotes a military official who blames Islamic militants for the blast .
-Recent studies show that children who do not get enough sleep tend to have some emotional problems as well as weight gain later in life .
-As VOA 's Melinda Smith reports , the research seems to blame the parents .
-Pakistani intelligence officials say three U.S. missile strikes have killed at least 11 suspected militants in the country 's North Wazirstan tribal region .
-The first drone strike Wednesday struck a vehicle near the town of Miran Shah , killing at least four militants .
-Hours later , officials said , a second attack killed three militants in the same region .
-And a third missile strike hit a vehicle in the Pai Khel area of North Waziristan , killing at least four suspected militants .
-The United States has increased its use of missiles launched from unmanned aircraft against Taliban and al-Qaida-linked militants .
-There have been at least 40 such strikes since September in northwestern Pakistan near the Afghan border .
-The U.S. does not publicly acknowledge the attacks , which often are criticized by Pakistani officials as a violation of their country 's sovereignty .
-The U.S. military says an F15 fighter jet crashed in eastern Afghanistan early Saturday , killing the two crew members on board .
-A military statement says the plane went down during an operation in the region .
-The military did not indicate why the plane went down , but the statement said the crash was not caused by " hostile fire . "
-Coalition forces are engaged in a major offensive in southern Afghanistan to drive Taliban militants out of their strongholds , and to maintain security ahead of a presidential election in August .
-On Friday , a roadside bomb killed 11 civilians , including five children , as they were traveling to a shrine in southern Afghanistan 's Kandahar province .
-The attack happened in Spin Boldak district , a major cross border route between Afghanistan and Pakistan .
-Kenya 's president has announced that public hospitals and clinics will begin providing anti-retroviral drugs at no charge to AIDS patients .
-In comments made Thursday , President Mwai Kibaki said his government will immediately waive the fees it has been charging for the drugs .
-More than 2,00,000 Kenyans are eligible for the anti-retroviral drugs , but just a fraction are using the medications .
-The fee of slightly more than one dollar for a treatment has been cited as a reason more people are not taking the medications .
-The World Health Organization estimates some 1.2 million Kenyans are infected with HIV , the virus that causes AIDS .
-An estimated six percent of Kenya 's adult population is infected , down from 14 percent a few years ago .
-Palestinian and Israeli officials say two Palestinian militants have been killed in an Israeli missile attack in the Gaza Strip .
-An Israeli army spokesman says troops saw members of the militant group Al Aqsa Martyrs ' Brigades firing a rocket toward Israel Saturday .
-He said the militants were struck by an Israeli missile after leaving the launch site in a car .
-The strike came a day after Israeli aircraft fired missiles into a car in southern Gaza , killing six people , including a senior Palestinian militant and his child .
-Israel says it has the right to strike at militants it says are planning attacks on the Jewish state .
-In southern Gaza , Palestinian police say two people were killed today near Rafah in the collapse of a tunnel under the Gaza-Egypt border .
-China 's first private airline is expected to take to the skies this year .
-The official Xinhua news agency says Sunday Okay Airways is undergoing a final official review , and should be cleared to begin operations after Nov. 20 .
-Xinhua said the Beijing-based airline plans to lease six U.S.-made Boeing 737 aircraft for domestic cargo and passenger charter flights .
-Two other private airlines , United Eagle Airlines and Air Spring , reportedly hope to begin flying next year , once a review of their applications is completed by the Civil Aviation Administration of China .
-With no direct taxation , the islands are a thriving offshore financial center .
-More than 93,000 companies were registered in the Cayman Islands as of 2008 , including almost 300 banks , 800 insurers , and 10,000 mutual funds .
-A stock exchange was opened in 1997 .
-Tourism is also a mainstay , accounting for about 70 % of GDP and 75 % of foreign currency earnings .
-The tourist industry is aimed at the luxury market and caters mainly to visitors from North America .
-Total tourist arrivals exceeded 1.9 million in 2008 , with about half from the US .
-About 90 % of the islands ' food and consumer goods must be imported .
-The Caymanians enjoy a standard of living roughly equal to that of Switzerland .
-At the close of World War I , the Czechs and Slovaks of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire merged to form Czechoslovakia .
-During the interwar years , having rejected a federal system , the new country 's leaders were frequently preoccupied with meeting the demands of other ethnic minorities within the republic , most notably the Sudeten Germans and the Ruthenians ( Ukrainians ) .
-On the eve of World War II , the Czech part of the country was forcibly annexed to the Third Reich , and the Slovaks declared independence as a fascist ally of Nazi Germany .
-After the war , a reunited but truncated Czechoslovakia ( less Ruthenia ) fell within the Soviet sphere of influence .
-In 1968 , an invasion by Warsaw Pact troops ended the efforts of the country 's leaders to liberalize Communist Party rule and create " socialism with a human face . "
-Anti-Soviet demonstrations the following year ushered in a period of harsh repression known as " normalization . "
-With the collapse of Soviet-backed authority in 1989 , Czechoslovakia regained its freedom through a peaceful " Velvet Revolution . "
-On 1 January 1993 , the country underwent a " velvet divorce " into its two national components , the Czech Republic and Slovakia .
-The Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004 .
-A unified Thai kingdom was established in the mid-14th century .
-Known as Siam until 1939 , Thailand is the only Southeast Asian country never to have been taken over by a European power .
-A bloodless revolution in 1932 led to a constitutional monarchy .
-In alliance with Japan during World War II , Thailand became a US treaty ally in 1954 after sending troops to Korea and fighting alongside the US in Vietnam .
-A military coup in September 2006 ousted then Prime Minister THAKSIN Chinnawat .
-December 2007 elections saw the pro-THAKSIN People 's Power Party ( PPP ) emerge at the head of a coalition government that took office in February 2008 .
-The anti-THAKSIN People 's Alliance for Democracy ( PAD , aka yellow-shirts ) in May 2008 began street demonstrations against the new government , eventually occupying the prime minister 's office in August and Bangkok 's two international airports in November .
-After an early December 2008 court ruling that dissolved the ruling PPP and two other coalition parties for election violations , the Democrat Party formed a new coalition government and ABHISIT Wetchachiwa became prime minister .
-In October 2008 THAKSIN fled abroad in advance of an abuse of power conviction and has agitated his followers from abroad since then .
-THAKSIN supporters under the banner of the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship ( UDD , aka red-shirts ) rioted in April 2009 , shutting down an ASEAN meeting in Pattaya .
-Following a February 2010 court verdict confiscating half of THAKSIN 's frozen assets , the UDD staged large protests between March and May 2010 , and occupied several blocks of downtown Bangkok .
-Clashes between security forces and protesters , elements of which were armed , resulted in at least 92 deaths and an estimated $ 1.5 billion in arson-related property losses .
-These protests exposed major cleavages in the Thai body politic that continue to hamper the current government .
-The ABHISIT administration has announced a plan for a general election some time in 2011 ahead of its full term by the year-end .
-Since January 2004 , thousands have been killed as separatists in Thailand 's southern ethnic Malay-Muslim provinces increased the violence associated with their cause .
-This small , sub-Saharan economy suffers from anemic economic growth and depends heavily on both commercial and subsistence agriculture , which provides employment for 65 % of the labor force .
-Some basic foodstuffs must still be imported .
-Cocoa , coffee , and cotton generate about 40 % of export earnings with cotton being the most important cash crop .
-Togo is the world 's fourth-largest producer of phosphate .
-The government 's decade-long effort , supported by the World Bank and the IMF , to implement economic reform measures , encourage foreign investment , and bring revenues in line with expenditures has moved slowly .
-Progress depends on follow through on privatization , increased openness in government financial operations , progress toward legislative elections , and continued support from foreign donors .
-Togo is on track with its IMF Extended Credit Facility and reached a HIPC debt relief completion point in 2010 at which 95 % of the country 's debt was forgiven .
-Economic growth prospects remain marginal due to declining cotton production and underinvestment in phosphate mining .
-Latvia is a small , open economy with exports contributing significantly to its GDP .
-Due to its geographical location , transit services are highly-developed , along with timber and wood-processing , agriculture and food products , and manufacturing of machinery and electronic devices .
-The bulk of the country 's economic activity , however , is in the services sector .
-Corruption continues to be an impediment to attracting FDI flows and Latvia 's low birth rate and decreasing population are major challenges to its long-term economic vitality .
-Latvia 's economy experienced GDP growth of more than 10 % per year during 2006 - 7 , but entered a severe recession in 2008 as a result of an unsustainable current account deficit and large debt exposure amid the softening world economy .
-GDP plunged 18 % in 2009 - the three Baltic states had the world 's worst declines that year .
-Thanks to strong export growth in 2009 and 2010 , the economy experienced its first real quarterly GDP growth in over two years ( 2.9 % ) in the third quarter of 2010 .
-The IMF , EU , and other international donors provided substantial financial assistance to Latvia as part of an agreement to defend the currency 's peg to the euro .
-This agreement calls for reduction of Latvia 's fiscal deficit to below 3 % of GDP by 2012 , in order to meet the Maastricht Treaty criteria for euro adoption .
-DOMBROVSKIS ' government enacted major spending cuts to reduce the fiscal deficit to a maximum of 8.5 % of GDP in 2010 , and Latvia has approved a 2011 budget with a projected deficit of 5.4 % of GDP .
-The majority of companies , banks , and real estate have been privatized , although the state still holds sizable stakes in a few large enterprises .
-Latvia officially joined the World Trade Organization in February , 1999 .
-EU membership , a top foreign policy goal , came in May 2004 .
-Latvia 's current major financial policy goal , entrance into the euro zone , is targeted for 2014 .
-WHEN MAN first saw the Camel , he was so frightened at his vast size that he ran away .
-After a time , perceiving the meekness and gentleness of the beast 's temper , he summoned courage enough to approach him .
-Soon afterwards , observing that he was an animal altogether deficient in spirit , he assumed such boldness as to put a bridle in his mouth , and to let a child drive him .
-Use serves to overcome dread .
-A top Russian official says authorities have thwarted two separate attempted break-ins at Russian nuclear weapons installations .
-Colonel General Igor Valynkin , who heads the department responsible for nuclear weapons safety , says lone perpetrators tried to illegally enter the facilities in the western part of the country in 2002 and 2003 .
-The official told journalists in Moscow Wednesday that the biggest potential threat to Russia 's nuclear facilities is from Chechen terrorists .
-He says Russia is using U.S. and German funding to boost security at nuclear facilities .
-A new public opinions poll finds Japanese are strongly opposed to extending their country 's humanitarian mission to Iraq .
-The poll published by the Mainichi newspaper Monday showed three out of four Japanese ( 77 percent ) are against the extension while only 18 percent support it .
-The survey also found that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi 's approval rating has climbed to 56 percent , a gain of five points , since shortly before general elections last month .
-The gain came despite recent reports that the prime minister intends to extend Japan 's Iraqi mission .
-A new survey says companies in Russia and China are among the most likely to pay bribes to win business opportunities abroad .
-The report was released Tuesday by a Berlin-based anti-corruption organization , Transparency International .
-It ranks 22 of the most influential economies based on interviews with business executives from around the world .
-Russian firms were rated most likely to engage in bribery , followed by Mexico , China and India .
-Companies in Belgium and Canada were least likely to offer bribes .
-The United States was ranked near the middle of the list - tied with Singapore and France .
-The survey says companies looking for public works construction projects are most likely to try to gain influence with public officials .
-Real estate and oil and gas companies are the next most serious offenders .
-Transparency International says it hopes the list encourages governments and companies to increase anti-corruption measures .
-President Bush will meet Monday with the Iraq Study Group , a bipartisan panel named by congress to make recommendations about U.S. policy in Iraq .
-The Iraq Study Group is co-chaired by former secretary of state James Baker and former Democratic congressman Lee Hamilton .
-A White House spokesman said the group is not yet ready to present its final report to the president .
-The meeting follows statements from senior Democrats , whose party won control of Congress last week , who said their priority will be a change of course in Iraq .
-Senator Carl Levin called Sunday in a broadcast interview for a phased withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq , and party chairman Howard Dean said Americans have made it clear they do not want the U.S. to stay in Iraq forever .
-But Mr. Dean acknowledged his party will need to work with the president on Iraq .
-Two Chinese nationals have died after their van was involved in an accident with an Olympic bus on Wednesday in Beijing .
-The Olympic bus was carrying two Croatian rowers , their coach , and members of the Canadian and Australian delegations .
-The rowers suffered minor injuries .
-Two other passengers on the van were also injured .
-A spokesman for the Beijing Organizing Committee said the van was at fault in the accident .
-Both vehicles were going to the site of the Olympic rowing events .
-The Croatian rowers competed in their double skulls semifinal as scheduled but missed out on the finals with a fourth place finish .
-The Israeli government has decided to allow 8,000 Ethiopians who claim Jewish descent to enter the country .
-Israel 's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu , in remarks to his Cabinet Sunday , spoke of a " humanitarian crisis " and a " moral commitment " to help members of a group known as the Falash Mura .
-They are Ethiopians who say they were forced to convert to Christianity .
-Mr. Netanyahu said the Falash Mura will be brought to Israel in stages over the next three years .
-They will then need to convert before being granted Israeli citizenship .
-Some 1,00,000 Ethiopian Jews now live in Israel .
-They came to the country during the 1980s and 1990s under the Law of Return , which provides Israeli citizenship to all Jews .
-At least 27 wives of Israeli rabbis have signed a letter urging Jewish women to avoid dating Arab men , after dozens of rabbis signed a religious ruling that forbids renting homes to non-Jews .
-The letter warns Jewish women that they will suffer if they date Arab men .
-It also warns against working in places where Arabs are employed .
-It was distributed Tuesday by the Jewish group , Lehava .
-Earlier this month , dozens of Israeli rabbis signed the letter forbidding home rentals .
-In their appeal , the clerics said " different lifestyles from Jews " could endanger lives .
-The letter fueled charges of racism and was condemned by some lawmakers and human rights activists .
-The letters could raise tensions between Israel 's Jews and its Arab minority at a time when international efforts are underway to revive direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians .
-The U.S. government says oil production in the Gulf of Mexico was nearly 80 percent below normal as of Saturday , five days after Hurricane Katrina tore through the region .
-A report from the U.S. Minerals Management Service said Katrina had cut oil production in the Gulf by about 1.18 million barrels of oil per day .
-It said more than 280 offshore oil-drilling rigs and platforms remained evacuated .
-The figures represent a slight improvement from Friday , when oil production in the Gulf was nearly 90 percent below normal .
-Katrina 's disruption to Gulf-area oil production and refineries has caused a spike in U.S. gasoline prices , and an increase in crude oil prices on world markets .
-Nigeria 's main militant group says it has freed 19 Nigerian oil workers kidnapped by other gunmen nearly a month ago .
-The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta , or MEND , says in a statement that it released the hostages Sunday in Nigeria 's Rivers state .
-MEND said it rescued the hostages in mid-September , a few days after they were abducted by local pirates .
-The group said today it is still holding a Ukrainian and two British nationals captured with the other hostages .
-It says they can not be released because of " security concerns . "
-The oil-producing Niger Delta has been the scene of violent unrest during the last three years , much of it focused against the oil industry .
-Militants say they want impoverished local residents to get more of the region 's oil wealth .
-Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka say they have halted an offensive on a government-held town in the eastern part of the country , and are pulling back to their former positions .
-The fighting , in the eastern Muslim town of Muttur in Trincomalee province , was described as the worst since a cease-fire was agreed to more than four years ago .
-Thousands of civilians fled clashes between soldiers and the rebels .
-At least five people were killed by artillery fire as they tried to find a safe haven .
-Norwegian peace envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer met with Nordic cease-fire monitors Friday ahead of a meeting with government leaders .
-He plans to travel north to meet rebel leaders soon .
-German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has asked the Russian people to forgive the suffering Germany inflicted on them and others during World War II The German leader said no other country was required to pay as high a cost in the victory against Hitler 's Germany as the former Soviet Union .
-His comments came in an article in Sunday 's edition of the Russian newspaper .
-He noted the loss of more than 27 million lives and called the indescribable destruction in the former Soviet Union " frightening results of World War II " .
-Mr. Schroeder said the reconciliation between between Germany and its eastern neighbors , despite the horrors of world war and the later Cold War , is one of the miracles of European history .
-The article appeared on the eve of ceremonies in Moscow marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe .
-Police in Lebanon have arrested a man under investigation by a U.N. commission probing the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri .
-Officials in Beirut say Mahmoud Abdel-Al , a member of the pro-Syrian Al-Ahbash Sunni Muslim Orthodox group , was detained early Saturday based on an arrest warrant issued by Lebanese prosecutors .
-A U.N. investigative report issued earlier this week said the man telephoned pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud minutes before Mr. Hariri was killed .
-A spokesman for Mr. Lahoud has strongly denied the president had been in contact with Mr. Abdel-Al .
-Meanwhile , the son of Mr. Hariri , Saad Hariri , called for an international tribunal to punish those responsible for his father 's assassination .
-In Damascus , Syrian officials dismissed the credibility of the U.N. report , which named senior Syrian security officials and their Lebanese allies as suspects in Mr. Hariri 's death .
-Iraqi security officials say unidentified gunmen have shot and killed the imam of a Sunni mosque and three other people in Baghdad .
-Authorities say the attackers gunned down the Sunni cleric near his home in the western part of the city Wednesday .
-Investigators say his guards were also shot .
-North of Baghdad , gunmen killed an off-duty policeman and a civilian in central Mosul .
-A woman who was nearby was wounded in the attack .
-Also Wednesday , a roadside bomb wounded at least one person in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk .
-Pakistani police say a car bomb exploded in a parking lot of a bank in the northwestern city of Peshawar Saturday , wounding 12 people .
-Authorities say the blast broke windows in the military-owned Askari bank and damaged several nearby businesses and vehicles .
-Pakistan is a key ally of the United States in its campaign against terror .
-In recent years , Peshawar and many other parts of the Islamic nation have been hit by scores of bomb attacks , most blamed on outlawed militant groups .
-Bombings have also been frequent since an army operation in July that evicted militants from the radical Red Mosque in Islamabad .
-Taiwan has unveiled two new surveillance aircraft purchased from the United States , designed to reinforce its defenses against rival China .
-Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian showed off the new E2-K planes during a public ceremony Saturday at an air force base in the island 's southern Pingtung region .
-Officials say the new planes will expand the range of surveillance radar and can also guide fighter planes to intercept incoming aircraft .
-The new planes are part of effort by President Chen to balance Taiwan 's military strength with China 's .
-But opposition lawmakers argue he is entering the island in an expensive arms race it can not win .
-Taiwan split from China amid a civil war in 1949 .
-China considers the island part of its territory .
-An Arabic-language television channel has broadcast a video of Pakistan 's ambassador to Afghanistan , in which he says he has been kidnapped by Taliban militants .
-The video of Tariq Azizuddin aired Saturday on Al-Arabiya television .
-Azizuddin was surrounded by armed gunmen as he made his first public comments since disappearing in February .
-He said he and his driver and bodyguard are being held in comfortable conditions , although he said he suffers from high blood pressure and heart pain .
-He said the three were kidnapped while driving through Pakistan 's Khyber tribal district on the way to the Afghan capital , Kabul .
-Azizuddin urged the Pakistani government and Pakistan 's envoys in China and Iran to comply with the demands of his captors .
-The ambassador did not say what those demands were .
-Britain 's Home Secretary Charles Clarke has expressed confidence in the way London 's police commissioner and the police force have handled the controversy over the killing of an innocent man they wrongly suspected of being a terrorist .
-Mr. Clarke told British Radio he is very happy with the way Commissioner Ian Blair and the police force are handling the inquiry into the July 22 incident in which officers mistakenly shot and killed Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes .
-He urged people not to pass judgment on the officers until an independent commission concludes its investigation .
-Earlier , police confirmed they had reviewed their policy of using deadly force against suspected terrorists , but said they are making only minor adjustments .
-Friday , a spokesman for the family of Mr. de Menezes accused Commissioner Blair of trying to stop an official probe into the shooting and again called for his resignation .
-Bangladesh fire officials say a five-story building has collapsed in the capital of Dhaka , killing at least 20 people .
-Authorities said the building toppled late Tuesday , flattening surrounding homes .
-At least 25 people were injured when the building fell .
-Police say it was poorly constructed .
-Rescue teams are continuing to search the rubble for bodies and survivors .
-Officials fear the death count could rise as several people are reported missing .
-Officials say many of the victims were sleeping in the surrounding homes -- poorly constructed shanties with tin roofs -- when the building collapsed .
-Jackson Browne has become the newest inductee in the Songwriters Hall Of Fame .
-The 58-year-old singer / songwriter - who three years ago earned a slot in the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame - joins Don Black , Michael Masser , Irving Burgie , Bobby Weinstein , and Teddy Randazzo in the Class of 2007 .
-Previous inductees include Bob Dylan , Elton John , and Paul Simon .
-Selected by a nominating committee , eligible songwriters need to have been active for 20 years , and to have compiled an extensive catalog of hits .
-This year 's induction ceremony takes place June 7 in New York City .
-Pakistani officials say armed tribesmen have killed more than 40 foreign militants in the latest fighting along Pakistan 's western border with Afghanistan .
-The officials say many Uzbeks were among those killed or captured Wednesday in Pakistan 's South Waziristan region .
-Local residents say more than 1,000 heavily-armed tribesmen have joined the offensive against the foreign fighters .
-They say tribal elders called the men to battle Tuesday by beating traditional war drums in the main town of Wana .
-Fighting between Pakistani tribesmen and foreign fighters erupted last month after militants tried to kill a pro-government tribal leader .
-The tribesmen had previously given refuge to the foreign militants , many of whom fled a U.S.-led offensive in Afghanistan in 2001 .
-Pakistan 's government says the new tribal offensive vindicates its strategy of relying on tribesmen to combat foreign militants , rather than the army .
-An Israeli newspaper says Prime Minister Ariel Sharon 's health problems were far more serious than his doctors publicly acknowledged after he suffered a first stroke last month Doctors treating Mr. Sharon after the December 18 stroke said he had a small hole in his heart since birth .
-He was scheduled to undergo a surgical procedure this month to repair the defect but suffered a massive second stroke the day before .
-The Haaretz newspaper says its own investigation revealed that Mr. Sharon also suffered from a large aneurysm in the septum - a condition known to be a source of cerebral blood clots .
-The report says he also suffered from other heart ailments .
-The 77-year-old Israeli leader remains comatose in a Jerusalem hospital since suffering a massive brain hemorrhage on January 4 .
-A U.S. Congressman is calling for a review of U.S. policy toward Cuban refugees after 15 Cubans were repatriated Monday .
-Lincoln Diaz-Balart , a Republican House member from Florida , says he is asking the White House to review the United States ' " wet foot , dry foot " policy toward illegal Cuban immigrants .
-The policy allows Cuban refugees who reach U.S. soil to stay in the United States , but those intercepted at sea are sent back home .
-Diaz-Balart told the Miami Herald newspaper that the policy should be eliminated .
-And if not that , he said , every Cuban migrant picked up at sea should at least have legal representation .
-Monday , the Coast Guard repatriated 15 Cubans found standing on an old bridge piling between islands of the Florida Keys .
-The government ruled the bridge , which is no longer in use , did not count as dry land .
-The NATO-led force in Afghanistan says it has killed about 200 Taleban fighters in the first two days of a major military operation in southern Afghanistan .
-Canada confirms that four of its soldiers in the NATO-led force have been killed in the operation , dubbed Medusa , which started early Saturday .
-Its aim is to flush out insurgents from the Panjwayi district of Kandahar province .
-The NATO-led force says Afghan police captured more than 80 suspected Taleban fighters and a further 180 were seen fleeing the area .
-A British reconnaissance plane that was flying in support of the operation crashed Saturday , killing all 14 British military personnel on board .
-British officials say the crash was due to a technical problem , not enemy fire .
-Russia and Venezuela have signed two energy cooperation pacts that promote closer ties between Russia 's state-run natural gas monopoly , Gazprom , and Venezuela 's state oil firm ( PDVSA ) .
-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his Venezuelan counterpart , Hugo Chavez , attended the signing ceremony Friday in the Russian city of Orenburg .
-Russian energy officials recently announced they will expand their investment in Venezuela 's oil industry .
-Russia also says it will lend Venezuela $ 1 billion to buy military hardware .
-President Chavez is a harsh critic of the United States .
-His visit to Russia comes as relations between Moscow and Washington have soured in the wake of last month 's conflict between Russia and U.S. ally Georgia .
-The Venezuelan leader was scheduled to hold talks with French leaders Friday as part of a trip that has so far taken him to Cuba , China and Russia .
-The U.S. Army has dropped all criminal charges against an officer in connection with the beating deaths of two detainees in Afghanistan in 2002 .
-An investigating officer has cleared Captain Christopher Beiring of dereliction of duty and making FALSE statements .
-Captain Beiring commanded a reserve military police unit stationed at a U.S. detention center in Bagram where the prisoners died .
-He says his unit did not receive enough training from the Army to properly handle the detainees .
-The investigating officer now says Captain Beiring was " sorely challenged at every step " but did the best job he could .
-Fourteen servicemen , including military interrogators , have been charged in the case .
-Captain Beiring was the only officer facing charges .
-Three members of his unit and some interrogators have either been convicted or pleaded guilty to abuse , assault or other charges .
-The International Olympic Committee has voted to eliminate baseball and softball from the 2012 Summer Games in London .
-The sports were the only two of 28 that failed to win a majority of votes in a ballot of members at an IOC meeting Friday in Singapore .
-The last time a sport was eliminated from the Olympics was in 1936 , when water polo was removed .
-The committee will now consider replacing baseball and softball with two sports from a waiting list .
-Up for consideration are karate , golf , squash , rugby and roller sports .
-Meanwhile , the IOC announced that equestrian events for the 2008 Beijing Games will be held in Hong Kong .
-Organizers in Beijing had pushed for the move , saying a number of equine diseases are prevalent in the Chinese capital .
-Insurgents in Iraq Tuesday released a video tape that shows a U.S. citizen held hostage and saying his life is in danger .
-On the video , a man identifying himself as Roy Hallams said he is not seeking help from President Bush , but wants Arab leaders , especially Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi , to help secure his release .
-The U.S. Embassy in Iraq said it had no immediate information on the man or the authenticity of the video .
-Meanwhile , eight Chinese laborers who were held hostage by militants in Iraq for five days last week are on their way home .
-The group flew out of Baghdad earlier Tuesday , accompanied by several Chinese diplomats .
-Insurgents said they released the men after Beijing promised to discourage its citizens from traveling to Iraq .
-Diamonds , and the women who wear them , have inspired generations of jewelers and fashion houses .
-And that is the theme of a new exhibition called Diamond Divas at the Antwerp World Diamond Center in Belgium .
-Some 80 percent of the world 's rough diamonds are bought and sold in Antwerp .
-The exhibition pulls together 76 pieces of diamond jewelry worn by the rich and famous , royalty and Hollywood stars .
-Nina-Maria Potts reports .
-Former U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry has called on the Bush administration to follow suggestions made by the Iraq Study Group on the best way to move forward in Iraq .
-In the Democrats ' weekly radio address Saturday , Perry said the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq failed to get support from Iraq 's regional neighbors and should not have disbanded the Iraqi army - leaving hundreds of thousands of young , armed men with nothing to do .
-Perry was defense secretary under former President Bill Clinton .
-He echoed the Iraq Study Group 's call for a change in mission .
-He said the United States should free up and re-set its ground forces , accelerate the training of the Iraqi army and police force , and set a goal of having all rapid-reaction forces out of Iraq by 2008 .
-The Iraq Study Group is a bipartisan panel commissioned by President Bush .
-It released its findings earlier this month .
-The lion dance is one of China 's most distinctive cultural arts and dates back thousands of years .
-It is performed throughout the year at important occasions and is believed to bring happiness , longevity and good luck .
-As Chinese people emigrated around the world , they carried their traditions with them .
-VOA 's Susy Tekunan recently visited a martial arts school in Washington where the lion dance is an important part of the curriculum .
-Jim Bertel narrates .
-Iraq 's parliament has extended a state of emergency in the country for a month , giving security forces greater powers to subdue violence .
-Parliament approved the extension Tuesday while meeting for the first time after a recess lasting several months .
-The vote came as Iraq 's president said Iraqi forces will be ready to take over the country 's security by the end of next year and predicted that British troops will be able to leave Iraq at that time .
-Jalal Talabani spoke after meeting in Baghdad Tuesday with British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett .
-And the U.S. military said three U.S. service members were killed Monday in Iraq 's troubled western province of Al Anbar .
-Their deaths bring to at least 10 the number of coalition troops killed in recent days .
-The French parliament has approved an anti-terrorism law that includes increasing the use of video surveillance .
-The new law permits increased video surveillance at mosques , department stores , subways and airports .
-It also extends the detention period for terrorism suspects from four to up to six days .
-Civil rights groups and other critics of the measure say it will erode basic civil liberties .
-France has been on high alert since July , when Islamist suicide bombers killed more than 50 people in attacks on the London transport system .
-American actors Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are donating $ 2 million to a wildlife sanctuary in Namibia , where they spent Christmas with their children .
-The donation to the Naankuse Lodge and Wildlife Sanctuary was made through the couple 's Jolie-Pitt foundation in the name of their daughter , Shiloh , who was born in Namibia .
-In a statement , Jolie said the couple wants their daughter to be " very involved " and to grow up with an understanding of the country of her birth .
-Jolie said the owners of the sanctuary are old friends , who have impressed her with their " hard work and dedication " to the conservation of Namibia 's land and wildlife .
-Jolie and Pitt spent the Christmas holiday with their six children at the lodge , which looks after injured animals , including baboons and leopards .
-In Israel , a key Labor Party lawmaker has said she will defect from the left-wing party to join Prime Minister Ariel Sharon 's new centrist party .
-Tuesday 's announcement from Dalia Itzik has further fueled speculation that her close Labor ally , Shimon Peres , will also join forces with Prime Minister Sharon 's new Kadima party .
-Mr. Peres is expected to announce his decision on Wednesday .
-Mr. Peres recently lost his party leadership post to Amir Peretz .
-Mr. Peretz withdrew Labor from Mr. Sharon 's Likud-led coalition , forcing early elections scheduled for March .
-Mr. Sharon quit Likud last week because he faced a revolt from right-wing deputies who opposed his decision to withdraw Israel from the Gaza Strip .
-Mr. Peres supported Mr. Sharon 's disengagement plan .
-The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization says climate change may hurt food production in tropical areas .
-FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf told an audience in India Tuesday that crop yields will probably fall in the seasonally dry tropics as global average temperatures rise .
-He said agriculture dependent on rain in semi-arid regions is particularly at risk .
-He also said India might lose nearly one-fifth of its rain-fed cereal production .
-Diouf said small temperature increases of one to three degrees Celsius could boost crop yields in most industrialized countries , which mostly have colder climates , but that higher temperatures would hurt food production at lower altitudes .
-Diouf called for a concentrated scientific effort to help adapt crops to the likely future conditions .
-As an example , he cited genetically modifying crops to be more tolerant of drought , extreme temperatures , soil acidity and salinity .
-Top-ranked Roger Federer of Switzerland and second-ranked Andy Roddick of the United States will meet in the final of the Kooyong Classic exhibition tennis tournament in Melbourne .
-It could be a possible preview of the Australian Open title match .
-The year 's first grand slam event begins Monday , also in Melbourne .
-Federer advanced in this round-robin event by beating Tim Henman of Britain , 06-Apr , 06-Feb , in 61 minutes on Friday .
-Roddick had advanced to the final on Thursday after compatriot Andre Agassi retired from their match in the first set with an injured hip .
-Agassi plans to make an unscheduled appearance against Britain 's Tim Henman following the Federer-Roddick final Saturday .
-Agassi wants to test the hip to see if he 'll be fit for next week 's Australian Open , an event he 's won four times .
-President Bush is to discuss the situation in Iraq Wednesday , during a speech to National Guard troops in the western state of Idaho .
-Mr. Bush is expected to talk about efforts to combat the insurgency , and progress being made on the drafting of a new Iraqi constitution .
-He will also meet with relatives of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan .
-On Tuesday , Mr. Bush again rejected calls for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq , and said that doing so is " advocating a policy that would weaken the United States . "
-He made the comment in response to a reporter 's question about Cindy Sheehan , the woman who lost a son in Iraq and led a protest near the president 's Texas ranch demanding to see him .
-Israeli troops have killed three suspected Palestinian militants in the West Bank .
-Witnesses say Israeli forces entered the town of Nablus Thursday and opened fire on a building where militants were believed to be hiding .
-Israel says its troops were searching for wanted militants , and shot the three men as they tried to flee .
-Hours later , militants in the Gaza Strip fired a rocket into an Israeli military base , injuring five soldiers .
-Israeli military officials say troops responded with artillery fire at fields used by militants to launch rockets at Israel .
-Palestinian medical officials say a Palestinian man was killed in the strike .
-Separately , an Israeli court Thursday sentenced an Israeli woman to three years in prison after she pleaded guilty to collaborating with Palestinian militants .
-Venezuela 's vice president has defended North Korea 's nuclear missile tests , saying he sees a double standard in the West 's condemnation of the move .
-Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel told reporters Thursday that North Korea is exercising the right of any country to conduct such tests .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez , known for his criticism of Washington , had said that he may visit Pyongyang on his next Asian tour .
-North Korea this week launched seven missiles , including a long-range Taepodong-2 believed to be able to reach the United States .
-The tests have prompted condemnation from countries worldwide , including the U.S. , Russia , Australia , Japan , South Korea and China .
-British scientists say an underground volcano that erupted more than 2,000 years ago may be partly responsible for Antarctica 's receding ice sheet .
-The scientists , writing Sunday in the journal Nature Geoscience , say the hidden volcano is still active , and its persistent heat may be contributing to a nearby glacier 's rapid melting .
-The British team says the volcano erupted about 23 centuries ago , roughly in the year 325 B.C. , blowing a hole through hundreds of meters of ice and spewing a 12-kilometer-high plume of ash and steam .
-Radar images of volcanic debris trapped beneath the Antarctic ice sheet helped the scientists locate the volcano in Antarctica 's Hudson Mountains and date the eruption .
-Despite their discoveries , the British Antarctic experts say global warming and rising sea temperatures are still the biggest cause of the southern continent 's accelerating ice melt .
-President Bush is scheduled to make another visit to the U.S. Gulf Coast region Tuesday to get an update on recovery efforts following Hurricane Katrina .
-Mr. Bush is to meet business and community leaders in storm hit Gulfport , Mississippi before traveling to New Orleans , Louisiana .
-There , he is to visit a business trying to recover from Katrina and get an on-the-ground briefing about Tropical Storm Rita .
-Forecasters are warning this latest storm could move into the Gulf of Mexico and possibly hit New Orleans later this week .
-Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco has urged residents in the state 's coastal regions to prepare for evacuation .
-And New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has suspended the scheduled return of New Orleans citizens .
-Later this week , President Bush is expected to visit several cities in Texas , Arkansas and Alabama that have taken in people left homeless by Katrina .
-Chinese officials say a chemical factory has illegally discharged waste water into a river in southern China , affecting the drinking supply of about 40,000 people .
-The official Xinhua news agency says an eight kilometer stretch of the Sancha River in Guangdong province has been tainted by the chemical discharge .
-It did not specify the type of chemical , but said large quantities of dead fish and poisoned livestock have been reported .
-Xinhua said the local government has ordered waterworks companies and residents to avoid using the river for its water supply , particularly in the town of Changqi .
-The name of the chemical company responsible for the spill was not available .
-Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has rejected a European Union request that his country move towards recognizing Cyprus before next week 's EU summit .
-Turkish officials announced the development in Brussels following talks Friday between the Prime Minister and EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso .
-The two leaders spoke one week before a scheduled EU summit , at which European leaders are expected to approve membership negotiations with Turkey and to set a date for the talks .
-EU officials say that Turkey should recognize Cyprus , an EU member state .
-Ankara currently has diplomatic ties only with the Turkish-dominated part of the divided island .
-Also , Friday , Turkey again expressed concern at reports that the European Union wants to toughen entry requirements for Ankara , in the face of resistance of some states to Turkish EU membership .
-Jubilant Palestinians and militant factions celebrating the Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip are gathering in an abandoned Jewish settlement for a mass rally .
-Palestinian factions were expected , at least temporarily , to set aside their internal rivalries and join in a unified show of support at Neve Dekalim for the Palestinian Authority and its president , Mahmoud Abbas .
-However , leaders of three main militant factions -- Hamas , Islamic Jihad and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine -- warned Wednesday they will not submit to government plans to disarm their groups .
-In other developments , the Palestinian Authority says it will close its side of the Gaza-Egyptian border this evening , to stop surging crowds of Palestinians from crossing into Egypt .
-Egypt says it will seal its side as well , after clearing Gaza revelers from Egyptian territory .
-Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah says partial election results show blatant evidence of " state-engineered " vote fraud , such as polling districts in which every vote was cast for President Hamid Karzai .
-Mr. Abdullah Saturday urged the international community to intervene , saying that if Afghanistan 's next leader is chosen through a fraudulent vote , it could fuel instability in the country .
-Afghanistan 's election commission says it stands by the partial results it has released on its Web site .
-Officials postponed the release of the next round of election results , which were due Saturday .
-It is not clear if they made that decision based on a request from Mr. Abdullah .
-The most recent figures , based on returns from 60 percent of the country 's polling stations show Mr. Karzai leading Mr. Abdullah with about 47 percent of the vote .
-Candidates need at least 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff .
-Britain 's former Northern Ireland Secretary , Mo Mowlam , who helped secure the province 's 1998 Good Friday peace accord , has died at the age of 55 .
-A family spokesman says Ms. Mowlam died Friday morning at a hospice south of London in Canterbury .
-Friends say radiotherapy treatments Ms. Mowlam underwent for a brain tumor had affected her balance .
-She recently fell , hit her head and never regained consciousness .
-Ms. Mowlam , known for her lively and direct style , was elected to parliament in 1987 and became Northern Ireland Secretary in 1997 .
-She withdrew from politics in 2001 .
-Both British Prime Minister Blair and his Irish counterpart Bertie Ahern paid tribute to Ms. Mowlam for her energetic efforts on behalf of peace in Northern Ireland .
-The Good Friday peace accord halted decades of sectarian violence in the British province .
-Israel 's ruling Likud party is urging a parliamentary referendum on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon 's controversial pullout plan from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank .
-Likud 's Central Committee voted overwhelmingly Thursday to call for a non-binding referendum on the disengagement plan .
-Party members who are against the withdrawal say they will join forces with far-right legislators later this month when the state budget comes up for a vote .
-Failure to pass the budget would force snap elections and shelve the Gaza plan .
-Thursday 's vote follows a meeting Wednesday between Vice Prime Minister and Labor Party leader Shimon Peres and Palestinian Cabinet Minister Mohammed Dahlan .
-Mr. Peres said one of the topics he discussed was a possible handover of businesses held by Jewish settlers in Gaza to Palestinians , when Israel pulls out of the territory .
-U.S. Marines in Iraq say two leaders of a militant group linked to wanted terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi have been arrested .
-The U.S. military , which announced the arrests Saturday , said Marines had captured the two cell leaders during raids in the city of Ramadi earlier this month .
-The two men are accused of executing 11 Iraqi National Guardsmen , as well as planting bombs and smuggling foreign militants into Iraq .
-The arrests came as rescue workers in Baghdad uncovered seven more bodies from the rubble of a Christmas Eve suicide bombing in the city 's upscale Mansour district .
-The attack left nine dead .
-Meanwhile , police in Najaf say at least three civilians were killed in a car bomb attack .
-Iraqi officials say bombs in Baghdad have wounded 15 people .
-Authorities say a roadside bomb in central Baghdad 's Allawi district wounded six .
-Another roadside bomb wounded four people in the Iraqi capital 's western Iskan district .
-Officials say a third bomb wounded three people in the southwestern Jihad district , and a fourth in western Baghdad 's Harithiya district wounded two .
-The violence comes just two days after Iraqi police said masked gunmen killed 14 people during a brazen daytime robbery at jewelry stores in the capital .
-The head of Iran 's civil aviation authority says 29 people were killed and several others injured in a plane crash in the northeastern city of Mashhad .
-Speaking to Iranian state television , Nourollah Rezai Niaraki rejected earlier reports that as many 80 people died in the crash Friday .
-He said the plane carrying 148 passengers skidded off the runway during landing and crashed , sparking a fire .
-Television reports showed fire crews dousing the plane , as smoke rose from a hole in the center of the fuselage .
-The Russian-made Tupolev airliner from Iran Airtour was arriving in Mashhad from the southern city of Bandar Abbas .
-The incident is the latest crash involving Iran 's aging fleet of aircraft .
-A military jet went down in January , killing 11 people .
-And a cargo plane crashed into a Tehran building in December , killing 115 people .
-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in the Middle East to urge that Israeli and Palestinian leaders work together on Israel 's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip .
-Ms. Rice arrived in Israel Thursday , following an upsurge in Israeli-Palestinian violence .
-She said both sides must resist efforts by terrorists to destroy what she called the " moment of hope " brought about by the Gaza withdrawal .
-Ahead of her arrival , Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel is considering speeding up its Gaza Strip withdrawal plan , to avoid further protests by opponents of the pullout .
-On the Palestinian side , Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia said Palestinians will celebrate " every single meter " of land abandoned by Israel .
-But Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stressed that he plans to keep large settlement blocs in the West Bank under Israeli control .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says he is close to arranging an initial meeting with Colombian rebels for talks on releasing scores of hostages .
-Chavez says his efforts to mediate an exchange of hostages held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia , or FARC , are going well and said he expects a meeting to take place in coming days .
-Chavez made the comments Friday after meeting in Ballenas with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe .
-The Venezuelan leader has offered to meet with representatives of the FARC to discuss a proposed swap of some 45 hostages in rebel custody .
-They include soldiers , police officers , French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and three Americans .
-Last month , Colombia rejected an initial request by Venezuela to create a demilitarized zone for the meeting .
-Colombia has one of the world 's highest kidnapping rates .
-The death toll from southern Asia 's tsunami rose to around 1,70,000 Monday as Sri Lanka added more than 7,000 victims to its tally .
-The December 26 tsunami and underwater earthquake left 38,000 people dead on the island nation - the second highest casualty rate after Indonesia , where nearly 1,15,000 are confirmed dead .
-Meanwhile , Indonesian and United Nations officials say they have no information regarding a possible terrorist attack on foreign aid workers in Indonesia 's devastated Aceh province .
-Denmark 's Foreign Ministry Monday said " imminent " terrorist attacks were planned on relief workers in the region , but gave no details .
-Muslim separatists in Indonesia 's Aceh region have been fighting for independence for more than three decades .
-They agreed to a temporary ceasefire shortly after the tsunami disaster .
-A closely-watched measure of future U.S. economic activity rose in November after five months of declining readings .
-The index of leading economic indicators was up two tenths of a percent ( at a reading of 115.2 ) .
-The index is assembled by a business research group called the Conference Board in New York .
-These experts examine factors like manufacturing , interest rates , consumer expectations , and stock prices that are thought to give hints about economic performance three to six months in the future .
-German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder Monday repeated his call to end the European Union 's ban on arms sales to China .
-As Mr. Schroeder visited Beijing , Chinese officials signed agreements to buy $ 1.3 billion worth of Airbus jetliners and hundreds of millions of dollars worth of other German-made goods , including locomotives .
-Mr. Schroeder met Monday with Prime Minister Wen Jiabao .
-The German chancellor opposes the European Union 's ban on weapons sales to China , imposed after the bloody 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing .
-His stand has been criticized by opponents in Germany , and the European Parliament renewed the sanctions last month .
-Mr. Schroeder travels to Tokyo Wednesday for talks with top Japanese officials .
-High-powered U.S. lobbyist Jack Abramoff has pleaded guilty to fraud and tax evasion charges , clearing the way for him to cooperate with a federal corruption probe that could implicate several top members of Congress .
-Abramoff is implicated in two separate investigations .
-He is accused of defrauding two lenders in Florida in a deal to buy a cruise line , and he is being investigated in Washington for offering trips and other gifts to lawmakers , including former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay .
-As part of his plea-bargain , he is expected to cooperate with federal investigators , meaning he could provide names of U.S. congressmen with whom he had illegal dealings .
-The Associated Press reports the federal probe is focusing on as many as 20 lawmakers and aides .
-A number of lawmakers have tried to cut ties with Abramoff in recent weeks by returning his campaign contributions .
-Five Americans who were detained and deported by China earlier this week for holding a pro-Tibetan independence demonstration on the base of Mount Everest say they feared for their lives while in Chinese custody .
-The five , including a Tibetan-American , arrived Friday in Nepal 's capital , Kathmandu .
-The activists told reporters there Saturday they were psychologically intimidated while in custody .
-Chinese authorities have not responded to the comments .
-The activists were detained Wednesday after unfurling banners at Mount Everest , calling for Tibetan independence and criticizing the 2008 Beijing Olympics .
-Beijing officials want to take the Olympic torch up Mount Everest , the world 's tallest mountain , which has one side in Tibet .
-Chinese troops occupied Tibet in the 1950s .
-Beijing continues to rule the region with a heavy hand .
-A former minister in Iraq 's interim government says he is in talks with two Sunni insurgent groups , who are prepared to discuss ending their armed resistance to the U.S.-backed Iraqi government .
-Ayham al-Sammarei tells VOA that he has been meeting with representatives from the Islamic Army in Iraq and the Mujaheddin Army , and trying to find a way for them to enter negotiations with the government .
-He drew a distinction between these insurgent groups , which he said do not kill innocent people , and organizations like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi 's al-Qaeda in Iraq .
-Mr. al-Sammarei says the insurgent groups willing to consider negotiations want to defend themselves and want foreign forces to leave Iraq .
-The insurgency in Iraq is believed to be made up largely of the country 's Sunni Arab minority .
-Radical Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr says his recent call for " open war " is only against U.S. forces , not the Iraqi government .
-In a statement Friday , Sadr urged his Mahdi Army militia to stop the bloodshed against fellow Iraqis .
-Militias loyal to Sadr have been battling coalition and Iraqi forces in Baghdad 's Sadr City district since late March .
-More than 300 people have been killed in those clashes .
-Meanwhile , the U.N. secretary-general 's special representative for children and armed conflict concluded a five-day visit to Iraq Friday .
-She told reporters the trip convinced her that Iraq 's children are silent victims of the ongoing violence .
-Radhika Coomaraswamy also noted that Iraqi children are being recruited as suicide bombers by various militias and insurgent groups in Iraq .
-Earlier Friday , the U.S. military said it detained more than 12 suspected terrorists , during operations targeting al-Qaida in Iraq forces .
-Family and friends of international aid worker Margaret Hassan held a memorial service at London 's Westminster Cathedral Saturday .
-The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster , Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor , presided over the funeral mass .
-Unknown militants kidnapped Mrs. Hassan , the director of the Baghdad office of Care International , in October .
-A video released to the Arabic news channel Al-Jazeera in November showed the murder of a western woman , believed to be Mrs. Hassan .
-Her body has never been recovered .
-But family members and British officials say they believe she is dead .
-Mrs. Hassan was born in Ireland , but lived in Iraq for 30 years and was married to an Iraqi .
-Authorities in Haiti have rescued two American children and a Haitian foster child who were kidnapped in Port-au-Prince late last week .
-Police said the alleged kidnappers , dressed as policemen , snatched the children from their mother after she picked them up at school Friday .
-The children were rescued the next day during a police raid on an apartment in the Delmas area of the capital city .
-Authorities said they arrested seven suspects , including a former police officer .
-The children 's parents , Christian missionaries from the U.S. state of Oklahoma , said while the children were missing they received a phone call asking for $ 3,50,000 in ransom .
-The kidnappings were the latest in a string of such incidents .
-Earlier this month , a U.S. grand jury indicted two Haitian men on charges of kidnapping a nine-year-old American girl in Port-au-Prince .
-She was rescued after a week in captivity .
-Lebanon 's government has banned public demonstrations on the eve of an opposition rally building on the public outcry over the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri .
-Opposition leaders say they will ignore the ban and hold a peaceful sit-in Monday .
-The opposition called the protest and a one-day strike to coincide with a special session of parliament that is to consider a no-confidence motion against the Beirut government .
-Lebanon 's opposition blames the government and its backer Syria for the car bombing that killed Mr. Hariri and 14 others two weeks ago .
-Both Damascus and Beirut have denied involvement .
-Meanwhile , top U.S. envoy David Satterfield is in Beirut to press U.S. demands that Syria withdraw all of its estimated 14,000 troops in Lebanon .
-The U.S. space agency , NASA , has marked the 20th anniversary of the Challengerspace shuttle tragedy that killed seven astronauts .
-The ceremony was held Saturday at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral , Florida , where the Challenger was launched January 28 , 1986 .
-The widow of the shuttle 's commander joined a top NASA official in laying a wreath at a memorial that bears the names of the seven astronauts and other fallen space explorers .
-The Challenger exploded 73 seconds after taking off under clear blue skies in near freezing temperatures .
-Those on board included Christa McAuliffe , who was to be the first school teacher in space .
-The explosion , which was seen on live television and before an audience that included school children , was blamed on a failure of a seal in the shuttle 's solid rocket booster due to the cold weather .
-The World Trade Organization has authorized seven countries to levy multi-million dollar sanctions on U.S. imports .
-A spokesman in Geneva Friday said the European Union , India , Japan , South Korea , Brazil , Mexico and Canada can begin imposing tariffs in 2005 .
-The sanctions are in response to a U.S. law known as the Byrd Amendment that the WTO ruled illegal in August .
-The law levies fines on products exported to the United States below market prices , and then , turns around and gives the money to the injured U.S. companies .
-The European Union says it hopes Washington will comply with WTO guidelines soon to avoid making use of the authorized sanctions .
-A U.S. official on Wednesday said the Bush Administration was working with Congress to make the law meet WTO criteria .
-German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called on the kidnappers of a German woman taken hostage in Iraq to release her immediately .
-Ms. Merkel told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper the government is doing all it can to rescue Susanne Osthoff and her Iraqi driver , who disappeared nine days ago , on November 25 .
-The kidnappers said they would kill the woman if Germany does not end all support for the Iraqi government .
-The magazines Der Spiegel and Focus reported that the ultimatum expired in the early hours of Friday .
-German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Saturday that Germany had not been able to establish contact with the kidnappers .
-Turkish authorities said they detained a man in Istanbul last week on suspicion of plotting to kill visiting U.S. President Barack Obama .
-A Turkish official said Tuesday the man was deemed mentally disturbed and released shortly after he was taken into custody .
-The arrest occurred Friday , two days before Mr. Obama even arrived in Turkey .
-U.S. Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said Mr. Obama was never in any immediate danger .
-He added that the president 's security team is following up with Turkish authorities about the case , as is standard practice .
-The White House does not comment about threats or the president 's security .
-A Saudi newspaper , al-Watan , has reported details that have not been confirmed by officials .
-It said a man of Syrian origin confessed to plotting to stab Mr. Obama .
-The newspaper said the man was carrying an Al-Jazeera identity card .
-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the United States has made mistakes in Iraq , but it was not a mistake to oust Saddam Hussein or to push for democracy in the Middle East .
-In an interview Saturday with the British Broadcasting Company , Rice said " the birth of democracy is sometimes difficult . "
-Earlier she and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw conferred with Muslim community leaders in Straw 's home city of Blackburn .
-Rice also visited the nearby city of Liverpool .
-The U.S. top diplomat is in Britain for two days at Straw 's invitation following his visit to Rice 's hometown last year .
-Hundreds of anti-war protesters have followed Rice throughout her stay .
-U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan say air strikes have killed at least 12 militants allegedly involved in sneaking foreign fighters from Pakistan into Afghanistan .
-The coalition said in a statement Tuesday the overnight strikes hit a pair of bunkers in eastern Khost province .
-The operation targeted insurgents linked to Taliban militant leader Siraj Haqqani , who is accused of carrying out many attacks in Afghanistan .
-The exact number of militant casualties is still not clear .
-Meanwhile , at a main border checkpoint in eastern Afghanistan , officials say a male suicide bomber disguised himself as a woman and attacked the Torkham crossing .
-Authorities say the burqa-clad bomber blew himself up at the women 's crossing point , killing a police officer and a child .
-They say the bombing also wounded at least 10 people .
-Torkham is one of the main border crossings between Pakistan and Afghanistan .
-Japan and the United States have signed an agreement to encourage cooperation on developing a missile defense system .
-Japanese Defense Minister Yoshinori Ono signed a memorandum of understanding Friday in Tokyo with U.S. Ambassador to Japan Howard Baker .
-Under the agreement , Japan and the United States will exchange information on research , deployment and operations of a missile shield .
-The agreement comes one week after Japan adopted new defense policy guidelines that would allow the joint development of a missile defense system with the United States .
-The five-year defense outline allows the sale of missile defense components to the United States for production of a missile shield .
-Japan says other arms export cases will be considered on a case-by-case basis .
-Ethiopians vote Sunday in a second round of elections for local government positions , despite an opposition boycott and criticism from a prominent international human rights group .
-The first round of voting was last Sunday .
-Opposition leaders claim that most of their candidates were disqualified from running or intimidated into dropping out .
-The ruling EPRDF party has denied those allegations , saying the electoral board registered every candidate who had the proper credentials .
-The rights group Human Rights Watch agrees with the opposition 's view , calling the elections " a rubber stamp " for the ruling party 's domination of power .
-Approximately four million seats in parliament , city councils and neighborhood councils are at stake in the elections .
-Ethiopia has 26 million registered voters .
-The leader of the Church of England says the British Broadcasting Corporation should air an appeal for humanitarian aid for civilians in the Gaza Strip .
-The Archbishop of Canterbury , Rowan Williams , Sunday made his comments as more than 50 British lawmakers announced a petition urging the BBC to run the appeal .
-The UK 's national broadcaster says it rejected the appeal because it did not want to harm its image as an impartial news source .
-The BBC also questioned whether the aid will reach those who need it .
-The organization seeking to advertise its appeal , the Disasters Emergency Committee , is a grouping of 13 aid agencies that aid people in crisis .
-The group says it is not political , and that it is seeking funds to help innocent people affected by the conflict in Gaza .
-Authorities in France say they have arrested 13 Turkish Kurds on suspicion of helping to finance terrorism .
-Police say the Kurds are suspected of involvement in a money laundering network that funds the militant Kurdistan Workers Party , also known by the initials PKK .
-Turkey , the United States and the European Union classify the PKK as a terrorist organization .
-Police say Monday 's arrests in the suburbs of the capital are part of an investigation that began last July when two Kurds were arrested in Paris trying to exchange 2,00,000 euros ( about $ 2,60,000 ) in cash into other currencies .
-The PKK has been fighting Turkey for autonomy since 1984 .
-More than 37,000 people have been killed in the conflict .
-Monday 's arrests took place in the Paris suburbs of Yvelines , Hauts-de-Seine , Seine-Saint-Denis , and the Val d' Oise .
-China says archaeologists have unearthed a 1,700-year-old complex of tombs in eastern China 's Zheijiang Province .
-China 's official Xinhua news agency says the tombs were first discovered by a forklift operator at a construction site near the port city of Ningbo .
-The report says inscriptions in the tombs indicate they were built in 256-AD , and are the best-preserved ancient tombs ever discovered in the region .
-Xinhua says there are figures of fish , beasts , dragons and phoenixes are etched in the walls .
-Other objects discovered at the site include porcelain vessels , copper money and bronze mirrors .
-Avril Lavigne and her husband have bought a home in the upscale Los Angeles neighborhood of Bel-Air .
-The Los Angeles Times reports the 22-year-old pop-rock singer and her husband , Derek Whibley of the Canadian rock band Sum-41 , paid about $ 9.5 million for their new home .
-Boasting eight bedrooms and 10 and one-half bathrooms , the three-story house also has an elevator , sauna , and garage space for 10 cars .
-Avril Lavigne , whose worldwide record sales top 26 million , was last year ranked the seventh most powerful Canadian in Hollywood by Canadian Business Magazine .
-Her third album , The Best Damn Thing , appears April 17 in the United States .
-The Islamic Militant Group Hamas has claimed victory in Wednesday 's Palestinian legislative elections .
-The claim has yet to be independently confirmed by the Palestinian electoral commission which is expected to issue official results later Thursday .
-The Hamas victory claim comes from Ismail Haniyeh a senior Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip .
-Mr. Haniyeh says Hamas activists who observed the vote counting say Hamas has won more than 70 seats in the 132-seat legislature .
-Palestinian electoral officials have not confirmed the results , but an unnamed official from the Palestinian Authority says the results so far show Hamas winning .
-Official preliminary results are expected to be released later Thursday .
-Israel , the United States and the European Union say they will not deal with any Palestinian government that includes Hamas unless the group disarms and agrees to recognize Israel , something Hamas officials say they will not do .
-Thailand 's military government has selected the head of the country 's Constitution Drafting Council in what is seen as a first step toward restoring democracy after last year 's military coup .
-Following his election to the council Monday , political science professor Noranit Setabutr said a new draft constitution would be completed within 180 days .
-He said the new constitution must be acceptable to the Thai public and bring about democracy .
-Members of Thailand 's military overthrew the government of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra last September .
-They accused him of exploiting the old constitution to amass more personal power than his office afforded him .
-The coup leaders have promised to hold a general election under a new constitution within a year .
-Mr. Thaksin is living outside the country while he is being investigated for corruption and abuse of power at home .
-Russian President Vladimir Putin says he believes Iran is cooperating sufficiently with the United Nations nuclear agency and U.N. sanctions will cause new problems .
-Mr. Putin 's remarks were broadcast Sunday on American television , but the interview was conducted Friday .
-The Russian leader said Iran 's president told him he wanted continued negotiations with Britain , France and Germany .
-The three European countries , backed by the United States , have been trying to convince Iran to suspend its nuclear fuel enrichment program .
-Russia is helping Iran build a new nuclear energy plant .
-Rescuers working at a flooded coal mine in central China have recovered the bodies of 39 miners following an accident more than two weeks ago .
-The official Xinhua news agency said Saturday recovery teams are still searching for three miners missing and presumed dead .
-The miners have been trapped underground at the Sigou Coal Mine in Henan province since December 9 , when a nearby river overflowed its banks and water rushed into the shaft .
-Xinhua says 10 mine officials have been detained and will face " stern punishment " for the accident .
-China 's coal mines are the world 's deadliest , with more than 5,000 deaths reported every year in fires , floods and other disasters .
-The Venezuelan information ministry has dismissed criticism by the Organization of American States of proposed media legislation being debated in the Venezuelan Congress .
-An information ministry spokesman Wednesday said the OAS , which said the proposal may restrict freedom of expression and political dissent , should stop meddling in Venezuela 's domestic political affairs .
-The proposed law bans vulgar language , depictions of alcohol and drug consumption , gambling , sex and violence during the daylight hours .
-It allows the government to shut down stations that show violence , and to impose 18-day jail sentences for broadcasting FALSE information .
-The ministry said the bill is in rigorous compliance with press freedoms guaranteed under the constitution and international treaties .
-The trial in Kosovo of six ethnic Albanians suspected of war crimes has opened in the town of Gniljane , southeast of the capital Pristina .
-U.N. police and NATO-led peacekeepers arrested former fighter with the Kosovo Liberation Army , Selim Krasniqi , and several of his associates last year in Prizren .
-Five of the accused appeared in court and one is being tried in absentia .
-The defendants face charges of murder and other crimes against fellow ethnic Albanians during the conflict in Kosovo in the late 1990s .
-The proceedings got underway about a week after gunmen shot and killed a witness in the case .
-At the time of his arrest , Mr. Krasniqi was a commander of the Kosovo Protection Corps , a post-war civil defense group that deals with emergencies in Kosovo .
-Authorities say gunmen have abducted a British oil worker from a drilling rig off the coast of Nigeria .
-A spokesman for the U.S.-based operator , Transocean , said the attackers Saturday boarded the " Trident Eight " rig and seized one of the workers .
-The spokesman said the other 23 people on the rig were left unharmed .
-Such kidnappings are common in the region , where criminal gangs are active , and where militants have demanded that the government give more of the region 's oil wealth to impoverished locals .
-Nearly 200 foreign workers have been abducted over the past year in the region .
-Most have been released unharmed , often after a ransom was paid .
-The attacks have forced the shutdown of oil facilities , crippling Nigeria 's oil industry .
-U.S. prosecutors have convicted five leaders of a now-defunct Muslim charity of channeling some $ 12 million to the Palestinian militant group Hamas .
-A federal court in the southwestern city of Dallas , Texas Monday found the men guilty of 108 separate charges .
-They were former leaders of the Holy Land Foundation , which organizers said collected money for poverty-stricken Palestinians affected by the conflict with Israel .
-The group was the largest Muslim-run charity in the United States before it was shut down by the U.S. government in the wake of the September 11 , 2001 terrorist attacks .
-This was the second attempt at a trial .
-The first ended in October 2007 after the judge declared a mistrial .
-The defendants in the case denied sending money to Hamas and said the charges were politically motivated .
-The United States declared Hamas a terrorist organization in 1995 , making contributions to it illegal .
-The Indus Valley civilization , one of the oldest in the world and dating back at least 5,000 years , spread over much of what is presently Pakistan .
-During the second millennium B.C. , remnants of this culture fused with the migrating Indo-Aryan peoples .
-The area underwent successive invasions in subsequent centuries from the Persians , Greeks , Scythians , Arabs ( who brought Islam ) , Afghans , and Turks .
-The Mughal Empire flourished in the 16th and 17th centuries ; the British came to dominate the region in the 18th century .
-The separation in 1947 of British India into the Muslim state of Pakistan ( with West and East sections ) and largely Hindu India was never satisfactorily resolved , and India and Pakistan fought two wars - in 1947 - 48 and 1965 - over the disputed Kashmir territory .
-A third war between these countries in 1971 - in which India capitalized on Islamabad 's marginalization of Bengalis in Pakistani politics - resulted in East Pakistan becoming the separate nation of Bangladesh .
-In response to Indian nuclear weapons testing , Pakistan conducted its own tests in 1998 .
-India-Pakistan relations have been rocky since the November 2008 Mumbai attacks , but both countries are taking small steps to put relations back on track .
-In February 2008 , Pakistan held parliamentary elections and in September 2008 , after the resignation of former President MUSHARRAF , elected Asif Ali ZARDARI to the presidency .
-Pakistani government and military leaders are struggling to control domestic insurgents , many of whom are located in the tribal areas adjacent to the border with Afghanistan .
-New Caledonia has about 25 % of the world 's known nickel resources .
-Only a small amount of the land is suitable for cultivation , and food accounts for about 20 % of imports .
-In addition to nickel , substantial financial support from France - equal to more than 15 % of GDP - and tourism are keys to the health of the economy .
-Substantial new investment in the nickel industry , combined with the recovery of global nickel prices , brightens the economic outlook for the next several years .
-Prior to the global economic crisis , Costa Rica enjoyed stable economic growth .
-The economy contracted 0.7 % in 2009 , but resumed growth at more than 3 % in 2010 .
-While the traditional agricultural exports of bananas , coffee , sugar , and beef are still the backbone of commodity export trade , a variety of industrial and specialized agricultural products have broadened export trade in recent years .
-High value added goods and services , including microchips , have further bolstered exports .
-Tourism continues to bring in foreign exchange , as Costa Rica 's impressive biodiversity makes it a key destination for ecotourism .
-Foreign investors remain attracted by the country 's political stability and relatively high education levels , as well as the fiscal incentives offered in the free-trade zones ; and Costa Rica has attracted one of the highest levels of foreign direct investment per capita in Latin America .
-However , many business impediments , such as high levels of bureaucracy , difficulty of enforcing contracts , and weak investor protection , remain .
-Poverty has remained around 15-20 % for nearly 20 years , and the strong social safety net that had been put into place by the government has eroded due to increased financial constraints on government expenditures .
-Unlike the rest of Central America , Costa Rica is not highly dependent on remittances as they only represent about 2 % of GDP .
-Immigration from Nicaragua has increasingly become a concern for the government .
-The estimated 3,00,000 - 5,00,000 Nicaraguans in Costa Rica legally and illegally are an important source of - mostly unskilled - labor , but also place heavy demands on the social welfare system .
-The US-Central American-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement ( CAFTA-DR ) entered into force on 1 January 2009 , after significant delays within the Costa Rican legislature .
-CAFTA-DR will likely lead to increased foreign direct investment in key sectors of the economy , including the insurance and telecommunications sectors recently opened to private investors .
-President CHINCHILLA is likely to push for fiscal reform in the coming year , seeking to boost revenue , possibly through revised tax legislation , to fund an increase in security services and education .
-The Mongols gained fame in the 13th century when under Chinggis KHAAN they established a huge Eurasian empire through conquest .
-After his death the empire was divided into several powerful Mongol states , but these broke apart in the 14th century .
-The Mongols eventually retired to their original steppe homelands and in the late 17th century came under Chinese rule .
-Mongolia won its independence in 1921 with Soviet backing and a Communist regime was installed in 1924 .
-The modern country of Mongolia , however , represents only part of the Mongols ' historical homeland ; more ethnic Mongolians live in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in the People 's Republic of China than in Mongolia .
-Following a peaceful democratic revolution , the ex-Communist Mongolian People 's Revolutionary Party ( MPRP ) won elections in 1990 and 1992 , but was defeated by the Democratic Union Coalition ( DUC ) in the 1996 parliamentary election .
-The MPRP won an overwhelming majority in the 2000 parliamentary election , but the party lost seats in the 2004 election and shared power with democratic coalition parties from 2004 - 8 .
-The MPRP regained a solid majority in the 2008 parliamentary elections but nevertheless formed a coalition government with the Democratic Party .
-In 2010 the MPRP voted to retake the name of the Mongolian People 's Party ( MPP ) , a name it used in the early 1920s .
-The prime minister and most cabinet members are MPP members .
-Senegal relies heavily on donor assistance .
-The country 's key export industries are phosphate mining , fertilizer production , and commercial fishing .
-The country is also working on iron ore and oil exploration projects .
-In January 1994 , Senegal undertook a bold and ambitious economic reform program with the support of the international donor community .
-Government price controls and subsidies have been steadily dismantled .
-After seeing its economy contract by 2.1 % in 1993 , Senegal made an important turnaround , thanks to the reform program , with real growth in GDP averaging over 5 % annually during 1995 - 2007 .
-Annual inflation had been pushed down to the single digits .
-The country was adversely affected by the global economic downturn in 2009 and GDP growth fell below 2 % .
-As a member of the West African Economic and Monetary Union ( WAEMU ) , Senegal is working toward greater regional integration with a unified external tariff and a more stable monetary policy .
-High unemployment , however , continues to prompt illegal migrants to flee Senegal in search of better job opportunities in Europe .
-Under the IMF 's Highly Indebted Poor Countries ( HIPC ) debt relief program , Senegal benefited from eradication of two-thirds of its bilateral , multilateral , and private-sector debt .
-In 2007 , Senegal and the IMF agreed to a new , non-disbursing , Policy Support Initiative program which was completed in 2010 .
-Senegal received its first disbursement from the $ 540 million Millennium Challenge Account compact it signed in September 2009 for infrastructure and agriculture development .
-In 2010 , the Senegalese people protested against frequent power cuts .
-The government pledged to expand capacity by 2012 and to promote renewable energy but until Senegal has more capacity , more protests are likely and economic activity will be hindered .
-During the year , bakers protested government price controls on bread .
-Foreign investment in Senegal is constrained by Senegal 's business environment , which has slipped in recent years , and by perceptions of corruption .
-A HART , hard pressed in the chase , hid himself beneath the large leaves of a Vine .
-The huntsmen , in their haste , overshot the place of his concealment .
-Supposing all danger to have passed , the Hart began to nibble the tendrils of the Vine .
-One of the huntsmen , attracted by the rustling of the leaves , looked back , and seeing the Hart , shot an arrow from his bow and struck it .
-The Hart , at the point of death , groaned :
-" I am rightly served , for I should not have maltreated the Vine that saved me . "
-A FOWLER caught a Partridge and was about to kill it .
-The Partridge earnestly begged him to spare his life , saying , " Pray , master , permit me to live and I will entice many Partridges to you in recompense for your mercy to me . "
-The Fowler replied , " I shall now with less scruple take your life , because you are willing to save it at the cost of betraying your friends and relations . "
-A WOMAN possessed a Hen that gave her an egg every day .
-She often pondered how she might obtain two eggs daily instead of one , and at last , to gain her purpose , determined to give the Hen a double allowance of barley .
-From that day the Hen became fat and sleek , and never once laid another egg .
-From the past 10 years about 90 % of Ford trucks are still on the road , the other 10 % made it home .
-I was signing the receipt for my credit card purchase when the clerk noticed I had never signed my name on the back of the credit card .
-She informed me that she could not complete the transaction unless the card was signed .
-When I asked why , she explained that it was necessary to compare the signature I had just signed on the receipt .
-So I signed the credit card in front of her .
-She carefully compared the signature to the one I had just signed on the receipt .
-As luck would have it , they matched .
-Witnesses in Somalia say Ethiopia is moving tanks and other reinforcements into the area where Somalia 's Islamists have been battling pro-government troops .
-The International Committee of the Red Cross says dozens of people have been killed and at least 200 wounded during four days of fighting in southern Somalia .
-The Islamists and the Ethiopian-backed government each claim to have killed hundreds of the other side 's troops U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the U.N. Security Council denounced the fighting in statements Friday .
-They urged Somalia 's interim government and Islamists to resume peace talks .
-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stressed the importance of bringing East African peacekeepers into Somalia during a meeting with Uganda 's foreign minister , Sam Kutesa , Friday .
-Uganda is the only country so far to agree to take part in the force .
-The United Nations has passed a resolution supporting the proposed force .
-However , Somalia 's Islamists have denounced the measure and vowed to fight any foreign troops .
-Islamist forces have seized much of southern and central Somalia since taking control of the capital , Mogadishu , in June .
-This week 's fighting has taken place near the interim government 's headquarters in Baidoa .
-Somalia 's government has little power outside the town .
-Islamist leaders had threatened to attack Ethiopian troops this week if they did not leave Somali territory .
-Ethiopia has an undetermined number of soldiers in Somalia to assist the interim government .
-Palestinian witnesses say an Israeli missile strike has killed at least two men traveling in a car in northern Gaza Strip .
-Witnesses said the men belonged to the militant group Islamic Jihad , adding the attack Monday seriously wounded a third militant traveling with them .
-Israeli military officials said the target of the attack was a senior Islamic Jihad member .
-Earlier , Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas warned he may delay parliamentary elections set for this month if Israel blocks voting in East Jerusalem .
-Mr. Abbas has been under intense pressure to postpone the January 25 vote , especially from members of his own Fatah party .
-Last month , Israeli officials said they may block voting in East Jerusalem if candidates from the Hamas militant group are allowed to take part in the balloting .
-NATO officials in Afghanistan say insurgents have killed a coalition soldier in the southern part of the country .
-A statement says the soldier was killed Sunday in Helmand province .
-NATO did not provide details about the clash or give the soldier 's nationality .
-The statement said that in another incident , a soldier and six Afghan troops were wounded when mortars hit their base in neighboring Kandahar province early Sunday .
-On Saturday , the head of the U.S. Central Command , General John Abizaid , said Taleban insurgents are still using neighboring Pakistan as a base for infiltration .
-But he completely rejected any suggestion that Islamabad is conspiring with the rebels .
-General Abizaid made the remarks during a brief visit to the main U.S. military base at Bagram north of the Afghan capital , Kabul , to asses operations .
-A top Russian official says Moscow remains deeply concerned about U.S. plans for a missile defense system that Washington wants to deploy in central Europe .
-Russian National Security Council chief Igor Ivanov said Tuesday he is not optimistic that the United States will address Russian concerns Thursday at a NATO-Russia Council meeting in Brussels .
-Ivanov 's skepticism contrasted sharply with that of senior U.S. envoy John Rood , who is in Moscow for talks on the controversial system .
-Rood said today he believes progress had been made and that further talks will resolve the dispute .
-Last month , Moscow warned that the U.S. missile shield Washington wants to deploy in Poland and the Czech Republic could start a new European arms race .
-U.S. officials insist the shield is aimed at preventing attacks from what it calls rogue states like Iran and North Korea .
-A published report says all 425 domestic U.S. military bases are under review as the Defense Department considers a new round of base closures .
-The New York Times reported Sunday that after more than two years of study , Pentagon analysts are putting the final touches on a list of recommendations to submit to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld .
-In previous rounds , the Pentagon eliminated 97 bases and closed hundreds of smaller facilities , saving tens of billions of dollars .
-Military officials say the old Cold War network of defense facilities still has too much capacity for modern needs .
-Mr. Rumsfeld is to give his list of proposed base closings to an independent commission for review in May .
-The newspaper reported that by early November , President Bush and Congress must accept or reject a final list submitted by the commission .
-An Afghan court has sentenced a women 's magazine editor to two years in prison for publishing anti-Islamic articles .
-Ali Mohaqiq Nasab was arrested on October 1 after his magazine , Haqooq-i-Zan , ( Women 's Rights ) argued that giving up Islam was not a crime that should be punished by death , as sanctioned by some interpretations of Islamic Sharia law .
-Other articles criticized the practice of punishing adultery with 100 lashes and argued that men and women should be considered as equals under Islamic law .
-On Saturday , Kabul 's Primary Court convicted Mohaqiq of blasphemy .
-The case was condemned by a number of Afghan and international media rights groups .
-Under a revised March 2004 media law , content deemed insulting to Islam is banned in Afghanistan .
-This is the annual World AIDS Day and the focus this year is women and girls living with the disease .
-In Geneva , the World Health Organization marked Wednesday by urging that nations take steps to ensure women and girls are given better access to AIDS prevention and treatment services .
-The agency said 47 percent of those infected with the AIDS virus around the globe are female .
-The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies joined with other organizations in calling for improved responses to HIV - AIDS around the world .
-Human Rights Watch urged countries to drop restrictions on information about condoms , which the U.S.-based organization says remain the single most effective device against sexually transmitted HIV .
-World AIDS Day is held each year to raise awareness of HIV - AIDS , which affects tens of millions of people .
-A Bosnian Serb officer indicted for his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre is flying to the Netherlands to surrender to the Hague war crimes tribunal .
-Colonel Vujadin Popovic left Belgrade Thursday to face such charges as genocide and crimes against humanity .
-The charges focus on his role in the deaths of about eight thousand Muslim men and boys after Serb forces in Bosnia-Herzegovina captured the Muslim enclave of Srebrenica in 1995 .
-Meanwhile , the tribunal ordered the release , pending trial , of former Serbian President Milan Milutinovic , former Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Nikola Sainovic , General Dragoljub Ojdanic and General Vladimir Lazarevic .
-All four have been indicted in connection with repression against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo .
-However , the court stayed the release of all but General Lazarevic to give prosecutors time to appeal the order .
-The leader of Sudan 's main southern rebel group has called on the government to apply a recently signed north-south peace deal to the separate conflict in Sudan 's western Darfur region .
-John Garang said Saturday that the Darfur crisis can only be solved through dialogue .
-He spoke on the sidelines of a federalism conference in Brussels
-Mr. Garang 's Sudan People 's Liberation Army ( SPLA ) signed a peace agreement with the government in January .
-The deal gives the south greater autonomy and the opportunity to vote on secession in six years .
-Mr. Garang said he is sending about 70 SPLA representatives to the capital , Khartoum , in the first phase of implementing the peace deal .
-A top U.S. official has warned against Brazil imposing sanctions on the United States in a dispute over cotton subsidies .
-Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick said in Brazil Thursday that there is always a danger in trade relations of things slipping out of control if one side decides to retaliate .
-He said the United States is working to resolve the dispute .
-Earlier , Brazil asked the World Trade Organization for permission to impose $ 1 billion in sanctions on U.S. goods for the United States failing to comply with a WTO decision that calls for steep cuts in subsidies for U.S. cotton producers .
-The request is to be discussed at a WTO meeting later this month .
-The WTO ruled in March the subsidies must be changed to comply with global trade rules .
-Brazil says the subsidies artificially drive down world prices and hurt Brazilian producers .
-Italy 's government says an Italian journalist kidnapped in Afghanistan several days ago is still alive .
-A Foreign Ministry statement Saturday said officials have reason to believe missing journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo is alive , but it did not offer details .
-Italian officials had previously demanded that the Taleban provide proof that Mastrogiacomo had not been killed before any negotiations could begin .
-The Taleban says it captured Mastrogiacomo in Helmand province on Monday .
-Insurgents say the reporter has confessed to being a spy .
-The journalist 's newspaper , La Repubblica , has categorically denied the charge .
-Earlier in the week , Italy 's lower house of parliament voted in favor of keeping the country 's military contingent in Afghanistan .
-The lower house Thursday approved a measure that refinances the mission .
-It now goes to the Senate for final approval .
-The government has 1,800 troops in Afghanistan as part of a NATO force .
-Pakistan says up to 40 militants were killed during Wednesday 's fighting with security forces in the North Waziristan tribal region , not 16 as reported earlier .
-Troops backed by helicopter gunships attacked militant hideouts near the Afghan border after a rebel rocket attack killed four soldiers .
-A military spokesman , Major General Shaukat Sultan , said some 19 pro-Taleban militants were captured during the operation .
-Pakistan 's President Pervez Musharraf has warned foreign militants using the Waziristan region as a hideout to leave or be killed .
-He has also promised extra development funds for the region if local tribes stop harboring foreign militants .
-Last month , Pakistani security forces killed about 200 militants and their local supporters in North Waziristan in a campaign to rid the area of insurgents .
-Russia 's security service says it has prevented major terrorist attacks after finding a truck packed with a ton of explosives , and a cache of poison .
-A federal forces spokesman says authorities detained two men after stopping the truck near Grozny .
-The Interfax news agency quotes him as saying the vehicle was fully prepared for an explosion .
-All one needed was a suicide attacker to switch on a detonator .
-The Federal Security Service also reports discovery of a cache of a cyanide-based substance in the North Caucasus that officials say was to be used for a chemical attack .
-Security in Russia is extremely tight ahead of the arrival of world leaders for ceremonies Monday marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe .
-Monday is also the first anniversary of the assassination of Kremlin-backed Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov in Grozny .
-A Mexican court has refused to issue an arrest warrant for former President Luis Echeverria and seven others for the 1968 massacre of student protesters .
-The ruling came late Wednesday and is the latest setback in the effort by President Vicente Fox 's government to prosecute past government atrocities .
-On Monday , federal prosecutors filed charges of genocide against Mr. Echeverria in connection with the 1968 incident in which soldiers and police fired on student protesters , killing as many as 30 .
-Mr. Echeverria was Mexico 's interior minister at the time .
-Other judges in July dismissed genocide charges against Mr. Echeverria related to the 1971 killings of student protesters when he was Mexico 's president .
-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said she will not serve a full eight years in her position if President Barack Obama is elected to a second term .
-In a nationally televised interview with PBS television 's Tavis Smiley Wednesday , Clinton she could not imagine serving a full eight years .
-She told her interviewer that , considering the demands of the job , she would find that extremely challenging .
-Clinton - who had been a candidate for president in 2008 - also ruled out a second presidential run .
-She had said previously she would also not seek re-election to the New York Senate seat she held until 2009 when she took her current position .
-She indicated she would like to return to private life Clinton had been first lady of the United States while her husband , Bill Clinton served as U.S. President from 1992 to 2000 .
-Human rights group Amnesty International has criticized Eritrea over a mass arrest last week of thousands of youths suspected of evading military conscription .
-The London-based group says the detainees are being held at the Adi Abeto army prison near Asmara , where they are at risk of torture and mistreatment .
-It says Eritrean security forces indiscriminately arrested suspects at their homes , shops , offices and road blocks last Thursday .
-Amnesty also accused Eritrean prison officials of opening fire on detainees at the Adi Abeto prison during an apparent escape attempt following the arrests .
-The country 's Minister of Information says two detainees were crushed by a wall that collapsed during the escape attempt .
-But Amnesty International cites sources as saying as many as 12 people were shot and killed by security forces .
-Chinese President Hu Jintao has called on major economies to ensure trade and energy stability in order to promote a balanced world economy .
-Mr. Hu spoke Saturday in Beijing , where he opened the start of a two-day meeting of top finance officials from 20 countries .
-He urged countries to create a " sound trading environment for economic growth . "
-He also said major powers should make concerted efforts to stabilize the global energy market .
-The so-called Group of 20 is made up of larger developing countries and rich nations , including the United States .
-The meeting is being held at a time of trade tensions between Beijing and Washington .
-Some critics accuse China of manipulating its currency to give Chinese exports an unfair price advantage on world markets .
-Iraqi police say a car bomb in central Baghdad has killed at least 21 people and wounded 66 others .
-The blast damaged the Abdel Qadir Gilani Mosque , one of Baghdad 's most revered Sunni shrines .
-The explosion also damaged several buildings and cars in the Sinak area of the capital .
-Another car bomb killed at least two people Monday in Baghdad 's Bab al-Muadham area .
-In Iraq Sunday , U.S. military troops rescued 42 Iraqis from an al-Qaida prison camp north of Baghdad .
-Military officials say some of the freed captives showed signs of torture and mistreatment .
-President Bush meets at the White House Tuesday with Massoud Barzani , the president of Iraq 's Kurdish region .
-The two men are scheduled to speak to reporters after their meeting .
-A White House spokesman praised Mr. Barzani Tuesday as a leader committed to building a free and democratic Iraq .
-Mr. Barzani , who is a former Kurdish rebel leader , was elected regional president by Kurdish lawmakers in June .
-He has pledged to strengthen Iraqi national unity , and he took part in negotiations on Iraq 's new constitution .
-Kurds in northern Iraq have enjoyed relative autonomy since the Persian Gulf War of 1991 .
-The Philippines is again calling on its citizens to avoid traveling to Iraq for work .
-Noting that two Filipinos were recently wounded during attacks on U.S. military bases in Iraq , a presidential spokesman said Tuesday that Manila has no plans to lift its ban on allowing Philippine workers into Iraq until there is peace and stability .
-The Associated Press also reports that Philippine Foreign Undersecretary Jose Brillantes urged the estimated 6,000 Filipinos now working across the Middle East to take precautions against possible attacks in the region .
-His comments follow Monday 's terror attack on the U.S. consulate in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah , in which five non-American consulate workers were killed , including a Philippine national .
-Air France says its flight schedule is returning to normal Tuesday after flight staff called off their five-day strike over pay and working conditions .
-Air France says it plans to operate all long-haul flights from Paris and 90 percent of its short and medium-haul routes .
-Labor unions representing cabin crews voted Monday to end the walkout .
-Air France flight attendants began the work stoppage last Thursday on the eve of French school holidays .
-Hundreds of flights were canceled , stranding thousands of travelers .
-Air France chief executive Jean-Cyril Spinetta has offered to hold immediate negotiations with the labor unions to avert further strike action .
-More than 20,000 people have rallied in Pakistan 's largest city , Karachi , to protest cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad .
-Shouting anti-American and anti-European slogans , the demonstrators marched through the city on Sunday to denounce the cartoons , first published in Denmark .
-Earlier , in the eastern city of Lahore , police fired teargas to put a stop to a rally organized by the six-party Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal alliance .
-Police arrested the head of the alliance , Qazi Hussain Ahmed , and dozens of others including cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan .
-Protests have been banned in Lahore , where two people died in earlier unrest .
-Radical Islamic leaders said they would defy the ban and stage more protests .
-Demonstrations have been scheduled for Friday , the day before President Bush is due to visit Islamabad on his South Asia trip .
-Italy has taken over control of the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Afghanistan for the next six months from a Turkish commander .
-Italian Lieutenant-General Mauro Del Vechchio assumed command of the 8,000-strong International Security Assistance Force ( ISAF ) from Turkish Lieutenant-General Ethem Erdagi in Thursday ceremony in Kabul .
-The commander of NATO forces in Northern Europe , General Gerhard Back , said ISAF will be ready to assume responsibility for security across all of Afghanistan by the end of next year .
-ISAF already maintains security in Kabul and the country 's north and west .
-It plans to increase its size and take over from the U.S.-led coalition in the volatile south early next year , before gradually moving into the east .
-NATO peacekeepers will also provide security for the Afghan parliamentary elections scheduled for September 18 .
-For more than 20 years , researchers have gone hunting with sharks and stalking prey with tigers from in front of their television monitors .
-National Geographic researchers have an ' animal eye view ' of the world through a video camera built to be attached to living things .
-" Crittercam , " as they call it , has been mounted to animals of over 40 different species .
-Its creator recently sat down with VOA 's Paul Sisco .
-A powerful typhoon is approaching a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean south of Tokyo , and officials are warning of heavy rains , strong winds and high waves in the region .
-Typhoon Saola 's winds are blowing at more than 140 kilometers per hour .
-The storm was just off Hachijo Island , 300 kilometers south of Tokyo , Saturday afternoon , and heading north .
-Japan 's Meteorological Agency says heavy rains will hit Tokyo later Saturday and Sunday as the typhoon passes just east of the city .
-On average , two to three typhoons hit Japan 's main islands each year .
-Typhoon Nabi , which ripped through western Japan earlier this month , killed more than 20 people .
-Pakistani officials say unknown gunmen have opened fire on a bus carrying the Sri Lankan cricket team , killing at least five police officers and wounding six Sri Lankan players .
-Lahore police chief Habibur Rehman said at least 12 gunmen attacked the convoy near Lahore 's Gaddafi stadium Tuesday with rockets , hand grenades and automatic weapons .
-He called it a terrorist attack .
-Pakistan TV showed footage of gunmen running through the streets and firing on vehicles .
-Sri Lanka 's sports minister say at least five players and an assistant coach received minor injuries in the attack , including Kumar Sangakkara , Thilan Samaraweera and Tharanga Paranavithana .
-Security concerns have plagued Pakistan for many years , and some foreign sports teams have refused to play in the country .
-U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney has criticized Senate Democrats who have accused the Bush administration of purposely misleading the American public on intelligence leading up to the war in Iraq .
-In a speech near Washington Wednesday , Mr. Cheney called allegations the White House manipulated intelligence to make the case for war " reprehensible . "
-He said lawmakers had the same access to intelligence regarding Saddam Hussein 's weapons ' programs and many arrived at the same conclusion to go to war .
-In a statement released after Mr. Cheney 's speech , Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid ( of Nevada ) accused the Bush administration of playing politics with the war in Iraq .
-He urged the White House to stop " lashing out " at its critics and instead give American troops a strategy for success in Iraq .
-Thai Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont is blaming a series of deadly bombings in Bangkok on groups opposed to the military coup that put him in power .
-Mr. Surayud said Monday intelligence agencies believe the New Year 's Eve blasts were carried out by people who lost power following September 's military takeover .
-Nine bombs ripped through the capital Sunday and early Monday , killing three people and wounding at least 38 others .
-Mr. Surayud did not name deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra or his allies as possible culprits .
-He also downplayed the likelihood that an Islamist insurgency in the south has crept northward .
-Some 1,800 people have been killed in near-daily bombings in three southern provinces .
-The Obama administration is to announce Tuesday a new plan for the detention of illegal immigrants awaiting deportation .
-Under the new guidelines , the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency will devise a system to determine which immigrants should be imprisoned and which should be housed in less restrictive facilities .
-Under the current system , violent and non-violent illegal immigrants are being held in a makeshift network of local , state and federal jails .
-Nearly 4,00,000 people are held in this system each year , at a cost of about $ 2 billion .
-The new proposals would house non-violent immigrants such as women and children in former hotels , nursing homes and other sites .
-The Obama administration is also considering building two new detention centers .
-Immigrant advocacy groups say many detainees have been denied access to basic medical care and other services under the current system .
-Turkish media say police have thwarted a bomb attack in Istanbul by arresting a man carrying a bag filled with explosives .
-Turkish news agencies say the man was detained Monday in central Istanbul 's Sisli district .
-They say his bag contained three and a half kilograms of plastic explosives .
-The reports say police later arrested at least one other suspect .
-There was no word on the intended target or identity of the suspected bomber .
-Turkish militants affiliated to Kurdish , leftist and Islamist groups have carried out bombings in major Turkish cities and resort towns in the past .
-In May , a member of a militant leftist group blew himself up in Istanbul , killing six people and wounding many others .
-The United Nations is appealing for help for Niger , where it says floods have displaced nearly 2,00,000 people in recent weeks .
-The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says shelter materials and blankets are urgently needed .
-Food and mosquito netting are also in short supply .
-The floods are compounding the misery in Niger , which was already experiencing a severe drought and food shortages before the rains hit .
-The floods washed away the few crops and vegetable gardens that were starting to sprout .
-A representative of the British-based charity Oxfam in Niger told VOA last week that people there are " extremely desperate . "
-The government of Venezuela has offered to send humanitarian aid and fuel to the United States in the wake of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina along the U.S. Gulf Coast .
-The Foreign Ministry issued a statement Wednesday , saying Venezuela is ready to send a humanitarian aid task force to assist in relief efforts , if requested by the United States .
-Venezuela 's Citgo Petroleum Corporation also pledged $ 1 million towards relief efforts .
-Citgo says the funds will be directed to appropriate relief organizations in the affected areas .
-Venezuela is the world 's fifth largest oil exporter and a major supplier to the United States , although relations have been tense between the two countries .
-The French news agency , Agence France Presse , says one of its photographers has been kidnapped in the Gaza Strip .
-The agency has identified the photographer as 50 year old Jaime Razuri , a Peruvian national .
-AFP says Razuri had just finished covering a story and had returned to the agency 's office in Gaza .
-His translator says two gunmen abducted the photographer and fled in a Japanese car .
-Kidnappings are frequent in the Gaza Strip .
-Reporters without Borders , a Press watchdog , says Gaza is one of the riskiest places for journalists .
-In October , a Spanish photographer was kidnapped in the Gaza Strip .
-He was released unharmed after half-a-day in captivity .
-Zoo officials in San Diego , California , say a giant panda was born at the San Diego Zoo on Tuesday , making it one of only about 10 giant pandas in the United States .
-The officials say the mother , a 13-year-old giant panda pregnant with twins , gave birth to one cub , but the other died in the womb .
-It is the second panda birth in less than a month at a U.S. zoo .
-The first was born three weeks ago at Washington 's National Zoo .
-On Tuesday , veterinarians determined that cub is male .
-The cub 's parents are being loaned by China under a 10-year agreement .
-Giant pandas are endangered with a total population of 1,600 , both in captivity and in the wild .
-U.S. Senator John McCain has told Chinese officials they need to take a strong stand on North Korea in response to its rocket launch on Sunday .
-McCain spoke to reporters in Beijing after meeting with top officials there , saying he urged the Chinese to support the international community in imposing sanctions on North Korea .
-The U.S. and its allies in Asia have said the recent rocket launch was a test of a ballistic missile , but North Korea denies the claim , saying it sent a satellite into space .
-China , along with Russia , has called for " restraint " in handling the situation .
-McCain also criticized the six-nation talks aimed at disarming North Korea 's nuclear program , saying they had not been very productive .
-McCain , along with two other U.S. Senators , is in East Asia on a tour that also includes Japan and Vietnam .
-Pakistan 's military says it has destroyed a training camp for suicide bombers in the Swat Valley .
-The army said in a statement that reports from intelligence sources and local residents led them to the location in northwest Pakistan .
-They said six militants were killed in the operation and several others were wounded .
-Pakistan 's government has been fighting a Taliban insurgency in the northwest .
-Friday Britain pledged $ 1 billion in aid to help stabilize Pakistan 's violent border regions and to address the underlying causes of extremism .
-British Prime Minister Gordon Brown confirmed the pledge during a meeting in London with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari .
-A spokesman for Mr. Zardari , Farhatullah Babar , also called for better access to European Union markets to help boost Pakistan 's economy .
-Norway has barred its oil fund from investing in China 's Dongfeng Motor Group because the firm sell arms supplies to military-ruled Burma .
-Norway 's finance ministry says the Chinese company sells military trucks to Burma .
-Finance Minster Kristin Halvorsen said Friday Norway can not finance companies that support the military dictatorship in Burma through military sales .
-Norway 's oil fund , officially called the Government Pension Fund-Global , invests the country 's oil and gas wealth in foreign stocks and bonds .
-The fund is meant to save money for the future when Norway 's oil supply runs dry .
-The fund is currently worth around $ 300 billion .
-Norway is a major exporter of oil and natural gas .
-There are many reasons performers get into show business .
-Some want to be stars while others crave the creativity it offers .
-VOA 's Ernest Leong has the story of two comedians who , by their own admission , got into show business because they were too lazy to do anything else .
-South Korea and nine Southeast Asian nations have signed a free-trade deal , with Thailand as the lone critic to the agreement because of a dispute over rice .
-Trade ministers from South Korea and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations , or ASEAN , signed the agreement Friday in Kuala Lumpur , just ahead of next week 's Southeast Asian economic summit there .
-Details of the agreement were not immediately available .
-Bangkok declined to sign the deal because it objects to South Korea 's insistence on keeping rice out of the trade deal .
-The two countries are expected to hold talks over the issue at a later date .
-Afghan authorities have ordered the slaughter of birds in areas where two cases of bird flu have been found .
-The U.N. 's Food and Agriculture Organization said Wednesday birds carrying the virus have been reported in the eastern provinces of Nangarhar and Kunar .
-Officials suspect the cases are the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu but do not yet have confirmation .
-Last year , Afghanistan discovered cases of the H5N1 virus in birds , but not humans .
-The deadly strain of the bird flu virus has killed at least 160 people worldwide since 2003 .
-Somali gunmen have seized three foreign aid workers in northern Kenya .
-The trio was kidnapped early Saturday morning in a raid in the border town of Mandera .
-The nationalities of the humanitarian workers and the organizations they work for are not immediately clear .
-Two French military advisers were kidnapped in Somalia earlier this week .
-They are reportedly being held by the Islamist group al-Shabab .
-The French Foreign Ministry says the kidnapped men were on an official mission to provide assistance to the Somali government .
-It is not clear whether the French nationals were kidnapped for ransom or political reasons .
-Somalia is chaotic after 18 years of internal strife , and foreigners are frequent kidnap targets .
-Kidnap victims usually are released unharmed , but in many cases only after a ransom is paid .
-The U.S. women 's soccer ( football ) team has defeated Sweden , 1-0 , in an Olympic prep match in Skelleftea , Sweden .
-Carli Lloyd of the United States scored with a deflected shot in the 29th minute .
-Lloyd dribbled past three defenders and fired a low , left-footed shot that ricocheted past the Swedish goal keeper .
-The win was the second in four days for the U.S. women , who also beat Norway , 4-0 , July 2 .
-The win improved the Americans ' record against the Swedes to 16 wins in 25 matches .
-The match also was the first for Pia Sundhage as coach of the United States against her native country .
-She played for Sweden in two World Cups and one Olympics .
-The U.S. women next play Brazil July 13 .
-A Spanish judge has charged 29 people with the 2004 Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people , and ruled that al-Qaida was not involved .
-Judge Juan del Olmo charged five suspects with 191 counts of murder and more than 1,700 counts of attempted murder - the number of victims wounded .
-The other suspects were charged with collaboration .
-Most of the suspects are Moroccans or Spaniards .
-The murder charges could lead to prison sentences of thousands of years , but under Spanish law prisoners can be held for a maximum of 40 years .
-Judge del Olmo said the suspects were inspired by al-Qaida , but said there was no direct link to the terror group .
-He also ruled out any connection to the Basque separatist group , ETA .
-The suspects are expected to go on trial sometime next year .
-U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan say they are investigating whether friendly fire killed an American and a Canadian soldier as they fought in a battle against Taleban rebels last week .
-The fighting began last Wednesday when Taleban insurgents attacked a coalition military base in the southern province of Helmand .
-It was one of the Taleban 's biggest assaults on coalition forces in months .
-Five coalition troops also were wounded in the battle , including an American , three Canadians and one Afghan .
-A coalition statement released today says a team of Americans , Canadians and Afghans will investigate the fighting , including whether any casualties resulted from friendly fire .
-The U.S. military says coalition troops killed 32 Taleban insurgents in the battle .
-European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana says EU officials will likely decide Tuesday to sharply cut the number of peacekeepers in Bosnia-Herzegovina .
-Solana said Monday the security situation in Bosnia is much improved .
-EU officials will likely reduce the number of troops from the current 6,000 to 2,500 .
-The ministers are also expected to formally decide today on whether to extend the Bosnian peacekeeping mission for another year .
-The current mandate expires on June 30 .
-NATO peacekeepers were deployed to Bosnia as part of the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords that ended the fighting in the former Yugoslavia .
-NATO turned over peacekeeping duties to the European Union in 2004 .
-Iranian police have detained a controversial Shi'ite cleric after clashing with his supporters outside his Tehran home .
-Security officials Sunday said the demonstration 's leaders and Ayatollah Mohammad Kazemeini Boroujerdi were arrested .
-A crowd of about 200 people had gathered around Boroujerdi 's house to call for the release of the cleric 's jailed followers .
-They chanted religious slogans , and carried signs , including one saying they were ready to die to defend traditional religion .
-Iranian officials said some of the protesters were armed with knives and acid .
-Boroujerdi has previously been arrested for advocating the separation of religion and politics in the Islamic state .
-The cleric says he has written letters to international leaders including Pope Benedict asking for support .
-Iran has an elected president and parliament , but Islamic clerics select the nation 's supreme leader .
-Chinese authorities are offering generous rewards to anyone who provides information on security threats during the Olympic Games .
-A report Friday by China 's state-run Xinhua news agency says individuals could receive as much as $ 73,000 for tips over the next several months , from July 10 to October 31 .
-Beijing authorities say rewards would be paid for substantial information on terrorist attacks and groups planning to sabotage the games , such as , they say , the Falun Gong .
-Rewards would also be paid for information regarding the deaths of individuals involved in the Olympics and foreigners .
-The Chinese government announced this week that it has already broken up five alleged terrorist groups and arrested more than 80 people suspected of plotting to sabotage the Olympics .
-China says terrorism is the biggest threat to the Olympic Games .
-U.S. forecasters say Hurricane John has strengthened into a Category 3 storm as it churns off Mexico 's Pacific coast , with wind speeds of 185 kilometers per hour .
-The storm is on a track that parallels the Mexican coast .
-Forecasters warned Tuesday that the system could strengthen within 24 hours , triggering dangerous flash floods and mudslides over areas of mountainous terrain .
-At mid afternoon local time , the storm was centered 280 kilometers south of the tourist resort of Acapulco .
-A tropical storm warning is in effect from Lagunas de Chacahua westward to Lazaro Cardenas .
-A tropical storm watch is posted from west of Lazaro Cardenas to Cabo Corrientes .
-John is the sixth hurricane of this year 's Pacific season .
-Authorities in Guatemala say mudslides triggered by a series of torrential rains have killed at least 45 people and caused half a billion dollars in damage .
-The death toll climbed Monday as Guatemalans held a national day of mourning to remember the dead , and President Alvaro Colom declared the situation a " national tragedy . "
-Officials fear the death toll could go higher as rescuers search for additional victims .
-At least 15 people are believed to be missing .
-Tropical weather systems in both the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico have left hillsides throughout Guatemala and southern Mexico saturated with water .
-Heavy flooding in the Mexican Gulf Coast state of Tabasco also forced thousands of people from their homes .
-Authorities in the states of Chiapas , Oaxaca and Veracruz reported serious flooding as well .
-A United Nations human rights envoy has expressed deep concern about the physical and mental health of some 60 imprisoned dissidents in Cuba .
-Human rights expert Catherine Chanet told the U.N. Human Rights Council Tuesday that she remains concerned about detention conditions for a group of dissidents - journalists , writers , and activists - arrested in a crackdown in Cuba in 2003 .
-She also said Cuba 's refusal to cooperate has resulted in an impasse and she recommended ending yearly reports on Cuba 's human rights situation .
-Chanet suggested moving to a proposed new system in which the Human Rights Council reviews the human rights situation of every nation in its membership , not just selected ones with poor past records .
-Cuba supports that move .
-In a speech Tuesday , the Cuban U.N. ambassador in Geneva said about the yearly reports : " this farce is about to end . "
-Pakistani officials say they have killed two suspected Islamic militants and arrested another 12 in separate raids .
-Police say they killed two foreign militants and arrested another 11 during a raid Saturday in a village in the remote North Waziristan region , which borders Afghanistan .
-They say a shootout erupted after security forces surrounded the hideout of the suspected militants .
-The Pakistani armed forces have launched several operations in recent years to flush out suspected al-Qaida and Taleban fighters they believe have taken refuge in remote border regions .
-Earlier , police announced the arrest of Ramzan Mengal , a man they described as a senior member of the outlawed Sunni Muslim militant group , Lashkar-e-Jhangvi .
-They said they arrested him Friday in the southwestern city of Quetta in connection with attacks on Shi'ite Muslims that have claimed more than 100 lives .
-Kuwait has reported two cases of bird flu - the first report of the virus in the Persian Gulf region .
-The head of the Public Agricultural Authority Sheikh Fahd Salem al-Sabah said Thursday the cases were discovered in two birds and that at least one was a migrating fowl .
-It is not clear if the birds were carrying the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus .
-Meanwhile , China has reported two new outbreaks of bird flu among poultry in the northeastern province of Liaoning , bringing the total number of reported outbreaks in the country over the past month to six .
-Wednesday in Geneva , the World Bank said it plans to provide $ 1 billion to pandemic programs , while the World Organization for Animal Health and the Food and Agricultural Organization said another $ 500 million will be needed to fight the disease in animals .
-Russia has cited the importance of relations with the United States , but expressed some concern a day after President Bush criticized democracy in Russia .
-Russia 's ambassador to the United States , Yuri Ushakov , says the two nations must make concerted efforts in the nuclear field , and also share goals in the energy sphere .
-Writing in The Washington Post newspaper , Mr. Ushakov also said it is inadmissible to move in the direction of demonizing Russia .
-He also said Russia has been troubled by some U.S. actions , particularly in Iraq , but respectfully presents its view , rather than try to undermine America 's image or interests .
-In Brussels Monday , President Bush urged Russia to renew a commitment to democracy and the rule of law .
-Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described Mr. Bush 's comments as a call for a strategic partnership to fight terrorism and the spread of weapons of mass destruction .
-Iraqi officials say a powerful car bomb ripped through a busy Baghdad street Wednesday , killing at least 35 people and wounding more than 70 .
-Authorities say the parked car exploded near several restaurants in the mainly Shi'ite neighborhood of Shula , in the capital 's northwest .
-Witnesses say many of the victims were dining at the restaurants and shopping at nearby stores when the attack took place .
-Women and children were reported to be among those killed .
-The blast was the biggest bombing in Iraq since April 29th , when more than 50 people were killed in bombings in Shi'ite districts in Baghdad .
-April was a deadly month in Iraq , with 355 Iraqis reported killed in attacks .
-The United States will decide in the coming weeks whether to take the North Korea nuclear issue to the United Nations , where sanctions could be imposed .
-A senior U.S. defense official said Sunday that Washington is considering taking the matter to the world body because U.S. officials do not see any effort on the part of Pyongyang to cooperate .
-The official , speaking on the sidelines of a security conference in Singapore , described the North 's statements on the nuclear issue as " a downward spiral of threats . "
-The senior U.S. defense official made the comments to reporters on condition of anonymity .
-South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun will meet President Bush in Washington on Friday for talks on the nuclear issue .
-Pyongyang has threatened that any U.N. sanctions would be considered a declaration of war .
-The United States has claimed the final quarterfinal slot in the men 's Olympic ice hockey tournament at the Turin Games in Italy .
-The U.S. team did not have to play Tuesday to advance because Kazakhstan defeated Latvia , 05-Feb .
-The Group-B result eliminated the slim chance for Latvia to overtake the United States at the end of first round play .
-The Latvians needed to beat Kazakhstan and erase a huge 16-goal margin while hoping the United States would lose against Russia later in the day .
-Switzerland rallied for a 03-Mar tie with Italy to clinch second place in Group-A behind Finland .
-All eight teams have been determined for the quarterfinal round beginning Wednesday .
-But results from the final games will decide how the teams are paired in the next round .
-Canada and the Czech Republic are the other teams advancing from Group-A .
-The United States joins Slovakia , Russia and Sweden from Group-B .
-As America 's Hispanic population grows , music from Latin America has surged in popularity in the United States .
-Musicians - particularly those from Mexico - have struck a cord with US audiences .
-But artists from Latin America 's largest nation , Brazil , say they are finding it much harder to break into the US market than their counterparts from other countries .
-Steve Mort reports for VOA from Rio de Janeiro .
-Israeli President Moshe Katsav has begun talks with political parties on forming a new coalition government .
-Mr. Katsav is to meet Sunday with senior members of the Kadima Party , which won 29 seats in the 120-member parliament in legislative elections Wednesday .
-He also is expected to meet with leaders from the Labor Party , which came in second in the poll .
-Political observers say Kadima will recommend that its leader , Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert , be formally appointed prime minister and charged with forming a cabinet .
-Kadima has already begun informal talks with potential coalition partners .
-Mr. Olmert has said coalition partners must accept his plan for unilateral withdrawals from the West Bank .
-The U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan says Afghan and coalition forces are initiating most of the engagements on Islamic militants in the country 's restive south .
-A U.S. military spokesman told a news conference in Kabul Wednesday the initiative is with the Afghan and foreign forces , not with the Taleban .
-His remarks come as guerillas are stepping up attacks in the south before NATO-led troops take over control of security in the region next month .
-Meanwhile the coalition forces say they killed five militants in Uruzgan province on Wednesday and 17 others in several other provinces since Sunday .
-Also , a suspected suicide bomber was killed when the explosives strapped to his body detonated prematurely as he was trying to enter offices of a Turkish construction company in central Ghazni province .
-Islamist rebels have attacked African Union peacekeepers for a second straight day in the Somali capital , Mogadishu , wounding at least one soldier .
-An AU spokesman says the soldier was hurt Monday when a roadside bomb exploded near an AU vehicle .
-On Sunday , another roadside bomb wounded two newly arrived AU peacekeepers from Burundi .
-Approximately two-thousand troops from Burundi and Uganda make up the AU peacekeeping mission , known as AMISOM .
-The force has been guarding key sites in Mogadishu as Somalia 's Ethiopian-backed government fights the Islamist insurgency .
-The insurgency began in early 2007 , soon after Ethiopian forces helped the government oust an Islamist movement from power in Mogadishu and other Somali cities .
-Authorities in Iraq say nine people have been shot and killed in the northeast town of Baquba .
-The victims were boarding a minibus on their way to work Wednesday morning when they were gunned down .
-The attack comes as authorities are dealing with a new wave of kidnappings in Iraq .
-Four Western aid workers , including an American , a Briton and two Canadians , were abducted Saturday in Baghdad .
-The four were seen in a videotape broadcast Tuesday by Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera .
-The video was made by an insurgent group calling itself the Swords of Righteousness Brigade .
-Meanwhile , Germany has called for the release of a kidnapped national , archaeologist Susanne Osthoff , and her driver who disappeared Friday .
-Officials believe the latest kidnappings are aimed at disrupting next month 's national parliamentary elections .
-A series of explosions shook the Iraqi capital Wednesday , while a high-ranking U.S. official visited the country .
-Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick visited the former insurgent stronghold of Fallujah to inspect reconstruction efforts there .
-Later , he is to meet in Baghdad with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari .
-Meanwhile , near Kirkuk , nine policemen were killed while trying to defuse a bomb .
-In Baghdad , at least four people were injured in three separate explosions .
-A U.S. military spokeswoman said a fourth blast hit a Defense Department convoy , killing five Iraqis and injuring four U.S. contractors .
-And al-Jazeera television aired a video it said shows an American contractor who was abducted Monday near Baghdad .
-The video showed the man urging U.S. officials to open a dialogue with insurgents in order to save his life .
-Iraqi officials say near-simultaneous blasts in Baghdad have killed at least 22 people and wounded 25 others in central Baghdad .
-Officials say the two attacks occurred near a cafe Thursday afternoon .
-Meanwhile , Muslim groups and the family of kidnapped American journalist Jill Carroll continue to appeal for her release .
-Iraqi officials said they have asked the U.S. military to release six of eight Iraqi women in detention , but they say it is not related to the demands of Carroll 's kidnappers .
-Reuters news agency quotes a Pentagon spokesman as saying officials do not expect to resolve the detained women 's status in the near future .
-Also Thursday , an international team of election experts said it found only minor election violations in Iraq 's December poll .
-Iraq 's election commission is expected to issue final poll results in the next week .
-U.N officials say they have resolved a problem with skewed official exchange rates that led to U.N. losses of more than $ 1.5 million in the delivery of aid to survivors of Cyclone Nargis in Burma .
-U.N. officials said Monday Burma 's military government had agreed to let outside donors pay local companies directly in dollars rather than via the official system involving foreign exchange certificates .
-Officials also said Burma will waive a 10 percent government transaction fee for all international humanitarian agencies .
-The U.N. losses stemmed from Burma 's insistence that donors convert aid dollars into foreign exchange certificates with a value of $ 1 each .
-These certificates were then used to buy the local currency , the kyat .
-However , the exchange rate for the certificates is 20 percent lower than the market rate .
-French police have arrested a key Syrian witness in a United Nations probe of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri .
-Police say Muhammad al-Siddiq was arrested Sunday outside Paris , and is expected to be extradited to Beirut in the near future .
-Lebanese media reports say Mr. al-Siddiq has claimed to have participated in a meeting of Lebanese security officials who allegedly designed the assassination plan .
-Syrian officials claim he is unreliable .
-A report from the U.N.-appointed prosecutor probing the assassination is expected to implicate Syrian officials in the February 14 bombing that killed Mr. Hariri and 20 others in Beirut .
-U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan says he will wait to read a report due next week from prosecutor Detlev Mehlis before deciding whether to extend the probe to December , as requested last week by Lebanese lawmakers .
-The U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan says at least 25 Taleban rebels have been killed during a joint military operation with Afghan troops in the south of the country .
-A statement released by the coalition Friday says the clash happened Thursday in Helmand province .
-Also Thursday , three NATO soldiers from Canada were killed in an attack by Taleban insurgents in southern Kandahar province .
-In a separate incident in the same province , a suicide attacker drove a bomb-laden car into a crowded market , killing at least 21 people and wounding 13 others .
-Local officials say the suicide bomber was apparently targeting the NATO-led International Security Assistance Forces , but the casualties were all civilians .
-NATO took over security operations from U.S.-led coalition forces this week in six southern Afghan provinces .
-The U.S.-led military coalition in Afghanistan says a car bomb has seriously wounded two coalition soldiers in the southern city of Kandahar .
-A coalition spokeswoman says a bomb was detonated by remote control inside a vehicle near a coalition patrol Monday .
-She says the wounded soldiers were taken to a medical facility for treatment .
-At least eight people , including two Canadian soldiers , were killed in a double suicide bombing in the same area Saturday .
-A purported Taleban spokesman ( Yousuf Ahmadi ) claimed responsibility for those attacks .
-Meanwhile , police said Monday a man traveling in a taxi detonated a grenade at a border checkpoint in Khost province Sunday , killing himself and another person .
-Three others were wounded .
-The man set off the grenades after police stopped the taxi .
-Japan 's parliament has ratified a free trade agreement with Mexico .
-The accord , which was signed last September by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Mexican President Vicente Fox , must still be ratified by Mexico 's legislature .
-The trade accord promises to widen Japanese export opportunities in Mexico and the United States , and aims to reduce Mexican dependence on the United States for export sales .
-About 90 percent of Mexico 's exports go to the United States .
-Police in southwestern Afghanistan say suspected Taleban militants Saturday attacked a mine-clearing team , killing seven people .
-Authorities in western Farah province say gunmen ambushed the team as they traveled from southern Kandahar to the western province of Herat .
-Police say a total of six security guards and de-miners who worked for a U.S.-based mine clearing company ( RONCO ) and an Afghan woman were killed .
-Four other people were wounded in the shootout .
-Taleban militants are waging a bloody insurgency in Afghanistan .
-On Friday , Afghan President Hamid Karzai disclosed his government has held direct talks with Taleban militants .
-At a news conference in Kabul , Mr. Karzai said the talks have been going on for some time .
-Taleban representatives later denied the president 's claim .
-Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says a power vacuum is emerging in Iraq and that his government is ready to fill the gap with the help of neighboring states .
-Speaking Tuesday in Tehran , Mr. Ahmadinejad attributed the developing vacuum to what he called the rapidly declining political power of " the occupiers , " an apparent reference to the United States .
-He did not elaborate on how Iran could fill such a power gap .
-Washington accuses Tehran of fueling violence in Iraq by training and supplying weapons to Shi'ite insurgents .
-Iran denies the charge and says it is doing its best to stabilize its neighbor .
-Mr. Ahmadinejad also said he sees " no possibility " of a U.S. attack on Iran .
-The United States has accused Iran of seeking a nuclear weapon , but says it favors diplomacy in ending the crisis .
-Iran denies seeking atomic weapons and says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes .
-A group of elders from Burma 's Shan ethnic group has declared a Shan State independent from the military junta .
-In a speech from an undisclosed location on Sunday , His Royal Highness Prince Surkhanpha , director of the Brussels-based Euro Burma Office , cited Burma 's 1947 constitution for the move .
-That constitution was nullified by a military coup in 1962 and replaced by another constitution in 1974 .
-Prince Surkhanpha 's declaration of independence was accompanied by a foreign policy statement that declared Shan State a war zone and warned foreigners to avoid the region .
-The statement urged all Shan people living abroad to return home and serve their country , the Federated Shan States .
-Reports circulating in the Burmese exile community say the prince 's declaration of independence has raised concern among many ethnic Shan living outside their homeland .
-The U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan says its forces have killed about 45 insurgents in the country 's south .
-The coalition says ground troops called in air support Wednesday after their patrol of foreign and Afghan troops was attacked by Taleban fighters in Uruzgan province .
-A similar exchange on Tuesday killed about 12 Taleban fighters in the southern province of Zabul .
-In a separate incident , officials say a Bangladeshi aid worker was shot dead by unknown gunmen in the northeastern province of Badakshan .
-Coalition and Afghan forces have been fighting the Taleban since 2001 , when a U.S.-led invasion drove the extremist Islamic group from power .
-Militant attacks in southern and eastern Afghanistan have escalated over the past 19 months , marking the bloodiest period since the beginning of the war .
-Russia 's nuclear power chief says his country plans to start up the Bushehr nuclear reactor in Iran this year .
-Sergei Kiriyenko told Russian media Thursday that assuming nothing unexpected happens , the launch will go as planned before the end of 2009 .
-He said there are no unresolved questions with his Iranian counterparts regarding the technical start-up .
-Kiriyenko said he plans to travel to the Bushehr construction site later this month .
-Russia began working on the project in 1995 , and says it has already delivered the fuel to get Iran 's first nuclear power plant running .
-The plant 's opening has frequently been delayed .
-In the past , Iranian officials have blamed the delays , in part , on foreign sanctions related to its disputed nuclear program .
-Officials say Bushehr will be capable of producing about 1,000 megawatts of electricity a year .
-British military authorities say Prince Harry , the third in line to Britain 's throne , will be deployed to Iraq with his military unit .
-A Defense Ministry announcement says the prince , a second lieutenant in the Blues and Royals Regiment , will begin service in Iraq in the next few months as part of a British troop rotation .
-The prince will become the latest member of Britain 's royal family to see front-line action since his uncle , Prince Andrew the Duke of York , served as a helicopter pilot during the 1982 Falklands War .
-Prince Harry , formally known as Troop Commander Wales , has trained to lead 11 soldiers and four Scimitar tanks .
-After graduating from Britain 's Sandhurst Military Academy last year , the prince has repeatedly expressed his wish to accompany his regiment to Iraq .
-U.S. President-elect Barack Obama is urging Congress to move quickly on a plan to deal with the financial crisis in the country and help struggling families .
-In Saturday 's Democratic weekly radio address , Mr. Obama said if Congress does not immediately pass an economic rescue plan , he will make it his first order of business as president .
-He said the rescue package should create jobs , relieve financial pressure on families and revive the economy .
-Mr. Obama expressed optimism that , with new policies and a spirit of service and sacrifice , the country can steer itself out of economic turmoil .
-He praised world leaders for coming to Washington to seek a solution to the global financial crisis , saying the matter requires a " coordinated global response . "
-On Friday , Mr. Obama announced a delegation is taking part in G-20 summit on his behalf .
-Israeli warplanes have launched strikes in the northern Gaza Strip .
-Palestinian witnesses say at least one Israeli missile struck a military compound , about 100 meters from the offices of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas .
-The president was elsewhere when the attack occurred .
-Palestinian sources say two guards were wounded when a rocket landed in the compound near a helicopter pad used by Mr. Abbas .
-Israel says the strikes targeted opened areas used by Palestinian militants to fire rockets into southern Israel .
-Militants fired at least nine rockets into Israel Tuesday , including one that Israel says landed dangerously close to a huge fuel storage facility near the port city of Ashkelon .
-Iran says it is investigating Afghan troops who shot at Iranian forces after crossing over the border .
-Iran 's ISNA news agency says Iranian border guards encountered the Afghan troops traveling by car , armed with rifles and a grenade launcher .
-Border police commander Hossein Zolfaghari said the six officers and one soldier were detained , and told officials they were looking for Taliban militants and crossed into Iran by accident .
-Zolfaghari did not say when the arrests took place .
-Both Afghanistan and Iran have been battling insurgents and smugglers along their joint border .
-Earlier this month , Afghan officials said they seized at least 19 tons of explosives found in shipping containers imported from Iran .
-Afghanistan has previously accused Iran of selling weapons to the Taliban , allegations Tehran denies .
-A Polish court has fined a magazine publisher $ 6,400 for insulting Pope John Paul .
-The Warsaw court Tuesday found Jerzy Urban , who was a spokesman for Poland 's former communist government , guilty of violating a law that bans publicly insulting foreign heads of state .
-He printed an article in the weekly magazine NIE making fun of the pope 's age and frailty shortly before the Polish-born pontiff 's August 2002 visit to his homeland .
-The court 's decision brought expressions of concern from Europe 's top security organization that Poland is curtailing the freedom of the press .
-A spokesman for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said the European Court of Human Rights has ruled that increased protection for public officials is contrary to European law .
-He then called on Polish authorities to introduce legislation decriminalizing libel and defamation .
-British teenager Andy Murray has won his first tennis match under new coach Brad Gilbert , firing 13 aces to defeat Ramon Delgado of Paraguay , 06-Apr , 06-Mar , at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington .
-The 19-year-old player from Scotland won 26 of 37 first-serve points Wednesday to reach the third round of the hardcourt event .
-His match lasted just 88 minutes in sweltering 37-degree Celsius heat .
-Murray will play again Thursday against either Spaniard Feliciano Lopez or Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili for a place in the quarterfinal round .
-Russian seventh seed Dmitry Tursunov advanced when Edgardo Massa of Argentina retired with a right shoulder injury with the match even at 06-Mar , 01-Jun , 03-Mar .
-Denis Gremelmayr ousted fellow German Bjorn Phau , 06-Apr , 06-Mar .
-Bangladesh and India have begun two days of talks in Dhaka on sharing water resources .
-Bangladeshi officials say the talks , led by the secretaries of each country 's water resources ministries , will focus on sharing waters from the Teesta and six other common rivers .
-They say the two sides will also discuss India 's controversial river-linking project aimed at diverting surplus water from rivers in its flood-prone northeast to dry western and southern parts of the country .
-Opponents believe the project would cause rivers in Bangladesh to dry up , affecting the country 's ecology and farming .
-Bangladesh and India have 54 common rivers but have an agreement , signed in 1996 , only to share water resources from the Ganges River .
-Hundreds of Pakistanis have demonstrated in the northwestern Bajaur tribal region against a purported U.S. airstrike last week that killed civilians .
-Sunday 's rally was held near the site of the January 13 attack , widely reported to have been carried out by a CIA drone aircraft .
-Demonstrators chanted slogans against the United States and burned effigies of President Bush .
-The missile strike in the village of Damadola was apparently intended for , but missed , al-Qaida 's second-in-command , Ayman al-Zawahiri .
-However , Pakistani officials say it killed at least three other top al-Qaida members , including a chemical weapons expert .
-The attack has caused friction between Islamabad and Washington .
-On Saturday , Pakistan 's Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri called for better cooperation between the two countries to avoid a repeat of the missile strike .
-President Bush is in Russia for talks with President Vladimir Putin , ahead of the Group of Eight economic summit .
-Mr. Bush and his wife Laura arrived in St. Petersburg Friday morning from Germany .
-In his talks with the President Putin , Mr. Bush has said he will discuss concerns about press freedom and democracy in Russia , but will not scold the Russian leader .
-The two leaders are also expected to discuss the nuclear crises in Iran and North Korea , and the escalating fighting in the Middle East .
-The G-8 summit gets under way in St. Petersburg Saturday .
-The two leaders are meeting as U.S. and Russian negotiators work to conclude a deal that would let the former communist state join the World Trade Organization .
-Presidents and officials from 12 South American countries have launched a plan to create a regional trade bloc modeled after the European Union .
-Representatives held a summit Wednesday in the city of Cuzco , Peru , to create the South American Community of Nations .
-The trade bloc will represent about 360 million people .
-It is expected to have a gross domestic product of around $ 1 trillion , with exports that top $ 180 billion .
-The new economic pact will merge the Mercosur trade bloc of Argentina , Uruguay , Paraguay and Brazil with the Andean Community of Bolivia , Colombia , Ecuador , Peru and Venezuela .
-Chile , Suriname and Guyana will also join .
-The presidents of Argentina , Uruguay , Paraguay and Ecuador chose not to attend the summit , but instead sent representatives .
-The king of Swaziland has postponed national events to mark World AIDS Day , citing a conflict with a traditional royal ceremony .
-Officials with King Mswati 's government say they did not want the events to compete with the incwala ceremony , which they announced will begin Thursday .
-The Swazi Observer news agency quotes a government health official , Nhlanhla Nhlabatsi as saying events to mark World AIDS Day will now be held at the beginning of February .
-But a group of non-governmental organizations fighting AIDS is defying the king 's order and will hold its scheduled dinner in Swaziland 's capital , Mbabane .
-The United Nations says up to 40 percent of adults in the tiny southern Africa kingdom are infected with HIV , the virus that causes AIDS .
-King Mswati has drawn criticism for his lavish lifestyle and multiple wives at a time of widespread suffering .
-Iraq 's electoral commission has certified the results of the country 's January 30 elections and has allocated 140 seats to the main Shi'ite coalition , giving it a majority in the new parliament .
-As expected , the United Iraqi Alliance was the big winner , sweeping 140 of the 275 seats in the interim National Assembly .
-Kurdish parties ran a distant second , taking 75 seats .
-Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi 's secular Shi'ite party was third , taking 40 seats .
-Eight million Iraqis voted , but the country 's Sunnis mostly boycotted the election .
-The United Nation 's top official for the Iraq elections , Carlos Valenzuela , said in Baghdad Thursday that he hopes those who did not participate in the elections will join the political process in the next step of the transition .
-The National Assembly will be in power for 10 months and will draft a new constitution .
-Israeli forces have begun handing over the town of Jericho to Palestinian security control - the first of five West Bank towns Israel has pledged to turn over .
-Israeli and Palestinian security commanders met at a checkpoint just outside Jericho for Wednesday 's ceremonial handover .
-After the ceremony , Israeli troops began turning over several other checkpoints around the town to Palestinian security forces .
-In the coming days , Israel is to hand over the town of Tulkarem and , after that , Qalqiliya .
-But no timetable has yet been set for Ramallah and Bethlehem .
-Meanwhile , in Cairo , Egyptian and Palestinian officials and Palestinian militant leaders are discussing a proposal for a one-year stop to Palestinian attacks on Israeli targets .
-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says Palestinians must dismantle the militant groups in addition to agreeing to a cease-fire .
-The main political rival to Afghanistan 's President Hamid Karzai has formed a new national-level political party called New Afghanistan .
-Yunus Qanuni told reporters in Kabul his party will take part in the upcoming parliamentary elections in April .
-He also said he will support any positive steps taken by the newly-formed Karzai government , but oppose it when it is wrong .
-Mr. Karzai told reporters Friday that he has urged Mr. Qanuni to form a national party .
-He said he does not want parties in his country to become ethnic or provincial .
-Mr. Qanuni said Mr. Karzai offered to make him defense minister , but he declined because that would have limited his political role .
-Mr. Qanuni lost to Mr. Karzai in the country 's first democratic presidential election in October .
-Rescuers in Djibouti have found at least 22 more bodies from the boat that capsized Thursday , bringing the death toll up to 94 .
-The accident is thought to be the worst-ever disaster to occur in the tiny Horn of Africa country .
-The search continued Saturday for more people missing from the wooden boat , which flipped over just 100 meters from the dock in the port of Djibouti .
-The exact number of passengers remains unknown , but witnesses say the boat was severely overcrowded with at least 250 people .
-Some passengers were rescued or swam to shore .
-The vessel was headed to a Muslim religious festival in the town of Tadjoura .
-The Lebanese army continues to shell Islamic militants holed up in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon .
-Fighters are ignoring messages broadcast by the army over loudspeakers in the Nahr el-Bared camp , calling for them to surrender .
-In addition , occasional gunfire and explosions can be heard .
-Nearly all the refugees have fled the camp , located near Tripoli , in the two months since the standoff began .
-More than 200 people have been killed since fighting erupted between Lebanon 's army and the Fatah al-Islam militants at the camp May 20 .
-The dead include more than 100 soldiers and at least 60 militants .
-The conflict at the refugee camp is the worst internal violence in Lebanon since the 1975-to-1990 civil war .
-Israel has re-opened a key border crossing in the northern Gaza Strip , and says it will allow 1,000 Palestinian workers and hundreds of Gaza merchants to enter
-Israel on Thursday .
-Wednesday 's announcement comes a day after an Israeli-Palestinian summit , where Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas declared an end to militant attacks on Israelis .
-Israel , in turn , promised to stop killing Palestinians anywhere .
-The Erez crossing was closed last month after militants killed six Israeli civilians in northern Gaza . Meanwhile , Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom says he is launching a campaign to organize a national referendum on Israel 's Gaza withdrawal plan .
-The move places Mr. Shalom at odds with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon , who says he wants to expedite the pullback and insists a referendum is unnecessary .
-Interior Minister Ophir Pines called the referendum push a move by withdrawal opponents to sabotage the plan .
-Haiti 's electoral board has again postponed the country 's presidential and legislative elections , this time setting the poll for January 8 .
-This is the fourth time the board has pushed back the poll to replace the country 's interim administration with an elected body .
-The vote was originally scheduled for October 9 .
-Election officials have attributed the postponements to poor organization and a lack of resources for the poll .
-An official on the nine-member election council , Rosemond Pradel told the Associated Press the new delay is because the country is still not prepared for a vote .
-But he insisted the new poll date is final .
-Haiti 's constitution requires that a new government be in place by February 7 .
-Leaders of Venezuela , Brazil , Colombia and Spain are to meet in the Venezuelan city of Puerto Ordaz Tuesday to discuss various issues , including trade and political alliances .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez , his Brazilian and Colombian counterparts , Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Alvaro Uribe , as well as Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero are also to discuss drug smuggling , terrorism and seeking a common position toward Colombian rebels .
-The Associated Press reports the National Liberation Army , one of Colombia 's leftist rebel groups , issued a statement saying it rejects terrorism and that it hopes the governments involved in today 's talks will create a greater certainty for peace in the region .
-CIA Director Porter Goss ' choice for the post of executive director of the intelligence agency has declined the appointment after accounts were published about his resignation from the CIA two decades ago .
-Michael Kostiw said Monday he will still serve as a senior advisor to Mr. Goss , but feared the reports of his past indiscretion would " be a distraction from the critical work " of the agency .
-As executive director , Mr. Kostiw would have been the agency 's day-to-day manager , overseeing budgetary and personnel decisions .
-The Washington Post reported Sunday the former House of Representatives Intelligence Committee 's staff director for terrorism resigned from the CIA in 1982 after being put on leave for shoplifting .
-The paper reported that , in exchange for his quitting , the agency arranged for charges to be dropped and his police record to be cleared .
-The World Health Organization says 22 people injured in the earthquake in Pakistan have died of tetanus infections in the past few days .
-A spokeswoman for the organization said Thursday the situation appears to be stabilizing .
-There have been 111 tetanus cases reported since the quake struck on October 8 , but just seven new cases in the past two days .
-U.N. officials are warning that more quake survivors could perish in coming months unless they get food and shelter before winter .
-On Wednesday , a U.N. official said international donors pledged an additional $ 580 million for earthquake relief efforts .
-The death toll in Pakistan now stands at more than 54,000 people , and officials say rebuilding damaged areas will cost $ 5 billion .
-The World Bank has canceled more than seven million dollars in aid to Cambodia after finding evidence of fraud and corruption in three development projects .
-In a statement released Sunday , the bank said the three suspended projects involved land management , infrastructure and water and sanitation projects .
-The World Bank said it would provide further details of its findings later this week , but could not do so now because it would jeopardize confidential communications from Cambodia .
-Corruption is endemic in Cambodia , a country impoverished after decades of conflict .
-There was no immediate response from the Cambodian government to the bank 's statement .
-An Egyptian court has convicted a former Iranian diplomat and an Egyptian man of spying for Iran .
-Iran 's foreign ministry spokesman called the verdict " ridiculous . "
-The Iranian , Mohammed Reza Husseindoust , was sentenced in his absence to 25 years in prison .
-The court ruled he tried to destablize Egypt and received information from the Egyptian defendant , Mahmoud Eid Dabous , about oil facilities at the Saudi port of Yanbu .
-Several westerners were killed in May of 2004 in an attack on a petrochemical plant in Yanbu .
-The attack was blamed on Islamist militants .
-Dabous was sentenced to 10 years in prison on the espionage charge and another 25 years for plotting to assassinate Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak .
-He denied the allegations and said his earlier confession was made under torture .
-Iran has warned the United States not to attack its nuclear facilities .
-At a news briefing Sunday , Iran 's foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi warned Washington " not to play with fire " by repeatedly threatening Tehran .
-The spokesman also rejected a European proposal aimed at restricting Tehran 's development of nuclear fuel .
-Meanwhile , a U.S. newspaper , The Washington Post , report says the United States has been flying unmanned surveillance drones over Iran for almost a year to search for evidence of nuclear weapons programs and detect weaknesses in air defenses .
-In another development , U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan says relying on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is not enough to prevent what he calls a " cascade " of countries acquiring nuclear weapons .
-Mr. Annan urges new joint action , including tougher inspection rules .
-Afghanistan 's newly-elected President Hamid Karzai says he plans to abolish private militias , end the power of warlords and establish the rule of law .
-He said private militias will not be tolerated at all , and former fighters who surrender their arms will be integrated into the national mainstream .
-In an interview with CNN Television Tuesday , Mr. Karzai also said Afghanistan plans to do everything in its power to eliminate the poppy cultivation used to illegally produce heroin .
-He said he would need the support of the international community to help farmers find alternative sources of income .
-Mr. Karzai was echoing remarks he made last week after authorities confirmed his victory in the October 9 election , the first direct and democratic presidential poll in Afghanistan .
-New fighting in Somalia 's capital has killed at least three people and wounded at least 20 others .
-A local journalist tells VOA 's Somali service that government forces attacked Islamist insurgents in parts of Mogadishu early Thursday .
-The fighting was centered in the Bakara market , a longtime insurgent stronghold , and the city 's Howlwadaag District .
-Government forces are reported to have captured an insurgent base in Howlwadaag .
-The Somali government controls only small parts of Mogadishu after more than three years of fighting with Islamist militants .
-The groups al-Shabab and Hizbul Islam are trying to topple the government and turn Somalia into a strict Islamic state .
-The U.S. House of Representatives voted Friday to cut off aid to Saudi Arabia , accusing the close ally of religious intolerance and funding terrorist organizations .
-The ban is contained in an amendment slipped into a foreign aid funding bill for next year that has not yet been debated in the Senate .
-Congress has passed bills in the past to stop the relatively small amount of U.S. aid to Saudi Arabia .
-But the Bush administration has found a way around the restrictions .
-The main backer of the amendment , Democratic Party representative Anthony Weiner from New York State , says cutting off aid sends " a clear message to the Saudi Arabian government that they must be a TRUE ally in advancing peace in the Middle East . "
-The Saudi Embassy in Washington has not commented on the proposed legislation .
-Congressional officials say the United States provided $ 2.5 million to Riyadh in 2005 and 2006 .
-A former analyst at the U.S. Department of Defense has admitted to giving classified information to pro-Israel lobbyists and an Israeli embassy official .
-In a federal court in Virginia Wednesday , Lawrence Franklin pleaded guilty to illegally possessing classified documents and to conspiracy .
-The 58-year-old former analyst says he provided information to an official at the Israeli embassy and to two members of a lobbying group called the American Israel Public Affairs Committee .
-Franklin used to work as an Iran expert at the Pentagon .
-Iran 's conservative-dominated parliament has voted to speed up debate of a bill that would force the government to scale back its cooperation with U.N. nuclear inspectors .
-The official IRNA news agency says parliament passed the motion Wednesday , with 162 lawmakers voting in favor , 42 against and 15 abstaining .
-The vote comes after last week 's International Atomic Energy Agency resolution , which puts Iran on notice that it could be referred to the U.N. Security Council if it fails to cooperate fully with IAEA inspectors .
-Iran has threatened several retaliatory moves , including suspension of a protocol that allows unannounced IAEA inspections of Iranian nuclear facilities .
-Tehran has also threatened to scale back trade ties with countries that supported the IAEA resolution .
-The United States and several western countries accuse Iran of secretly trying to develop atomic weapons .
-Iran denies the charge .
-The Dalai Lama says he is looking forward to giving up his political duties as head of the Tibetan exile movement some time next year .
-A top aide on Tuesday confirmed the Buddhist spiritual leader 's plan , which he recently declared in a broadcast interview in India .
-The Dalai Lama said he wants to discuss his intentions with the Tibetan parliament in exile , which convenes in March .
-He said he has been in a state of semi-retirement since the movement first elected a political leader in 2001 .
-The senior aide , Tenzin Taklha , stressed that the retirement would apply only to the Dalai Lama 's political role .
-He said the Nobel Peace Prize laureate would continue to serve as a spiritual leader of the Tibetan people .
-Swiss police say a container of swine flu virus samples packed in dry ice burst late Monday as it was being shipped on a Swiss train from Zurich to Geneva .
-Authorities attribute the accident to bad packaging and say it posed no threat to humans .
-Police said the container held vials of a strain of swine flu virus different from the H1N1 variety responsible for a worldwide alert and for the deaths of about 150 people in Mexico .
-The material was being transferred to Geneva as part of Swiss efforts to develop an effective test for detecting swine flu in humans .
-Reuters news agency says police stopped the train ahead of its arrival in Lausanne .
-Authorities report one person injured in the incident .
-Kenya 's justice minister says the government will start freezing the assets of those suspected of profiting from corruption .
-Martha Karua told reporters Wednesday that the assets include well-known buildings in Nairobi she said were built with looted government funds .
-Karua did not name any targeted officials , but said her office is accelerating action on all corruption cases , including the so-called Anglo Leasing and Goldenberg scandals .
-Kenya 's former ministers of finance , energy and education all resigned recently after being linked to the multi-million dollar scandals .
-The officials have denied any wrongdoing .
-On Wednesday , Kenya 's Anti-Corruption Commission interviewed former Transport Minister Chris Murungaru , who has been ordered to account for his wealth .
-Murungaru told reporters he will not comply with the order , and said the commission should present any evidence it has showing that he committed a crime .
-The outgoing Palestinian parliament has given Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas new powers just days before the Islamic militant group Hamas comes to power .
-The parliament , which is dominated by Mr. Abbas ' Fatah party , passed an amendment Monday allowing him to name judges to a court that can veto laws passed by the legislature .
-Hamas leaders called the measure " illegitimate " and vowed to overturn it when the group takes over the legislature Saturday .
-Spokesmen for Hamas also say it has settled on a prime minister who belongs to the militant group .
-Earlier , Hamas said it preferred an independent for the post .
-The group says it hopes Fatah will join a new Palestinian government , but Fatah has said it will refuse .
-A Democratic Congressman has called on young Americans to oppose President Bush 's plan to change the national retirement system , Social Security .
-In the Democratic Party 's weekly radio address Saturday , House member Kendrick Meek of Florida said the changes would harm the middle-class , increase the deficit , and cut benefits for most workers .
-He says today 's young Americans will be hurt the most as they reach retirement age .
-He says the president 's plan would force the country to borrow trillions of dollars from foreign nations .
-Cong. Meek says the private accounts the president has been promoting would be hit with what he called " a large privatization tax . "
-President Bush says those accounts would earn a higher rate of return .
-Mr. Bush recently wrapped up a nationwide tour promoting his plans for Social Security .
-He called the changes needed to secure the system for future generations .
-The Internet is often referred to as the Information Superhighway .
-But there are often shady characters loitering at every exit .
-As technology grows at increasing speed , " cyber criminals " are keeping law enforcement agencies very busy , as VOA 's Robert Raffaele explains .
-A top Iraqi Shi'ite leader is calling on the United States to let Iraqi forces take a more aggressive role against insurgents .
-In an interview published Sunday in the Washington Post , Abdul Aziz Hakim says U.S. troops are hampering efforts by Iraq 's fledgling security forces to hunt down insurgents .
-He said there were planned Iraqi military moves against insurgents that should have been implemented months ago .
-And he said the rejection of those by U.S. generals has led to an expansion in terror attacks .
-He did not provide details .
-Mr. Hakim also urged the United States to take stronger action against countries bordering Iraq who harbor insurgents and their supporters .
-Mr. Hakim heads the Shi'ite dominated Supreme Council for the Revolution in Iraq , which has the largest representation in parliament .
-The U.S. secretary of agriculture says he has taken immediate action to ensure that future beef exports meet Japanese requirements .
-Japan reimposed a complete ban on beef from the United States , after finding material it believes could transmit mad cow disease in a shipment that arrived Friday .
-The country had resumed importing beef from the United States in December after months of negotiations .
-U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns says a team of inspectors will go to Japan to re-examine all beef from the U.S. Johanns says the plant that sent the shipment to Japan has been barred from future exporting , and that the inspector who passed the shipment will be disciplined .
-A spokesman for the U.S. beef industry , J. Patrick Boyle , head of the American Meat Institute says the industry regrets the incident but continues to be confident in the safety of American beef .
-The Tajik people came under Russian rule in the 1860s and 1870s , but Russia 's hold on Central Asia weakened following the Revolution of 1917 .
-Bolshevik control of the area was fiercely contested and not fully reestablished until 1925 .
-Much of present-day Sughd province was transferred from the Uzbek SSR to the newly formed Tajik SSR in 1929 .
-Ethnic Uzbeks form a substantial minority in Tajikistan .
-Tajikistan became independent in 1991 following the breakup of the Soviet Union , and experienced a civil war between regional factions from 1992 - 97 .
-Tajikistan experienced several security incidents in 2010 , including a mass prison-break from a Dushanbe detention facility , the country 's first suicide car bombing in Khujand , and armed conflict between government forces and opposition militants in the Rasht Valley .
-The country remains the poorest in the former Soviet sphere .
-Attention by the international community since the beginning of the NATO intervention in Afghanistan has brought increased economic development and security assistance , which could create jobs and strengthen stability in the long term .
-Tajikistan is seeking WTO membership and has joined NATO 's Partnership for Peace .
-Economic activity is limited to commercial fishing .
-The proximity to nearby oil- and gas-producing sedimentary basins suggests the potential for oil and gas deposits , but the region is largely unexplored .
-There are no reliable estimates of potential reserves .
-Commercial exploitation has yet to be developed .
-Tourism is the number one foreign exchange earner in this small economy , followed by exports of marine products , citrus , cane sugar , bananas , and garments .
-The government 's expansionary monetary and fiscal policies , initiated in September 1998 , led to GDP growth averaging nearly 4 % in 1999 - 2007 .
-Oil discoveries in 2006 bolstered this growth .
-Exploration efforts have continued and production has increased a small amount .
-In February 2007 , the government restructured nearly all of its public external commercial debt , which helped reduce interest payments and relieved some of the country 's liquidity concerns .
-Growth slipped to 0 % in 2009 and 1.5 % in 2010 as a result of the global slowdown , natural disasters , and the drop in the price of oil .
-With weak economic growth and a large public debt burden , fiscal spending is likely to be tight .
-A key government objective remains the reduction of poverty and inequality with the help of international donors .
-Although Belize has the second highest per capita income in Central America , the average income figure masks a huge income disparity between rich and poor .
-The 2010 Poverty Assessment shows that more than 4 out of 10 people live in poverty .
-The sizable trade deficit and heavy foreign debt burden continue to be major concerns .
-A CAT fell in love with a handsome young man , and entreated Venus to change her into the form of a woman .
-Venus consented to her request and transformed her into a beautiful damsel , so that the youth saw her and loved her , and took her home as his bride .
-While the two were reclining in their chamber , Venus wishing to discover if the Cat in her change of shape had also altered her habits of life , let down a mouse in the middle of the room .
-The Cat , quite forgetting her present condition , started up from the couch and pursued the mouse , wishing to eat it .
-Venus was much disappointed and again caused her to return to her former shape .
-Nature exceeds nurture .
-A Hart hotly pursued by the hounds fled for refuge into an ox-stall , and buried itself in a truss of hay , leaving nothing to be seen but the tips of his horns .
-Soon after the Hunters came up and asked if any one had seen the Hart .
-The stable boys , who had been resting after their dinner , looked round , but could see nothing , and the Hunters went away .
-Shortly afterwards the master came in , and looking round , saw that something unusual had taken place .
-He pointed to the truss of hay and said : " What are those two curious things sticking out of the hay ? "
-And when the stable boys came to look they discovered the Hart , and soon made an end of him .
-He thus learnt that
-Nothing escapes the master 's eye .
-The people who say they would rather push a Ford than drive a Chevy usually do .
-U.S. officials say China is willing to send hundreds of engineers to Sudan 's troubled Darfur region as part of a planned United Nations-backed deployment of peacekeepers .
-State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos on Monday welcomed China 's decision , calling it a positive development .
-But he also called on Beijing to use its significant influence with Khartoum to agree to the full deployment of a hybrid U.N.-African Union force of more than 20-thousand troops as soon as possible .
-Sudan has resisted international pressure to allow the peacekeepers , who would strengthen an existing African Union force in Darfur .
-Fighting between rebels and pro-government forces in Darfur has killed some 2,00,000 people since 2003 .
-More than two million others have been displaced .
-Sudan 's government is accused of arming militias known as Janjaweed that are blamed for most of the conflict .
-World oil prices rose Monday as investors waited for results from a meeting between President Bush and Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah in Texas about oil supplies , prices and other issues .
-Saudi Arabia is the world 's largest crude oil supplier and the only member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries that could significantly increase oil output soon .
-The benchmark price of crude oil rose as high as 26 cents , to $ 55.65 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange .
-Analysts blame recent price hikes on a series of refinery breakdowns that make it more difficult to turn crude oil into gasoline to meet expected demand .
-Crude oil prices hit a record high of $ 58.28 in early April , then declined for a while before the recent rebound .
-The U.S. military says a man dressed in an Afghan army uniform has shot and killed two U.S. soldiers outside a top security prison near Kabul .
-Military spokesman , Major Sheldon Smith says the gunman wounded two other American soldiers in the shooting Sunday .
-The spokesman says the gunman was shot dead by Afghan troops at the prison .
-The motive for the attack is unclear .
-Earlier , Afghan officials said a remote-controlled roadside bomb killed five policemen in Ghazni province in eastern Afghanistan .
-Authorities also said a suicide bomber detonated explosives near police in the western province of Farah , killing only the bomber .
-In the past year , Taleban insurgents have dramatically increased their attacks against Afghan authorities and U.S.-led coalition troops .
-U.S.-led forces pushed the Taleban from power in late 2001 following the September 11 , 2001 terrorist attacks .
-A fellow hunter who was accidentally shot and wounded by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney is recovering in stable condition .
-A hospital spokesman in Corpus Christi , Texas said 78-year-old attorney Harry Whittington is alert and doing well .
-The spokesman said Whittington will undergo more tests Monday , and it is not yet clear when he will be released from the hospital .
-The accident happened Saturday while he and the vice president were hunting quail in southern Texas .
-A witness to the shooting , Katharine Armstrong , said Cheney fired a shotgun at a flying bird without realizing his companion was in the line of fire .
-Whittington was hit with shotgun pellets in his right cheek , neck and chest Cheney visited Whittington in the hospital Sunday before returning to Washington .
-The vice president is an avid hunter .
-The Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad says an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza strip has killed three of its members , including a top commander .
-The Israeli army confirmed the strike on a vehicle carrying the militants Thursday in Gaza City .
-Earlier Thursday in the southern Gaza Strip , Palestinian medical officials said Israeli forces killed a Hamas militant during a military operation .
-The Israeli army said the operation was aimed at preventing terrorist threats .
-The area is a source for rocket fire into Israel .
-In the occupied West Bank , the Israeli military said a Palestinian man tried to stab a soldier near a Jewish settlement .
-It said another soldier hit the attacker in the head , seriously injuring him .
-Palestinian witnesses say that during a scuffle an Israeli soldier shot the man , who later died of his wounds .
-An attempt to address America 's weight problem has run into trouble in New York .
-Health officials are trying to increase the city 's consumption of fruits and vegetables , especially in less affluent neighborhoods where obesity rates are higher .
-Given that more than half of New York adults are overweight or obese - and an estimated 7,00,000 suffer from diabetes - the argument is not over the need for action .
-Instead , the issue is the way the city has gone about it .
-Paige Kollock has more .
-Thousands of demonstrators have gathered in Jerusalem to protest any renewal of a Jewish settlement freeze in the occupied West Bank or East Jerusalem .
-The protesters , who rallied late Thursday , also voiced support for a letter signed by dozens of Israeli rabbis this month that would forbid the rental of homes to non-Jews .
-The protest comes in the wake of increased tensions between Israelis and Palestinians over settlement construction , a key issue in U.S.-mediated peace talks between the two sides .
-Direct talks between the two sides broke down after an Israeli freeze on West Bank settlement building expired in September .
-Palestinians oppose construction on land they want as part of a future state .
-Palestinians want a state that would include the West Bank , Gaza and East Jerusalem -- land captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war .
-Israel has not agreed to those conditions .
-A new poll indicates only a third of Americans believe their members of Congress are honest .
-In a poll of 1,000 adults taken October 3 through 5 , the Associated Press reports , 45 percent of those surveyed gave Congress poor marks for honesty and ethics .
-One-third of the respondents said congressional ethics are good , and 21 percent said congressional ethics are neither good nor poor .
-Only 35 percent said they approved of the way Congress does its job .
-That number is down from 44 percent in a similar poll taken in February .
-Two top Republican lawmakers are being investigated for ethics issues .
-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is the subject of a federal probe for possible insider stock trading .
-Former House Majority Leader Tom Delay was charged in Texas earlier this month with violating campaign finance laws .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has endorsed Nicaraguan presidential candidate Daniel Ortega to win his country 's November election .
-Both men appeared on President Chavez 's weekly television broadcast Sunday , where Mr. Chavez told Ortega , " I hope you win . "
-The endorsement comes on the heels of a recommendation from the U.S. State Department last week that Nicaraguans reject not only Ortega , but also former Nicaraguan President Arnoldo Aleman , who is also a presidential candidate .
-A Department spokesman , Sean McCormack , said that both men are " discredited figures from Nicaragua 's past . "
-Ortega led the leftist Sandanista movement against Contra rebels supported by Washington in the 1980s .
-The State Department says the U.S. ambassador in Nicaragua is meeting with all parties that have expressed an interest in a " democratic electoral process . "
-French President Nicolas Sarkozy says European Union leaders have agreed on a common approach to reform the world financial system ahead of this month 's summit on the issue in Washington .
-The French president , whose country holds the rotating EU presidency , told reporters the 27 leaders , meeting in Brussels , had agreed on the need for a fully coordinated political and economic response to the crisis .
-Earlier , EU officials acknowledged some disagreement among union members about how involved governments should be in the financial reform .
-Members also questioned how much will be accomplished at the Washington summit as the nation prepares to welcome a new presidential administration .
-European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has said it will take unprecedented levels of global coordination to deal with the financial meltdown .
-Leaders of wealthy nations and the heads of major developing economies gather in Washington November 15 to focus on the worldwide economic downturn .
-Indonesian health authorities said Monday an elderly woman who died overnight is the country 's 54th fatal bird flu case .
-The 67-year-old woman was from the town of Bandung in West Java .
-An 11-year-old boy died from bird flu in a Jakarta hospital Saturday night .
-Indonesia has the highest number of bird flu-related deaths in the world .
-The disease has killed at least 149 people worldwide over the past three years .
-Most victims contract the virus from dead or sick birds .
-Typhoon Damrey , now a tropical storm , pounded northern and eastern Vietnam Tuesday , killing at least one person , injuring several others and causing widespread damage .
-Vietnamese authorities say Damrey came ashore early this morning in Thanh Hoa province , south of Hanoi , with heavy rain and winds around 100 kilometers per hour .
-Officials say some protective dikes along the eastern coastline were seriously damaged , and several provinces lost electricity .
-Hanoi Radio said the storm weakened as it moved towards Laos .
-Before hitting Vietnam , Damrey slammed into the southern Chinese provinces of Hainan and Guangdong on Monday .
-China ' state news agency , Xinhua , said the storm killed at least 16 people on Hainan and caused an island-wide blackout .
-Chinese officials said Damrey caused more than $ 1 billion in direct losses , mainly to agriculture .
-Iraqi officials say two car bombs in the Shi'ite holy city of Karbala have killed at least five people and wounded about 55 .
-Police say the first bomb exploded Monday near the Imam Hussein shrine , a holy site for Shi'ite Muslims .
-Officials say a second blast went off minutes later in the vicinity , near a provincial office .
-Dozens of demobilized soldiers have taken over the home of ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in a Port-au-Prince suburb .
-A spokesman for the former soldiers says they plan to use the home as a base to improve security for people in the area .
-The action comes one day after U.N. peacekeepers stormed a stronghold of Mr. Aristide 's supporters to control areas that have been flashpoints of violence .
-Meanwhile , the top U.S. diplomat for Latin America , Roger Noriega , Wednesday called on governments and institutions to speed up disbursement of more than $ 1.3 billion pledged to Haiti at a World Bank conference in July .
-Mr. Noriega also stressed the need for Haiti 's interim leadership to provide security , prepare for elections , and defend the human rights of Haitians .
-The United Nations is appealing for more than $ 180 million next year to help refugees from Sudan 's Darfur region who have fled to neighboring Chad .
-The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that is a 10 percent increase over this year 's budget .
-It says the money will be used to provide both refugees and the local population with food and water as well as basic services such as health and education .
-The United Nations estimates 2,00,000 Sudanese have fled to eastern Chad to escape attacks by pro-government Arab militia .
-It says the large influx has led to growing tensions between the refugees and the local Chadian population , as the two groups increasingly compete for scarce food , water and land .
-Federal prosecutors in Germany say police have arrested an Iraqi man suspected of distributing video and audio messages recorded by al-Qaida leaders .
-Prosecutors say the 36-year-old Iraqi , identified only as Ibrahim R. , was arrested Tuesday near the western city of Osnabrueck .
-He is accused of spreading via the Internet a series of audio and video messages from al-Qaida leaders , including Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri , the number-two leader in the terrorist network .
-The man is facing charges including aiding and supporting a terrorist organization .
-He will be brought before a judge on Wednesday .
-Video and audio message from Bin Laden and Zawahiri have repeatedly threatened western countries , including the United States , with violent attacks .
-U.S. officials have ordered a recall of 143 million pounds of beef produced by a California processor accused of violating food safety regulations , in the largest recall in U.S. history .
-The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Sunday the recall of frozen beef produced during the past two years by the Westland / Hallmark Meat Company .
-Federal officials suspended operations at the plant last week after undercover video showed crippled and sick animals being shoved into the slaughterhouse by a worker on a forklift .
-Regulations call for the removal from the food supply of cattle that are unable to walk because they carry higher risk for a number of diseases , including Mad Cow disease .
-The USDA said it is extremely unlikely any of the sick animals at the plant had Mad Cow disease .
-Hundreds of Pakistani investors rioted at the Karachi Stock Exchange Thursday demanding a halt in trading after share prices fell for the 15th straight session .
-The exchange 's security chief Mohammed Aslam said investors began smashing windows after the administration declined to suspend trading .
-Similar protests also broke out in Lahore , where investors burned tires and blocked roads .
-The Karachi Stock Exchange index has fallen 14 percent since Monday .
-Angry investors blamed the government for the recent volatility , after regulators relaxed curbs on daily stock price movements .
-Persistent concerns about economic and political instability have also contributed to a decline in Pakistani stocks .
-Authorities in the western Indian state of Maharashtra say a passenger bus has plunged into a ravine , killing 21 people and injuring 40 others .
-The authorities say the accident happened in early afternoon Saturday near Vani town .
-They say the injured were transferred to local hospitals and that an investigation is under way .
-The accident comes one day after 53 people were killed when an overcrowded bus plunged into a deep gorge in Indian Kashmir .
-Also Saturday , in an unrelated development , a moderate earthquake struck near India 's Andaman Islands .
-The Hong Kong Observatory and the Indian Meteorological Department say the quake measured 5.8 on the Richter scale and was centered west of the islands .
-There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries .
-Security officials in Iraq say a car bomb has killed at least two people and wounded five in central Baghdad .
-Monday 's bombing happened in the capital 's Karrada district .
-Also in Baghdad , the U.S. military says an American soldier was killed in an attack on his patrol .
-The military said the soldier was killed by small-arms fire on Sunday .
-In other violence Sunday , bomb attacks killed at least nine people and wounded about 70 .
-Iraqi officials said a suicide truck bomber attacked a police checkpoint in the northern city of Kirkuk , killing three people .
-Another suicide truck bomber struck the northern city of Mosul , killing two people .
-A roadside bomb blast hit a minibus in eastern Iraq 's Diyala province , killing three people .
-Liberian election officials have opened hearings into electoral fraud claims by presidential candidate George Weah , who trails by a large margin in the country 's run-off vote .
-Mr. Weah has alleged there was cheating , including pre-marked ballots , in last week 's second round election pitting him against former Finance Minister Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf .
-He has called for a re-run of the poll .
-A final vote count earlier this week showed Mrs. Johnson-Sirleaf won 59 percent of the vote to 41 percent for Mr. Weah , a former soccer ( football ) star .
-Election officials said the results are considered preliminary until an investigation is completed into Mr. Weah 's allegations .
-International observers say there was no evidence of widespread fraud .
-And leaders from several African countries praised the run-off as peaceful , transparent , free and fair .
-Final results are expected next week .
-Iraqi officials say a suicide bomber has killed three people and wounded at least 10 others in central Baghdad .
-Officials say the bomber targeted a police unit Wednesday in the Karradah neighborhood .
-Also Wednesday , two Iraqi policemen were killed by a suicide bomber in the northern city , Mosul .
-Violence in Iraq has dropped sharply over the past year , but the security situation remains fragile .
-The U.S. military has been transferring security responsibilities to the Iraqi government , with U.S. forces scheduled to withdraw from the country by 2011 .
-Czech officials are accusing Russia of interfering in their internal affairs by threatening military action against a planned U.S. missile defense system on Czech soil .
-The Czech Defense Ministry Thursday called Russia 's reaction to the defense shield pact inappropriate rhetoric .
-Russia has threatened to take military action if the United States deploys missile defense radar in the Czech Republic and interceptor missiles in Poland .
-Washington and Prague signed a deal this week .
-Talks with Poland are still under way .
-Washington says the system is aimed at averting a possible missile strike from Iran .
-Russia calls the system a threat to its security .
-U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says this week 's Iranian missile tests are evidence the missile defense shield is needed .
-President Bush has told Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that he hopes the U.S. Congress will soon approve legislation on a civilian nuclear deal between the two nations .
-Despite the support expressed by Mr. Bush during Thursday 's phone conversation , it is unclear whether the U.S. Senate will approve the measure .
-The deal would let India buy nuclear fuel and technology from the United States and other suppliers if New Delhi opens its civilian nuclear sites to U.N. inspection .
-The Senate took up the measure Wednesday and discussion is expected to continue today .
-The House of Representatives has already approved the deal .
-Prominent arms control experts have urged U.S. lawmakers to require that India stop producing nuclear fuel that could be used in weapons - before U.S.-India nuclear cooperation begins .
-Thousands of Palestinians across the West Bank voted Thursday in the final phase of municipal elections .
-Initial estimates showed turnout was high in the first election since Israel 's withdrawal from parts of the West Bank and all of the Gaza Strip .
-The ruling Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is facing stiff opposition from candidates of the militant group Hamas .
-Hamas has tried to portray Israel 's withdrawal as a militant victory .
-The vote could set the tone for Palestinian parliamentary elections in January .
-Israel has said it will not help facilitate those elections if Hamas participates without first disarming .
-In a separate development , President Abbas condemned the killing of three militants during an Israeli military raid Thursday in the West Bank .
-He called it an escalation that jeopardizes the peace process .
-A top Democratic lawmaker has called on President Bush to fill the new vacancy on the Supreme Court with a moderate , mainstream justice .
-Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada charged that President Bush 's far-right allies are spending millions of dollars to pressure him to appoint an extreme conservative .
-In the Democratic party 's weekly radio address Saturday , Mr. Reid said Justice Sandra Day O'Connor , who announced her retirement last week , was moderate and balanced the court .
-He called for her replacement to be someone who will build on consensus and unite the country .
-The Senate must approve Mr. Bush 's pick .
-Senator Reid also called for the perpetrators of the London bombings to be brought to justice , and called for increased efforts in protecting the United States .
-A United Nations worker from Burma was among the three people killed by Saturday 's bombing at an Internet cafe in Kabul , Afghanistan .
-U.N. officials said Sunday the victim worked for the U.N. Office of Project Services , but did not release his name .
-The man had been living at a guest house connected to the Internet cafe .
-The other two men killed were Afghans , and authorities in Kabul suspect one of them was a suicide bomber .
-At least five other people were wounded .
-The blast destroyed the cafe , which was frequented by foreigners .
-There has been no claim of responsibility .
-Israel has re-opened a key Gaza border crossing , ahead of an Israeli-Palestinian summit set for Tuesday in Egypt .
-The Israeli army closed the Karni crossing , the main crossing for goods entering and leaving the Gaza Strip , after a militant attack there killed six Israeli civilians last month .
-Hundreds of Palestinian trucks carrying produce and fresh-cut flowers were lined up at the crossing Monday awaiting the opening .
-Last week , Israel re-opened the Gaza-Egypt border crossing at Rafah , which was closed after another militant attack killed five Israeli soldiers in December .
-Meanwhile , Israeli and Palestinian officials met Monday to make final arrangements for the summit in the Egyptian resort of Sharm al-Sheikh .
-Egyptian host President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan 's King Abdullah are also set to attend .
-Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman says his country has no plans to bomb Iran .
-Lieberman told reporters in Moscow Wednesday that Israel does not " need " to carry out attacks on Iran and that Israel is a strong country and can defend itself .
-The Israeli foreign minister added that Iran is not just a problem for Israel but the entire Middle East and that Israel will not be the one to solve the problem .
-Lieberman made the comments during a visit to Russia .
-Israel has repeatedly described Iran 's nuclear program as a threat to its existence .
-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu raised concerns about Iran during his recent talks with U.S. officials in Washington .
-Tens of thousands of anti-abortion activists are set to take part in Monday 's annual " March on Washington " to mark the 34th anniversary of a Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion .
-Similar marches and rallies are also taking place in cities and towns across the United States .
-In Washington , D.C. , abortion opponents will march past the U.S. Capitol and end outside the Supreme Court .
-President Bush is scheduled to address the demonstrators by telephone .
-Senator Sam Brownback , a socially-conservative Republican who announced Saturday he is running for president in 2008 , is participating in the March for Life events .
-Activists on the other side of the issue who support abortion rights will also be holding smaller rallies in Washington and other cities .
-The " Roe versus Wade " Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion was handed down on January 22 , 1973 .
-Iraqi authorities say a roadside bomb has killed a police general and his driver near the northern city of Kirkuk .
-The victim was Brigadier General Hatim Khalaf , head of the Kirkuk police operations room .
-Also in northern Iraq , Kurdish officials say search teams have located a small plane that crashed three days ago near Sulaimaniyah .
-They say all six people on board , including at least three German businessmen , were killed .
-The developments come a day after roadside bomb attacks in Baghdad killed an American soldier and three Iraqi policemen .
-Separately , the U.S. military said Saturday it had freed more than 400 male Iraqi prisoners after an Iraqi-led review board recommended their release .
-Russia and Iran have signed a landmark agreement for Moscow to supply Tehran with fuel for its first nuclear reactor .
-The signing ceremony Sunday at Iran 's Bushehr nuclear power plant , which Russia helped build , had been delayed 24 hours as talks continued .
-European and U.S. officials have expressed concern that spent fuel from the reactor could be enriched and used to create nuclear weapons .
-Diplomats say there is evidence that Iran has known since the late 1980s how to enrich uranium .
-They say Iran obtained the information from a black market network operated by Pakistan 's Abdul Qadeer Khan .
-Iran says the purpose of its nuclear program is the generation of electricity , not the development of nuclear weapons .
-The new agreement calls for all spent nuclear fuel to be returned to Russia to ease concerns that Iran might reprocess it for use in nuclear weapons .
-A Scottish court has denied bail to a Libyan man with terminal cancer who was convicted of the 1988 bombing of a U.S. airliner that killed 270 people .
-The former Libyan intelligence agent , Abdel Basset al-Megrahi , is currently serving a life sentence for being part of a group that planted a bomb on a Pan Am 747 that crashed over the Scottish town of Lockerbie .
-His lawyers argued he does not have long to live and deserves to be treated with compassion .
-The court turned down the man 's application for release saying he stands convicted of a serious atrocity .
-It added that his condition is stable and he is receiving full medical care .
-An Iraqi soldier mans a checkpoint in the Saydiyah neighbourhood of south-west Baghdad in Iraq
-Suicide bombings and ambushes by insurgents killed at least 21 people in Iraq Sunday as Iraqi security forces began a big security sweep in Baghdad .
-The operation is aimed at stopping insurgents who have killed more than 600 people in the last month .
-Iraqi soldiers and police began setting up checkpoints on the southern and northern outskirts of the city early Sunday and later began street-to-street sweeps .
-A suicide car bomber killed nine Iraqi soldiers at one of the checkpoints about 20 kilometers south of Baghdad .
-Other attacks killed at least 12 Iraqi police or civilians in and around the capital .
-Oil prices in the United States dipped Tuesday after Saudi Arabia 's oil minister said there is no need for further OPEC production cuts .
-Ali al-Naimi said in New Delhi that recent OPEC cuts are working well , and a meeting to discuss further cutbacks is unnecessary .
-Oil prices fell below $ 52 a barrel , nearing a 19-month low .
-Prices have fallen steadily since the beginning of the year , as mild weather in the western hemisphere has lightened demand .
-The fall in prices comes despite the international oil cartel 's November production cut of one million barrels per day .
-English football star David Beckham will be sidelined for around four weeks after suffering a right knee injury playing for Spanish side Real Madrid on Sunday .
-The team announced Monday that the 31-year-old Beckham strained the internal lateral ligament in his right knee when he collided with advertising signs behind the goal after attempting a crossing pass into the goal area .
-He continued playing after the collision , but was in obvious pain and limped off the field in the 69th minute .
-On January 11 , Beckham signed a five-year , $ 250 million contract to join Major League Soccer 's Los Angeles Galaxy after his contract with Real Madrid expires June 30 .
-The MLS has not commented on the injury .
-President Bush is set to address the country later Wednesday on the national disaster caused by Hurricane Katrina .
-Mr. Bush will speak from the White House Rose Garden at 2100 UTC ( 5 pm EDT ) .
-During the flight from Mr. Bush 's ranch in Texas , the president 's plane , Air Force One , flew over the hurricane-damaged areas along the U.S. Gulf Coast .
-While passing over the flooded city of New Orleans , White House spokesman Scott McClellan quoted Mr. Bush as saying " It 's devastating .
-It 's got to be doubly devastating on the ground . "
-White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the president will likely visit the affected region later this week .
-The spokesman said Mr. Bush held a video conference with top advisers before leaving his Texas ranch .
-The discussion focused on saving lives and developing a long-term plan for dealing with displaced residents .
-Lebanon 's parliament has postponed Monday 's scheduled presidential election , the latest in a series of delays during the country 's political crisis .
-Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri announced Saturday that the parliamentary voting session will be moved to February 26 .
-Lebanon has been without a head of state since late November when President Emile Lahoud 's term expired .
-The leadership vacuum is due to a standoff between the pro-Western governing coalition leader Saad al-Hariri and Syrian-backed opposition leader Michael Aoun .
-The two sides have agreed on an Arab League plan calling for the election of army General Michel Sulieman as president .
-But they differ on how to form a new national unity government .
-The opposition wants a third of the seats in the new Cabinet so it can have veto power .
-Vera Dushevina of Russia has defeated Ivana Lisjak of Croatia , 07-Jun , 6-0 in a first-round match at the Gaz de France indoor women 's tennis tournament in Paris .
-Dushevina , ranked 46th in the world , next meets Australian Open champion Amelie Mauresmo of France in the second round Wednesday .
-The top-seeded Mauresmo has a first-round bye .
-Also with byes into the second round are second-seeded Mary Pierce of France , third-seeded Russian Nadia Petrova and fourth-seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland .
-In other first round play , Virginie Razzano of France beat Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic , 06-Jan , 06-Jan .
-Razzano next plays defending champion Dinara Safina of Russia .
-Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria needed three sets to beat Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic , 06-Feb , 02-Jun , 6-0 .
-The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries , OPEC , has lowered its 2006 estimate for world crude oil demand .
-OPEC 's monthly oil report for August now anticipates daily demand for oil will grow by 1.3 million barrels , slightly less than last month 's forecast .
-The 11-nation oil cartel produces more than one third of the world 's crude oil supply .
-Analysts say OPEC 's downward adjustment stems , in part , from a slowing U.S. economy which is expected to have an important impact on the crude oil market .
-U.S. crude oil prices fell by 20 cents Wednesday to about $ 73 per barrel .
-The head of India 's ruling Congress Party , Sonia Gandhi , has begun her bid to return to parliament in her constituency in northern India , just days after she quit her seat in the legislature .
-Gandhi stepped down as a member of the lower house and head of the government 's National Advisory Council last week , following charges that she violated the constitution by holding two paid positions .
-Gandhi told thousands of cheering supporters in the city of Rae Bareli she has to give a fitting response to people who brought the charges against her , and that fitting reply will be her re-election .
-By-election dates are yet to be announced , but she is expected to easily win back the seat .
-The Italian-born Gandhi is the widow of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi , whose mother and grandfather also were prime ministers .
-China 's president is making a rare visit to Pyongyang for talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il .
-State-controlled media from both nations say Mr. Kim greeted Chinese President Hu Jintao on the airport tarmac Friday , as he arrived on a three-day visit .
-On arrival , Mr. Hu delivered a statement saying " the China-North Korea friendship is conducive to safeguarding peace and stability and promoting development and prosperity in the region " .
-Mr. Hu 's trip precedes the next round of six-nation talks on North Korea 's nuclear ambitions , set to take place in Beijing early next month .
-It is unclear if the nuclear issue is on the agenda during Mr. Hu 's current visit .
-During last month 's six-nation talks , North Korea agreed to abandon its nuclear weapons program .
-But Pyongyang later said it first wants light-water nuclear reactors for civilian energy production .
-The European Union is condemning Ethiopia 's decision to expel two EU diplomats .
-EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel told reporters in Brussels Friday that no reason has been given for the expulsion .
-He called the situation " unacceptable " and said he has asked the Ethiopian ambassador to provide an explanation .
-It is not clear if the diplomats have already been deported .
-Ethiopian state-run television Thursday reported that police detained two foreign diplomats in the south , near the Kenyan border .
-The report said the diplomats are accused of trying to smuggle alleged Ethiopian criminals into Kenya .
-The European Union is one of Ethiopia 's largest aid donors .
-However , EU officials have been critical of the government 's crackdown of opposition leaders and journalists .
-Cancun , Mexico , is hosting both international leaders and vacationing college students this week , as the city slowly recovers from a brutal pounding by Hurricane Wilma .
-City officials say only about half of Cancun 's 27,000 hotel rooms are open this year , after Wilma battered the resort city last October .
-Winds reached well past 200 kilometers per hour .
-Hotel owners say the recovery is going slowly , as they try to meet demands to build stronger structures that can withstand another such storm .
-Meanwhile , the city has refurbished many beaches , re-planted vegetation , and repaired bike paths and walkways .
-Local residents say the student crowds are smaller this year , but still plenty have come , determined to carry on Cancun 's tradition of spring-break revelry .
-The fate of at least 8,000 foreign tourists vacationing in Southeast Asia remains unknown , more than a week after a tsunami pounded coastlines and beach resorts in the region .
-At least 350 deaths have been confirmed as foreigners .
-But officials say that number will likely rise as the identity of victims is sorted out .
-In Thailand alone , officials say nearly half of the 5,000 reported deaths were foreign visitors .
-Southern Asia was at the height of its tourist season when the tsunami hit .
-Sweden and the United States are reporting the most missing citizens .
-U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell says as many as 5,000 Americans are unaccounted for .
-He adds there is a " distinct possibility " that the U.S. death toll will increase from the 15 confirmed so far .
-Swedish officials say nearly 3,000 are still missing .
-A relief ship has arrived in northern Sri Lanka to deliver supplies for people cut off by fighting between Tamil Tiger rebels and government forces .
-The ship was filled with 1,500 tons of food , medicine and other supplies for civilians in the Jaffna peninsula .
-International Committee of the Red Cross officials said both sides to the conflict have promised a safe passage for the ship .
-A passenger ferry also was due to arrive in the north Friday to evacuate 150 foreigners caught in the fighting for nearly two weeks .
-Meanwhile , Sri Lanka 's military said five rebels were killed late Thursday in a clash with troops in the northeastern Batticaloa area .
-The United Nations says 1,70,000 people have fled their homes to escape the violence .
-The Internet site of a South Korean stem cell center overloaded Tuesday as it began accepting applications from people with Parkinson 's disease and spinal cord injuries who want to participate in research .
-An official at the World Stem Cell Hub said the Web site slowed to a crawl , because there were too many access attempts for about three hours .
-The official said normal operation resumed later .
-He said computer experts were on standby in case of sabotage by those who oppose stem cell research and cloning technology .
-The South Korean stem cell bank opened October 19 with the aim of providing scientists around the world with embryonic stem cells .
-These cells are seen as a potential source of replacement tissue for people with a variety of ailments .
-Forensics experts in Indonesia now say that three of four unidentifiied victims of Saturday 's bomb blasts in Bali were Australian nationals .
-A total of four Australians are now confirmed to have died in the apparent suicide bombings that killed 19 people in addition to the three bombers .
-One Japanese national was also killed in the attacks .
-The remaining victims were Indonesian .
-One victim remains unidentified .
-Wednesday , Australian officials said Foreign Minister Alexander Downer would travel to Indonesia soon to lobby the Indonesian government to ban the al-Qaida linked Jemaah Islamiyah .
-The group is believed to be behind Saturday 's bombings , as well as the 2002 Bali bombings which killed 202 people , including 88 Australians .
-Authorities have questioned 94 people in connection with the bombings .
-However , no arrests have been made , despite a massive manhunt .
-British police have charged five men in an alleged terrorist plot to kidnap and behead a Muslim British soldier .
-Prosecutors said Friday one suspect is charged with intention to kidnap and kill a member of the armed forces .
-The other four suspects also face terrorism charges , including helping to equip and fund the alleged kidnapping plot .
-Police arrested a total of nine men last week in Birmingham in what British media have described as a plan to kidnap a British Muslim soldier who had served in Afghanistan , torture and behead him , then post a video of the gruesome events on the Internet .
-Iraqi militants have used the same tactic .
-Three of the nine suspects have been released , and one other remains in custody and has not been charged .
-America has more than 1,000 art museums , 35 aviation museums , and even a museum dedicated to rock 'n roll music .
-Now a new kind of museum is opening its doors in downtown Manhattan .
-Its location near the former World Trade Center site is part of an effort to revitalize the neighborhood left economically depressed after the September 11 , 2001 terrorist attacks on the U.S.
-VOA 's Nathan King reports .
-Police in Mexico say a group of armed men raided a drug rehabilitation facility and opened fire , killing 19 people and wounding several others .
-Officials say the rampage took place late Thursday at the Faith and Life center in the northern city of Chihuahua .
-The French news agency quotes a police official on Friday as saying 30 gunmen were involved in the attack .
-The report says the assailants fired large-caliber weapons at patients and employees before fleeing .
-The motive for the attack is unclear .
-Mexico 's Chihuahua state , where the city of Chihuahua is located , is home to major drug cartels , and drug-related violence is frequent .
-Kenya 's National Commission on Human Rights says both government and opposition leaders planned acts of violence following the country 's disputed presidential election .
-Vice Chairperson Florence Jaoko says the commission 's investigation showed the violence was not spontaneous .
-The commission says it has collected nearly 1,000 statements recounting more than 4,500 episodes of violence .
-Earlier this month , US-based Human Rights Watch accused Kenyan politicians , local leaders , and businessmen of organizing attacks on rival ethnic groups .
-It also accused Kenyan police of using excessive force in putting down protests - a charge the police rejected .
-More than 1,000 people were killed in riots and ethnic violence following the December 27 election .
-The opposition accused President Mwai Kibaki of rigging the vote to stay in power .
-Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan helped broker a peace deal that included a power-sharing agreement between Mr. Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga .
-The United Nation 's agricultural organization has praised Burma for its quick response to its latest bird flu outbreaks .
-The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization says Burma 's response to the outbreaks have been " quick and effective . "
-It is providing $ 1.4 million in emergency assistance to help Burma fight the disease .
-Burma 's state-run newspaper The New Light of Myanmar reports that 66 pheasants and 60 quail died on two farms on the outskirts of the capital , Rangoon .
-The cases are under investigation to determine whether the birds had the deadly H5N1 strain .
-Since last month four townships in Rangoon have reported bird flu cases .
-Meanwhile , Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari says the country wants a legal guarantee that bird flu samples it sends to the World Health Organization will not be used for commercial gain .
-Rebel fighters with the Shan State National Army in Burma have joined forces and merged with the Shan State Army , in an effort to reinvigorate their five-decade struggle for independence against Burma 's military government .
-The merger effectively breaks a 10-year cease-fire between the Shan State National Army and Rangoon .
-Military leaders from the rebel groups agreed to join forces at a ceremony Saturday in Doi Talaeng , a remote Shan State Army base along the Burma-Thailand border .
-They called on ethnic Shan people in Burma and overseas to stand united and fight the military .
-There was no immediate public comment from the government in Rangoon .
-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has criticized Israeli plans to expand a controversial settlement in the West Bank .
-In an interview published Friday by a leading U.S. newspaper , Ms. Rice said Israeli plans to build additional homes in the Maaleh Adumin settlement could threaten peace with the Palestinians and is at odds with American policy .
-European Union Foreign Policy chief Javier Solana also expressed concern about the expansion plan , which he said conflicts with commitments Israel made under the internationally brokered 2003 peace plan .
-Meanwhile , more than 10,000 Hamas sympathizers gathered in the West Bank towns of Ramallah and Nablus to mark this week 's one-year anniversary of the death of Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin .
-The 67-year-old quadriplegic was killed in an Israeli airstrike as he was leaving a mosque in Gaza City last March .
-The U.S. space agency NASA has displayed the first images from a new satellite that studies the sun .
-Researchers released the images and short video clips Wednesday in Washington .
-Scientists say they have already learned new things from the Solar Dynamics Observatory but they have yet to release any findings .
-The satellite was launched February 11 .
-NASA says the new images show never-before-seen details of material streaming outward and away from sunspots .
-The new satellite is sending back images that have 10 times better resolution than high-definition television .
-The satellite will also examine the sun 's magnetic field and study the role the sun plays in Earth 's atmosphere and climate .
-A lawyer for imprisoned Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky says his client has begun a hunger strike in solidarity with a colleague being held in solitary confinement .
-Lawyer Anton Drel says Khodorkovsky began his fast Friday after authorities placed his business partner , Platon Lebedev , in solitary confinement on charges of violating detention center rules and insulting the institution 's personnel .
-In May , a Moscow court sentenced the two men to nine years in prison on fraud and tax evasion charges .
-Critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin have called the case against Khodorkovsky , the one-time largest shareholder in the Russia 's giant Yukos oil firm , retribution for his support of the political opposition .
-The Kremlin has denied the charge .
-Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has offered protection to the leader of the Lord 's Resistance Army , if the rebel chief agrees to " peacefully end terrorism . "
-In a statement , Mr. Museveni promised the safety of Joseph Kony if his rebel group stops fighting by the end of July .
-The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Kony and other members of the LRA..
-LRA rebels are accused of kidnapping thousands of children and using them as fighters or sex slaves .
-Ugandan troops have been fighting the rebels for more than 20 years , forcing the rebels to set up bases in southern Sudan and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo .
-Some 1.6 million Ugandans have abandoned their homes because of the fighting .
-The United Nations has called the situation in northern Uganda a forgotten humanitarian crisis .
-Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has accepted the resignation of his top West Bank security chief , a sign that Mr. Abbas is responding to complaints about growing chaos among his security forces .
-Ismail Jaber submitted his resignation Friday after gunmen loyal to him fired on Mr. Abbas ' Ramallah compound Wednesday , when Mr. Abbas was there .
-The gunmen were defying a presidential request that they either disarm or join the security forces .
-Mr. Abbas was elected president in January after Yasser Arafat 's death .
-He is struggling to reform his security forces .
-The Palestinian news agency , WAFA , reports that he has decided to enforce a month-old law to streamline existing security forces .
-The United Nations says 5,00,000 people in Indonesia still lack permanent housing nearly one year after the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami .
-Officials with the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization 's post-tsunami operations say many areas of the hard-hit western coast of Aceh remain a disaster area and sustainable recovery will be a five to 10-year effort .
-Despite the massive building efforts still required , officials were upbeat about the overall progress , saying local economies are rebounding .
-Also Thursday , the European Commission released an additional $ 24 million in aid for victims of the disaster , bringing the European Union 's total contribution to $ 148 million .
-Officials stressed aid is still desperately needed for the hundreds of thousands of people living in temporary camps .
-A published report cites U.S. intelligence officials as saying insurgents in Iraq are receiving more direction from Iraqis now living in Syria than earlier believed .
-Wednesday 's Washington Post quotes unnamed officials saying former Saddam Hussein loyalists that have found sanctuary in Syria are collecting money from private sources in Saudi Arabia and Europe to help the insurgency .
-U.S. officials say Washington has begun to press Damascus to arrest or expel certain Iraqis .
-The newspaper also quoted Syria 's ambassador to the United States Imad Moustapha rejecting the allegations as unfounded .
-In Iraq today , Britain 's Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon arrived in the southern city of Basra to visit British troops .
-On Tuesday , Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi again insisted that elections should be held as scheduled next month , adding that the vote may be staggered over two weeks for security concerns .
-A bomb attack on a major oil pipeline in northern Iraq has disrupted Iraqi crude oil exports sent through Turkey .
-Civil defense workers are trying to put out a fire caused by the attack at al-Hadhar south of Mosul Thursday morning .
-The bomb blew a hole in the pipeline .
-Iraqi officials say it will take several days to repair the damage and get oil flowing again .
-The pipeline runs from northern Iraq to Ceyhan , Turkey , and typically carries about 4,20,000 barrels of crude oil per day , a quarter of Iraq 's overall output .
-The pipeline was last attacked in December .
-Leatherback turtles fascinate ocean researchers .
-The largest of sea turtles roams the world 's oceans , nesting and feeding in coastal regions .
-Scientists say leatherbacks have been doing so for at least 65 million years .
-But little else is known to researchers about this species , other than their numbers are dwindling .
-Recently , U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists strapped a transmitter on one and were amazed by what they found .
-Paul Sisco has more .
-The chief U.S. negotiator to talks in Beijing aimed at dismantling North Korea 's nuclear program says he expects to return home Monday , whether or not an agreement is reached .
-Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill says an amended draft submitted by China is the best hope so far for bringing all the sides together .
-However , he says some phrases in the draft still need clarification .
-Japan 's chief delegate to the talks says he believes there is still a chance of reaching an agreement in the six-party talks that also include the two Koreas and Russia .
-The delegates met twice Sunday .
-North Korea is demanding that it be supplied with a light water nuclear reactor to generate electricity .
-Washington has rejected that demand , saying Pyongyang has broken nonproliferation promises in the past .
-Suspected al-Qaida-linked militants have raided a village in the southern Philippines , killing at least 11 people .
-Military officials say Abu Sayyaf gunmen , backed by renegade Muslim separatists , attacked a civilian militia detachment early Saturday in the village of Tubigan , Basilan province , on Mindanao island .
-Local officials said the villagers were asleep when about 70 attackers began spraying houses with automatic gunfire .
-They also set houses on fire .
-Ten civilians were killed , including a one-year-old girl .
-A member of the local militia also was killed .
-At least 17 people , including four children , were wounded by gunfire and blazes before the attackers fled .
-Authorities say troops are searching for the culprits .
-They say the attack took place hours after a rescue operation freed two Chinese hostages held by Abu Sayyaf since November .
-Three Venezuelan opposition parties , including major opposition party , Democratic Action , have pulled out of Sunday 's parliamentary elections , saying the electoral council is biased .
-Democratic Action leader Henry Ramos Tuesday said election officials favor President Hugo Chavez and can not be trusted to provide a fair vote .
-He denied accusations that the opposition is acting in the interests of the U.S. government .
-The Project Venezuela and Copei parties also announced their withdrawal from the elections .
-Opposition leaders have proposed postponing the vote until they can be assured of a free and fair election .
-Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel has denied the accusations and insists the elections will be fair .
-Electoral officials said this week they will remove fingerprinting machines at polling stations , after opposition leaders suggested they could compromise voter privacy .
-Indonesia 's health ministry says international tests have confirmed that a 30-year old man who died last month had contracted bird flu .
-An Indonesian health official , Joko Suyono , says samples from dead man tested positive for the virus at a Hong Kong laboratory affiliated with the World Health Organization .
-The man is the 25th Indonesian known to have died of bird flu since 2003 , the second highest death toll of any country after Vietnam .
-Officials say the victim was a resident of western Jakarta who had a history of contact with sick poultry .
-He died at a Jakarta hospital for bird flu patients April 26 .
-The Army of Ansar al-Sunna , one of Iraq 's most active terrorist groups , has claimed the assassination of a senior judge , as it intensifies its campaign to intimidate Iraqi voters just days before national elections .
-In an Internet statement that has not been authenticated , the group says it killed the administrator of Iraq 's judges and vowed to do the same to what it called other infidels and apostates .
-The judge , Qais Hashim Shameri , died in a hail of bullets Tuesday as he drove through Baghdad .
-Another person in the car was also killed .
-Meanwhile , the U.S. military says five soldiers were killed in a vehicle accident north of the Iraqi capital Monday evening .
-A sixth soldier died Monday after being seriously wounded in a roadside blast in Baghdad .
-The U.S. military says it has released about 1,000 prisoners from Abu Ghraib prison after Iraqi authorities requested they be set free .
-In a statement released Saturday , the military said the release represented a major milestone in Iraq 's progress towards democracy and the rule of law .
-It said the prisoners had been brought to Abu Ghraib from detention facilities across Iraq , and had been released over the last four days .
-A U.S. military spokesman said the released prisoners were not guilty of serious or violent crimes such as bombing , kidnapping , torture or murder and have renounced violence .
-The move , the largest prisoner release to date , followed appeals by Sunni representatives for the United States to release thousands of prisoners who have been languishing in jail for months without being charged .
-Israel has approved plans to build 3,500 new homes in the occupied West Bank , in a move Palestinians say sabotages efforts to rekindle the Mideast peace process .
-The Israeli plan , approved by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon , appears to clash with the U.S.-backed " Roadmap " peace plan .
-That plan calls for a halt to settlement expansion on all Palestinian land captured by Israel in the 1967 war .
-There has been no U.S. comment on the move , which analysts say is aimed at linking the settlement of Maale Adumim to greater Jerusalem .
-Israel claims Jerusalem as its eternal capital , while Palestinians want Arab East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state .
-Meanwhile , Israeli-Palestinian talks are expected to continue later today on the Israeli handover of security control in the West Bank town of Tulkarem .
-Palestinians assumed control of Jericho last week .
-The United Nations says 250 members of Somalia 's transitional parliament are attending a training seminar to help them understand how federal government works .
-U.N. officials say the six-day seminar in Somalia 's temporary capital of Baidoa this week will teach lawmakers about how power is lawfully shared between branches of government .
-The seminar is one of six U.N. projects backing reconciliation efforts in Somalia .
-Other projects include trying to prevent the return of large-scale conflict among militias , reviving the business climate and developing a legal system .
-Somalia has been without a central government for 15 years and much of the country remains lawless , including the former capital Mogadishu .
-A U.N. development plan for Somalia calls for writing and holding a referendum on a new Constitution by 2009 .
-A U.S. diplomatic cable appearing on the Wikileaks website says Syria promoted violent protests against controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad four years ago in which European embassies in Damascus were attacked .
-The cable quotes the U.S. embassy charge d'affaires Stephen Seche as saying Syrian Prime Minister Naji al-Otari asked mosque preachers to unleash fiery sermons on the eve of the protests .
-The cartoons , including one of the Prophet with a turban resembling a bomb , first appeared in a Danish daily and set off protests throughout the Muslim world .
-Many Muslims believe their faith forbids any images of the Prophet .
-The embassies of Denmark and Norway were torched in the Syrian protests .
-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accused Damascus at the time of inciting the violence .
-Syria disputed the charges .
-The February 5 , 2006 cable says that Syrian officials seem " to have miscalculated and lost control " of the protests .
-Turkish warplanes have bombed Kurdish rebel hideouts in northern Iraq .
-The Turkish military said Thursday that it targeted 13 facilities belonging to the Kurdistan Workers ' Party ( PKK ) in the Zap region , near the Turkish border .
-The military says it is still trying to determine if any rebels were killed .
-Turkey has stepped up military operations this year against PKK rebels , both inside Turkey and in northern Iraq .
-Earlier this week , the PKK released three German tourists seized during an expedition to Turkey 's Mount Ararat July 8 .
-Turkish military officials say a total of 33 PKK fighters were killed during a five-day offensive that ended last week .
-The PKK has been fighting for Kurdish autonomy in southeastern Turkey for nearly 25 years .
-The violence has killed more than 30,000 people .
-The European Union , the United States , Turkey and other countries classify the PKK as a terrorist organization .
-A land mine explosion in Nepal Saturday killed at least six bus passengers and injured several others .
-Nepalese authorities say the land mine was hidden beneath a barricade blocking a road .
-It exploded as passengers were working to dismantle the roadblock in a Kapilvastu district , 325 kilometers southwest of the capital , Kathmandu .
-The land mine is believed to have been planted by Maoist rebels , who fought with government troops in the same area on Friday , a battle that killed at least five soldiers and an unknown number of guerillas .
-Nepal 's Maoists have been fighting since 1996 to establish a communist republic in the Himalayan kingdom .
-Violence has continued unabated since King Gyanendra dismissed a coalition government and seized power six months ago .
-China 's foreign ministry is urging its citizens not travel to Iraq in the wake of the recent kidnapping of eight Chinese nationals by Iraqi insurgents .
-Arab TV channel Al-Jazeera broadcast a video showing the hostages Tuesday in which their abductors threatened to kill the men unless China " clarifies its role in Iraq . "
-Chinese officials say the men are ordinary construction workers who went to Iraq on their own initiative .
-China 's foreign ministry says it is deeply concerned by the kidnapping , noting China has always shown friendship , sympathy and support towards the Iraqi people .
-Last April seven Chinese construction workers from Fujian province were kidnapped in Fallujah , but later released unharmed .
-A Turkish human rights group has asked a prosecutor to start legal proceedings against Israel 's defense minister for alleged crimes committed against Palestinians during Israel 's offensive in the Gaza Strip .
-The Istanbul-based Mazlum-Der filed the petition on Friday , just two days before Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak is to visit Turkey in a bid to mend ties .
-Turkey has been an important ally of Israel , but relations have been strained since the Gaza conflict year ago , which drew criticism from Turkish leaders .
-Turkey 's judiciary has thrown out similar complaints against Israeli officials in the past .
-Israel launched the offensive in Gaza in December of 2008 to stop Palestinian militant rocket attacks on Israeli towns .
-The conflict killed more than 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis .
-Cuban President Fidel Castro has criticized a U.S. judge 's decision to release on bail a Cuban-born former U.S. intelligence operative .
-In an article in Cuba 's state-run newspaper Granma , Mr. Castro accused the White House of influencing the decision to free Luis Posada Carriles ahead of his May trial .
-Mr. Castro said President Bush has double-standards in his efforts to fight terrorism by harboring a wanted criminal .
-Carriles faces immigration fraud charges in the U.S. state of Texas , but is also wanted by Venezuela for allegedly bombing a Cuban airliner .
-Seventy-three people were killed in the attack in 1976 .
-The article was the third in Granma attributed to Mr. Castro in two weeks .
-The Cuban leader has not been seen in public since July , when he underwent intestinal surgery .
-France has announced that six major powers will meet on Tuesday to discuss possible sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program .
-France 's foreign ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei said senior diplomats from the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany will meet in Paris .
-A European Union representative is expected to join the talks .
-The major powers have been working for weeks on possible sanctions against Iran .
-France , Germany and Britain have circulated a draft Security Council sanctions resolution .
-But Russia and China favor less stringent sanctions .
-Iran defied an August 31 U.N. deadline for suspending its nuclear enrichment program .
-Tehran says it has a right to develop nuclear technology for peaceful uses .
-The U.S. and its allies believe Iran is trying to develop a nuclear weapon .
-The Brazilian government says it will collaborate with any Palestinian government that wants peace and recognizes Israel 's right to exist .
-Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim made the comments Thursday in response to published reports that Hamas - the Islamic group that won last month 's Palestinian elections - would seek financial and political support from Brazil .
-But Amorim said Hamas has not contacted Brazil .
-The United States and other countries have warned that they will curtail funding to a Hamas-led Palestinian government unless the group renounces violence and acknowledges Israel 's right to exist .
-Hamas has said it will not be pressured into recognizing Israel by what it calls international threats of blackmail over aid .
-Iraqis took another historic step toward democracy Wednesday , as their first freely elected parliament in nearly a half-century convened for the first time .
-In Washington , President Bush congratulated the Iraqi people and the 275-member interim National Assembly , saying it is a " bright moment " in Iraq 's democratic process .
-The assembly was sworn in at the Baghdad Convention Center inside the heavily protected Green Zone .
-Its session was mostly ceremonial , as talks are still continuing on power-sharing in the new government .
-Insurgents marked the day with several large explosions in Baghdad before and after the assembly session .
-No casualties were reported .
-North of the capital , in Baquba , a car bomb exploded at a checkpoint , killing at least four Iraqi soldiers .
-And the U.S. military said an American soldier was killed in a roadside bomb explosion south of Baghdad .
-Leftist coca farmer Evo Morales has been inaugurated as Bolivia 's first indigenous president .
-During his inaugural speech Sunday , Mr. Morales said Bolivia 's 500 year-long campaign of indigenous resistance has not been in vain .
-Indigenous Bolivians who listened to the speech said they were hopeful he would bring change for the better .
-The former congressman won a surprise majority in a single round of voting on December 18 .
-A number of heads of state were in the capital , La Paz , to witness Mr. Morales take the oath of office Sunday , including Chilean President Ricardo Lagos , Venezuela 's President Hugo Chavez and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Shannon , the Bush administration 's top official for Latin America .
-The White House will ask Congress for an additional $ 70 billion in emergency funds to help pay for the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan .
-The money comes on top of $ 50 billion approved late last year .
-The funds are intended to keep military operations in those two countries going through this fiscal year , which ends in September .
-Since the September , 2001 terrorist attacks , the Defense Department has spent a total of $ 320 billion on campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan , not counting this latest request .
-The request follows Congress ' approval Wednesday of slashing $ 39 billion in health , education and other benefits , and as the Senate begins debating a Republican-proposed $ 70 billion tax reduction .
-French President Jacques Chirac has pledged his country 's continued military support for the Afghan government .
-The announcement came Monday during his meeting in Paris with Afghan President Hamid Karzai , who arrived on Sunday for a three-day visit .
-France currently has about 600 soldiers in the NATO-led international peace-keeping force in Afghanistan .
-The Afghan president says he eventually wants to see the NATO peace-keeping forces and the U.S.-led combat troops merged under the unified command of NATO .
-The UN Security Council unanimously adopted two resolutions
-Thursday — one on the DRC and the other on Somalia .
-The Security Council has voted in favor of sending an additional 3,000 troops to DRC to beef up MONUC , the UN mission there .
-It also approved giving the sanctions committee authority to impose sanctions against those who impede the peace process in Somalia , hinder humanitarian aid efforts and violate the arms embargo .
-The rising cost of food is becoming a big concern around the world .
-Many countries from Ghana to Mexico have started reducing tariffs and taxes on food .
-And the World Food Program has requested more than $ 700 million from the international community to help meet basic food needs in developing countries .
-But even consumers in developed nations are having trouble with the high cost of food .
-Experts say a few simple tips can help consumers anyplace maximize the money they spend on food .
-VOA 's Mil Arcega reports .
-Before and during the Olympics , the issue of Tibet was frequently in the news .
-In March , an anti-government demonstration in the Tibetan capital , Lhasa , turned into a riot .
-It catapulted the Himalayan region into the headlines and led to protests that disrupted the Olympic torch relay .
-In the closing days of the Beijing Olympics , China showcased a new production of an old propaganda opera that presents an image of Sino-Tibetan harmony .
-Stephanie Ho reports from Beijing .
-Two top Palestinian militant leaders have been killed in an Israeli airstrike in the northern Gaza Strip .
-Authorities say Hassan Madhoun , a senior member of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades , and top Hamas militant Fawzi Abu Kara were killed Tuesday , when an Israeli missile hit their car near the Jabalya refugee camp .
-The Palestinian Authority says at least nine bystanders were wounded .
-A short while after the attack , spokesmen for Hamas and al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades vowed to retaliate .
-Israel says the al-Aqsa militant was wanted in connection with a 2004 bombing that killed 10 people in the Israeli port of Ashdod .
-Israel has carried out numerous strikes in Gaza since a Palestinian suicide bomber killed five Israelis in central Israel October 26 .
-President Bush is on his way to Europe to meet with European leaders in an effort to rebuild relations damaged by the U.S.-led war in Iraq .
-Brussels is the first stop on a five day , three nation tour that will also take Mr. Bush to Germany and Slovakia .
-Belgian officials have mounted an unprecedented level of security for the U.S. president 's visit , which is drawing protesters .
-Mr. Bush arrives late Sunday .
-While in Brussels , the president is to meet with European Union and NATO leaders for talks expected to focus on trans-Atlantic ties , the Middle East , and Iran 's nuclear program .
-He will also hold separate talks this week with Iraq war opponents , including French President Jacques Chirac , German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Russian President Vladimir Putin .
-President Bush is also due to meet with Iraq war allies , including British Prime Minister Tony Blair .
-Botswana has maintained one of the world 's highest economic growth rates since independence in 1966 , though growth fell below 5 % in 2007 - 8 , and turned sharply negative in 2009 , with industry falling nearly 30 % .
-Through fiscal discipline and sound management , Botswana transformed itself from one of the poorest countries in the world to a middle-income country with a per capita GDP of $ 13,100 in 2010 .
-Two major investment services rank Botswana as the best credit risk in Africa .
-Diamond mining has fueled much of the expansion and currently accounts for more than one-third of GDP , 70-80 % of export earnings , and about half of the government 's revenues .
-Botswana 's heavy reliance on a single luxury export was a critical factor in the sharp economic contraction of 2009 .
-Tourism , financial services , subsistence farming , and cattle raising are other key sectors .
-Although unemployment was 7.5 % in 2007 according to official reports , unofficial estimates place it closer to 40 % .
-The prevalence of HIV / AIDS is second highest in the world and threatens Botswana 's impressive economic gains .
-An expected leveling off in diamond mining production within the next two decades overshadows long-term prospects .
-Kyrgyzstan is a poor , mountainous country with a dominant agricultural sector .
-Cotton , tobacco , wool , and meat are the main agricultural products , although only tobacco and cotton are exported in any quantity .
-Industrial exports include gold , mercury , uranium , natural gas , and electricity .
-The economy depends heavily on gold exports - mainly from output at the Kumtor gold mine .
-Following independence , Kyrgyzstan was progressive in carrying out market reforms , such as an improved regulatory system and land reform .
-Kyrgyzstan was the first Commonwealth of Independent States ( CIS ) country to be accepted into the World Trade Organization .
-Much of the government 's stock in enterprises has been sold .
-Drops in production had been severe after the breakup of the Soviet Union in December 1991 , but by mid-1995 , production began to recover and exports began to increase .
-In 2005 , the BAKIEV government and international financial institutions initiated a comprehensive medium-term poverty reduction and economic growth strategy .
-Bishkek agreed to pursue much needed tax reform and , in 2006 , became eligible for the heavily indebted poor countries ( HIPC ) initiative .
-The government made steady strides in controlling its substantial fiscal deficit , nearly closing the gap between revenues and expenditures in 2006 , before boosting expenditures more than 20 % in 2007 - 8 .
-GDP grew about 8 % annually in 2007 - 8 , partly due to higher gold prices internationally , but slowed to 2.3 % in 2009 .
-The overthrow of President BAKIEV in April , 2010 and subsequent ethnic clashes left hundreds dead and damaged infrastructure .
-Shrinking trade and agricultural production , as well as political instability , caused GDP to contract about 3.5 % in 2010 .
-The fiscal deficit widened to 11 % of GDP , reflecting significant increases in crisis-related spending , including both rehabilitation of damaged infrastructure and bank recapitalization .
-Progress in reconstruction , fighting corruption , restructuring domestic industry , and attracting foreign aid and investment are key to future growth .
-This island economy suffers from a poor natural resource base , including serious water shortages exacerbated by cycles of long-term drought and poor soil for agriculture on several of the islands .
-The economy is service oriented with commerce , transport , tourism , and public services accounting for about three-fourths of GDP .
-Although about 40 % of the population lives in rural areas , the share of food production in GDP is low .
-About 82 % of food must be imported .
-The fishing potential , mostly lobster and tuna , is not fully exploited .
-Cape Verde annually runs a high trade deficit financed by foreign aid and remittances from its large pool of emigrants ; remittances supplement GDP by more than 20 % .
-Despite the lack of resources , sound economic management has produced steadily improving incomes .
-Continued economic reforms are aimed at developing the private sector and attracting foreign investment to diversify the economy .
-Future prospects depend heavily on the maintenance of aid flows , the encouragement of tourism , remittances , and the momentum of the government 's development program .
-Cape Verde became a member of the WTO in July 2008 .
-The islands , which have large bird and seal populations , lie approximately 1,000 km east of the Falkland Islands and have been under British administration since 1908 - except for a brief period in 1982 when Argentina occupied them .
-Grytviken , on South Georgia , was a 19th and early 20th century whaling station .
-Famed explorer Ernest SHACKLETON stopped there in 1914 en route to his ill-fated attempt to cross Antarctica on foot .
-He returned some 20 months later with a few companions in a small boat and arranged a successful rescue for the rest of his crew , stranded off the Antarctic Peninsula .
-He died in 1922 on a subsequent expedition and is buried in Grytviken .
-Today , the station houses scientists from the British Antarctic Survey .
-Recognizing the importance of preserving the marine stocks in adjacent waters , the UK , in 1993 , extended the exclusive fishing zone from 12 nm to 200 nm around each island .
-A CAT , hearing that the Birds in a certain aviary were ailing dressed himself up as a physician , and , taking his cane and a bag of instruments becoming his profession , went to call on them .
-He knocked at the door and inquired of the inmates how they all did , saying that if they were ill , he would be happy to prescribe for them and cure them .
-They replied , " We are all very well , and shall continue so , if you will only be good enough to go away , and leave us as we are . "
-A NIGHTINGALE , sitting aloft upon an oak and singing according to his wont , was seen by a Hawk who , being in need of food , swooped down and seized him .
-The Nightingale , about to lose his life , earnestly begged the Hawk to let him go , saying that he was not big enough to satisfy the hunger of a Hawk who , if he wanted food , ought to pursue the larger birds .
-The Hawk , interrupting him , said : " I should indeed have lost my senses if I should let go food ready in my hand , for the sake of pursuing birds which are not yet even within sight . "
-A Peacock once placed a petition before Juno desiring to have the voice of a nightingale in addition to his other attractions ; but Juno refused his request .
-When he persisted , and pointed out that he was her favourite bird , she said :
-" Be content with your lot ; one can not be first in everything . "
-A STATE Official carrying off the Dome of the Capitol met the Ghost of his predecessor , who had come out of his political grave to warn him that God saw him .
-As the place of meeting was lonely and the time midnight , the State Official set down the Dome of the Capitol , and commanded the supposed traveller to throw up his hands .
-The
-Ghost replied that he had not eaten them , and while he was explaining the situation another State Official silently added the dome to his own collection .
-The United States ' top law enforcement official says the recent terrorist bombings in Britain and Egypt could be the work of al-Qaida .
-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales cautioned that officials are still investigating the bombings , which together killed some 140 people .
-But in an interview with CNN television , Mr. Gonzales said the July 7 attack on London 's transit system and the July 23 bombing at Egypt 's Sharm-el-Sheik resort both have the appearance of al-Qaida involvement .
-Groups that say they are affiliated with al-Qaida have claimed responsibility for the attacks .
-Sunday 's Washington Post cites intelligence officials and terrorism experts as saying that Osama bin Laden or his aides may have sponsored the two operations from afar .
-The officials say the attacks fit into al-Qaida 's pattern of conducting multiple bombings against civilian targets that are designed to scare Westerners and shake the economy .
-Christians around the world are observing Good Friday , which commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus .
-Many Christians attend services Friday to pray and reflect on the execution of Jesus near Jerusalem nearly 2,000 years ago .
-Christians believe Jesus returned to life on what is now observed as Easter Sunday .
-Pope John Paul II - the leader of one billion Roman Catholics - has been limited in Holy Week activities this year as he recovers from a throat operation last month .
-He will not lead public ceremonies today as he has in the past .
-President Bush , a devout Protestant Christian , issued his Easter greeting Friday , saying the teachings of Jesus " continue to comfort and strengthen Christians around the world . "
-Orthodox Christians commemorate the occasion next month .
-Delegates to an international conference on Afghanistan are using the second day of the London meeting to discuss the nation 's post-war problems with security , reconstruction and opium-traffickers .
-On Tuesday , the conference unveiled a five-year plan that includes wiping out illegal armed groups by 2007 - and establishing a respected national army and justice system by 2010 .
-Afghan President Hamid Karzai told the conference that eliminating insurgents and the opium production that supports them will be a difficult task .
-He said it will take at least a decade to develop alternative sources of income for farmers and to totally eliminate poppy production .
-Donor countries have pledged almost $ 5 billion in aid so far , with the United States promising $ 1.1 billion for the war-torn country .
-Military officials in Nepal say Maoist rebels have abducted at least 220 villagers from several remote mountainous districts in the western part of the country .
-The officials say that on July 31 , the rebels took away more than 150 women from four villages in the Bajura district , and 70 people from several villages in neighboring Accham district .
-The condition and whereabouts of the villagers are unknown and the motive remains unclear .
-But Maoist rebels are known to take hundreds of villagers to their rallies and possibly try to recruit them to fight government troops .
-The rebels have been fighting since 1996 to replace the constitutional monarchy in the world 's only Hindu kingdom with a communist state .
-More than 11,000 people have been killed in the conflict .
-Afghan police say unidentified gunmen in northwestern Pakistan have kidnapped an Afghan government advisor as he visited relatives in a border town .
-Authorities say an adviser to the Afghan Ministry of Rural Development , Akhtar Kohistani , was abducted from his in-laws ' house or wife 's relatives ' house in Chitral , Pakistan , late Sunday .
-No group has claimed responsibility for the abduction .
-The kidnapping is the second of a prominent Afghan in Pakistan in the past four days .
-On Friday , the brother of Afghanistan 's finance minister was kidnapped in northwest Pakistan as he visited family members .
-Officials say the businessman Zia ul-Haq Ahadi was abducted by unidentified assailants in a residential area of Peshawar .
-And , in September , Afghanistan 's top diplomat to Pakistan was kidnapped in the same neighborhood .
-He has yet to be released , and authorities are searching for him .
-U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan says the United Nations is determined to get food to Niger , where severe food shortages have left an estimated three million people in need of aid .
-Mr. Annan said during a visit to Niger , that his agency will work with the government and the international community to ensure all those in need get help .
-The U.N. chief is wrapping up a two-day trip aimed at drawing international attention to Niger 's food crisis caused by drought and locusts .
-Wednesday , he met with U.N. officials and aid groups in the capital , Niamey .
-Tuesday , he visited the southern town of Zinder , one of the hardest-hit parts of the country .
-The U.N. has been criticized for its slow response to the crisis .
-It began appealing for aid last year but was largely ignored until recently .
-Iraqi authorities say the bodies of 18 young Shi'ite men have been found near the northern city of Mosul , where they were headed to work at a U.S. military base .
-Police say the men , who were all from Baghdad , were found bound and shot execution-style .
-Their bodies were discovered Wednesday , but police say the men were killed nearly a month ago .
-Following a November U.S.-led offensive against insurgents in Fallujah , many fighters fled to Mosul .
-Violence there has escalated in recent weeks , with dozens of dead bodies turning up .
-Also Thursday , a U.S. Marine was killed in western al-Anbar province .
-Meanwhile , in Jordan , Iraq 's neighbors are holding a conference that is expected to endorse the January 30 elections and urge Iraqis to defy boycott calls from some Sunni groups concerned about escalating violence .
-The White House said Vice President Joe Biden will travel to Bosnia and Herzegovina , Serbia and Kosovo later this month .
-In a statement Friday , Mr. Biden 's office said the vice president will meet with the political leadership in all three countries , as well as U.S. officials and military personnel stationed in the region .
-It said the vice president 's trip will take place the week of May 18 , and that further details will be released at a later date .
-Leaders from around the world are in Warsaw to celebrate the 90th anniversary of Poland 's independence .
-German Chancellor Angela Merkel took part in commemorations at the Tomb of Poland 's Unknown Soldier .
-Afghan President Hamid Karzai , Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko are among the dignitaries who are joining Polish President Lech Kaczynski at a gala ceremony this Tuesday evening .
-The Polish president has come under sharp criticism for failing to invite former president and Solidarity movement leader Lech Walesa to the formal Independence Day celebrations .
-As Europe celebrates Armistice Day , marking the end of World War One , Poland also celebrates the re-establishment of its independence 123 years after Russia , Prussia and Austria divided and occupied the country in 1795 .
-Iran 's new president , Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , declared at his swearing-in ceremony Saturday that the Iranian nation can not be intimidated .
-Without directly mentioning the controversy surrounding his country 's pursuit of nuclear technology , Mr. Ahmadinejad told parliament that Iran would respect international norms , but would never surrender to what he called " illegal requests . "
-In a nation where 70 percent of the population is under age 30 , Mr. Ahmadinejad pledged to tackle unemployment .
-He also vowed to defend Iran 's independence and said , " if religion is weakened , our identity will be weakened too . "
-A former revolutionary guard and Tehran mayor , the 49-year-old president is a religious conservative .
-His arrival in office brings to a close President Mohammad Khatami 's largely unsuccessful eight-year attempt to liberalize the government .
-President Ahmadinejad has two weeks to announce his Cabinet .
-Medical professionals in India protesting against a caste quota have been joined by professionals from other fields , as demonstrations continue in the capital .
-Thousands of professionals marched in New Delhi Saturday , denouncing a government plan to reserve more college seats for lower castes .
-In addition to attending rallies , doctors and medical students who work in public healthcare facilities are on strike .
-The work stoppage has lasted for about a week .
-It is forcing thousands of hospital patients to go without treatment or to seek treatment at costly , private hospitals .
-The government plans to more than double the percentage of places reserved for lower caste students in state-funded medical , engineering and other professional colleges .
-Critics say the change will reduce the number of slots for students competing on merit and will hurt educational and professional standards .
-U.S Open women 's tennis champion Kim Clijsters of Belgium has defeated French player Nathalie Dechy to reach the finals of the FORTIS Championships in Luxembourg .
-Clijsters reached the final in straight sets , 06-Mar , 06-Jan .
-Sunday , the Belgian world number three takes on Germany 's Anna-Lena Groenefeld , a three-set winner over seventh seed Dinara Safina of Russia ( 06-Apr , 05-Jul , 06-Apr ) .
-Clijsters has won 25 of her last 26 matches this season .
-She has played Groenefeld once before - earlier this year in Stanford , California - and beat the German player in straight sets .
-The African Union says a Senegalese soldier was killed Friday when unknown gunmen ambushed an AU patrol near the Sudan-Chad border .
-Khartoum and Sudanese rebels are blaming each other for the attack , which targeted a group of Senegalese soldiers patrolling the Darfur region .
-Ten other soldiers wounded in the attack were evacuated to a local hospital for treatment .
-The assailants stole an AU vehicle , using it to flee the scene .
-The incident comes just days after cross-border raids on three Chadian border villages killed nine civilians .
-Chad 's government has repeatedly accused Sudan of supporting rebel activity along the border .
-Sudan has denied any involvement with the rebels .
-Tensions have risen between the two nations since Sudanese rebels attacked the Chadian town of Adre last month .
-After the attack , Chad said a " state of belligerence " existed between it and Khartoum .
-Britain 's Prince Charles and his wife Camilla have arrived at the White House , where they will have lunch with President and Mrs. Bush Wednesday , on their first U.S. visit since they were married in April .
-The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall will also be the guests of honor at a state dinner at the White House later in the day .
-From Washington , they will travel to New Orleans to meet with victims of Hurricane Katrina .
-The royal couple spent the first day of their weeklong trip Tuesday in New York City , where they visited the site of the World Trade Center and dedicated a memorial to the 67 British victims of the September 11 , 2001 terrorist attacks .
-A leading U.S. senator predicts that January will be a month of " historic transformation " in the Middle East .
-In an interview with ABC television Sunday , Senator Joe Lieberman said this month will be remembered as the time Iraqis and Palestinians held elections and started becoming democratic nations .
-Mr. Lieberman , who just returned from a trip to Iraq , said he came away encouraged that Iraqis will be able to hold elections despite ongoing violence .
-The Democratic senator called the violence " only a small part " of Iraq 's reality , and said insurgents fighting U.S. and Iraqi security forces do not have popular support .
-He said it would be a mistake to postpone Iraqi elections despite calls from some Sunni Muslim politicians to do so .
-Iraq 's elections are set for January 30 .
-Palestinians choose a new president on January 9 .
-Defending champion Andy Roddick of the United States and Croatia 's Ivo Karlovic have advanced to the finals of the Stella Artois grass-court tennis tournament in London .
-Roddick , the second seed , defeated fourth-seeded Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic in three sets 06-Mar , 02-Jun , 06-Feb .
-After breaking Stepanek 's serve early in the first set Saturday , Roddick hit a slump in the second set before getting back on track for the victory .
-The 22-year-old Roddick faces Karlovic , who scored a straight-set win over sixth-seeded Thomas Johansson of Sweden 06-Apr , 07-Jun .
-The two meters , eight centimeter tall Karlovic fired 19 aces on his first serve in the one hour , 24 minute match .
-Roddick and Karlovic have never met one another before in ATP Tour play .
-The tournament is a key warmup for Wimbledon -- the third Grand Slam event of the season .
-Israeli troops have killed three Palestinian militants in separate incidents in the occupied West Bank and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip .
-Israel 's military says troops entered the West Bank city of Tulkarm Sunday in search of two wanted militants .
-It says soldiers opened fire at the men as they tried to flee , killing one and wounding the other .
-Palestinian officials say the dead militant was loyal to the Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas .
-The wounded man was taken to an Israeli hospital for treatment .
-Earlier in the day , Palestinian medics said Israeli troops operating in central Gaza killed two Palestinian militants during an exchange of fire .
-Palestinian officials identified one of the militants as an Islamic Jihad member , and the other as a member of the Popular Resistance Committees .
-A Philippine army general says search teams have found the body of a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer who went missing 10 days ago .
-Major General Rodrigo Maclang said Wednesday rescuers found Julia Campbell 's body partially buried near the northern mountain town of Batad .
-He said her feet were sticking out of the ground .
-Police have not said how the 40-year-old died , but said they are conducting a criminal investigating into her death .
-Authorities have dismissed the possibility that she had been kidnapped by communist guerrillas .
-Campbell was last seen April 8th , when she began a hike near the town of Banaue in Ifugao province , north of Manila .
-She had been teaching English in the town of Legaspi for the past two years .
-She also worked as journalist , with articles published in The New York Times newspaper , Starmagazine and a number of media Web sites .
-King Abdullah II of Jordan has vowed " zero tolerance " toward terrorists , as his government says al-Qaida in Iraq was behind Wednesday 's triple suicide attacks that killed 57 people .
-The king told the official Petra news agency Saturday that Jordan would not tolerate anyone who distorts Islam to promote violence , and he vowed to bring the perpetrators of the attacks to justice .
-Earlier , Deputy Prime Minister Marwan al-Muasher told reporters that three non-Jordanians carried out the Amman hotel bombings .
-He says no women appear to have been involved in the attacks , disputing a claim attributed to al-Qaida in Iraq that a woman was among four attackers .
-Amid reports that the suicide bombers were Iraqis , the king reassured the country 's large Iraqi population that Jordan would continue to be a safehaven for them .
-The U.S. military says four Iraqi civilians were killed and 19 people , including two American soldiers , were wounded when a car bomb exploded near a U.S. military convoy in the northern town of Baiji Tuesday .
-In a separate attack -- also in Baiji -- insurgents fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a U.S. tank , wounding one soldier .
-Insurgents have recently stepped up their violent campaign - particularly in Iraq 's Sunni dominated regions - to derail the country 's January 30 election .
-Major Sunni Muslim and Kurdish parties have called for a six-month delay in the vote .
-But parties representing Iraq 's Shi'ite majority say the election should go ahead as planned .
-U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell says the election is a way for Iraqis to take a stand against the insurgents .
-Officials in Iraq say at least 10 Iraqis have been killed and several others wounded in separate insurgent attacks across the country .
-Security officials say gunmen ambushed a police patrol Saturday , in the Baghdad area , killing two officers and wounding at least two others .
-Another policeman was killed in a separate attack north of Baghdad .
-At least seven civilians were killed in other attacks elsewhere .
-Separately , the U.S. military says one American Marine was killed in combat Saturday in western al-Anbar province .
-And at least six coalition soldiers were hurt in other attacks in northern Iraq .
-Meanwhile , there are reports of fighting between U.S. forces and insurgents in the flashpoint city of Fallujah , where U.S. and Iraqi forces launched a full-scale offensive last month to dislodge guerrilla fighters .
-Kenyan police have arrested several journalists and activists who were protesting a new media bill passed by parliament that would impose strict controls on the press .
-Reports from the Kenyan capital , Nairobi , say the police broke up Friday 's protest , which took place shortly before President Mwai Kibaki was scheduled to speak at a celebration marking Kenya 's independence day .
-The media bill was passed Wednesday and has been sent to President Kibaki for his signature .
-The measure would set heavy fines and prison sentences for perceived press offenses , would allow government ministers to dictate content on broadcast media and would allow the seizure of equipment .
-Kenyan and international media advocacy groups are urging Mr. Kibaki not to sign the bill .
-The chairman of the Kenya Media Council , Wachira Waruru , called the measure a blow against freedom of the press .
-Ukraine 's parliament has adopted a bill describing the famine of the 1930s as genocide .
-Lawmakers Tuesday backed the measure , which calls the event genocide against the Ukrainian people .
-An earlier draft had called it genocide against the Ukrainian nation .
-Ukraine was under Soviet leadership at the time of the famine in 1932 - 33 .
-The famine killed as many as 10 million people in what was then Soviet Ukraine .
-Many analysts say the famine was not from natural causes , but instead was the result of government policies under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin .
-Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko supported the bill .
-On Saturday , he spoke in the capital , Kiev , to mark the 73rd anniversary of the tragedy , known in Ukraine as the Holodomor .
-China denies it is failing to keep the Olympic Games and politics separate after a Communist party official criticized the Dalai Lama at a torch relay ceremony in Tibet .
-The Chinese foreign ministry Thursday said the official 's comments did not contradict China 's opposition to politicizing the Olympics .
-The ministry said the comments were meant to create a stable environment for the Olympics .
-Earlier Thursday , the International Olympic Committee urged the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic games to make sure such situations do not happen again .
-The IOC said it regrets that the political statements were made during the closing torch relay ceremony Saturday in Tibet 's capital , Lhasa .
-Anti-Chinese government riots that erupted in Lhasa in March sparked a harsh crackdown by Chinese troops .
-The crackdown led to chaotic demonstrations at several stops on the international leg of the torch relay for the Beijing Olympics that begin in August .
-New Zealand 's cricket team has scored a morale-boosting win over Bangladesh in the first of three one-day internationals in New Zealand .
-Despite Bangladesh 's highest total ever in a limited-overs match , the Kiwis were able to win the match by six wickets in Auckland .
-Opening batsman Jamie How led all scorers with 88 runs as New Zealand reached 203-4 in 42.1 overs .
-The score was in response to Bangladesh 's total of 201 all out in 46.3 overs .
-Mohammad Ashraful led the visitors with 70 runs , including 10 fours and one six on the short boundaries of the Eden Park ground .
-The win was encouraging for New Zealand , which has suffered disappointing losses in its recent tours of South Africa and Australia .
-The second one-day international against Bangladesh is Friday in Napier .
-Insurgents have struck again in Iraq , this time assassinating a senior government official , as they try to derail next month 's national elections .
-Police say unidentified gunmen killed the director of the Communications Ministry in a drive-by shooting as he headed to work Thursday , in Baghdad .
-Meanwhile , the death toll from a bomb attack in the Shi'ite holy city of Karbala Wednesday , climbed to 10 dead and at least 30 wounded .
-And Italy 's government says it is investigating reports that one of its nationals may have been kidnapped and killed in Iraq .
-In a separate development , attorneys for ousted leader Saddam Hussein say he met Thursday , for the first time since his capture last year with a defense lawyer .
-Investigative hearings of Saddam 's top lieutenants are to begin very soon , but the former dictator is likely to be among the last tried .
-The Polish Defense Ministry says seven soldiers serving with the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan have been detained for the killing of civilians in the eastern part of the country .
-In a statement released Tuesday , Polish military prosecutors say the soldiers were detained for violating international law , specifically the Hague and Geneva Conventions .
-The Afghan civilians were killed during a firefight between the Polish troops and militants on August 16 .
-Poland currently has 1,200 troops serving in Afghanistan .
-Also Tuesday , Afghan President Hamid Karzai said corruption and embezzlement among government officials is on the rise .
-He says officials should work with the Afghan people to serve the country without deceiving or exploiting it .
-Mr. Karzai 's comments came during a speech to village elders in the capital , Kabul .
-Witnesses say a top Palestinian bombmaker for the militant Islamic Jihad group was killed late Sunday in an Israeli missile strike in Gaza City .
-A second missile struck another car nearby , killing the head of a Palestinian squad linked to rocket attacks in southern Israel .
-Friday , Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for firing rockets that wounded an Israeli infant and two adults in southern Israel .
-Separately , Israeli helicopters fired missiles early Sunday at a building occupied by militants from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades .
-Medics said three members of the group were killed .
-In other developments , Israel has agreed to release $ 54 million of Palestinian tax revenues it withheld after the militant group Hamas won Palestinian legislative elections last month .
-Israel says the monthly transfers will be suspended if a Hamas-led government is formed , as expected .
-Fighting has resumed in Uganda after the collapse of a cease-fire agreement designed to open the way to formal peace talks .
-The Ugandan military says rebels from the Lord 's Resistance Army ambushed an army vehicle early Saturday , near the northern town of Gulu .
-Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni ordered the army to resume attacks against rebel forces after a temporary cease-fire ran out Friday night .
-But the president also left open the possibility of future negotiations .
-Both sides were expected to sign a wide-ranging truce on Friday , following a series of meetings this week .
-But the deal was delayed after rebels asked for more time to study the proposal .
-The Lord 's Resistance Army has been fighting to overthrow the Ugandan government since 1987 , displacing more than one million people in the north .
-The rebels routinely attack civilians and kidnap children for forced labor as soldiers and sex slaves .
-Jurors in the Phil Spector murder trial were on June 5 shown a handgun found at the feet of an actress slain in the music producer 's mansion .
-Los Angeles County sheriff 's detective Mark Lilienfeld displayed the Colt Cobra revolver , still covered in dried blood .
-It was not registered and had never definitively been linked to the 67-year-old Spector , who denies shooting Lana Clarkson in February , 2003 .
-He maintains the 40-year-old actress shot herself , and his defense attorneys are likely to argue the handgun belonged to Clarkson .
-Lilienfeld also displayed photographs of a holster which fit the handgun , found in a bureau near Clarkson 's body .
-He testified about Spector 's small arsenal of firearms , including ammunition of the same type which killed Clarkson .
-Phil Spector rose to fame in the 1960s , crafting a series of classic pop singles using his " Wall of Sound " production technique .
-Former world number one and Wimbledon tennis champion Maria Sharapova of Russia has withdrawn from next month 's Australian women 's hard court championships because of a shoulder injury .
-Sharapova said in a statement that the shoulder strain forced her pullout from the January second to seventh event in Gold Coast .
-The Russian star said she is not sure she will be ready to play in the Australian Open , the first major tournament of 2006 .
-Sharapova reached the semi-finals in three of the four major tournaments in 2005 and won three tournaments on the WTA tour .
-Her injury hindered her performance in the second half of the season .
-The Aussie women 's hard court tournament will also mark the return of another former world number one player - Martina Hingis of Switzerland will play in the event and plans to play in the Australian Open beginning January 16 .
-Romanian authorities are reporting new cases of bird flu in remote villages in the southwestern part of the country .
-Officials say they have ordered the slaughter of more than 8,000 chickens , after determining that they were victims of an H5-type of bird flu .
-They say samples are being sent to a laboratory to determine if the infected birds contracted the highly dangerous H5N1 strain that has killed more than 60 people in Asia since 2003 .
-Romania is located on a major flyway for migrating wild birds , and it was the first country on the European mainland to detect a case of the deadly strain .
-Meanwhile , the European Parliament has approved measures to deal with a possible crisis .
-These include creation of an improved early warning system and a coordinated emergency plan in the event of a pandemic .
-Iran says it is determined to resume uranium enrichment whether talks with the European Union over its nuclear program succeed or fail .
-Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told a weekly news conference in Tehran Sunday the government will continue to suspend uranium enrichment during the talks .
-But he says Iran will not allow negotiations to go on for what it would consider an unreasonable period of time .
-Iranian officials have made similar comments before .
-Iranian and EU negotiators are due to resume talks in London on April 29 .
-Last November , Tehran agreed to suspend uranium enrichment while it negotiated a settlement to its nuclear dispute with the European Union .
-Europe and the United States are concerned that Tehran is secretly trying to manufacture nuclear weapons .
-Tehran says its nuclear facilities will only be used to generate electricity .
-Funerals were held Tuesday for 17 people killed by a drunken tractor driver in Yuanshi county , a rural part of China 's northern Hebei province .
-Local officials say 38-year-old Li Xianliang went on a killing rampage Sunday after arguing with his supervisor about money while drinking .
-Li allegedly killed his boss and later drove an earth-moving vehicle down a village road , tearing through buildings and crushing cars along the way .
-The Associated Press said desperate villagers tried to stop the driver by jumping on his vehicle .
-It said a villager finally managed to stab him .
-Li was later subdued and taken into police custody .
-The Chinese government has been dealing with a growing number of killing sprees , often committed by men angered about their working conditions or family relations .
-Some of the victims have included children .
-Courts usually hand out death sentences to the perpetrators .
-The U.N. food program says Kenya has allowed about 60 of its trucks to cross into Somalia after a wait of several weeks .
-The World Food Program said Friday the trucks were allowed to cross the border this week following appeals from the international community .
-The agency says there are still about 80 food trucks on the border and it hopes they will be allowed to cross soon .
-Kenya closed its border with Somalia in January during fighting that pitted Islamic militia against Somali government troops and their Ethiopian allies .
-However , the World Food Program says it was able to send food trucks into Somalia until recently .
-The food that just crossed the border is intended for tens of thousands of people in Somalia 's Gedo region , where malnutrition rates are at emergency levels .
-Piracy in Somalia 's waters has restricted the movement of relief vessels and forced aid agencies to use overland routes .
-Malawi 's parliament has passed laws paving the way for the possible impeachment of President Bingu wa Mutharika .
-A majority of lawmakers passed the legislation Tuesday outlining how to carry out impeachment proceedings .
-Malawi 's constitution allows for impeachment , but until now no laws existed for how this could be done .
-Mr. Mutharika 's opponents , led by members of the opposition United Democratic Front ( UDF ) , accuse the president of ignoring the constitution to set up his own party , and of misusing public funds .
-President Mutharika quit the UDF party earlier this year after launching a major crackdown on corruption that targeted several high level officials of the party .
-Meanwhile Tuesday , anti-corruption officials announced they have summoned former President Bakili Muluzi to answer questions about alleged graft during his time in office .
-India 's cricket team has scored 365-5 by the close of play on the first day of its third and final test match against Pakistan in Bangalore .
-Yuvraj Singh and Sourav Ganguly both had centuries for the home side , with Singh blasting a career-best 169 runs while Ganguly had an unbeaten 125 .
-Singh had 28 fours and a six in his time at the crease , while Ganguly hammered 20 fours .
-Pakistani bowler Yasir Araft took three wickets while allowing 98 runs in 22 overs .
-India last won a home series against Pakistan in 1979 , but leads this series 1-0 after winning the first test by six wickets .
-The second test was a draw .
-Witnesses in Baghdad say a bomb blast outside the Iraqi national journalists ' union has wounded the union 's leader and at least three other people .
-Witnesses say the bomb exploded in central Baghdad Saturday as the union leader was saying goodbye to three guests .
-No one has claimed responsibility for the attack .
-Gunmen shot and fatally wounded the union 's former leader , Shihab al-Tamimi , in February .
-The official died of his wounds four days after being ambushed in Baghdad .
-The international Committee to Protect Journalists says Iraq has become the world 's most dangerous country for journalists since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 .
-The United States invaded Iraq citing concerns about alleged weapons of mass destruction programs .
-No such weapons were found .
-El Salvador is preparing to send another contingent of 380 soldiers to Iraq .
-Salvadoran President Antonio Saca said the troops will be participating in humanitarian activities such as building water systems and other infrastructure projects .
-The French news agency , AFP , reports the latest troops will relieve an earlier contingent stationed about 100 kilometers south of Baghdad .
-El Salvador is the only Latin American country which still has troops in Iraq .
-China has named Donald Tsang Hong Kong 's acting Chief Executive after accepting the resignation of Tung Chee-hwa , the territory 's leader .
-Mr. Tsang , previously Hong Kong 's second-ranking official , told a news conference Saturday he will not reshuffle the cabinet and will serve only until another leader is elected on July 10 .
-The next Chief Executive will complete the five-year term to which Mr. Tung was elected in 2002 by a Chinese-sanctioned electoral college .
-Mr. Tung , who is 67 , announced his resignation on Thursday , citing health reasons .
-He rejected suggestions that China forced his resignation .
-But in December , Chinese President Hu Jintao publicly reprimanded Mr. Tung for his performance , fueling rumors that China was considering a leadership change .
-On Saturday , Mr. Tung was named one of several vice chairmen of a high-ranking Chinese advisory body .
-Researchers say it is safe for children to get the vaccine for measles , mumps and rubella without a risk of developing autism .
-Ten years ago , another study concluded there might be a connection .
-That study was later retracted , but the fear lived on .
-Now new research provides strong evidence against any association .
-VOA 's Carol Pearson has more .
-Niger 's electoral commission says it is delaying the country 's upcoming presidential election by nearly a month .
-The commission said Tuesday that the election to restore civilian rule after a military coup earlier this year will now be on January 31 , 2011 instead of January 3 .
-It is the second postponement for Niger 's presidential election .
-In May a spokesman for the military junta set the election for December 26 , but election officials said they needed more time to prepare .
-The military junta came into power in February , after ousting unpopular president Mamadou Tandja , who had refused to leave officer when his term expired last year .
-The Sri Lankan military reports new exchanges of artillery and mortar fire with Tamil Tiger rebels trying to break through government lines to capture Jaffna town and the northern Jaffna peninsula .
-A Defense Ministry spokesman Major Upali Rajapakse said Sunday the rebels began an offensive nine days ago in an attempt to recapture the Tamil-majority area they lost in 1995 .
-He said the military has successfully resisted the push .
-Hundreds of rebels , government troops and civilians have been killed in the latest fighting .
-The military says more than 80 rebels were killed since Friday , but there was no immediate reaction from the Tigers .
-The United Nations has appealed to the warring sides to allow aid workers to deliver supplies .
-The U.N. says refugees cut off by the fighting are running short of food and water .
-A leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas has suggested the possibility of future negotiations with Israel through a third party .
-Mahmoud al-Zahar Monday said " negotiation is not a taboo . "
-The comments come two days before Palestinian parliamentary elections , as surveys show almost even support for Hamas and Fatah , the political movement of Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas .
-Hamas is dedicated to the destruction of Israel and its military wing has been involved in scores of attacks .
-Meanwhile , Israeli military officials say their troops will avoid entering Palestinian towns during the next few days so as not to interfere with the elections - unless it is necessary to foil attacks on Israelis .
-Israeli troops arrested 24 Palestinians , including members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad , in raids overnight .
-German prosecutors say a second suspect in a failed plot to blow up German trains has turned himself in to authorities in Lebanon .
-Germany 's federal prosecutor says Jihad Hamad , 19 , surrendered to police in the northwestern Lebanese coastal city of Tripoli .
-German authorities say the suspect is one of two Lebanese men accused of planting suitcase bombs on trains in Cologne July 31 .
-The devices failed to explode .
-German police arrested the first suspect Youssef Mohamad el Hajdib , 21 , on Saturday .
-He was detained in the German city of Kiel , as he apparently was trying to flee the country .
-German prosecutors say they will arrange to Jihad Hamad extradited to Germany .
-Both men are accused of belonging to a terrorist organization .
-The International Committee of the Red Cross is calling on Israel to allow Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to resume visits with relatives held in Israeli jails .
-In a statement Monday , the Red Cross says Israel suspended the visits last year after Hamas militants took control of the Gaza Strip .
-The Red Cross had been organizing the visits since 1967 .
-The organization says that because the visits have been stopped , the families of more than 900 detainees have been deprived of direct contact with their detained relatives for nearly a year .
-Red Cross officials say the detainees depend on the visits not only for psychological support but for material assistance such as clothing and blankets .
-The Red Cross says that while it understands Israel 's security concerns , it strongly believes those concerns alone can not justify a complete suspension of family visits to detainees .
-Four Palestinians were killed and at least 18 wounded in a violent feud between rival clans in the Gaza Strip .
-A Hamas security force commander was shot to death Saturday in the early morning hours in the Khan Yunis refugee camp .
-The Hamas military wing accused a rival clan in the Gaza Strip of ties to the killing .
-The attack triggered a gunbattle that killed two members of the rival Fatah family and one bystander .
-News reports say both factions say the killing was motivated by a family feud , and was not connected to the power struggle between President Mahmoud Abbas ' Fatah faction and the ruling Hamas party .
-The Hamas-led government condemned the violence , saying the Palestinian government is committed to a power-sharing agreement reached with the Fatah faction of President Mahmoud Abbas ealier this month .
-Palestinian leaders are currently lobbying European countries to promote the unity government and end international sanctions .
-Italy says it will campaign at the United Nations for a global ban on the death penalty after images of the hanging of Iraq 's former dictator shocked people worldwide .
-Prime Minister Romano Prodi said Tuesday that his government will use Italy 's new seat in the U.N. Security Council to push for a " universal moratorium " on capital punishment .
-Italy joined the council on January 1 for a two-year term .
-Italian politicians of all political affiliations expressed disgust at Saddam Hussein 's execution .
-Iraq 's government reacted by accusing Italy of hypocrisy .
-It cited Italy 's 1945 public execution of fascist leader Benito Mussolini .
-Partisans killed the dictator and hanged him upside down in a Milan square .
-More than 80 U.N. member countries signed a non-binding declaration against the death penalty in December .
-Italy and all other European Union countries do not permit capital punishment .
-Skier Marco Buechel of Liechtenstein has won his first World Cup downhill title on a snow-shortened course in Val Gardena , Italy .
-Buechel finished the race in one minute , 27.99 seconds , just 0.02 ahead of Austrian Michael Walchhofer ( 1.28.01 ) .
-Erik Guay of Canada finished third , 0.2 behind Buechel ( 1.28.19 ) .
-It was Buechel 's second World Cup win ever - he also won a super-giant slalom in Germany two years ago .
-American Olympic hopeful Bode Miller of the United States finished eighth and recaptured the overall standings lead .
-Miller now has 442 points with Walchhofer second ( 420 points ) and Norway 's Aksel Lund Svindal third ( 417 ) .
-Snow and strong winds delayed the start of the race by more than one hour .
-The course was also shortened by more than one kilometer and several jumps were removed .
-Britain 's Prime Minister Tony Blair says there were British fatalities in the crash of a C-130 military cargo plane in Iraq Sunday .
-In televised remarks , he paid tribute to those killed , but gave no further details or numbers .
-A British officer said the military would not release any details about the crew until families had been contacted .
-Rescue teams have been sent to the crash site north of Baghdad .
-The C-130 aircraft was traveling from the Iraqi capital to Balad when it went down .
-There was no word on the cause of the crash or how many people were on board , but news reports say wreckage from the plane was spread over a large area .
-The C-130 Hercules is a widely-used aircraft that can be configured to carry heavy payloads or as many as 128 troops .
-The U.S. military says coalition forces in Afghanistan have killed 22 militants in a series of clashes throughout the country .
-Officials said the coalition 's ground and air assaults took place Monday in southern and eastern Afghanistan .
-They said one operation targeted a Taliban network in Kapisa province , killing 18 insurgents and one Taliban commander .
-The military also said they killed another Taliban commander and two insurgents in two raids in the Kandahar and Zabul provinces .
-Officials did not mention any casualties among coalition troops .
-Violence has risen in Afghanistan as militants have made a comeback after their initial defeat following the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 .
-Mexican President Vicente Fox has tightened security within his administration after authorities discovered that details of his travel plans had been leaked to drug traffickers .
-Monday 's announcement comes a week after Mexican federal authorities detained Nahum Acosta , the official responsible for organizing Mr. Fox 's visits around the country .
-Mexican newspapers report he was caught on video meeting with a leading drug trafficker in Mexico City .
-The developments have raised concern because drug traffickers often kill government officials .
-But so far there is no evidence of an assassination plot against President Fox .
-The Mexican president promised Monday to continue his fight against organized crime , repeating a vow to give drug traffickers " the mother of all battles . "
-Swedish officials say an Iraqi-born Swedish citizen held hostage in Iraq since January has been freed .
-The officials gave no details of Minas al-Yousifi 's release , and would not comment on whether a ransom had been paid .
-Mr. al-Yousifi was kidnapped in the northern city of Mosul on January 28 by a group calling itself the Iraqi Vengeance Brigade .
-His captors released two videos in which he pleaded for his release .
-Mr. al-Yousifi lived in Sweden for 20 years , before returning to Iraq after Saddam Hussein 's ouster two years ago to lead Iraq 's Christian Democratic party .
-Pope Benedict XVI said the current global financial crisis is the result of individuals seeking short-term monetary gains at the expense of the common good .
-In his annual message published Thursday ahead of the Roman Catholic Church 's annual World Day of Peace on January 1 , the pope said the world is seeing a greater gap between the rich and poor .
-He said the international financial system must be a stimulus for long-term growth and job development .
-Pope Benedict also condemned international campaigns to reduce birth rates in poorer countries .
-He said methods such as abortion do not fight poverty or help a country 's development but actually constitute " the destruction of the poorest of all human beings . "
-Five former members of a Serbian paramilitary unit , the Scorpions , have gone on trial in Belgrade on charges they played a role in the massacre of up to eight thousand Muslims after the 1995 Serb capture of Srebrenica .
-The first of the accused to testify , Scorpions commander Slobodan Medic , denied any knowledge of the crime .
-But he confirmed his unit was in the area and said could not control all his men 's actions .
-Serbian authorities arrested him and the four others , Aleksandar Medic , Branislav Medic , Pera Petrasevic and Aleksandar Vukov , after prosecutors at The Hague tribunal showed a videotape in June at the trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic .
-A sixth suspect is on trial in Csatia on similar charges .
-The tape shows the defendants executing six men captured in Srebrenica , an enclave in eastern Bosnia-Herzegovina which the United Nations had declared a Muslim safe area .
-Two years ago , war broke out along Israel 's border with Lebanon .
-The conflict known as the Second Lebanon War started after Hezbollah guerrillas attacked an Israeli patrol and seized two Israeli soldiers .
-On July 14 , Hezbollah returned the bodies of the two Israeli soldiers in a prisoner exchange with the Jewish state .
-No Israeli town was more affected by the war than Metullah , the closest Israeli town to Lebanon .
-Jim Teeple recently visited the town where many residents say they want a lasting peace with Lebanon .
-Pakistani forces with helicopter gunships Monday continued to pound Islamic rebel positions in the semi-autonomous tribal region bordering Afghanistan , and the military says 19 pro-Taleban militants were killed .
-The government says with the latest fighting , a total of more than 120 rebels have been killed in three days of fierce clashes in the remote North Waziristan area .
-The military says five government soldiers were also killed in the fighting that began Saturday when militants attacked a security outpost in the region 's main town of Miranshah and seized several government buildings .
-The army imposed a curfew in the town after re-taking the buildings .
-The fighting came days after Pakistani security forces attacked a militants ' camp used to train terrorists .
-More than 40 foreign fighters and tribal militants were killed in that raid near the Afghan border .
-Immigrants and supporters of immigrants ' rights in the United States are planning a new round of demonstrations against immigration reform Monday .
-Organizers of a march in the state of Arizona , which borders Mexico , say they expect as many as 1,00,000 demonstrators in the city of Phoenix as they march to the state capitol building .
-Similar marches are planned across the nation , in the latest of a series of such protests .
-The protesters are concerned about legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives that would make it a felony to be an illegal immigrant .
-The legislation would also punish employers who hire illegal immigrants .
-Afghan officials say they have found the beheaded bodies of three policemen who disappeared Friday .
-They say the policemen disappeared in Helmund Province .
-Authorities blamed Taleban fighters for the killings .
-In central Afghanistan , police killed four militants in a clash in Ghazni Province .
-Officials say a firefight erupted after militants set off a bomb near a police vehicle , wounding four officers .
-Officials in Afghanistan say almost 400 people , mostly insurgents , have been killed in an upsurge of violence since mid-May .
-Iraqi police say at least three civilians were killed and nine wounded Saturday when a roadside bomb struck a vehicle south of Baghdad .
-A police official said the attack occurred early Saturday in Iskandariyah , 60 kilometers south of Baghdad .
-In central Iraq , the U.S. military says coalition forces captured two wanted individuals and three suspected terrorists Saturday during an operation northwest of Muqdadiyah .
-U.S.-led forces also detained six suspected militants during another operation Saturday in Bayji , targeting an associate of al-Qaida in Iraq senior leaders .
-The military says the targeted person is suspected of a logistics network responsible for supplying weapons and supplies to foreign terrorists .
-He is also believed to have many contacts within the southern belt terrorist network , which facilitates the movement of foreign terrorists and suicide bombers .
-Afghan officials say at least 29 suspected Taleban insurgents have been killed in clashes with NATO and Afghan forces in two southern provinces .
-Authorities in Zabul province say 18 Taleban rebels and one Afghan soldier were killed Wednesday when a group of Taleban attacked an army post .
-In a separate incident in neighboring Kandahar province , NATO forces killed 11 Taleban militants who NATO says were planning an ambush .
-Separately , a Canadian soldier who was wounded in a suicide car-bomb attack Tuesday in Kandahar city died from his wounds .
-Three other NATO soldiers were wounded .
-NATO officials say its troops killed one Afghan civilian and wounded another hours after the suicide bombing .
-Troops fired on the two civilians riding a motorcycle then they did not heed calls to stop .
-And , Afghan officials say two roadside bombs planted by suspected Taleban militants , also in Kandahar , killed three civilians and wounded one .
-President Bush is expected to head to Mongolia in the next few hours for the last stop of his Asian trip that also took him to Japan , South Korea , and China .
-Mr. Bush is scheduled to use his visit - the first by a U.S. president - to thank Mongolia for sending 120 troops to Iraq .
-Mr. Bush met with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing to discuss reducing China 's trade surplus with the United States .
-Following their talks , Mr. Hu pledged to reduce the trade imbalance through steps including currency reforms and increased protection of intellectual property rights - but he did not provide a timetable for doing so .
-President Bush also urged Beijing to allow greater " social , political and religious freedoms . "
-Mr. Hu stressed that Chinese people can exercise their rights through elections .
-Wal-Mart , the world 's biggest retailer , has won another round in its struggle to keep its U.S. workforce from joining labor unions .
-Friday , workers voted 17-Jan to reject union representation at a tire store operated by Wal-Mart in Loveland , in the western state of Colorado .
-Wal-Mart recently said it will close a Canadian store that voted for union representation and fire the store 's 190 member staff .
-Earlier , the company eliminated meat-cutting jobs from its entire grocery operation after some butchers voted to bring in a union .
-Wal-Mart has 1.2 million employees who operate 3,500 stores in the United States , Canada , China , Mexico , Brazil , Germany , the United Kingdom , and South Korea .
-The United Food & Commercial Workers Union says it will continue efforts to unionize Wal-Mart .
-U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a fellow hunter while hunting quail in southern Texas .
-A witness to the shooting , Katharine Armstrong , said Mr. Cheney fired a shotgun late Saturday at a flying bird without realizing the other hunter was in the line of fire .
-The injured man , 78-year-old attorney Harry Whittington , was taken to a hospital in Corpus Christi , Texas , where he was in stable condition .
-He was hit with shotgun pellets in his right cheek , neck and chest .
-Mr. Cheney visited Whittington in the hospital Sunday before his scheduled return to Washington .
-The vice president , an avid hunter , was hunting on a large ranch , a place where he has hunted before .
-Ukrainian authorities say 19 people , including two children , are dead and at least 24 are missing after an explosion at an apartment building in the Crimean resort town of Yevpatoria .
-Rescue teams are digging through rubble Thursday to find survivors from the blast that tore through the five-story building late Wednesday .
-They say 21 people have been rescued so far .
-Ukraine 's Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and President Viktor Yushchenko headed to Yevpatoria Thursday to meet with rescue officials .
-Russian President Dmitri Medvedev has offered to send naval personnel from Russia 's Black Sea fleet to help with the search efforts .
-Authorities are working to establish the cause of the explosion .
-Preliminary reports say it could have been caused by oxygen or acetylene cylinders that may have been stored in the building 's basement .
-Gas explosions are common in Ukrainian apartment buildings , especially during the winter when residents turn up the heat .
-From tsunami-ravaged Sri Lanka to the European Union , countries from virtually every continent have begun sending millions of dollars to the American Red Cross to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina .
-In Washington Tuesday , State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said more than 90 nations have pledged financial assistance to those affected by the hurricane .
-He said numerous nations , including Australia , China , India , and Kuwait , have sent large cash donations to the Red Cross .
-Kosovo 's prime minister , Bajram Kosumi , saying his people will never forget how much America has helped the war-torn province , has donated $ 5,00,000 .
-Bangladesh , a poor country that is frequently hit by monsoons , pledged $ 1 million in disaster aid .
-Mr. McCormack said the American people can " take great heart " at the outpouring of assistance .
-South Korea says it will strengthen background checks on North Koreans seeking asylum in the South .
-South Korean Deputy Unification Minister Rhee Bong-jo says the measures are intended to prevent criminals or ethnic Koreans pretending to be from the North from entering the country .
-Mr. Rhee also said South Korea plans to cut financial subsidies to North Korean defectors starting next year .
-Defectors currently receive a payment of $ 26,500 on arrival .
-Mr. Rhee says Seoul plans to increase subsidies for job training for the defectors in an effort to help them adjust .
-South Korea says at least 1,850 North Koreans have defected to the South this year .
-A mild earthquake shook the capital of the United States Friday , though there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage .
-The U.S. Geological Survey reported the quake measured 3.6 in magnitude , the largest quake in the Washington area in decades .
-Officials said the quake 's epicenter was located just north of the nation 's capital in Maryland .
-Asked at a press conference whether he felt the tremor , U.S. President Barack Obama laughed and said he did not .
-But other residents in the area reported feeling a rumbling for several seconds .
-A spokeswoman for the U.S. Geological Survey said the minor earthquake was the largest recorded within 50 kilometers of Washington since a database was created to track such activity in 1974 .
-Police acting on a tip have arrested at least 17 people and seized a major cache of weapons near the Sri Lankan capital , Colombo .
-Authorities say the weapons confiscated by police Saturday included grenades and other explosives .
-Officials say the suspects were planning a major attack on the capital .
-The find comes on the same day a bomb blast killed six soldiers and wounded several in the northern Jaffna peninsula .
-The improvised device exploded as soldiers cleaned up the area after a failed attempt by Tamil Tiger rebels to capture the peninsula .
-Meanwhile , the Tamil Tigers released a policeman who had been held for nearly a year after he strayed into rebel territory while pursuing a pedophile .
-His release followed a request from Ulf Henricsson , the outgoing head of the team monitoring the 2002 ceasefire between the government and rebels .
-An Iraqi court has sentenced 11 men to death for the massive truck bombings in Baghdad last August that killed more than 100 people .
-The court convicted the men of planning and implementing the August 19 attacks on the Iraqi Ministries of Finance and Foreign Affairs .
-The attacks left more than 500 others wounded .
-On Wednesday , a suicide bomber blew up a truck near a police station in Iraq 's western Anbar province , killing at least seven people and wounding six others .
-The attack happened in Saqlawiyah , a town north of Fallujah .
-Officials say at least two police officers and a young girl were among those killed .
-Iraq is preparing for nationwide parliamentary elections in March , and officials have warned that insurgents trying to disrupt the vote could launch attacks as the election nears .
-American rappers Snoop Dogg and Sean " Diddy " Combs have canceled a tour of Britain after Snoop Dogg was denied a visa to enter the country .
-Record company officials said the rappers are " disappointed and devastated " after five concerts across Britain were called off .
-In April 2006 , Snoop Dogg , whose real name is Calvin Broadus , and five other men were arrested in a brawl at London 's Heathrow Airport .
-They spent a night in jail .
-The British Home Office would not comment on the present case , but it said the government can refuse entry to foreign citizens if there are concerns about their presence .
-South Korea is resuming its rice aid to North Korea Saturday after nearly a one-year suspension , now that Pyongyang is moving to dismantle its nuclear program .
-A ship with 3,000 tons of rice is to arrive in the North at the eastern port of Nampo - the first batch of 4,00,000 tons promised by South Korea .
-Seoul suspended its regular rice aid after North Korea conducted missile tests last July .
-A nuclear test followed in October .
-South Korea resumed shipments of fertilizer and other emergency aid to the North in late March , but decided to withhold rice aid until Pyongyang began to carry out its February pledge to shut down its main nuclear reactor .
-North Korea has relied heavily on international aid , particularly from South Korea , since the North 's economy was devastated by natural disasters and mismanagement in the mid-1990s .
-The European Commission Sunday confirmed that the deadly H5N1 strain was found in a dead bird .
-Turkish Cypriot authorities say they have quarantined a 10 kilometer area around the village where the dead bird was found and killed a large number of birds to stop the spread .
-Authorities in the Greek Cypriot south say they have taken all steps to prevent the virus from spreading across the border .
-Also Sunday , Hong Kong officials say they found an infected bird near the border with mainland China .
-Bird flu has killed at least 81 people in East Asia and Turkey since 2003 .
-The governor of Iraq 's southern Basra province says there will be no cooperation with British forces unless Britain apologizes for Monday 's jail raid that was aimed at freeing two undercover British soldiers .
-Mohammed al-Waili said the provincial council voted Wednesday to stop all cooperation until Britain meets three demands - apologize for the action , guarantee that it will not happen again and provide compensation for the damage .
-Also Wednesday , hundreds of Iraqis demonstrated in Basra city against the British troop presence .
-British troops raided the Basra jail , after they became concerned that two of their undercover soldiers had been arrested and handed over to a Shi'ite militia .
-Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari has said the raid will not undermine relations with Britain , although it has angered his government .
-He said he has ordered an investigation .
-Pakistani security forces say they have arrested a tribal militant commander suspected of involvement in the killing of three Chinese engineers in the southwestern province of Baluchistan .
-Security officials say the suspect is a local leader of the Baluchistan Liberation Army and wanted in other attacks in addition to the February killings of the Chinese workers in the town of Hub .
-On Tuesday in Baluchistan , unidentified gunmen killed a local politician and his bodyguard and injured a third man .
-Police say Abdul Samad Achakzai and his bodyguard were killed when gunmen fired on their car as it drove through Kojak pass , northwest of Quetta , the capital of Baluchistan province .
-The third man , identified as Sulaiman Shah , was seriously wounded .
-Police say Achakzai was one of the leaders of a Pashtun ethnic political group , Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami , that is linked to a local tribal feud .
-A suicide attack in southern Afghanistan has killed five policemen and wounded at least three others .
-Tuesday 's bombing in the Spin Boldak district of Kandahar province near the Pakistani border targeted the convoy of a border police commander , who survived the attack .
-Officials say the attacker was riding a motorcycle when he detonated his explosives outside of the police headquarters .
-In other news , NATO reports a Canadian soldier with its International Security Assistance Force was killed and four others wounded in the Panjwayi district of Kandahar on Monday .
-Elsewhere , a head-on collision of two buses killed at least 32 people Monday on the main road linking the capital , Kabul , and Kandahar city .
-At least 35 other people were injured .
-China 's ministry of health says 34 people have died from a disease , caused by streptococcus suis bacteria , carried by pigs .
-On Saturday , the ministry released new figures saying 174 cases of the illness , commonly called swine flu , have been identified .
-That is an increase of 22 over Friday 's figure .
-There were three additional deaths in the same period .
-China 's official news agency Xinhua reports that one of the new cases came from Guangdong province near Hong Kong .
-That would be the first case outside Sichuan province , where the outbreak began .
-Xinhua says a slaughterhouse worker in Guangdong was treated and released from the hospital .
-Those infected have handled infected pigs or infected pork .
-China says there has been no human-to-human transmission of the disease .
-Police in Nepal have arrested at least 120 anti-government activists across the country who defied a ban on protests to show their anger at King Gyanendra 's seizure of absolute power last month .
-In the capital , Kathmandu , police detained more than 40 protesters who gathered near the Central Secretariat building , shouting slogans such as " Down with autocracy , we want democracy . "
-The rest of the people were detained in similar demonstrations in nine other cities across the Himalayan kingdom .
-Monday 's protest in the capital was the largest since February first , when the king dismissed the government , declared a state of emergency and suspended civil liberties .
-He said he did so to defeat an escalating Maoist insurgency that has claimed more than 10,000 lives since 1996 .
-A new government report recently released shows the nation 's poverty rate was virtually unchanged in 2007 .
-The U.S. Census Bureau 's annual report also shows the number of Americans without health insurance fell last year - the first annual decline since the Bush administration took office .
-But some economists have criticized the report , saying it paints an inaccurate picture of the U.S. economy today .
-VOA 's Mil Arcega reports .
-Angolan health officials say the death toll in the country from the Marburg fever has reached 203 out of 221 registered cases .
-Officials said Monday the hardest hit area is the northern province of Uige where 184 people have died from the disease that first appeared last October .
-Meanwhile , medics treating Marburg fever patients are recommending closing down a hospital in Uige province because they say it needs to be disinfected .
-Doctors Without Borders , a global relief organization , says this step is necessary to reduce infection risks in the hospital where victims of the fatal virus are being held in isolation .
-The Ebola-like hemorrhagic fever spreads through contact with bodily fluids , and can kill rapidly .
-The World Health Organization has sent in teams to remove bodies and trace contacts with infected patients .
-Israel 's deputy prime minister says Israel has frozen plans to expand its largest West Bank settlement near Jerusalem .
-Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told the Jerusalem Post that Israel still wants to build some 3,500 new homes in the Maaleh Adumim settlement , but will only move forward on the project with U.S. consent .
-The expansion would have cut off east Jerusalem , claimed by the Palestinians as a future capital , from the West Bank .
-The United States had criticized the move , saying it would violate the internationally-backed road map peace plan that requires Israel to halt settlement growth .
-U.S. officials in Venezuela say supporters of President Hugo Chavez burned a U.S. flag , set tires on fire and surrounded a building that the American ambassador was visiting Wednesday , temporarily trapping him inside .
-Officials say Ambassador William Brownfield was stranded for at least two hours as the demonstrators gathered outside , chanting anti-U.S. slogans .
-No injuries were reported during the protest .
-The incident took place days after a Venezuelan newspaper printed an interview with Ambassador Brownfield , who said Washington is concerned over Venezuela 's growing ties with Iran .
-Venezuela 's government often clashes with the United States .
-President Chavez recently criticized President Bush , following a White House report which called Mr. Chavez a demagogue .
-Although relations between the two countries are tense , Venezuela is still a key supplier of oil to the U.S. market .
-Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu is mourning the loss of the Roman Catholic leader , while saying the next pope should come from Africa .
-The South African Nobel Peace Prize winner said Sunday he hopes cardinals will elect an African when they meet this month at the Vatican .
-Also today , the head of Ethiopia 's Orthodox church , Abune Paulos , praised John Paul as a great man who spoke of peace among religions .
-Nigeria 's President Olusegun Obasanjo expressed his condolences , noting the late pontiff promoted religious tolerance and democracy in the West African nation .
-And African Union Chairman , Alpha Oumar Konare , said the pope was a great advocate for Africa and a moral authority for the world .
-South Korean news media say North Korea Saturday aired a pirate recording of the opening World Cup match between host South Africa and Mexico .
-Yonhap news agency quotes South Korean Broadcaster SBS as saying the North Korean Central Broadcasting Service showed a recording of Friday 's game , despite its lack of broadcasting rights .
-An official is quoted as saying SBS has World Cup broadcasting rights for the whole Korean peninsula .
-The official said SBS will decide on measures after determining how North Korea obtained the footage .
-Meanwhile , South Koreans nationwide celebrated the victory of their team in their opening World Cup game against Greece .
-Despite rainy weather , fans crowded parks , squares and stadiums across the country to watch the game on giant screens and celebrate their team 's ( 2-0 ) win .
-Cuba 's health ministry says U.S. filmmaker Michael Moore 's new movie , " Sicko , " will be good publicity for the Cuban health care system .
-Health Minister Jose Ramon Balaguer told reporters in Havana Friday that Moore 's movie , screened recently at the Cannes film festival , will show the world the humaneness of the Cuban health care system .
-Moore 's documentary , scheduled for U.S. release June 29 , is about problems in the U.S. health care system .
-In it , Moore takes three rescue workers from the September 11th , 2001 terrorist attacks to Cuba for health care , while accusing the United States of failing to respond to their needs .
-Cuba 's universal health care , the product of a communist government , is considered comparable to those of much wealthier nations .
-Moore is under investigation by the U.S. government for possible violation of the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba .
-President Bush has called for a diplomatic solution to the Iran nuclear crisis .
-At the White House Friday , Mr. Bush said Iran must not be allowed to possess a nuclear weapon .
-He said it is logical that a country that has rejected diplomatic options would be referred to the United Nations Security Council .
-Mr. Bush made those comments after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel , who said the international community should not be intimidated by Iran .
-Iran has threatened to end cooperation with the United Nations nuclear agency if Tehran 's nuclear program is taken to the Security Council for possible sanctions .
-Iran announced earlier this week it was resuming nuclear fuel research .
-China 's U.N. ambassador said today that referring the matter to the United Nations might complicate the issue .
-Russia has urged Iran to resume its moratorium on nuclear activities and cooperate with the U.N. nuclear agency .
-Russia has urged Iran to heed a U.N. Security Council resolution giving Tehran until the end of the month to suspend its sensitive nuclear activities .
-In a statement Thursday , Russia 's Foreign Ministry said no further measures by the Security Council will be required if Iran heeds the call .
-Russia , a permanent Security Council member , has resisted Western efforts to sanction Iran for its refusal to comply with nuclear demands .
-The U.N. resolution , passed earlier this week , demands Iran stop enriching uranium by August 31st or face possible sanctions .
-The Security Council acted after Iran failed to respond to an international incentives package Tehran would get by suspending enrichment activities .
-Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday Iran is still considering the incentives package .
-The United States and its Western allies believe Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons .
-Tehran says its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes .
-Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh begins a two-day visit to Afghanistan on Sunday , the first by an Indian premier in nearly three decades .
-Besides holding talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Foreign Minister Abdullah , Mr. Singh is scheduled to take part in a groundbreaking ceremony for a new Afghan parliament building being built with Indian help .
-India is also involved in training Afghan armed forces and police , building roads , schools , hospitals , power lines , digging wells and supporting trade and services .
-Wednesday , the two countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding under which India will upgrade all radio and television stations in Afghanistan .
-Although India and Afghanistan share close historic and cultural links , the turmoil in the central Asian nation had not allowed an Indian prime minister to visit Kabul since a trip in 1976 by Indira Gandhi .
-National Basketball Association center Yao Ming is raising money for victims of the May 12 earthquake in his native China , by holding a raffle for a trip to the Beijing Olympics next month .
-Tickets for the raffle cost $ 2 ( US ) and can be purchased with a credit card on a special Internet site ( https://www.celebritiesforcharity.org/raffles/netraffle_main.cfm ) .
-The winner will be announced July 21 , and will receive round-trip airfare from a U.S. city to Beijing , a seven-day hotel stay in Beijing , two tickets to the China-USA basketball game , $ 1500 dollars in cash , and a guided tour of the Great Wall of China .
-Yao created a personal foundation in late June , saying its first projects would help children left homeless by the earthquake in Sichuan province .
-Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has urged rich nations to give more aid to Africa as leaders from the Group of Eight gathered in Scotland for a summit focused on lifting the continent out of poverty .
-Mr. Obasanjo told a London meeting of the Business Action for Africa that the continent is hopeful about decisions that will be made by G8 leaders on better trade access and increased aid to Africa .
-He also welcomed a plan to wipe out $ 40 billion worth of debt owed by 18 of the world 's poorest nations .
-Mr. Obasanjo said African nations are committed to democracy , good governance and ending corruption .
-Before heading to Scotland for the summit , President Bush and Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said increased aid to Africa must be tied to good governance and efforts to fight corruption .
-Increasing numbers of costumed urchins are sent to parties rather than door to door
-Some religious families object to the holiday entirely , saying that it celebrates evil and the devil .
-Increasing numbers of porch lights are left off in some neighborhoods , too - signaling that the household will not welcome trick-or-treaters - because the residents are annoyed by gravelly voiced beggars in frightening costumes who continue to come knocking , well into their teens .
-And in a tight economy , some residents no longer want to go to the time , trouble , and expense of buying candy and decorating their houses for Halloween .
-The upshot is that come dusk this Sunday night across America , little ghouls and make-believe starlets will be about .
-Likely , though , not as many as last Halloween .
-The United States has transferred two detainees from its military prison at Guantanamo Bay , Cuba , to other countries .
-The Defense Department said Monday that Abdul Aziz Naji has been sent back to his native Algeria , while Abd-al-Nisr Mohammed Khantumani was resettled in Cape Verde .
-A statement said the U.S. coordinated with the two countries ' governments to ensure a secure transfer .
-The Guantanamo prison houses alleged terrorists , many held for years without trial .
-The facility has been widely criticized by human rights groups .
-President Barack Obama ordered the facility to be shut down within a year after he took office in January 2009 .
-However , the deadline passed amid difficulty in finding places to put the detainees .
-More than 40 other countries have accepted at least one prisoner .
-The U.S. says 178 detainees remain at the facility .
-Zambia 's economy has experienced strong growth in recent years , with real GDP growth in 2005 - 10 about 6 % per year .
-Privatization of government-owned copper mines in the 1990s relieved the government from covering mammoth losses generated by the industry and greatly increased copper mining output and profitability to spur economic growth .
-Copper output has increased steadily since 2004 , due to higher copper prices and foreign investment .
-In 2005 , Zambia qualified for debt relief under the Highly Indebted Poor Country Initiative , consisting of approximately USD 6 billion in debt relief .
-Poverty remains a significant problem in Zambia , despite a stronger economy .
-Zambia 's dependency on copper makes it vulnerable to depressed commodity prices , but record high copper prices and a bumper maize crop in 2010 helped Zambia rebound quickly from the world economic slowdown that began in 2008 .
-A high birth rate , relatively high HIV / AIDS burden , and market distorting agricultural policies have meant that Zambia 's economic growth has not dramatically decreased the stubbornly high poverty rates .
-Slovakia 's roots can be traced to the 9th century state of Great Moravia .
-Subsequently , the Slovaks became part of the Hungarian Kingdom , where they remained for the next 1,000 years .
-Following the formation of the dual Austro-Hungarian monarchy in 1867 , language and education policies favoring the use of Hungarian ( Magyarization ) resulted in a strengthening of Slovak nationalism and a cultivation of cultural ties with the closely related Czechs , who were themselves ruled by the Austrians .
-After the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the close of World War I , the Slovaks joined the Czechs to form Czechoslovakia .
-Following the chaos of World War II , Czechoslovakia became a Communist nation within Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe .
-Soviet influence collapsed in 1989 and Czechoslovakia once more became free .
-The Slovaks and the Czechs agreed to separate peacefully on 1 January 1993 .
-Slovakia joined both NATO and the EU in the spring of 2004 and the euro area on 1 January 2009 .
-The French Territory of the Afars and the Issas became Djibouti in 1977 .
-Hassan Gouled APTIDON installed an authoritarian one-party state and proceeded to serve as president until 1999 .
-Unrest among the Afars minority during the 1990s led to a civil war that ended in 2001 following the conclusion of a peace accord between Afar rebels and the Issa-dominated government .
-In 1999 , Djibouti 's first multi-party presidential elections resulted in the election of Ismail Omar GUELLEH ; he was re-elected to a second term in 2005 .
-Djibouti occupies a strategic geographic location at the mouth of the Red Sea and serves as an important transshipment location for goods entering and leaving the east African highlands .
-The present leadership favors close ties to France , which maintains a significant military presence in the country , but also has strong ties with the US .
-Djibouti hosts the only US military base in sub-Saharan Africa .
-THE PIGEONS , terrified by the appearance of a Kite , called upon the Hawk to defend them .
-He at once consented .
-When they had admitted him into the cote , they found that he made more havoc and slew a larger number of them in one day than the Kite could pounce upon in a whole year .
-Avoid a remedy that is worse than the disease .
-THE members of the School Board in Doosnoswair being suspected of appointing female teachers for an improper consideration , the people elected a Board composed wholly of women .
-In a few years the scandal was at an end ; there were no female teachers in the Department .
-A January 1994 Reuters News Service story on Manuel Oliveira 's ice cream shop in Merida , Venezuela , reported on his 567 flavors , including onion , chili , beer , eggplant , smoked trout , spaghetti parmesan , chicken with rice , and spinach .
-He said some flavors fail ; he once abandoned avocado ice cream , and tossed out 99 pounds of it , because it was n't smooth enough .
-According to a news report , a certain private school in Victoria , BC , recently was faced with a unique problem .
-A number of grade 12 girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom .
-That was fine , but after they put on their lipstick they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints .
-Every night , the maintenance man would remove them and the next day , The girls would put them back .
-Finally the principal decided that something had to be done .
-She called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the maintenance man .
-She explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian who had to clean the mirrors every night .
-To demonstrate how difficult it had been to clean the mirrors , she asked the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required .
-He took out a long-handled squeegee , dipped it in the toilet , and cleaned the mirror with it .
-Since then , there have been no lip prints on the mirror .
-There are teachers , and then there are educators ...
-I am not a believer in séances , but I went to one just to see what they are like .
-The psychic was doing his thing and grinning from ear to ear .
-I assumed his merriment was due to the fact that he was fooling a gullible public and gave him a poke in the nose .
-You can probably guess the rest ...
-I was arrested for striking a happy medium ...
-Ethiopia Saturday released 32 supporters of the political opposition who had been detained since post-election violence in 2005 .
-Their release comes after Ethiopia pardoned another 38 opposition members last month .
-That group had received life sentences in court the week before their pardons .
-None of the 32 freed Saturday had been charged in court with any crimes .
-All had been rounded up after protests over the 2005 elections turned violent .
-The opposition made its largest gains ever in those elections .
-Opposition groups claimed the elections were rigged to keep Prime Minister Meles Zenawi in power .
-Ethiopian security forces killed at least 193 people while stopping the protests .
-World oil prices hit a new record in Wednesday 's trading , hitting $ 99.29 a barrel before easing downward .
-That is 67 cents above the previous record , which was set on November 7 .
-Traders say the soaring prices stem from the declining value of the U.S. dollar and worries about the supply of oil in the Northern Hemisphere as winter approaches .
-A U.S. Energy Department report Wednesday says the amount of oil available in the United States declined slightly last week by a bit more than one million barrels , to a total of nearly 314 million barrels .
-French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy is in Moscow for talks with top Russian officials expected to focus on Iran 's nuclear program .
-France , along with Britain and Germany , called for an emergency session of the International Atomic Energy Agency on February 2 , to hear the European case for referring Iran to the United Nations Security Council .
-The Security Council can impose sanctions , if it finds Iran has violated international treaties with its nuclear program .
-The call for the I.A.E.A . session came after Tehran broke a two-year moratorium on nuclear research earlier this month .
-The United States has accused Iran of using its research to develop nuclear weapons .
-Tehran insists its nuclear intentions are peaceful .
-China Thursday called for " restraint and patience " to resolve the nuclear crisis .
-Residents of the U.S. state of Florida are stocking up on gasoline , water and other supplies as Tropical Storm Katrina moves toward the area .
-Forecasters expect the storm to bring heavy rainfall and possible flooding to much of southern and central Florida when it makes landfall later Thursday .
-Hurricane and tropical storm warnings have been posted for many areas as the storm moves westward , away from the Bahamas and toward Florida 's southeast coast .
-The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Katrina may gain strength and become a category one hurricane before reaching land .
-At last report , the storm was packing winds of 85 kilometers per hour .
-A tropical storm warning remains in effect for the northwest Bahamas .
-Parts of Florida are still recovering from the four hurricanes that hit the state last year .
-The U.S. military in Iraq says American warplanes have bombed two bridges in western al-Anbar province , to stop insurgents from using them to move fighters and equipment to other cities for attacks .
-The air strikes Tuesday near the Syrian border did not destroy the Euphrates River bridges , but made them inoperable .
-No casualties were reported .
-Coalition troops also raided a nearby safehouse , killing two foreign fighters and detaining three others .
-The building was later destroyed .
-Elsewhere , in the southern Shi'ite holy city of Najaf , U.S. forces handed over military control of the city to Iraqi forces .
-In other developments , the U.S. military reports two American soldiers were killed and two wounded Tuesday in a bomb blast in Baghdad .
-Two more soldiers were killed Monday in Tal Afar and Ramadi .
-Britain says finance ministers from the Group of Seven industrial nations have expressed a willingness to cancel up to 100 percent of the debt of the world 's poorest nations .
-Britain 's Treasury chief Gordon Brown said at the close of the G7 summit in London Saturday , that debt relief would be decided on a case-by-case basis .
-Britain had also pushed for the G7 to support London 's plan to double international aid to the developing world .
-But the United State rejected that proposal .
-U.S. Treasury Undersecretary John Taylor told BBC radio the plan did not fit into the U.S. budget process .
-Britain 's International Development Secretary Hilary Benn promised to push ahead with the plan , saying a solution will be found by 2006 with or without the United States .
-U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns has expressed doubt that Washington and New Delhi will finalize a nuclear deal before President Bush visits India next week .
-Burns made the comment following talks with Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran in New Delhi Wednesday .
-He said both sides want to complete the negotiations , but added there are differences that need to be worked out .
-He did not elaborate .
-Under the deal , India would gain access to long-denied U.S. nuclear technology in exchange for including some of its reactors on a list of civilian facilities that would be subject to international inspections .
-Burns and Saran are to continue talks on Friday .
-Some U.S. legislators oppose the deal .
-They say it could undermine the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty .
-India has not signed the treaty .
-A top U.N. official says indirect talks between the Ugandan government and northern rebels have provided the best chance for peace in 18 years of conflict .
-U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland praised the Ugandan government Tuesday for its renewed efforts to seek dialogue .
-Mr. Egeland says the conflict has forced up to 90 percent of the population in some areas of northern Uganda from their homes , adding that hundreds of thousands of lives are at stake .
-Rebels from the Lord 's Resistance Army are notorious for attacking civilians and kidnapping children for use as soldiers or sex slaves .
-Over the last few weeks , the rebels and the Ugandan government declared a temporary cease-fire and held talks through mediators .
-The government says it is extending the truce for another week in the hopes of starting formal peace talks by then .
-An Ethiopian judge has ordered a group of 131 detained opposition leaders , journalists and others to remain in custody after most boycotted a bail hearing .
-Most lawyers for the group boycotted Wednesday 's Ethiopian High Court hearing , saying prison authorities have not allowed them to meet with their clients .
-The detained have been charged with treason and genocide for their alleged involvement in election protests that turned violent .
-The judge says he will rule on the bail requests next week .
-The accused include five journalists with the Voice of America 's Amharic-language service in Washington .
-They were charged in absentia with plotting to overthrow the Ethiopian government .
-Ethiopia 's information minister told VOA English to Africa Service that the journalists have incited violence through their reports and he accused them of working with the opposition .
-VOA officials reject the charges , and say they are an attempt to intimidate VOA journalists .
-Vice President Dick Cheney says a premature withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq would be a victory for the terrorists and a blow to American national security .
-In a speech in Washington Monday , Mr. Cheney responded to critics , including Democratic Congressman John Murtha , who say the U.S. military 's presence in Iraq has increased terrorism and instability in the Middle East .
-Congressman Murtha 's call last week for U.S. troops to get out of Iraq sparked intense debate and drew stinging criticism from Republican legislators and White House officials .
-Mr. Cheney Monday called Mr. Murtha " a good man and a patriot . "
-But the vice president stood by his remarks that it is " dishonest and reprehensible " for some U.S. senators to say President Bush purposely misled the American people into the Iraq war .
-Poland 's foreign minister says the European Union ( EU ) will not start entry talks with Croatia unless that country hands over a top fugitive war crimes suspect to The Hague tribunal .
-Adam Rotfeld told reporters a March 17 date has been set for the talks .
-But he warned that unless Croatia surrenders General Ante Gotovina , the European Union will simply not open the discussions .
-The Polish minister , whose country gained EU membership last May , made his comments after talks in Warsaw with the tribunal 's chief prosecutor , Carla del Ponte .
-The prosecutor confirmed that she had sent a letter to the European Union , criticizing Croatia for failing to arrest General Gotovina .
-The Hague court indicted the general for his role in the deaths of civilians during a 1995 Croatian army sweep through a Serb-held area of the country .
-Turkish authorities say a suicide bomber was behind Tuesday 's blast that killed six other people in Ankara .
-Ankara Governor Kemal Onal said Wednesday the bomber had a police record and used explosives similar to those used by Kurdish militants .
-There has been no claim of responsibility for the blast .
-Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan described the bombing as a ruthless terrorist attack .
-The Pakistani embassy says eight Pakistanis were among the more than 90 people wounded in the blast in a commercial district , Ulus .
-The Pakistanis were in Ankara for an international defense industry fair .
-The rebel Kurdistan Workers Party ( PKK ) has been fighting for autonomy in Turkey 's mainly Kurdish southeast since 1984 .
-The European Union has decided to tighten sanctions on Burma after the military government failed to meet EU demands for progress on democracy and human rights .
-EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg Monday voted to widen a visa blacklist on members of Burma 's military junta and place stricter controls on investment .
-EU officials had threatened the move ahead of the Asia-Europe summit in Hanoi last week , after Burma ignored demands for the the release of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the lifting of restrictions on her pro-democracy party .
-Sunday Burma 's state-owned media said Western nations can not use sanctions to impose democracy .
-U.S. officials say a group of U.S. congressmen was denied entry into Venezuela Monday after landing at the country 's main airport near Caracas .
-The delegation was led by Illinois Republican Henry Hyde , chairman of the House International Relations Committee .
-They had arrived in the country for a scheduled visit .
-A U.S embassy official said the visit was canceled after Venezuelan officials kept the delegation 's military jet on the tarmac for a least an hour without allowing the lawmakers to disembark .
-Caracas airport official Jose Cabello denies this , saying the group made no attempt to contact Venezuelan authorities .
-Relations between Washington and Caracas have been strained ever since populist President Hugo Chavez came to office in 1999 .
-Mr. Chavez has repeatedly accused the Bush administration of planning to invade Venezuela .
-Washington denies any such plans , and warns that Mr. Chavez is becoming an authoritarian threat to Venezuela 's democracy and regional stability .
-Early results from Haiti 's presidential election indicate front-runner candidate Rene Preval has a commanding lead , and may be able to avoid a run-off election .
-Officials say Preval , a former president , has won about 61 percent of the votes counted from Tuesday 's election .
-Another former president , Leslie Manigat , is a distant second with 13 percent .
-If the trend continues , Preval would have a clear majority of votes and avoid a run-off election next month .
-Vote counting is said to be proceeding slowly as ballots trickle in to the capital , Port-au-Prince , by helicopter , truck and mule .
-Brazil 's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva says Brazilian peacekeeping forces will remain in Haiti until a new government is formed and can maintain security .
-Brazil is the leader of the U.N. stabilization force in Haiti .
-U.S. and Iraqi government forces have captured scores of suspected insurgents and seized an enormous stockpile of weapons and explosives during anti-insurgent operations in Iraq .
-The U.S. military says 81 suspected rebels were rounded up Thursday in raids around Youssifiyeh , south of the capital , Baghdad .
-Iraqi officials say Abu Saeed , a top lieutenant of wanted terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi , was captured in Mosul .
-Military officials also say U.S. and Iraqi troops uncovered what they called the largest cache of weapons found so far , in a mosque in Fallujah .
-The discovery came as Iraqi troops searching for suspected terrorist hideouts in Fallujah uncovered what appeared to be a chemical bomb factory .
-Iraqi officials say the laboratory may have been used to make toxic substances and contained pamphlets on manufacturing anthrax .
-The head of the Palestinian mission in Peru has told protesters in Lima that the kidnapping of a Peruvian photographer in the Gaza Strip is damaging the " just fight " of the Palestinian people .
-Walid Abdel Rahim spoke to protesters on Friday outside the Palestinian mission .
-He condemned the kidnapping of Jaime Razuri .
-The protesters called for Razuri 's release .
-The crowd included Razuri 's family and international journalists .
-Razuri is an employee of the French news agency .
-Gunmen seized him on Monday outside the news agency 's offices in Gaza City .
-No group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping .
-Kidnappings are frequent in the Gaza Strip , but hostages are usually released within hours .
-Chinese authorities have banned the use of foreign words and phrases – especially English – in Chinese newspapers , books and websites .
-The ban , reported Wednesday , was issued by the General Administration of Press and Publication , the governing body for written publications .
-It says the increasing use of English and half-English phrases is damaging the purity of the Chinese language and disrupting the nation 's " harmonious and healthy cultural environment . "
-The ruling body leaves some room for English words and abbreviations to be used if they are immediately followed by a Chinese translation or explanation .
-It says translations should be consistent with basic translation principles and practices .
-The announcement includes a warning that violations will be punished as provided for by the law .
-Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has canceled a visit to Paris where he was to take part in an international military exhibition , and meet with the French defense and foreign ministers .
-Israel 's defense ministry said Sunday that Barak has decided to remain in Israel until a panel of experts is formed to investigate the raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla .
-Earlier this month , Israel drew international criticism after its soldiers killed nine pro-Palestinian activists who were part of a flotilla that was trying to break a blockade and deliver aid directly to Gaza .
-French activists said they plan on filing a lawsuit against Barak in France , as well as with the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands .
-Barak told Israel 's parliament last week that an internal inquiry will aim to establish whether Israel 's raid on the ship , and its Gaza blockade , are in keeping with international law .
-A surgeon in Miami used his skill in transplanting organs to save the life of a woman who had been told her cancer was inoperable .
-In this breakthrough surgery , doctors narrowed the scope of what is now considered inoperable .
-VOA 's Carol Pearson reports .
-A suicide bomber blew himself up near a NATO base in eastern Afghanistan Tuesday , killing 10 civilians and wounding 14 others .
-An Afghan official , provincial governor Arsala Jamal , says the bomber set off his explosives in a crowd of laborers waiting to get inside a NATO military base in the city of Khost .
-There were no NATO or U.S. casualities .
-In a separate incident in the south , suspected Taleban militants ambushed a police patrol in Kandahar , killing at least eight policemen .
-Attacks by Taleban militants against NATO , U.S. and Afghan forces increased dramatically in Afghanistan last year .
-U.S. and Afghan officials have warned they expect an increase in Taleban attacks in the coming months in what has been called a " spring offensive . "
-Palestinian officials have confirmed that elections to replace president Yasser Arafat will be held on January 9 .
-Caretaker President Rawhi Fattouh said Sunday the nominating period for candidates will begin November 20 , and run for 12 days .
-The announcement of the vote comes three days after Mr. Arafat died in a Paris hospital .
-He did not appoint a successor .
-The new chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization , Mahmoud Abbas , will travel to Gaza today to meet with Mr. Arafat 's mourners and various Palestinian factions .
-The former prime minister is widely expected to be chosen as the presidential candidate of the mainstream Fatah faction .
-Meanwhile , Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said today he will not rule out the possibility of allowing Palestinians living in disputed east Jerusalem to vote in the upcoming election .
-Some Israelis fear allowing Palestinians in Jerusalem to vote would strengthen their claim on the city .
-Beijing 's subway could reach 561 kilometers in 14 years - making it the longest subway system in the world .
-The official China Daily newspaper reports Monday that a plan has been drawn up to expand the subway network to 19 lines where it will reach all major corners of China 's capital city .
-Each of the system 's current four lines carries 1.5 million people every day .
-The paper says the expansion plan is still subject to government approval , but if adopted it calls for three lines to be completed in time for the 2008 Olympics .
-Currently , London has the longest subway line in the world .
-It is 407 kilometers in length , has 12 lines and carries three million passengers a day .
-Niger has appealed for international help in battling an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu .
-Officials Wednesday , said they need supplies like vaccines for unaffected poultry and protective suits for people destroying birds infected with the virus .
-The World Animal Health Organization said Monday it had found the H5N1 strain among domestic ducks in southern Niger .
-That outbreak was near the border with Nigeria , where H5N1 also was recently found .
-Authorities are trying to stop the movement of poultry in the region and have placed affected farms under heightened surveillance .
-Niger 's government says it will compensate farmers $ 1.8 ( 1,000 CFA francs ) for every bird destroyed when the culling process begins .
-The U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague has convicted two Bosnian Serb army officers of complicity in the 1995 massacre of thousands of Muslims .
-Colonel Vidoje Blagojevic was found guilty of aiding and abetting genocide in the deaths of more than 7,000 unarmed Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica in Bosnia-Herzegovina .
-He was sentenced to 18 years in prison .
-Major Dragan Jokic was found guilty of aiding and abetting murder , and of extermination and persecution , and was sentenced to nine years .
-Both men had pleaded not guilty .
-The 1995 massacre occurred after Serbs captured Srebrenica , which the United Nations had declared a safe area .
-Bosnian Serb authorities acknowledged for the first time last year that there had been a massacre .
-The British Defense Ministry says a British soldier serving with the NATO force in Afghanistan has been shot dead in southern Helmand province .
-A NATO statement says the soldier was killed Sunday during an attack against insurgents in the Musa Qala district .
-In other violence , in the same province , Afghan authorities say 17 Taleban insurgents have been killed Saturday .
-Local officials say three insurgents were killed in a clash in the mountainous Garmser district .
-Hours later , during a search operation in the same district , troops killed 14 more insurgents .
-In neighboring Kandahar province , an American soldier was wounded when a suicide bomber blew up his explosives-laden car near a military convoy on the main highway to Kabul .
-And , armed men attacked a police post overnight in the Murghab district of western Badghis province , killing at least two Afghan border police .
-NATO has expressed concern at the recent government crackdown in Uzbekistan and warned Tashkent that its ties with the alliance depended on its commitment to basic human rights .
-A NATO statement , issued Tuesday in Brussels , said the alliance condemns the reported use of excessive force against protesters and supports the United Nations ' call for an independent inquiry into the events earlier this month .
-Witnesses , human rights groups and Uzbek political opposition activists say the crackdown in the eastern part of the country killed up to 1,000 people .
-But Tashkent puts the death toll at 169 , including 32 soldiers .
-In another development , China today declared its support for the Uzbek government of President Islam Karimov , saying whatever happened in the country is an internal affair .
-President Karimov is to visit Beijing Wednesday .
-Rescue efforts continue along the southern coast of Indonesia 's Java Island - struck by a tsunami this week .
-Almost 400 people have been confirmed dead and the death toll is expected to rise .
-Tens of thousands of people have been displaced or evacuated .
-I 'm here in the mosque of a small coastal town of Pangandaran , where bodies keep arriving since a tsunami swept ashore on Monday .
-Families here are mourning the loss of people and preparing bodies for Islamic burial .
-The atmosphere here is still chaotic - filled with sirens and rumbling relief trucks .
-Search and rescue teams say they continue to look for victims and expect the death toll to climb still further .
-This morning teams pulled several more bodies from the debris and rubble .
-Many residents are bracing for more bad news in the days to come .
-The Democratic Party used its weekly radio address to criticize President Bush 's Iraq war strategy and to blame Senate Republicans for stifling debate on Iraq .
-Senator John Kerry from the state of Massachusetts Saturday said the president 's proposal to send 21,000 additional troops to Iraq is , in his words , " nothing more than the escalation of a misguided war . "
-Kerry , who is a Vietnam War veteran , also criticized Republicans for blocking a Senate resolution backed by Democrats last week that opposes president Bush 's plan to send additional troops .
-Kerry also urged Congress to take stronger action to end the war and said the United States must pressure Iraqi politicians to meet benchmarks .
-In a separate radio address earlier Saturday , President Bush urged Congress to approve his energy proposals .
-The International Criminal Court at The Hague is expected to launch a formal investigation into possible war crimes in Sudan 's western Darfur region .
-Sources familiar with the case say prosecutors plan to announce details of the probe Monday .
-The inquiry is expected to be the biggest investigation in the ICC 's nearly three-year history .
-Officials at the United Nations have said 1,80,000 people in Darfur have been killed in more than two years of fighting between rebel groups and government-backed Arab militias , known as the Janjaweed .
-Two-million other people have been displaced in the conflict .
-The United Nations referred the case to the ICC after the United States , which opposes the court , backed away from using its veto in the U.N. Security Council .
-The United States has confirmed that two U.S. officials met with North Korean diplomats in New York last week .
-A spokesman for the U.S. embassy in Tokyo Thursday said the working-level meeting was used to convey U.S. policy , not to negotiate .
-He did not elaborate on what the two sides discussed .
-But Washington has been urging North Korea to return to six party talks on its nuclear program .
-The talks have been stalled since last September , and North Korea has boycotted efforts to arrange a new meeting .
-Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter says he is " extremely disappointed " with Tony Blair for what he says is the British prime minister 's failure to constrain President Bush 's policies toward Iraq .
-Mr. Carter , an outspoken critic of the 2003 U.S.-led Iraq invasion , was quoted Sunday in Britain 's Sunday Telegraph newspaper .
-He said he thought that Mr. Blair could have had a moderating influence on Washington , " and he has not . "
-Mr. Blair has been President Bush 's closest international ally on Iraq , and Britain has the second largest contingent of troops in the country .
-Mr. Carter said people in many countries he has visited equate U.S. policy with British interests , and said that U.S. popularity in moderate countries like Egypt and Jordan is currently less than five percent .
-The 81-year-old Mr. Carter , the 39th U.S. president , served from 1977 to 1981 .
-The U.S. military in Afghanistan says two Marines have been wounded during an ambush by suspected Taleban fighters north of Jalalabad .
-A U.S. statement says the Marines came under fire Saturday evening while conducting a routine security patrol , and the assailants retreated .
-Both Marines received shrapnel wounds to the shoulder and were treated at the scene before continuing with their mission .
-U.S. and Afghan government troops clash regularly with insurgents in southern and eastern Afghanistan bordering Pakistan .
-Violence has declined during the winter .
-But Taleban officials have vowed that attacks will intensify when the weather improves .
-Benin 's Constitutional Court says the two leading candidates from a recent presidential vote will compete in a run-off later this month .
-The court issued final vote results Wednesday , showing that former banker Yayi Boni won 36 percent of the ballots while former Prime Minister Adrien Houngbedji got 24 percent .
-Court officials say a date for the run-off vote is not yet decided , but it likely will take place in the coming weeks .
-Authorities noted there were some problems in the voting , but said they did not affect the validity of the results .
-More than three million voters took part in the March 5 ballot .
-The winner of the upcoming run-off vote will replace 72-year-old President Mathieu Kerekou , who was barred by age limits from seeking re-election .
-Iran is dismissing a newspaper report that says U.S. intelligence officials have thousands of pages of documents proving Tehran is trying to build a nuclear bomb .
-An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman , Hamid Reza Asefi , describes the allegations as laughable .
-The New York Times reports Sunday the documents were on a stolen Iranian laptop computer obtained from a longtime contact in Iran , and were shown to officials of the International Atomic Energy Agency in July .
-The United States accuses Iran of trying to build nuclear weapons , and wants the IAEA to refer Tehran to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions .
-The IAEA board will consider the request during its November 24 meeting .
-The Iranian spokesman says the new allegation is an attempt by Washington to affect the board 's decision .
-The United States is sending an FBI agent to Azerbaijan to help find those responsible for the killing of magazine editor Elmar Husseinov , whose work was critical of the Azeri government .
-The U.S. Embassy said the agent is arriving in Baku Friday at the request of Azerbaijan 's government .
-President Ilham Aliyev ordered a swift investigation , calling the attack a serious provocation against the state and authority .
-Earlier , the country 's top opposition leader called for demonstrations in response to Wednesday 's killing .
-Mr. Husseinov was the editor of the weekly Monitor .
-He had previously been jailed and fined for his work .
-The Committee to Protect Journalists said the killing appeared to have been well-planned and orchestrated -- while the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders called it part of a campaign of violence against journalists in Azerbaijan .
-A Chilean court has stripped former dictator Augusto Pinochet of his legal immunity , clearing the way for him to be tried in connection with the deaths of two political prisoners .
-Justices voted 17 to 6 Wednesday to remove the immunity Pinochet enjoys as a former president .
-The 90-year-old can now be tried for his role in two murders committed by soldiers several weeks after Pinochet claimed power through a bloody coup .
-Chilean judges also upheld a previous ruling allowing Pinochet to be released from house arrest if he posted bail , set at about $ 19,000 .
-General Pinochet ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990 .
-China 's state media say Beijing plans to launch a lunar orbiter later this year .
-The Xinhua news agency quotes China 's space agency chief , Sun Laiyan , as saying the launch is the first step towards a lunar probe .
-Sun said the lunar exploration program has been divided into three steps : orbiting the moon , landing on the lunar surface and coming back to Earth with moon samples .
-Xinhua says a moon rover mission is scheduled for around 2012 .
-Sun , who spoke at Beijing Jiaotong University , says China will also continue research on manned space missions , including a space walk and experiments tp link passing spacecraft .
-In 2003 , China became the third country - after the former Soviet Union and the United States - to launch a man into space .
-Officials in Pakistan say 28 people have died in the aftermath of heavy rainstorms over the past two days .
-Health Minister Syed Sardar Ahmed says the majority of deaths took place in the port city of Karachi .
-Ahmed says eight people died of electrocution and another 18 because of roof and wall collapses .
-In Bangladesh , officials say drowning and disease killed at least 16 people Friday .
-Thousands more have been admitted to hospitals for severe diarrhea .
-Nearly 2,000 people have died in India , Bangladesh and Nepal since the monsoon rains began in mid-June , the vast majority in India .
-Earlier this week , the United Nations warned of disease outbreaks in the region as rescue workers struggled to deliver food and water to an estimated 30 million people displaced by floods from the rain .
-The U.S. military says an American soldier has been killed in central Iraq .
-A military statement released Friday said the soldier was shot dead while conducting combat operations Wednesday near the city of Iskandariyah , some 50 kilometers south of the capital , Baghdad .
-Separately , Iraqi police say unidentified gunmen attacked two Sunni Mosques as worshippers attended Friday prayers near the mainly Shi'ite southern city of Basra .
-At least one person was killed and several others wounded in the attacks .
-Meanwhile , thousands of Shi'ite Muslims rallied Friday in Basra in a show of support for Iraq 's new constitution and the Shi'ite-dominated government .
-Anti-constitution rallies were also reported in the city of Ramadi , west of Baghdad .
-A referendum on the constitution is scheduled for October 15 .
-Political leaders from across Iraq are meeting in Baghdad to try to remove obstacles blocking agreement on a new constitution .
-President Jalal Talabani hosted Kurdish , Shi'ite and Sunni delegates Sunday and said an accord can be reached in time for parliament to approve the charter by an August 15 deadline .
-Delegates remain deeply divided over key issues including federalism , national identity , and the role of Islam .
-Earlier in the day , a suicide truck bomber killed at least five people outside a police station in Tikrit .
-In Baghdad , at least five Iraqis were killed in drive-by shootings .
-To the south , at least one person was killed and more than 40 were injured when hundreds of townspeople protesting poor public services clashed with police .
-Russia 's state-run natural gas company , Gazprom , says it has begun talks on purchasing gas from Azerbaijan .
-Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller signed a memorandum of understanding in Moscow Friday with the president of the Azeri State Oil Company , Rovnag Abdullayev , to begin talks on importing gas from 2010 .
-Azeri gas would flow to Russia via a 200-kilometer pipeline running along the Caspian coast from Azerbaijan 's capital , Baku , to the Russian town of Novo-Filya .
-The move could have negative implications for the EU-backed Nabucco pipeline project , designed to bring Caspian Sea gas to Europe while bypassing Russia .
-Last week , the European Union pledged more than $ 265 million for the project as part of a larger energy plan but it lacks both viable sources of gas and agreement between consortium members .
-Four British soldiers are facing manslaughter charges for allegedly forcing an Iraqi teenager into a canal in southern Iraq where he drowned in 2003 .
-A prosecutor told the court martial Tuesday in Colchester , England that the soldiers ordered the boy and three other suspected looters into the Shabat al-Basra canal to teach them a lesson .
-He accused them of failing to help the boy , Ahmad Jabbar Kareem after seeing that he was in " obvious distress , " and said they later fled the scene .
-One of the suspected looters told authorities that the soldiers threw rocks at them after they were forced into the water .
-The four British soldiers have pleaded not guilty .
-The international aid organization Oxfam says Asia 's overall recovery from last year 's tsunami is moving ahead , but rebuilding efforts have been uneven .
-An Oxfam study Monday says one of the most persistent problems has been providing permanent shelter to those who lost everything last year in the devastating earthquake and mammoth ocean waves that hit coastal areas of Indonesia , Sri Lanka , Thailand , India and other countries .
-The report adds that 60 percent of all those whose jobs were swept away by the tsunami last December 26 have now returned to work .
-Jeremy Hobbs , Oxfam 's executive director , says the most impressive aspects of the tsunami recovery have been the resilience of the tsunami victims and the generous response by ordinary people worldwide to appeals for help .
-Russian authorities say the blast from a bomb planted on train tracks in the southern Dagestan republic has killed one person and wounded four others .
-The commuter train was heading from a town in western Dagestan , Khasavyurt , to the regional capital , Makhachkala , early Sunday when the explosion occurred .
-Russian media say police believe the bomb was detonated by remote control .
-Dagestan authorities are calling the bombing an act of terrorism , and the Russian news agency Itar-Tass quotes officials as saying the attack was aimed at harming civilians .
-There is no immediate claim of responsibility , but police say they suspect Muslim extremists carried out the bombing .
-A new Russian study found that violence by Muslim separatist militants from Chechnya is spilling over to neighboring Caucasus republics such as Dagestan , where the report says terrorist attacks have more than doubled to 70 since last year .
-The organizing committee for the Beijing Olympics says the torch relay for the 2008 Games will go on as planned in China 's Sichuan province next month .
-Speaking in Beijing Tuesday , a spokesman for the committee said the earthquake in Sichuan will not affect the relay because the quake-stricken areas are not along the route .
-The epicenter of Monday 's 7.9 magnitude earthquake was in Sichuan , and most of the confirmed deaths from the quake are in the province .
-The Olympic torch relay continued Tuesday in the Chinese city of Longyan , in the eastern province of Fujian .
-The torch is expected to reach Sichuan province next month , touring seven cities between June 15 to June 18 .
-On Wednesday , the torch will head to Jiangxi Province , to the west of Fujian .
-Pakistan 's military says it has killed 30 militants in an air strike on a Taliban hideout near the Afghan border .
-The military said in a statement that the rebel hideout in the Shawal mountains was targeted Saturday after authorities received a tip that insurgents were hiding there .
-Shawal is in South Waziristan , a restive tribal area bordering Afghanistan , where the military in October launched an air and ground offensive to flush out Taliban militants
-In another development Saturday , suicide bombers have attacked two police stations in northwest Pakistan .
-The attacks in Mensehra and Balakot killed a police chief and wounded several other police officers .
-Officials say one of the suicide bombers blew himself up , while another was shot dead by police .
-A third escaped .
-The French news agency is reporting that bomb disposal personnel defused explosives strapped to the dead attacker 's body .
-U.S. prosecutors say an Oregon teenager of Somali descent has been arrested in an alleged terrorist plot to car-bomb a Christmas tree lighting event in the northwestern city of Portland , Oregon Friday night .
-Authorities say 19-year-old Mohamed Osman Mohamud was taken into custody by agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation after he dialed a cell phone intending to detonate a bomb , but instead rang for the FBI in a sting operation .
-Mohamud had earlier been given phony explosives by undercover officers , who first learned of his alleged plot last year .
-Prosecutors say Mohamud unwittingly unveiled his plan to undercover officers by e-mail several months ago , while believing he was contacting an accomplice in Pakistan .
-Mohamud will appear in federal court in Portland Monday on a criminal complaint of attempting to use weapons of mass destruction .
-Insurgents in Iraq have attacked the Abu Ghraib prison , outside Baghdad , injuring at least 18 American soldiers and 12 detainees .
-The U.S. military says that between 40 and 60 insurgents detonated two car bombs and then launched rocket-propelled grenades , followed by small arms fire outside the prison Saturday evening .
-Coalition forces repelled their attack and the prison is reported to be secured .
-It is not known whether there were insurgent casualties .
-Abu Ghraib houses more than 2,000 detainees .
-It is notorious for a prisoner abuse scandal that resulted in charges against several U.S. soldiers .
-Earlier today , a car bomb explosion killed five people near Baquba .
-And in political news , the Iraqi National Assembly is scheduled to meet Sunday to elect a speaker .
-But politicians say Shi'ite and Sunni leaders are still not able to agree on a Sunni candidate for the post .
-Hundreds of thousands of Shi'ite pilgrims gathered in Iraq 's holy city of Karbala for a religious festival .
-Iraqi authorities expect the number of pilgrims to top one million .
-Heavy security is in place across the city during the festival commemorating the birth of ninth-century Imam al-Mahdi al-Muntadar .
-In other developments Saturday , bomb attacks in Baghdad killed at least two people .
-And , a gunman killed an employee of Iraq 's government-run newspaper in the capital .
-Iraqi officials also announced Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is heading to Iran Monday .
-Officials say his two-day visit will focus on security and bilateral issues .
-On Friday , insurgents firing mortar rounds killed at least three Shi'ite pilgrims in a procession near Karbala .
-Officials say at least six more pilgrims were wounded .
-In other violence , a roadside bomb in Baghdad killed at least two people .
-Unidentified gunmen on Mexico 's Gulf coast have shot to death the news director of one of the most influential newspapers in Veracruz , the second shooting attack on Mexican journalists in one week .
-Authorities Saturday say four assailants on Friday gunned down Raul Gibb Guerrero , director of the La Opinion newspaper , while he was driving his vehicle in northern Veracruz .
-Earlier this week , radio reporter Guadalupe Garcia Escamilla was shot several times in Nuevo Laredo , near Mexico 's border with the United States .
-Ms. Garcia was last reported to be in serious condition .
-The two attacks come amid reports of a missing journalist in northern Mexico .
-The media watchdog group , Reporters Without Borders , has called on authorities to investigate the disappearance of Alfredo Jimenez Mota , who was last seen April 2 .
-A South Korean human rights group says a senior North Korean scientist and the head of a military hospital have defected and are seeking asylum in South Korea .
-The Citizen 's Coalition for Human Rights of Abductees and North Korean Refugees says the two defected separately .
-The scientist is said to have left North Korea in March .
-The rights group says the defectors are living in a Southeast Asian country it did not identify , and are applying for asylum to go to South Korea .
-Officials in Seoul have not commented publicly on the matter .
-Human rights groups believe hundreds of thousands of North Koreans have fled the country since the end of the Korean War in 1953 to escape poverty and persecution .
-The majority cross the border into neighboring China .
-The head of Ukraine 's parliamentary commission investigating the poisoning of opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko has called for an emergency meeting Tuesday .
-Reports from the region say Volodymyr Syvkovych told journalists in Kiev that medical tests showing that Mr. Yushchenko was deliberately poisoned have given the commission grounds to reopen the investigation .
-Prosecutors in Ukraine are conducting a separate investigation .
-Mr. Syvkovych urged doctors who conducted the tests in Vienna to hand over the test results to prosecutors and his commission .
-He also called on Mr. Yushchenko to testify before the parliamentary commission .
-On Monday , Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych accused Washington of financing his rival 's presidential campaign .
-But , U.S. officials said they have no favored candidate , and that aid sent to Ukraine is only for promoting free elections and democracy .
-Sri Lankan military officials say at least 10 soldiers were killed and several others wounded when an army bus hit a landmine Tuesday in the northern Jaffna peninsula .
-Authorities say they suspect Tamil Tiger rebels carried out the attack .
-More than 30 government troops have been killed in eastern and northern Sri Lanka in a series of attacks blamed on the rebels since the beginning of this month .
-The upsurge of violence comes amid threats that Tamil rebels may resume their violent struggle for an independent Tamil homeland if the government fails to agree to a peace settlement over the next 12 months .
-Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakshe travels to New Delhi Tuesday , for talks with Indian leaders about his efforts to reach a lasting peace in the island nation .
-Officials in Burma say a new outbreak of bird flu has been detected among chickens in an eastern district near the Chinese border .
-The state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper said Saturday that the outbreak was found at a farm in Kentung township in eastern Shan state on November 18 , after a farmer reported an unusual number of deaths in his chickens .
-Officials culled an unknown number of birds at the farm .
-A statement from the Myanmar Livestock and Veterinary Department urged people to prevent the entry of poultry and birds from neighboring countries into Burma .
-Russia and North Korea have pledged to boost cooperation on international issues , following a meeting of the countries ' foreign ministers in Moscow .
-Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held talks with his North Korean counterpart , Pak Ui Chun , in the Russian capital Wednesday .
-Pak 's visit to Moscow coincided with the 60th anniversary of relations between Russia and North Korea .
-The foreign ministers were expected to discuss North Korea 's nuclear disarmament process .
-Russia is one of five foreign powers working with North Korea on the dismantling of its nuclear weapons program .
-Pyongyang readmitted United Nations inspectors to its main nuclear complex this week and pledged to stop its nuclear activities .
-On Saturday , Washington removed North Korea from a list of states sponsoring terrorism , saying Pyongyang had agreed to all of its nuclear inspection demands .
-Nuclear negotiators say the action will help get the six-nation nuclear talks back on track .
-Afghan authorities in the western province of Herat say demolition experts have destroyed a huge amount of arms and ammunition left over from decades of fighting .
-The authorities say more than 17,000 land mines and other unexploded ordinance collected from militia units in Herat were detonated Thursday in a controlled explosion .
-Afghanistan remains one of the most heavily mined countries in the world .
-Millions of explosives were laid during the Soviet occupation in the 1980s and the brutal civil war , which followed .
-Afghan officials say that land mines or unexploded bombs still kill or disable hundreds of Afghans every year .
-Several people were killed in a bombing Friday , in northwest Pakistan 's restive Swat Valley .
-A former provincial minister Asfandyar Amerzeb was among those killed when a remote control bomb exploded as his car passed .
-It is not clear if it this is the same incident that claimed lives of supporters of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf 's party , as reported earlier .
-Pakistani troops have been battling militants in Swat since July , when a radical cleric called for a holy war against the government .
-Soldiers recently ejected militants from territory they had seized in the area .
-Reports from Afghanistan say at least three policemen died in bomb attacks Saturday .
-Officials say a roadside bomb in southern Ghazni province killed at least two officers , destroyed a police vehicle , and wounded several other people .
-A similar explosion took place in western Farah province , where one policeman died and at least one other was wounded .
-No one has claimed responsibility for either attack , but Afghan officials blame Taliban forces .
-These were the latest in a series of attacks on Afghan police , who are sometimes seen as less well-trained than other security forces .
-Spider-Man 3 smashed U.S. box office records last weekend , netting $ 148 million in its first three days of release .
-The tally beats the previous record of $ 135.6 million , set last summer by Pirates Of The Caribbean : Dead Man 's Chest .
-The web-slinging hero has also proven irresistable overseas , grossing $ 375 million globally .
-This represents a profit of $ 117 million , allowing for the film 's production budget of $ 258 million .
-Further records may fall in the next 10 days , with no major competition in sight until the May 18 premiere of the animated comedy Shrek The Third .
-The previous U.S. champion , Disturbia , ranked a distant second last weekend with $ 5.7 million in box office grosses .
-The figure raises its three-week total to $ 59.9 million .
-Lebanese soldiers patrolled the streets of a Beirut neighborhood Wednesday , a day after three people were killed in clashes between rival Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims .
-Broken glass and spent bullet casings littered the streets of Bourj Abi Haidar following violence that started as a fight between two men .
-Officials say a confrontation between a supporter of the Shi'ite militant group Hezbollah and another man from the conservative Sunni Muslim group al-Ahbash escalated into a four-hour shootout .
-The two groups later issued a joint statement saying the flare-up was a one-time incident resulting from a " personal dispute " and was not political .
-Participants fired machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades before Lebanese soldiers intervened and cordoned off the area .
-Officials say three people were wounded in the clashes , and that two of the dead have been identified as Mohammad Fawaz , a Hezbollah security official , and his aide .
-The government of Peru has requested that Chile arrest former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori , who arrived in Chile unexpectedly Sunday .
-A spokesman for the Chilean government , Osvaldo Puccio , says the matter has been turned over to the courts to decide .
-The international arrest warrants for Mr. Fujimori are not valid in Chile .
-Mr. Fujimori , who fled to Japan in 2000 , is wanted in Peru on charges of corruption and human rights abuses related to the death squad murders of 25 people .
-In a media statement he said he will stay in Chile temporarily while launching his candidacy for Peruvian president in next April 's elections .
-His visit comes at a time when Peru and Chile are at odds over maritime boundaries .
-Peru Friday passed a law attempting to reclaim sea territory from Chile .
-Palestine Liberation Organization chairman Mahmoud Abbas has again urged Palestinians to end their armed uprising against Israel .
-His published comments in an Arabic newspaper Tuesday came as militants killed one Thai farm laborer and wounded two others in a mortar attack on a Jewish settlement in Gaza .
-Mr. Abbas said the Palestinian uprising is the legitimate right of Palestinians to protest Israeli occupation through popular and social means .
-But he said the use of weapons in that struggle has been damaging and it should stop .
-His comments follow accusations from Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that Palestinian leaders are not doing enough to rein in militant groups .
-On Sunday , Palestinian militants detonated more than a ton of explosives in a tunnel beneath an Israeli army post , killing five soldiers .
-Israeli forces later demolished several buildings in the Gaza Strip .
-The U.S. Treasury Department has designated 11 companies as fronts for an Iranian bank that Washington says helps spread weapons of mass destruction .
-The Treasury said Tuesday U.S. citizens are prohibited from any transactions involving the companies , which are located in Iran , the Cayman Islands and Dubai .
-The United States accuses the companies of funneling money for Bank Melli , which U.S. officials call a " known proliferator " of weapons of mass destruction .
-The United States has supported three rounds of United Nations sanctions on Iran for its disputed nuclear program .
-It also has taken unilateral action against various Iranian entities .
-Iraqi police say three bombs have exploded in a market north of Baghdad .
-The bombs detonated moments apart Saturday near shops in Baquba , 65 kilometers north of the capital , wounding at least 10 people .
-Baquba is known for its religious and ethnic mix , and has been the scene of frequent violence .
-In another development today , Iraqi officials say police have detained at least 68 suspected insurgents in raids across the country .
-Police in India say tribal separatist rebels have shot and killed eight Bengali-speaking villagers in the far northeastern state of Tripura .
-The attack occurred Sunday morning in a village east of Agartala , Tripura 's capital city .
-Three women were among those killed .
-Two people were seriously injured .
-Authorities say the raid was carried out by militants from the National Liberation Front of Tripura , who have been fighting for an independent tribal homeland for decades .
-Tribal people once dominated the region , but now say they have been reduced to a minority after years of settlement by Bengali-speaking migrants , mainly from neighboring Bangladesh .
-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice leaves on her first diplomatic mission to Asia Monday , where she will focus on persuading North Korea to return to six-party disarmament talks .
-Ms. Rice will travel to India , Pakistan , Afghanistan , Japan , South Korea and China before returning to Washington on March 21 .
-Discussions with her Asian counterparts are also expected to cover Indian-Pakistani relations , Afghan reconstruction and the escalating tensions between mainland China and Taiwan .
-North Korea 's nuclear weapons program will be the focus of her meetings in Tokyo , Seoul and Beijing .
-Pyongyang last month claimed to possess nuclear weapons .
-Ms. Rice has already traveled to Europe , the Middle East and Mexico since being confirmed as secretary of state in January .
-World rally driving champion Sébastien Loeb of France is in the lead after the first day of the Monte Carlo Rally , the season-opening event on the World Rally Championship circuit .
-The two-time defending Monte Carlo champion drove his Citroën Xsara WRC to a total time of one hour , 18.46.09 .
-Teammate Francois Duval of Belgium is second overall , 32.7 seconds behind Loeb .
-Former world champion Marcus Grönholm of Finland is third overall in a Peugeot , more than one minute behind the French driver .
-Norwegian Petter Solberg in a Subaru is fourth .
-Loeb has won 10 rallies in his career , and last season became the first French driver since Didier Auriol to win the World title .
-The Monte Carlo Rally continues through Sunday .
-The U.S. economy added 1,12,000 new jobs in November , which is about half what experts had expected .
-Friday 's closely watched report from the U.S. Labor Department also said the unemployment rate dropped slightly to 5.4 percent .
-Analysts said high oil prices and disappointing holiday sales have made companies reluctant to take on new workers .
-Economists say it takes the creation of between 1,00,000 and 1,50,000 new jobs each month to employ new entrants into the U.S. workforce every month .
-Poland says recent U.S. proposals to strengthen the Polish military in return for hosting a missile defense system fall short of its demands .
-Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told reporters in Warsaw Tuesday that the U.S. proposals have not reached a level that is satisfactory to Poland .
-U.S. and Polish negotiators discussed the initiative last week .
-The United States wants to install 10 land-based interceptor missile silos in Poland and associated radar bases in the Czech Republic .
-Washington says the anti-missile system is intended to defend the United States and NATO allies against potential ballistic missile attacks by what it calls " rogue states , " notably Iran .
-Russia has blasted the U.S. plan as a threat to Russian security .
-The U.S. Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation into the beating of a 64-year-old black man in flood-ravaged New Orleans .
-The probe announced Monday was launched following the release of a videotape showing two uniformed New Orleans police officers punching Robert Davis in the face and body as he was being arrested for public drunkenness .
-Another officer is shown shoving and screaming at a news producer who was documenting the confrontation .
-Mr. Davis says he does not drink alcohol and was just out looking for cigarettes .
-He told CNN television that the incident started after he called one of the police officers unprofessional for interrupting his talk with an officer on horseback .
-Mr. Davis 's attorney says his client does not believe race was a factor in the Saturday night incident .
-The three white police officers seen in the video have pleaded not guilty to battery charges .
-A key economic report says the global economy will be worse than first estimated this year , while a separate study says 2010 will be better than expected .
-Thursday 's World Bank study says the global economy will shrink almost three percent this year , which is significantly worse than earlier estimates .
-Bank experts say the downturn is likely to hit poor nations hard , even though financial markets in wealthy nations are stabilizing .
-At the same time , news reports say the International Monetary Fund is raising its estimate of global economic growth for 2010 .
-The reports on Bloomberg and Reuters quote unnamed sources saying the IMF is raising next year 's growth prediction to hit 2.4 percent .
-That is a half a percent higher than earlier studies predicted .
-The predictions come just ahead of a meeting of G8 finance ministers in Italy where the economic crisis tops the agenda .
-Russian President Vladimir Putin and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez discussed trade and economic issues - as well as arms sales - during a meeting in Moscow Friday .
-Mr. Putin and Mr. Chavez signed an agreement announcing Venezuela 's support of Russia 's bid to join the World Trade Organization .
-The two leaders also discussed a joint energy production project .
-Officials from Russian 's Lukoil company and Venezuela 's state-owned PDVSA oil company signed a memorandum of understanding on a joint oil exploration venture in Venezuela .
-Mr. Chavez said Caracas will buy 40 military helicopters and 1,00,000 submachine guns from Moscow .
-Eminem and his ex-wife Kim Mathers have agreed not to publicly criticize each other .
-The estranged couple say the March 26 decision arises from their desire not to hurt their 11-year-old daughter , Hailie .
-Mathers , who has twice married and divorced the 34-year-old rap star , has frequently criticized her ex-husband 's lack of compassion and fidelity .
-In return , Eminem has often assailed Kim in his lyrics .
-The couple wed in 1999 , divorced in 2001 , remarried in January 2006 , and separated three months later .
-Their second divorce was finalized in December .
-Bolivia 's president says energy companies affected by his nationalization of natural gas will not be compensated if they recouped their investments .
-Speaking on the sidelines of the EU-Latin American summit , Evo Morales also urged Colombia , Peru and Ecuador not to ratify trade deals with the United States .
-Latin American and European leaders are in Vienna , Austria , for a summit aimed at strengthening cooperation between the continents .
-Bolivia 's move to nationalize energy resources was expected to be discussed .
-The EU Commission for External Relations and Neighborhood Policy , Benita Ferrero-Waldner issued a statement Wednesday saying Europe will do everything it can to clear the way for closer trade partnerships .
-But she said Latin American nations must overcome obstacles on their side .
-New allegations of prisoner abuse by U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan have been revealed in Army documents released by the American Civil Liberties Union .
-The documents show photographs of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan posing with hooded and bound detainees during mock executions .
-The photos were taken at a base in southern Afghanistan ( Fire Base Tycze ) between December 2003 and February 2004 .
-Some members of the infantry regiment said they took the pictures for fun and destroyed some of them after the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in Iraq to avoid another public outrage .
-The Afghanistan incident triggered an Army investigation .
-Army records show that several soldiers were charged with dereliction of duty , but more serious charges were not substantiated .
-The American Civil Liberties Union says the new documents suggest that abuse of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan may be widespread .
-The group had requested information about U.S.-held detainees .
-Afghan election officials have finished counting ballots from last month 's legislative elections and are to release some provisional results Thursday .
-A spokesman for the joint U.N.-Afghan election commission says the physical count is complete , except for some ballots that are subject to audit .
-Vote counts are to be released in phases over the coming days , as officials investigate reports of vote fraud .
-Final results are due by October 22 .
-Unofficial tallies show that warlords and opponents of President Hamid Karzai have fared relatively well , and women lawmakers could hold the balance of power in the new national assembly .
-Meanwhile , a suspected suicide bomber has blown up a pick-up truck near a Canadian military convoy in southern Afghanistan , killing himself and a child .
-Three Canadian soldiers were wounded .
-French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin says smoking will be banned in most public places in his country in February .
-Speaking Sunday to French media , the prime minister said the ban will be extended to cover bars , restaurants , hotels and discotheques in January of 2008 .
-In a parliamentary report last week , French lawmakers called for a total ban effective next September .
-The only exceptions would be commercial establishments that provide sealed smoking areas with separate ventilation systems .
-The French news agency quotes Mr. de Villepin as saying an estimated 5,000 people die in France every year from the effects of passive smoking .
-He said those figures present a " totally unacceptable situation " in terms of public health .
-France is the latest European country to sharply curtail smoking in public places .
-Britain , Italy , Sweden , Ukraine and Spain are considering similar measures .
-Japan 's Foreign Ministry says Russian authorities have seized four Japanese fishing boats in disputed waters off Russia 's far east on suspicion of illegal fishing .
-The ministry said Saturday that the boats were intercepted and searched by Russian officials off Kamchatka peninsula , and have been taken to the Russian port of Petropavlosk-Kamchatskii .
-Earlier this year , a Russian border patrol fired on a Japanese fishing boat in the disputed waters , killing a fisherman before seizing the vessel and the remaining three crew members .
-The incident increased already tense relations over the four Kuril islands , which were seized by Soviet troops at the end of World War II , and are still claimed by Japan .
-The dispute over the islands has prevented the two countries from signing a peace treaty officially ending the war .
-Indiana Jones is returning - and Cate Blanchett may be along for the ride .
-The award-winning actress is reportedly negotiating a role in the fourth installment of the Indiana Jones series .
-Harrison Ford has already signed on to portray the fedora-wearing adventurer .
-Cate Blanchett won a 2005 Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for The Aviator , and this year received a supporting nomination for her role in Notes On A Scandal .
-Steven Spielberg will direct the film , scheduled to begin shooting in June in Los Angeles and undisclosed international locations .
-Paramount Pictures will release Indy 4 worldwide on May 22 , 2008 .
-The United States has appealed to China to restore military ties , despite friction about U.S. arms sales to Taiwan .
-Speaking to reporters at a security conference in Singapore Saturday , U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said China 's decision to break off military-to-military contacts earlier this year could undercut regional stability .
-Gates said it is clear interruptions in the U.S. military relationship with China will not change Washington 's policy toward Taiwan .
-Beijing broke off military-to-military contacts after the Obama administration notified Congress in January of a plan to sell Taiwan up to $ 6.4 billion worth of arms .
-China also refused a proposed visit by Gates during his trip to Asia .
-Gates said the arms sales are not a threat , because Washington does not support independence for Taiwan .
-The island nation has been able to attract foreign business and investment , especially in its offshore banking and tourism industries , with a surge in foreign direct investment in 2006 , attributed to the construction of several tourism projects .
-Although crops such as bananas , mangos , and avocados continue to be grown for export , tourism provides Saint Lucia 's main source of income and the industry is the island 's biggest employer .
-Tourism is the main source of foreign exchange , although tourism sector revenues declined with the global economic downturn as US and European travel dropped in 2009 .
-The manufacturing sector is the most diverse in the Eastern Caribbean area , and the government is trying to revitalize the banana industry , although recent hurricanes have caused exports to contract .
-Saint Lucia is vulnerable to a variety of external shocks including volatile tourism receipts , natural disasters , and dependence on foreign oil .
-The public debt-to-GDP ratio is about 77 % and high debt servicing obligations constrain the KING administration 's ability to respond to adverse external shocks .
-Economic fundamentals remain solid , even though unemployment needs to be reduced .
-Although the regional hub for trade and finance in East Africa , Kenya has been hampered by corruption and by reliance upon several primary goods whose prices have remained low .
-In 1997 , the IMF suspended Kenya 's Enhanced Structural Adjustment Program due to the government 's failure to maintain reforms and curb corruption .
-The IMF , which had resumed loans in 2000 to help Kenya through a drought , again halted lending in 2001 when the government failed to institute several anticorruption measures .
-In the key December 2002 elections , Daniel Arap MOI 's 24-year-old reign ended , and a new opposition government took on the formidable economic problems facing the nation .
-After some early progress in rooting out corruption and encouraging donor support , the KIBAKI government was rocked by high-level graft scandals in 2005 and 2006 .
-In 2006 , the World Bank and IMF delayed loans pending action by the government on corruption .
-The international financial institutions and donors have since resumed lending , despite little action on the government 's part to deal with corruption .
-Post-election violence in early 2008 , coupled with the effects of the global financial crisis on remittance and exports , reduced GDP growth to 1.7 in 2008 , but the economy rebounded in 2009 - 10 .
-Originally settled by Arawak Indians , Curacao was seized by the Dutch in 1634 along with the neighboring island of Bonaire .
-Once the center of the Caribbean slave trade , Curacao was hard hit by the abolition of slavery in 1863 .
-Its prosperity ( and that of neighboring Aruba ) was restored in the early 20th century with the construction of the Isla Refineria to service the newly discovered Venezuelan oil fields .
-In 1954 , Curacao and several other Dutch Caribbean possessions were reorganized as the Netherlands Antilles , part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands .
-In referenda in 2005 and 2009 , the citizens of Curacao voted to become a self-governing country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands .
-The change in status became effective in October of 2010 with the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles .
-Bulgaria , a former Communist country that entered the EU on 1 January 2007 , averaged more than 6 % annual growth from 2004 to 2008 , driven by significant amounts of foreign direct investment and consumption .
-Successive governments have demonstrated a commitment to economic reforms and responsible fiscal planning , but the global downturn sharply reduced domestic demand , exports , capital inflows , and industrial production .
-GDP contracted by approximately 5 % in 2009 , and stagnated in 2010 , despite a significant recovery in exports .
-The economy is expected to grow modestly in 2011 , however .
-Corruption in the public administration , a weak judiciary , and the presence of organized crime remain significant challenges .
-A CHARCOAL-BURNER carried on his trade in his own house .
-One day he met a friend , a Fuller , and entreated him to come and live with him , saying that they should be far better neighbors and that their housekeeping expenses would be lessened .
-The Fuller replied , " The arrangement is impossible as far as I am concerned , for whatever I should whiten , you would immediately blacken again with your charcoal . "
-Like will draw like .
-A HEIFER saw an Ox hard at work harnessed to a plow , and tormented him with reflections on his unhappy fate in being compelled to labor .
-Shortly afterwards , at the harvest festival , the owner released the Ox from his yoke , but bound the Heifer with cords and led him away to the altar to be slain in honor of the occasion .
-The Ox saw what was being done , and said with a smile to the Heifer : " For this you were allowed to live in idleness , because you were presently to be sacrificed . "
-A PEASANT had in his garden an Apple-Tree which bore no fruit but only served as a harbor for the sparrows and grasshoppers .
-He resolved to cut it down , and taking his axe in his hand , made a bold stroke at its roots .
-The grasshoppers and sparrows entreated him not to cut down the tree that sheltered them , but to spare it , and they would sing to him and lighten his labors .
-He paid no attention to their request , but gave the tree a second and a third blow with his axe .
-When he reached the hollow of the tree , he found a hive full of honey .
-Having tasted the honeycomb , he threw down his axe , and looking on the tree as sacred , took great care of it .
-Self-interest alone moves some men .
-A DOG passing over a stream on a plank saw his reflection in the water .
-" You ugly brute ! " he cried ; " how dare you look at me in that insolent way . "
-He made a grab in the water , and , getting hold of what he supposed was the other dog 's lip , lifted out a fine piece of meat which a butcher 's boy had dropped into the stream .
-An Ass once found a Lion 's skin which the hunters had left out in the sun to dry .
-He put it on and went towards his native village .
-All fled at his approach , both men and animals , and he was a proud Ass that day .
-In his delight he lifted up his voice and brayed , but then every one knew him , and his owner came up and gave him a sound cudgelling for the fright he had caused .
-And shortly afterwards a Fox came up to him and said : " Ah , I knew you by your voice . "
-Fine clothes may disguise , but silly words will disclose a fool .
-An engineer thinks that his equations are an approximation to reality .
-A physicist thinks reality is an approximation to his equations .
-A mathematician does n't care .
-There were 11 people - ten men and one woman - hanging onto a rope that came down from a helicopter .
-They all decided that one person should get off , because if they did n't , the rope would break and everyone would die .
-No one could decide who should go , so finally , the woman gave a really touching speech saying how she would give up her life to save the others , because women were used to giving up things for their husbands and children , giving in to men , and not receiving anything in return .
-When she finished speaking , all the men started clapping .
-Palestinian militants have fired rockets at Israel after Israeli troops killed a senior Islamic Jihad commander .
-The rockets caused no casualties .
-A short time later Israeli forces fired artillery at the area in Gaza the militants used to launch the rockets .
-Islamic Jihad had vowed to avenge the killing earlier Monday of Luay Saadi and his deputy in the West Bank .
-Israel says Mr. Saadi was behind several attacks that have killed at least 10 Israelis since February .
-Meanwhile , the Palestinian Authority says it plans to immediately disarm members of another militant group in the West Bank , the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade .
-The chief of police in the West Bank , Taher Zaid , says most members of the militant group will be trained to join Palestinian security forces .
-But leading al-Aqsa commanders say they doubt their men will turn in their weapons until Israel leaves the West Bank .
-French President Jacques Chirac has offered his support for Croatia 's aspirations for European Union membership .
-Mr. Chirac told visiting Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sander that the schedule for membership talks should be respected .
-Croatia 's EU membership negotiations began in October after an eight-month delay due to the country 's failure to capture a top suspect wanted by the United Nations war crimes tribunal .
-Mr. Chirac says Croatia 's rapid economic development and progress in reforms justified the start of the country 's membership negotiations with the bloc .
-Italian police have arrested 36 people during protests in Rome ahead of the summit of leaders of the world 's eight major industrial countries .
-Hooded demonstrators clashed with police and set fires on streets near one of the capital 's universities Tuesday .
-Police said citizens of France , Germany and Poland were among those arrested .
-Separately Tuesday , police in the town of L'Aquila seized clubs from five French protesters close to where the summit is being held .
-They were not arrested .
-About 15,000 police officers have been deployed to L'Aquila to provide security during the three-day gathering , beginning Wednesday .
-The G8 summit was originally scheduled to take place on an island , La Maddalena , off the Sardinian coast .
-Officials moved it to L'Aquila after an April earthquake shook the area and killed almost 300 people .
-Italian officials said the transfer was aimed at giving the area an economic boost .
-Al-Qaida 's deputy leader has criticized the West for publishing cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad as a terrorist .
-In a video broadcast Saturday on the Arab television channel al-Jazeera , Ayman al-Zawahri called the cartoons an insult and urged an economic boycott against nations where they have been published .
-He also called on Hamas , which won Palestinian elections in January , to reject peace deals between the Palestinian Authority and Israel .
-The videotape was the second by al-Zawahri aired by al-Jazeera in six weeks .
-A tape that aired in January called on President Bush to admit defeat in Iraq and Afghanistan .
-Mexican President Felipe Calderon is appealing for clean drinking water , canned food and other emergency aid for the storm-damaged Gulf state of Veracruz .
-Hurricane Karl tore across the Mexico 's Yucatan peninsula late last week as a strong Category 3 storm , killing at least 14 people and leaving thousands homeless .
-The president visited Veracruz Monday , touring flooded villages and meeting with civil defense officials and storm victims .
-Looting has been reported in flood-stricken areas .
-Local newspapers and television have shown pictures of people running from stores with bags of food and cases of beer .
-Police have arrested 11 people .
-A leftist Colombian guerrilla leader has been killed in a clash with military troops in the South American country .
-Officials say Humberto Valbuena , a unit commander for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia , or FARC , was killed Monday in the remote jungles of Caqueta state .
-At least three other rebels were killed in the clash .
-Colombia 's long-running conflict pits FARC and a smaller leftist rebel group against government forces and right-wing paramilitary fighters .
-Thousands of people are killed annually in the conflict .
-Fire has destroyed a historic church in Chicago , Illinois , that has been called the birthplace of gospel music .
-Firefighters were called Friday afternoon to Pilgrim Baptist Church .
-A neighbor said construction workers were on the church 's roof when the fire started , but a fire department spokesman said authorities did not know how the blaze started .
-There were no immediate reports of injuries .
-The building was constructed in 1890 as a synagogue .
-Pilgrim Baptist Church took it over in 1922 .
-Under the leadership of its choir director , Thomas Dorsey , the church was a center for the development of gospel music .
-Among the artists who sang at the church was Mahalia Jackson .
-Iraqi officials say two bomb attacks in the capital Saturday have killed at least eight people .
-The first bomb struck a crowded market , killing at least three people .
-Police say the device was meant to target police .
-Hours later , a car bomb in downtown Baghdad killed five people .
-Also Saturday , the U.S. military announced that an American soldier was killed by a bomb Friday during a patrol west of Kirkuk .
-It said one soldier was wounded .
-The U.S. military says it has carried out a series of raids following Wednesday 's killing of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi , in hopes of dismantling his al-Qaida in Iraq network .
-The Jordanian-born Zarqawi was said to have personally taken part in beheadings of hostages and other killings .
-He was killed when the U.S. military dropped two 227-kilogram bombs on his safe house near Baquba , northeast of Baghdad .
-Wall Street enjoyed an upswing Thursday , despite mixed economic news concerning consumer spending and jobless claims .
-The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained nearly 190 points to close at 13010 .
-The surge in the stock markets comes as investors await a key report .
-VOA 's Robert Raffaele has more .
-India 's new Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee and his Pakistani counterpart , Khursheed Kasuri , will meet on Monday in New Delhi to review the stalled peace process between the two nuclear rivals .
-Mukherjee told reporters Friday that Kasuri will be in India over the weekend on a private visit and that the meeting had been fixed for Monday .
-India suspended the almost three-year-old peace process following a July terrorist attack on Mumbai 's train network that killed nearly 200 people and wounded 800 others .
-New Delhi accused Pakistan 's spy agency of involvement in the attack , but Islamabad denied any involvement and demanded evidence .
-Last week , the two sides agreed to set up a three-member panel to share information about counter-terrorism activities and a pact to reduce risks of nuclear accidents .
-Israel has charged three Arabs with spying for Syria and planning to kidnap a Syrian pilot who defected to Israel .
-Two of the men are from a northern Druze village , Majdal Shams , in the Golan Heights , near the Syrian border .
-The other is an Israeli citizen .
-An indictment says the men passed details and photographs of Israeli army installations to a Syrian agent .
-It also says they gathered information on a Syrian pilot who defected to Israel in 1989 .
-Prosecutors allege the men drew up a plan to kidnap the pilot .
-Israeli media say Druze residents recently rioted when investigators searched one of the suspects ' home .
-Police in Sri Lanka say 300 prisoners took advantage of Sunday 's massive earthquake to make their escape from a high-security jail .
-Authorities say the inmates fled after a tidal wave caused by the quake destroyed their prison , a 16th century Dutch-built fort in a southern coastal town Matara .
-Reuters news agency reports a similar prison break in Indonesia 's Aceh province .
-Police there say 200 prisoners fled after a tsunami destroyed the walls of the facility .
-The leaders of Nigeria and the Congo Republic emerged from all-night talks with Sudan 's rebel leaders Sunday , with no real progress made on resolving the conflict in Darfur .
-After meeting all night in the Nigerian capital Abuja , President Olusegun Obasanjo and Congo Republic 's President Denis Sassou Nguesso pledged to hold further talks with the Sudanese groups .
-The talks are aimed at ending more than three years of civil war before the April 30 deadline set by the African Union for a peace settlement .
-Peace talks between Sudan 's government and rebel groups have gone on for more than 18 months without any breakthroughs .
-The fighting , involving rebels , government forces and Khartoum-backed Janjaweed militias in Darfur , has killed about 1,80,000 people and has left another two million homeless .
-Sheriff 's investigators have conducted a search of Michael Jackson 's Neverland Ranch in California .
-California authorities filed child molestation charges against the pop music star in December 2003 .
-The charges involve an unidentified child under the age of 14 .
-A sheriff 's spokesman confirmed Friday 's search , but declined to give any further details .
-Jackson 's Neverland Ranch is a theme-park-like estate about 160 kilometers northwest of Los Angeles .
-Michael Jackson has pleaded not guilty to child molestation , conspiracy and administering an intoxicating agent .
-His trial is scheduled to being January 31 .
-Iraq 's two main political coalitions broke off talks Monday aimed at ending a five-month-long political deadlock .
-A spokeswoman for the Sunni-backed Iraqiya alliance , Maysoon al-Damaluji , said the group ended negotiations .
-She claimed the Shi'ite-dominated State of Law alliance labeled them as a Sunni bloc rather than cross-sectarian .
-The fight over ethnic political standing comes as a group of activist organizations filed a lawsuit Monday against parliament speaker Fouad Massum .
-The groups are accusing him of violating the constitution by ordering the newly elected parliament , which convened 14 Jun , to remain in an open-ended session until a political agreement is reached .
-Former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi 's Iraqiya alliance won the poll with 91 seats in the 7 March vote , while Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki 's State of Law alliance captured 89 .
-Both groups were far short of the 163-seat majority needed to govern .
-Millions of Americans could lose their homes this year and next as the rate of foreclosures across the United States rises to the highest in decades .
-The foreclosure crisis has worsened despite ongoing efforts by some lenders and the government to help borrowers manage their mortgage payments .
-VOA 's Chris Simkins reports on how one homeowner in [ the southern US state of ] Virginia is fighting to keep his home .
-Israeli police say Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will be questioned by police this week for a second time in a corruption investigation against him .
-Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said Tuesday that the anti-fraud unit will question Mr. Olmert Friday .
-Police asked the prime minister questions for more than an hour on May 2 .
-Prosecutors accuse Mr. Olmert of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash from U.S. businessman Morris Talansky before he became prime minister .
-Police are trying to determine whether Mr. Olmert gave any favors to the businessman for the payments .
-Mr. Olmert and the businessman say the funds were legal contributions to the Israeli leader 's election campaigns .
-The prime minister says he will resign if indicted .
-North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has met with a high-ranking Chinese delegation that delivered a message of congratulations from Chinese President President Hu Jintao .
-The North 's state media reported Sunday that the Chinese delegation was led by Deputy Prime Minister Wu Yi .
-China 's state media said she expressed the Chinese president 's congratulatory wishes on the 60th anniversary of the founding of the North 's Workers ' Party of Korea .
-Xinhua said the Chinese delegation is in the North for a three-day goodwill visit .
-Neither Chinese nor North Korean media mentioned the nuclear crisis in their reports .
-North Korea agreed last month during six-nation talks in Beijing to abandon its nuclear weapons program in return for economic aid , energy assistance and security assurances .
-But Pyongyang later said it first wants light-water nuclear reactors for civilian energy production .
-The fifth round of six-nation talks is scheduled for early next month in Beijing .
-South Africa 's president says his government will look into new reports on Zimbabwe 's elections , which detail serious irregularities .
-Thabo Mbeki told parliament Thursday the government would study the reports from both Zimbabwe 's main opposition party ( MDC ) and the independent Zimbabwe Electoral Support Network .
-He says his government will then address whatever issues are raised .
-On Wednesday , Mr. Mbeki 's government said it was satisfied Zimbabwe 's parliamentary elections , won by the ruling party , reflected the will of the people .
-Observers from South Africa endorsed the poll following the March 31 election .
-And a delegation of monitors from the Southern African Development Community also said the vote was credible .
-The United States and Britain have said the elections were not free or fair .
-Hurricane Gustav is moving across the Caribbean toward southwestern Haiti , where it is expected to make landfall later Tuesday .
-U.S. forecasters say the storm 's winds strengthened on Tuesday morning to nearly 150 kilometers per hour .
-Gustav is expected to produce up to 38 centimeters of rain in some areas , possibly causing dangerous flash floods and mudslides .
-The National Hurricane Center in Miami upgraded Gustav to a hurricane early Tuesday .
-A hurricane warning is in effect for parts of Haiti and the Dominican Republic , where Tropical Storm Fay claimed an estimated 50 lives less than two weeks ago .
-Fay has weakened a tropical depression , causing heavy rains in the eastern United States .
-Forecasters expect Hurricane Gustav to pass just south or east of Cuba on Wednesday .
-Cuba and Jamaica have issued hurricane watches .
-The head of Iran 's nuclear agency says the Islamic Republic must be allowed to produce nuclear fuel domestically .
-Gholamreza Aghazadeh 's remark to reporters Saturday in Tehran effectively rules out a compromise proposal diplomats say the Europeans were considering offering Iran .
-He spoke in Tehran after meeting with Russian envoy Igor Ivanov .
-The proposal , which the United States has denied being a part of , would permit Tehran to carry out an early stage of nuclear fuel production , but move uranium enrichment to Russia .
-Both Russian and Iranian officials have refused to confirm whether Mr. Ivanov presented any new proposal to Iran .
-Western nations are concerned that Iran wants to enrich uranium to high levels for use as fuel for nuclear weapons .
-Iran denies this , saying it seeks only to produce electricity .
-Officials of The Hague war crimes tribunal have questioned a prominent Kosovo politician about his role as a leader of ethnic Albanian guerrilla forces during the conflict in the Serbian province
-Officials say Ramush Haradinaj spent about 90 minutes with investigators who questioned him in Pristina at the headquarters of the United Nations administration .
-No details of the questioning have been released .
-Mr. Haradinaj was a top leader of the ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army during the conflict of the late 1990s .
-He later moved into local politics , founding the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo , a party that came in third in last month 's Kosovo assembly elections .
-Serbian authorities have accused him of responsibility for numerous murders in and other atrocities during the Kosovo conflict .
-Hundreds of mourners gathered in an eastern Sri Lankan city to pay final respects to a top Tamil Tiger rebel , who was gunned down earlier this week .
-The government intensified security in the city of Batticaloa to avert any outbreak of violence during Thursday 's funeral ceremony .
-Regional Tamil Tiger political chief , E. Kousalyan along with five aides were killed in an ambush Monday night on a jungle road near Batticaloa .
-The rebels blame government-backed paramilitary forces for the attack and warned that it could disrupt post-tsunami reconstruction and efforts to resume peace talks .
-The Sri Lankan government denied any involvement , condemned the killings and urged all sides to work for the peace process .
-Venezuela has signed a $ 1.3 billion agreement with China to purchase 18 oil tankers to facilitate the south American country 's expanding Asian market .
-A spokesman for Venezuela 's state-run oil company says the agreement also calls for China to help build shipyards in Venezuela and train its workers .
-The oil company says it hopes to expand its total fleet of tankers to at least 42 ships Venezuelan officials say the nation currently sells about 15 percent of its oil and other petroleum products to China and would like to increase that to about 45 percent by 2012 .
-Venezuela is among the world 's largest oil exporters .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has said he wants to increase trade with China - and rely less on the United States as a customer for its oil .
-Iran has rejected as " unfounded " U.S. accusations linking President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the 1979 take-over of the U.S. embassy in Tehran .
-A foreign ministry spokesman said late Friday that Mr. Ahmadinejad played no role in the embassy seizure .
-He added that U.S. comments just days before Mr. Ahmadinejad takes office stem from what he termed " U.S. disillusionment with Iran 's independent policies . "
-On Thursday , a White House spokesman said officials believe Mr. Ahmadinejad was a leader in the student movement that organized the embassy takeover .
-Some former U.S. hostages insist the president-elect was one of the actual hostage-takers , but a CIA analysis of an old photo at the U.S. embassy has concluded the man pictured holding hostages is not Mr. Ahmadinejad .
-One of Russia 's most popular fashion designers has opened her first clothing store in the U.S.
-Teenager Kira Plastinina 's designs are already a hit in her homeland and now she is hoping to find success in America 's fashion capital New York City .
-VOA 's Elena Mikhailova introduces us to the young lady who is creating a stir in the fashion industry .
-A court in Houston , Texas in the southwestern United States , has convicted three U.S. citizens of involvement in a human trafficking ring responsible for the deaths of 19 people in 2003 .
-Victor Sanchez Rodriguez was found guilty of 17 of the 20 smuggling charges against him .
-His wife , Emma Rodriguez , was convicted of 14 smuggling counts , and her half-sister , Rosa Sarrata Gonzalez , was convicted of one smuggling count .
-The three were participants in an operation carrying more than 70 illegal immigrants in a tractor-trailer rig from southern Texas , near the border with Mexico , to Houston .
-Seventeen people died during the trip of dehydration , overheating and suffocation .
-Two more died later .
-Eleven other people have been indicted in the case .
-The Houston Chronicle reports sentencing is set for May .
-Syria 's President Bashar al-Assad says Syria and Israel can live side-by-side in peace , accepting each other 's existence .
-In an interview broadcast Monday by the British Broadcasting Corporation , Mr. Assad said he is ready to hold talks with Israel but that an impartial arbiter is needed to mediate between the two sides .
-The Syrian leader expressed doubts the United States is prepared to play this role , saying Washington lacks both the will and the vision to pursue peace in the Middle East .
-Mr. Assad 's remarks are in sharp contrast with comments he made Sunday , when he said Israel has given up on the Middle East peace process , forcing Syria to remain prepared for war .
-Israeli officials denied having plans to attack Syria , and called Mr. Assad 's comments a cause for concern .
-Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi says the West has not properly compensated Libya for dismantling its weapons of mass destruction programs , so countries like Iran and North Korea will not follow Libya 's example .
-Colonel Gadhafi made the remark in an interview with the BBC Friday , the day Libya marked the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the country 's Jamahiriyah , or " State of the Masses , " the political system created by Gadhafi that in theory allows the people to exercise power through popular committees .
-In a speech marking the anniversary , the Libyan leader said his country opened up to the outside world after years of isolation and sanctions .
-Colonel Gadhafi was for decades considered an international pariah for his alleged backing of terrorism and pursuing nuclear weapons .
-But he later rejected terrorism and in 2003 abandoned Libya 's nuclear weapons program , which led to the normalization of ties with the West .
-President Bush has left the Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata , Argentina , as discussions over the summit 's final statement continue hours longer than planned .
-Mr. Bush left Saturday for his next stop in Brazil , having stayed three hours extra as the talks dragged on .
-Members of the U.S. delegation have stayed behind in Mar del Plata to continue negotiations .
-The summit 's final statement is expected to discuss poverty and employment .
-But delegates have clashed over inclusion of a call to renew talks on an inter-American free trade region supported by Mr. Bush .
-On the streets of Mar del Plata , city workers are cleaning up debris from anti-Bush protests that turned violent Friday .
-Police arrested more than 60 people , but said there were no major injuries .
-India 's former foreign minister accused of skimming money from the Iraqi oil-for-food program has resigned from the cabinet , saying he does not want to give the opposition an excuse to stall parliament .
-Natwar Singh 's decision came after a weeklong blocking of parliamentary proceedings by the opposition , demanding that he step down .
-Mr. Singh , a minister without portfolio , announced his resignation Tuesday , a day after he met party chief Sonia Gandhi and spoke by telephone to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh , who is in Moscow .
-He said he is resigning even though he is innocent .
-Natwar Singh was dropped as foreign minister last month over allegations he and the Congress party profited from the United Nations program aimed at helping Iraqi civilians cope with the impact of international sanctions against the regime of Saddam Hussein .
-Opposition leaders in Ivory Coast have rejected an African Union recommendation that President Laurent Gbagbo remain in power after his mandate expires later this month .
-Members of Ivory Coast 's opposition bloc , known as the G7 , are demanding a transitional government to replace Mr. Gbagbo .
-Last week , the African Union announced its recommendation that President Gbagbo stay in office for another 12 months after his mandate expires at the end of October .
-Mr. Gbagbo says he has the constitutional right to stay in power if elections can not be organized .
-Under a recent peace deal , elections were set for October 30 .
-They were postponed after the government and rebels failed to implement key steps to organize the vote .
-Despite several accords , Ivory Coast remains divided between rebels in the north and the southern-based government .
-The Spanish football club Sevilla has won its first European football title by beating Middlesbrough of England , 4-0 , in the UEFA Cup final in Eindhoven , the Netherlands .
-Enzo Maresca scored two goals for the Spaniards , in the 78th and 84th minutes .
-Luis Fabiano opened the scoring in the 27th minute , sending the ball in off the post after taking a cross from Daniel .
-Frédéric Kanouté scored the fourth goal when he tapped in a rebound just one minute from time .
-Middlesbrough could not find the offense it needed to rebound from the deficit .
-The match was the first of two Anglo-Spanish finals .
-Barcelona faces Arsenal next Wednesday in the Champions ' League final at the Stade de France outside Paris .
-Ukraine 's new leaders have stopped short of rejecting membership in a new Moscow-led economic bloc of four ex-Soviet republics , but say the plan could hurt their European Union aspirations .
-After meetings Monday with Russia 's visiting foreign minister , Sergei Lavrov , Ukraine 's President Viktor Yuschenko and foreign minister , Boris Tarsyuk , made clear the importance of strategic relations with their giant eastern neighbor .
-But they also emphasized their commitment to Ukraine 's becoming a full member of the EU and of NATO .
-Mr. Yushchenko 's predecessor , Leonid Kuchma , agreed to Ukraine 's joining the new bloc , which includes Russia , Belarus and Kazakhstan , but Kiev 's participation is now in doubt under its new pro-Western president .
-Mr. Yuschenko is to meet EU leaders in Brussels this week .
-EU officials say they are not ready to offer Ukraine membership , but have proposed a plan to strengthen ties .
-Croatia is entering the final stage of its bid to join the European Union , resuming talks Wednesday that had been stalled over a border dispute with Slovenia .
-The two sides opened negotiations on the last three of 35 chapters in the application process Wednesday .
-The final talks cover competition law , judicial reform and foreign policy .
-Croatia 's accession talks were interrupted in late 2008 when EU member Slovenia blocked further negotiations until a decades-long maritime border deal was in place granting Slovenia direct access to the Adriatic Sea .
-The obstacle was removed earlier this month when Slovenians passed a referendum to let an international panel settle the issue , which could force Croatia to give up some territory .
-Croatian authorities have said an EU accession treaty could be signed in early 2011 .
-The maritime border dispute began when Croatia and Slovenia gained independence during the 1991 breakup of the former Yugoslavia .
-U.S. and Iraqi forces have launched the second operation targeting insurgents in western Anbar province in the past two days .
-About 1,000 troops began Operation Dagger Saturday in a remote lake region northwest of Baghdad .
-Debris from US airstrike targeting insurgents in Karabilah , June 12 , 2005 U.S. military officials say the operation is aimed at finding hidden weapon stashes and insurgent camps .
-This the same area where U.S. and Iraqi forces killed a large number of insurgents in March .
-Earlier , military officials said about 50 insurgents have been killed 100 captured near the town of Karabilah in a separate operation launched Friday .
-Troops found four Iraqi hostages beaten and chained to a wall in a bunker .
-Authorities in Morocco and Turkey have arrested two men blamed for unleashing a computer worm that disrupted networks across the United States last week .
-The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation said Friday it had received news of the arrests of 18-year-old Farid Essebar in Morocco and 21-year-old Atilla Ekici in Turkey .
-An FBI official says Mr. Essebar is suspecting of creating the worm and selling it to Mr. Ekici .
-The two are also blamed for a similar computer attack earlier this year .
-The worm shut down computers at several U.S. media companies and other firms last week .
-U.S. officials said they worked closely with authorities in the two countries and the maker of the affected computer systems , Microsoft , to locate the men .
-The FBI says the two suspects face prosecution in their native countries .
-The U.S. military in Afghanistan says a mortar attack at a base in eastern Paktika province has killed two U.S. military personnel , with eight others wounded .
-A military statement says the mortar landed in the base near Shkin , near the Pakistani border , as the victims were preparing to unload supplies from a Chinook helicopter .
-Also Wednesday , U.S.-led coalition forces arrested five suspected Taleban insurgents in connection with an attack on an oil tanker that killed two Pakistanis .
-Police in the Afghan border town of Spin Boldak said the five suspects were apprehended one day after the two Pakistani nationals were killed in the same area .
-The Taleban and their militant allies have stepped up attacks in recent months , often hitting soft targets associated with coalition forces and the Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai .
-Candidates for upcoming Palestinian legislative elections began signing up Saturday .
-The race is likely to see the ruling Fatah party face a strong challenge from the Islamic group , Hamas .
-Voting primaries this past week for Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas ' Fatah party were beset with disruptions from gunmen , some with links to Fatah .
-Fatah 's younger generation is challenging the old guard , many of whom are seen as tainted by corruption .
-Israel and the United States are worried Hamas will do well in the January poll , threatening the peace process .
-In a separate development , Mr. Abbas met Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican Saturday , and invited the pontiff to visit Jerusalem , considered the holy land by followers of Judaism , Christianity and Islam .
-Elsewhere , Palestinian officials say Israeli troops shot dead two Palestinians in separate incidents in the Gaza Strip .
-Hundreds of Libyan opposition members have concluded a two-day conference in London to discuss strategies for ousting Moammar Gadhafi from power .
-The opposition leaders are calling on the United Nations to push for regime change in Libya and for the restoration of Libya 's constitution .
-The leaders said Sunday they intend to form a provisional government that would last no longer than one year , then launch a democratic constitutional government built on cultural pluralism and a rotating presidency .
-The United States re-established limited diplomatic ties with Libya last year after Colonel Gadhafi announced Tripoli would abandon its chemical and nuclear weapons programs .
-Colonel Gadhafi seized power during a 1969 political coup .
-The United States Army has charged the former head of the interrogation center at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq for his alleged involvement in the abuse of detainees .
-The Army announced Friday that Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan would face 12 counts , including cruelty and maltreatment , dereliction of duty , and interfering with the abuse investigation .
-Colonel Jordan is the highest-ranking officer to face criminal charges stemming from Abu Ghraib .
-He ran the interrogation center at the prison in late 2003 , a time when U.S. military leaders wanted information from detainees to combat the rising Iraqi insurgency .
-So far , only a handful of low-ranking soldiers have been prosecuted for abuses at Abu Ghraib .
-Officers above Jordan 's rank have been reprimanded and relieved of command , but none has faced criminal charges .
-A U.S. senator is asking Americans whether a current proposal to overhaul the American health-care system would actually make things better .
-Speaking in the weekly Republican address Saturday , Senator Mike Johanns from the state of Nebraska said the proposal could negatively impact " each and every " American .
-President Barack Obama , from the majority Democratic Party , is pushing for a bill to be passed by the end of the year .
-He says health care costs are spiraling out of control and making it difficult for small businesses to compete .
-He says too many Americans are not insured or go bankrupt to pay for health care .
-Proposals to reform the system are currently under discussion in both the Senate and the House of Representatives .
-Republicans say the proposals are too expensive and will not improve the current system .
-Negotiators from the Sudanese government and two Darfur rebel groups are expected in Nigeria 's capital , Abuja , for a new round of peace talks to begin on Thursday .
-The African Union will mediate the talks , aimed at ending a two-and-a-half-year conflict in Sudan 's western Darfur region .
-Several previous rounds have failed .
-The last talks in June stalled over rebel demands that Chad not be allowed to help mediate the negotiations .
-A ceasefire agreement has also been repeatedly violated .
-Last week , the United Nations said there have been many reports in Darfur of banditry , looting , alleged attacks on villages and continued fighting .
-The conflict pits rebels of African descent against pro-government Arab militiamen .
-An estimated 1,80,000 people have been killed and 2 million others have been displaced .
-Former U.S. President Bill Clinton used a speech in Taiwan to stress the need for nations to depend more on one another .
-Mr. Clinton arrived in Taipei late Sunday for a one-day visit that had prompted concern from China .
-In his speech at the city 's International Convention Center , the former president urged China and Taiwan to resolve their differences and work together peacefully .
-Before his arrival , Mr. Clinton told a Hong Kong newspaper group he supports Beijing 's one-China policy , which claims Taiwan as part of China .
-The United States observes the policy and has no official diplomatic ties with Taiwan .
-Later Sunday , Mr. Clinton had dinner with President Chen Shui-bian .
-On Monday he was expected to attend a book-signing for his autobiography , " My Life , " which he recently promoted in China and Japan .
-Pakistan has reiterated its support for resolving the row over Iran 's controversial nuclear program through dialogue , saying it opposes the use of force against its western neighbor .
-Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri says he hopes talks between Iran and the European Union will lead to , in his words , " an amicable solution . "
-He spoke during a meeting with his visiting Iranian counterpart , Manouchehr Mottaki .
-Talks between Iran and EU negotiators aimed at persuading Tehran to stop enriching uranium collapsed in August but will resume later this month .
-Pakistan has been one of few nations to defend Iran 's nuclear program from international criticism , saying all nations have a right to nuclear power .
-Mr. Mottaki , who arrived in Pakistan Wednesday for a two-day visit , says he and Mr. Kasuri also discussed expanding economic cooperation and a proposed gas pipeline project .
-President Bush is to visit the western U.S. state of Arizona Monday to give a speech on illegal immigration .
-White House officials say Mr. Bush 's speech in Tucson will focus on border security , enforcement and a temporary worker program .
-He will travel to El~Paso , Texas on Tuesday to discuss the same issues .
-In January , the president proposed a temporary worker program that would match foreign workers with U.S. employers when no Americans can be found to fill the jobs .
-The immigrants would be allowed to work in the United States for up to six years .
-Supporters of the proposal say it will create incentives for legal immigration and boost the economy .
-Critics of the program say it is a form of amnesty for people who enter the country illegally .
-World oil prices eased downward Friday but U.S. retail gasoline prices hit fresh record highs , which cut travel on the Independence Day holiday .
-A barrel of oil for future delivery cost $ 144 in electronic trading in New York , a decline of about $ 2 from Thursday 's record high price .
-A majority of analysts interviewed by the Bloomberg financial news service say oil prices are likely to rise next week because of concerns that Mideast tensions will continue and the dollar might weaken .
-Oil is priced in dollars , so a lower value tends to raise the price of oil .
-Soaring oil prices have pushed U.S. retail gasoline prices to a series of record highs .
-The latest survey puts the average price at nearly $ 1.08 a liter ( $ 4.1 a gallon ) .
-That is an increase of 30 cents a liter in the past year .
-The death toll from violence in Sudan following the death of former rebel leader and Vice President John Garang has surpassed 100 .
-The International Committee of the Red Cross says 84 people have been killed in the capital city of Khartoum since Monday , when southern Sudanese began rioting after learning of Mr. Garang 's death in a helicopter crash Saturday .
-Another 18 people have been killed in the southern city of Juba , Mr. Garang 's home base .
-The violence has forced scores of northern Muslim Arabs to flee Juba .
-Mr. Garang led the mostly Christian and animist south in a 21-year-old civil war against the Muslim-dominated north .
-He was sworn in as vice president just three weeks ago under a peace accord reached earlier this year .
-The United States is urging Khartoum to increase efforts to end the violence .
-Israeli Prime Minister-designate Tzipi Livni says she will form a new coalition government by Sunday or call for elections .
-Livni announced the decision Thursday following talks with her centrist Kadima party .
-On Monday , President Shimon Peres granted Livni 's request for a two-week extension to negotiate a deal that would keep the existing ruling coalition intact .
-Livni reached a deal with the dovish Labor Party .
-But she has been unable to strike an agreement to keep the ultra-Orthodox Shas party on board , a move many observers , including political correspondent Gil Hoffman , say is key .
-Polls indicate that if early elections are held , then Kadima would likely lose out to the hardline Likud party , denying Livni the chance to become Israel 's first female prime minister in more than 30 years .
-A Ukrainian court has temporarily suspended the results of this month 's presidential election pending review of an appeal filed by the losing candidate .
-The Supreme Administrative Court released a statement Wednesday saying the Central Election Commission ruling that declared Viktor Yanukovych the winner had been put on hold .
-Defeated Ukrainian presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko has filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the results of the February 7 vote .
-Ms. Tymoshenko , Ukraine 's current prime minister , says the election was rigged .
-She has refused to concede defeat .
-The prime minister claims vote-rigging robbed her of 1 million votes in the runoff election .
-Final results show her losing by nearly 8,88,000 votes .
-Tuesday , Ukraine 's parliament set February 25 for the swearing in of President-elect Yanukovych .
-A majority of 238 lawmakers in the 450-seat parliament endorsed the date Tuesday .
-But factions loyal to Ms. Tymoshenko boycotted the vote .
-U.S. stock markets are up about one percent following Friday 's congressional approval of a controversial measure to aid the battered financial sector .
-European markets gained between two and three percent by the close of trading .
-It was a different story in Asia , where Japan 's benchmark Nikkei index fell two percent , and Hong Kong 's Hang Seng index was down nearly three percent .
-Georgia 's breakaway region of Abkhazia remains tense - a day after supporters of presidential candidate Sergei Bagapsh seized regional government offices .
-Crowds stormed the buildings in the capital , Sukhumi , Friday .
-Several people were injured , and one woman died of a gunshot wound .
-Mr. Bagapsh blames the shooting on guards , while Abkhaz officials say Mr. Bagapsh 's supporters were responsible .
-The region 's high court last month declared Mr. Bagapsh the winner of a disputed October presidential election , but then reversed itself and ordered a new vote .
-His supporters have rejected fresh elections .
-Russia said Friday it will act if necessary to protect its interests .
-Tbilisi then accused Moscow of interfering in Georgia 's internal affairs - a charge Moscow rejects .
-Abkhaz President Vladislav Ardzinba described the events Friday in the pro-Russian enclave as an attempted coup .
-Abkhazia broke away from Georgia in the 1990s .
-The top U.S. envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency says momentum is growing among IAEA delegates to report Iran to the United Nations Security Council for its suspect nuclear activities .
-U.S. Ambassador Gregory Schulte told IAEA diplomats meeting in Vienna that the time has come to act against Iran .
-Washington and the European Union accuse Tehran of secret efforts to develop atomic weapons .
-Iran denies the charges .
-The Security Council can impose sanctions if it finds Tehran has not complied with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty .
-Western efforts to rally support for referral from the 35-member IAEA board is opposed by Russia , China and a host of non-aligned member-nations that want European-Iranian negotiations to continue .
-Earlier Wednesday , Iranian Vice President Gholamreza Aghazadeh said Tehran has no intention of abandoning the non-proliferation treaty , despite warnings Tuesday by a top Iranian negotiator .
-The United Nations Security Council has decided to send a special mission to Serbia 's breakaway Kosovo province before voting on its future status .
-British Ambassador John Perry , who is the current president of the council , said representatives of 15 member nations will visit Kosovo later this month .
-Perry said Belgium 's ambassador , Johan Verbeke , will head the U.N. delegation to Pristina .
-Russian U.N. envoy Vitaly Churkin last month proposed the mission before the council considers mediator Martti Ahtisaari 's proposal for Kosovo .
-The Ahtisaari plan envisions internationally supervised independence for the Serbian province , which Belgrade adamantly rejects .
-Kosovo has been under U.N. administration since 1999 , after NATO air raids halted Belgrade 's crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists .
-A U.S. newspaper reports the Bush administration has been monitoring telephone conversations between Iranian diplomats and the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency , Mohamed ElBaradei .
-The Washington Post quotes three officials , speaking on condition of anonymity , as saying the White House is looking for material to strengthen its argument that the 62-year-old Mr. ElBaradei should be retired .
-There has been no comment from the White House , but as a rule the administration does not comment on intelligence matters .
-The newspaper says some U.S. officials believe the phone intercepts may show Mr. ElBaradei has been soft on the Iranians , while others believe the transcripts show only standard diplomacy .
-The Post quotes an IAEA spokesman as saying the U.N. agency " always assumed " eavesdropping occurs .
-China says it has received assurances from a senior official of Iraq 's interim government that authorities in Baghdad will make every possible effort to free eight Chinese construction workers abducted by insurgents in Iraq .
-Chinese state media say Iraq 's Deputy President Rowsch Nuri Shaways expressed regret over the kidnappings during talks with Chinese officials in Beijing .
-Arab television channel Al-Jazeera broadcast a video showing the hostages Tuesday , in which their abductors threatened to kill the men unless China " clarifies its role in Iraq . "
-Chinese officials say the men are workers who went to Iraq on their own initiative .
-The official Xinhua news agency said China is working with mediators to win the release of the hostages .
-Afghanistan 's attorney general has asked the country 's Supreme Court to annul results from the recent parliamentary elections , because of extensive fraud and corruption .
-A spokesman for Attorney General Mohammad Ishaq Alako , Deputy Attorney General Rahmatullah Nazari , says a letter has been sent to the Supreme Court asking it to annul the results and issue sentences against 14 top officials who organized the vote and oversaw fraud investigations .
-Both the Electoral Complaints Commission and the country 's Independent Election Commission have rejected the call as unlawful , saying no individual or organization has the authority to invalidate election results .
-The election commission disqualified nearly one quarter of the votes cast in the election , and disqualified 24 winning candidates after receiving more than 5,000 complaints of irregularities .
-President Bush has praised relations with Afghanistan , India , and Pakistan in a radio address to the United States while he is traveling in South Asia .
-Mr. Bush said he witnessed an " incredible transformation " in Afghanistan , from a country ruled by the cruel Taleban regime to one in which women have more freedom , children are going to school , and terror camps have been shut down .
-Mr. Bush also praised an agreement made with India during his trip , to share civilian nuclear energy technology in exchange for India bringing its nuclear programs in line with the International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA ) .
-And he said Pakistan 's President Pervez Musharraf made the right decision to fight terror after September 11 , 2001 , despite several attempts on his life .
-Mr. Bush said his trip is helping to lay the foundations of peace and prosperity for generations to come .
-Blades Of Glory continues to keep the competition on ice .
-The skating comedy retained the U.S. box office championship , taking in $ 23 million over the Easter weekend .
-Its 10-day total now stands at $ 68.4 million .
-Occupying second place was Disney 's animated comedy Meet The Robinsons , at $ 17 million .
-Ice Cube 's family comedy Are We Done Yet ? opened in third place , taking in $ 15 million .
-Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez ' Grindhouse , a much-publicized homage to 1970s exploitation movies , debuted a disappointing fourth with $ 11.6 million .
-Media tracker Paul Dergarabedian says the film 's three-hour running time limited its total screenings .
-In Afghanistan , a huge explosion in a convoy hauling munitions and weapons to a remote location for destruction has killed two German soldiers and at least five Afghans .
-Afghan officials say the explosion in the northern province of Takhar Saturday was accidental .
-They say a third German soldier and a sixth Afghan were wounded .
-The Associated Press quotes Afghan President Hamid Karzai as saying he was deeply saddened by the incident .
-The German soldiers were part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan .
-The German detachment of about two thousand troops provides security and collects weapons and ammunition from disarmed militias for disposal .
-ISAF has about 8,000 troops in Afghanistan .
-Pakistani police reported more deaths Saturday from poisoned bootleg liquor in the port city of Karachi , raising the death toll to at least 40 .
-Several people are still being treated at a local hospital after consuming the toxic batch of liquor late Thursday .
-Liquor is banned for Muslims in Pakistan , although a few shops are allowed to sell alcohol to non-Muslims .
-But some Muslims drink alcohol , resorting to black-market supplies smuggled from abroad or homemade liquor that is sometimes tainted .
-Police say they have arrested several men in a series of raids for illegally preparing and selling the homemade alcohol .
-In October of last year , at least 12 people died after drinking contaminated liquor in the eastern city of Multan .
-A former U.S. Senate majority leader says he never agreed to let the Bush administration eavesdrop , without court approval , on phone calls that cross U.S. borders .
-Democrat Tom Daschle contradicts President Bush , who says Congress granted him the authority in legislation authorizing the use of force against al-Qaida after the September 11 , 2001 terror attacks .
-In an opinion piece in the Washington Post Friday , Mr. Daschle says lawmakers granted the president extra powers to pursue al Qaida , but specifically turned down a White House request to use those powers inside the United States .
-President Bush last week confirmed he secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop in the United States .
-He called it a vital tool for national security that was within his legal power .
-Iran 's elite security forces are warning opposition supporters not to hold anti-government demonstrations during a government-sponsored rally on Friday .
-Opposition activists have called for protests coinciding with the Quds Day rallies , the annual event that expresses support for Palestinians and condemns Israel .
-Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has said he plans to attend and activists have encouraged people to capitalize on the large gatherings to protest the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad .
-On Thursday , Iranian state media published a message from the elite Revolutionary Guards promising to crack down on any protests during the rallies .
-Following Iran 's disputed June 12 elections , rights groups said hundreds of people were detained in clashes with security forces during post-election , anti-government demonstrations .
-Since then , authorities have held public trials of the accused and tried to marginalize moderate officials within the government .
-The United Nations is praising the use of military helicopters to drop food and rescue survivors in tsunami-ravaged Indonesia , saying the aircraft are " worth their weight in gold . "
-U.N. relief coordinator Jan Egeland said Sunday , U.S. , Indonesian and Australian military helicopters are ferrying out food and supplies to remote areas of western Aceh province that ground crews can not reach .
-Mr. Egeland said the latest figures show 1.8 million people are in need of food assistance - with the need greatest in Indonesia , Sri Lanka , the Maldives and India .
-He said last week 's tsunami and the massive underwater earthquake that triggered it has affected millions in Asia and Africa .
-Some 1,27,000 people are known dead .
-Aid is being rushed to the region , but the U.N. official stressed that bottlenecks and a lack of infrastructure remain a challenge .
-Lebanese politicians are condemning Friday 's bomb blast in a Christian neighborhood of Beirut as an attempt to sow sectarian strife in the formerly war-torn country .
-In Beirut , a string of officials voiced their anger , while at the United Nations summit in New York , Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said the Lebanese people are resolute in preventing such attempts from destroying their spirit .
-One person was killed and more than 20 others injured in the bomb blast late Friday , which took place on a residential street .
-Lebanon has suffered a series of bombings since the massive explosion in February that killed former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 20 other people .
-Syria is widely accused of involvement in his killing , and Friday 's explosion comes days before U.N. investigator Detlev Mehlis is to return to Damascus to interview several Syrian officials about the assassination .
-Israeli officials say Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will undergo a medical procedure Thursday to close a tiny hole in his heart discovered during treatment for a minor stroke suffered last month .
-Doctors describe the tiny hole as a minor birth defect and say it is in the partition between the upper chambers of Mr. Sharon 's heart .
-The procedure , known as cardiac catheterization , involves inserting a catheter through a blood vessel into the heart , where an umbrella-like device will plug the hole .
-Doctors say they expect Mr. Sharon will make a full recovery .
-Mr. Sharon returned to work on December 25 , one week after his emergency hospitalization .
-Doctors say the stroke has not caused any permanent damage .
-The designers of the first private manned rocket to burst into space have received a $ 10 million prize created to promote space tourism .
-SpaceShipOne designer Burt Rutan accepted the Ansari X Prize money and a trophy on behalf of his team Saturday during an awards ceremony in the U.S. state of Missouri .
-To win the money , SpaceShipOne had to blast off into space twice in a two-week period and fly at least 100 kilometers above Earth .
-The spacecraft made its flights in late September and early October , lifting off from California 's Mojave desert .
-The vehicle had to carry a pilot and weight equivalent to two passengers .
-SpaceShipOne was financed with more than $ 20 million from Paul Allen , a co-founder of the Microsoft Corporation .
-North Korea says flooding caused by last week 's typhoon , Wipha , has destroyed 14,000 homes and 1,09,000 hectares of crops .
-The state news agency KCNA reported the damage Monday .
-It says the floods also destroyed or damaged 8,000 public buildings and washed out roads , bridges and railways .
-The report did not mention any deaths or injuries .
-Most of the heavy rains and flooding occurred in the southwestern part of the country , including the capital , Pyongyang .
-Last month , severe flooding in North Korea left 600 people dead or missing , and displaced more than 1,00,000 others .
-A strong earthquake under the ocean off Indonesia 's Sumatra and Nias islands has caused some panic but no damage or injuries .
-The U.S. Geological Survey gave a preliminary estimate of the strength of the Tuesday morning quake at 6.7 on the Richter scale , and said the epicenter was close to the island of Nias .
-The quake did not cause a tsunami .
-An earthquake in late March killed more than 900 people on Nias .
-Both Sumatra and Nias have experienced countless earthquakes since a massive tsunami-producing quake on December 26 .
-The latest official death toll from that tragedy stands at some 1,76,000 people killed - 1,28,000 of them in Indonesia .
-Nearly 50,000 people are still listed as missing , but most of them are feared dead .
-The U.S. rap star Snoop Dogg and five of his associates have been arrested in Britain after a disturbance at London 's Heathrow Airport .
-Police told British media that the musician , who was born with the name Calvin Broadus , and members of his entourage were being held on charges of " violent disorder and affray . "
-The group was waiting for a flight to South Africa , where Snoop Dogg was to perform in a concert Thursday , when it was denied access to a first-class lounge at the airport .
-Police said members of the group later threw bottles of whisky in a duty-free store and scuffled with police .
-Snoop Dogg is a former member of a street gang the Crips , from Southern California , and many of his songs reflect the gritty life on the streets .
-Afghan President Hamid Karzai says he has fired two " high-ranking " Afghan officials who were spying for other countries , and warns he would not spare anyone who engages in such activity .
-Mr. Karzai made the disclosure at a lunch meeting with newly sworn-in parliament members , and did not name the dismissed officials nor indicate when he took the action He also did not name the other countries involved .
-Mr. Karzai said he had strong evidence against the two officials .
-But he said even if he had minor evidence , he would have punished them .
-He said anyone found spying for foreign countries will be shown on television , and put on trial .
-Mr. Karzai has led Afghanistan since the Taleban were ousted in late 2001 .
-He won a presidential election in October 2004 .
-And now the Taleban are waging an insurgency against his administration .
-For the last four weeks a team led by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has been trying to broker a deal between the Kenyan government of President Mwai Kibaki and the opposition led by Raila Odinga .
-The negotiations have concentrated on a power sharing agreement and a transitional arrangement leading to new elections .
-A recent report by the international crisis group says three complimentary sets of issues must be addressed to finalize a detailed power sharing agreement .
-Francois Grignon is director of the Africa program of the ICG .
-In a telephone interview to discuss the issues at stake , he told VOA reporter Akwei Thompson the opposition would demonstrate a stronger political will to tackle the task of legal and constitutional reform needed during the transition period because … ” the electoral dispute left them out , the losers … . ”
-President Bush has signed legislation that will require screening of all air and sea cargo , and will provide more money to cities deemed to be at high risk of a terrorist attack .
-After signing the bill Friday and meeting with his advisers on counter-terrorism , Mr. Bush said his homeland security and counter-terrorism teams are doing everything they can to protect the country from what he called a " dangerous enemy . "
-The new measures carry out some recommendations made by the independent commission that investigated the September 11 , 2001 attacks on the United States .
-Those include a grant of $ 4 billion to be given to high-risk cities to upgrade transit security .
-They also mandate screening of all U.S.-bound cargo on planes and ships within the next five years .
-Burmese democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi is calling on citizens in her country to work toward national reconciliation in the new year .
-In a statement Friday , she asked the Burmese people to " struggle together with new strengths , new force and new words " in 2011 .
-The 65-year-old advocate for democratic reforms in Burma was released after more than seven years of house arrest on November 13 .
-That was just days after the country 's military rulers claimed an overwhelming victory in Burma 's widely criticized first election in two decades .
-She said in the statement that Burmese people need to establish political and social networks to achieve " national reconciliation as well as a truly united spirit . "
-The United States on Thursday again called for Burma 's leaders to free the more than 2,200 political prisoners in the country and engage in talks to promote democracy .
-Former U.S. President Bill Clinton has assembled world leaders , activists and academics in New York to address the issues of poverty , global warning and conflict .
-Opening Thursday , the Clinton Global Initiative 's conference coincides with the Millennium summit of the United Nations General Assembly .
-Mr. Clinton says the focus of the three-day conference is to secure concrete pledges from leaders to address significant problems , not to simply talk about them .
-Organizers say the conference is different from other forums because participants are required to pledge to address issues in concrete ways and to report back on their progress .
-Expected attendees or speakers include British Prime Minister Tony Blair , U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and Israel 's Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres .
-Peruvian election officials say the narrow gap between two candidates vying for the second spot on the ballot for the country 's run-off presidential election has tightened further .
-Officials said Sunday former center-left president Alan Garcia leads pro-business congresswoman Lourdes Flores by less than 96,000 votes , with nearly 90 percent of the votes counted .
-Garcia led Flores by nearly 1,10,000 votes on Saturday .
-The surge by Flores is attributed to heavy support among Peruvians living abroad whose votes are apparently starting to impact the election tally .
-Since no candidate received half of the vote in the April 9 election , a presidential run-off will be held 30 days after the final results are announced .
-Either Garcia or Flores will take on nationalist Ollanta Humala , who took 31 percent of the vote .
-Chilean authorities have freed on bail the wife and four adult children of former dictator Augusto Pinochet , a day after they were detained on tax evasion charges .
-Lucia Hiriart and her children were arrested Monday as part of an investigation into millions of dollars kept in bank accounts abroad .
-A fifth child , daughter Lucia , is also charged , but her whereabouts are unknown .
-If located , she will be prohibited from leaving the country .
-General Pinochet has been indicted for tax fraud for allegedly hiding $ 27 million in foreign bank accounts .
-The former dictator also faces human rights charges related to his rule in the mid-1970s .
-His lawyers say he is not healthy enough to stand trial , but court-ordered doctors say he is fit enough to do so .
-Rebel sources in Mexico say a female leader of the Zapatista rebel movement has died .
-Zapatista leader Subcomandante Marcos Friday announced the death of Comandante Ramona , saying Mexico had lost a fighter and the Zapatistas had lost a piece of their heart .
-The announcement came during a stop in Chiapas , six days into the leader 's nationwide tour .
-The nature of Comandante Ramona 's death was not immediately clear , but it was rumored that she had cancer or a kidney disease .
-She had once received a kidney transplant .
-The mysterious female leader was a Tzotzil Indian and a promoter of women 's rights .
-She was a longtime member of the Zapatista movement and appeared in public wearing a black ski mask .
-On January 1 , Subcomandante Marcos emerged from his jungle hideout to begin a six-month nationwide tour in a bid to influence this year 's presidential elections .
-Representatives of the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations have appealed for the release of kidnapped American journalist Jill Carroll .
-In Baghdad Saturday , an official with the influential Islamic group called on Carroll 's abductors to release her unharmed .
-In an earlier statement , the group said the 28-year-old journalist has a well-documented record of objective reporting and respect for both the Iraqi people and Arab-Islamic culture .
-There still is no word on the journalist 's fate , following a threat by her kidnappers to execute her Friday unless all eight female detainees in American custody in Iraq were released .
-Meanwhile , a militant group has kidnapped the son of a senior Iraqi Defense Ministry official .
-In a videotape shown on al-Arabiya ( Saturday ) , kidnappers threatened to kill the son of Brigadier-General Sabah Abd al-Karim unless Iraqi security forces stop cooperating with U.S.-led coalition troops in Iraq .
-Leading Muslim groups attending an anti-terrorism conference in northern India have denounced terrorism as " un-Islamic . "
-The declaration was made by thousands of scholars and clerics Monday at the country 's top Islamic seminary - the 150-year-old Darul-Uloom Deoband in Uttar Pradesh .
-Their statement said any terrorist activity targeting innocent people contradicts Islam 's concept of peace .
-It described Islam as a religion of mercy , and it condemned all kinds of oppression , violence and terrorism .
-However , the statement also called on the Indian government to ensure that members of the Muslim community are not harassed .
-It said that whenever there is a terrorist attack , attempts are made to link the attack to Muslims who have studied in madrassas or religious schools .
-The declaration also said many innocent Muslims are spending their lives behind bars , having been falsely accused of involvement in acts of terror .
-Microsoft founder Bill Gates and the government of Norway have pledged more than $ 1 billion for a campaign to vaccinate most of the world 's poorest children .
-Donors say they hope the $ 750 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and a pledge from Norway for $ 290 million spurs other foundations and governments to invest in The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization .
-The alliance hopes to immunize 90 percent of the world 's children by 2015 .
-The group estimates it will cost $ 8 to $ 12 billion .
-The World Health Organization estimates two million people die each year from diseases that are easily prevented by basic vaccines .
-Spain has begun a trial for 24 suspected al-Qaida members , including three accused of helping plan the September 11 , 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States .
-The defendants appeared in a Madrid court Friday , behind bulletproof glass .
-More than 100 armed police are providing security at a remodeled courtroom , specially-built for trials with multiple defendants .
-Among the accused is the suspected leader of the Spanish al-Qaida cell - Syrian-born Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas .
-He allegedly organized a meeting of terror suspects in Spain during which details of the September 11 attacks were finalized .
-Prosecutors are asking that the leader of the group be sentenced to more than 60,000 years in prison if convicted .
-European Union observers are preparing to monitor Palestinian parliamentary elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip , despite recent kidnappings of foreigners .
-Chief EU observer Veronique De Keyser says her group is making regular security assessments and taking all necessary precautions .
-She says the EU 's commitment must be met , adding that it would a " bad sign " not to send monitors to Gaza , where several foreign aid workers were kidnapped and released unharmed in recent weeks .
-Ms. De Keyser spoke to reporters in Jerusalem Monday as more than 30 EU observers headed to Palestinian cities and towns .
-Campaigning for the January 25 elections begins Tuesday .
-But several senior Palestinian leaders are calling for a delay in the vote , citing dire law-and-order conditions and Israel 's refusal to permit voting in East Jerusalem .
-An international delegation that monitored the elections in Liberia is calling on all concerned to act responsibly to ensure the post-war peace process stays on track .
-The delegation , led by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former Benin President Nicephore Soglo , also urged the international community to continue its assistance .
-It added that extensive voter education will be needed if a runoff election is required .
-The delegation said a major problem in Tuesday 's poll was widespread lack of voter understanding of the process of casting ballots .
-It also cited voter ignorance of the nature of choice among the candidates .
-The joint delegation from the former U.S. president 's Carter Center and the National Democratic Institute includes representatives from 14 nations in Africa , Europe and North America .
-Afghan President Hamid Karzai has again called for reconciliation talks with Taleban militants .
-In remarks to people gathered at the main Shi'ite mosque in Kabul Monday , Mr. Karzai referred to what he called " the enemy who wants our destruction and sheds our blood . "
-He did not refer to the Taleban by name .
-The Afghan leader has made similar offers of talks before , but Taleban leaders have rebuffed them .
-Last year saw a dramatic increase in Taleban militant attacks against U.S. , NATO and Afghan forces in Afghanistan .
-At least four thousand people were killed in insurgency-related violence .
-U.S. and NATO military leaders in the country are warning of a new Taleban offensive in the coming months , as the snows thaw and mountain roads become more accessible .
-French police detained nine people Monday in the Paris region and nearby Normandy in a crackdown on a group suspected of planning terror attacks in France .
-At least seven of the suspects are believed to have links to an Algerian insurgency movement , the Salafist Group for Call and Combat , known as the GSPC , which has declared allegiance to al-Qaida .
-A detainee is escorted to interrogation by US military guards at Camp X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay US Naval Base
-The Pentagon says seven detainees at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay , Cuba have been released to their home countries .
-A statement said Wednesday that three of the detainees were released after a tribunal determined that they were not enemy combatants .
-One was sent back to Sudan , another to Saudi Arabia and the third to Jordan .
-Four others cleared under different types of administrative review were released to Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan .
-An eighth detainee , a Moroccan , has been transferred to Spain , where he is accused of having links to an al-Qaida cell .
-Yemen is a low income country that is highly dependent on declining oil resources for revenue .
-Petroleum accounts for roughly 25 % of GDP and 70 % of government revenue .
-Yemen has tried to counter the effects of its declining oil resources by diversifying its economy through an economic reform program initiated in 2006 that is designed to bolster non-oil sectors of the economy and foreign investment .
-In October 2009 , Yemen exported its first liquefied natural gas as part of this diversification effort .
-In January 2010 , the international community established the Friends of Yemen group that aims to support Yemen 's efforts towards economic and political reform , and in August 2010 the IMF approved a three-year $ 370 million program to further this effort .
-Despite these ambitious endeavors , Yemen continues to face difficult long term challenges , including declining water resources and a high population growth rate .
-Singapore was founded as a British trading colony in 1819 .
-It joined the Malaysian Federation in 1963 but separated two years later and became independent .
-Singapore subsequently became one of the world 's most prosperous countries with strong international trading links ( its port is one of the world 's busiest in terms of tonnage handled ) and with per capita GDP equal to that of the leading nations of Western Europe .
-Ruled by the Al Thani family since the mid-1800s , Qatar transformed itself from a poor British protectorate noted mainly for pearling into an independent state with significant oil and natural gas revenues .
-During the late 1980s and early 1990s , the Qatari economy was crippled by a continuous siphoning off of petroleum revenues by the Amir , who had ruled the country since 1972 .
-His son , the current Amir HAMAD bin Khalifa Al Thani , overthrew him in a bloodless coup in 1995 .
-In 2001 , Qatar resolved its longstanding border disputes with both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia .
-As of 2007 , oil and natural gas revenues had enabled Qatar to attain the second-highest per capita income in the world .
-Subsistence agriculture , together with forestry , remains the backbone of the economy of the Central African Republic ( CAR ) , with about 60 % of the population living in outlying areas .
-The agricultural sector generates more than half of GDP .
-Timber has accounted for about 16 % of export earnings and the diamond industry , for 40 % .
-Important constraints to economic development include the CAR 's landlocked position , a poor transportation system , a largely unskilled work force , and a legacy of misdirected macroeconomic policies .
-Factional fighting between the government and its opponents remains a drag on economic revitalization .
-Distribution of income is extraordinarily unequal .
-Grants from France and the international community can only partially meet humanitarian needs .
-A PEASANT found an Eagle captured in a trap , and much admiring the bird , set him free .
-The Eagle did not prove ungrateful to his deliverer , for seeing the Peasant sitting under a wall which was not safe , he flew toward him and with his talons snatched a bundle from his head .
-When the Peasant rose in pursuit , the Eagle let the bundle fall again .
-Taking it up , the man returned to the same place , to find that the wall under which he had been sitting had fallen to pieces ; and he marveled at the service rendered him by the Eagle .
-THE ASS and the Fox , having entered into partnership together for their mutual protection , went out into the forest to hunt .
-They had not proceeded far when they met a Lion .
-The Fox , seeing imminent danger , approached the Lion and promised to contrive for him the capture of the Ass if the Lion would pledge his word not to harm the Fox .
-Then , upon assuring the Ass that he would not be injured , the Fox led him to a deep pit and arranged that he should fall into it .
-The Lion , seeing that the Ass was secured , immediately clutched the Fox , and attacked the Ass at his leisure .
-Never trust your enemy
-Old mathematicians never die ; they just lose some of their functions .
-Nostalgia is like a grammar lesson .
-You find the present tense and the past perfect .
-My grandfather worked in a blacksmith shop when he was a boy , and he used to tell me how he had toughened himself up so he could stand the rigors of blacksmithing .
-He said he would stand outside behind the house and , with a 5 pound potato sack in each hand , extend his arms straight out to his sides and hold them there as long as he could .
-After a while he tried 10 pound potato sacks , then 20 pound potato sacks and finally he got to where he could lift a 50 pound potato sack in each hand and hold his arms straight out for five full minutes ! Eventually , he even started putting potatoes in the sacks .
-Advance copies of the United Nations ' internal audit of its oil-for-food program reportedly show that U.N. officials wasted money and overlooked massive overcharges by contractors .
-News reports published Sunday in the United States say the audits , part of an extensive independent report to be released on Monday , criticize a former top aide to Secretary-General Kofi Annan , Benon Sevan , and the U.N. office he headed that ran the oil-for-food program .
-However , the advance portions of the audit described by The New York Times and Associated Press do not reveal any systematic corruption or bribery .
-Mr. Annan named an independent panel to investigate the program following allegations that billions of dollars were diverted by some members of the former Saddam Hussein regime and other corrupt officials .
-The program was created in 1996 to help the people of Iraq after the first Gulf War .
-Former U.S. central bank chief Paul Volcker heads the independent commission .
-He said last week that no clear-cut evidence of wrongdoing has been found .
-Sri Lanka 's military says it has launched airstrikes on rebel sites in northern parts of the country , following rebel artillery attacks .
-Officials Saturday said at least 11 soldiers were killed and 53 others were wounded in the fighting on the Jaffna peninsula .
-They said Tamil Tiger rebels provoked the fighting by opening fire with artillery strikes against Sri Lankan troops .
-Government officials also said they sent a naval ship to the peninsula to evacuate nearly 800 civilians trapped in the area .
-Thousands of people have been stranded in northern Sri Lanka since rebels launched new attacks last month .
-The Tamil Tiger rebels have been fighting for a separate homeland in the north and east since the early 1980s .
-Tens of thousands of people have died in the violence .
-The White House will become a pink house on Thursday , as it is bathed in pink lighting to call attention to the fight against breast cancer .
-U.S. President Barack Obama announced on the social networking site Twitter that the executive mansion will be lit in pink Thursday evening in recognition of October as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month .
-Earlier this month , Mr. Obama signed a proclamation for breast cancer awareness month .
-It is one of numerous public efforts in October in the U.S. aimed at fighting the disease .
-Last year , a large pink ribbon was hung outside the White House .
-The American Cancer Society says there are about 40,000 breast cancer deaths annually in the U.S.
-The World Health Organization says breast cancer claims 5,19,000 lives worldwide each year .
-Someone in the world dies in a traffic accident , on average , every 30 seconds .
-That is the conclusion of the international group Make Roads Safe , a worldwide effort to make road safety a global priority .
-On 31 March 2008 , the United Nations plans to take up the issue of global road safety amid calls for a U.N. conference to tackle the rising toll of road deaths and injuries .
-VOA 's Tetiana Koprowicz has more on efforts to improve road safety in the U.S.
-A British diplomat has met again with Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh to discuss the case of kidnapped BBC journalist Alan Johnston .
-British consul Richard Makepeace met in Gaza Tuesday with Mr. Haniyeh , of the Islamic militant group Hamas .
-The two also held talks on the kidnapping last month despite a British boycott of Palestinian officials from Hamas .
-British officials say the talks do not represent a change in British policy , and are only focused on the case of Johnston , who was kidnapped in Gaza on March 12 .
-It is not clear who the kidnappers are .
-An aide to Mr. Haniyeh said the Palestinian government hopes for a resolution of the case soon .
-Johnston was the only Western reporter permanently based in the Gaza Strip at the time of his abduction .
-The United States and Israel have agreed to work together on developing a new missile defense system that would counter both long-range ballistic missiles as well as short-range rockets .
-U.S Defense Secretary Robert Gates and his Israeli counterpart , Ehud Barak , agreed during talks Tuesday at the Pentagon to form a committee to work on the proposed system .
-A Pentagon spokesman , Geoff Morrell , said Israel wants to be able to counter missile attacks possibly from Iran as well as rockets fired from Palestinian territories .
-Israel has been facing regular rocket fire from Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip since withdrawing from the territory in 2005 .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says he is " putting on the brakes " on his socialist revolution after voters rejected his plans to reform the constitution .
-Mr. Chavez said on his weekly broadcast Sunday it would be a mistake at this time to try to quicken the pace of his plans to turn Venezuela into a socialist haven .
-He said he will evaluate the results of the referendum before deciding how to proceed with his pro-socialist plans .
-He also said he will focus on regional elections later this year as one way to consolidate Socialist party power .
-Venezuelan voters last month turned down the constitutional reform package which included making Mr. Chavez president for life .
-A human rights group says Belarus has launched criminal probes against at least 18 leading opposition figures over their alleged involvement in post-election riots .
-The organization Vesna said Wednesday that those accused -- including seven of the nine candidates who ran against the country 's authoritarian leader -- face up to 15 years in prison if convicted .
-Overall , Belarusian authorities jailed more than 600 people in the wake of Sunday 's protests against the re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko .
-In the election , Mr. Lukashenko won a fourth consecutive term , capturing 80 percent of the vote .
-No other candidate won more than three percent .
-More than 30,000 demonstrators took to the streets after polls closed to protest what they said was a fraudulent election .
-European observers and U.S. officials also have strongly criticized the election process .
-U.S. Secretary of State nominee Condoleezza Rice is facing a second and final day of confirmation hearings Wednesday , after a first day that focused heavily on Iraq and repairing alliances strained by the conflict .
-The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is expected to question Ms. Rice for several more hours Wednesday before voting on her nomination to succeed Secretary of State Colin Powell .
-A full Senate vote is expected Thursday .
-Ms. Rice spent more than nine hours testifying Tuesday , handling tough questions about the direction of the war on terror and the Bush administration 's decision to invade Iraq .
-She steadfastly maintained that she believes progress is being made in Iraq , but she declined to give a timetable for the return home of U.S. troops .
-She said President Bush 's foreign policy goals in the next four years include " spreading freedom and democracy " around the globe , as well as alliance building .
-At least 13 people were killed in Indian Kashmir Wednesday in a series of violent incidents involving Indian security forces and militants .
-Indian officials say several gunbattles erupted when police and soldiers raided suspected rebel hideouts in the Udhampur and Poonch districts .
-They say seven militants were killed in the clashes , along with two Indian security personnel .
-In another incident , India 's military says four youths were killed in crossfire as Indian troops battled militants in the Kupwara district of northern Kashmir .
-The civilian deaths triggered protests by residents of Kupwara against the security forces .
-Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is to hold talks with Kashmiri political leaders on Saturday to try to stop the violence .
-But several prominent Kashmiri separatists have said they will not attend the talks .
-The American fast food chain KFC is famous around the world for its fried chicken .
-KFC stands for Kentucky Fried Chicken and founded by Harlan David Sanders , better know to patrons as Colonel Sanders .
-In Kabul , Afghanistan , another KFC restaurant is doing a brisk business .
-But this KFC is short for Kabul Fried Chicken and serves kabobs and pizza alongside the chicken .
-Rahimgul Sarawan reports from Kabul that while this KFC was inspired by Colonel Sanders , that is where the association ends .
-Brian Allen narrates .
-Israel 's government is set to approve a plan that aims to turn the country into a space superpower .
-The Jerusalem Post reported Friday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to approve plans designed to increase sales of locally made space platforms to nearly $ 8 billion a year .
-The newspaper said the multi-year plan also includes increased spending on space research and development , focusing on mini-satellites as Israel 's primary market .
-The report quotes the head of the Defense Ministry 's Space Division as saying Israel has the capability to carve out at least 5 percent of the international space market , estimated to total $ 250 billion a year .
-The report said Israel is in talks with several countries and defense companies about the possibility of space collaboration .
-Foreign direct investment in China fell slightly in the first five months of the year .
-The ministry of commerce reported Monday that foreign direct investment from January to May slipped 0.8 percent from the same period last year , to $ 22.4 billion .
-Contracted investment , which gives an indication of future inflows , grew 14.88 percent in the same period , to $ 64.97 billion .
-Although foreign companies continue to build up investments in China , the pace of growth has been slowing .
-Investments soared in late 2003 through 2004 after slowing during the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in the spring of 2003 .
-The U.S.-led coalition said in a statement Tuesday that its forces killed 43 militants in southern Afghanistan .
-The Afghan and U.S.-led troops battled the militants Sunday in Qalat district of Zabul province .
-The statement said a joint patrol was ambushed with sniper fire , machine guns and heavy weapons from militants in multiple locations .
-The coalition said its forces fired back with small arms and rocket propelled grenades .
-They also called in air support .
-The statement said no Afghan or U.S.-led troops were killed or wounded in the attack .
-Nepal 's Maoist rebels have called off a traffic ban on major roads leading into the capital , Kathmandu , that disrupted supplies to the city for nearly a week .
-The ban was called off Wednesday , after pleas from human rights groups and a mass demonstration this week by city residents demanding an end to the increasingly bloody conflict between Maoist rebels and security forces .
-The rebels imposed the ban last week to protest the alleged killings of rebel activists in government custody and to press for information about those who are missing .
-Violence has escalated ahead of a January 13 deadline set by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba for the Maoists to resume peace talks .
-The rebels have been fighting since 1996 to replace Nepal 's constitutional monarchy with a communist state .
-More than 10,000 people have been killed in the violence .
-U.S. Congressman Tom DeLay predicts he will be cleared of a criminal conspiracy charge , and that he will soon be reinstated as majority leader in the House of Representatives .
-The Republican congressman was speaking on the television program " Fox News Sunday , " where he called the indictment against him " manufactured " and " frivolous . "
-But another Republican lawmaker says he is no longer comfortable with Mr. Delay as majority leader .
-Speaking on CNN Sunday , Congressman Christopher Shays cited continual acts of Mr. Delay 's that in his words , " border and sometimes go beyond " what is ethical .
-Mr. DeLay stepped down as majority leader Thursday , after a grand jury in his home state of Texas indicted him for violating a state campaign-finance law .
-The allegation centers on the misuse of corporate donations .
-Last month , a United Nations conference in Rome discussed the world 's rising food prices .
-The group called for trade barriers to be reduced and food export bans to be lifted .
-The cost of major food commodities has doubled over the past two years with rice , corn and wheat at record highs .
-The Philippines and Haiti , among other countries , have been hard-hit .
-Some Filipino and Haitian immigrants in the United States are sending food to their families back home .
-VOA 's Deborah Block has the story .
-Israeli officials said they plan to make it harder for the Arabic television network al-Jazeera to operate in Israel and the West Bank .
-Media reports said Israel will not renew the work visas of some Israeli-based al-Jazeera employees , and that the network 's reporters will have less access to news conferences and briefings .
-Israeli officials tied the move to the decision last month by Qatar , which owns al-Jazeera , to suspend relations with Israel to protest its offensive in the Gaza Strip .
-An Israeli official said Qatar created obstacles by closing Israel 's trade office in Doha .
-Qatar had been the only Gulf Arab state to have trade ties with Israel .
-Thousands of voters in Indian Kashmir went to the polls Tuesday in the first municipal elections in 27 years .
-The voters turned out in large numbers in some areas despite threats of attacks by rebel groups , and calls for a boycott of the vote by Muslim separatist politicians .
-Although no attacks were reported , there was sporadic violence .
-In Srinagar , anti-election demonstrators burnt tires and pelted riot police with stones .
-The poll to chose town councils in Indian Kashmir is being held in four stages .
-It started on January 29 and the last stage will be held on February 10 .
-Three candidates were killed by suspected Muslim separatists during the election campaign .
-Iraqi police say a string of bomb attacks in Baghdad killed at least 27 people and wounded scores more Thursday .
-Police say a car bomb in eastern Baghdad killed at least five people , while seven died in another car bombing in a largely Shi'ite neighborhood in northwestern Baghdad .
-Hours earlier , two bombs went off in an eastern part of the capital .
-One bomb killed 13 people at a crowded market .
-The other bomb killed two people near a police patrol .
-The explosions are the latest in the almost daily bomb blasts and other attacks in Baghdad and across Iraq .
-On Wednesday , insurgents killed at least 10 people , including six police officers and a Sunni Arab cleric .
-Afghan and U.S. officials say a clash between Taleban insurgents and Afghan soldiers backed by U.S. troops in southern Helmand province has left one American soldier and seven insurgents dead .
-A military statement says another U.S. service member and an Afghan soldier were wounded in Saturday 's fierce fighting in the province 's Sangin district .
-The statement says fighting erupted after Afghan and U.S. troops backed by planes and helicopter gunships attacked enemy positions , dropping 11 bombs .
-Helmand province has been a hotbed of insurgent activity since U.S.-led forces ousted the hard-line Islamist Taleban rulers of Afghanistan in late 2001 , following the September 11th terrorist attacks in the United States .
-Russia 's lower house of parliament , the Duma , has ratified treaties with the Georgian breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia .
-The widely-expected endorsements clear the way for Moscow to keep thousands of troops in the pro-Russian territories .
-Duma lawmakers voted unanimously Wednesday for the so-called friendship and mutual assistance treaties , which formalize economic , diplomatic and military ties .
-Moscow recognized the two regions as independent countries in August , shortly after Russian forces swept into Georgia to counter a Georgian military effort to reclaim South Ossetia by force .
-The invasion drew strong condemnations from the West , where some governments threatened to respond with sanctions on Moscow .
-Moscow says it will station 7,600 troops in the territories .
-Earlier this week , Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow opposes the deployment of European Union monitors in the region .
-He said Russian forces will assume responsibility for security in the territories .
-Adult stem cell therapy has successfully treated leukemia and other cancers for years , in the form of bone marrow transplants .
-A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association [ JAMA ] finds treatment with adult stem cells is also helping patients with autoimmune diseases and heart conditions .
-VOA 's Alex Villarreal reports .
-The party of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon votes Thursday , on forming a new coalition government to advance plans for an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip .
-Mr. Sharon asked members to approve the union with the rival Labor Party , saying it will help the government gain enough votes to approve the pullout .
-Meanwhile , Israeli military officials say troops killed five Palestinians in separate incidents overnight near the Gaza Strip 's border with Egypt .
-Israeli soldiers opened fire on a group of people moving in a forbidden area near Rafah , killing three of them .
-Military officials say the troops suspected the men were arms smugglers or terrorists planning an attack .
-Israeli forces also shot and killed one Palestinian and injured two others spotted in a separate area near the Gaza border .
-One of those injured later died at a hospital .
-A group led by terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has claimed responsibility for Monday 's assassination of Baghdad 's deputy police chief .
-The group , calling itself the " al-Qaida Organization of Holy War in Iraq , " made the claim on an Islamist web site , just hours after gunmen shot down Brigadier Amer Nayef and his police officer son .
-Iraqi officials say the two men were killed as they left their home in Baghdad 's southern Dora district .
-The assassination comes six days after insurgents gunned down Baghdad 's provincial governor and six of his bodyguards as they rode to work .
-Elsewhere in the capital , U.S. authorities say two U.S. soldiers were killed and four others wounded when their armored vehicle struck a roadside bomb .
-Separately , authorities say a suicide car bomber rammed a car into a police station in southern Baghdad , killing at least three people .
-U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan says Iraq 's forthcoming election marks the beginning of a new phase , in which responsible dialogue among Shi'ites , Sunni Arabs and Kurds will make the difference between success and failure in the war-torn country .
-In a report to the Security Council Friday , Mr. Annan says increasing sectarian violence and ongoing human rights violations pose key challenges as voters prepare to go to the polls Thursday .
-He says the most positive development in the past three months has been the determination of Sunni Arabs to get involved in the political process .
-In the quarterly report on Iraq to the Security Council , Mr. Annan warns , however , the country remains beset with formidable security , political and economic challenges .
-Meanwhile , Sunni Arab clerics pleaded Friday for the lives of four Western hostages .
-Their kidnappers have said they will kill the men Saturday unless all Iraqi prisoners are freed .
-Egyptian authorities say a construction company bus driver is in custody after he opened fire on a busload of workers , killing six and wounding others , near Cairo .
-Egyptian construction firm Arab Contractors says Mahmoud Sweilam , a 20-year veteran of the company , surrendered after the deadly rampage early Tuesday .
-Authorities say Sweilam was driving more than 20 company employees to their work site when he suddenly stopped the bus and began shooting at them with an automatic rifle .
-Police are still investigating a motive for the attack .
-U.S. private employers added 71,000 jobs in July , indicating the U.S. labor market and the economy at large are slow to recover from recession .
-A report Friday from the Labor Department shows the unemployment rate stayed unchanged at 9.5 percent .
-Economists closely watch the private payrolls figure , because private companies do the bulk of hiring in the United States .
-Employment is also a big indicator of consumer spending , as those who are unemployed or worried about job stability tend to spend less .
-The country lost jobs overall in July , due in large part to cuts at the U.S. Census Bureau .
-The government agency cut about 1,44,000 temporary employees who were hired for only a couple of months to conduct the once-a-decade population count .
-Venezuela 's president has invited Haiti to join a program offering inexpensive oil to Caribbean nations .
-The offer came during a visit Monday to Caracas by Haiti 's President-Elect Rene Preval .
-Mr. Preval met with Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez .
-They discussed Haiti 's inclusion in Venezuela 's Petrocaribe program which offers generous payment options to Caribbean countries for the purchase of Venezuelan oil .
-During the meeting , Mr. Chavez said Venezuela would also donate diesel fuel for use by schools and hospitals in Haiti .
-Mr. Preval was elected in February following a campaign of promises to improve social conditions and education for Haitians .
-He will be inaugurated on May 14 .
-Police in Nepal armed with batons dispersed a protest Tuesday by Tibetan refugees and monks in front of the Chinese Embassy .
-About 100 protesters in Kathmandu were loaded into trucks and vans and sent to detention centers .
-There have been almost daily demonstrations in Nepal against China since March 10 , when protests began in Tibet 's capital , Lhasa .
-At least 400 protesters were detained in Nepal Monday .
-The U.N. human rights office in Nepal has said it is deeply concerned at the arbitrary arrests and detentions .
-Nepal 's border with China in the Himalayas is a key route for Tibetans fleeing Chinese rule in the region .
-Iraqi police say a car bomb has killed at least 21 people at a Baghdad market .
-They say 25 others were wounded in the blast in a mostly Shi'ite Muslim part of Dora - a neighborhood in southern Baghdad .
-Elsewhere in the capital Tuesday , a roadside bomb killed an Iraqi policeman , but an Iraqi Cabinet minister , Suhaila Abed Jaafar , minister of displacement and migration escaped unhurt from another bomb blast .
-The attacks came as Britain 's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw met in Baghdad with President Jalal Talabani about the slow progress in forming a new Iraqi government .
-Straw stressed the government should not be dominated by one religious group .
-But Iraq 's Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said choosing a government is an internal affair .
-Meanwhile , Jordanian officials have announced the release of a Jordanian embassy driver who had been held hostage in Iraq since December .
-Two important new studies show tightly managing blood sugar helps diabetics avoid many of the complications of the disease including kidney problems and heart disease .
-One study focused on Type Two diabetes .
-The other , funded by the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation , gives hope to those with Type One .
-VOA 's Carol Pearson reports .
-Forensic experts in eastern Bosnia-Herzegovina have begun exhuming a mass grave believed to contain the bodies of 36 Muslims , including women and children , killed during the Balkan conflict .
-Eyewitnesses say Bosnian Serb forces killed the victims then took the bodies to a garage in the village of Snagovo , near Zvornik , and set the building on fire .
-The corpses were later buried in a mass grave .
-Bosnian authorities have already exhumed two other mass graves in the village , finding about 300 skeletons .
-They are believed to be the remains of some of the 8,000 Muslim men and boys massacred after Serb forces captured the enclave of Srebrenica in 1995 .
-Iranian news media report that armed bandits have taken 30 people hostage in the southeast of the country .
-The reports say the bandits blocked a road and opened fire on vehicles before abducting the victims Sunday .
-The incident took place in Sistan-Baluchestan .
-Few other details were immediately available .
-Thousands of motorcycle riders are in Washington for a parade known as " Rolling Thunder , " which comes a day before the Memorial Day holiday honoring U.S. military personnel killed in battle .
-The bikers are visiting the Vietnam Veterans memorial Sunday and are then gathering at the Lincoln memorial where there will be speakers .
-A musical tribute to Veterans also is to be held today , which will include pop group Paul Revere and The Raiders and singer Nancy Sinatra .
-The " Rolling Thunder " event specifically honors missing U.S. soldiers and prisoners of war .
-Top-seeded Lleyton Hewitt of Australia and number-two Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia have advanced to the second round of the International men 's hardcourt tennis championships in Adelaide , Australia .
-Hewitt dropped the opening set Tuesday before bouncing back to beat Jan Hernych of the Czech Republic , 04-Jun , 06-Feb , 06-Apr .
-The second-seeded Hrbaty had an easier time , topping Rameez Junaid of Australia , 06-Mar , 07-May .
-In other matches involving seeded players , number-five James Blake of the United States defeated Alberto Martin of Spain , 06-Mar , 06-Mar .
-But eighth-seeded Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina was upset , losing to Ivo Karlovic of Croatia , 06-Mar , 03-Jun , 06-Jan .
-Unseeded players advancing included Australia 's Mark Philippoussis , Florian Mayer of Germany , Britain 's Andy Murray , Andreas Seppi of Italy , Frenchman Florent Serra , Jarkko Nieminen of Finland and Danish player Kenneth Carlsen .
-The global human rights organization , Amnesty International says that HIV and AIDS are devastating poor women and children in South Africa .
-In a report released in London , Amnesty says that poverty , gender inequality and unemployment remain major contributing factors .
-Pop Singer Annie Lennox is highlighting the issue with her new charity tune called " Sing . "
-On a recent trip to Africa , she says she learned how the disease affects women -- especially pregnant mothers and their unborn children -- much more than it does men .
-VOA 's Mandy Clark reports .
-Police have made a drug raid on athletes for the first time in the history of the Olympic games .
-Italian authorities late Saturday and early Sunday morning seized materials in a surprise sweep through the living quarters of the Austrian biathlon and cross country teams .
-While Italian police searched the residences , the International Olympic Committee conducted unannounced , out-of-competition drug tests on at least six Austrian cross-country skiers and four biathletes .
-The involvement of Italian police is consistent with the country 's anti-doping laws , which treat doping as a criminal offense .
-The probe began when the World Anti-Doping Agency discovered blood-doping equipment in Austria connected to Walter Mayer .
-He was banned by the IOC from the Turin Olympics and the 2010 Vancouver Games for suspicion of performing blood transfusions at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games .
-But Mayer remains the head coach of both the Austrian cross country and the biathlon teams .
-A new U.N. report says the existence of armed militias in Lebanon is incompatible with restoring the country 's sovereignty and territorial integrity after three decades of Syrian domination .
-Special U.N. envoy Terje Roed-Larsen said in his report that Lebanon 's inability to exert control over some areas or to rein in militias is stalling its progress toward full sovereignty .
-Mr. Roed-Larsen is the special envoy in charge of implementing Security Council resolution 1559 , which calls for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Lebanon and the disarming of all militias , such as Hezbollah .
-The report was delivered Wednesday in New York , as Lebanese troops deployed near Palestinian militant camps in the hills near the Syrian border .
-Soldiers used loud speakers to call on the militants to leave the base and surrender those responsible for the killing Tuesday of a Lebanese army contractor .
-An Indian court has sentenced a Pakistani man to death for the militant attack on New Delhi 's famous 17th century Red Fort five years ago .
-Muhammad Arif was handed the death sentence Monday for his role in the December 2000 attack that killed three people .
-The victims - a soldier and two civilians - died when Arif and five other militants sneaked into the complex and opened fire .
-The Red Fort was a 17th century palace for Muslim Mughal emperor Shah Jehan .
-The fort is now a symbol of India 's independence .
-Many speeches and official pronouncements are given at its gates .
-The United States has formally extended sanctions against Burma 's military government for another year .
-President Barack Obama informed Congress of the decision Friday , saying Burma poses a continuing threat to U.S. national security and foreign policy .
-He added that Burma 's actions and policies are hostile to U.S. interests .
-The existing sanctions on Burma must be renewed annually .
-They were set to expire next week .
-Despite the sanctions , President Obama has been making an effort to engage the isolated country .
-Earlier this week , U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell visited Burma for a two-day trip , during which he met with leaders of the military junta and detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi .
-The United States has strongly criticized Burma for upcoming election plans that effectively exclude Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party .
-The United States has stopped accepting requests for H1-B specialty work visas because its quota of 65,000 visas for 2006 has been reached .
-The government 's immigration services agency said Friday , any further visa requests that are received will have to wait until late next year .
-The specialty work visa program allows American companies to hire skilled workers from abroad with advanced skills , including scientists , engineers , or computer programmers .
-The 65,000 visas granted annually normally can be extended for up to six years .
-Congress decides how many visas are to be issued .
-In addition to 65,000 regular H1-B visas , It also has approved an additional 20,000 work permits each year for foreigners who hold an advanced degree ( master 's or doctorate ) from an American college or university .
-Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian has called for a ban on the use of weapons of mass destruction across the Taiwan Strait .
-Mr. Chen said Wednesday that Taiwan is willing to guarantee that it will not use such weapons , and called on China to do the same .
-Mr. Chen also made a new appeal to China to hold talks with the island , saying the two sides should work together to create a code of conduct across the strait .
-China has rejected past overtures made by Mr. Chen , and has refused to speak with the Taiwanese leader until he agrees that Taiwan is an inseparable part of China .
-China has threatened to seize Taiwan by force if it makes moves toward independence .
-Diplomats at the U.N. nuclear agency say the United States and its European allies have agreed to suspend their push to refer Iran to the Security Council for possible sanctions over its nuclear activities .
-The diplomats , speaking on condition of anonymity , said U.S. and European officials agreed to the delay to give Russia more time to persuade Iran to compromise on its nuclear activities .
-They spoke Monday , ahead of this week 's meeting of the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna .
-The West accuses Iran of seeking to build nuclear weapons - a charge Iran denies .
-Meanwhile , British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw says Iran must meet its obligations and allow international inspectors to visit its nuclear facilities .
-On Sunday , the Iranian parliament voted to bar such visits if Iran is referred to the Security Council .
-Israeli soldiers raided a West Bank refugee camp , Friday , sparking a shootout that killed two Palestinian militants and badly wounded another .
-An Israeli military spokeswoman says Palestinians fired at troops who entered the Balata refugee camp at Nablus to arrest militants in the pre-dawn operation .
-The fighting , part of a week-long Israeli offensive against militants , came a day after Palestinian authorities in the Gaza Strip began enforcing a ban on public displays of weapons in a key step toward imposing order .
-Friday 's bloodshed came hours after Palestinians finished voting in local elections in the West Bank widely seen as a test of the political clout for the militant group Hamas ahead of a parliamentary ballot in January .
-Unofficial results show the ruling Fatah party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas won control of at least 61 of the 104 local councils , and Hamas took 28 .
-U.S. military officials says they have completed a major sweep of western Iraq aimed at suppressing militant attacks in the lead-up to next week 's constitutional referendum .
-A spokesman in Baghdad Friday said U.S.-led troops killed 50 insurgents during the six-day operation along the Syrian border .
-He also said six U.S. Marines were killed by two separate roadside bombs in the area of operations .
-The end of the military offensive comes just over one week before Iraqis go to the polls to vote on the country 's new constitution .
-Shi'ite and Kurdish leaders support the constitution , while many Sunnis have denounced it .
-Meanwhile , Iraqi President Jalal Talabani told a British television network , Sky News , Iraqi forces will not be ready to replace U.S.-led troops for two years .
-But he said coalition withdrawal depends on a resolution from the U.N. Security Council and negotiations between the Iraqi government and coalition forces .
-The World Health Organization says AIDS is spreading rapidly through China and estimates 10 million people may be infected with the virus by 2010 .
-The WHO says the disease has spread to all of China 's provinces and autonomous regions - with injected drug use the main route of transmission .
-It says a similar situation exists in Malaysia and Vietnam .
-The warnings came in a statement Tuesday from the organization 's regional director , Shigeru Omi .
-Mr. Omi called for stronger political will by Asian governments to stop the spread of the disease .
-Based on the WHO 's records for Asia , Cambodia has the highest percentage of people infected with HIV - at 1.9 percent of the population .
-Of all the people enjoying a so-called white Christmas Saturday , none appreciate it more than the folks of Victoria , Texas .
-The usually balmy town near the Gulf of Mexico was hit with an unprecedented 30 centimeters of snow overnight .
-The U.S. National Weather Service says until today , Victoria had not seen a measurable snowfall since 1973 .
-The last time the town of 60,000 enjoyed a white Christmas was in 1917 , 86 years ago .
-Residents will only have about 24 hours to build a snowman , as Sunday 's forecast calls for the return of sunny skies and high temperatures well above freezing .
-Iraqi officials say insurgents carried out two separate suicide car bombings Thursday , killing at least eight people .
-South of Kirkuk ( in Tuz Khormato ) , five people were killed and 16 injured when a suicide bomber detonated his vehicle near an Iraqi army checkpoint .
-A second suicide bomber struck in the city of Samarra , killing at least three people when his car blew up near a joint U.S. - Iraqi patrol .
-The attacks come as hundreds of thousands of Shi'ite Muslim pilgrims gather under tight security in the city of Karbala to mark Arbaeen .
-Many pilgrims have walked to the Shi'ite holy city from towns across Iraq to mark the end of the 40-day mourning period for Imam Hussein , who was killed in a battle nearly 14 centuries ago .
-Hussein was the grandson of the Prophet Mohammad , and is revered by Shi'ites .
-Egyptian officials say rain and sandstorms that battered the country for several days have killed at least 31 people .
-The hardest-hit areas were in northern Egypt , where the storms brought heavy rains and wind .
-At least 13 of the deaths came in a six-story factory building collapse in the northern port city of Alexandria .
-Building collapses blamed on poor construction and failure to follow building rules are relatively frequent in Egypt .
-Officials said Monday they had reopened ports on the Red Sea , which had been closed because of the storms .
-Officials also blamed the weather for poor visibility that led to traffic accidents .
-The international airport in the western U.S. city of Denver , Colorado , is expected to begin limited operations Friday , after two days of being shut down during the busiest travel days of the holiday season .
-Thousands of people were stranded at the airport Wednesday when snowstorms hit the U.S. central plains region .
-Some areas were buried under as much as 61 centimeters of snow .
-In Colorado - a mountainous state where heavy snow is common - the storm shut down not just the airport but several major highways and postal delivery .
-Airport authorities say they will open two runways Friday after they are swept clear of snow .
-But they are warning passengers to expect further delays as the airlines now deal with a two-day backlog of passengers .
-Many travelers are rushing to get to the homes of friends and family before Christmas Day on Monday December 25 .
-The U.S. State Department has expressed its sympathy and solidarity with Poland over the death this week of its first post-communist Foreign Minister , Krzysztof Skubiszewski .
-State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley says Skubiszewski paved the way for Poland 's eventual membership in NATO and the strong alliance between Poland and the United States .
-He called Skubiszewski a great statesman and visionary .
-Skubiszewski died Monday at age 83 .
-No cause of death was announced .
-He was Poland 's first foreign minister after the fall of communism in 1989 .
-He held the post until 1993 .
-Skubiszewski opened talks with NATO and worked towards reconciliation with Germany .
-Scientists at the National Geographic Society 's headquarters in Washington have revealed early details of an extraordinary archaeological find .
-Two graveyards discovered in Northern Niger are providing important insight into life in the African Sahara when it was green and lush .
-Paul Sisco reports .
-The Ugandan military says it attacked a hideout of rebel leader Joseph Kony in southern Sudan this week , killing four of his bodyguards .
-A military spokesman , Lieutenant Chris Magezi , says soldiers clashed with rebels commanded by Kony southwest of Juba on Tuesday .
-The spokesman says one Ugandan soldier was wounded in the battle .
-He says Kony and his fighters are now fleeing a Ugandan offensive , heading toward the Democratic Republic of Congo .
-Sudan allows Ugandan forces to pursue Kony and other leaders of the rebel Lord 's Resistance Army on its territory .
-The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Kony and four other LRA leaders .
-The group is notorious for its brutality and use of child soldiers in northern Uganda .
-The group 's 20-year uprising has displaced more than 1.5 million people .
-Russian police have detained at least 30 anti-government protesters in Moscow , including a prize-winning 82-year-old human rights activist .
-Opposition demonstrators gathered in central Moscow 's Triumfalnaya square Thursday in support of their constitutional right to freedom of assembly .
-They shouted slogans against Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin , saying he has reversed democratic reform .
-News reports from Moscow say 82-year-old Russian dissident Lyudmila Alexeyeva was among those arrested .
-She is one of this year 's recipients of the European Parliament 's Sakharov prize for freedom of thought .
-She is a founding member of the Moscow Helsinki group , one of Russia 's oldest human rights organizations .
-A White House statement issued Thursday says the Obama administration is dismayed that Russian authorities prevented citizens from exercising their right to assemble peacefully .
-The statement says freedom of speech and assembly are universal rights that all governments should recognize and defend .
-At least 10 civilians died Thursday when Pakistani troops fired shells aimed at militants who are trying to impose strict Islamic law in northwestern Swat valley .
-Local police say at least one home was destroyed in Allahabad village during the incident .
-At least nine other people were wounded .
-Pakistani troops have been trying to eject fighters loyal to cleric Maulana Fazlullah , who have taken control of some police checkpoints and towns in Swat .
-Closer to the border with Afghanistan , five Pakistani soldiers in a truck were killed today by a roadside bomb that went off in North Waziristan .
-Earlier this week , the Pakistani army reported gains in its battle against Islamists in Swat , saying troops had recaptured a strategic mountain peak .
-The army also said it had shut down the FM radio station used by Fazlullah to call for strict Islamic law and a holy war against the Pakistani government .
-Hundreds of people angry over the rising cost of food demonstrated in eastern Afghanistan Tuesday .
-Protesters blocked a key road connecting the town of Jalalabad to the capital , Kabul .
-They demanded action from the government to bring down skyrocketing prices .
-Earlier , the Afghan government announced it is setting aside $ 50 million to buy wheat from other countries , including Kazakhstan and neighboring Pakistan .
-Many demonstrators expressed anger with Pakistan - upon which Afghans are heavily reliant for food imports .
-Pakistan has recently slowed its exports due to its own concerns about rising food prices .
-Elsewhere , in the western Afghan province of Herat , authorities say they believe militants have abducted two foreign employees of a U.S. security company .
-Police say an Indian and a Nepalese worker disappeared Monday evening while traveling in the Adraskan district .
-Their driver also is missing .
-A U.S. soldier charged in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq has pleaded guilty to one count of dereliction of duty .
-Military officials announced Tuesday that Army Specialist Megan Ambuhl entered her plea last Saturday at a summary court-martial in Baghdad .
-Army officials also say she was demoted to private and docked half a month 's pay .
-The 30-year-old woman is the third soldier from a military police company in Maryland to plead guilty to charges stemming from the scandal .
-Officials say she failed to prevent or report the abuse by other U.S. soldiers .
-She could have faced at least seven years in prison on other charges .
-The scandal erupted in April when photographs of U.S. soldiers taunting and humiliating naked Iraqi prisoners became public , sparking worldwide condemnation .
-Burundi 's army says it killed at least 17 National Liberation Forces rebel fighters in recent clashes .
-At least one soldier and a civilian also were killed in fighting that began late Friday in a village west of the capital , Bujumbura
-The government says FNL rebels were robbing the village when the army intervened to stop them .
-The FNL signed a peace agreement with the government in July 2006 , but the accord was broken about a year later .
-The U.S. military in Iraq says American troops have detained six suspects in connection with last week 's assassination of Baghdad provincial governor Ali al-Haidari .
-Acting on a tip from residents , soldiers seized the suspects early Tuesday in a house in the same western Baghdad neighborhood where the governor was gunned down .
-Meanwhile , near the northern city of Mosul , two Iraqi National Guards were killed and two wounded in a car bomb attack Wednesday .
-A similar attack in the area Tuesday killed three other guardsmen .
-Iraqi officials , police and national guards have been prime targets of insurgents who are seeking to further destabilize the country before the January 30 elections .
-Despite the violence , interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and President Bush have said the vote for a national assembly must go ahead .
-A British court has remanded into custody the first suspect formally charged in connection with the failed July 21 bombings on the London transport system .
-Ismael Abdurahman , who appeared in a London court Thursday , is accused of withholding information that may have helped police find those involved in terrorism .
-Meanwhile , thousands of British police are patrolling the streets of London , four weeks after the July 7 bomb attacks on the city 's transit system that killed 56 people , including four suicide bombers .
-In another development , an Italian court has scheduled an August 17 extradition hearing for one of the suspects in the July 21 failed London bombings .
-British authorities have alleged that Hamdi Issac , also known as Osman Hussein , fled to Italy after he and three other men tried to set off bombs .
-Mr. Issac , a British citizen of Ethiopian descent , was arrested last Friday .
-Afghan warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum has narrowly escaped an assassination attempt that wounded 20 other people .
-Officials say a suicide bomber blew himself up near the general outside a northern mosque where the warlord had been praying for the Eid al-Adha Muslim festival .
-General Dostum says he believes al-Qaida was behind the attack .
-But the Associated Press quotes a Taleban leader saying the Taleban carried out the attack .
-Meanwhile a statement purportedly from Taleban leader Mullah Omar dismissed reports that the radical Islamic movement 's fighters were willing to lay down arms in exchange for amnesty .
-A statement to news agencies says the Taleban will not enter into a dialogue with the Afghan government as long as foreign soldiers remain in Afghanistan .
-A defiant Iranian president says the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency can issue as many resolutions as it likes , but says it can not prevent Iranian progress .
-Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke Sunday , one day after the International Atomic Energy Agency voted overwhelmingly to report Iran to the U.N. Security Council over its suspect nuclear program .
-Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful , but Western governments accuse Tehran of seeking to build an atomic bomb .
-In comments reported by the Iranian news agency , the Iranian president pointed to the West and said " it is you who have atomic weapons and should be disarmed . "
-He said Iran has no need for a nuclear arsenal .
-Earlier , the Iranian Foreign Ministry confirmed that Tehran has stopped all cooperation with the IAEA and will go forward with plans to enrich uranium - a process that can be used either to make an atomic bomb or to generate electricity .
-NATO says an explosion in Afghanistan 's eastern province of Ghazni has killed two soldiers and a civilian interpreter .
-In a statement released Wednesday , NATO officials say the soldiers and the interpreter were on patrol Tuesday when they were hit by the blast .
-NATO says a third soldier was wounded .
-NATO did not release the nationalities of the soldiers .
-Meanwhile , German officials Wednesday announced the arrest of two men they say were planning an attack on a NATO base in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif .
-Officials say Afghan authorities stopped the men - from Pakistan and Tajikistan - last week in a car stuffed with explosives .
-Thousands of Afghans have staged a peaceful protest against the killing of a prominent pro-government Muslim cleric in a mosque bomb blast .
-At least 5,000 people Sunday took to the streets in the eastern Afghan province of Khost , where Mullah Ahmad Khan was killed Friday during midday prayers .
-At least 15 worshippers were wounded in the blast .
-The protesters urged the government to provide better security for religious leaders .
-No one has claimed responsibility for the attack .
-But authorities blame Taleban insurgents who have in the past killed several influential clerics who had denounced the militants and expressed support for President Hamid Karzai .
-President Bush is to meet his Russian counterpart , Vladimir Putin , in Washington later this month for talks on bilateral and global issues .
-The White House said Friday the two leaders will discuss ways to deepen the U.S.-Russian partnership to face current challenges and opportunities .
-The September 16th meeting will follow a summit of leaders of the United Nations Security Council , focusing on ways to combat terrorism .
-Mr. Putin and Mr. Bush have stressed they have a close relationship , despite some differences over international policy .
-Moscow has been critical of the war in Iraq , and the United States has called on Russia to do more to promote human rights in the former Soviet Union .
-A series of rebel attacks in Iraq have killed some 25 people as U.S. officials pledge to investigate recent " friendly fire " killings .
-A suicide attack killed at least 15 people and wounded nearly two dozen more north of Baghdad .
-Nearby in Baquba , rebel attacks on Iraqi soldiers and police killed at least 10 people .
-Also Monday , Iraqi officials issued new photos of wanted Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al Zarqawi , showing him with short hair and a closely cropped beard .
-His group reportedly claimed responsibility for several of Monday 's attacks .
-Also today , Bulgaria 's defense minister Nikolai Svinarov says an investigation shows U.S. troops were probably responsible for the shooting death of a Bulgarian soldier last Friday .
-That same day , U.S. troops shot dead an Italian intelligence agent at a checkpoint .
-U.S. officials have ordered investigations into both incidents .
-The U.S. Senate is to vote later Thursday , on an immigration reform bill that would toughen border security and give millions of illegals a chance to become American citizens .
-On Wednesday , the Senate voted to limit debate on the controversial legislation .
-Two other provisions in the bill would create a so-called guest worker program and would deport illegal immigrants who have been in the country for fewer than five years .
-If the Senate passes the legislation , it will have to be reconciled with a bill passed by the House of Representatives last December .
-That bill emphasized border security and would make it a felony to be in the United States illegally .
-The issue has sparked widespread demonstrations across the United States .
-An international development group is working to raise $ 2 billion in aid to help rebuild and reform Haiti 's education system .
-The Inter-American Development Bank is leading a proposed five-year effort to train teachers , improve facilities and adopt a national curriculum .
-More than 4,000 schools were damaged or destroyed during the earthquake in January that killed more than 2,00,000 people .
-The IDB says that before the earthquake , only half of Haiti 's children of primary school age were enrolled in classes .
-Haitian President Rene Preval announced the plan Saturday along with IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno .
-President Bush says the United States needs better intelligence efforts to make gains in its global war on terrorism .
-In an interview with CNN , the president said Tuesday that human intelligence efforts need to be improved .
-He said the ability to read the enemy 's mail and hear its phone calls would make a difference in fighting terrorism .
-Mr. Bush said a commission has been formed to determine how best to improve human intelligence gathering .
-During the interview , President Bush said the United States has not done as good a job in promoting American values as propagandists have in depicting America as a hateful place .
-Mr. Bush also acknowledged he has made difficult decisions , including the one to invade Iraq , that have hindered American diplomacy in the Middle East .
-But , the president predicted that a free country will emerge in Iraq , proving the merit of his policies there .
-The Los Angeles Times is reporting that the Bush Administration has forged a strong intelligence partnership with Sudan , and the African nation has become an ally in the U.S.-led war on terror .
-The newspaper cites U.S. government sources as saying Khartoum has provided access to terror suspects and has shared intelligence data with the United States , even though it remains on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism .
-The report says the Central Intelligence Agency has flown Sudan 's intelligence chief to Washington as recently as last week .
-In exchange for its collaboration , the Times says Sudan is seeking to be removed from the list of state sponsors of terrorism and for Washington to lift economic sanctions .
-A decade ago , Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida network were based in Sudan .
-A new report from the International Monetary Fund says global economic growth will slow more than one percent this year .
-The IMF study says global growth will decline to 3.7 percent in 2008 and stay at about the same level the following year .
-The economists blame the slowdown on problems in advanced economies , particularly the United States .
-But they say developing nations are weathering this economic down-turn better than they have similar incidents in the past because they are better integrated into the world economy .
-Many developing nations have benefited from major price increases for the commodities they export , and have worked to diversify their economies to ease the ups and downs that affect commodity markets .
-Hong Kong 's charter carrier , CR Airways , has purchased 40 Boeing planes in a deal worth more than $ 3 billion .
-The carrier Tuesday said it bought 30 Boeing 737-800 airliners and 10 Boeing 787s in order to expand its services in China and Asia .
-The deal is the latest in a series of recent boosts for the American manufacturer .
-Earlier this month , Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific bought more than 30 Boeing aircraft in a nearly $ 3-billion deal .
-And in November , China said it plans to buy 70 Boeing 737 airliners in a deal worth $ 4 billion .
-Police in northern Iraq say security forces have killed at least two people and wounded several others who were protesting a rise in fuel prices and lack of basic services in the city .
-Authorities say Sunday 's riot broke out in a mainly Kurdish district of Kirkuk , as angry protesters set fire to several gas stations and an oil company building in the city .
-Police later imposed a curfew .
-In Baghdad , a bomb blast near one of Iraq 's largest oil refineries triggered a pipeline fire that threatened to worsen the country 's oil crisis .
-The bombing was the second in recent days .
-Meanwhile , Iraqi police say at least 11 car bombs - most of them in Baghdad - exploded Sunday , wounding at least 20 people .
-Sudanese officials say they are readying trials against suspects accused of rape and murder in the western Darfur region .
-Authorities say the trials may include government officials and security forces in the troubled area .
-Sudan 's Justice Minister , Ali Mohamed Osman Yassin , told Reuters news agency Monday that 15 police and security agents have been detained for alleged abuses .
-He vowed to continue an investigation into human rights violations and crimes against humanity in Darfur .
-The United States and other countries have been pressing Sudan 's government to end violence in Darfur and punish those responsible .
-The U.N. Security Council this week is to consider a French proposal to send Darfur suspects to the International Criminal Court .
-Sudan 's foreign minister , Mustapha Osman Ismail , says his country would refuse the measure , if passed .
-A manuscript of composer Ludwig van Beethoven 's " Gross Fuge " has sold at a London auction house for $ 1.9 million .
-Sotheby auctioneers say an anonymous buyer purchased the manuscript , which was discovered in a library at the Palmer Theological Seminary in Philadelphia .
-The 80-page document , first performed in 1826 , is a piano duet version of Beethoven 's string quartet in B flat .
-It is written in brown and black ink and includes annotations in pencil and red crayon .
-The head of Sotheby 's manuscript department says the rediscovery of the document will allow a complete reassessment of what he called " extraordinary music . "
-Beethoven , who continued to work as he slowly went deaf , wrote the work in the years prior to his death in 1827 .
-Iraqi authorities say they have foiled an insurgent plot to bomb the trial of Saddam Hussein , which resumes in Baghdad Monday .
-They say the attackers from the 1920 Revolution Brigades planned to fire rockets at the court building .
-Few other details were released .
-The alleged attack plot was the latest security issue to plague the trial , including the assassination of two defense lawyers .
-During Monday 's session , the first of 10 witnesses is expected to testify .
-Saddam and seven members of his former regime are charged with the torture and killing of more than 140 people in the mainly Shi'ite Muslim town of Dujail following a 1982 attempt on his life there .
-Australian Prime Minister John Howard has confirmed that U.S. intelligence agencies had restricted his country 's access to classified material on the war in Iraq , forcing him to repeatedly appeal to President Bush for access .
-Mr. Howard says , prior to 2005 , the U.S. Defense Department had restricted Australian military access to vital information on Iraq .
-Mr. Bush signed an order in July 2004 granting Australia and Britain special access to intelligence for use in planning combat and counter-terrorism operations .
-But Mr. Howard said U.S. agencies initially resisted the order because of their reluctance to share information .
-The Australian leader says the U.S. intelligence restrictions were lifted last year , after he again appealed to Mr. Bush to deliver on his commitments .
-The Iranian government has closed an official newspaper because of a cartoon the paper ran last Friday .
-State television quotes the country 's chief prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi Tuesday as saying the paper 's cartoonist Mana Neyestani and one of its editors have been detained .
-The cartoon , which poked fun at ethnic Azeris , sparked riots in the northwestern city of Tabriz , the capital of Eastern Azerbaijan province .
-The cartoon portrayed an Azeri as a cockroach who was speaking Azeri .
-On Monday , rioting Azeris pelted government buildings with stones .
-Police used tear gas to disperse them .
-About 25 percent of Iran 's population is Azeri .
-Azeris speak a language close to Turkish .
-The Indonesian government and rebels from Aceh province plan to sign a formal peace deal on August 15 .
-The agreement will bring an end to a nearly three-decade war between the Free Aceh Movement and the government in Jakarta .
-A joint statement following peace talks in Helsinki , Finland , Sunday says the agreement will bring " a peaceful , comprehensive , and sustainable " solution to the conflict in Aceh , which has cost some 12,000 lives since 1976 .
-Though details of the agreement have not been released , the two sides say it covers political participation , human rights , an amnesty , and security arrangements in the province .
-Peace efforts gained momentum this year following the December tsunami that devastated Indonesia 's Sumatra island , where Aceh is located .
-Iraqi police said a suicide car bomber has killed 10 people in Kirkuk .
-Police said the attacker appeared to target a group of police officers protecting the northern city 's oil infrastructure .
-Officials said 22 other people were injured in Wednesday 's attack .
-Tensions remain high in Kirkuk , whose status has yet to be resolved .
-Iraqi Kurds , Arabs , and Turkmen lay competing claims to the oil-rich city .
-Violence has dropped across much of the country , but al-Qaida in Iraq maintains a foothold in areas across the north .
-The European Union has opened membership talks with Croatia after the United Nations ' chief war crimes prosecutor said the Balkan country is now cooperating with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia .
-British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw led a brief ceremony early Tuesday formally opening the talks .
-Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader attended the event .
-The European Union postponed membership talks with Croatia in March when U.N. war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte said Zagreb was not doing enough to find indicted war crimes suspect General Ante Gotovina .
-Ms. del Ponte said Monday Croatia is now fully cooperating with the tribunal , but the EU ministers warn talks could be called off again if Zagreb does not continue its compliance with the Hague court .
-Croatia hopes to join the European Union in 2009 .
-The United Nations Security Council has called on Lebanon to expand its security presence in the south , following the withdrawal of Syrian troops .
-In a resolution passed to Friday , the Council said Lebanese troops must show they can maintain security in the country , especially along the southern boundary with Israel .
-The measure condemned violence between Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants in the area , including a June incident that killed three people .
-The Security Council also agreed to extend until January a U.N. mission in Lebanon , which includes some two thousand peacekeepers .
-That U.N. force was created in 1978 to confirm Israel 's withdrawal from Lebanon , after Israeli troops invaded the country in search of Palestinian militants .
-Pacific First Financial Corp. said shareholders approved its acquisition by Royal Trustco Ltd. of Toronto for $ 27 a share , or $ 212 mi llion .
-The thrift holding company said it expects to obtain regulatory approval and complete the transaction by year-end .
-The United Kingdom has historically played a leading role in developing parliamentary democracy and in advancing literature and science .
-At its zenith in the 19th century , the British Empire stretched over one-fourth of the earth 's surface .
-The first half of the 20th century saw the UK 's strength seriously depleted in two world wars and the Irish republic withdraw from the union .
-The second half witnessed the dismantling of the Empire and the UK rebuilding itself into a modern and prosperous European nation .
-As one of five permanent members of the UN Security Council , a founding member of NATO , and of the Commonwealth , the UK pursues a global approach to foreign policy .
-The UK is also an active member of the EU , although it chose to remain outside the Economic and Monetary Union .
-The Scottish Parliament , the National Assembly for Wales , and the Northern Ireland Assembly were established in 1999 .
-The latter was suspended until May 2007 due to wrangling over the peace process , but devolution was fully completed in March 2010 .
-Although explored by the Spanish early in the 16th century , initial attempts at colonizing Costa Rica proved unsuccessful due to a combination of factors , including : disease from mosquito-infested swamps , brutal heat , resistance by natives , and pirate raids .
-It was not until 1563 that a permanent settlement of Cartago was established in the cooler , fertile central highlands .
-The area remained a colony for some two and a half centuries .
-In 1821 , Costa Rica became one of several Central American provinces that jointly declared their independence from Spain .
-Two years later it joined the United Provinces of Central America , but this federation disintegrated in 1838 , at which time Costa Rica proclaimed its sovereignty and independence .
-Since the late 19th century , only two brief periods of violence have marred the country 's democratic development .
-In 1949 , Costa Rica dissolved its armed forces .
-Although it still maintains a large agricultural sector , Costa Rica has expanded its economy to include strong technology and tourism industries .
-The standard of living is relatively high .
-Land ownership is widespread .
-Subsistence fishing and commercial trawling occur within refuge waters .
-The economy is dominated by the mining industry , with exports of alumina , gold , and oil accounting for about 85 % of exports and 25 % of government revenues , making the economy highly vulnerable to mineral price volatility .
-In 2000 , the government of Ronald VENETIAAN , returned to office and inherited an economy with inflation of over 100 % and a growing fiscal deficit .
-He quickly implemented an austerity program , raised taxes , attempted to control spending , and tamed inflation .
-Economic growth reached about 7 % in 2008 , owing to sizeable foreign investment in mining and oil .
-Suriname has received aid for projects in the bauxite and gold mining sectors from Netherlands , Belgium , and the European Development Fund .
-The economy slowed in 2009 , however , as investment waned and the country earned less from its commodity exports when global prices for most commodities fell .
-Trade picked up , boosting Suriname 's economic growth in 2010 , but the government 's budget remained strained , with increased social spending during the election .
-In January 2011 , the government devalued the currency by 20 % and raised taxes to reduce the budget deficit .
-Suriname 's economic prospects for the medium term will depend on continued commitment to responsible monetary and fiscal policies and to the introduction of structural reforms to liberalize markets and promote competition .
-Carib Indians inhabited Grenada when COLUMBUS discovered the island in 1498 , but it remained uncolonized for more than a century .
-The French settled Grenada in the 17th century , established sugar estates , and imported large numbers of African slaves .
-Britain took the island in 1762 and vigorously expanded sugar production .
-In the 19th century , cacao eventually surpassed sugar as the main export crop ; in the 20th century , nutmeg became the leading export .
-In 1967 , Britain gave Grenada autonomy over its internal affairs .
-Full independence was attained in 1974 making Grenada one of the smallest independent countries in the Western Hemisphere .
-Grenada was seized by a Marxist military council on 19 October 1983 .
-Six days later the island was invaded by US forces and those of six other Caribbean nations , which quickly captured the ringleaders and their hundreds of Cuban advisers .
-Free elections were reinstituted the following year and have continued since that time .
-Hurricane Ivan struck Grenada in September of 2004 causing severe damage .
-A PHILOSOPHER witnessed from the shore the shipwreck of a vessel , of which the crew and passengers were all drowned .
-He inveighed against the injustice of Providence , which would for the sake of one criminal perchance sailing in the ship allow so many innocent persons to perish .
-As he was indulging in these reflections , he found himself surrounded by a whole army of Ants , near whose nest he was standing .
-One of them climbed up and stung him , and he immediately trampled them all to death with his foot .
-Mercury presented himself , and striking the Philosopher with his wand , said , " And are you indeed to make yourself a judge of the dealings of Providence , who hast thyself in a similar manner treated these poor Ants ? '
-Israeli troops have detained a top member of the Palestinian militant group Hamas during a raid on an apartment building in the West Bank city of Tulkarem .
-Rami al-Tayyah has been wanted by Israel since 2002 in connection with the recruitment of militants and the establishment of Hamas cells suspected of carrying out shootings and bomb attacks against Israeli citizens .
-Also Saturday , Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia accused Israel of hampering efforts to restart peace efforts following the death of Yasser Arafat .
-Mr. Qureia told his cabinet that Israel 's continued military aggression sends a clear message that it does not want to allow things to quiet down and bring the peace process back on track .
-Mr. Qureia 's criticism came as German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer arrived in the region for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders .
-Authorities in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul say two Christian churches have been the target of nearly simultaneous bomb attacks .
-Witnesses say gunmen stormed the Armenian and Chaldean churches Tuesday , planting explosives that detonated , setting the buildings on fire .
-No casualties have been confirmed .
-Iraq 's minority Christian community has been the target of attacks before , most recently last month when three people were killed in a bomb attack on a Baghdad church .
-Meanwhile , the U.S. military says an American soldier was killed Tuesday while on patrol in Baghdad .
-Afghan President Hamid Karzai has urged Afghan and coalition forces to use " extreme caution " as they root out Islamic militants .
-In a statement Sunday , Mr. Karzai expressed concern over civilian deaths in recent weeks as a result of counter-terror operations in civilian areas .
-He said that while his government is committed to combating terrorism , it is also responsible for safety of the Afghan people .
-The statement comes two days after three civilians , including a woman and a child , were killed in a U.S. air strike against a suspected militant hideout .
-Four suspected militants were also killed in the incident in central Uruzgan province .
-Two more children were wounded and taken to a U.S. base in the southern city of Kandahar for treatment .
-When talking about paintings and contemporary art , names such as Pablo Picasso , Georgia O'Keeffe , Vincent Van Gogh and others often come to mind .
-But , as we are about to show you , there is a whole body of artwork on Africa , by European and African artists that is largely unknown .
-Primimoda Gallery , located in the heart of Washington , is where you will find this art .
-Ndimyake Mwakalyelye tells us more .
-The world 's biggest maker of computer chips is investing more than $ 1 billion in India over the next five years .
-The investment was announced Monday by Intel Chairman .
-Much of the money will go to expand Intel 's research and development center in Bangalore .
-That operation already employs 2,800 people .
-Intel officials say around $ 250 million is going into a fund to stimulate local technology innovation , particularly in technology oriented service companies that target overseas markets .
-Intel has been operating in India for a decade , and has already invested about $ 700 million there .
-Mr. Barrett says India is one of the world 's " leading technology centers " and he expects this investment to help the country grow further .
-The United States will host Croatia in the opening round of the 2005 Davis Cup tennis tournament .
-The U.S. Tennis Association announced Thursday the games will be played on the hardcourts at Carson , California near Los Angeles .
-The three-day tie ( series ) beginning on March 4 could be the start of a title defense for the American squad .
-The United States faces host Spain starting Friday in the Davis Cup final on clay at Seville .
-The United States is trying to win its first Davis Cup crown since 1995 .
-In the only previous Davis Cup match between the countries , Croatia defeated the US squad , 04-Jan , in a 2003 first-round tie at Zagreb .
-The winner will face either Romania or Belarus in the second round next July .
-At least five policemen have been killed in a militant attack on a security camp in Indian-controlled Kashmir .
-Local authorities say the attack occurred early Friday , in the border town of Sopore , about 50 kilometers north of Srinagar .
-Police say the militants hurled grenades and fired indiscriminately as they stormed the camp .
-It was not immediately clear how many rebels were involved in the attack .
-The Pakistan-based rebel group Al-Mansoorain claimed responsibility for the attack .
-Al-Mansoorain is one of more than a dozen Islamic militant groups fighting security forces in India 's portion of Kashmir for the region 's independence or for its merger with Pakistan .
-A European Space Agency probe has completed a three-year mission to test deep space technologies by making a controlled crash on the moon .
-The SMART-1 probe hit the lunar surface at 542 UTC Sunday on a volcanic plain called the Lake of Excellence at a speed of about 7,200 kilometers per hour .
-It had orbited the moon for the past 14 months .
-Mission manager Gerhard Schwehm calls Europe 's first mission to the moon " a great success . "
-The probe 's main mission was to test a solar-electric propulsion system the European Space Agency hopes to use for future interplanetary missions .
-SMART-1 also carried miniaturized scientific instruments to examine the lunar surface .
-SMART stands for Small Mission for Advanced Research and Technology .
-The craft was launched in September of 2003 , and began orbiting the moon in November of 2004 .
-Witnesses in Somalia say gunmen have killed the head of an orphanage near the capital , Mogadishu .
-Abdikadir Yusuf Kariye was shot dead by unidentified assailants late Wednesday in the town of Lafoole .
-Reuters news agency reports that Kariye 's orphanage is home to 370 children .
-There has been no claim of responsibility for the killing .
-Attacks on aid workers in Somalia have forced some relief agencies to suspend their operations , endangering hundreds of thousands of people who rely on food aid and medical aid .
-The United Nations has warned of a possible humanitarian catastrophe in Somalia , which has not had a functioning central government in 17 years .
-U.S. lawmakers say they plan legislation that would fund efforts to help Iranians receive and send information despite government restrictions .
-Independent Senator Joe Lieberman said Thursday that the bill intends to help the Iranian people stay " one step ahead of the Iranian regime . "
-Lieberman introduced the bill with Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham .
-McCain said the proposed legislation would authorize funds to ensure Iranians have the software and other tools to evade government censorship and surveillance online .
-The legislation would also authorize VOA 's Persian service to make permanent an additional hour of programming that was added to cover the post-election violence .
-More funding would also be provided to the U.S. government-sponsored Radio Farda to boost the broadcaster 's short-wave radio and satellite capacity .
-Cambodian authorities have detained a fifth suspect in the 12-year-old kidnapping and murder case of two men who were clearing land mines .
-Former Khmer Rouge fighters abducted Christopher Howes of Bristol , England , and his interpreter Huon Huot along with other members of a team removing land mines near Cambodia 's Angor Wat temple in 1996 .
-Most of the team was released , but evidence later showed Howes and Huot were executed in rebel-held territory .
-Cambodian authorities took 52-year-old Puth Lim into custody and charged him in the case Friday .
-Five other former Khmer Rouge fighters also face charges which could carry a life sentence if convicted .
-Following years of debate and delay , Germany has dedicated a national memorial to the six million Jews killed by the Nazis during World War II .
-Dignitaries and survivors of the Nazi death camps dedicated the " Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe " Tuesday in Berlin .
-The speaker of Germany 's lower house of parliament , Wolfgang Thierse , said the memorial will keep the memory of Holocaust victims and of Nazi crimes alive .
-The two-hectare memorial , designed by New York architect Peter Eisenman , consists of 2,711 unadorned concrete slabs and an underground research center Experts say the memorial evokes the rigid discipline and order of the Nazi killing machine .
-First proposed in the late 1980s , the memorial was only recently completed because of arguments over its size , design and whether it should honor non-Jewish Holocaust victims .
-It will open to the public on Thursday .
-A Norwegian aid group says it will shut down operations in Sudan 's Darfur region because of government interference .
-The Norwegian Refugee Council says Sudan has suspended the group for a total of 210 days since mid-2004 .
-The group 's secretary-general , Tomas Archer , says his workers can not operate when authorities suspend the group continuously and do not respond to repeated requests for dialogue .
-The N.R.C. provides assistance at three large camps for internally displaced Sudanese .
-The group says its departure will affect 3,00,000 people in South Darfur .
-Sudanese officials are often suspicious of foreign aid agencies working in Darfur and they target groups that criticize government actions and policies .
-Sudan continues to resist international pressure to allow a U.N. peacekeeping forces into the volatile region .
-More than three years of fighting between rebels and government-backed militias has killed an estimated 2,00,000 people and displaced over two million since early 2003 .
-Haiti 's chief elections official has fled the country after receiving threats following this month 's presidential elections .
-Officials say Jacques Bernard flew to the United States on Sunday , a day after his farmhouse was ransacked .
-Bernard was accused by some people who supported candidate Rene Preval of manipulating the vote count to prevent Preval from claiming an outright victory and avoid a runoff vote .
-Preval was declared the winner last week in an internationally-brokered decision to divide 85,000 blank ballots proportionately among the candidates .
-A boat accident in Bangladesh has killed at least 37 people , most of them women and children .
-Authorities say many of the male passengers were able to swim ashore .
-Local officials say the boat capsized on the Surma river in northeastern Bangladesh late Saturday after colliding with a cargo ship .
-Officials say at least 80 people were on board the boat .
-Officials say the area where the boat went down , in the Sunamganj district about 240 kilometers northeast of Dhaka , is in one of the most remote parts of the country , making it difficult for additional help to reach the site .
-Bangladesh has more than 200 rivers .
-Boat accidents are common due to lax safety regulations .
-The Cayman Islands are under a tropical storm warning and a hurricane watch , as a new tropical depression is taking shape in the northwest Caribbean Sea .
-The U.S. National Hurricane Center says the system could strengthen into Tropical Storm Wilma later Sunday .
-Wilma would be the 21st named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season , tying a record set in 1933 .
-At daybreak , the depression was centered 325 kilometers southeast of Grand Cayman Island and had sustained winds of 55 kilometers per hour .
-The hurricane center says the storm will likely bring heavy rains to the Caymans and Jamaica .
-Long-range forecasts show the storm possibly moving into the Gulf of Mexico next week .
-Several U.S. cities along the Gulf coast are still reeling from Hurricane Katrina .
-Sri Lankan officials say suspected Tamil Tiger rebels have detonated a mine in northern Sri Lanka , killing two sailors and wounding another .
-Officials say the attack occurred Saturday , on the northern Jaffna peninsula .
-In a separate incident Saturday , unidentified attackers in the eastern town of Batticaloa hurled a grenade into the parking area of a compound occupied by truce monitors , damaging vehicles but causing no injuries .
-A spokeswoman for the monitoring mission says the attack was the first targeting the monitors since a 2002 cease-fire .
-The unarmed monitors are all from Scandinavian countries .
-The explosion came hours after the monitors reprimanded Tamil Tiger rebels and government forces for an increase in violence .
-Sri Lanka 's government says at least 69 members of its security forces have been killed by rebels since early December .
-Forensic experts have concluded work on a mass grave in northwestern Bosnia-Herzegovina , exhuming 454 bodies .
-An official , Esad Bajramovic , of the Commission on Missing Persons in Bosnia 's Muslim-Croat Federation says documents found in the village of Kevljani near the town of Prijedor indicate the victims were Muslim and Croat residents of the area .
-He says many of the victims are believed to have been inmates of the notorious Serb-run Omarska and Keraterm prison camps in the Prijedor area .
-The victims are believed to have been buried in other areas then moved to Kevljani .
-United Nations forensic experts have recovered more than 16,000 bodies from more than 300 mass graves in Bosnia .
-More than 2,00,000 people were killed in the Bosnian conflict of the early 1990s .
-Officials in Indian Kashmir say at least two soldiers and six suspected militants have been killed during a clash in the Himalayan region .
-Officials say at least one soldier was also wounded in Saturday 's clash 220 kilometers north of Jammu , the winter capital of Indian Kashmir .
-Authorities say the suspected militants were trying to sneak into the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir when the fighting began .
-Kashmiri militant groups have been fighting since 1989 for Kashmir 's independence or its merger with Pakistan .
-The insurgency has killed tens of thousands of people .
-Iran says it has agreed with Russia to increase the number of countries joining a plan for Tehran to carry out sensitive nuclear fuel work in Russia .
-Speaking to reporters Saturday in Tehran , Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said possible locations for uranium enrichment are still under review .
-Moscow 's idea to have Iran enrich uranium in facilities in Russia where the work can be closely monitored is seen as a way out of a growing crisis over Tehran 's nuclear ambitions .
-The United States , China and the European Union support the proposal .
-Meanwhile , the chief of Iran 's Revolutionary Guards , General Yahya Rahim Safavi , said Saturday his country would use ballistic missiles to defend itself if attacked .
-President Bush told the CBS television network Friday he is open to all possible options for dealing with Iran , including military intervention .
-But he said that would be the last option .
-President Bush has sent holiday greetings to all Muslims as they celebrate the Eid al-Adha religious festival .
-In a statement issued Friday , Mr. Bush said Eid al-Adha is an important occasion to give thanks for blessings and to remember Abraham 's trust in a loving God .
-Eid al-Adha , the festival of sacrifice , commemorates the willingness of the prophet Abraham to sacrifice his son in obedience to God .
-According to scripture , Allah did not require Abraham to go through with the sacrifice .
-Mr. Bush said Muslims would celebrate with friends and family , exchanging gifts and greetings , and engaging in worship through sacrifice and charity .
-The president said America is a more hopeful nation because of the talents , generosity and compassion of Muslim citizens .
-Lawmakers on Cyprus have ratified the European Union treaty , despite opposition from the communist party of President Dimitris Christofias .
-The Mediterranean island-nation Thursday became the 20th EU state to ratify the treaty , after 31 lawmakers out of 49 present in Nicosia voted in favor .
-The charter is aimed at streamlining EU bureaucracy and making it easier for the European Commission to enact policy .
-The Cyprus vote comes less than a month after Irish voters rejected the treaty in a referendum .
-All 27 nations must ratify the treaty for it to take effect .
-Advocates say it remains unclear whether the charter can be salvaged after the Irish defeat .
-The head of the United Nations refugee agency says relief efforts in earthquake-ravaged Pakistan should concentrate now on creating conditions for people to be able to withstand the harsh Himalayan winter .
-U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres made the remark Thursday during his visit to Pakistan 's quake zone .
-The visit is aimed at reviewing relief operations and meeting with local leaders .
-He said billions of dollars in aid pledges by donors must materialize before cold and hunger claim more lives .
-While touring the devastated capital of Pakistani Kashmir , Muzaffarabad , Mr. Guterres also noted the time has come to repay the country for generously hosting millions of Afghan refugees .
-His visit comes a day after Australian Prime Minister John Howard toured quake-hit areas and pledged nearly U.S. $ 37 miillion in additional relief .
-An exhibition is opening at the Imperial War Museum in London , marking the centenary of the birth of writer Ian Fleming , the man who created the world 's most famous secret agent , James Bond .
-Paul Burge has the story on the exhibit , titled " For Your Eyes Only . "
-U.S. troops in Fallujah have found a safe house which they say contains evidence linked to wanted militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi .
-U.S. Lieutenant General John Sattler Thursday did not confirm the find , but he said coalition troops had found a number of insurgent headquarters in the city .
-Embedded reporters in Fallujah say troops searching the safe house property found photographs , notes , ammunition and letters thought to be from al-Zarqawi .
-Videotape shot by an American news crew also showed a mural pledging allegiance to the al Qaida terrorist network .
-Several bodies lay outside the house , and soldiers found an American-made truck wired with explosives nearby .
-U.S. and Iraqi officials have said the terrorist leader probably fled Fallujah ahead of the recent assault .
-The U.S. military in Afghanistan says fighting in two southern provinces has left four suspected militants dead and two Afghan police wounded .
-A U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jerry O'Hara says three insurgents were killed and two Afghan police officers wounded during a clash Friday in the Deh Rawood district of Uruzgan province .
-One fighter was captured , along with a light machine gun and a rocket-propelled grenade .
-The spokesman said that , on the same day , south of Kabul , one militant was killed when a group of insurgents attacked a U.S. and Afghan military convoy .
-There has been an upsurge of violence in Afghanistan ahead of the September 18 parliamentary elections .
-Hundreds of people have died in militant-related violence so far this year .
-Former Darfur rebels said Friday they rescued a kidnapped Chinese worker in Sudan 's Darfur region .
-Reuters news agency reports the engineer was in good health .
-A Sudanese army spokesman said Wednesday he had information the engineer had been taken hostage in neighboring Chad .
-Last month three Russian pilots were kidnapped in Sudan 's Darfur region at gunpoint and held for two days .
-They were released one day after an American aid worker was freed in Darfur after being held captive for more than 100 days .
-India has announced plans to pay an additional $ 160 million to victims of a 1984 anti-Sikh riot , in which more than 3,000 Sikhs were killed .
-The Indian government said Thursday the families of those killed will receive a total of nearly $ 7,800 , while those injured in the riots will receive a total of $ 2,800 .
-The decision to increase the funds given to riot victims came after a report released in August said some Congress party leaders may have helped incite the riots .
-The riots were sparked by the 1984 assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi , by Sikh members of her security team .
-Victims and their families say the compensation is not enough , and have demanded any politician who helped incite the riot be brought to justice .
-The new head of the Palestinian Fatah movement has threatened to expel popular leader Marwan Barghouti unless he withdraws from the Palestinian presidential race .
-Barghouti is seen as the only serious challenger to the official Fatah candidate , former prime minister Mahmoud Abbas .
-Fatah chief Faruq Qaddumi says any member who goes against the group 's decisions should resign and have his membership cancelled .
-The 45-year-old Barghouti is currently serving five life terms in an Israeli prison for planning suicide attacks .
-Mr. Barghouti , who has denied involvement in the attacks , filed papers for the January 9th presidential race last Wednesday .
-The winner of the race will succeed the late Yasser Arafat and lead the Palestinians as world powers try to revive the Middle East peace process .
-Israel says it will not negotiate with Syria as long as Damascus supports terrorist groups , brushing off a Syrian offer of peace talks .
-A spokeswoman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Tuesday also criticized Syria for pro-Hezbollah statements made by its foreign minister , Walid Moualem during the month-long Israel-Hezbollah war .
-Syria and Iran are believed to be key suppliers of weapons and money to Hezbollah .
-In an interview broadcast Monday , Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said he is ready to hold talks with Israel but that an impartial arbiter should mediate between the two sides .
-The Syrian leader said he doubts the U.S. can play that role .
-He said Washington lacks the will and the vision to pursue peace in the Middle East .
-Talks between Syria and Israel broke down in 2000 .
-Syria has demanded that Israel return the entire Golan Heights .
-Israel seized the Golan Heights in the 1967 Six-Day War .
-Military officials in Iraq say a U.S. soldier was killed and nine others wounded Saturday when Iraqi insurgents attacked an Army patrol in central Baghdad .
-The U.S. military says the unit came under what it called a coordinated attack of roadside bombs , small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades .
-Earlier , Iraqi insurgents attacked a police station in the Azamiyah district in northwest Baghdad , killing at least three policemen .
-Clashes also broke out between gunmen and Iraqi security forces in Baghdad 's Amiriyah district .
-Saturday 's violence came a day after Iraqi forces and U.S. soldiers raided a Sunni Muslim mosque in Baghdad known for its anti-American agitation and support for the former regime of Saddam Hussein .
-Two people were killed during Friday 's raid and several others were arrested .
-The United Nations ' top communications agency has called on Iran to stop jamming international satellite broadcasts .
-The International Telecommunication Union said Friday interfering with foreign satellite signals is forbidden .
-The agency stopped short of blaming the Iranian government , but indicated the source of the jamming was coming from Iranian soil .
-The ITU released the statement after receiving complaints from France on behalf of satellite provider Eutelsat .
-Eutelsat claims Iran blocked Persian broadcasts by the Voice of America and the BBC after June of last year , when a disputed presidential election in Iran sparked mass anti-government protests .
-The European Union has also condemned the satellite jamming .
-The U.N. agency does not have a means to force Iran to stop the satellite disruptions .
-U.N. health officials and health ministers from several African countries are due to meet Wednesday in Geneva to discuss ways to stem rising polio numbers .
-Ministers from Nigeria , Niger , Egypt , Burkina Faso , Ivory Coast , Sudan , the Central African Republic and Chad are due to take part in the talks .
-The World Health Organization says the worldwide number of polio cases rose by more than 30 percent last year , to more than 1,170 .
-The majority of cases were in Nigeria , India and Pakistan .
-WHO efforts to eradicate the disease worldwide by the end of this year have been hampered by a months-long vaccine boycott in northern Nigeria , after opponents there said the vaccine was contaminated with infertility agents .
-Polio attacks the nervous system , causing paralysis and sometimes death .
-One computer company is working to add solar power to its portable devices , while another is developing a touch screen for the next version of its widely used software .
-Macrumors.com , a website that closely watches developments at the Apple computer company , says the firm has asked for a patent on adding a solar panel to generate electricity for its portable phones and computers .
-What is new is the idea of putting the solar panel beneath the devices ' display screens and touch screens , saving space .
-Apple 's competitor , Microsoft , is developing a touch screen for the next version of its Windows software .
-The touch screen could take over some of the work now done by a keyboard or computer mouse .
-The White House says President Bush will meet with his counterparts from Liberia and the Democratic Republic of Congo in Washington later this month .
-A pair of statements released Friday said Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf will visit the White House October 18 , followed by Congolese President Joseph Kabila eight days later .
-The White House says Mr. Bush and Mrs. Sirleaf plan to discuss cooperation in the areas of education , reconstruction , trade , security and debt relief .
-It says Mr. Bush and Mr. Kabila will focus on increasing cooperation on security sector reform and economic reconstruction in eastern Congo .
-The Bush administration has been largely supportive of both countries ' governments since elections that brought Mrs. Sirleaf to power in 2005 and confirmed Mr. Kabila as Congo 's president last year .
-Both countries are emerging from bloody civil wars that ruined much of their infrastructure .
-Iraqi officials say bombings in two parts of the country have killed at least 13 people , including seven in an attack against a senior Iraqi Kurdish official .
-Police say a roadside bomb in eastern Diyala province Sunday hit a convoy carrying Mohammed Ramadan , a senior member of Iraq 's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party .
-Authorities say the blast killed five members of Ramadan 's family and two of his guards .
-The bomb wounded at least four other people , including Ramadan .
-Separately today , police say a car bomb attack killed six people and wounded 14 others in northern Baghdad .
-Authorities say three policemen were among those wounded in the attack on a police patrol in the capital 's Shaab neighborhood .
-The United States and France have again called for the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon .
-Speaking in London at a conference on Palestinian reforms , Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and France 's foreign minister Michel Barnier called on Syria to implement the United Nations Security Council resolution aimed at ending foreign interference in Lebanon .
-Ms. Rice said France and the United States are discussing ways to help Beirut ensure that its next elections are free and fair .
-She also said the two countries are considering options aimed at stabilizing Lebanon if Syrian troops withdraw .
-Lebanon 's pro-Syrian government resigned Monday following mass protests and a no-confidence motion in parliament over the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri .
-Both the Syrian and the Lebanese governments have denied involvement in the February 14 attack that sparked anti-Syrian demonstrations .
-Lebanon 's opposition leaders say protests will continue until Syria withdraws its 14,000 troops .
-Indonesia 's military has started the final phase of troop withdrawals from Aceh province , as part of a peace accord to end a 30-year-long separatist insurgency .
-An army spokesman said Tuesday 1,600 troops were being withdrawn , and more would follow next week .
-Indonesia began the pullout a day after rebels from the Free Aceh Movement surrendered their final batch of weapons .
-The peace agreement calls for Indonesian soldiers to leave Aceh , in parallel with militants handing over weapons to international monitors .
-Under the deal , only 14,000 Indonesian soldiers are allowed to remain in Aceh after the military completes its last withdrawal .
-Indonesia and the rebels signed the truce in August in a bid to help Aceh recover from last December 's devastating tsunami .
-Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh have appealed for an end to the fighting between Hamas militiamen and the president 's Fatah faction .
-At least eight people were killed and scores more wounded in the fighting which broke out Sunday in the Gaza Strip and Ramallah .
-The clashes were triggered when Hamas security forces tried to stop protests by policemen demanding the payment of overdue salaries from the Hamas-led government .
-Demonstrators set fire to the Palestinian cabinet building in Ramallah .
-Members of the armed wing of the President 's Fatah faction kidnapped a Hamas minister .
-In a televised speech , President Abbas called on Fatah and Hamas forces to end the conflict and return to their positions .
-The Interior Ministry responded by ordering Hamas-led security forces to redeploy to positions held before the confrontation .
-Askar Akayev Kyrgyzstan 's parliament has failed to gather enough lawmakers to formally accept President Askar Akayev 's resignation , technically leaving the deposed leader in power .
-The letter of resignation was to have been presented to the 75-member legislature Tuesday .
-Deputies also planned to watch a resignation speech videotaped by Mr. Akayev in Moscow , but the parliamentary delegation that traveled to the Russian capital failed to show up .
-Officials say the parliament session has been rescheduled for Wednesday .
-In a sign of how unstable Kyrgyzstan remains , a top anti-corruption officer was gunned down early Tuesday outside his house in the southern city of Osh .
-A top U.S. diplomat is in Pakistan for talks with the country 's leaders on the fight against terrorism and the situation in neighboring Afghanistan .
-U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Richard Boucher arrived in the Pakistani capital , Islamabad , Wednesday for two days of meetings .
-Boucher is meeting with Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri , President Pervez Musharraf and other key members of government .
-Talks are also expected to focus on recent political developments in Pakistan .
-President Musharraf is trying to maintain cooperation with Washington in the fight against terrorism while managing opposition to his government by Islamist hardliners .
-The European Union has imposed more sanctions on Burma .
-The new sanctions , adopted at an EU foreign ministers ' meeting in Brussels , include an embargo on the import of timber , gems and metals from Burma .
-They also extend a list of Burmese leaders and their relatives subject to a travel ban and assets freeze .
-The EU foreign ministers urged Burma 's military government to enter into a " meaningful dialogue " that will lead to democracy .
-They also called for the lifting of all restrictions on detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi .
-Officials in Sierra Leone say at least 200 people are missing and feared drowned after a boat capsized off the coast of the west African nation .
-Eight people have been confirmed dead and 37 have been rescued as officials continue to search for survivors .
-Transportation authorities have been unable to determine the exact number of passengers .
-Police said the boat , carrying a large number of schoolchildren , turned over late Wednesday in a heavy storm south of the capital , Freetown .
-Authorities have not said what caused the accident .
-However , maritime accidents are not uncommon in Sierra Leone where boats are often overloaded and safety standards are frequently lacking or ignored .
-Doctors treating Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko have confirmed he was poisoned with TCDD , the most harmful type of dioxin .
-TCDD was a key contaminant in Agent Orange , the substance that caused numerous health problems during the Vietnam War .
-The doctors in Vienna say the level was about 6,000 times higher than normal .
-In an interview Thursday with the Associated Press , Mr. Yushchenko said he was poisoned at a September dinner with top Ukrainian security officials .
-This came as Mr. Yushchenko and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych were in the midst of a heated presidential election campaign .
-The two face off in a December 26 election .
-The Associated Press also interviewed Mr. Yanukovych , who said he does not want to be associated with authorities Mr. Yushchenko say poisoned him .
-Mr. Yanukovych was declared winner of a flawed November election , but the Supreme Court overturned the results and ordered this month 's re-run .
-Tradition has it that the Vatican Post Office issues a special stamp upon the death of a pope .
-Officials in Vatican City Saturday said the so-called " vacant see " stamp will carry an image only of two crossed keys .
-The traditional image on Vatican stamps issued while a pope is alive contains both the keys as well as other papal symbols .
-These special stamps are only valid during the so-called " interregnum , " or between the time of a pope 's death and when a new one is elected by a conclave of cardinals .
-The last time the Vatican issued a vacant see stamp was in 1978 , when Pope John Paul I died .
-The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency says al-Qaida is fully capable of building and detonating a radioactive dirty bomb in the United States and other Western nations .
-In its annual report on proliferation threats released to lawmakers Tuesday , the CIA said al-Qaida 's stated desire to carry out attacks using chemical , biological or nuclear materials is one of the agency 's highest concerns .
-The CIA said any attack would probably be on a small scale , using improvised delivery devices and easily obtainable toxins or radiological substances .
-It warned that multiple , simultaneous attacks could kill hundreds of people and cause widespread panic .
-The report also says the CIA remains convinced Iran is pursuing a clandestine nuclear weapons program , and North Korea may have a nuclear-capable missile able to reach the United States .
-Egyptian officials say they have postponed reconciliation talks scheduled next week with Palestinian factions .
-Authorities did not say when the Egyptian-sponsored talks would be held .
-Earlier Saturday , Hamas officials said they plan to boycott the talks with rival Fatah .
-Officials said Palestinian President and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas continues to crack down on Hamas in the Fatah-controlled West Bank .
-Late last month , Mr. Abbas deployed hundreds of security officers to the West Bank city of Hebron .
-Egypt invited Hamas and Fatah , along with smaller Palestinian factions , to a meeting in Cairo on November ninth to settle the conflict between the two larger groups .
-The factions have been divided since Hamas militants drove Fatah fighters out of Gaza in June 2007 and seized control of the territory .
-Hong Kong says it had a record-setting 268 new cases of HIV infection in 2004 .
-Dr. S. S. Lee , a consultant for the territory 's Health Department , says increased traffic between Hong Kong and China is partly to blame for the rise in HIV cases .
-China is one of many east Asian nations with a growing AIDS crisis .
-Dr. Lee says the majority of the new HIV cases came from sexual transmission , while a smaller number contracted the virus from contaminated needles .
-However , the number of AIDS cases dropped from 56 in 2003 to 49 last year .
-Dr. Lee says an estimated 3,000 people in Hong Kong either have HIV or AIDS .
-Twelve mine clearing workers are missing in eastern Afghanistan .
-Authorities said Thursday that the workers of a local demining company disappeared while traveling through Paktia province .
-The Reuters news agency quotes a Paktia official as saying insurgents abducted the 12 deminers .
-In southern Afghanistan , NATO said two soldiers were killed and several others wounded by two separate bomb attacks Thursday .
-It gave no other details .
-On Wednesday , Afghan and U.S.-led coalition troops killed more than 40 Taleban fighters during a 12-hour battle in southern Kandahar province .
-The military says nearly 200 Taleban insurgents have been killed in fighting in the area in the past two weeks .
-The Taleban were ousted from power in Afghanistan by a U.S.-led offensive in late 2001 .
-However , Taleban fighters have regrouped in recent months to mount an increasingly bloody insurgency aimed at the U.S.-backed government in Kabul .
-American figure skater Michelle Kwan has pulled out of the Olympic Winter Games in Turin , Italy , dashing the superstar 's hopes to win the one prize that has eluded her over a long and prestigious career - an Olympic gold medal .
-Kwan withdrew from the games early Sunday due to a hip muscle injury and recurring groin strain .
-Kwan says taking herself off the team is the most difficult decision she has ever had to make .
-The 25-year-old California native received a bye onto the Olympic team after missing the U.S. championships because of the groin injury .
-Kwan has five world championships , nine U.S. titles , and silver and bronze Olympic medals .
-Medals will be awarded in eight Olympic events Sunday , including the highly anticipated men 's Alpine skiing downhill race .
-Norway leads the overall medal count with four , followed by Germany with two .
-Israeli security officials say they re-arrested nuclear-whistle blower Mordechai Vanunu early Thursday .
-Officials say Vanunu is suspected of giving unauthorized information to foreigners .
-He was set free in April , after serving 18 years in prison for divulging classified information about Israel 's nuclear program to the London Sunday Times .
-Under conditions of his release , Vanunu is still barred from leaving the country or discussing Israel 's nuclear program .
-His contacts with foreigners also are restricted .
-Egyptian officials say more than 40 people have died in a series of bomb attacks in a Red Sea resort area .
-Police say the seven blasts early Saturday included as many as four car bombs , and injured more than 100 people .
-Witnesses say one hotel , Ghazala Gardens , in the town of Sharm el-Sheik was heavily damaged by the attacks , which also targeted a tourist bazaar in the Naama Bay area .
-Officials say one blast killed 17 people gathered at an outdoor cafe .
-The attacks come as hotels are packed with tourists , including many foreigners , during the busy summer vacation season .
-Last October , 34 people died in explosions in nearby resort areas .
-Egyptian officials blamed the attacks on violence related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict .
-Terrorist mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has apparently surfaced in an audiotape on the Internet , seeking to further divide Iraq 's Sunnis and Shi'ites 10 days before national elections .
-The 75-minute-long statement took aim at the country 's ascendant Shi'ites , who are expected to win a majority of seats in the transitional assembly .
-In the tape , Zarqawi accuses their highest religious authority , Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani , of approving November 's U.S.-led invasion to crush insurgents hiding in the Sunni stronghold of Fallujah .
-He also accuses Shi'ites of killing innocents in Fallujah , and claims they fought alongside 800 Israeli soldiers as well as Jordanian troops .
-The authenticity of the tape has not been established .
-Many of Fallujah 's residents fled ahead of November 's offensive .
-The U.S. military said Thursday that the city is now completely reopened and a little more than half of its residents have returned .
-Ceremonies in the U.S. have marked the anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks with moments of silence and the reading of victims ' names .
-Bells tolled and bagpipes played in New York at the moment eight years ago when the first of two hijacked airliners slammed into the World Trade Center .
-President Barack Obama took part in a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House , while Vice President Joe Biden spoke at the service in New York .
-Nearly 3,000 people died on September 11 , 2001 , in a coordinated al-Qaeda attack involving four hijacked planes .
-One of them crashed into the Pentagon , where Mr. Obama plans to attend a wreathlaying on Friday .
-Services are also planned in Shanksville , Pennsylvania , the crash site of United Airlines Flight 93 .
-That aircraft went down after passengers fought hijackers and presumably stopped the plane from hitting its intended target .
-Witnesses in Nepal say police have opened fire on a protest rally against King Gyanendra in the west of the country , wounding at least one person .
-They say the incident took place Thursday in the town of Pokhara , as police tried to disperse the demonstrators .
-The protest coincided with a nationwide strike called by opposition parties to protest the king 's plan for municipal elections .
-The streets of the capital , Kathmandu , were deserted , and schools and businesses were closed around the country .
-Riot police were patrolling to prevent the violence that has accompanied previous strikes .
-The strike is aimed at stopping candidates from registering for February 8 elections , a process that began today .
-Only a few candidates filed their nominations in Kathmandu in the first few hours .
-The alliance of seven opposition groups says it will boycott the vote , because it would legitimize the king 's absolute rule .
-A Russian newspaper says Russia is planning to sell up to nine submarines to Venezuela .
-The Kommersant reports Thursday that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is expected to sign the deal during a trip to Moscow , which starts June 29 .
-The contract would include five older , 636-type diesel submarines and the future delivery of four state-of-the-art 677 Amur submarines .
-Russia has also supplied similar submarines to China .
-In recent years , Venezuela has become a major buyer of Russian arms , a development that has prompted expressions of concern by the United States .
-Previous Russian arms deals have supplied Venezuela with Kalashnikov rifles , jets , helicopters , and other weaponry .
-Venezuela 's president is a fierce critic of the Bush administration and says it supported the coup against him in April 2002 .
-U.S. officials have denied the charge .
-U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney has arrived in Saudi Arabia for talks on issues including how to stop the sectarian violence in Iraq .
-Cheney is expected to ask Saudi officials to use their influence with Iraq 's Sunni Arab minority to help stabilize the country .
-U.S. officials say the Saudi government has been a strong ally in the region .
-The vice president 's talks with King Abdullah also will include the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the situation in Lebanon .
-On Wednesday , President Bush is to open talks about Iraqi security with Iraq 's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in Jordan .
-The Bush administration is reviewing its strategy in Iraq in hopes of stopping the rise in sectarian violence and continued attacks on coalition forces .
-A new law comes into effect in Brazil Sunday , allowing the country 's air force to shoot down planes suspected of smuggling drugs .
-Drug traffickers frequently fly over Brazil while smuggling drugs from neighboring Colombia .
-Bogota also has a similar shoot-down policy .
-Brazilian officials say air force pilots must follow an eight-step procedure before shooting at a suspected drug plane .
-Critics say that despite those steps , the chance of human error remains and innocent people could be killed .
-Such a mistake occurred in Peru in 2001 , and an American missionary and her child were killed .
-Israel has formally turned over the West Bank city of Jericho to Palestinian forces .
-Israeli troops took down their national flag and dismantled a key checkpoint as Palestinian forces took up positions inside the city .
-Top commanders from both sides resolved a last-minute hitch over paperwork and signed an agreement to formalize the transfer .
-Israel still controls two checkpoints outside Jericho , but troops have relaxed security procedures to ease travel to the city .
-Jericho is the first of five towns ( with Tulkarem , Qalqiliya , Ramallah , Bethlehem ) that Israel plans to turn over to Palestinian control .
-Meanwhile , Israeli television reported that Jewish extremists plan to take over a disputed holy site in Jerusalem to try to sabotage Israel 's planned withdrawal from Gaza .
-Also Wednesday in Cairo , Egyptian and Palestinian officials and Palestinian militant leaders are discussing a proposed one-year halt to Palestinian attacks on Israeli targets .
-Afghan officials say three police officers have been killed in two different suicide bombings Tuesday .
-Authorities say one officer was killed when a bomber rammed a police car in the southern province of Paktika , near the border with Pakistan .
-They say the other bombing took place in the relatively quiet province of Kunduz , when a bomber detonated his car while being followed by police .
-That blast killed two policemen .
-Separately , government officials said unidentified gunmen kidnapped two workers from the ministry of rural development .
-That abduction occurred Monday in the western province of Nimroz .
-A Seoul-based human rights group says North Korea has executed 70 defectors who were captured in China and repatriated .
-The private Commission to Help North Korean Refugees cited informants in the North as saying the executions were carried out to set an example for others thinking about fleeing .
-The group said in a statement Friday that eight or nine defectors were executed last month in public to discourage other people from fleeing to China .
-South Korean officials have not confirmed the report .
-China is North Korea 's only important ally and by treaty returns North Koreans , who Beijing regards as illegal immigrants and not as refugees .
-More than 1,00,000 North Koreans are believed to be hiding in China .
-NATO says its forces carried out a precision airstrike Saturday targeting a Taleban militant in southern Afghanistan .
-In a statement , NATO said the mission targeted the vehicle of a suspected terrorist who is allegedly linked to the transport of anti-aircraft weapons .
-Details about casualties related to the strike in Helmand province were not released .
-The strike took place during the first week of NATO 's offensive against Taleban militants in southern Afghanistan .
-Also Saturday , authorities in eastern Afghanistan say four Afghan security officers were killed in a roadside bomb blast .
-Officials say the attack occurred in Khost province , near the Pakistani border .
-In southern Afghanistan Friday , a remote-controlled bomb ripped through the vehicle of pro-government tribal elder Mullah Naqib .
-Naqib and some of his family members and guards were wounded in the blast and at least two others were killed .
-Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived in the Hague for the EuropeanUnion-Russian Summit Thursday where the disputed Ukrainian presidential election is expected to top the agenda .
-EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has said the 25-member bloc will make it clear to the Russian President that the EU is not " satisfied " with Ukraine 's disputed election .
-Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych -- who was backed by Mr. Putin -- has been declared the winner of Sunday 's voting , but the EU is rejecting the results because of allegations of widespread voting fraud .
-On other issues , EU leaders say they will call on Russia to sign and ratify border agreements with Estonia and Latvia , and urge it to seek a political settlement in war-torn Chechnya .
-Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has fired three top security officials after militants broke the ceasefire he reached with Israel and fired mortars at Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip .
-Mr. Abbas dismissed the men , including security chief Abdel Razek Majaidie , hours after Hamas militants fired the mortars .
-No one was wounded in the shelling , which Hamas said was a response to Israeli gunfire that killed a Palestinian man Wednesday in Gaza .
-Despite the violence , Israeli and Palestinian officials met late Thursday to discuss security issues .
-Meanwhile , a deadly shootout was also reported at a Palestinian jail in Gaza City .
-Palestinian sources say at least three people described as Israeli collaborators were killed when dozens of masked gunmen stormed a jailhouse and set free several prisoners .
-Germany , France and Lithuania are the latest European countries to congratulate Viktor Yushchenko on his victory in the Ukrainian presidential election .
-In a letter to Mr. Yushchenko Tuesday , German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder expressed optimism that Ukraine will continue what he called its transition toward the rule of law and a market economy .
-Lithuanian President Viktor Adamkus congratulated Mr. Yushchenko in a telephone conversation .
-In Paris , the foreign ministry said France and its European Union partners are determined to support democracy and modernization in Ukraine .
-Meanwhile , Russia has questioned the objectivity of monitors for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe .
-That organization characterized last month 's presidential election re-run as flawed , while saying that Sunday 's poll vastly improved upon the last vote .
-Russia backed Mr. Yushchenko 's opponent .
-U.S. weather forecasters say Tropical Storm Ernesto has formed over the Caribbean and is heading toward Jamaica and the Cayman Islands .
-The National Hurricane Center thinks the storm could strengthen in coming days and is on track to enter the Gulf of Mexico next week .
-The center is urging Jamaica and the Cayman Islands to monitor the threats posed by Ernesto , the fifth named storm of the season .
-Earlier Friday , Tropical Storm Debby weakened over the Atlantic .
-The National Hurricane Center in Miami says Debby is about 2,200 kilometers northwest of the Cape Verde Islands , with winds near 65 kilometers per hour .
-It says no significant change in strength is expected over the next day .
-Ethiopian security forces say they have foiled what they describe as a terrorist plot by a group linked to the country 's main opposition party .
-A statement released through state media says authorities arrested a group that was planning attacks in the capital , Addis Ababa .
-The statement says the group planned to target government officials and institutions .
-Ethiopian authorities say they also seized bombs , explosives and small arms related to the plot .
-The statement did not say how many people were arrested or explain how the alleged group is linked to the opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy .
-Leaders of the party were not available for comment .
-Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has repeatedly accused the opposition of conspiring to incite violence and seeking to overthrow him .
-The government has charged at least 129 opposition leaders , journalists and others with treason and planning to commit genocide .
-United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has ordered disciplinary action against senior U.N. officials who worked on the oil-for-food program in Iraq .
-Mr. Annan said in a statement Thursday a report about alleged corruption in the U.N. program has turned up " extremely troubling evidence of wrongdoing , " and he pledged that no one involved would be shielded from prosecution .
-The independent report , released Thursday , concluded that the head of the oil-for-food program , Benon Sevan , seriously undermined the integrity of the United Nations by his conduct .
-U.N. disciplinary proceedings have begun against Mr. Sevan and another senior official , Joseph Stephanides .
-Both Mr. Sevan and Mr. Stephanides are Cypriot nationals .
-Critics say billions of dollars were siphoned away from the oil-for-food program , which was devised after the first Gulf War in an attempt to help Iraq 's impoverished civilian population .
-Rebels and government forces in Ivory Coast began withdrawing heavy weapons from the front line Thursday , complying with a new peace deal to end tensions in the divided nation .
-The pullback , expected to last four days , includes all guns larger than 20 millimeters and short-range weaponry equal to or larger than 60 millimeters , including mortars .
-Anti-tank weapons will remain in place .
-One rebel fighter told VOA he was happy to see the repeatedly postponed disarmament process begin , adding that he hopes to become a police officer once the two-year-old conflict is finally over .
-Several peace deals have failed to take hold in Ivory Coast .
-Rebels still hold huge swaths of territory in northern and western Ivory Coast , with the government firmly in control of the south .
-News reports from Uzbekistan say sporadic gunfire has continued in areas along the Kyrgyz border , following Friday 's military crackdown against protesters in the city of Andijan .
-The Associated Press quoted residents as saying several soldiers and civilians were killed when clashes erupted Sunday in two border villages , Teshiktosh and Karasu .
-Earlier reports said as many as 500 people were killed when security forces fired into a crowd of demonstrators in Andijan on Friday .
-But Uzbek President Islam Karimov said the death toll was much lower .
-He blamed the bloodshed on Islamic radicals trying to overthrow the government .
-Several countries , including the United States , have called for restraint .
-British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw called the Andijan crackdown a clear abuse of human rights .
-Pope John Paul II has included prayers for the victims of the Asian tsunami in his New Year 's Day Mass marking the Roman Catholic Church 's annual World Day of Peace .
-Thousands of pilgrims attended the Pope 's outdoor Mass Saturday at the Vatican .
-John Paul II also led a Mass for the tsunami victims in his private chapel overnight .
-In his peace message , the pontiff called for greater cooperation among the world 's religions , and for promotion of peace through dialogue , justice and forgiveness .
-He urged the world 's one billion Roman Catholics to , " win the fight over evil with the armies of love . "
-The European Union opened membership talks with Turkey early Tuesday , after settling last-minute objections by Austria .
-EU foreign ministers ended 30 hours of heated emergency meetings late Monday in Luxembourg with Austrian officials withdrawing Vienna 's demand that the EU retain the option of offering Turkey a limited partnership .
-Turkey had rejected the option .
-Austria 's cooperation paved the way for all 25 EU member-states to agree on a negotiating framework for the membership process , which is expected to take about 10 years .
-A brief ceremony to officially open the talks took place shortly after midnight Tuesday in Luxembourg .
-Talks had been scheduled to open Monday .
-If accepted , Turkey would be the first country with a majority Muslim population to join the European Union .
-It has been an associate member of the bloc since 1963 .
-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has called for both his supporters and opponents to work with him as he embarks on his fifth presidential term .
-He took the oath of office Tuesday before parliament and several foreign dignitaries , including Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi .
-In a nationally televised speech , the 77-year-old leader pledged to continue a nascent program of political and economic reforms , and to improve the living standard of Egypt 's majority poor during his term , which runs through 2011 .
-He also promised November 's legislative elections will be " free and fair , " after criticisms that September 's first multi-candidate presidential race was rife with voting irregularities .
-Mr. Mubarak beat nine challengers , winning more than 88 percent of the vote .
-Japan says it wants safety guarantees for its players and fans when its national soccer ( football ) team travels to North Korea for a World Cup qualifying match in June .
-Japan 's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda says it is a necessary precondition for any international match that players can play safely and spectators can be protected .
-Japanese concerns were raised by scenes of mob violence at a match in Pyongyang between Iran and North Korea on Wednesday .
-The game was televised and cameras showed the North Korean spectators throwing bottles , cans and seats at players and officials on the field .
-Riot police had to clear a path for the victorious Iranian players to reach their team bus .
-The violence at the game was a rare occurrence in the tightly controlled North Korean state .
-A published report says the United States has been flying drones over Iran for almost a year , looking for evidence of nuclear weapons programs and detect weaknesses in air defenses .
-In Sunday 's editions , The Washington Post quotes three U.S. officials as saying the U.S. military has been launching the unmanned surveillance flights from Iraq .
-There has been no U.S. comment on the report .
-An Iranian spokesman Sunday again warned the United States not to attack its nuclear facilities .
-He also rejected a European proposal aimed at restricting Tehran 's development of nuclear fuel .
-Iran has said in the past it would stop plans to build a heavy water nuclear reactor , which can be used to make nuclear weapons-grade material as well as for nuclear energy .
-But Sunday in Tehran , a foreign ministry spokesman said Iran will go forward with the heavy water reactor and will not replace it under any circumstances .
-North Korea says its Catholic community has organized religious services in memory of Pope John Paul .
-The official news agency , KCNA , on Tuesday quotes Samuel Jang Jae On , described as head of the country 's Catholic association , as saying North Korean Catholics are deeply saddened by the pontiff 's passing .
-The agency says Mr. Jang sent the Vatican a message of condolence .
-North Korea is widely described as one of the world 's most repressive political regimes .
-It is not clear how many Catholics live in the Communist nation and to what extent they can practice their religion .
-Thousands of protesters have demonstrated outside a Philippine army camp , where U.S. soldiers and Philippine troops have begun joint military exercises .
-Demonstrators in the town of Carmen on the southern island of Mindanao chanted anti-U.S. slogans Tuesday and demanded that American troops leave the area .
-U.S. soldiers will also take part in the Philippines ' annual war games , to be held next month on Jolo island in the southern Philippines .
-Jolo is where the al-Qaida-linked militant group Abu Sayyaf has carried out bombings , kidnappings and killings of foreigners in recent years .
-Philippine law prohibits American troops from joining any combat operations with Philippine forces .
-Security for the war games will be tight , to protect the soldiers from attacks by rebels .
-In addition to military training , troops will carry out humanitarian missions to try to boost support among Jolo 's residents .
-The U.N. World Food Program is giving emergency assistance to the Cuban government .
-The WFP announced Tuesday that it will help feed about two million people at a cost of nearly $ 6 million .
-The aid package is intended to help Cuba recover from last month 's devastation from Hurricanes Gustav and Ike .
-During the next six months , WFP will provide food rations , including rice , beans , vegetable oil , canned fish and more .
-The WFP will also supply temporary food storage warehouses and liquid gas stoves to people who lost their cooking facilities in the storms .
-Sweden 's Nobel Foundation begins announcing winners of the annual Nobel Prize awards on Monday in Oslo , Norway .
-Prizes for medicine , physics , chemistry and literature will be announced before the prestigious Peace Prize is revealed Friday .
-A separate prize for economics will be announced October 10 .
-It was instituted in 1968 by the Bank of Sweden in memory of the founder of the Nobel Prize , Swedish philanthropist Alfred Nobel .
-Winners receive their awards , including a check worth $ 1.3 million , at a banquet on December 10 .
-That is the anniversary of Mr. Nobel 's death in 1896 .
-According to his will , a five-member committee elected by the Norwegian parliament chooses the Peace Prize laureate , while Swedish scientific and literary groups choose the other winners .
-The first Nobel Prizes were given in 1901 .
-Insurgents in Iraq fired a barrage of mortar rounds into central Baghdad
-Thursday , killing at least one person and wounding several others .
-Police say some of the mortars landed in the Green Zone -- the heavily fortified enclave that houses Iraqi government offices and several foreign embassies .
-Last week , a mortar attack on the Green Zone killed four employees of a British security company .
-Meanwhile , the U.S. military is planning to temporarily increase the number of American troops in Iraq to bolster security ahead of Iraq 's January election .
-The Defense Department said Wednesday the size of U.S. forces in Iraq will increase to 1,50,000 from its current level of 1,38,000 .
-Iraq 's interim government has rejected calls from some Sunni parties to postpone the vote because of security concerns .
-Brazilian lawmakers have approved legislation that will give the government more control over developing offshore oil fields .
-The lower house of the Brazilian congress passed the bill Wednesday , sending it to outgoing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva for his signature .
-The measure allows the state-owned oil company , known as Petrobras , to be the sole operator of unexplored offshore oil fields , as well as a 30 percent stake in any joint ventures .
-Brazil has discovered potentially large oil reserves off the country 's southeastern coast , some of them thousands of meters below the sea floor .
-Some estimates say the fields may contain more than 50 billion barrels of oil .
-Brazilian lawmakers also approved a provision that will allow non-oil producing states to receive more oil revenues .
-A new U.S. opinion survey shows eight out of 10 Americans believe the country is going in the wrong direction .
-The Washington Post-ABC News poll also indicates Democrats hold a 21 percentage point advantage over Republicans as the party better equipped to handle the country 's problems .
-In a hypothetical general election match-up , Democratic Party candidate Senator Barack Obama leads presumed Republican nominee John McCain by 51-to-44 percent .
-As the Democratic Party nears the end of its presidential primaries , the national poll shows Obama has a 12-point advantage over Senator Hillary Clinton as the party 's choice for its nomination .
-The poll says Americans cite the economy and employment as their top voting issue , followed by the Iraq war , healthcare and fuel prices .
-The poll of more than 1,100 adults , conducted from May 8 - 11 , has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points .
-Cuban President Raul Castro is visiting Venezuela on his first international trip as leader of the communist nation .
-Venezuela 's socialist president , Hugo Chavez , welcomed Mr. Castro Saturday at the Caracas airport .
-This is President Castro 's first official foreign trip since February , when the 77-year-old took charge from his ailing older brother , Fidel Castro .
-The two leaders will visit the tomb of South American independence icon Simon Bolivar today and later hold talks on a variety of issues .
-Venezuela and Cuba have increased cooperation on energy and oil production .
-Venezuela is a critical trade partner for the Caribbean island nation , which imports nearly 1,00,000 barrels of oil per day from Venezuela .
-Today 's visit comes ahead of a summit in Brazil next week , where Latin American and Caribbean leaders will gather for talks .
-The nuclear cooperation pact between India and the United States has sparked a mixed reaction in Washington and abroad .
-International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei praised the agreement , saying it would bring India closer as an important partner in the non-proliferation group of countries .
-But some U.S. lawmakers criticized the deal , saying the agreement that could give India access to U.S. civilian nuclear technology would undermine the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty .
-India has not signed the treaty , which restricts the sharing of some nuclear technology with non-member nations , and drew widespread international criticism for conducting nuclear weapons tests as recently as 1998 .
-Full details of the nuclear cooperation pact have not been released , but the agreement must still be approved by Congress before taking effect .
-President Bush acknowledged Thursday that hard work still needs to be done to gain the necessary approval in Congress .
-A Sudanese analyst says the late rebel leader John Garang was a symbol of the struggle for greater federalism in the country .
-Lecturer John Gai Yoh of the University of South Africa ( UNISA ) in Pretoria credits the leader of the Sudanese Liberation Movement with creating a campaign that included allies beyond his base in the south .
-Mr. Yoh notes that his vision materialized with the comprehensive peace agreement signed last January between the former SPLA rebels and the government in Khartoum .
-Analyst John Gai Yoh predicts that the SPLA will continue to democratize : it has created a new SPLA parliament for the south and has named a new five-man military panel to lead the movement .
-The United Nations has given its annual Franklin Delano Roosevelt International Disability Award to Poland , recognizing the country 's efforts to integrate the disabled into Polish society .
-President Lech Kaczynski accepted the award at a ceremony Monday at U.N. headquarters in New York .
-He said his country 's struggle for freedom includes a commitment to the rights of those with disabilities .
-He said their rights are guaranteed by the Polish constitution .
-Mr. Kaczynski promised that Poland will adopt a new U.N. convention to protect the disabled .
-The award is named for U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt , whose legs were paralyzed from polio .
-Mr. Roosevelt was president from 1933 until 1945 .
-An Ethiopian government spokesman denies that a reported rebel attack said to have killed 140 soldiers ever took place .
-The spokesman , Zemedkun Tekle , issued the denial Sunday after media reports said the Ogaden National Liberation Front had claimed to have carried out the deadly attack Saturday in southeastern Ethiopia near Wardheer .
-A purported statement from the group received by some news organizations said about a thousand rebels took part in the attack and seized ammunition along with military hardware .
-The government spokesman says there was no attack , and that the rebel group is not in a position to carry out such an attack .
-Rebels have been fighting for more autonomy for ethnic Somalis in the eastern region of Ogaden bordering Somalia .
-Kuwaiti television reports the kidnappers in Iraq of American journalist Jill Carroll are threatening to kill her if their demands are not met by February 26 .
-Al-Rai television Friday quoted sources close to the kidnappers as saying the abductors have set the deadline .
-The militants holding Carroll previously had demanded that all Iraqi women prisoners be freed .
-Earlier Friday , at least eight people died and more than 20 were wounded in a Baghdad car bombing near a Sunni Muslim mosque .
-Officials in Iraq also certified results of the December 15 elections , confirming the near majority of parliament seats won by Shi'ite religious parties .
-According to the results , the dominant Shi'ite coalition , the United Iraqi Alliance , won 128 seats in the 275-member parliament .
-Palestinian security officials say masked Palestinian police briefly stormed a government building in the Gaza Strip in anger over not receiving their salaries from the Hamas-led government .
-Security officials say about 50 police officers sealed off the main road Saturday in the central Gaza town of Khan Younis .
-They say the masked police surrounded a municipal government building , taking positions on the roof and firing in the air .
-The protest is seen as a sign of discontent with the new Hamas-led government , which took office late last month .
-The cash-strapped Palestinian Authority has not been able to pay salaries to some 1,40,000 government employees since March .
-Western nations have cut off aid to the Palestinian government , demanding that Hamas renounce violence and recognize Israel .
-The White House said President Bush has approved duty-free treatment for imports of certain types of watches that are n't produced in " significant quantities " in the U.S. , the Virgin Islands and other U.S. possessions .
-The action came in response to a petition filed by Timex Inc. for changes in the U.S. Generalized System of Preferences for imports from developing nations .
-Previously , watch imports were denied such duty-free treatment .
-Timex had requested duty-free treatment for many types of watches , covered by 58 different U.S. tariff classifications .
-The White House said Mr. Bush decided to grant duty-free status for 18 categories , but turned down such treatment for other types of watches " because of the potential for material injury to watch producers located in the U.S. and the Virgin Islands . "
-Timex is a major U.S. producer and seller of watches , including low-priced battery-operated watches assembled in the Philippines and other developing nations covered by the U.S. tariff preferences .
-U.S. trade officials said the Philippines and Thailand would be the main beneficiaries of the president 's action .
-Imports of the types of watches that now will be eligible for duty-free treatment totaled about $ 37.3 million in 1988 , a relatively small share of the $ 1.5 billion in U.S. watch imports that year , according to an aide to U.S. Trade Representative Carla Hills .
-Although known to Arab and Malay sailors as early as the 10th century , Mauritius was first explored by the Portuguese in the 16th century and subsequently settled by the Dutch - who named it in honor of Prince Maurits van NASSAU - in the 17th century .
-The French assumed control in 1715 , developing the island into an important naval base overseeing Indian Ocean trade , and establishing a plantation economy of sugar cane .
-The British captured the island in 1810 , during the Napoleonic Wars .
-Mauritius remained a strategically important British naval base , and later an air station , playing an important role during World War II for anti-submarine and convoy operations , as well as the collection of signals intelligence .
-Independence from the UK was attained in 1968 .
-A stable democracy with regular free elections and a positive human rights record , the country has attracted considerable foreign investment and has earned one of Africa 's highest per capita incomes .
-Recent poor weather , declining sugar prices , and declining textile and apparel production , have slowed economic growth , leading to some protests over standards of living in the Creole community .
-Morocco 's market economy benefits from the country 's relatively low labor costs and proximity to Europe , which aid key areas of the economy such as agriculture , light manufacturing , tourism , and remittances .
-Morocco is also the world 's largest exporter of phosphate , which has long provided a source of export earnings and economic stability .
-Economic policies pursued since 2003 by King MOHAMMED VI have brought macroeconomic stability to the country with generally low inflation , improved financial performance , and steady progress in developing the service and industrial sectors .
-In 2006 , Morocco entered a Free Trade Agreement ( FTA ) with the US , and in 2008 entered into an advanced status in its 2000 Association Agreement with the EU .
-However , poverty , illiteracy , and unemployment rates remain high .
-In response to these challenges , King MOHAMMED in 2005 launched a National Initiative for Human Development , a $ 2 billion program aimed at alleviating poverty and underdevelopment by expanding electricity to rural areas and replacing urban slums with public and subsidized housing , among other policies .
-Morocco 's trade and budget deficits widened in 2010 , and reducing government spending and adapting to sluggish economic growth in Europe will be challenges in 2011 .
-Morocco 's long-term challenges include improving education and job prospects for young Moroccans , closing the disparity in wealth between the rich and the poor , confronting corruption , and expanding and diversifying exports beyond phosphates and low-value-added products .
-Albania , a formerly closed , centrally-planned state , is making the difficult transition to a more modern open-market economy .
-Macroeconomic growth averaged around 6 % between 2004 - 8 , but declined to about 3 % in 2009 - 10 .
-Inflation is low and stable .
-The government has taken measures to curb violent crime , and recently adopted a fiscal reform package aimed at reducing the large gray economy and attracting foreign investment .
-Remittances , a significant catalyst for economic growth have declined from Dec-15 % of GDP to 9 % of GDP in 2009 , mostly from Albanians residing in Greece and Italy ; this helps offset the towering trade deficit .
-The agricultural sector , which accounts for almost half of employment but only about one-fifth of GDP , is limited primarily to small family operations and subsistence farming because of lack of modern equipment , unclear property rights , and the prevalence of small , inefficient plots of land .
-Energy shortages because of a reliance on hydropower , and antiquated and inadequate infrastructure contribute to Albania 's poor business environment and lack of success in attracting new foreign investment needed to expand the country 's export base .
-FDI is among the lowest in the region , but the government has embarked on an ambitious program to improve the business climate through fiscal and legislative reforms .
-The completion of a new thermal power plant near Vlore has helped diversify generation capacity , and plans to upgrade transmission lines between Albania and Montenegro and Kosovo would help relieve the energy shortages .
-Also , with help from EU funds , the government is taking steps to improve the poor national road and rail network , a long-standing barrier to sustained economic growth .
-Economic activity consists primarily of subsistence farming and fishing .
-The islands have few mineral deposits worth exploiting , except for high-grade phosphate .
-The potential for a tourist industry exists , but the remote location , a lack of adequate facilities , and limited air connections hinder development .
-Under the original terms of the Compact of Free Association , the US provided $ 1.3 billion in grant aid during the period 1986 - 2001 ; the level of aid has been subsequently reduced .
-The Amended Compact of Free Association with the US guarantees the Federated States of Micronesia ( FSM ) millions of dollars in annual aid through 2023 , and establishes a Trust Fund into which the US and the FSM make annual contributions in order to provide annual payouts to the FSM in perpetuity after 2023 .
-The country 's medium-term economic outlook appears fragile due not only to the reduction in US assistance but also to the current slow growth of the private sector .
-The discovery and exploitation of large oil and gas reserves have contributed to dramatic economic growth but fluctuating oil prices have produced huge swings in GDP growth in recent years .
-Forestry and farming are also minor components of GDP .
-Subsistence farming is the dominate form of livelihood .
-Although pre-independence Equatorial Guinea counted on cocoa production for hard currency earnings , the neglect of the rural economy under successive regimes has diminished potential for agriculture-led growth ( the government has stated its intention to reinvest some oil revenue into agriculture ) .
-A number of aid programs sponsored by the World Bank and the IMF have been cut off since 1993 because of corruption and mismanagement .
-The government has been widely criticized for its lack of transparency and misuse of oil revenues ; however , in 2010 , under Equatorial Guinea 's candidacy in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative , the government published oil revenue figures for the first time .
-Undeveloped natural resources include gold , zinc , diamonds , columbite-tantalite , and other base metals .
-Growth remained strong in 2008 , when oil production peaked , but slowed in 2009 - 10 , as the price of oil and the production level fell .
-A BOSS who had gone to Canada was taunted by a Citizen of Montreal with having fled to avoid prosecution .
-" You do me a grave injustice , " said the Boss , parting with a pair of tears .
-" I came to Canada solely because of its political attractions ; its Government is the most corrupt in the world . "
-" Pray forgive me , " said the Citizen of Montreal .
-They fell upon each other 's neck , and at the conclusion of that touching rite the Boss had two watches .
-There are less than three months until the election , an election that will decide the next President of the United States .
-The man elected will be the president of all Americans , not just the Democrats or the Republicans .
-To show our solidarity as Americans , let 's all get together and show each other our support for the candidate of our choice .
-It 's time that we all came together , Democrats and Republicans alike .
-If you support the policies and character of President George W. Bush , please drive with your headlights on during the day .
-If you support John Kerry , please drive with your headlights off at night .
-A topologist is a person who does n't know the difference between a coffee cup and a doughnut .
-Lawyers get a lot of unjust criticism .
-I would remind you that it is not right to condemn a whole profession just because of 3,50,000 bad apples .
-I was very lonely when I was a child .
-I only had two imaginary friends ...
-And they would only play with each other .
-The Russian and European space agencies have announced a deal to build a manned spacecraft for near-earth orbits and trips to the moon .
-Russian news agency reports quote a spokesman for the Russian agency Roskosmos as saying engineers want to test a 20-ton capsule by 2015 .
-A first launch is planned for 2018 at a launch center in Siberia .
-Under the pact , Russia will build the capsule , while European engineers build the service module and the engine block .
-The new craft is to be phased in as the replacement for Russia 's Soyuz spacecraft , which has come under increased scrutiny this year , after two consecutive rough landings on return from the International Space Station .
-A human-rights group in Niger says the government is to blame for cancellation of a ceremony that was to grant 7,000 slaves their freedom .
-The group Timidria had planned to release the slaves in the Ates region near Niger 's western border with Mali on Saturday , but the event was called off when none of the slaves showed up .
-The rights group says the government intimidated slaves to keep them from attending the ceremony - a charge the government denies .
-Niger officially banned slavery in 2003 , but human-rights groups say 43,000 people are still in bondage in the West African nation .
-They are among the 2,00,000 people enslaved along centuries-old Arab-African Saharan trade routes .
-Generations of Africans have been born in slavery , many under the ownership of one family .
-Embattled Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo has said he wants to talk with his rival , Alassane Ouattara .
-Mr. Gbagbo has been isolated by the international community , including the United States , after refusing to yield the presidency although he had fewer votes than Mr. Ouattara in last month 's poll .
-Both men have taken the oath of office and begun organizing competing governments .
-Earlier this week , the African Union dispatched former South African president Thabo Mbeki to seek a solution , but after two days of talks , the situation was not resolved .
-The Ivory Coast 's presidential election , its first in 10 years , was meant to restore stability to the West African country , which was split into rebel- and government-controlled areas during a 2002 civil war .
-Officials in Afghanistan say a suicide bomber has killed four Afghan employees of a U.S.-owned private security firm and wounded one other in southern Kandahar province .
-Authorities said Sunday the bomber rode a motorbike next to a vehicle owned by the company , U.S. Protection and Investigations , and detonated his explosives .
-Three guards and the vehicle 's driver were killed , and another guard was wounded .
-On Saturday , a suicide bomber killed seven police officers and a civilian in eastern Afghanistan 's Khost province , near the Pakistan border .
-The Taleban is reported to have taken responsibility for the blast .
-NATO forces in Afghanistan are preparing for another upsurge in violence this year , having already launched an operation in the south to preempt an anticipated offensive by Taleban fighters .
-Turkish police have detained more than 80 people and used tear gas to prevent thousands of leftist protesters from marching to Istanbul 's Taksim square to hold a May Day rally .
-Authorities declared the square off-limits to protesters , but allowed a small number of trade union leaders to lay flowers at the square to mark the day .
-Officials had shut down schools in the area for the day for fear of violence .
-Members of leftist groups often clash with police during May Day observances in Turkey .
-In 1977 , a May Day rally at Taksim square turned violent when unidentified gunmen opened fire on a crowd of demonstrators .
-Thirty-seven people were killed in that incident .
-The race for Iraq 's new prime minister narrowed Tuesday , when one of two top Shi'ite parties withdrew its candidate from consideration .
-Interim Finance Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi , who had been the candidate of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq , withdrew his name from contention .
-This leaves the head of the Islamic Dawa Party , Ibrahim al-Jaafari , as the likely front-runner .
-Both parties belong to the United Iraqi Alliance , which won about 48 percent of the vote for the National Assembly .
-Meanwhile , Iraq 's Electoral Commission says it has received at least three complaints from political groups challenging the election results .
-A final , certified vote tally is expected Wednesday .
-And Turkish shipping magnate Kahraman Sadikoglu , who was abducted in southern Iraq in December , has been freed after reports said his family paid a ransom to his kidnappers .
-A Council of Europe panel says Turkey has passed important legislation protecting minority rights , but has not adequately enforced the new laws .
-In a report , the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance says that despite the new legislation , Turkey 's constitution and its civil , criminal and administrative laws continue to have gaps in addressing racism .
-The report , issued Tuesday in Strasbourg , says Kurds and other minorities still face adversity in Turkey , particularly from ongoing violence in the southeast where Kurdish separatists have been active in recent decades .
-Turkey 's move to push through legal and economic reforms is considered an essential part of its bid to join the European Union .
-The Council of Europe is a 46-nation group that brings together lawmakers from democratic European countries to review major issues facing the continent .
-Armenia has launched an aerial tramway line that it says is the world 's longest .
-President Serzh Sarkisian attended the opening of the tramway Saturday , in the country 's southern mountains near Armenia 's border with Iran .
-The 5.7-kilometer engineering feat spans the Vorotan River gorge , linking a village off the main highway to the 9th century Tatev Monastery .
-The monastery is one of the country 's oldest and most prominent monasteries and is a major tourist attraction .
-The head of Cuba 's parliament has offered to support Iran in its fight to develop nuclear energy within Iranian borders .
-Ricardo Alarcon voiced solidarity Thursday in a meeting with the visiting speaker of Iran 's parliament , Gholam Ali Haddad Adel .
-Iran resumed enrichment of uranium for nuclear fuel earlier this week , despite international pressure against the move .
-Haddad Adel is on a two-day visit to Cuba after spending Wednesday in Venezuela , where he thanked the government for its support on nuclear issues .
-Meanwhile , Indiana Representative Dan Burton , in an interview with Voice of America Thursday , expressed concern over the close ties between Iran and the two countries .
-He said if it appears that there is coordination between terrorist states and leftist organizations in Central America , the United States will intervene .
-Representative Burton said such a relationship would endanger the United States and other countries in the hemisphere .
-European Union foreign ministers hold emergency talks in Luxembourg Sunday in efforts to break a deadlock on Turkey , which is scheduled to begin membership negotiations with the bloc one day later .
-The ministers called the meeting after Austria insisted that EU talks with Turkey should include an alternative to giving the country full membership .
-Austria says most Austrians object to full EU membership for Turkey and suggested offering Turkey privileged partnership instead .
-But Turkey calls that unacceptable and says it will not take part in Monday 's talks unless it is clear that the goal is full membership .
-EU diplomats are working on proposals to soften Austrian opposition .
-One would be a commitment to begin membership talks with Austria 's neighbor Croatia in the near future .
-EU ministers had delayed the talks because of Croatian failure to cooperate fully with The Hague war crimes tribunal .
-Pakistani military authorities say they have arrested a key Taliban commander who is accused of slaughtering military personnel .
-Security forces said Wednesday they captured Taliban commander Sher Mohammad Qasab in the Swat Valley .
-Qasab is known for his brutality among locals in the valley .
-A military spokesman said Qasab was wounded and three of his sons died during an exchange of fire before his arrest .
-Pakistani forces have arrested key Taliban commanders recently in the valley , including Muslim Khan , the central spokesman for the militants .
-Authorities say the arrests have weakened the Taliban and are helping security forces conduct successful raids against other militants in the area .
-The top U.S. diplomat says China should make significant economic reforms so it does not continue to be a " problem for the international economy . "
-In a New York Times newspaper interview , published Friday , Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says Washington also worries about China 's military buildup , human rights practices and religious restrictions .
-It is a change of tone for Ms. Rice , who generally casts Sino-American relations in a positive light .
-Her comments come just a month before Chinese President Hu Jintao makes his first visit to Washington since taking office in 2003 .
-He will arrive amid Washington 's complaints that China manipulates the value of its currency to make its products unfairly cheap on world markets .
-Beijing recently changed the value of its currency slightly , but U.S. critics say the change is not large enough to make trade fair .
-Chad 's national assembly has authorized President Idriss Deby to renew a state of emergency imposed after a rebel attack on the capital , N'Djamena , early this month .
-The parliament voted Friday to extend the emergency measure for another 15 days , until March 15 .
-Mr. Deby declared exceptional powers for his government on February 15 after rebels attacked the capital in an effort to oust the president .
-President Deby said the measures were necessary to maintain order in the country .
-The emergency decree authorizes a midnight-to-dawn curfew and allows the government to ban meetings , control the movement of people and vehicles , and censor what is published in the media .
-Nepal 's parliament has unanimously approved a resolution to curtail King Gyanendra 's powers .
-Details of the declaration have not yet been released , but the resolution is expected to remove the king 's command over the 90,000 member army , as well as his right to make decisions on major issues .
-Those powers are to be given to parliament .
-Earlier Thursday , Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala told parliament members that the proclamation represents the feelings of all people in Nepal .
-Curtailing the king 's powers was a key demand during last month 's pro-democracy protests , which forced King Gyanendra to give up total control of the government and reinstate parliament .
-Nepal 's interim cabinet banned rallies today near the parliament and other key government buildings in Kathmandu .
-Two days ago , there were demonstrations against the delay in curbing the king 's powers .
-Iraqi defense lawyers representing Saddam Hussein before a special tribunal say they have suspended all contact with the court until their safety is guaranteed .
-In a statement , the lawyers cited the kidnapping and murder last week of their colleague Saadoun al-Janabi who represented one of Saddam 's co-defendants .
-They said the deteriorating security situation also makes it impossible to have a fair and open trial .
-They have demanded U.N. protection , as well as the hiring of 15 bodyguards for each lawyer , and an independent international investigation into their colleague 's murder .
-Saddam Hussein and seven associates entered " not guilty " pleas at the opening of their trial last Wednesday for the 1982 murders of 143 Shi'ite men in the town of Dujail .
-The trial was adjourned until November 28 .
-Israeli police have lifted an alert in Tel Aviv , hours after warning of a possible attack .
-Security officials set up barricades at entry points into the city earlier Tuesday to check for suspicious vehicles , causing heavy traffic jams .
-No further details have been released .
-An election official in Haiti says the country may have to postpone elections scheduled for November .
-Patrick Fequiere says authorities need more time to prepare ballots , distribute voter identification cards and set up polling places .
-The election council member 's comments come three days after U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Haitian officials to speed up preparations for the November 20 vote .
-The nine-member council has approved about 30 presidential candidates for the first round of balloting .
-The country will also hold legislative elections .
-The vote will be Haiti 's first since former president Jean-Betrand Aristide fled the country during a 2004 uprising .
-About 7,000 U.N. peacekeepers have been deployed to calm widespread violence in Haiti .
-Israel has allowed the first commercial shipment of shoes and clothing into the Gaza Strip in almost two years .
-Smaller shipments have been allowed to enter Gaza through international aid groups , but Sunday 's shipments are the first to reach private traders .
-Smugglers have skirted the blockade by bringing in goods though a tunnel under the Egypt-Gaza border .
-British-based human rights group Amnesty International called for an end to the blockade in January , saying it is " suffocating " Gaza 's 1.4 million residents .
-An Israeli military offensive into Gaza in December 2008 to stop cross-border rocket attacks by Hamas militants killed at least 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis .
-Ivorian officials say 11 people in a major cocoa-growing region have been killed in an attack believed to have been triggered by a land dispute .
-Officials say the incident happened Thursday when the assailants attacked their victims in the village of Siegouekou .
-A senior presidential source tells the Reuters news agency that the assailants smashed down doors with guns and knives , cut the throats of some people and fired at point blank range on others .
-Clashes involving rival ethnic groups over precious cocoa land are common in the area .
-Ivory Coast is the world 's leading producer of cocoa , the key ingredient in chocolate .
-Oil refineries , drilling platforms and pipelines largely escaped damage from Hurricane Rita , sending prices down to about $ 64 a barrel in Monday morning trading .
-The falling prices were unlike the dramatic spike that followed Hurricane Katrina , but that has not eased worries among industry analysts and politicians about the tight oil supply .
-Nearly all the major refineries along the Gulf of Mexico were shut down before or during Hurricane Rita , cutting total U.S. oil production by nearly 30 percent .
-With little excess refining capacity , analysts say oil prices remain vulnerable to even minor disruptions in the global supply .
-The U.S. Energy Department Monday will brief President Bush on damage to Gulf oil facilities and the status of the nation 's energy industry .
-Reports from Sudan say dozens of people were killed when a plane veered off a runway at Khartoum 's airport and burst into flames .
-About 200 passengers were thought to be aboard the Sudan Airways plane when it landed in bad weather late Tuesday .
-There are conflicting reports about the number of fatalities , but state-run television in Sudan says about 100 people died in the accident .
-Emergency services rushed to the scene and by late Tuesday had brought the fire under control .
-The flight originated in Damascus , Syria , and made a stopover in Amman , Jordan , before flying to Khartoum .
-Sudan has a poor aviation record .
-In May , a plane crashed in a remote area of southern Sudan , killing 23 people , including key members of the southern Sudanese government .
-In July 2003 , a Sudan Airways plane crashed soon after takeoff near Port Sudan , killing 115 people .
-Ukraine 's Deputy Prime Minister Mykola Azarov says U.S. plans to build a missile defense system in central Europe are a threat to Ukraine .
-Azarov said Monday that such a system close to the Ukrainian border would be a target of attack and threaten to suck Ukraine into a conflict .
-Washington says it wants to build missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic to counter a possible threat by North Korean and Iranian long-range missiles .
-Russia has also called the plans a mistake and has noted that neither North Korea nor Iran have such missiles .
-The Pentagon has acknowledged that Iran does not currently possess long-range missiles , but says it is important to stay one step ahead .
-The African Union has extended the mandate for its Darfur peacekeeping mission until the end of the year as it waits to assemble a combined force with the United Nations .
-The African Union said in a statement Friday that it hopes efforts to deploy the hybrid force will be speeded up .
-Sudan agreed this month to the joint African Union - United Nations force of around 20,000 peacekeepers after months of international pressure and threats of tougher U.N. sanctions .
-The African Union already has about 7,000 peacekeepers in Darfur , but they have not been able to stop the region 's violence .
-Sudanese government-backed Arab militias are accused of committing atrocities in battling Darfur rebels .
-Four years of fighting in Darfur has left more than 2,00,000 people dead and more than two million displaced .
-A U.S. Defense Department spokesman says Uzbekistan has restricted American military flights from its soil in recent weeks .
-But the spokesman refused to link the change directly to U.S. criticism of the Uzbek government 's violent crackdown on anti-government protesters last month .
-He said Uzbekistan has stopped allowing U.S. nighttime flights from its air base at Karshi-Khanabad , which American forces use to support operations and supply humanitarian aid to neighboring Afghanistan .
-He said the U.S. military has been working around the restrictions .
-Uzbekistan opened the airfield to U.S. forces in the aftermath of the September 11 , 2001 , terror attacks in the United States .
-Washington in recent weeks has been criticizing the Uzbek government for not allowing an international probe into its handling of last month 's uprising in the eastern city of Andijan .
-Philippine officials , fearing the spread of disease , are urging people to quickly bury hundreds of victims killed in two storms this week .
-The military says at least 1,000 people are dead or missing from floods and mudslides caused by the typhoons , which hit provinces in the northeast of the country .
-Officials are assessing the damage from the latest and most powerful storm , Typhoon Nanmadol , which slammed into the coast Thursday packing sustained winds of 185 kilometers per hour .
-Nanmadol is the fourth storm to hit the Philippines in less than two weeks .
-In a televised statement Friday President Gloria Arroyo said , " We need one great heave to deliver the relief supplies , find the missing , rescue the isolated , feed the hungry and shelter the homeless . "
-Lebanese security officials say Syria has pulled two-thousand more troops out of Lebanon 's eastern Bekaa Valley .
-Officials in Beirut today Monday say the latest withdrawal brings the Syrian military presence down to about eight-thousand troops , the lowest level since they entered Lebanon nearly three decades ago .
-Lebanese officials say the Syrian-Lebanese Military Commission will meet next week to set a timetable for the complete withdrawal of all remaining Syrian forces .
-Also Monday , a senior Lebanese Foreign Ministry official is en route to New York to attend a U.N. Security Council meeting .
-Council members are expected to call for an international investigation of last month 's assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri .
-In other developments , Lebanon 's main opposition leader Walid Jumblatt says he has no current plans to press for disarmament of the militant group Hezbollah .
-Cameroon says its security forces have freed six hostages kidnapped two weeks ago off the country 's coast .
-Communications Minister Issa Tchiroma says the six were freed Thursday and handed over to representatives of their respective diplomatic missions on Friday following medical examinations .
-Tchiroma refused to give any additional details on the operation .
-Rebels from Cameroon 's Bakassi Peninsula claimed responsibility for the kidnappings .
-It is not clear whether the rebels are from a group called Bakassi Freedom Fighters or a splinter group known as Africa Marine Commando .
-The hostages - four Ukrainians , one Croatian and one Philippine national - were kidnapped from vessels off the coast of Cameroon on September 12 .
-A preliminary medical study has indicated that an ingredient in chocolate may improve the circulation of blood in the brain and heart .
-Scientists at the American Association for the Advancement of Science discussed the findings Sunday at a convention in San Francisco , California .
-They said flavinols , an anti-oxidant found in cocoa beans , can increase blood flow to the brain .
-But researchers caution us not to start eating chocolate for its health benefits .
-They say the flavinols are removed from most chocolate because they have a bitter taste .
-Scientists say larger-scale testing is needed to back up the early research .
-They also say eating high-calorie foods - like chocolate - can lead to health problems .
-Protesters attempt to block A9 motorway near Gleneagles , Scotland Police and protesters have clashed in Scotland , as leaders of the world 's leading industrial nations gather for the Group of Eight summit at the Gleneagles resort .
-Scottish officials Wednesday said about 60 people have been arrested and eight officers injured after hooded protesters smashed windows and hurled rocks and other objects at officers in the town of Stirling .
-They say demonstrators have blocked roads leading to Gleneagles , as well as access to a nearby railway station .
-Meanwhile , Scottish police now say they will allow protesters to march to the edge of the G-8 summit site .
-Earlier in the day , they canceled the planned demonstration following outbreaks of violence in cities surrounding the resort .
-More than 10,000 police have been deployed in the area around Gleneagles .
-French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has urged China to use its influence with Burma 's military government to help end the political and social turmoil in the Southeast Asian country .
-Speaking with the French press agency ( AFP ) Wednesday in Thailand ahead of a visit to Beijing , Kouchner said China is pivotal to strengthening United Nations efforts to bring about reform in Burma .
-He said China must push the military junta in Rangoon to open real dialogue with the democratic opposition .
-China -- a major supplier of weapons to Burma -- has been criticized by some diplomats for not taking a tougher stand toward Burma 's military leaders after the September crackdown on pro-democracy protests .
-Kouchner said it was largely due to Beijing 's influence that U.N. envoy Ibrahim Gambari was able to travel to Burma at the end of last month .
-The U.S. military says an American soldier has been killed and two others wounded in fighting with Taleban rebels in southern Afghanistan .
-Seven militants were reported captured Tuesday during the fighting in Uruzgan province , the scene of a spate of suicide bombings in recent months .
-In Kabul Tuesday , Afghan authorities say police fired into a crowd of rioting prison inmates , killing one and wounding at least three others .
-Officials say the gunfire erupted as hundreds of prisoners tried a mass escape after government talks with the inmates broke down .
-Late Tuesday , a man claiming to be an American journalist inmate told Western journalists by cell phone that rioting Taleban inmates were threatening to kill him .
-Free-lance journalist Edward Caraballo was jailed in 2004 along with two other Americans found guilty of running a private prison and torturing Afghan suspects .
-Iran says it will hold talks with the United States next week on security in Iraq .
-Iran 's official IRNA news agency quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini Sunday as saying Tehran agreed to the talks in order to lessen the pain of the Iraqi people , support the Iraqi government and establish security and peace in Iraq .
-The report said Iran received a request for the talks through the Swiss Embassy in Tehran , which often acts as an intermediary for the U.S. in the country .
-A spokeswoman for U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney , who is in the region , said the United States is willing to discuss Iraq with Iranian officials .
-U.S. officials have said they want to see Iran and Syria increase control over their borders , and stop supporting militias and insurgents in Iraq .
-The Iranian spokesman said the time and date of the talks would be made public this week .
-Israel and Western nations are expressing concern over Hamas ' apparent victory in Palestinian parliamentary elections and warning they will not deal with the militant group unless it abandons violence .
-Israel 's acting prime minister , Ehud Olmert , is discussing the development with senior cabinet officials .
-He has said Israel will not work with a Hamas-led government .
-U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan says any group that participates in a democratic process should disarm .
-Britain also called on Hamas to reject violence and acknowledge Israel 's right to exist .
-Other European countries , including France , have expressed concern over Hamas ' apparent election victory .
-And a spokesman for Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas says U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called to stress that the Bush administration will continue to support Mr. Abbas and his policies .
-Amnesty International says sexual violence against women in Haiti is increasing one year after a deadly earthquake forced hundreds of thousands of people into makeshift shelters with little or no security .
-Amnesty said in a report Thursday the offenses are primarily committed by armed men roaming tent camps at night .
-The rights group says more than 250 rapes occurred in camps in the first 150 days after last January 's earthquake .
-Amnesty is urging the newly elected government to include the topic of sexual violence in its plan to address the humanitarian crisis .
-The group says women should have input in developing an action plan .
-The rights group says immediate assistance should include security in the camps and help for police investigating cases .
-The U.S. State Department has informed its diplomats that some will be required to serve in Iraq because of a lack of volunteers willing to work there .
-The department sent a cable Friday to all diplomats , saying that 200 to 300 people will be notified Monday that they are prime candidates for postings in Iraq .
-Harry Thomas , the director-general of the U.S. Foreign Service , said those notified would have 10 days to accept or reject the position .
-Thomas said those who refuse face the possibility of dismissal .
-He said diplomats sent to Iraq will receive extra pay and vacation time .
-There are precedents for the directed assignments .
-In 1969 , an entire class of diplomats was sent to Vietnam .
-During the 1970s and 1980s , some were required to work at embassies in Africa .
-Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has expressed hope to leaders at the Non-Aligned Movement ( NAM ) summit that talks with his Indian counterpart could ease Kashmir border tensions .
-General Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are expected to meet Saturday on the sidelines of the summit in Havana , Cuba .
-Unlike Pakistan 's president , Mr. Singh did not speak directly about the Kashmir issue during his speech at the summit Friday .
-However , he urged N.A.M. leaders to renew their group 's efforts against terrorism .
-Both India and Pakistan claim ownership of Kashmir .
-The countries agreed on a ceasefire in 2003 .
-Kashmir is suffering from a 17-year insurgency that has killed more than 45,000 people .
-A number of rebel groups are fighting for independence from India or a merger with Muslim-majority Pakistan .
-South Africa 's government says it will move away from coal and promote use of wind and nuclear energy in an effort to fight global warming .
-Environment Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk told a news conference Monday that options being considered include mandatory energy efficiency targets and a possible tax on carbon dioxide emissions .
-South Africa generates most of its electricity using coal , a major source of the so-called greenhouse gases blamed for climate change .
-Van Schalkwyk said no new coal-fired power stations would be approved unless they use technology that captures and stores carbon emissions .
-He said if action is taken now , South Africa 's greenhouse gas emissions should stabilize by 2025 and then begin to decline .
-He said the Cabinet 's decisions show the government and the country are committed to a " low carbon economy . "
-Opposition leaders in Pakistan say police have detained at least 150 activists across the country before planned protests on Monday against the removal of the country 's top judge .
-Authorities give conflicting accounts of the detentions .
-Some local police and government officials say they detained activists to prevent further protests , while others say they know nothing about the detentions .
-Pakistan has been shaken by demonstrations since President Pervez Musharraf removed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry from office on March 9 .
-Mr. Musharraf says he suspended Chaudhry because of complaints that he had abused his authority .
-Chaudhry denies the allegations .
-Lawyers and opposition parties say the president is trying to interfere with the independence of the judiciary .
-Mr. Musharraf swore in senior judge Rana Bhagwandas as acting chief justice on Saturday .
-The French government has confirmed the presence of the deadly H5N1 strain of the bird flu among domestic poultry in the southeastern part of the country .
-It is the first outbreak among domestic waterfowl in the European Union .
-The French agriculture ministry said late Friday that lab tests have verified that the deadly strain killed a turkey on a farm near Lyons .
-The farm has been sealed off and more than 11,000 birds have been slaughtered since the illness struck Thursday .
-Previously the deadly H5N1 form of the virus has been found only in wild birds in France and other EU countries .
-The Japanese government on Friday banned the import French poultry products .
-Separately , European Union health ministers met in Vienna Friday to discuss a public campaign to ease fears and raise awareness .
-A persistent knee problem has forced Australian Open tennis champion Marat Safin of Russia to withdraw from the Hopman Cup mixed-team tennis tournament in Perth , Australia .
-Safin has struggled with tendonitis in his right knee .
-After missing the Paris Masters tournament and season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai in November , Safin says his priority is to get ready to defend his Australian Open title rather than play in the Hopman event .
-The Hopman Cup starts Friday with a qualifying match between China and the Netherlands .
-Safin has been replaced on the Russian team by 20-year-old Teimuraz Gabashvili , who will partner Svetlana Kuznetsova .
-Russia is in Group-A with the United States , Sweden and Serbia-Montenegro , and will not play until next Tuesday .
-Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign military forces from Iraq .
-At a joint news conference with Jordan 's King Abdullah Thursday , the Russian leader said many Iraqis perceive the foreign troops as an occupying force .
-He said a phased pull-out of coalition forces would help defuse the violence in Iraq and would help convince a considerable number of those involved in the Iraqi insurgency to join efforts for building a new political system in the war-torn country .
-Mr. Putin also called for an international conference on Iraq to be held by the end of this year , saying it will give an added impulse to normalizing the situation in Iraq .
-Mr. Putin and King Abdullah were meeting at the Russian president 's summer residence near Russia 's Black Sea resort of Sochi .
-A hijacker seized a Sudanese passenger plane Wednesday and forced the pilot to fly to the Chadian capital , N'Djamena , before surrendering to authorities there .
-No one was injured .
-Officials say the plane , carrying 103 passengers , was hijacked this morning after it took off from Khartoum for Sudan 's western city of Al-Fasher .
-Chadian forces surrounded the plane shortly after it landed in N'Djamena .
-Officials say the hijacker was armed with a pistol and wanted the plane to be flown to Britain , where he wanted asylum .
-When told there was not enough fuel , he agreed to go to neighboring Chad .
-Indonesian police say they have arrested a suspected Islamist militant alleged to be a top aide to Malaysian extremist Noordin Mohammad Top .
-Local media say anti-terror security forces captured Subur Sugiarto on a bus in Central Java on Wednesday .
-Several police sources said Subur Sugiarto was part of Top 's inner circle of accomplices .
-Top is a senior member of Jemaah Islamiah , an Islamist militant group seen as the Southeast Asian arm of al-Qaida .
-He is blamed for helping mastermind a string of bombings in recent years in Indonesia , including the 2002 Bali nightclub attacks that killed 202 people .
-Palestinian medical officials say an Israeli aircraft has fired rockets at a car traveling in the southern Gaza Strip , killing a senior Palestinian militant and wounding at least 10 other people .
-Palestinian medics say three of the wounded are in critical condition .
-An Israeli army statement said aircraft had targeted a senior militant accused of involvement in sniper fire and other attacks against Israeli troops .
-Israel repeatedly warned earlier this week that it would launch strikes against Palestinian targets to avenge a suicide bombing Monday inside Israel .
-The Palestinian militant Islamic Jihad organization claimed responsibility for Monday 's blast , which killed five Israelis in Netanya .
-Earlier this week , Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz ordered the army to resume its practice of targeting senior militants for assassination .
-The Israeli military says it has arrested a senior commander of the Palestinian faction Hamas after he spent more than a decade on the run .
-Israeli troops and the Shin Bet security service caught Maher Uda overnight Saturday near the West Bank town of Ramallah .
-Uda has been on Israel 's most wanted list since the 1990s .
-He is considered a founding member of the Hamas military branch in the West Bank .
-Israel blames him for the deaths of at least 70 Israelis .
-Hamas has accused Palestinian security forces of helping Israel detain Uda .
-The Palestinian Authority has not commented on the case .
-The Palestinian Authority runs the West Bank , while Hamas has control over the Gaza Strip .
-The Palestinian Islamist group took control of Gaza in 2007 , after battling forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas .
-The United States says it is providing nearly $ 19 million in emergency aid for Ethiopia 's volatile Ogaden region .
-The State Department said Friday Washington is working with the Ethiopian government , international partners and non-governmental organizations in responding to concerns over humanitarian conditions in the eastern region .
-The U.S. says most of the $ 18.7 million will help provide food assistance through the United Nations World Food Program .
-Some funds also will help pay for health , nutrition , and livelihood programs .
-Years of drought , flooding , civil conflict , disease and food shortages have left residents in Ogaden vulnerable to poverty and famine .
-Ethiopia 's Ogaden , also known as the Somali region , is an oil-rich , but poor area that is ethnically Somali .
-It has long sought autonomy from Addis Ababa .
-Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has asked The Hague tribunal to subpoena British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former U.S. President Bill Clinton as defense witnesses in his war crimes case .
-Mr. Milosevic said he has sent letters to embassies of a number of western countries requesting the testimony .
-But he said their responses indicate the officials are not willing to appear .
-The judges instructed Mr. Milosevic to present his request in writing .
-His witness list also includes former U.S , Secretary of State Madeleine Albright , German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and German Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping .
-Mr. Milosevic 's request came as he resumed conducting his own case after the court reversed an order forcing him to accept appointed counsel because of concerns about his failing health .
-Mr. Milosevic faces more than 60 counts of war crimes in the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s .
-Ethiopia 's foreign ministry says authorities have pardoned nearly 18,000 prisoners to mark the occasion of the country 's third millennium .
-In a statement Friday the ministry says the federal and regional governments pardoned 17,765 prisoners after reviewing recommendations made by national and regional pardon boards .
-It said the pardons were issued September 11 , on the eve of the nation 's new year and millennium celebration .
-Ethiopia celebrated the new millennium on September 12 - seven years after the rest of most of the world .
-Ethiopia follows the Julian calendar , instead of the more common Gregorian calendar .
-It is not the first time the nation has issued pardons at the new year .
-Last year , at this time , Ethiopia pardoned more than 14,000 prisoners .
-The ministry suggested more pardons could be coming , saying that the pardon boards in the Afar and Somali regions are still examining applications .
-A U.N. official in Afghanistan says the H5N1 strain of bird flu has been found in a fourth Afghan province , and says that indicates the virus is slowly spreading around the country .
-The spokesman for the U.N. 's Food and Agriculture Organization , Assadullah Azhari , says laboratory tests in Italy detected the virus in samples from dead chickens found in Kapisa province , northeast of the capital , Kabul .
-The H5N1 strain of bird flu has already been found in the capital , Kabul , and the eastern provinces of Logar and Nangarhar .
-The U.N. official says there are strong suspicions the virus has reached two other provinces , Laghman and Parwan , but says further testing is needed .
-The official says the FAO is supporting efforts by Afghan authorities to strengthen nationwide surveillance of suspected bird flu outbreaks .
-No human cases of bird flu have been reported in Afghanistan .
-Republican presidential candidate John McCain has accused former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld of mismanaging the war in Iraq .
-At a campaign stop Monday in South Carolina , McCain , a supporter of the war in Iraq , said Rumsfeld will be remembered as one of the worst defense secretaries in history .
-McCain said the United States has paid a heavy price for the mismanagement of the war .
-McCain is a member of President Bush 's Republican party .
-He is seeking the party 's nomination to run for president in 2008 .
-At Rumsfeld 's farewell ceremony in December , President Bush praised Rumsfeld 's strategic vision , deep devotion to the military , and love for the United States .
-At the same event , Vice President Dick Cheney said Rumsfeld was the finest defense secretary the nation ever had .
-Australian Prime Minister John Howard says a hasty pullout of foreign troops from Iraq would represent a defeat for the West .
-In an interview on Australian television , Mr. Howard says such a defeat would undermine Australia 's security and the authority of the United States as a world superpower .
-He says anyone who believes withdrawing from Iraq will strengthen the West " has taken leave of their senses " .
-Australia has about 1,300 troops in Iraq as part of the U.S.-led coalition .
-Mr. Howard warned against pulling Australian troops out while other coalition forces remain .
-He says doing so would cause long-term damage to Australia 's alliance with the U.S. Mr. Howard reiterated his support for the U.S. position that foreign forces should only leave Iraq when the Iraqis can look after security themselves .
-Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has criticized the Hurricane Katrina relief effort .
-In a taped ABC television interview to air late Friday , Mr. Powell expressed his opinion that " there have been a lot of failures at a lot of levels - [ of ] local , state and federal [ government ] . "
-The former top U.S. diplomat said " there was more than enough warning over time about the dangers to New Orleans , " but not enough was done .
-Mr. Powell , who was the highest ranking black official during President Bush 's first term , says he does not believe race was a factor in the slow response to the hurricane .
-Mr. Powell says many of those unable to evacuate New Orleans before Katrina struck were trapped by poverty , which disproportionately affects blacks .
-New studies by British and French researchers show quick treatment for minor strokes can dramatically cut the risk of major strokes later .
-The research , published in the journals Lancetand Lancet Neurology , found that patients treated within 24 hours for so-called mini-strokes cut the later risk of a major stroke by about 80 percent .
-Oxford researcher Peter Rothwell says the vast majority of British stroke patients wait several weeks before reporting mini-stroke symptoms to health care professionals .
-The second study by French researchers also found that the early , aggressive treatment of mini-strokes brought similar benefits .
-Strokes occur when blood flow to the brain is blocked .
-Such events kill brain tissue and are one of the leading causes of death or permanent disability worldwide .
-Symptoms include facial numbness , slurred speech , partial paralysis and sudden headaches .
-Treatments include blood thinning drugs and anti-cholesterol medications .
-Crude oil prices fell Wednesday after a U.S. government report showed an increase in inventories , reflecting decreased demand .
-The price of a barrel of oil for future delivery fell 35 cents [ about one percent ] to $ 38.68 a barrel during trading in New York .
-The fall in prices followed a U.S. Energy Department report showing crude oil supplies in the U.S. rose last week by 5,49,000 barrels , or about two-tenths of one percent .
-Iraqi police say a U.S. airstrike on a home in northern Iraq late Monday killed a number of people from the same family , but there are conflicting reports about the incident .
-Residents in the town of Bayji say at least seven bodies were pulled from the rubble .
-Locals say there may be several more people inside .
-U.S. military officials have not commented on the Iraqi police report .
-But the military issued a statement saying three men who were observed planting roadside bombs in Bayji later went to a nearby building , which was fired on by U.S. aircraft using precision-guided munitions .
-Separately , Iraq 's election commission and international observers are now in Baghdad to review fraud allegations from last month 's parliamentary vote .
-Final election results are not expected until after the visiting experts complete their work .
-Lebanon 's pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud visited the home of slain former prime minister Rafik Hariri Friday , to express his condolences to the late politician 's family .
-Mr. Lahoud made no public comments after the visit .
-Mr. Lahoud and Cabinet members were told by Hariri 's family not to attend Wednesday 's funeral in Beirut , which attracted more than 2,00,000 mourners .
-The Hariri family and Lebanese opposition politicians accuse Syria , the main power broker in Lebanon , of involvement in Monday 's car bomb attack that killed Mr. Hariri .
-Damascus has denied any role in the assassination .
-Meanwhile , Lebanese officials say they are searching for several men who flew from Beirut to Australia shortly after the attack .
-The French News Agency quotes Lebanon 's Justice Minister as saying traces of explosives were found on their aircraft 's seats .
-Oil prices went as high as $ 103.05 a barrel in Friday 's trading - the highest price ever recorded - before easing slightly .
-It is the latest in a string of record-highs set in recent days as a weakening U.S. dollar and the threat of inflation makes tangible assets like oil and other commodities more attractive to investors .
-Speculators interpreted recent comments by the head of the U.S. central bank Ben Bernanke as pointing to further interest rate cuts .
-Interest rate reductions are intended to boost U.S. economic growth , but can also further weaken the dollar .
-Members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries are scheduled to consider oil supply and price policies at a meeting on March 5 .
-The nations making up the OPEC cartel pump about 40 percent of the world 's oil .
-Haiti 's interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue says he has no plans to send a special envoy to South Africa to meet with ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide .
-Earlier reports said Mr. Latortue was sending a representative to talk with Mr. Aristide and South African President Thabo Mbeki .
-Mr. Aristide has been living in exile in South Africa since he was forced from power last February .
-The reports said the envoy would try to convince Mr. Aristide to persuade his followers to stop fighting his foes and help stabilize Haiti before elections planned this year .
-More than 200 people have died in the violence since September .
-United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has warned governments around the world not to ignore international agreements prohibiting torture .
-In a statement issued for International Human Rights Day Saturday , Mr. Annan said there has been a disturbing trend of nations claiming exceptions to prohibitions on torture , based on their own national security perceptions .
-The U.N. chief said torture can never be a tool to fight terror , but rather is an instrument of terror .
-In a separate statement , 33 U.N. human rights experts expressed alarm at attempts by many countries to circumvent international human rights laws by giving new names to practices such as torture .
-The experts called on governments to respect human rights standards and to not ignore them when they become , in the statement 's wording , " inconvenient . "
-Meteorologists say the storm known as Rita has strengthened into a category 1 hurricane .
-The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Rita is packing winds of about 120 kilometers per hour as it moves west , past the Bahamas and toward the Florida Keys .
-The storm reportedly caused little damage in the Bahamas .
-However , thousands of tourists and residents have fled the Keys , a low-lying chain of islands off Florida 's southern coast .
-Hurricane warnings remain in effect for the Keys and parts of western Cuba , including Havana .
-Forecasters expect Rita to enter the Gulf of Mexico by Wednesday , and say it is possible that Rita will strike areas along the U.S. Gulf Coast devastated three weeks ago by Hurricane Katrina .
-The Palestinian militant group , Hamas , says Syria has detained four Arabs allegedly recruited by Israel to kill Damascus-based Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal .
-Speaking Tuesday in Lebanon , a Hamas spokesman said the four detainees are members of an Arab security service from an unidentified Middle East country .
-The Syrian government has not commented .
-Khaled Meshaal is widely viewed as Hamas ' overall leader , since Israel assassinated two other top Hamas figures earlier this year .
-The latest Hamas charges come more than a month after Israel promised to restart an assassination campaign targeting Palestinian militants at home and abroad .
-Israel announced the new assassination push days after Hamas suicide bombers struck two buses in southern Israel , killing 16 people .
-Iran 's chief nuclear negotiator says Tehran has only agreed to a temporary freeze of some nuclear activities , and will never completely give up the right to produce nuclear fuel for peaceful purposes .
-Hassan Rohani told reporters Tuesday in Tehran that Iran will only suspend uranium enrichment for the length of international negotiations on the country 's nuclear program , which he says should take months , not years .
-A U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Monday the world must " remain vigilant " about Iran 's nuclear ambitions .
-He said if Iran fails to uphold the terms of Monday 's European-brokered resolution , the International Atomic Energy Agency should immediately refer Tehran to the U.N. Security Council for the possible imposition of sanctions .
-Washington has accused Tehran of violating the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty with a secret nuclear weapons development program .
-Iran has repeatedly denied the charges .
-Russian police confirm that a shrapnel-packed bomb exploded Sunday in a McDonald 's restaurant in St. Petersburg , injuring six people .
-The blast shattered windows and caused the ceiling to collapse .
-None of the injuries was serious .
-Investigators say the bomb was left under a table at the fast food restaurant along Nevsky Prospekt , St. Petersburg 's main street .
-Authorities have not said if the attack was terrorist-related .
-A car bombing of a Moscow McDonald 's by Muslim extremists in 2002 killed one person and wounded seven .
-The U.S. military has confirmed that it shot down an unmanned Iranian aircraft over Iraq last month .
-A military spokesman Monday said U.S. forces tracked the drone in Iraqi airspace for one hour and ten minutes before shooting it down , about 100 kilometers north of Baghdad .
-The spokesman added that " this was not an accident on the part of the Iranians . "
-The incident was first reported by Wired.com earlier this month but , at the time , the U.S. military declined comment .
-Washington has previously accused Iran of meddling in the affairs of neighboring Iraq , where the U.S. has had troops since it invaded the country in 2003 .
-The Palestinian militant group Hamas Thursday banned men from working in hair salons or beauty parlors that cater to women , part of a campaign to enforce a stricter interpretation of Muslim law .
-Hamas officials said any man who continues to cut women 's hair will be arrested and tried in court .
-Islamic extremists in Gaza have been waging a campaign against cafes and shops that sell or play music deemed unsuitable , as well as against Christian institutions .
-They have called on Hamas to impose a more fundamentalist brand of Islam .
-One hairdresser who is impacted by the ban - Barakat al-Ghoul - told the Associated Press he fears he will no longer be able to make a living .
-Al-Ghoul said he had been cutting women 's hair for 26 years .
-He insisted he did not violate Islamic law because he only cuts hair and does not do makeup .
-The head of the U.N. nulcear agency says Iran has agreed to allow inspectors access to a military site that the United States alleges is linked to a secret nuclear weapons program .
-Mohamed ElBaradei , the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency , said in Vienna Wednesday U.N. inspectors could be expected to visit the Parchin military complex " within days or weeks . "
-The IAEA has been pressing Iran for months for access to the military site , located about 30 kilometers southeast of Tehran .
-The United States says it suspects the Iranian military may be involved in nuclear arms research at the specially secured complex .
-Iran insists that its nuclear activity is for peaceful purposes and that its military is not involved .
-Italy says an Italian photographer kidnapped in Afghanistan last month has been freed .
-Italy 's Defense Ministry said Gabriele Torsello was released Friday .
-It gave no details .
-Torsello and his interpreter disappeared between October 12 and 14 .
-Torsello 's kidnappers had said they would kill him if Italy 's 18,00 troops were not withdrawn from Afghanistan .
-In western Herat province , suspected militants with machine guns killed six policemen on patrol .
-The district police chief was among those killed , and three police were wounded .
-A U.S. newspaper reports that Washington is asking China to pressure North Korea on its alleged nuclear weapons program .
-A story in Wednesday 's New York Times says two members of President Bush 's National Security Council recently met with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing .
-The report says the officials discussed new evidence that Pyongyang may have sold to Libya a form of uranium used in nuclear weapons .
-The Times quotes Asian officials who say China has promised to send a delegation to North Korea .
-But the officials say China also advised President Bush against making the kind of public statements about the North Korean situation as he did about Iraq 's alleged threat before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 .
-Iran 's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has ordered state-run broadcasters to stop playing Western and so-called " indecent " music .
-Iranian media reported Monday that he asked the agency in charge of television and radio broadcasts , the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting , to implement the change within six months .
-Mr. Ahmadinejad also called for the government to supervise the content of foreign-made television shows and films .
-Mr. Ahmadinejad was elected earlier this year on a hard-line platform that called for a return to conservative principles .
-Music performances and education in Iran had been sharply limited after Islamic clerics seized power in Iran in 1979 .
-Many of those limits have been relaxed in recent years .
-Australia 's foreign minister has met with the Solomon Islands ' newly elected prime minister , Snyder Rini , following violent protests on the island nation this week that were sparked by his appointment .
-Speaking Saturday in the capital , Honiara , visiting Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said he told Mr. Rini that economic reform is going to be central to the survival of the country .
-Downer said he also addressed corruption issues with Mr. Rini .
-Riots erupted Tuesday in Honiara after Mr. Rini was appointed prime minister .
-Opponents accuse him of being under the influence of ethnic-Chinese businessmen .
-Mr. Rini denies the allegations and has refused demands that he resign .
-Honiara is reported to be quiet Saturday , with Australian troops patrolling the streets .
-Friday , Australia said it will send 110 additional troops to the Solomon Islands .
-Afghan authorities say NATO and Afghan troops have retrieved the flight recorder from the wreckage of an Afghan airliner , ten days after the plane crashed into a mountain near Kabul .
-An Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman says the flight recorder , also known as " black box , " is now in the hands of the investigating commission .
-A break in bad winter weather earlier Sunday allowed troops and investigators to reach the crash site for the first time since the Boeing 737 hit the mountain during a blizzard .
-None of the 104 people on board survived the crash , making it Afghanistan 's worst civil aviation disaster .
-Authorities estimate the recovery of the remains will take weeks .
-Mexican police say gunmen shot 13 recovering drug addicts inside a rehabilitation center , killing at least 10 of them .
-Witnesses say the armed men burst into the center , lined up the clients and opened fire on them .
-The attack took place Sunday in the city of Tijuana , near the U.S. border .
-Police did not immediately identify a motive .
-But authorities suspect the killings may be linked to drug gangs .
-Mexican security forces have been engaged in a brutal struggle against the country 's violent drug cartels since President Felipe Calderon took office in 2006 .
-Nearly 30,000 people have been killed since the campaign began .
-Last week , Mexican security forces seized 105 tons of marijuana in Tijuana , the largest Mexican drug bust in recent years .
-The United Nations ' top humanitarian official is in Somalia to urge the interim government to allow humanitarian aid to reach the country 's people .
-John Holmes , who arrived in the Somali capital of Mogadishu Saturday , is the highest-ranking U.N. official to visit the Horn of Africa nation in more than a decade .
-Earlier Saturday , four people were killed when a bomb exploded nearly 400 meters from the U.N. compound in southern Mogadishu .
-The trip by Holmes is taking place in the aftermath of heavy fighting between allied Somali-Ethiopian forces and Islamists in Mogadishu that killed hundreds of Somalis and forced up to 4,00,000 others to escape to makeshift camps on the city 's outskirts .
-Many of them are living in squalid conditions , with little food , water or shelter .
-United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan is calling on NATO and the European Union to do more to help end violence in Sudan 's Darfur region .
-Speaking at the Munich Security Conference , Mr. Annan said NATO and the EU have the capacity to protect the people who are dying every day in western Sudan .
-He said more international forces are needed to help stop fighting and to provide for secure humanitarian operations .
-Mr. Annan says an African Union mission of about 3,000 troops and observers in the region can not do the job alone .
-Earlier this month , a U.N. panel found that civilians in Darfur have been brutalized in a campaign that may amount to crimes against humanity .
-Sudanese troops and pro-government forces have been fighting rebels , who launched an uprising two years ago .
-A leading international human rights group says it is " deeply concerned " for the safety of Iranian Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi , who has refused an order to appear before Iran 's hard-line Revolutionary Court .
-Human Rights Watch called the court summons a " blatant attempt " by Iran 's government to " silence one of the few remaining voices of human rights " in the Islamic Republic .
-In Tehran Sunday , a Foreign Ministry spokesman said the human rights lawyer was the subject of a private complaint .
-However , Ms. Ebadi , in comments to Reuters news agency , cast doubt on the use of the Revolutionary Court for such complaints , noting that the tribunal handles national security matters .
-Saturday , Ms. Ebadi said she would not honor the court summons , because it failed to state the charges against her .
-Failure to appear could land her in prison .
-A U.S. commission has voted to shut down five Army bases , as part of the Pentagon 's plan to restructure hundreds of domestic military installations .
-The independent Base Closure and Realignment Commission Wednesday approved the closure of facilities in Georgia , New Jersey and Virginia as commissioners began their final deliberations .
-Fort McPherson in Georgia was one of the approved closures .
-In May , the Pentagon recommended the closure of military installations from Maine to Hawaii .
-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the plan would save $ 49 billion over 20 years and make it easier to deploy forces quickly .
-President Bush must certify a final list of base closures recommended by the commission and submit the list to Congress for approval .
-Authorities in volatile northwest Pakistan say six members of a family were killed when a grenade exploded in their vehicle Sunday .
-Officials in the North Waziristan tribal region say a husband , a wife and their four children were killed instantly by the blast .
-Four other people were wounded .
-Officials say they do not know whether the family was transporting the grenade or if it was planted in their vehicle .
-On Saturday , 12 children in northwest Pakistan were killed when they mistook a bomb for a toy and began playing with it .
-A local police official , Said Zaman , said the children found the football-shaped bomb near their school in northwest Pakistan 's Lower Dir district .
-It is not clear whether the bomb was placed there accidentally or deliberately .
-Security officials in Afghanistan say a roadside bomb has ripped through a taxi outside the capital , killing at least one civilian and wounding four others .
-Tuesday 's explosion occurred on a major road in eastern Kabul .
-It is not clear who planted the bomb .
-Separately , the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan said one of its soldiers was killed Monday in a fight with militants in Pech district of Kunar province .
-The soldier 's nationality was not released .
-The coalition also reports seven militants were killed in Paktika province Monday in clashes with U.S.-led troops , one of whom was slightly wounded .
-A statement published in Pakistan , meanwhile , reports the death last week of Younus Khalis , leader of a pro-Taleban faction in Afghanistan who had been in hiding since 2003 , when he declared a holy war against foreign forces in Afghanistan .
-Italy 's interior minister says authorities have thwarted planned terrorist attacks ahead of the country 's upcoming parliamentary elections .
-Giuseppe Pisanu told reporters on the sidelines of a campaign rally in Cagliari , Sardinia , that the plot targeted the Milan subway and a basilica in Bologna .
-He said it involved seven people and that three of them have been expelled from Italy , two are under arrest , one is under surveillance , and another is still at large .
-Pisanu said the group planned to attack the San Petronio basilica in Bologna .
-It features a fresco that Muslim groups have said is insulting to the Prophet Muhammad .
-Pisanu 's remarks come as Italians are preparing for national elections on Sunday and Monday .
-Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his administration to study foreign and domestic criticism of a bill to strictly regulate non-governmental organizations .
-Mr. Putin offered no specific suggestions , but ordered submission of amendments to the controversial bill within five days .
-As presently written , the bill would subject Russian branches of foreign organizations to various restrictions and to the oversight of Russian authorities .
-Human rights groups have condemned the measure , calling it a reflection of the Kremlin 's crackdown on civil society institutions .
-President Putin said Monday that such a bill is necessary to combat the threats of terrorism and what he called " misanthropic ideologies . "
-But , he said , a civil society is crucial , and Russia can not afford to curtail that development .
-A Netherlands court has opened a pretrial hearing in the case of a Dutch businessman charged with complicity in genocide by selling chemical weapons ingredients to ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein .
-Frans van Anraat appeared Friday in a Rotterdam courtroom .
-The 62-year-old defendant is accused of exporting tons of chemicals that Iraq used to make weapons over a four-year period beginning in 1984 .
-Prosecutors say Saddam used the weapons in the 1988 attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja that killed 5,000 people .
-Some survivors of the attack attended Friday 's hearing .
-A prosecutor told the court Mr. van Anraat continued to sell Iraq chemicals even after the Halabja attack .
-But the defendant denies any wrongdoing .
-Mr. van Anraat fled to Iraq in 1989 .
-He returned to the Netherlands after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 .
-Another hearing is expected in June , and the trial in November .
-A 13-year-old Cambodian girl has died from bird flu , bringing to seven the number of people in the country who have died from the virus .
-The World Health Organization and Cambodian Health Ministry have confirmed that the girl was infected with the H5N1 strain of bird flu .
-Elsewhere , Indonesia said it has confirmed another human bird flu fatality in the country .
-Officials there say the 15-year-old girl 's death brings to 73 the number of people in Indonesia who have died from the H5N1 strain .
-The WHO has not confirmed those results , and has so far confirmed only 63 people dying from bird flu in Indonesia .
-The country has more bird flu deaths than any other nation .
-WHO officials say 171 people have died from the virus worldwide since the outbreak began in 2003 , mostly in Asian countries .
-Suicide bomb blasts have killed at least 12 people at a military recruitment center in central Baghdad .
-More than 36 others were wounded in the strike , which witnesses say was carried out by at least two attackers .
-Witnesses describe a scene of devastation in the area around the blast site , and hospital officials say they were treating numerous wounded .
-The strike took place at the same recruitment center where a suicide attack killed at least 59 people last month .
-Insurgents have stepped up their attacks in recent weeks , coinciding with a drawdown in U.S. troops .
-As of September first , the United States says it is no longer engaged in combat operations , renaming the mission one of advice and assistance to Iraqi forces .
-The Iraqi government last week placed the country on highest alert .
-An influential Sunni Arab politician says U.S. forces stormed his Baghdad home early Thursday , arresting four of his bodyguards .
-Adnan al-Dulaimi told reporters he was shocked by the raid .
-He said he is a voice for national reconciliation and against sectarianism .
-A U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad told VOA he could not confirm whether U.S. forces raided Mr. al-Dulaimi 's home .
-Mr. al-Dulaimi heads the Conference for Iraq 's People , a leading political organization representing Iraq 's minority Sunni Arabs .
-That group is urging Sunni Arabs to vote against the new constitution in next month 's national referendum .
-It says if the document is approved , Sunni Arabs may be marginalized if Iraq is divided into Shi'ite , Kurdish and Sunni Arab regions .
-Venezuelan and Chinese officials have signed agreements on oil , agriculture and technology during meetings in Caracas Saturday .
-Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez signed 17 bilateral agreements and also discussed cooperation in mining , oil and gas projects , as well as technological partnership .
-Last month , Mr. Chavez visited China , where he signed agreements with Chinese President Hu Jintao dealing with economic cooperation and joint oil field exploration .
-Venezuela is the world 's fifth-largest oil exporter .
-China , which faces a significant energy shortfall , is looking to strengthen energy cooperation with oil-exporting countries .
-Venezuela is the third stop in Mr. Zeng 's five-nation tour of Latin America and the Caribbean .
-He plans to leave Venezuela Sunday for visits to Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica .
-The U.S. military in Iraq says an insurgent , two women and a child have been killed in a clash between U.S. forces and militants north of Baghdad .
-However , police and residents say 11 people were killed in the raid on a house near Balad , and the Associated Press says its photographs show 11 bodies wrapped in blankets arriving at a hospital in Tikrit .
-U.S. officials could not immediately reconcile the discrepancy .
-But a military spokesman said one al-Qaida suspect was killed and another was captured in the operation .
-Elsewhere , police in Baghdad say two Shi'ite pilgrims were killed as they walked on a roadway toward Karbala for annual festivities marking a key religious celebration that ends Monday .
-Separately , police in Baquba say at least four people died in two bombings .
-In one incident , police say a suicide bomber on a bicycle missed a police patrol and killed two civilians .
-The United Nations is beginning a formal inquiry Wednesday into the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto .
-A Pakistani investigation last year concluded that Taliban militants were likely responsible for Ms. Bhutto 's death in December 2007 .
-But her political party has suggested that Ms. Bhutto 's political opponents may have played a role in the plot .
-U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon announced the creation of the fact-finding commission after meeting with Ms. Bhutto 's widower , Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari , in Islamabad last February .
-Ms. Bhutto was killed in a bomb attack after addressing an election rally near the Pakistani capital .
-Eight cross-country skiers - including a former gold medalist - have been suspended for having high red blood cell counts at the Turin Olympics .
-The eight were suspended for health reasons and not for doping .
-They include 2002 gold medalist Evi Sachenbacher of Germany .
-A high red blood cell count can occur naturally , but can also result from taking endurance-boosting drugs such as EPO .
-Two Americans - Kikkan Randall and Leif Zimmermann - are among the eight .
-The International Ski Federation says the suspensions are not punishments , but to protect the athletes ' health .
-The U.S. Ski Federation says the suspensions are retroactive to Wednesday when the tests were conducted .
-The only cross-country events that fall within the five-day suspension are the men 's and women 's pursuit races Sunday .
-A top U.S. intelligence officer in Baghdad has reportedly warned that Iraq 's security situation is likely to get worse in the coming months .
-The report from the New York Times newspaper cites government officials who say they have seen a cable the officer sent to superiors at the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA ) last month .
-The officer warned of more violence and sectarian clashes unless the Iraqi government can assert its authority and rebuild the economy .
-The newspaper says the officer had just finished a year-long tour as the CIA 's station chief in Baghdad .
-The Bush administration and the military continue to present a more optimistic view of Iraqi security .
-Monday , the Defense Department said the recent offensive in Fallujah had " scattered the enemy , " and said the Iraqi security forces continue to expand .
-Americans Robert H. Grubbs and Richard R. Schrock and France 's Yves Chauvin have won this year 's Nobel Prize in Chemistry .
-The award was announced Wednesday , morning at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm .
-The trio was cited for their work that led the way in the manufacturing of better drugs and environmentally-friendly plastics .
-Mr. Chauvin began work in 1971 in the field of metathesis , which studies how molecules are broken down and then rearranged .
-Mr. Schrock and Mr. Grubbs later developed more efficient and stable catalysts to reproduce the reaction .
-All three men will share the $ 1.3 million cash award , which they will receive during a formal ceremony on December 10 .
-Pakistan 's political opposition stormed out of parliament Friday over government statements that a top Pakistani nuclear scientist provided Iran with centrifuges .
-Pakistan 's Information Minister acknowledged for the first time Thursday that Abdul Qadeer Khan sold centrifuges to Iran that can be used to process uranium for nuclear weapons .
-Opposition lawmakers called the remarks irresponsible and stormed out after the parliament 's chairman refused to hold a debate on the issue .
-Mr. Khan , known as the father of Pakistan 's nuclear bomb , has been under virtual house arrest after coming under investigation for passing nuclear secrets to Iran , North Korea and Libya .
-The West African regional group known as ECOWAS is set to hold an emergency summit Wednesday in Niger to discuss the situation in Togo .
-International criticism of Togolese authorities continued Tuesday over the choice of Faure Gnassingbe as the country 's new president after the military installed him hours after his father 's death Saturday .
-Reacting to the criticism , Togo 's parliament amended the constitution on Sunday to allow Mr. Gnassingbe to serve out his father 's , Gnassingbe Eyadema 's term ending in 2008 .
-The constitution had called for naming the speaker of parliament as interim president until elections are held in two months .
-The African Union 's Peace and Security Council Tuesday branded Mr. Gnassingbe 's seizure of power " a blatant and unacceptable violation of the Togolese constitution . "
-The United States , Britain and France are calling for new elections .
-English football star David Beckham has arrived at the training ground of Premier League team Tottenham Hotspur in preparation of his month-long training stint with the club .
-The 35-year-old Beckham arrived at the team 's facility east of London on Monday .
-Tottenham had hoped to reach an agreement with Major League Soccer 's Los Angeles Galaxy to have Beckham for a two-month playing loan .
-But talks broke down when the MLS club insisted that Beckham report with his Los Angeles teammates on February 10 to prepare for the 2011 season .
-The Galaxy had been reluctant to allow Beckham to spend the offseason playing in Europe after he tore his Achilles ' tendon playing for Italy 's AC Milan last March and missed much of the MLS season .
-However , Hotspurs manager Harry Redknapp is still hopeful the loan agreement can be worked out .
-An international press freedom advocacy group is calling for the unconditional release of Burmese journalist U Win Tin who is about to spend his 76th birthday in prison .
-The Paris-based group Reporters Without Borders issued a joint statement Friday , along with the Burma Media Association saying U Win Tin has been deprived of basic human rights .
-They say he is not allowed to write and has been denied proper medical care for chronic health ailments .
-The statement says that since the beginning of the year , he has been denied visits from the International Committee of the Red Cross .
-U Win Tin was arrested in 1989 and is serving a 20-year sentence for writing anti-government propaganda .
-He will turn 76 March 12 .
-Pakistani officials say militants in northwest Pakistan have bombed a tanker truck carrying fuel to NATO forces in Afghanistan , destroying the tanker and a nearby van .
-Officials say the bomb was attached to the tanker and exploded Wednesday as the vehicle traveled through the Khyber tribal area toward the Afghan border .
-The number of casualties is not clear .
-At least four people were reported wounded by the explosion and there are reports of at least one death .
-Taliban militants regularly attack NATO supply vehicles that pass through Pakistan .
-NATO and U.S.-led forces battling insurgents in landlocked Afghanistan are dependent on Pakistan for supplies , with at least 75 percent passing through that country .
-A U.S. federal inspector says more than 96-million dollars earmarked for projects to rebuild Iraq can not be accounted for .
-The report by Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen has prompted a criminal investigation into the missing money .
-Mr. Bowen 's report , released Thursday , describes how tens of millions of dollars were dispersed for Iraq construction projects with little or no documentation during 2003 and 2004 .
-The report says that while incompetence or haste may account for some problems , there are indications of fraud .
-The inspector general notes the money in question was not U.S. taxpayer dollars but rather Iraqi money designated for reconstruction projects .
-U.S. officials responding to the report have attributed the accounting problems to the difficulties of working in a war-time environment .
-Ukrainian opposition supporters have ended their two-week-long blockade of government buildings and streets in Kiev , but some protesters vow to stay until a runoff election is held .
-Opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko told demonstrators to go home , after parliament approved new anti-fraud laws for a court ordered December 26 repeat of the runoff vote .
-President Bush Thursday congratulated Presidents Aleksander Kwasniewski of Poland and Valdas Adamkus of Lithuania for helping mediate an end to the political crisis .
-Also Thursday , Russia and NATO agreed to work to ensure free and fair elections in Ukraine .
-Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych was declared the winner of the flawed November election .
-He calls the new election laws illegal and say they will do nothing to stop fraud .
-Tropical Storm Alpha made landfall early Sunday in the Dominican Republic .
-The U.S. National Hurricane Center says the storm came ashore near the city of Barahona , with maximum sustained winds close to 85 kilometers per hour .
-The center says Alpha is expected to weaken rapidly but not before bringing heavy rain and possible flooding to the Dominican Republic and neighboring Haiti .
-Alpha is the 22nd named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season , breaking the previous record set in 1933 .
-Forecasters have run through this year 's list of names and have turned to the Greek alphabet .
-Tropical storm warnings remain in effect for the Dominican Republic , Haiti , the Turks and Caicos Islands , and the southeastern Bahamas .
-Electricity consumption is on the rise across Europe , but high oil prices and a reluctance in some countries to ' go nuclear ' is creating an energy gap .
-So some power companies are switching back to ' coal ' - but this time , proponents say coal is cleaning up its act .
-A new generation of ' clean coal ' power stations is due to open across the continent during the next five years .
-But one of the first to come on line has been met with stiff opposition in the United Kingdom .
-Paul Burge reports for VOA from London .
-The Israeli army says its soldiers patrolling the border with Egypt have mistakenly shot and wounded an Egyptian security officer .
-A military spokeswoman Monday said Israeli troops on patrol outside the city of Eilat saw what they considered a suspicious , armed person at the border .
-She said the troops fired at the man after he cocked his weapon .
-The Israeli army says the soldiers only then realized the man , who was wounded in the chest , was an Egyptian security officer .
-A joint Israeli-Egyptian team is investigating the incident .
-Shootings between Israeli and Egyptian forces along the border region have been rare since the two countries signed a peace treaty in 1979 .
-Two British lawmakers have called for an inquiry into claims that a British-based security firm operating in Iraq withheld intelligence from British troops .
-The Guardian newspaper says the lawmakers want the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to investigate whether the firm ArmorGroup directed an employee to withhold information from British forces .
-The probe demand follows a Guardian report that a former British policeman working in 2004 and 2005 for the security firm in southern Iraq was told not to share intelligence gained during visits to local Iraqi police stations .
-The report says ArmorGroup has " vigorously " denied the claims .
-Magna International Inc. 's chief financial officer , James McAlpine , resigned and its chairman , Frank Stronach , is stepping in to help turn the automotive-parts manufacturer around , the company said .
-Mr. Stronach will direct an effort to reduce overhead and curb capital spending " until a more satisfactory level of profit is achieved and maintained , " Magna said .
-Stephen Akerfeldt , currently vice president finance , will succeed Mr. McAlpine .
-An ambitious expansion has left Magna with excess capacity and a heavy debt load as the automotive industry enters a downturn .
-The company has reported declines in operating profit in each of the past three years , despite steady sales growth .
-Magna recently cut its quarterly dividend in half and the company 's Class A shares are wallowing far below their 52-week high of 16.125 Canadian dollars ( US $ 13.73 ) .
-On the Toronto Stock Exchange yesterday , Magna shares closed up 37.5 Canadian cents to C $ 9.625 .
-Mr. Stronach , founder and controlling shareholder of Magna , resigned as chief executive officer last year to seek , unsuccessfully , a seat in Canada 's Parliament .
-Analysts said Mr. Stronach wants to resume a more influential role in running the company .
-They expect him to cut costs throughout the organization .
-The company said Mr. Stronach will personally direct the restructuring , assisted by Manfred Gingl , president and chief executive .
-Neither they nor Mr. McAlpine could be reached for comment .
-Magna said Mr. McAlpine resigned to pursue a consulting career , with Magna as one of his clients .
-Resistance by native Caribs prevented colonization on Saint Vincent until 1719 .
-Disputed between France and the United Kingdom for most of the 18th century , the island was ceded to the latter in 1783 .
-Between 1960 and 1962 , Saint Vincent and the Grenadines was a separate administrative unit of the Federation of the West Indies .
-Autonomy was granted in 1969 and independence in 1979 .
-The Slovene lands were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until the latter 's dissolution at the end of World War I .
-In 1918 , the Slovenes joined the Serbs and Croats in forming a new multinational state , which was named Yugoslavia in 1929 .
-After World War II , Slovenia became a republic of the renewed Yugoslavia , which though Communist , distanced itself from Moscow 's rule .
-Dissatisfied with the exercise of power by the majority Serbs , the Slovenes succeeded in establishing their independence in 1991 after a short 10-day war .
-Historical ties to Western Europe , a strong economy , and a stable democracy have assisted in Slovenia 's transformation to a modern state .
-Slovenia acceded to both NATO and the EU in the spring of 2004 ; it joined the eurozone in 2007 .
-The use of the name Montenegro began in the 15th century when the Crnojevic dynasty began to rule the Serbian principality of Zeta ; over subsequent centuries Montenegro was able to maintain its independence from the Ottoman Empire .
-From the 16th to 19th centuries , Montenegro became a theocracy ruled by a series of bishop princes ; in 1852 , it was transformed into a secular principality .
-After World War I , Montenegro was absorbed by the Kingdom of Serbs , Croats , and Slovenes , which became the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929 ; at the conclusion of World War II , it became a constituent republic of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia .
-When the latter dissolved in 1992 , Montenegro federated with Serbia , first as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and , after 2003 , in a looser union of Serbia and Montenegro .
-In May 2006 , Montenegro invoked its right under the Constitutional Charter of Serbia and Montenegro to hold a referendum on independence from the state union .
-The vote for severing ties with Serbia exceeded 55 % - the threshold set by the EU - allowing Montenegro to formally declare its independence on 3 June 2006 .
-Basutoland was renamed the Kingdom of Lesotho upon independence from the UK in 1966 .
-The Basuto National Party ruled for the first two decades .
-King MOSHOESHOE was exiled in 1990 , but returned to Lesotho in 1992 and was reinstated in 1995 and subsequently succeeded by his son , King LETSIE III , in 1996 .
-Constitutional government was restored in 1993 after seven years of military rule .
-In 1998 , violent protests and a military mutiny following a contentious election prompted a brief but bloody intervention by South African and Botswana military forces under the aegis of the Southern African Development Community .
-Subsequent constitutional reforms restored relative political stability .
-Peaceful parliamentary elections were held in 2002 , but the National Assembly elections of February 2007 were hotly contested and aggrieved parties continue to dispute how the electoral law was applied to award proportional seats in the Assembly .
-Tourism , petroleum refining , and offshore finance are the mainstays of this small economy , which is closely tied to the outside world .
-Although GDP grew slightly during the past decade , the island enjoys a high per capita income and a well-developed infrastructure compared with other countries in the region .
-Curacao has an excellent natural harbor that can accommodate large oil tankers .
-The Venezuelan state oil company leases the single refinery on the island from the government ; most of the oil for the refinery is imported from Venezuela ; most of the refined products are exported to the US .
-Almost all consumer and capital goods are imported , with the US , Brazil , Italy , and Mexico being the major suppliers .
-The government is attempting to diversify its industry and trade and has signed an Association Agreement with the EU to expand business there .
-Poor soils and inadequate water supplies hamper the development of agriculture .
-Budgetary problems complicate reform of the health and pension systems for an aging population .
-A quarrel had arisen between the Horse and the Stag , so the Horse came to a Hunter to ask his help to take revenge on the Stag .
-The Hunter agreed , but said : " If you desire to conquer the Stag , you must permit me to place this piece of iron between your jaws , so that I may guide you with these reins , and allow this saddle to be placed upon your back so that I may keep steady upon you as we follow after the enemy . "
-The Horse agreed to the conditions , and the Hunter soon saddled and bridled him .
-Then with the aid of the Hunter the Horse soon overcame the Stag , and said to the Hunter : " Now , get off , and remove those things from my mouth and back . "
-" Not so fast , friend , " said the Hunter .
-" I have now got you under bit and spur , and prefer to keep you as you are at present . "
-If you allow men to use you for your own purposes , they will use you for theirs .
-THE POMEGRANATE and Apple-Tree disputed as to which was the most beautiful .
-When their strife was at its height , a Bramble from the neighboring hedge lifted up its voice , and said in a boastful tone : " Pray , my dear friends , in my presence at least cease from such vain disputings . "
-" ARE the industries of this country in a flourishing condition ? " asked a Traveller from a Foreign Land of the first man he met in America .
-" Splendid ! " said the Man .
-" I have more orders than I can fill . "
-" What is your business ? " the Traveller from a Foreign Land inquired .
-The Man replied , " I make boxing-gloves for the tongues of pugilists . "
-A statistician is someone who is good with numbers but lacks the personality to be an accountant
-The band at Ellsworth Air Force Base , South Dakota , was required to play for all generals who arrived on base .
-One morning , when the commanding officer heard on the radio that a General Frost was expected just after noon , he sent the band scrambling to the flight line with instruments .
-One of the musicians had also heard the radio announcement .
-He took the C.O . aside for a whispered conference .
-When they returned , the officer told us the performance was canceled .
-There was no arriving general .
-We had almost played for the weather forecast .
-A gauge of future U.S. economic activity shows the recession is likely to continue another three to six months before recovery begins .
-Monday 's report from a business group , the Conference Board , says its index of leading indicators fell 0.3 percent in March .
-Economists watch stock prices , unemployment claims , building permits and other factors to predict economic activity in the near future .
-Some indicators are not falling as fast as they had been , prompting some experts to predict the economy will begin to recover late this year .
-Uganda has lifted the suspension of a private radio station whose host criticized the government over the death of Sudanese Vice President John Garang .
-KFM radio renewed broadcasts Thursday , including host Andrew Mwenda whose comments sparked the dispute .
-Last week , Uganda 's Broadcasting Council shut down the station after Mr. Mwenda accused the government of " incompetence " for flying Mr. Garang in what he called a " junk " helicopter .
-Authorities also arrested Mr. Mwenda on charges of sedition , saying the comments could have sparked mass riots .
-He has since been freed on bail .
-Ugandan officials have also ordered the station to pay nearly $ 3,000 for costs of the suspension procedure .
-Mr. Garang was killed on July 30 while flying back to southern Sudan aboard Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni 's personal helicopter .
-A British newspaper says one of its reporters has disappeared in Iraq and it fears he has been kidnapped by gunmen .
-The Guardian newspaper says Rory Carroll , a 33-year-old Irishman , was on assignment in Baghdad when he vanished earlier Wednesday .
-The paper issued an appeal for information about his whereabouts .
-Meanwhile , the British defense ministry reports that a British soldier was killed in a roadside bomb blast late Tuesday in the southern city of Basra .
-And the U.S. military says a roadside bomb also killed one American soldier and wounded two others late Tuesday south of Baghdad , near Iskandariyah .
-The new violence was reported as Iraqi election officials continue counting and auditing results from Saturday 's referendum on the constitution .
-The Colombian navy says more than 100 Ecuadorean migrants are missing and feared drowned after their overcrowded boat capsized and sank in the Pacific Ocean .
-Authorities said Wednesday that the migrants , hoping to enter the United States illegally , were aboard the vessel when it sank last Friday off Colombia 's coast .
-Seven men and two women survived .
-They were rescued by a fishing boat .
-Investigators say the overcrowded Ecuadorean vessel had the capacity for 15 people but that as many as 120 people may have been on board .
-The Colombian navy has deployed an airplane and boat to search for bodies .
-Ecuador is also participating in the search .
-Officials say the doomed boat had set sail from the Ecuadorean port of Manta .
-US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has met with his Russian counterpart , Sergei Ivanov , for talks on non-proliferation and other issues of bilateral interest .
-At a joint news conference in Washington Tuesday , Secretary Rumsfeld said the government that evolves after Iraq 's elections later this month will be a broadly represented administration .
-He said polls indicate all groups , including Sunnis , want to participate in the January 30 election .
-Mr. Rumsfeld also rejected news reports saying the United States plans to send special forces into Syria in the hunt for militants .
-The two officials also discussed defense and security cooperation .
-Mr. Ivanov also is meeting today at the White House with President Bush .
-China is sending a medical team to its earthquake ravaged southwest to offer reverse sterilization surgery for women who lost their only children in the May 12th quake .
-China 's " one-child " policy limits most families to a single child in most cases and many mothers opt for sterilization surgery after giving birth .
-Thousands of schools collapsed during the May 12th earthquake and by some estimates more than 6,000 students died .
-The offer of reverse sterilization surgery comes as Chinese authorities block access to schools destroyed by the quake in an apparent effort to quell demonstrations by angry , grieving parents .
-The director of the International Atomic Energy Agency , Mohamed ElBaradei , has stressed the importance of worldwide efforts to guarantee the security of nuclear materials , as he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize .
-At ceremonies in Oslo , Norway , Mr. ElBaradei stressed the importance of the security of the human family .
-He said world security strategies have not caught up with the security threats the world faces .
-In accepting the prize for himself and his organization , Mr. ElBaradei noted that 15 years after the end of the Cold War removed divisions in Europe , the divisions between rich and poor countries still remain .
-He expressed hope that globalization will bring the world community together in resolving problems .
-Other Nobel prizes are being awarded in Stockhlom , Sweden , Saturday .
-Literature Prize winner Harold Pinter will not attend because of health problems .
-Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has issued a defiant message to U.S. President George Bush , warning that the United States will not be able to attack Iran .
-Mr. Ahmadinejad said Wednesday that Mr. Bush 's era has " come to an end . "
-The Iranian president also mocked what he called Mr. Bush 's desire to attack Iran , saying the U.S. leader will not be able to harm " even one centimeter " of the country .
-Mr. Ahmadinejad was speaking during a visit to the central Iranian city of Shahr-e-Kord .
-On Tuesday , President Bush and European Union leaders met in Slovenia and warned of additional steps to pressure Iran to stop its controversial nuclear program .
-The United States and five other major powers also are offering Iran new incentives to suspend its nuclear work .
-EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana will visit Tehran later this week to formally present that offer .
-U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell holds talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem Thursday as he launches a new round of indirect peace talks .
-Mitchell met Wednesday in Ramallah with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas .
-Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat says the talks focused on the borders of a future Palestinian state .
-The Palestinians want a state in areas Israel captured in the 1967 war , with East Jerusalem as a capital .
-They are demanding Israel stop building settlements in these areas .
-Mr. Netanyahu has accepted the idea of a Palestinian state , but with conditions and without East Jerusalem .
-Mitchell plans to shuttle back and forth between both sides for as long as four months to help narrow differences .
-U.S. military officials in Afghanistan say coalition troops have killed three Taleban militants , including a top commander , during a firefight in southeastern Paktika province , near the Pakistani border .
-The officials say an Afghan woman and two children were also killed in the gunfight that broke out late Tuesday when coalition troops tried to arrest the militants who were hiding in a village .
-The military says among the dead was Taleban commander Raz Mohammed , who was implicated in several attacks against coalition forces .
-Wednesday , five suspected insurgents were killed in a clash with U.S. troops in nearby Khost province .
-U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan are hunting Taleban loyalists who have been waging a low-level insurgency since the hard-line Islamic regime was ousted in 2001 .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has annulled a controversial intelligence decree that would have forced Venezuelans to become informants and report on their neighbors or face prison time .
-President Chavez took the action Tuesday , saying mistakes were made that must now be corrected .
-The move comes just days after Mr. Chavez said the government would amend the law .
-The new law , which sparked protests , called for Venezuela 's two main intelligence services to be replaced with new agencies overseen by Mr. Chavez .
-It also required Venezuelans to act as informants to secret police and community monitoring groups loyal to the president .
-Anyone refusing to provide information faced two to six years in prison .
-Human rights groups criticized the law , saying it could silence the president 's critics .
-Mr. Chavez had said the law was intended to protect national security and combat U.S. interference .
-Organizers of Afghanistan 's landmark general elections say that according to early reports from nearly all polling stations , turnout was 53 percent .
-U.N.-Afghan chief electoral officer Peter Erben says Thursday this is in line with earlier estimates , with some 6.6 million voters casting ballots in the first parliamentary elections in more than 30 years .
-The figure for Sunday 's polls is more than one million lower than in last year 's presidential election .
-Analysts say a range of factors , including a complex electoral system and the fear of attacks by Taleban insurgents , have caused the drop in numbers .
-Meanwhile , vote counting from the elections is under way .
-Election officials say they plan to issue intermittent results , but a final certified result for all of the provinces is expected to take more than month .
-United Nations officials say new fighting has been reported between Congolese troops and dissident soldiers in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo .
-The U.N. mission says Sunday 's violence occurred near the town of Kanyabayonga , which is held by dissident army units made of former rebels .
-Tens of thousands of people have fled the area since clashes started more than a week ago .
-Dissident soldiers are opposed to a government decision sending thousands of reinforcements to restore order in eastern Congo .
-Kinshasa ordered the deployment after neighboring Rwanda warned it may send troops to attack Rwandan Hutu fighters in eastern Congo .
-Rwanda blames the militants for the country 's 1994 genocide .
-Saturday , U.N. officials said foreign troops have recently crossed into eastern Congo , but did not confirm if they were Rwandan soldiers .
-U.S. officials in Beijing have announced that Chinese President Hu Jintao plans to visit the United States in April .
-Details of his trip have not been released .
-The news comes as U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick is in Beijing for talks with top Chinese officials on bilateral relations , security and proliferation issues .
-Zoellick met with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao Tuesday , and is expected to meet with Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing .
-As part of his three-day trip , Zoellick will also travel to the southwestern city of Chengdu .
-Brazilian drug gangs have stepped up their resistance to an army operation in the slums of Rio de Janeiro , clashing with troops during daylight hours .
-The two sides exchanged gunfire , with gangs lobbing grenades , in the downtown Providencia shantytown Friday .
-A man , woman and young boy were wounded by fragments during the battle .
-The army launched the show of force one week ago in response to the theft of 11 weapons from a military barracks .
-About 1,500 troops have been mobilized in several slum areas .
-While residents from other areas have welcomed the security crackdown , critics have questioned the use of the military in a police role and slum dwellers have complained their lives have been disrupted .
-Rio is one of the world 's most violent cities .
-Its slums are often the scene of gang and drug-related violence that kills hundreds of people each year .
-The United States and France are moving closer to a deal on a United Nations resolution calling for an end to the fighting in Lebanon .
-In New York Friday , U.N. Security Council President Nana Effah-Apenteng said American and French diplomats have taken the lead in drafting the resolution .
-But he said talks may continue through Monday to resolve remaining differences on the best way to stop the fighting .
-The truce resolution has been stalled by U.S. / French differences over whether a cease-fire should precede deployment of peacekeeping troops along the Israeli-Lebanese border .
-In a sign of the increasing urgency of stopping the violence between Israel and Hezbollah , President Bush and French President Jacques Chirac both discussed the issue with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan Friday .
-Cuban President Fidel Castro has announced the renovation of the island 's electricity system , an effort to put an end to energy blackouts that have plagued Cubans for the past two years .
-In a speech Tuesday , Mr. Castro said the nation 's massive energy plants will be replaced by smaller , regional ones and backed up by generators .
-Cuba 's energy problem reached crisis point in 2004 when a key electrical plant broke down .
-Since then , Cubans have suffered sporadic blackouts , often during the hottest months when demand for air conditioning is high .
-The blackouts and power surges damage some appliances , leaving food to rot in the summer heat .
-Witnesses in Somalia say heavy fighting between Islamist insurgents and Ethiopian troops has killed at least five people in the capital .
-The latest fighting began after Islamic rebels attacked an Ethiopian military base in Mogadishu .
-Witnesses say several civilians were killed by stray bullets and mortar fire .
-Ethiopian troops entered Somalia two years ago to help the interim government fight an Islamist movement that was threatening to take over the country .
-Somalia has been continuously torn by conflict since the fall of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 .
-Israeli troops shot and killed three Palestinians near the Israel-Gaza border fence at the Kissufin crossing , Tuesday .
-The Israeli army said soldiers opened fire after spotting suspicious people near the fence .
-Israeli soldiers arrested at least five suspected Palestinian militants after a brief exchange of gunfire near another Gaza border crossing .
-One of the militants was wounded .
-The Israeli military said the firefight broke out when soldiers surrounded a house where the militants were holed up .
-Palestinian witnesses say a large number of soldiers backed by tanks and helicopter gunships took part in the operations at Karni - the main terminal for transport of goods between Israel and the Gaza Strip .
-Witnesses said Israeli tanks and bulldozers also destroyed farmlands near the town of Khan Yunis .
-Israeli forces have been carrying out brief incursions into Gaza since launching an offensive in late June to stop cross-border rocket attacks and rescue a captured Israeli soldier .
-Bolivian President-elect Evo Morales says he welcomes dialogue with the United States and forgives the U.S. government for what he calls " so many humiliations . "
-Morales made the comments Wednesday while visiting South Africa ahead of his inauguration January 22 .
-He said any dialogue that helps end discrimination and poverty is welcome .
-Morales did not explain what he meant by " humiliations . "
-But he has made no secret of his plans to end a U.S.-funded coca eradication program at work in his country .
-Morales campaigned on promises to encourage cultivation of the coca plant , which has traditional uses but also is used to make cocaine .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Tuesday said he is sure the U.S. Embassy in Bolivia has already started plotting to overthrow Morales .
-But an embassy spokeswoman told the Associated Press that the idea is ridiculous .
-The U.S. ambassador to New Delhi has expressed regret for his remarks that a landmark nuclear deal could fall apart if India votes against sending Iran to the United Nations Security Council for sanctions .
-In a statement Thursday , Ambassador David Mulford expressed his sincere regrets , but said his remarks had been taken out of context .
-In Washington , the State Department distanced itself from Mulford 's comments , saying he was expressing his own opinion .
-Also Thursday , India 's Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran summoned Ambassador Mulford to tell him that his remarks were inappropriate and not conductive to building a strong partnership between the two countries .
-The landmark agreement calls for the U.S. to share civilian nuclear technology with India and allow the supply of nuclear fuel to New Delhi .
-In return , India is to separate its civilian and military nuclear programs and allow international inspection of its civilian facilities .
-Palestinian security sources say Israel troops are withdrawing from the West Bank city of Nablus after two days of house-to-house searches for militants and bomb factories .
-The sources say the Israeli forces began leaving Nablus late Monday .
-However , the Israeli military has not confirmed that the operation is completely over .
-Israeli troops entered the densely populated Palestinian city early Sunday and detained dozens of people .
-They imposed a curfew that confined about 50,000 Palestinians to their homes .
-Palestinians say Israeli gunfire Monday killed one Palestinian man and wounded several others .
-The Israeli military said soldiers have uncovered at least three explosives laboratories .
-Palestinian officials have condemned the operation , saying it could spark a new cycle of violence and undermine efforts to revive the peace process .
-Israel , which describes Nablus as a terrorist hub , says the operation has been essential for defending Israeli citizens .
-Indonesia has added more than 7,000 people to the death toll from last month 's earthquake and tsunami , bringing the total number of dead in that country to nearly 1,74,000 .
-Welfare Minister Alwi Shihab said Saturday that an estimated 1,00,000 people are still missing .
-He added that the death toll may rise as officials begin focusing on rebuilding the devastated province .
-Mr. Shihab also repeated the government 's call for separatist rebels to resume peace negotiations .
-Meanwhile , Sri Lanka 's Tamil Tiger rebels have accused the government of obstructing aid deliveries to tsunami-affected areas under rebel control - a charge officials deny .
-Rebel leaders met with Norwegian Foreign Minister Jan Petersen and another peace envoy in the rebel stronghold , Kilinochchi Saturday to discuss the disaster .
-Mr. Petersen is in Sri Lanka for talks aimed at reviving peace efforts between the rebels and government , and assess the needs of tsunami-hit areas .
-Early results from Taiwan 's parliamentary election show pro-independence parties in the lead .
-President Chen Shui-bian 's Democratic Progressive Party and its ally , the Taiwan Solidarity Union , are about three seats ahead of the opposition Nationalist alliance , with about a third of the votes counted .
-President Chen is hoping his pro-independence coalition will win a majority in Taiwan 's 225-seat legislature .
-A coalition led by the Nationalist Party , which advocates unification with Beijing , currently controls 51 percent of the legislature .
-A total of 386 candidates vied for 176 directly elected seats .
-The remaining 49 seats will be allocated based on the proportion of total votes each party receives .
-Full election results are expected by 9.00 p.m. local time .
-The United Nations World Food program has condemned the hijacking of another ship it hired to transport food to Somalians suffering from famine .
-The WFP says the ship Miltzow was being unloaded Wednesday afternoon at the port of Merka when a group of gunmen boarded and forced the crew to sail out of the port .
-The Miltzow was carrying maize , beans and cooking oil .
-On Monday , the freighter Torgelow was hijacked off the eastern coast of Somalia .
-The Torgelow was carrying fuel and supplies to another ship , the Semlow , which was recently freed by hijackers .
-The Semlow was hijacked in June as it sailed from Kenya to Somalia with a load of rice donated by Japan and Germany .
-The head of the U.N. 's nuclear agency is calling on Iran 's Arab neighbors to play a greater role in resolving the dispute between Tehran and the West over Iran 's nuclear program .
-International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei Tuesday accused Arab nations of " sitting on the fence , " and urged them to engage in dialogue .
-Speaking in Vienna , Elbaradei said Iran " could be a positive force in the region ; it could also be a source of conflict . "
-Several European powers and the U.S. accuse Tehran of secretly seeking nuclear weapons , a charge Iran denies .
-The IAEA says Tehran is hampering its efforts to fully inspect its nuclear program and resolve the dispute .
-Elbaradei also welcomed Washington 's recent turnabout at the IAEA , in which it promised to join in talks with other agency board members with Iran about the standoff .
-Lebanon has filed charges against two Lebanese brothers named in a U.N. probe into the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri .
-Officials said they had recently arrested the two men , Ahmad and Mahmoud Abdel-Al , who are members of a pro-Syrian Islamic militant group , Al-Ahbash .
-Meanwhile , U.S. officials warned of possible measures against Syria if it refuses to cooperate with the U.N. probe into Mr. Hariri 's killing .
-U.S. officials are co-sponsoring a draft resolution at the United Nations that would impose sanctions on suspects in the murder .
-Syrian officials have rejected the U.N. probe , which implicates top Syrian and Lebanese officials .
-Russia , which holds a veto on the Security Council , says it will oppose sanctions against Syria .
-The Arab League and Mr. Hariri 's son , Saad , have also expressed opposition to possible U.N. sanctions .
-Ethiopia has reported 18 new cases of polio as it begins a nationwide vaccination program targeting more than 16 million children under the age of five .
-A health ministry official says the polio cases were found in the Tigray , Amhara and Oromia regions .
-The country kicked off its polio immunization campaign on Wednesday with over 1,00,000 volunteers and health workers taking part .
-Polio has spread in Africa and elsewhere as far as Indonesia following a 2003 boycott of immunizations by Islamic leaders in northern Nigeria .
-They claimed the vaccine was contaminated .
-President Bush is promoting his new nominee for Supreme Court justice , citing what he says is a wealth of judicial experience .
-Mr. Bush said on U.S. radio Saturday that Samuel Alito , currently a federal appeals court judge , has more prior judicial experience than any Supreme Court nominee in more than 70 years .
-He also said Judge Alito has the qualities the American people expect - mastery of the law , a deep commitment to justice , and great personal character .
-On Friday , the president told reporters he is disappointed that Senate confirmation hearings will not take place until January 9 for the man he hopes will succeed retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor .
-Mr. Bush nominated Judge Alito October 31 , four days after his first nominee Harriet Miers withdrew amid criticism that she lacked judicial experience .
-Afghanistan on Tuesday ordered a top European Union official and a United Nations employee to leave the country for allegedly threatening national security .
-Government spokesman Humayun Hamidzada said authorities had detained the pair -- one British , the other Irish -- along with their Afghan colleagues who are being investigated .
-The spokesman said the two , based in southern Helmand province , were involved in activities outside their mandate .
-He said they have been declared persona non grata and have been given 48 hours to leave .
-The two men are accused of having meetings with different tribes and groups , including possibly the Taliban .
-One European diplomat said there is hope the incident is a result of a misunderstanding .
-A U.N. spokesman , Aleem Siddique , said the U.N. mission in Afghanistan is trying to clarify the situation .
-Masked assailants with grenades and automatic weapons attacked a wedding party in southeastern Turkey , killing 45 people and wounding at least six others .
-Turkish officials said the attack occurred Monday in the village of Bilge about 600 kilometers from Ankara .
-The wounded were taken to the hospital in the nearby city of Mardin .
-Soldiers cut off the roads leading to the village as they searched for the gunmen .
-Officials said they were not sure of the motive for the attack , which took place at the wedding of the daughter of a village official .
-Interior Minister Besir Atalay said there was no apparent link to terrorism .
-Turkey 's NTV television said the fighting may have involved rival members of state-sponsored militia set up to combat Kurdish separatist guerrillas .
-Other reports suggested the violence was linked to a clan feud .
-United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan says he is deeply disappointed in the decision of Burma 's military rulers to extend the house arrest of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi for another six months .
-The statement by Mr. Annan says the continued detention is not in the interest of Burma 's national reconciliation and democratization .
-Aung San Suu Kyi , the head of the National League for Democracy , has spent 10 of the past 16 years in detention , mostly under house arrest .
-Her current sentence was due to expire this month .
-Mark Farmaner of Burma Campaign UK told VOA 's Burmese Service that Aung San Suu Kyi 's detention was extended because the junta 's ruling generals hope the world will forget about her .
-The United States and the European Union have imposed sanctions on Burma for its suppression of the pro-democracy movement .
-Officials in Seoul say the South Korean government has approved a proposal to withdraw one-third of the country 's troops from Iraq , while extending the remaining soldiers ' deployment by a year .
-President Roh Moo-hyun 's Cabinet endorsed the withdrawal of 1,000 troops during the first half of next year .
-Remaining members of the 3,200-strong South Korean contingent in Iraq would remain there until December 2006 .
-After a review by Mr. Roh , the troop-reduction bill is expected to go before Parliament by Wednesday .
-South Korea 's troops have been assigned to relief and rehabilitation efforts in the northern Iraqi town of Arbil since 2004 .
-After the United States and Britain , Seoul 's troops make up the third-largest force in Iraq .
-A new medical report says secondhand smoke can be just as harmful as smoking , and separate sections for smokers and nonsmokers in restaurants and bars do not help .
-The U.S. Surgeon General , America 's top medical official , released the report Tuesday .
-It says only smoke-free buildings and public places really protect nonsmokers from disease-causing agents in tobacco smoke .
-The report says children are particularly vulnerable to secondhand smoke .
-It says children in homes where parents smoke are at increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome , lung infections and more severe asthma .
-A 2005 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that secondhand smoke causes some 3,000 deaths each year from lung cancer , and 46,000 deaths from heart disease .
-Secondhand smoke is also blamed for 430 infant deaths annually in the United States .
-Portugal 's national football ( soccer ) team will host a match to raise funds to aid victims of the tsunami disaster in Asia .
-The president of the Portuguese Football Federation says Portugal 's national team will play a squad made up of players from the Asian nations hit by last weekend 's devastating tsunami .
-The match will be played during the first two weeks of January at Lisbon 's 65,000 seat Stadium of Light .
-Money raised from ticket sales for the game will be donated to charities working to aid victims of the earthquake-triggered disaster , which may have killed as many as 1,50,000 people .
-The European Parliament , the legislative arm of the European Union , has approved members of a new EU executive commission after nearly three weeks of negotiations .
-The new lineup was approved early Thursday by a wide margin .
-The vote means incoming commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso will likely take office Monday .
-After the vote , Mr. Barroso thanked the parliament for the strong vote of confidence and said he recognizes the responsibility that implies .
-The newly-elected commission members were nominated by Mr. Barroso .
-The commission had been expected to be in place late last month , but Mr. Barroso withdrew his first nominees when parliament objected to some of them .
-The blast occurred at 8.20 am as President Rugova 's motorcade was headed to a meeting with European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana .
-There was no one seriously injured .
-One person was injured .
-The president was not injured .
-There was flying glass and a shop window was blown out .
-And the police are saying that was apparently detonated by remote control .
-Mr. Rugova went on with his regular schedule and said that this proves that there are still elements that want to destabilize Kosovo .
-Sweden has raised its terror alert level from " low " to " elevated " because of intelligence information the security service said pointed to a " shift " in activities by groups targeting the country .
-The Swedish Security Service said Friday there was no imminent threat of an attack .
-It said the shift was linked to groups in Sweden , but did not provide any further details .
-Sweden 's move comes after a report earlier this week of a potential terror plot being hatched in Pakistan to attack several European capitals .
-U.S. and European officials have said that plot was in its initial planning stages and not considered concrete enough to raise the terror threat level in European cities .
-Swedish security officials noted that the threat level in Sweden was low compared to other European countries .
-Survivors in southern Egypt say a candle fell over on a stage set late Monday , sparking a fire in a crowded theater that killed at least 31 people and injured about 30 others .
-Witnesses say the fire in the city of Beni Suef spread quickly across the stage , triggering a stampede of spectators trying to exit the burning building .
-Authorities say the one-storey theater building - attached to a state-run culture center - burned to the ground within an hour .
-The fire is the worst in Egypt since a blaze aboard a crowded train near Cairo killed more than 350 people in 2002 .
-Afghan officials say seven people were killed in eastern Afghanistan Saturday when the vehicle they were driving hit a roadside bomb .
-The blast occurred in the eastern province of Kunar near the Pakistani border .
-The victims were security guards working for a road construction company .
-Authorities do not know who was behind the attacks .
-Taliban militants waging an insurgent campaign against the government in Kabul have been blamed for similar incidents in the past .
-Also today , a suicide bomber blew himself up in an attempted attack in the western Farah province .
-Officials say there were no other casualties .
-Police in France and Germany have encountered small , peaceful protests in sharp contrast to the violent clashes in Strasbourg Thursday evening ahead of NATO 's 60th anniversary summit .
-Several hundred demonstrators protested calmly in the German town of Baden-Baden as U.S. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel met at the town hall .
-French police strengthened their cordon around the city of Strasbourg after detaining 300 people during clashes between protesters and police .
-Officials say about 100 demonstrators are still in custody .
-Police used tear gas on the demonstrators , who smashed windows and set fire to trash bins as security forces sought to block a protest march toward central Strasbourg .
-German and French authorities have deployed about 25,000 police to maintain security around the two towns .
-The absence of Burma 's military leader at an Independence Day dinner this week is generating more concern about his health .
-Diplomats say 73-year-old General Than Shwe did not attend Thursday evening 's dinner because he was having medical tests in Singapore .
-It was the first time since Than Shwe took power in 1992 that he did not host the annual dinner .
-Instead , the military government 's second-in-command , General Maung Aye , hosted the event this year .
-Diplomats say they were told that Than Shwe 's medical tests in Singapore were routine .
-However , it is believed that he suffers from hypertension , diabetes and other ailments .
-The military government in the past has dismissed rumors that the ailing senior leader is gravely ill .
-The U.S. automotive company General Motors is reporting its largest annual loss .
-GM Tuesday announced a deficit of $ 38.7 billion in 2007 .
-It posted a fourth-quarter loss of $ 722 million .
-In a restructuring effort , the company said it will offer buyouts to 74,000 hourly workers in the United States .
-General Motors is the world 's largest automaker .
-It says its North American division is struggling .
-But overall , GM reported earlier this month that it sold more than two percent more cars this January than it had one year ago .
-That increase followed sales declines reported by other major car companies .
-White House spokeswoman Dana Perino today said GM 's loss is " significant . "
-But she cited the company 's restructuring efforts and expressed optimism that the automaker would remain competitive .
-Italian officials say Taleban forces may have kidnapped an Italian journalist missing in southern Afghanistan for three days .
-Daniele Mastrogiacomo , a reporter for Italy 's La Repubblica newspaper , disappeared Sunday in Kandahar province with his interpreter and a guide , both Afghans .
-A Taleban spokesman said Tuesday the group had captured a European reporter on suspicion of spying for British forces .
-The spokesman did not mention Mastrogiacomo by name .
-Italy 's ambassador to Afghanistan , Ettore Francesco Sequi , told the French Press Agency Wednesday that there has been no contact with the kidnappers so far .
-Mastrogiacomo , 52 , has been covering conflicts in Central Asia and the Middle East for La Repubblica since 2002 .
-Indian police say one person was killed and at least 26 others wounded by an explosion in Indian-controlled Kashmir Wednesday .
-It is unclear what caused the blast that sparked panic in a busy market area of Rajouri town , about 100 miles north of Jammu , in southern Kashmir .
-So far , none of the rebel groups operating in Kashmir have claimed responsiblity .
-Militant separatists have been fighting Indian rule in Kashmir since 1989 .
-Thousands have died in violence over the disputed region , and India and Pakistan have fought two wars over it .
-But violence has eased since the nuclear rivals began moving toward peace more than a year ago .
-Palestinian officials say President Mahmoud Abbas is heading to the Gaza Strip Saturday - his first trip to the region since deadly clashes between Fatah party supporters and the rival Hamas faction .
-Officials have not explained the purpose of his visit .
-Mr. Abbas of Fatah and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas are expected to hold mediation talks in Jordan with King Abdullah .
-No date has been given for those talks .
-Tensions between Fatah and Hamas have been high for months .
-Last month , forces from each side fought open street battles in Gaza and the West Bank .
-At least 17 people died in that fighting .
-A ceasefire agreed to last week has largely ended the violence , but has done little to resolve the standoff .
-The first round of historic trade negotiations between Australia and China is under way in Sydney .
-A free trade agreement between the two countries would boost China 's effort to be accepted as a full market economy and would provide Australia with access to the world 's largest marketplace .
-The chairman of China 's National People 's Congress told trade forum members Monday that relations between the two countries have never been better .
-China is Australia 's third-largest trading partner .
-China supplies consumer goods and clothing while key Australian exports include iron ore , wheat , petroleum and coal .
-Australia already has negotiated free trade agreements with the United States , Thailand , Singapore and New Zealand .
-China is mired in increasingly bitter trade disputes with the United States and the European Union .
-Officials in Pakistan say suspected pro-Taleban militants have killed an elderly tribal leader for allegedly spying for U.S.-led forces operating in neighboring Afghanistan .
-The officials said Saturday they found the bullet-riddled body of Rahim Jan in the tribal northwestern region of North Waziristan .
-He was 70 years old .
-A note found on the body said anyone else caught for spying would face a similar fate .
-The volatile North Waziristan region is a known hideout for Taleban remnants .
-Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf signed a ceasefire accord Tuesday with tribal militants in the region .
-Under the deal , Pakistan 's military will stop its crackdown in the border region if the militants disarm or expel foreign al-Qaida-linked fighters and stop attacks within Pakistan and in Afghanistan .
-Voters in Luxembourg have approved the proposed European Union Constitution in a referendum Sunday - reversing a trend set by France and the Netherlands last month .
-With all the votes counted , the charter was approved by nearly a 13-point margin , of about 57 to 43 percent .
-Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker , a staunch supporter of the pact , had promised to resign if it was not approved .
-This was the first referendum on the constitution since French and Dutch voters rejected it last month .
-EU leaders then put the constitution issue on hold , and Britain , Denmark , Portugal , Sweden and Finland postponed planned votes .
-All 25 member nations must approve the constitution before it can take effect .
-The United Nations warns Haiti could see a resurgence of violence as the nation gears up for presidential and parliamentary elections .
-In a report issued Tuesday , U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan says Haiti is at a critical juncture , as the country prepares for its first set of elections since the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February , 2004 .
-He says the security environment has improved in recent months , but the elections process would still benefit from outside assistance on security measures .
-The report says elections must not be tainted by candidates seen by the public as criminals , or by funds of dubious origin .
-Elections were scheduled for November this year , but officials say the date could be pushed back to December due to delays in preparation .
-International relief officials have welcomed the agreement by India and Pakistan to open their heavily-militarized boundary in divided Kashmir to help survivors of this month 's devastating earthquake .
-The two governments say crossings will be opened at five points starting November 7 to allow people to cross in both directions on foot .
-Priority will go to families separated by the de~facto border .
-A U.N. humanitarian coordinator in the quake zone , Rashid Khalikov , called the agreement a good step that will help extend aid to people in isolated areas .
-But with a bitter Himalayan winter approaching and millions of people homeless or needing shelter , aid workers fear hunger , disease , diarrhea and injuries that are not treated could kill thousands more .
-Some 2,00,000 people are still without any humanitarian aid three weeks after the quake that killed about 55,000 people , most of them in Pakistani Kashmir .
-The United Nations will host a major conference on the long-term recovery efforts for Iraq Saturday at its main headquarters in New York .
-U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will co-chair the ministerial session with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki .
-Representatives from 20 nations will participate in the conference , including many of Iraq 's neighbors , such as Iran , Kuwait and Syria .
-The meeting will focus on a resolution adopted by the General Assembly last month to expand the U.N. 's presence in Iraq .
-Also on the agenda is the International Compact on Iraq , a five-year economic and political recovery strategy .
-Mr. Ban told reporters earlier this week he will urge the U.N. member states to follow through on their pledges of support for Iraq .
-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will attend today 's conference .
-A New York court has sentenced former Colombian drug kingpin Alberto Orlandez Gamboa to 40 years in prison for heading a cartel that smuggled large quantities of cocaine into the United States .
-Authorities announced the sentence Thursday , for the 49-year-old Orlandez Gamboa , who once boasted of being among Colombia 's top 10 drug lords .
-The former kingpin , who was extradited to the United States several years ago , had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy , drug smuggling and money laundering charges .
-Officials say Orlandez Gamboa led an organization of about a dozen large-scale traffickers in Barranquilla , Colombia , who smuggled tons of cocaine into the United States and other countries .
-Colombia is the world 's largest cocaine producer .
-Most of the cocaine produced there is shipped to the United States .
-Cuba 's main labor organization says the state is to lay off more than 5,00,000 public sector workers by March .
-The Cuban Workers Confederation said the country can not and should not continue supporting businesses , production entities and services with inflated payrolls .
-It said the losses hurt the economy and are ultimately counterproductive , creating bad habits and distorting worker conduct .
-In the statement released on state-run media , the union said Cuba would change its labor structure and salary system and increase private sector job opportunities .
-Currently , the state employs 95 percent of the official work force .
-Several weeks ago , Cuban President Raul Castro said his government would scale back its involvement in the nation 's economy and allow more Cubans to operate their own businesses and hire workers .
-He said the aim was to create jobs for Cubans employed by the government who will be laid off .
-The leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization has urged militants to end attacks against Israel , saying such violence " harms our national interest . "
-The PLO executive committee made the appeal Sunday just hours after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon gave his military a free hand against militant groups in Gaza .
-Mr. Sharon accused newly-elected Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas of doing nothing to curb attacks on Israelis .
-The PLO statement said violence by militant groups gives Israel an excuse to obstruct Palestinian stability .
-Palestinian officials say Mr. Abbas will meet with militants in Gaza Wednesday to urge them to agree to a cease-fire that must be reciprocated by the Jewish state .
-Incoming BP head Robert Dudley is expected to travel to Russia next week for the first time since fleeing the country in 2008 , signaling a thaw between BP and its Russian partner TNK-BP .
-Dudley is the former chief executive of TNK-BP and will travel to Moscow with outgoing BP chief Tony Hayward .
-The Financial Times reports their discussions with Russian counterparts will likely include the sale of Venezuelan assets from BP to TNK-BP , to help meet the cost of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill .
-Dudley was compelled to leave Russia in 2008 in a dispute over control of TNK-BP .
-He officially replaces Tony Hayward October 1 .
-Mexican police are searching for the people responsible for kidnapping the two top traffic officials in the northern city of Monterrey .
-Enrique Barrios Rodriguez was kidnapped early Monday morning when armed assailants rammed through the front gate of his home .
-It was just a day after his operations chief , Reynaldo Ramos , was abducted from his home nearby .
-Monterrey Mayor Fernando Larrazabal said the motive was not yet known .
-He said the state prosecutor 's office is handling the investigation .
-Monterrey is the capital of the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon , which has experienced a recent increase in drug-related violence .
-The mayor has recently fired a large number of traffic police officers suspected of corruption or collusion with drug traffickers .
-The seventh round of peace talks for Sudan 's troubled Darfur region have been postponed , but it is not clear when they will resume .
-The African-Union sponsored talks were due to begin in the Nigerian capital , Abuja , Monday .
-African Union officials are quoted as saying the delay could range from several days to an indefinite postponement .
-AU spokesman Nureddin Mezni told the French News Agency , AFP , the talks were postponed because of logistical reasons .
-The last round of talks ended in October with little progress amid escalating violence in Darfur and infighting within Darfur 's main rebel group .
-Saturday , a senior U.S. official , Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs , Jendayi Frazer , met with rival leaders of the rebel Sudan Liberation Army to urge them to present a united front at the next round of peace talks .
-Pakistan says it has tightened security around all its nuclear facilities following a surge of militant attacks within its borders .
-The head of the agency that handles Pakistan 's nuclear arsenal , Khalid Kidwai , told foreign reporters Saturday that , in his words , " the state of alertness has gone up . "
-However , he said there is no conceivable scenario in which Pakistan will fall to al-Qaida or Taliban type extremists .
-Militant groups have launched a rising number of attacks on Pakistani security forces and intelligence personnel in recent months .
-Pakistan is estimated to have about 50 nuclear weapons .
-The New York Timessays international inspectors are requesting access to two secret Iranian military sites , where intelligence suggests Tehran could be developing nuclear weapons .
-The newspaper says inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency have seen satellite photographs that indicate high explosives are being tested .
-According to the Times , several sources , including IAEA member countries , diplomats and weapons experts provided intelligence about the Iranian military sites .
-This week , Iran agreed to suspend uranium enrichment activities , staving off a U.S. push to bring the matter to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions over Tehran 's alleged nuclear weapons program .
-But the Iranian government says it has not abandoned its right to enrich uranium .
-The Indian government has lodged a protest against Pakistan over its plans to build a dam in the disputed region of Kashmir , with the help of China .
-India 's foreign ministry said Friday the dam is being built in part of the Himalayan valley that is " illegally " occupied by Pakistan .
-Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan , but claimed by both .
-Last month , Pakistan and China signed a memorandum of understanding for the construction of the Bunji hydroelectric project , which is aimed at generating electricity for Pakistan .
-The country is dealing with power shortages .
-The project has caused concern in India over Pakistan 's growing ties with China .
-Friday , Pakistan summoned an official with the Indian High Commission in Islamabad to reject the India 's protest of the dam .
-The presidents of Afghanistan and Iran have opened a new road between their countries that they hailed as a symbol of the bilateral cooperation needed to restore peace and stability to the region .
-Iran agreed to build the 123-kilometer road between its Dogharoun region and Afghanistan 's western Herat province that officials say is a key source of trade for Afghanistan .
-In his remarks , Iranian President Mohammad Khatami said Iran desires a stable , modern and free Afghanistan .
-He also said that his government is studying more than 30 road-building projects in Iran to further expand trade to Afghanistan and Central Asia .
-Visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai thanked Iran for building the $ 60 million highway and emphasized that the reconstruction of war-torn Afghanistan will also help its neighbors .
-President Karzai used the new highway to return home and end his two day visit .
-The U.S. military says five American troops died in Iraq Thursday , including four killed in a roadside bombing .
-The military says the blast in eastern Baghdad also injured two soldiers .
-The other fatality was of a soldier who died of combat injuries north of Baghdad in Salahaddin province .
-In other news , a mortar attack Friday killed one person in the southern Baghdad neighborhood of Zafaraniyah .
-In the northern city of Kirkuk , a roadside bomb killed two police officers .
-Also , the British military has confirmed the escape of some prisoners at a British-run detention facility near the southern city of Basra .
-The Reutersnews agency says 10 prisoners escaped earlier this week by swapping clothes and places with individuals who came as visitors .
-The news agency says those who swapped clothes with the prisoners are being held for questioning .
-The African Union 's Peace and Security Council says that Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo should stay in power after his mandate expires until new post-war elections can be organized .
-In a statement Thursday following crisis talks on Ivory Coast , AU leaders recommended President Gbagbo stay on for one year and called for the appointment of a new prime minister .
-The president 's mandate ends October 30 - the day an election was to have taken place in Ivory Coast .
-The election has been delayed indefinitely after the warring sides failed to implement key steps to organize the vote .
-Several peace deals have failed to take hold and Ivory Coast remains divided between rebels who control large swaths of territory in the north and the government in the south .
-The U.S. space agency NASA says the Phoenix Mars probe landed in an ideal location to search for evidence that the planet could support life .
-At a news conference Tuesday NASA scientists said the probe is located in a valley in the polar region believed to contain subterranean ice .
-Phoenix is designed to dig through the Martian soil and into the layer of ice to look for the basic chemical components essential to supporting life .
-NASA says there were few problems with the landing Sunday , though a radio glitch on a spacecraft orbiting Mars will likely delay the scheduled mission by about one day .
-A team of Canadian scientists reports clear skies at the landing site , with temperatures ranging between negative 30 and negative 80 degrees Celsius , and with 32 kilometer per hour winds .
-Pop musician John Mayer will headline an upcoming concert to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Save The Music .
-Founded by the VH1 television network to promote music education in U.S. public schools , the organization has reportedly provided $ 34 million worth of instruments to schools around the country .
-Scheduled for September 20 at New York City 's Lincoln Center , the concert will also feature 50 of the students the organization has helped over the past decade .
-Asian markets fell sharply Monday , on fears a recession in the United States will weaken the demand for Asian exports .
-China 's Shanghai Composite Index tumbled more than 7 percent while the Nikkei in Tokyo and Sensex in Mumbai were both down almost 4 percent .
-Hong Kong 's Hang Seng index dropped more than 5 percent .
-The major European indexes in London , Paris and Frankfurt were also down in midday trading , but much less than Asia , dropping about 2 percent .
-Analysts say investors are still nervous following last week 's worldwide plunge , despite President 's Bush 's plan to revitalize the slowing U.S. economy with tax rebates .
-The U.S. Federal Reserve meets this week to consider if another interest rate cut is needed to help stave off a recession .
-Thousands of Palestinian police have begun deploying in the southern Gaza Strip .
-Palestinian authorities say security forces headed for two of the most volatile areas Friday - the refugee camps of Khan Younis and Rafah .
-Militants there have launched rocket and mortar attacks at Israeli troops and Jewish settlements .
-Shortly after the Palestinian security move , Israeli army chief General Moshe Yaalon ordered his troops to halt operations in all areas of the Gaza Strip where Palestinian police are deployed .
-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Thursday conditions are right for a " historic breakthrough " in the Middle East peace process because of steps taken by the new Palestinian leadership .
-Mr. Sharon told a group of Israeli businessmen , Israel would be willing to advance the peace process if Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is able to stop terror attacks .
-Niger President Mamadou Tandja has approved Prime Minister Seyni Oumarou 's new cabinet , with several top ministers returning to posts they held before a no-confidence vote toppled the previous government last month .
-Prime Minister Oumarou took office this week after Niger 's parliament voted out Prime Minister Hama Amadou 's government on May 31 .
-Mr. Amadou 's opponents accused him of complicity in a corruption scandal in Niger 's education ministry .
-Two former education ministers have gone to jail since an audit found hundreds of thousands of dollars were missing .
-Among those keeping their seats in the 31-member cabinet announced Saturday are the Foreign Minister Aichatou Mindaoudou , Interior Minister Albade Abouba and Economy and Finance Minister Ali Mahamane Lamine Zeine .
-Tibet 's spiritual leader , the Dalai Lama , has voiced his support for pro-democracy protests in Burma and is urging Buddhist members of the country 's military government to show more compassion .
-In an interview with VOA in Washington Tuesday , the Dalai Lama said that he admired the recent efforts of Buddhist monks in Burma to push for democracy and added that he felt that their cause was just .
-The Dalai Lama also urged Buddhist members of Burma 's military government to use the religion 's teachings of " compassion " and " love " when confronting such situations of crisis .
-The Dalai Lama spoke with VOA after meeting with President Bush in Washington on Tuesday .
-The Burmese government 's bloody crackdown of pro-democracy protests in Burma last month left at least 10 people dead .
-Thousands of monks and other activists have been arrested , and many more are believed to have been killed .
-Ukraine 's opposition party has agreed to hold talks with President Leonid Kuchma to resolve the crisis over Sunday 's disputed presidential elections .
-Mr. Kuchma is calling on all political forces in the former Soviet republic to immediately enter into talks .
-The appeal came after about 2,00,000 opposition supporters marched on the presidential office in Kiev to demand that their candidate - Viktor Yushchenko - be declared the winner of the election .
-Official preliminary results showed the pro-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich winning the vote .
-Mr. Kuchma , a backer of the prime minister , called the protests a " political farce " that he says could lead to " unforseeable consequences . "
-U.S. and European observers reported indications of extensive voter fraud in Sunday 's election .
-Russian President Vladimir Putin called European criticism inadmissible because final results have not been announced .
-Tim Nardiello has been reinstated as the U.S. skeleton coach shortly after an arbitrator found no evidence to support claims that he sexually harassed two team members .
-The U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation board lifted Nardiello 's suspension during a meeting on Monday .
-The decision was effective immediately .
-Nardiello is hoping to rejoin the team for the season 's final skeleton World Cup in Altenberg , Germany , on Thursday and Friday .
-Despite the decision , the U.S. Olympic Committee still controls whether Nardiello will coach the four American sliders at the Turin Olympics , which open on February 10 .
-Also Monday , the best U.S. hope for men 's skeleton gold , Zach Lund , was publicly warned but not suspended by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency over a failed drug test this season .
-Israel has charged nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu with violating the terms of his release from prison .
-Vanunu was freed from an Israeli jail last year after serving an 18-year sentence for revealing secrets of Israel 's nuclear program to a British journalist in the 1980s .
-Under terms of his release , the former Israeli nuclear technician was barred from contacting foreigners or leaving the country .
-He was re-arrested in November , after granting another interview in which he said Israel has up to 200 atomic warheads , a neutron bomb , and hydrogen bombs .
-Israel has never admitted or denied having a nuclear arsenal .
-Reuters news agency reports a new indictment includes charges that Vanunu , a Christian convert , also violated release terms by trying to visit the West Bank in December to attend a midnight Christmas religious service .
-The wife of one of two foreign journalists kidnapped in Gaza City Monday has appealed for their release .
-The wife of an abducted New Zealand cameraman Wednesday called the kidnappings pointless , saying the men had been sharing the Palestinians ' stories with the world .
-The other kidnapping victim is an American .
-Palestinian security forces are searching for the two journalists who were working for U.S. media outlet Fox News .
-No group has claimed responsibility for the abductions .
-On the political front , Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of the Fatah movement and the ruling group Hamas have agreed to resume talks on forming a unity government .
-Previous talks collapsed over Hamas 's refusal to implicitly recognize Israel .
-In another development , hospital sources say an Israeli air strike early Wednesday destroyed a building in southern Gaza , killing two people .
-The Israeli army says it targeted a weapons storage facility .
-Israeli police say a Palestinian suicide bomber has critically wounded two Israeli security guards in the Israeli city of Beersheba .
-Police say the bomber detonated his explosives outside the city 's main bus station during the morning rush hour .
-There has been no immediate claim of responsibility .
-Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas condemned the bombing - the first such attack since Israel began withdrawing Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip earlier this month .
-Meanwhile , the Israeli cabinet has approved the deployment of Egyptian police along Egypt 's border with Gaza .
-Under an agreement with Cairo , Egypt is to position 750 border police on the Egyptian side to replace Israeli troops trying to block cross-border smuggling .
-Israel says all of its forces in Gaza will leave the border area by the end of September .
-Hamas ' political leader says the Islamic group will not renew a truce with Israel that expires at the end of this year .
-At a rally in a Palestinian refugee camp near the Syrian capital Friday , Khaled Mashaal said Hamas would not enter a new truce while the Palestinian people are preparing for a new round of conflict .
-Later , Mr. Mashaal told al-Jazeera television that the current truce would not be affected , but that calls for extending it are unrealistic .
-He accused Israel of carrying out targeted assassinations , arrests and airstrikes in violation of the truce .
-Israel says such actions are in self-defense .
-The Associated Press reports the Palestinian Authority said Mr. Mashaal 's statement was " irresponsible " and a violation of the truce .
-The commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan says the international community has underestimated the resurgence of the Taleban , partly because the war in Iraq diverted attention and resources .
-Lieutenant-General David Richards told BBC Thursday that the international community " took their eye off this ball and a vacuum was allowed to develop " in Afghanistan .
-The British general said the war in Iraq absorbed people 's interest and resources for a while .
-But he said he is optimistic the insurgency in Afghanistan can be defeated .
-Afghanistan in recent months has suffered the worst violence since a U.S.-led attack ousted the Taleban government in December 2001 , in part for failing to hand over Osama bin Laden .
-Fighting Thursday left 12 suspected Taleban militants dead in southern Nawzad district .
-A coalition soldier was also killed by a landmine in the same province .
-Burma 's official media reported Saturday that troops confiscated grenades and other weapons from a border hide-out used by suspected drug traffickers , after an earlier gunbattle killed 13 policemen and members of their patrol .
-The state-run New Light of Myanmar said the shoot-out took place February 20 near the northeastern town of Tachileik , which borders Thailand .
-The report said an anti-drug squad was patrolling the Mekong river near Tachileik when it encountered drug traffickers and a gunbattle broke out .
-Eight policemen were killed , along with two local militia members and three police boat drivers .
-Two police officers were wounded .
-The paper said that police , acting on a tip , found 15 tents several days later on an island in the Mekong .
-Authorities seized grenades , rifles , ammunition and blocks of caffeine - an ingredient of methamphetamine tablets .
-U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan say troops killed 24 Taleban fighters in a seven-hour battle in the country 's restive south .
-A coalition statement said the fight happened Wednesday in the Sangin district of Helmand province .
-Two coalition soldiers were wounded .
-Meanwhile , Amnesty International said Taleban insurgents are deliberately targeting civilians in Afghanistan to instill fear and exert control over the population .
-The London-based rights group said civilians are increasingly facing suicide attacks , abductions and beheadings .
-The organization said Taleban militants have a deliberate policy of killing teachers , abducting aid workers and burning school buildings .
-Amnesty said at least 756 civilians were killed in 2006 , mostly from roadside bombs and suicide attacks .
-The rising cost of living is hurting a growing number of Americans , especially those who live on fixed incomes .
-Among the hardest hit are retirees .
-More and more are finding that the money they set aside for their golden years may not be enough to take care of their needs .
-It 's an issue an estimated 46 million Americans will grapple with as they reach retirement age this year .
-VOA 's Mil Arcega reports .
-Iraqi authorities say 50 suspected insurgents have been detained in connection with Sunday 's suicide car bombings in the nation 's two holiest Shi'ite cities , Najaf and Karbala .
-Hospital officials say the death toll from the carnage has risen to 66 - at least 52 lives lost in Najaf and 14 in Karbala .
-More than 140 people were wounded by the explosions .
-Shi'ite Muslim leaders have appealed for calm , saying such attacks are clearly attempts to ignite sectarian violence and prevent Iraq 's first post-Saddam elections , scheduled to take place in six weeks , on January 30 .
-Shi'ite leaders are urging their followers not to resort to revenge attacks , but to focus on the upcoming national elections .
-The United Nations says that restoring tens of thousands of degraded wetlands around the world could help reduce the threat of a bird flu pandemic .
-Preliminary findings of the report were released Tuesday during a conference at the U.N. Environment Program headquarters in Nairobi , Kenya .
-The report says the loss of wetlands is forcing many wild birds into alternative habitats like farm ponds and paddy fields .
-It says these habitats increase the risk of the birds spreading avian flu to domestic birds like chickens .
-The U.N. agency says current efforts to curb the spread of the disease , like isolation or destroying birds , are likely quick fixes that offer limited short-term benefits .
-Bird flu has killed more than 100 people since 2003 , mostly in East Asia .
-The disease also has been detected in birds in parts of Africa , the Middle East and Europe .
-The African Union 's peace and security council has called on all African countries to impose sanctions against Togo over the military 's installation of President Faure Gnassingbe .
-The council Friday backed sanctions by the West African group ECOWAS , and urged the AU 's 53 members to follow suit .
-ECOWAS has agreed to slap an arms embargo and travel ban on Togolese officials .
-Also Friday , the vice president of Togo 's ruling party , George Dahoun Gignor , told VOA that Mr. Gnassingbe must step down , saying the embattled leader has no choice .
-However , the ruling party Friday backed Mr. Gnassingbe as its candidate in presidential elections expected within 60 days .
-President Gnassingbe told cheering party members he accepted the nomination .
-He took power earlier this month after the death of his father , Gnassingbe Eyadema .
-United Nations peacekeeping troops in Haiti have surrounded the residence of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide , threatening to forcefully evict demobilized soldiers who have seized the compound .
-Haiti 's interim government has ordered the rebels out of the compound in the suburb of Tabarre .
-The government said Thursday U.N. troops will do whatever is necessary to clear the residence .
-The ex-soldiers - who helped lead the three-week rebellion that ousted Mr. Aristide in February - moved into the compound on Wednesday .
-Mr. Aristide is in exile in South Africa .
-British police have arrested a suspect wanted in Spain in connection with last year 's March 11 train bombings in Madrid in which nearly 200 people died .
-Police identified the man as 39-year-old Spaniard Moutaz Almallah Dabas .
-They said they were acting on an extradition warrant from Spain when they took him into custody at Slough , west of London .
-Mr. Almallah Dabas is wanted for alleged terrorist offenses linked to the Madrid train bombings .
-He is due to appear in London 's Bow Street magistrate 's court on Monday .
-On Friday , Spanish police arrested his brother , Mohannad Almallah Dabas , who holds a Syrian passport , also in connection with the Madrid train bombings .
-The United States is revitalizing efforts to jumpstart six-party talks on North Korea 's nuclear ambitions .
-In an interview with Reuters and AFP , Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the United States has already made Pyongyang " a very good proposal " and is waiting for it to be accepted .
-North Korea has so far refused to return for a fourth round of talks , alleging the United States plans to launch military strikes against it - an idea Ms. Rice calls " farfetched . "
-Meanwhile , a senior U.S. official is in Seoul for talks with South Korean officials after stops in Tokyo and Beijing .
-Michael Green , director for Asian affairs on the U.S. National Security Council , says the Bush administration is holding out hope that Pyongyang will return to the negotiations .
-Italian chemical giant Montedison S.p.A. , through its Montedison Acquisition N.V. indirect unit , began its $ 37-a-share tender offer for all the common shares outstanding of Erbamont N.V. , a maker of pharmaceuticals incorporated in the Netherlands .
-The offer , advertised in today 's editions of The Wall Street Journal , is scheduled to expire at the end of November .
-Montedison currently owns about 72 % of Erbamont 's common shares outstanding .
-The offer is being launched pursuant to a previously announced agreement between the companies .
-Burkina Faso ( formerly Upper Volta ) achieved independence from France in 1960 .
-Repeated military coups during the 1970s and 1980s were followed by multiparty elections in the early 1990s .
-Current President Blaise COMPAORE came to power in a 1987 military coup and has won every election since then .
-Burkina Faso 's high population density and limited natural resources result in poor economic prospects for the majority of its citizens .
-Recent unrest in Cote d'Ivoire and northern Ghana has hindered the ability of several hundred thousand seasonal Burkinabe farm workers to find employment in neighboring countries .
-Once one of the wealthiest of the Yugoslav republics , Croatia 's economy suffered badly during the 1991 - 95 war as output collapsed and the country missed the early waves of investment in Central and Eastern Europe that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall .
-Between 2000 and 2007 , however , Croatia 's economic fortunes began to improve slowly , with moderate but steady GDP growth between 4 % and 6 % led by a rebound in tourism and credit-driven consumer spending .
-Inflation over the same period has remained tame and the currency , the kuna , stable .
-Nevertheless , difficult problems still remain , including a stubbornly high unemployment rate , a growing trade deficit and uneven regional development .
-The state retains a large role in the economy , as privatization efforts often meet stiff public and political resistance .
-While macroeconomic stabilization has largely been achieved , structural reforms lag because of deep resistance on the part of the public and lack of strong support from politicians .
-The EU accession process should accelerate fiscal and structural reform .
-While long term growth prospects for the economy remain strong , Croatia will face significant pressure as a result of the global financial crisis .
-Croatia 's high foreign debt , anemic export sector , strained state budget , and over-reliance on tourism revenue will result in higher risk to economic stability over the medium term .
-Morocco annexed the northern two-thirds of Western Sahara ( formerly Spanish Sahara ) in 1976 and claimed the rest of the territory in 1979 , following Mauritania 's withdrawal .
-A guerrilla war with the Polisario Front contesting Morocco 's sovereignty ended in a 1991 UN-brokered cease-fire ; a UN-organized referendum on the territory 's final status has been repeatedly postponed .
-The UN since 2007 has sponsored intermittent talks between representatives of the Government of Morocco and the Polisario Front to negotiate the status of Western Sahara .
-Morocco has put forward an autonomy proposal for the territory , which would allow for some local administration while maintaining Moroccan sovereignty .
-The Polisario , with Algeria 's support , demands a popular referendum that includes the option of independence .
-The Genoese built a fortress on the site of present day Monaco in 1215 .
-The current ruling Grimaldi family first seized temporary control in 1297 , and again in 1331 , but were not able to permanently secure their holding until 1419 .
-Economic development was spurred in the late 19th century with a railroad linkup to France and the opening of a casino .
-Since then , the principality 's mild climate , splendid scenery , and gambling facilities have made Monaco world famous as a tourist and recreation center .
-A CRAB , forsaking the seashore , chose a neighboring green meadow as its feeding ground .
-A Fox came across him , and being very hungry ate him up .
-Just as he was on the point of being eaten , the Crab said , " I well deserve my fate , for what business had I on the land , when by my nature and habits I am only adapted for the sea ? '
-Contentment with our lot is an element of happiness .
-A GROOM used to spend whole days in currycombing and rubbing down his Horse , but at the same time stole his oats and sold them for his own profit .
-" Alas ! " said the Horse , " if you really wish me to be in good condition , you should groom me less , and feed me more . "
-A POLITICAL Leader was walking out one sunny day , when he observed his Shadow leaving him and walking rapidly away .
-" Come back here , you scoundrel , " he cried .
-" If I had been a scoundrel , " answered the Shadow , increasing its speed , " I should not have left you . "
-The makers of French 's Mustard made the following recent statement :
-We at the French 's Company wish to put an end to statements that our product is manufactured in France .
-There is no relationship , nor has there ever been a relationship , between our mustard and the country of France .
-Indeed , our mustard in manufactured in Rochester , NY .
-The only thing we have in common is that we are both yellow .
-At least our team is trying to win a game .
-Coach went out and set up our new pitching machine the other day .
-Unfortunately it beat us 04-Jan .
-Clinton 's mother prayed fervently that Bill would grow up and be president .
-So far , half of her prayer has been answered .
-Applied excessively , styling gel could cause you to have a hair-raising experience .
-India says it is increasing security to thwart possible militant strikes in the country .
-Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram Tuesday warned reporters against creating an alarmist picture and said India is increasing its level of preparedness to meet any terror threat or attack .
-The minister 's comments come just days after Israel said it has information that the same group that carried out the 2008 attacks in Mumbai , India , is planning another assault against Western and Israeli targets in the country .
-Israel 's counter-terrorism bureau released a statement Thursday , September 17 , saying it has information that terrorists are planning a number of attacks across India , and may be focusing on hitting groups of Israelis and Westerners .
-India is a popular destination for Israeli tourists , especially during Jewish festivals such as the traditional new year , which began Friday .
-The United States , Israel and Australia have issued travel advisories to their citizens .
-India 's holiday season includes Hindu , Islamic and secular holidays , as well as the period surrounding the commemoration of the September 11 , 2001 terror attacks on the United States .
-Ugandan 's president says his country could increase the number of troops it has in Somalia as part of the African Union peacekeeping force .
-In a statement Thursday , President Yoweri Museveni says Uganda is " capable " of providing all 8,000 troops authorized for the force by the AU .
-The statement says he made the comment to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on Wednesday , on the sidelines of the AU summit in Ethiopia .
-Mr. Museveni told the U.N. leader he has to discuss the matter with his High Command first but will inform Mr. Ban of the decision .
-Uganda and Burundi have deployed a total of about 2,000 troops to Somalia , where the Somali government and allied Ethiopian troops have been battling an Islamist-led insurgency for more than a year .
-Fighting centered in Mogadishu has killed thousands of people and prompted more than 6,00,000 others to flee the city .
-Mr. Ban has expressed concern that few African countries have fulfilled their promise of troops for the AU peacekeeping froce .
-Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe named an electoral commission to run parliamentary elections expected in March .
-The main opposition , Movement for Democratic Change said it had no confidence in the commission .
-Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa announced that Mr. Mugabe appointed a 5-member body under the chairmanship of High Court Judge , George Chiweshe , who was appointed by President Robert Mugabe , leader of Zimbabwe 's ruling Zanu-PF party .
-Judge Chiweshe made legal history in 2002 when he told the High Court that the state did not have to provide any evidence to continue to detain a critically ill opposition member of parliament who was trying to get out of prison on bail .
-He was also appointed by Mr. Mugabe to draw up a new map of voting districts released before Christmas .
-The MDC expressed concerns over Mr. Chiweshe 's appointment because of the voter redistricting which removed three of the MDC 's stronghold constituencies .
-Mr. Chinamasa insisted that the commission reflects an all-inclusive consultation process , incorporating all three parties represented in Zimbabwe 's parliament , including the MDC .
-But , new electoral laws signed into law by Mr. Mugabe last week , for the first time give the military , police and prison officials a substantial role in the next poll , and they can , if recruited to serve , control voting and counting .
-There was a frenzy of lawmaking late last year to establish new legislation and electoral authorities ahead of the poll which Mr. Mugabe says will be held in March ahead of his 25th anniversary of coming to power in 1980 .
-The MDC suspended participation in all elections five months ago because it said the electoral playing field was uneven .
-It said it would only take part when Zimbabwe 's laws and practice complied with regional electoral principles agreed to by Mr. Mugabe and other southern African countries last August .
-However most political analysts believe the MDC will take part in the general election , despite Zimbabwe 's lack of compliance with regional electoral practices and laws .
-Western observers are not expected to be invited to cover Zimbabwe 's poll as they said the last two national elections were neither free nor fair .
-In a weekend of second-round qualifiers for the 2012 African Cup of Nations , no result was more surprising than Niger 's 1-0 upset of reigning African champions Egypt .
-Football fans in Niger 's capital celebrated throughout the night , blowing horns and singing the praises of their Menas ' win over the Pharaohs of Egypt .
-It was a stunning upset , even for the most loyal of Niger 's football faithful .
-FIFA ranks Egypt 9th in the world .
-Niger : 154th .
-Niamey 's 35,000 seat Stade Général Seyni Kountché was full long before the mid-afternoon kick-off under a blistering sun .
-Striker Ouwa Moussa Maazou scored the only goal in the first half , getting past Egyptian defender Mohamed Abel Shafy who failed to clear .
-Goalkeeper Essam el-Hadary charged Maazou , but the 22-year-old striker - who is on loan from French club Bordeaux - slipped the ball past him into the net .
-Egypt pressed for the equalizer at the start of the second half , but rarely got much past midfield .
-Their best chance came off a free kick in the 76th minute .
-But Mahmoud Fathallah was ruled offside .
-Maazou 's goal and solid defense gives Niger three points in Group G and drops Egypt to the bottom of the group with only one point after two matches , following their opening 01-Jan draw with Sierra Leone in Cairo .
-It was an inauspicious start for the record seven-time continental champions , who next play South Africa in Johannesburg .
-Niger hosts Sierra Leone as it pushes to qualify for the 2012 tournament in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon .
-Iraqi officials say a car bomb targeting a police patrol has killed six people and wounded at least 11 more in a city north of Baghdad .
-Police said Thursday the blast took place in central Tikrit , hometown of former dictator Saddam Hussein .
-They said four police officers were among the dead and several others were wounded .
-Overall violence in Iraq has yet to match the peak reached in 2006 and 2007 .
-However , insurgents have intensified attacks since inconclusive March elections left the country without a governing coalition .
-Sylvester Stallone faces stiff fines in Australia , where he is accused of importing a muscle-building hormone .
-The movie star was detained Feb. 16 in the Sydney airport , while authorities searched his hotel room .
-He and his group subsequently left the country , and he was not compelled to attend the March 13 hearing .
-He is accused of possessing human growth hormone , classified in Australia as a restricted performance-enhancing drug .
-The maximum penalty for illegal possession is a fine of $ 86,000 and five years in prison .
-Stallone is unlikely to face such a sentence .
-Police in western India say at least 52 people were killed and at least eight others injured Thursday , when a train collided with a tractor carrying a wedding party .
-Police say the accident happened in a small village in Maharashtra state , some 800 kilometers northeast of Bombay , also known as Mumbai .
-They say a local train bound for the central city of Nagpur smashed into a tractor as it was crossing the tracks .
-Accidents are relatively frequent on India 's railway network , which handles 13 million passengers on 14,000 trains every day .
-In December , a head-on collision of two passenger trains in Punjab state brought opposition party calls for the resignation of Railways Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav .
-At least 37 people died in that crash .
-The New York City Fire Department has released thousands of pages of oral histories and hours of radio transmissions from the September 11 , 2001 , terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center .
-A New York State court of appeals ruled in March that the items must be made public .
-The oral histories were complied by firefighters shortly after the attacks on the twin towers , and include accounts from firefighters and emergency medical personnel who were on the scene .
-The New York Times newspaper and families of the victims of the attacks had sued for the release of the material .
-The city had said it wanted to protect the privacy of those involved , and not jeopardize the case against Zacarias Moussaoui , who later pleaded guilty to conspiring with the hijackers .
-The United Nations says the December 26 Indian Ocean tsunami dumped tons of hazardous waste on the shores of Somalia .
-A spokesman for the U.N. Environment Program says containers filled with nuclear , chemical and medical waste broke apart when they washed ashore , and have been spread by the weather .
-The spokesman says there have been reports from northern Somalia of illnesses consistent with radiation sickness , including respiratory infections , mouth ulcers , abdominal hemorrhages and unusual skin diseases .
-The United Nations says foreign companies , many from Europe , began dumping toxic waste on Somalia 's shore in the 1980s , but the practice accelerated after the 1991 overthrow of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre .
-The tsunami is believed to have dislodged the hazardous materials .
-Japan has pledged $ 17 billion in development aid to other Asian countries for infrastructure projects that will help boost growth .
-Speaking Saturday to the World Economic Forum in Davos , Switzerland , Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso also repeated a pledge to lend $ 100 billion to the International Monetary Fund .
-Mr. Aso also announced a new greenhouse gas emissions plan for Japan and pledged to announce emissions targets by June .
-The Japanese leader planned to spend only half a day in the Swiss mountain resort and return home by late Sunday to deal with a stormy session of parliament , where the opposition hopes for a victory in elections that are required to be held this year .
-More than 5,000 U.S. , Iraqi and British troops have swept through an Iraqi town south of Baghdad in the latest operation against insurgents ahead of January elections .
-The U.S. military says troops arrested 32 suspected insurgents in Jabella Tuesday .
-The raid follows operations in Fallujah and the northern city of Mosul .
-U.S. Defense Minister Donald Rumsfeld says those operations show how much insurgents are opposed to a democratic Iraq .
-He warned that attacks will likely increase ahead of the elections .
-Meanwhile , foreign ministers from Arab and Western countries met Tuesday in Egypt and said full participation in the vote is the key to reconciliation in Iraq .
-In another development , a Sunni Muslim cleric was gunned down outside a mosque north of Baghdad .
-Terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden apparently has surfaced on an audiotape calling for the overthrow of Saudi Arabia 's government .
-The lengthy message criticizes the Saudi monarchy , saying its attempts at reform will not change anything and that change will only come through armed struggle and the government 's overthrow .
-Authorities say the authenticity of the tape , which surfaced Thursday on an Islamist website , could not immediately be verified .
-He also praises the militants who attacked the U.S. consulate in the Saudi city of Jeddah earlier this month , asking God to be merciful on them .
-Four of the attackers were killed , a fifth was arrested .
-Five consulate staff members who were not American were also killed .
-Osama bin Laden remains a fugitive .
-He was last heard from in a videotape shortly before the U.S. presidential elections last month .
-The U.S.-led military forces in Afghanistan say more than a dozen militants were killed in a day-long battle in southern part of the country Saturday .
-A coalition and an Afghan soldier were also killed in the fighting .
-Saturday 's fighting took place in southern Helmand province .
-Coalition and Afghan forces called for air strikes on militant positions after coming under attack in the area .
-Also in the south , Taleban militants executed the kidnapped son of a district police chief .
-The victim was reported to be between 14 and 18-years-old .
-In other violence , a roadside bomb hit an Afghan army convoy killing at least two soldiers and wounding three others in the western Farah province on Sunday .
-A Taleban spokesperson has taken responsibility for the deadly blast .
-The World Food Program ( WFP ) warns that fighting in Chad could leave up to 7,00,000 people short of food .
-The U.N. agency expressed concern that violence will delay truck convoys trying to reach refugees in eastern Chad and displaced people in Sudan 's Darfur region .
-The agency says the trucks must get through before the end of next month , when seasonal rains are expected to make road travel impossible .
-Chad 's government is fighting an insurgency that President Idriss Deby says is backed by Sudan .
-The Sudanese government denies the charge .
-The World Food Program says it remains operational in Chad despite recent clashes that led it to evacuate non-essential staff .
-The agency says it is wrapping up April food distribution in eastern Chad , where it looks after some 2,00,000 refugees from Darfur .
-The agency feeds another 5,00,000 displaced Sudanese in Darfur itself .
-Police in the northeastern U.S. state of Connecticut say a disgruntled employee at a beer distribution firm went on a shooting spree at his place of employment , leaving nine people dead including himself .
-A labor union official says the suspect was a driver who had worked at the company , Hartford Distributors .
-He apparently went on a rampage Tuesday , after being summoned for a disciplinary hearing .
-The shooting took place at 7.30 in the morning at a company warehouse , while a large number of people were inside the building during a shift change .
-Police say , after the rampage , it appears the gunman shot and killed himself .
-Afghan officials are welcoming the Netherlands ' decision to keep its troops in southern Afghanistan , but the officials say the international community must do more to equip domestic forces .
-Afghan Defense Ministry officials Saturday said the extension of the Dutch mission is a positive step .
-But they said further training of Afghan troops is necessary to ensure long-term security in Afghanistan .
-The Dutch government announced Friday it will extend the mandate of its troops until 2010 .
-The soldiers serve as part of a NATO force .
-Around 1,700 Dutch troops have been deployed in the southern Uruzgan province , where NATO and U.S.-led forces are fighting fierce battles against Taliban militants .
-A renewed Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan has turned this year into the deadliest yet since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion ousted the Taliban government .
-The prime minister of Pakistan , Shaukat Aziz , has called for European help in repatriating three million Afghan refugees in his country .
-Mr. Aziz says refugee camps along the border with Afghanistan provide safe havens for terrorists .
-The prime minister also promised to strengthen efforts to restrict cross-border attacks into Afghanistan .
-The Pakistan government has proposed a controversial plan to fence and mine parts of the mountainous border .
-Mr. Aziz is in Belgium , holding talks with European Union and NATO leaders .
-After Tuesday 's meeting , NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer called for an end to criticism of Pakistan 's efforts to contain militants .
-Scheffer said it does not make sense to have a public " blame game . "
-The Afghan government and the United States have both accused Pakistan of failing to clamp down on Taleban insurgents based in Pakistan who launch attacks into Afghanistan .
-Police in Indonesia have asked churches to prepare for possible Christmas attacks by digging holes for suspicious objects that might be bombs .
-Officials in the central Java city of Solo said Friday they are requesting churches put any suspicious object into a one-meter deep hole to store until a bomb squad can arrive .
-Earlier this month , Jakarta 's police chief said he will deploy up to 17,000 security officers to safeguard the Indonesian capital during the upcoming Christian holiday season .
-Five years ago , militants bombed 11 churches on Christmas Eve , killing 19 people .
-Police suspect the radical Jemaah Islamiyah group was responsible .
-Shops , businesses , and offices were shut in Indian-controlled Kashmir Monday , after separatists called a strike to protest the death of a teenager .
-Seventeen-year-old Tufail Ahmad Matoo was killed in the main town of Srinagar Friday during clashes between anti-India protesters and police .
-Residents say Mattoo was hit by a teargas shell fired by police and was carrying a school bag when he was hit .
-Police say they are investigating the death .
-Clashes between demonstrators and security forces have erupted in Srinagar since the incident , with strict security restrictions in place to prevent further violence .
-Kashmiri Muslim separatists have been fighting for two decades for independence from India or a merger with Muslim-majority Pakistan .
-The insurgency has killed more than 47,000 people .
-Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan , but claimed in its entirety by both .
-The neighbors have fought two wars over the region .
-Hundreds of millions of Christians worldwide are celebrating Christmas Saturday .
-Pope John Paul , in his traditional Christmas Day message , expressed concern at violence in the Middle East and Africa .
-The Roman Catholic pontiff said he follows the situation in Iraq with " great apprehension . "
-He said he has " anxious concern " about the situation in the Holy Land but also feels " invincible confidence " at the prospects for peace there .
-President Bush issued a Christmas Day call for Americans to volunteer to help the neediest of their fellow citizens .
-The President also acknowledged Americans serving in Afghanistan , Iraq and elsewhere around the world .
-Britain 's Queen Elizabeth sent a special radio message to her troops serving around the world expressing pride and gratitude .
-Later in her annual televised Christmas message , the Queen highlighted Britain 's ethnic and religious diversity and appealed for tolerance .
-Church and state leaders have joined ordinary citizens in Russia in marking Orthodox Christmas Eve .
-The head of the Russian Orthodox Church , Patriarch Alexy , urged believers to mark Christmas with good deeds .
-Russia 's Itar-Tass news agency says he urged the faithful to pool their efforts to allow the joy of Christmas to enter every home .
-Russian President Vladimir Putin attended a Christmas Eve service at a cathedral in the Siberian city of Yakutsk .
-In a message to citizens , Mr. Putin urged them to follow the Christmas tradition of helping those in need .
-In Rome , Pope Benedict extended Christmas greetings to Orthodox Christians as Roman Catholics marked the feast of the Epiphany - the Three Kings or Wise Men who tradition says brought gifts to Jesus following his birth .
-Many Orthodox churches celebrate Christmas on the Julian calendar - about two weeks later than most other Christians .
-The Indian foreign ministry says India and Pakistan will hold the first meeting of a joint anti-terrorism panel in March .
-The talks will be held in Pakistan 's capital , Islamabad , on March 6 .
-The idea for the panel was first proposed last year during a meeting in Cuba between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf .
-The initiative was created after deadly train bombings in Mumbai in July .
-India claimed Pakistan 's top intelligence agency ( ISI ) played a role in the attack , a charged denied by Pakistan .
-Efforts to improve relations between India and Pakistan began with a peace process in 2004 .
-The two countries have fought three wars and have yet to resolve their dispute over the region of Kashmir , where an anti-India insurgency has killed tens of thousands since 1989 .
-World number-two men 's tennis player Rafael Nadal of Spain has withdrawn from the season 's first Grand Slam tournament , the Australian Open , which begins Monday in Melbourne .
-The 19-year-old French Open champion said on his website Tuesday that he would be unable to play because of a foot injury he suffered in October at the Madrid Masters .
-He has not played a tour event since .
-Nadal joins American Andre Agassi on the sidelines for the tournament , which could still lose Russians Marat Safin and Maria Sharapova because of fitness doubts .
-But top men 's seed and world number-one Roger Federer of Switzerland says he is in good form heading into the event and is fully recovered from the ankle injury that hampered him last season .
-U.S. officials say Pakistan and Afghanistan must decide for themselves on an appropriate and effective method of reducing cross-border infiltration .
-In an interview with VOA Wednesday the U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs , Nicholas Burns , said Pakistan 's plan to lay land mines along parts of its border with Afghanistan is a bilateral issue .
-Afghan officials have opposed the plan , saying it will do little to prevent terrorism .
-Afghanistan has repeatedly accused Pakistan of not doing enough to stop Taleban militants from infiltrating their shared border .
-Burns also said he hopes the two sides can resolve a wave of Taleban-led attacks on civilians and NATO forces inside Afghanistan .
-Fighting in Afghanistan increased dramatically last year , killing thousands and igniting tensions between Kabul and Islamabad .
-European Union Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson says EU trading partners are not ready to make what he calls the " hard decisions " needed for a world trade deal .
-Monday , Mandelson made his first speech to the European Parliament since last month 's World Trade Organization meeting ended with little progress .
-He said Hong Kong and other major European trading partners are not yet prepared to make the concessions needed to bring talks to a successful conclusion in 2006 .
-Mandelson said he will do what he can to meet a deadline for a deal , but not at Europe 's expense .
-The EU says it has made significant compromises on such issues as farm subsidies to open its market to agricultural imports .
-The United States and other countries say the E.U . has not gone far enough .
-Cyprus Foreign Minister George Iacovou says his European Union counterparts have agreed on a statement responding to Turkey 's refusal to recognize the internationally backed Cypriot government .
-Mr. Iacovou gave no details of the statement .
-But he told the Cyprus News Agency the ministers left it up to ambassadors of the 25 EU countries to work out the final text of the document .
-Earlier , Turkey 's Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul warned his country will abandon its EU membership bid if the bloc imposes new conditions on Ankara , or tries to offer anything less than full membership .
-Turkey has insisted that recognition of the Greek-led Cypriot government depends on a resolution of the three-decade division of Cyprus .
-EU ministers have been pressing Turkey to normalize relations with all EU members , including Cyprus .
-Turkey is scheduled to start EU membership talks next month .
-The U.S. military in Afghanistan says four American soldiers and an Afghan interpreter have been wounded in a roadside explosion in a southeastern part of the country .
-A statement said the explosion occurred during a routine patrol near the town of Ghazni Tuesday .
-It said initial medical assessments indicated none of the wounds were life-threatening .
-On Monday , four American soldiers were wounded when a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into a U.S. military vehicle near the southern city of Kandahar .
-Taleban insurgents claimed responsibility for that attack .
-Meanwhile , the military said coalition forces killed two insurgents and detained 12 others after a brief firefight near Kandahar Sunday .
-In recent weeks , the guerrillas have stepped up their attacks in southern and eastern Afghanistan , as the country prepares for parliamentary elections expected in September .
-A group of Iraqi lawmakers loyal to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has staged a protest against a proposal allowing British troops to remain in the country .
-The Sadrist politicians walked out of a session of parliament Saturday , suspending consideration of the proposal .
-The deal would allow up to 100 British troops to stay in Iraq beyond a previously approved withdrawal date .
-They would be responsible for helping the Iraqi navy protect oil installations off the southern coast .
-Moqtada al-Sadr has been a vocal and influential critic of the foreign military presence in Iraq , led by the United States .
-U.S. troops withdrew from Iraqi cities at the end of June , transferring security responsibilities to Iraqi forces .
-Since then , there have been a several deadly bombings across the country .
-A car bomb Saturday in a Shi'ite district near Mosul killed four people and wounded at least 35 others .
-Chinese National Basketball Association All-Star center Yao Ming will be on the sidelines for several games because of a sore right big toe .
-The Houston Rockets star missed his first game of the season and the third of his NBA career on Sunday .
-Team officials say the injury will keep Yao off the court indefinitely .
-The 25-year-old center has played in 266 regular-season games since joining the Rockets in 2002 .
-He has had a problem with his toe for some time , forcing him to miss two pre-season games .
-Yao is the leading vote-getter after the first set of returns for this season 's All-Star game .
-He is averaging 19.9 points per game , nine rebounds and 1.36 blocked shots .
-Italian police have arrested 40 people linked to Islamic groups in nationwide raids as part of a security crackdown .
-Authorities say 28 of the detainees were charged with violating rules on residence permits and 12 with other minor offenses .
-But they said none face terrorism charges .
-Officials say they also issued 114 expulsion orders as part of the same operation .
-The raids focused on Islamic gathering places , including telephone call centers , Internet cafes and offices for sending cash abroad .
-Officers also raided 15 apartments , mostly those of Pakistanis , in cooperation with a Belgian police investigation into suspected financing of terrorist groups .
-The raids , Thursday and Friday , followed Thursday 's arrest in Britain of 24 people suspected in an alleged plot to blow up U.S.-bound airliners over the Atlantic Ocean .
-Tens of thousands of anti-government demonstrators have marched on the main government offices in Thailand 's capital , Bangkok .
-Some 30,000 protesters marched through the city for two hours , urging the government to dissolve parliament and punish those responsible for last year 's crippling protests .
-The earlier demonstrations ousted current Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva 's pro-Thaksin predecessor Somchai Wongsawat .
-Before dispersing , the demonstrators promised to make their protest permanent , if their demands are not met within 15 days .
-More than 5,000 police were deployed to secure the mass protest , which ran from Saturday afternoon into early Sunday .
-Last year , yellow-shirted protesters occupied Government House for about three months , and shut down major airports before a coup ousted the government .
-Thailand has been wracked by political unrest for years .
-The country is sharply divided between groups who favor and oppose Mr. Thaksin , who was ousted in a coup in 2006 .
-In Liberia , supporters of former soccer star George Weah have vowed to continue their protests of the November 8 presidential run-off election , which they say was fraudulent .
-The elections commission is expected to announce the final results Tuesday .
-Frank Sainworla , radio director of the VOA affiliate , Radio Veritas in the Liberian capital , Monrovia , talked with English to Africa reporter James Butty .
-The Hubble Space Telescope is back to work , after a month-long shutdown to fix problems it was having in sending information to Earth .
-The U.S. space agency , NASA , said Thursday the telescope 's camera is now working as it was before the problems .
-The agency said it took a photo of a pair of galaxies and that it " scored a perfect 10 " .
-The photo shows the ring-shaped galaxies just after they collided .
-The Hubble stopped beaming information to Earth in late September when a data unit failed .
-The computer glitch forced NASA to postpone a shuttle mission to repair the Hubble .
-That mission has been rescheduled for next year .
-The Hubble has been orbiting about 600 kilometers above the Earth since 1990 .
-The telescope sends images from space back to Earth and has revolutionized understanding of the universe .
-Armed militants briefly occupied the West Bank headquarters of the Palestinian Cabinet Thursday , in a protest against the territory 's new Hamas-led government .
-Palestinian authorities say about 20 militants from the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades forced their way into the cabinet offices Thursday in Ramallah , the administrative headquarters of the Palestinian Authority .
-The gunmen stayed for about an hour , before they were persuaded to leave by a police contingent that arrived at the scene .
-Al Aqsa Martyrs ' Brigades is a militant faction of Fatah , and the security forces at the scene were also under the control of Fatah leader and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas .
-A suicide bomber tried to kill the leader of Iraq 's most powerful Shi'ite political group Monday while the main Sunni party withdrew from the country 's January 30th election .
-Abdul Aziz al-Hakim , whose United Iraqi Alliance is expected to dominate the vote , survived the Baghdad attack .
-But at least 13 people were killed .
-Earlier in the day , the Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party pulled out of the vote because of concerns over violence .
-The party says more time is needed to ensure that all Shi'ites and Sunnis participate in the election .
-In other election news , a new audiotape purportedly from Osama bin Laden calls for Iraqis to boycott the vote , saying those who take part will be infidels .
-The speaker also endorses Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as his deputy in Iraq .
-The tape has not been authenticated .
-New Mexico governor Bill Richardson , a former presidential candidate , plans to endorse Democratic Senator Barack Obama for president .
-Officials with Obama 's campaign tell news agencies that the two men will appear together at a rally Friday in Portland , Oregon .
-In a statement obtained by the Associated Press , Richardson calls Obama a " one of a kind " leader who can bring the country together .
-Richardson , the nation 's only Hispanic governor , was energy secretary under former President Bill Clinton and was also an ambassador to the United Nations .
-Recent opinion polls indicate that Hispanics have tended to support Obama 's Democratic rival , Senator Hillary Clinton .
-Obama currently leads among delegates selected at Democratic primaries and caucuses .
-The next major primary is to take place in Pennsylvania next month - April 22 .
-Some 6,00,000 revelers are expected to pack Rio de Janeiro over the next few days , as the Brazilian city celebrates the annual Carnival before Lent - the Christian season of repentance .
-Rio celebrates Carnival with parades featuring the sensual Brazilian dance known as the samba .
-The celebration culminates Sunday and Monday with a giant samba competition in the city 's 60,000-seat Sambadrome stadium .
-Outside the Sambadrome , Brazilians and tourists extend the party into the streets , wearing outlandish costumes and masks and eating and drinking to excess .
-Similar celebrations take place in New Orleans in the United States , and in many parts of Europe , as people of the Christian faith squeeze in a last few days of indulgence before beginning six weeks of fasting and prayer .
-A Palestinian court has sentenced a man to death by hanging for selling West Bank land to Israeli citizens .
-The sentence was handed down Tuesday by a court in the West Bank town of Hebron , but it may be unlikely to be carried out .
-Prosecutors say the defendant sold to Israelis land that did not belong to him in the village of Beit Omar near Hebron .
-The Palestinian Authority considers the sale of Palestinian land to Israelis to be treason .
-Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas must approve the sentence for it to be carried out .
-He has withheld approval in many other death penalty cases .
-Several other Palestinians charged with collaborating with Israel are currently on death row .
-The Arabic television station al-Jazeera has broadcast a videotape of al-Qaida 's second in command , Ayman al-Zawahri , who vowed to keep fighting the United States unless Washington changes its policies towards the Muslim world .
-In excerpts of the video aired Monday , Osama bin Laden 's deputy said al-Qaida was not concerned with the results of the U.S. presidential election .
-It was unclear if the video was filmed before or after the November 2 vote .
-Just days before the election , al-Jazeera aired a video from Osama bin Laden , who also said the United States must stop threatening Muslims if it wants to avoid another September 11-style attack .
-The head of the U.S. central bank signaled Tuesday that interest rates are not likely to be cut anytime soon .
-Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said interest rate policies and efforts to stimulate the faltering U.S. economy are " well positioned " to promote growth and stable prices .
-The Fed has been cutting interest rates steadily to boost economic growth .
-But officials must balance the need to boost the economy with the concern that cutting interest rates too low could spark inflation .
-Inflation concerns have been rising along with the price of oil .
-Fuel price hikes are also forcing the biggest U.S. automaker to slash truck production and make more small , fuel-efficient cars .
-General Motors Tuesday announced that it will close four North American plants that make trucks .
-Russian authorities have detained a man suspected of being involved in the deadly school siege in the southern town of Beslan .
-Officials in Moscow Wednesday said the man was arrested by security forces in Ingushetia , near the North Ossetia region where the attack took place .
-They say there is also information the man took part in an armed attack targeting police facilities in Ingushetia last June .
-Militants attacked one of Beslan 's schools last September , seizing more than 1,000 children , parents and teachers .
-The ordeal ended in a chaotic outburst of gunfire and explosions that killed more than 330 people , about half of them children .
-Red Cross officials in Kabul say suspects detained by U.S. troops in Afghanistan have been allowed to speak with family members through a new video-teleconference system .
-Officials said Monday , that about 60 families have so far taken advantage of the opportunity to speak with prisoners held at the detention center on the U.S. Bagram Air Force Base .
-Many families have not spoken to their detained relatives for several years .
-Around 600 detainees are being held at the facility .
-The International Committee of the Red Cross helped organize the initiative , which is the first of its kind .
-Since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan , hundreds of Taliban and al-Qaida suspects have been detained , along with others accused of terrorist activities .
-The U.S. Senate is to begin debate Wednesday on one of President Bush 's judicial nominees - setting the stage for a possible showdown on the delaying tactic known as a filibuster .
-The leader of the Republican majority in the Senate , Bill Frist , plans to bring to the Senate floor Mr. Bush 's nomination of Priscilla Owen .
-A Texas Supreme Court justice , Ms. Owen was one of seven nominees blocked by Democrats during the president 's first term .
-If Democrats are successful again , Republicans say they will seek early next week to change Senate rules to limit filibusters , a parliamentary delaying procedure aimed at preventing a vote .
-Opposition Democrats say changing Senate rules would drastically curtail the rights of the minority .
-Talks seeking a compromise have not been successful .
-The largest Sunni bloc in Iraq 's parliament has suspended its participation in the government and is threatening to withdraw completely .
-The Accordance Front Wednesday , gave Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki one week to meet its demands to deal with Shi'ite militias and reform the conduct of raids and arrests .
-The bloc has been boycotting cabinet meetings since June to protest legal proceedings against Culture Minister Asad Kamal al-Hashimi .
-Al-Hashimi has been accused of arranging to have another politician killed .
-Last week , the Accordance Front and a group of Shi'ite lawmakers ended a boycott of Iraq 's parliament .
-Also Tuesday , Baghdad police say at least six people were killed when U.S. and Iraqi forces clashed with Shi'ite militias in the Sadr City neighborhood .
-And the U.S. military says it has detained the administrative head of al-Qaida in Iraq 's Mosul operations during early morning raids .
-The world 's largest maker of jetliners , Airbus , says it sold more planes than rival Boeing last year .
-Tuesday 's announcement surprised some analysts who thought Boeing might regain the sales lead .
-Airbus says it has firm orders for a record 1055 planes , while Boeing has orders for 1002 , which is a record for the company .
-Boeing 's orders include more wide-body planes , so at list prices , its orders are worth somewhat more than Airbus .
-Orders for jetliners soared in 2005 , as Asian airlines expanded their fleets to meet growing demand , and other airlines sought new , more fuel-efficient planes to cope with high oil costs .
-U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is in Pakistan to discuss counter-terrorism efforts and the Taleban insurgency in neighboring Afghanistan .
-Gates arrived in the capital , Islamabad , Monday to meet with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf .
-Washington has been putting pressure on General Musharraf to stop Taleban fighters from crossing into Afghanistan .
-Gates just finished four days of meetings in Spain and Germany focused largely on the war in Afghanistan .
-Pakistan 's foreign minister , Khursheed Kasuri , recently said the government has decided against mining its border with Afghanistan , but still intends to build a fence along parts of it .
-On Sunday , the governor of southern Afghanistan 's Helmand province said 700 foreign fighters , including Pakistanis , are in the region to help Taleban insurgents .
-A U.N. court begins hearing testimony Monday in the case of a well-known Rwandan musician accused of using his music to spread ethnic hatred during the country 's 1994 genocide .
-Simon Bikindi , a musician and former official in Rwanda 's Ministry of Youth and Sports , faces six counts of genocide from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda .
-He has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges from the Tanzania-based court .
-Prosecutors say Bikindi composed and recorded songs that encouraged Hutus to kill Tutsis .
-They say he consulted with former Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana over song lyrics before passing them on to a privately owned station that broadcast anti-Tutsi propaganda .
-Bikindi was arrested in the Netherlands in 2001 .
-A police chief in western Iraq says the country began stationing thousands of extra security officers along Iraq 's border with Syria this week in an effort to keep out insurgents .
-The chief , Major-General Tariq Youssef , said Friday that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered the reinforcements , in the wake of August truck bombings in Baghdad that killed more than 100 people .
-The Iraqi government has linked the blasts to Baathist sympathizers located in Syria .
-Syria has demanded Iraqi authorities provide evidence to back up their allegations .
-Iraq has also demanded that Syria hand over two people that Baghdad suspects played a role in the attacks .
-Syria has refused , demanding proof .
-The bombings have soured relations between Iraq and Syria .
-Turkey has been holding talks aimed at defusing tensions between the two countries .
-Venezuelan officials say they are investigating allegations that military officers passed state secrets to the United States .
-The nation 's Military Attorney General 's Office told El~Universal newspaper Thursday that it has launched a probe of the alleged spies , although it would not say how many suspects there were .
-Venezuela 's Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel said Wednesday that several low-level military officers were caught passing information to the U.S. military .
-He said some of the suspects have been detained and others have left the country .
-The attorney for one of the suspects told reporters a U.S. military attaché , identified as John Correa , has been mentioned as a possible link between the Venezuelan officers and the United States .
-The U.S. embassy in Caracas had no comment .
-An Israeli newspaper reports the filmmaker whose documentary sparked an outrage in Egypt has admitted that he mistakenly identified 250 Palestinian fighters as Egyptian prisoners , who he claimed were killed by Israeli troops during the 1967 Six-Day War .
-The Jerusalem Post says the filmmaker Ran Edelist also admitted using incorrect archival footage to illustrate the incident .
-Since the documentary was aired last week , Israel repeatedly denied that its soldiers killed Egyptian prisoners during the war .
-Israel also agreed to hand over a copy of the film and its transcript to Egypt .
-However , Egypt asked for an investigation .
-And , an Egyptian parliamentary committee has threatened to review economic relations and agreements with Israel if the incident is not investigated .
-Because of rising tensions over the film , Israeli Cabinet Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer earlier this week postponed a scheduled visit to Egypt .
-Ben-Eliezer commanded the military unit at the center of the controversy .
-U.S. Olympic Committee chairman Peter Ueberroth is calling on the U.S. government to reverse a decision to deny Cuba 's national baseball team permission to play in the United States .
-Last week , the Treasury Department denied a permit for Cuba to play in the inaugural 16-team World Baseball Classic in March .
-Ueberroth says the decision will damage American efforts to host the Olympics in the future .
-Olympic host countries must guarantee all nations can participate .
-Cuba had been set to play against Puerto Rico , Panama and the Netherlands in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico in the first round .
-A permit from the Treasury Department 's Office of Foreign Assets Control is necessary because of U.S. laws governing certain commercial transactions with the communist island nation .
-Iraqi officials say a senior Interior Ministry official has been shot and killed in Baghdad .
-The assassination occurred Tuesday .
-Reuters news agency says the group led by Jordanian terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility for the killing .
-Guerrillas loyal to Zaraqawi 's group also took responsibility for some of the attacks Monday in Iraq that left 25 people dead .
-A suicide attack killed 15 people north of Baghdad while several attacks on Iraqi police and soldiers in Baquba killed 10 people .
-India 's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has invited Kashmir 's pro-independence leader , Yasin Malik , for talks on ending the decades-old dispute over the Himalayan territory .
-An adviser to Mr. Singh , Sanjaya Baru , told reporters the talks are scheduled to be held in New Delhi on February 17 .
-Malik is the chief of the Jammu-Kashmir Liberation Front .
-He told a Pakistani TV channel , Geo TV , that he has convened a meeting of the working committee of his group on February 15th to decide on how to respond to the invitation .
-The front is one of the several Kashmiri separatist groups that are demanding independence for Kashmir .
-Other groups are demanding a merger with Pakistan .
-Warlords in Somalia 's capital , Mogadishu , have begun surrendering their weapons , in an effort to restore stability in the city and ease the return of the country 's transitional government , currently in exile in Kenya .
-Hundreds of warlords who spent more than a decade fighting each other are disarming in camps outside Mogadishu .
-The African Union and the United States have said such a move is essential to restoring stability and eventually paving the way for the return of Somalia 's first central government in 14 years .
-Last week , Somali lawmakers were locked in a dispute over moving to Mogadishu .
-Some lawmakers feel the capital city is still too unsafe , and they want to move to other , less violent parts of Somalia or stay in Nairobi .
-Italian labor unions have agreed not to strike during next month 's Winter Olympic Games in Turin , Italy .
-The unions and the Italian government signed a deal Wednesday that averted work stoppages between January 31 and March 23 .
-The Turin Olympics run from February 10 to the 26 .
-Flight attendants with Alitalia airlines had announced they planned a 24-hour strike February 10 , the day of the opening ceremonies .
-Pilots had threatened a four-hour walkout February 9 .
-The truce will also ban protests in telecommunications and railways industries .
-Local protests outside Turin that have no impact on the Olympics will be allowed .
-Last season , a small Milan television worker 's union strike led to the cancellation of the giant slalom at the World Alpine skiing championships in Bormio .
-Orchid growers are trying to grab a bigger share of the global trade in flowers , which accounts for several billion dollars each year .
-Growers from Latin America and Asia are scrambling to market unique plants and develop brand new varieties to meet the growing demand .
-VOA 's Brian Wagner has this report from Miami .
-Colombia 's main rebel group has insisted the government pull troops out of two mountain towns before it will take part in face-to-face meetings .
-The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia , or FARC , issued a statement to President Alvaro Uribe , calling on the government to pull troops out of two towns in the Valle del Cauca region .
-Mr. Uribe has rejected the request .
-Last month , the Colombian government offered to to meet with the FARC at a time and a place of their choosing to discuss a possible prisoner swap .
-The leftist rebel group is said to be holding 59 hostages , including three Americans .
-FARC , along with a smaller rebel group and rightist paramilitaries , is locked in a long-running war with the government that kills thousands of people each year .
-Exit polls in Ecuador indicate voters have overwhelmingly approved President Rafael Correa 's proposal to establish an assembly to rewrite the country 's constitution .
-The Cedatos-Gallup poll says 78 percent of voters supported the referendum that Mr. Correa says will help end government corruption and inefficiency .
-However , critics accuse the leftist president of trying to centralize power around himself by stripping authority from the country 's unpopular congress .
-Mr. Correa 's plans to redefine the government are similar to what his ally , Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez , has done in his country .
-Mr. Correa , who became president in January , had threatened to resign if the proposal was not approved .
-Earlier this year , the nation 's electoral court fired 57 opposition lawmakers who attempted to block the referendum .
-Japanese officials have unveiled plans to cope with a possible bird flu epidemic .
-The action plan released by the Japanese health ministry Monday anticipates that a quarter of the population , some 32 million people , could become infected and that as many as 6,40,000 people could die .
-The Japanese plan would shut down schools , ban large gatherings and declare a state of emergency in the case of a severe flu epidemic .
-The government will also increase stockpiles of the anti-viral drug Tamiflu .
-Japan has reported no human deaths from bird flu so far .
-An Australian and a Palestinian have been kidnapped at gunpoint in Gaza City and those claiming responsibility say the abduction is in response to Thursday 's kidnapping of a Palestinian intelligence officer .
-Masked gunmen forced the two victims into a vehicle outside a beachfront hotel Friday .
-Relatives of the intelligence service officer , Jihad Abed , who was abducted the day before in Gaza , are claiming responsibility for holding the Australian and Palestinian .
-The officer 's abduction is being blamed on the Jenin Martyrs Brigades militant group .
-There has been no response from the group .
-The officer 's family says Friday 's kidnapping was because of the failure of Palestinian authorities to secure the officer 's release , and a relative says the Australian and Palestinian will be freed in exchange for the release of the officer .
-Cuba is criticizing recent efforts by U.S.-funded TV Marti to bring its anti-Castro programming to Cuban viewers .
-Cuba 's Communist Party newspaper Granma , in an article published Tuesday , said Cuban authorities will take the measures to block the TV Marti programming broadcast on a Miami local television station .
-The station , WPMF-TV , can be received by Cubans with satellite dishes , although such devices are illegal in Cuba .
-Radio and TV Marti announced in December that it would pay to have its programming broadcast on Spanish-language stations in Miami that are received by illegal satellite dishes in Cuba .
-Nepali authorities say at least six Maoist rebels were killed and several soldiers were missing following a fierce gunbattle in eastern Nepal .
-Officials say the fighting erupted Wednesday , when rebels ambushed a security patrol in a rural area of Ilam , about 680 kilometers east of Kathmandu .
-The rebels say they have killed 20 soldiers .
-But officials say they could not confirm if the army suffered any casualties .
-Earlier this week , the Nepali army had warned that the Maoists could be planning major attacks to mark next month 's ninth anniversary of the start of their revolt .
-The rebels , who want to establish a communist republic in the world 's only Hindu kingdom , last week rejected a government deadline to resume peace talks .
-The government is pushing ahead with plans for long-delayed elections later this year .
-Officials say at least 25 other al-Qaida-linked fighters were wounded during intense strikes in the villages of Loi Sam , Rashakai and Tang Khata in the Bajaur tribal region .
-Pakistan says more than 100 people , most of them militants , have been killed in a renewed military offensive in the northwest over the past few days .
-Pakistani officials say Pakistani security forces , backed by helicopter gunships and artillery , killed 16 suspected militants Sunday near the Afghan border .
-Last month , Pakistan 's Interior Ministry chief , Rehman Malik , said the military would suspend offensives against militants in Bajaur during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan , but reserved the right to attack if provoked .
-Pakistan has committed itself to fighting Islamic militancy in its tribal areas , while discouraging the United States from undertaking military operations on its territory .
-Three New Orleans police officers have been charged in the beating of a 64-year-old man and the assaulting of a television news producer with a crew that videotaped the incident .
-The video shows two uniformed officers and two other men repeatedly punching Robert Davis in the face and body as he was being arrested Saturday night for public drunkenness in the southern U.S. city .
-The Associated Press cameraman then took pictures of a third officer manhandling the producer who was holding up his credentials to the officer .
-Other ( CNN ) video shows Mr. Davis in handcuffs lying on the ground in a pool of blood with his face badly beaten .
-The three officers have been suspended and charged with battery .
-The New Orleans police department has come under heavy scrutiny for their response to Hurricane Katrina .
-Many officers have been accused of deserting their posts or joining in the looting that broke out .
-Muslims in northwestern Pakistan continue to protest against the controversial Prophet Muhammad cartoons as the EU foreign policy chief arrives in Saudi Arabia , saying Europe respects Islam .
-The protest in Pakistan began Monday morning when students marched to different universities in the city of Peshawar , urging people to join the demonstration .
-They pelted offices and shops with stones as they marched .
-Police fired tear gas and used batons to disperse the protesters when they tried to march on the provincial governor 's residence .
-In Jeddah , EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Europe had never wanted to offend the feelings of Muslims and never will .
-Solana made the remarks as he met with the head of the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference , Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu .
-The unrest was sparked by cartoons of the prophet published initially by a Danish newspaper last September .
-Finnish authorities say Russian military aircraft have repeatedly violated Finland 's airspace in recent months despite the Nordic country 's demands for an end to such actions .
-The Foreign Ministry late Thursday said the flights were either on their way to Russia 's Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad or returning to Russia when they entered Finnish airspace over the Gulf of Finland .
-Russia 's Interfax news Agency quotes defense ministry officials as denying any violations .
-Finnish officials say Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen will raise the issue during his visit to Moscow next month .
-Kaliningrad is a Russian Baltic enclave cut off from the rest of Russia by Belarus , Lithuania and Poland .
-Nigeria 's main militant group said one of its commanders and 62 of his followers were not captured by the military , but rather turned themselves in for a promised cash reward .
-The military had said it arrested the militants Friday in southern Nigeria 's Rivers State .
-On Saturday , it paraded the men in front of the media at an air force base in the southern oil hub of Port Harcourt .
-In a statement Monday , the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta ( MEND ) refuted the government 's account of the arrests , saying its fighters " handed themselves over " with " no exchange of gunfire . "
-Nigerian authorities say the militants kidnapped 19 oil and construction workers in the Niger Delta region .
-The hostages , who were freed last week , included seven foreigners .
-The group has threatened more attacks on oil facilities .
-Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari says coalition forces will next hand over control of southern Maysan province to Iraqi troops .
-Zebari was speaking in London Tuesday , after talks with British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett .
-Zebari did not say when he expects the transfer to take place .
-On Monday , Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki confirmed that British , Australian and Japanese troops will soon turn over security responsibility to Iraqi forces in southern Muthana province .
-Beckett would not say whether the transfer of responsibility will mean that British forces will return home or be redeployed elsewhere in Iraq .
-Britain has about 7,200 troops in southern Iraq based around the city of Basra .
-The leader of opposition Democrats in the U.S. Senate says the Bush administration needs to explain what role it had in the exposure of a covert CIA officer .
-Interviewed Sunday on the ABC television program " This Week , " Senator Harry Reid said President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney " come clean with the American public . "
-Mr. Reid also said the president should pledge not to pardon Mr. Cheney 's former chief of staff Lewis Libby if he is convicted .
-Mr. Libby resigned Friday after being indicted on five charges in connection with statements he made to investigators probing the CIA leak .
-Both the president and Mr. Cheney have refused to comment on the probe .
-Senator Reid also called for the resignation of Mr. Bush 's chief adviser , Karl Rove .
-Mr. Rove has not been charged with a crime in the probe but reportedly remains under investigation .
-Political leaders and rebels in Ivory Coast say they accept the choice of economist Charles Konan Banny to be the nation 's transitional prime minister .
-A rebel spokesman told VOA that he hopes the international community will give Mr. Banny the power to do his job .
-A United Nations resolution gives the new prime minister expanded authority to carry out rebel disarmament and electoral reforms , with the goal of holding new elections by next October .
-African mediators appointed Mr. Banny on Sunday , ending a deadlock between President Laurent Gbagbo , opposition leaders and the rebels .
-Mr. Banny , the governor of West Africa 's central bank , is expected to travel from Dakar , Senegal , to Abijan Monday .
-He had been going to run for president himself , but in his new position , he is barred from seeking the office .
-Tsunami rescue workers in India 's Andaman archipelago say they have found nine survivors on a remote island , 38 days after large waves devastated villages in the region .
-Police say the group of five men , two women and two teenagers was found wandering in a remote part of Campbell Bay island .
-Police say the Nicobari tribespeople had fled to a hill when the tsunami flooded the island .
-The emaciated survivors largely lived off coconuts until they were rescued Wednesday .
-They are the latest survivors discovered from the disaster that officials estimate killed more than 1,70,000 people , mostly in Indonesia and Sri Lanka .
-Tens of thousands of people are still listed as missing .
-An Afghan official says Taleban militants have captured a district in southern Kandahar province after several days of fierce fighting .
-Kandahar 's provincial police chief , Esmatullah Alizai , Tuesday said the Taleban took control of Mian Neshin district late Monday .
-Officials said Afghan forces made a tactical decision to withdraw from clashes with militants .
-They added that authorities are planning an operation to recapture the district .
-Elsewhere , in nearby Uruzgan province , fighting continues Tuesday between NATO forces and Taleban militants .
-Officials say about 60 Taleban insurgents have been killed in the past three days of fighting in the district of Chora .
-Afghan authorities say civilians were also killed , but casualty figures could not be verified .
-Authorities in Iraq say at least 12 people were killed in a series of attacks Wednesday , mainly in and around the northern city of Mosul .
-Iraqi officials say a car bomb exploded near a Shi'ite mosque on the outskirts of Mosul , killing nine people and wounding others .
-A second blast in a nearby village also caused injuries .
-At least 22 people were wounded in the two explosions .
-And police in central Mosul say at least seven people were wounded Wednesday when a gunman threw an explosive device at a police patrol .
-Mosul has been the scene of a number of deadly attacks since U.S. combat troops formally withdrew from the city last week .
-In other violence , Iraqi police and witnesses say at least three people have been killed and 18 wounded in a bombing south of Baghdad .
-Authorities say the blast in the town of Musayyib appeared to target a wedding party .
-Suicide car bombers carried out two deadly attacks in Baghdad Thursday , killing 11 people as the Iraqi president met with Britain 's prime minister in London ahead of Iraq 's constitutional referendum .
-An American soldier also was killed Thursday in combat operations in northern Baghdad .
-Fear of spiraling violence before next week 's referendum was one of the topics President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Tony Blair were expected to discuss .
-At a joint news conference after their meeting , Mr. Talabani said the presence of American and British troops in Iraq is absolutely vital , and that no timetable for their departure has been set .
-For his part , Mr. Blair said new , more dangerous explosives are being used in Iraq , and there are unproven suspicions they are coming from Iran or its Lebanese ally , Hezbollah .
-Those charges were quickly denied by Iranian and Hezbollah officials .
-Insurgents have carried out a series of attacks across Iraq , killing at least 25 people and wounding more than 93 others .
-Spain 's interior minister says police confiscated documents indicating potential terrorism targets from two suspected members of the Basque separatist group ETA arrested in France Thursday .
-Jose Antonio Alonso told reporters the documents included information about four Madrid sports complexes the city has listed in its bid for the 2012 Olympics .
-The other two sites were water desalinization plants in southern Spain .
-Mr. Alonso Thursday identified one of the men arrested near the southern French city of Toulouse as Pedro Esquisabel Urtuzaga , the chief of ETA international operations .
-ETA has been blamed for the deaths of more than 800 people since the late 1960s , when it launched its terrorist campaign for creation of an independent Basque state in southwestern France and northern Spain .
-The Palestinian militant group Hamas has canceled plans for its anniversary rally over fears of an Israeli attack .
-Thousands of Hamas supporters had been expected to join the rally Friday to mark the 17th anniversary of the founding of the movement .
-A Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri said the rally at a Gaza City sports stadium has been canceled because of renewed concern about the safety of Hamas leaders - particularly after Sunday 's attack on an Israeli military post in Gaza that killed five soldiers .
-Israel has assassinated Hamas founder and his successor in separate air strikes earlier this year .
-Israel also killed more than a dozen Hamas fighters when it bombed a soccer field where the militants were training .
-Honduran authorities have arrested two gang members in the death of an American agent who was fatally shot while on vacation in Tegucigalpa .
-Officials say the suspects were arrested Saturday in connection with the death of Timothy Markey , an agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration .
-Authorities say Mr. Markey was visiting a cathedral in the capital city Friday when he was approached and shot in the leg .
-Mr. Markey was rushed to a hospital , where he was later pronounced dead .
-Officials say the fatal incident appears to have been an attempted robbery .
-A DEA statement says the 44-year-old agent had worked for the administration since 1989 , and was assigned to a unit in the southern U.S. state of Texas .
-The White House is urging the United Nations Security Council to keep pressure on Syria , after a report further implicated senior Syrian officials in the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri .
-Spokesman Scott McClellan said Tuesday that the United States supports U.N. investigator Detlev Mehlis ' request to extend the murder investigation for another six months .
-Mr. Mehlis requested the extension Monday , saying his team had found new evidence implicating Syria in the February assassination .
-The Security Council is due to discuss Mr. Mehlis ' report today .
-Meanwhile , in Beirut , Lebanese mourned the killing Monday of prominent anti-Syrian legislator and newspaper publisher Gibran Tueni in a car bomb blast .
-Many schools and businesses were closed , as Mr. Tueni 's family received condolences at a Greek Orthodox church in East Beirut .
-A coalition of anti-Syrian groups has called for a general strike Wednesday to coincide with his funeral .
-Diplomats in Brussels say the foreign ministers of Britain , France and Germany will meet Iran 's top nuclear official Monday to discuss a long-term nuclear cooperation agreement .
-The European Union 's foreign policy chief , Javier Solana , also will attend the negotiations .
-The Europeans are expected to offer Iran a package of economic and political incentives in exchange for its permanently suspending work on uranium enrichment .
-Last month , Iran agreed to a temporary suspension in an effort to avoid being brought before the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions .
-The European Union also is expected to formally agree to resume stalled trade talks with Iran on an agreement that could include European support for Iran 's membership in the World Trade Organization .
-The United States has previously blocked Iran 's WTO entry bids .
-GOODY PRODUCTS Inc. cut its quarterly dividend to five cents a share from 11.5 cents a share .
-The reduced dividend is payable Jan. 2 to stock of record Dec. 15 .
-The Kearny , N.J.-based maker of hair accessories and other cosmetic products said it cut the dividend due to its third-quarter loss of $ 9,92,000 , or 15 cents a share .
-In the year-ago quarter , the company reported net income of $ 1.9 million , or 29 cents a share .
-The company also adopted an anti-takeover plan .
-Belgium became independent from the Netherlands in 1830 ; it was occupied by Germany during World Wars I and II .
-The country prospered in the past half century as a modern , technologically advanced European state and member of NATO and the EU .
-Tensions between the Dutch-speaking Flemings of the north and the French-speaking Walloons of the south have led in recent years to constitutional amendments granting these regions formal recognition and autonomy .
-Turkmenistan is largely a desert country with intensive agriculture in irrigated oases and sizeable gas and oil resources .
-The two largest crops are cotton , most of which is produced for export , and wheat , which is domestically consumed .
-Although agriculture accounts for roughly 10 % of GDP , it continues to employ nearly half of the country 's workforce .
-With an authoritarian ex-Communist regime in power and a tribally based social structure , Turkmenistan has taken a cautious approach to economic reform , hoping to use gas and cotton export revenues to sustain its inefficient economy .
-Privatization goals remain limited .
-From 1998 - 2005 , Turkmenistan suffered from the continued lack of adequate export routes for natural gas and from obligations on extensive short-term external debt .
-At the same time , however , total exports rose by an average of roughly 15 % per year from 2003 - 8 , largely because of higher international oil and gas prices .
-New pipelines to China and Iran , that began operation in early 2010 , have given Turkmenistan additional export routes for its gas , although these new routes have not offset the sharp drop in export revenue since early 2009 from decreased gas exports to Russia .
-Overall prospects in the near future are discouraging because of widespread internal poverty , endemic corruption , a poor educational system , government misuse of oil and gas revenues , and Ashgabat 's reluctance to adopt market-oriented reforms .
-In the past , Turkmenistan 's economic statistics were state secrets .
-The new government has established a State Agency for Statistics , but GDP numbers and other figures are subject to wide margins of error .
-In particular , the rate of GDP growth is uncertain .
-Since his election , President BERDIMUHAMEDOW unified the country 's dual currency exchange rate , ordered the redenomination of the manat , reduced state subsidies for gasoline , and initiated development of a special tourism zone on the Caspian Sea .
-Although foreign investment is encouraged , numerous bureaucratic obstacles impede international business activity .
-Hungary became a Christian kingdom in A.D. 1000 and for many centuries served as a bulwark against Ottoman Turkish expansion in Europe .
-The kingdom eventually became part of the polyglot Austro-Hungarian Empire , which collapsed during World War I .
-The country fell under Communist rule following World War II .
-In 1956 , a revolt and an announced withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact were met with a massive military intervention by Moscow .
-Under the leadership of Janos KADAR in 1968 , Hungary began liberalizing its economy , introducing so-called " Goulash Communism . "
-Hungary held its first multiparty elections in 1990 and initiated a free market economy .
-It joined NATO in 1999 and the EU five years later .
-In 2011 , Hungary assumed the six-month rotating presidency of the EU for the first time .
-A FROG once upon a time came forth from his home in the marsh and proclaimed to all the beasts that he was a learned physician , skilled in the use of drugs and able to heal all diseases .
-A Fox asked him , " How can you pretend to prescribe for others , when you are unable to heal your own lame gait and wrinkled skin ? '
-A SWALLOW who had built her nest in a court of justice reared a fine family of young birds .
-One day a Snake came out of a chink in the wall and was about to eat them .
-The Just Judge at once issued an injunction , and making an order for their removal to his own house , ate them himself .
-A BOY put his hand into a pitcher full of filberts .
-He grasped as many as he could possibly hold , but when he tried to pull out his hand , he was prevented from doing so by the neck of the pitcher .
-Unwilling to lose his filberts , and yet unable to withdraw his hand , he burst into tears and bitterly lamented his disappointment .
-A bystander said to him , " Be satisfied with half the quantity , and you will readily draw out your hand . "
-Do not attempt too much at once .
-Kidnappers in Haiti have released a group of children they abducted from a school bus early Thursday .
-Police said Friday the kidnappers freed the children unharmed later Thursday .
-Local media report the abductors were paid an unspecified ransom .
-But the Associated Press quotes a police commissioner as denying any ransom was paid .
-Police also said they are working to secure the release of an American missionary kidnapped Thursday in a separate incident .
-Neither case was considered to be politically motivated .
-The United States is giving $ 750 million to Pakistan to help develop its remote tribal region .
-The U.S. Agency for International Development says the money - to be allocated over five years - will fund projects in Pakistan 's Federally Administered Tribal Areas ( FATAs ) , which border Afghanistan .
-The agency says the projects include efforts to strengthen livelihoods , expand economic opportunities and improve education and healthcare .
-A $ 43 million contract has been awarded by the agency to Development Alternatives , Incorporated .
-The company will help the Pakistani government and non-governmental organizations to plan , implement and monitor a wide range of development programs .
-The Federally Administered Tribal Areas are governed by the Pakistani central government , but Pashtun tribal elders run the day to day affairs of the region .
-Officials in northwest Pakistan say at least 12 people were killed Sunday when a minibus ran off a mountainous road and plunged into a ravine .
-At least eight others were injured in the crash , which occurred near the town of Malakand , northwest of Islamabad .
-Police say the vehicle was headed to the town of Chitral from the provincial capital , Peshawar , when the driver lost control of the vehicle .
-It is unclear how many people were traveling on the bus at the time of the accident .
-Fatal road accidents are common in Pakistan , due mainly to poorly maintained roads and disregard for traffic rules .
-Russian President Dmitri Medvedev has sent a new nuclear arms reduction treaty with the United States to parliament for ratification .
-Mr. Medvedev and U.S. President Barack Obama signed the treaty last month in the Czech capital , Prague .
-President Obama submitted the treaty to the U.S. Senate for approval earlier this month .
-Mr. Medvedev urged Russian lawmakers Friday to synchronize their ratification process with the Senate .
-The new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty cuts U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals by 30 percent , leaving each side with about 1,500 strategic nuclear weapons .
-The agreement replaces the 1991 START treaty .
-Both the U.S. Senate and Russia 's parliament must ratify the treaty before it can take effect .
-President Obama has called the treaty " an important milestone " for nuclear security and non-proliferation .
-A British judge has dropped charges against seven soldiers accused of beating an Iraqi teenager to death in 2003 .
-The judge ruled Thursday there was not enough evidence against the soldiers .
-They had faced a court-martial in connection with the death of 18-year-old Nadhem Abdullah during a skirmish in southern Iraq .
-Australia 's cricket team has scored 337-9 at stumps on the first day of its first test against India in Melbourne .
-Matthew Hayden scored his 28th test century in the match , making 124 before being caught out by Sourav Ganguly .
-The century was Hayden 's 19th in Australia , surpassing countrymen Donald Bradman and Ricky Ponting , who have 18 each .
-But India 's bowlers put a damper on Australia 's lineup with Anil Kumble May-84 .
-Zaheer Khan was Mar-93 for India .
-The test is being played on the Melbourne Cricket Ground in front of more than 65,000 fans .
-Police say that 110 persons were ejected from the grounds Wednesday , most for throwing objects in the air .
-Twelve people were arrested .
-A leading U.S. newspaper reports that the Central Intelligence Agency has set up secret joint anti-terrorist centers in more than 20 nations .
-The Washington Post Friday says the centers may act on tips provided by the CIA , but local agents are used to capture suspected terrorists .
-The newspaper based its report on interviews with current and former U.S. and foreign officials who declined to be named .
-The Post says the secret program is legal and received a huge boost after the September 2001 terrorist attacks .
-It says increased funding has allowed the CIA to entice a wide variety of countries to work with it , including Indonesia , Uzbekistan and France .
-The newspaper reports the centers are separate from the secret CIA prisons the Post says exist in several countries .
-The CIA had no immediate comment on the report .
-The presidential election in Lebanon has been postponed until Friday to give rival political factions more time to agree on a candidate .
-Parliament speaker Nabih Berri announced the delay in a statement , saying the balloting in parliament was moved from Wednesday to Friday .
-The delay is the fourth time voting has been postponed .
-The pro-Western governing coalition and the Hezbollah-led opposition are at odds over who will succeed pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud , whose term ends Friday night .
-French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and Arab League chief Amr Moussa are in Lebanon holding talks with both sides .
-Lebanon 's government has threatened to use its simple parliamentary majority to elect one of its own members if the factions do not agree on a candidate .
-United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited Lebanon last week and called on leaders there to set aside their differences and elect a new president .
-Afghan security officials say Taliban militants have hanged five policeman in southern Afghanistan as a public warning to others .
-The Uruzgan province police chief , Juma Gul Himat , describing the incident Sunday , said the five policemen had been abducted two months ago and were mutilated before being killed and their bodies hung from trees .
-In other developments , a provincial police official , Sayed Agha Saqeb says NATO-led forces killed at least 20 Taliban militants in fighting that began Saturday west of Kandahar .
-A Taliban spokesman , Yusuf Ahmadi said the Kandahar operation killed only four insurgents , and left many civilians dead .
-Recent violence also claimed the lives of two Canadian soldiers and their interpreter .
-Palestinian activists tore down a section of the Israeli-built barrier that cordons off the West Bank , in a protest that coincides with the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall .
-Rock-throwing demonstrators cheered Monday as they used a truck to pull down a segment of the wall .
-Israeli troops used tear gas to disperse the protesters .
-The structure is a combination of concrete barriers , fencing and barbed wire that will measure about 700 kilometers long once construction is finished .
-The United Nations estimates the barrier is more than 60 percent complete .
-Israel says it needs the barrier for security , but Palestinians view it as a land-grab .
-The wall cuts into territory Palestinians want for a future state , putting about 10 percent of the West Bank on the Israeli side of the barrier .
-Turkish troops have killed three suspected Kurdish rebels during a military offensive in southeastern Turkey .
-Monday 's fighting in Tunceli province occurred as more than 5,000 Turkish troops swept through the mountainous region searching for members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party , known as the PKK .
-Elsewhere in the region , Turkey says rebels kidnapped a policeman after stopping his car at a roadblock in an area close to the borders of Iraq and Syria .
-Officials say troops are looking for the officer .
-The violence comes days after the Kurdish rebels ended a 60-day unilateral ceasefire with Turkey .
-The rebels accuse the Ankara government of ignoring the truce and continuing military operations against rebel fighters .
-Tibet 's exiled spiritual leader , the Dalai Lama , has been admitted to a hospital in India Thursday after complaining of abdominal pains .
-His personal secretary said there is no major cause for concern .
-Doctors at the hospital where he was admitted in Mumbai tell Reuters news agency that he is " cheerful . "
-On Thursday , the Dalai Lama canceled two upcoming foreign trips to undergo medical tests , after experiencing discomfort during recent travels .
-His office said the 73-year-old Buddhist leader 's doctors had diagnosed him with exhaustion and recommended that he complete some medical tests .
-The Dalai Lama spends several months a year traveling to promote Tibetan causes .
-He recently returned to India after a visit to France .
-Some African heads of state plan to push for a united continent during an African Union summit that begins Sunday in the Ghanaian capital of Accra .
-The three-day summit agenda is almost entirely dedicated to the idea of a United States of Africa .
-Proponents of the plan argue that a united federation of African nations could exercise more influence and better address problems facing the world 's poorest continent .
-Although several countries support the idea of a united continent , some regional powers like South Africa favor a more gradual consolidation of regional economic groups .
-Leaders at the summit will also discuss the conflicts in Darfur and Zimbabwe .
-The idea of a united Africa was conceived four decades ago by Ghana 's first president , Kwame Nkrumah .
-Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has renewed Tokyo 's call for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council .
-Mr. Koizumi , fresh from a landslide election win , addressed world leaders at the United Nations summit in New York on Thursday .
-He said Security Council reform is a " just cause " for the international community .
-He stressed Japan 's record of pacifism since the end of World War II .
-A proposal by the so-called Group of Four nations - Brazil , India , Germany and Japan - calls for increasing the Security Council to 25 with six new permanent members .
-But the proposal is opposed by China and the United States and has failed to gain support among other council members .
-Europe 's debt crisis got worse Tuesday as a rating agency slashed the credit ratings for the Greek and Portuguese governments .
-Standard and Poor 's cut Greek long-term government bonds three levels to speculative or " junk " status because of the " political , economic and budgetary challenges " facing Athens .
-The same agency downgraded Portugal 's sovereign debt by two notches .
-S & P said it has growing concerns about the ability of the Greek and Portuguese governments to repay debts .
-The move followed weeks of talks among European nations and the International Monetary Fund about an aid package worth as much as $ 60 billion for Greece .
-The lower rating means lenders will demand higher interest rates , raising borrowing costs at a time when Greece and Portugal are already struggling with financial issues .
-The downgrades prompted Greek and Portuguese stocks to fall sharply in Tuesday 's trading .
-China says it is " sincere " about establishing diplomatic relations with the Vatican , but has repeated a long-standing requirement that the Holy See acknowledge Taiwan as part of China .
-A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman , Kong Quan , Tuesday expressed hope that under the new pope , the Vatican will create favorable conditions for establishing relations .
-But he said the Vatican must recognize Taiwan as an " inseparable part of China . "
-Pope Benedict last week invited countries without diplomatic relations with the Vatican to establish ties soon .
-He did not name the countries , but China , Saudi Arabia and Vietnam are among the nations that do not have diplomatic ties with the Vatican .
-China broke relations with the Vatican after the communists took power more than 50 years ago .
-The Vatican , meanwhile , has maintained full diplomatic relations with Taiwan .
-Al Jazeera , the Arabic-language television news network , says a telephone caller threatened to blow up the building housing its Beirut bureau because of the network 's coverage of Saturday 's car bomb explosion in Beirut .
-Other news organizations also occupy office space in the same building .
-Al Jazeera says all news agencies in the building continued normal operations .
-Al Jazeera 's coverage of the bombing contained an interview with Lebanese opposition leader Walid Jumblatt .
-Mr. Jumblatt alleged that three bombings in Beirut last week were the work of Syrian-backed Lebanese security agents .
-According to Al Jazeera 's website , Mr. Jumblatt said the agents are trying to defend Lebanon 's pro-Syria leadership .
-Lebanon 's opposition has also accused Syria of involvement in the assassination of former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri .
-Lynndie England arrives for a pretrial hearing at Fort Hood , Texas One of the U.S. Army soldiers at the center of the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal is scheduled to appear in a U.S. military court in Texas , Thursday for a pre-trial hearing and arraignment .
-Private First Class Lynndie England is charged with maltreatment , conspiracy to maltreat detainees , and committing an indecent act .
-She faces up to 11 years in prison .
-In May , Private England 's case ended in a mistrial when the presiding judge threw out her guilty plea .
-The judge said testimony from a key witness indicated that Private England did not know her actions were a crime when she committed them .
-To plead guilty under U.S. military law , a defendant must know they were committing a crime .
-Photos of Private England mistreating Iraqi detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison sparked international outrage last year .
-A U.N. spokeswoman says the United Nations Human Rights Council will hold a special meeting later this week to examine Israel 's military offensive in Lebanon .
-The spokeswoman said Tuesday Tunisia requested the meeting on behalf of the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference .
-The Islamic countries called on the council to take action on what they called " gross violations of human rights by Israel in Lebanon . "
-China , Russia and South Africa also signed the request .
-In a similar session in July , the council voted 29 to 11 to condemn Israel 's military operations in the Gaza Strip .
-Israel 's ambassador rejected the July resolution and accused the council of bias against the Jewish state .
-Russia and France are calling on Iran to stop all uranium enrichment .
-The two countries issued their statement Tuesday during a visit to Moscow by French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin .
-Iran resumed small-scale uranium enrichment Monday -- an initial step in the process of producing fuel for nuclear reactors or atomic weapons .
-Iran had threatened to resume enrichment after the International Atomic Energy Agency referred it this month to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions .
-China , another permanent member of the U.N. Security Council , called Tuesday for continued diplomatic efforts to ease growing tensions over Iran 's nuclear program .
-U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan , who met with President Bush in Washington Monday , said he hopes there will be no steps to escalate the situation .
-Iran denies Western charges that it is trying to build atomic weapons .
-Ukraine 's president , Viktor Yushchenko , is to address a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress next week .
-Senate Majority leader Bill Frist and House Speaker Dennis Hastert say they look forward to hearing from the Ukrainian leader April 6 .
-In a statement , the lawmakers said Mr. Yushchenko 's election last year is inspiring the spread of democracy throughout the world .
-Mr. Yushchenko meets President Bush at the White House Monday .
-Last year 's presidential election in Ukraine was a bitter contest marred by controversy .
-Mr. Yushchenko defeated his rival Viktor Yanukovych in a repeat election held after Ukraine 's Supreme Court threw out the results of a previous vote because of widespread fraud .
-U.S. military officials in Iraq say American and Iraqi forces have launched operations against insurgents in the northern city of Mosul .
-Spokeswoman Captain Angela Bowman told reporters in Iraq 's third largest city that forces are moving in Tuesday to secure police stations hit hard by insurgents in recent days .
-The most intense fighting in Iraq has been shifting from Fallujah to Mosul and other areas .
-On Monday , U.S. Marine officials said coalition forces were now able to move throughout Fallujah after a week of heavy battles to oust entrenched militants , but were still finding pockets of resistance .
-Elsewhere , officials say insurgents killed an American soldier in centraql Iraq , near Balad .
-Kuwait authorities say a policeman , a suspected militant and a Bahraini man have been killed in a shootout near Kuwait City .
-The Interior Ministry said four security officers and a second gunman were wounded in the firefight , which erupted when police stormed a suspected militant hideout .
-At least one other suspect was taken into custody .
-The police raid came after U.S. and Kuwaiti authorities issued statements warning of the likelihood of more attacks against Western targets in the emirate .
-It was the third such clash in Kuwait this month .
-Two security officers and two gunmen were killed in the earlier violence .
-Pakistan and India have begun two days of talks in Islamabad on a proposed multi-billion dollar pipeline that would carry gas from Iran into India through Pakistan .
-It is the first meeting between India 's Oil Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar and his Pakistani counterpart , Amanullah Khan Jadoon , on the 2,700 kilometer project .
-Pakistan 's foreign ministry spokesman said recently the bilateral talks will be followed later this year by three-way discussions involving Iranian officials .
-Washington opposes the project over concerns about Iran 's nuclear program .
-But Mr. Aiyar dismissed U.S. opposition , saying India will not be pressured by any country .
-Burma has released thousands of prisoners to mark the 57th anniversary of the country 's independence from Britain .
-A government-run newspaper , New Light of Myanmar , says 5,588 prisoners have been freed on humanitarian grounds to coincide with the holiday .
-Monday 's gesture differs from three previous mass releases , which were conducted because of what the junta described as irregularities in arrests by the now dismantled National Intelligence bureau .
-The bureau 's former chief , former prime minister Khin Nyunt , has been placed under house arrest on accusations of corruption .
-The government has released nearly 20,000 prisoners since early November .
-Although about 50 dissidents were freed in prior releases , there was no indication that any political prisoners were let go this time .
-Human Rights Watch says a climate of fear threatens the Democratic Republic of Congo 's first elections in 40 years .
-The New York-based rights group says there was an increase in the number of attacks and detentions of journalists , human rights defenders and members of the political opposition in April and May .
-Human Rights Watch said Congolese authorities have failed to provide protection to the groups , and charged that security forces were involved in some of the attacks .
-The rights group urged a U.N. Security Council delegation set to visit the DRC Sunday to speak out against the intimidation .
-It said the elections , set for July 30 , can not be free and fair if the press and civil society are too afraid to speak out or engage in legitimate political debate .
-The DRC has been struggling to recover from a five-year civil war that left an estimated four million people dead .
-A moderate earthquake has sent people running away from the coastline of Indonesia 's Sulawesi island , less than a week after a powerful quake off Java island generated a tsunami that killed nearly 700 people .
-The latest quake , of 6.1 magnitude , struck deep under the waters of Tomini Bay off northern Sulawesi 's Gorontalo province Sunday .
-Fears of a tsunami proved unfounded , however , and there are no reports of damage or injuries .
-Japanese and U.S. monitoring agencies in the Pacific Ocean did not issue a tsunami warning after the quake .
-A powerful earthquake off the coast of Java last Monday generated a crushing wave that barreled through homes , restaurants and hotels in the Pangandaran area .
-Indonesian officials say the death toll from that tsunami has climbed to at least 668 .
-Thousands of prisoners in Kenya reportedly volunteered to skip lunch on New Year 's day so that the food could be sent to those suffering from famine .
-They skipped the meal after President Mwai Kibaki declared Kenya 's famine a national disaster and asked for more than $ 150 million in relief aid .
-Inadequate rainfall during Kenya 's rainy season has caused crop failure and the depletion of livestock herds .
-President Kibaki said in his New Year 's address that nearly one in 10 Kenyans will need famine relief for the next six months .
-At least 20 people and thousands of livestock have died as a result of the drought and famine .
-President Bush is expected to nominate one of his closest friends , Karen Hughes , to lead a State Department effort to improve the reputation of the United States among Muslims in the Arab world .
-The 48-year-old Ms. Hughes is expected to be nominated next week as Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs , a position that requires Senate confirmation .
-Ms. Hughes will join Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in leading the president 's push for democracy in the Middle East .
-Ms. Hughes has been one of President Bush 's closest advisors since he became the governor of Texas 10 years ago .
-The position of Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy has been vacant since last June when Margaret Tutwiler resigned after only six months on the job .
-A Burmese aid group says Burma 's military government has launched a new offensive along the country 's eastern border with Thailand .
-The Free Burma Rangers says Burmese forces have displaced thousands of villagers in Karen state , burning their homes and rice crops .
-The group says nearly 5000 villagers are hiding in jungle and mountain areas of Burma .
-The U.S. Campaign for Burma last week reported similar attacks .
-The human right group said the attacks were aimed at bringing eastern Burma , which has historically been under control of Burma 's ethnic minorities , under the control of the country 's military government .
-Rights groups say more than 5,00,000 villagers are believed to have been forced from their homes in eastern Burma over the past decade .
-Spanish authorities say firefighters are making progress against wildfires that have scorched large parts of the Canary Islands .
-Officials said Wednesday the fires on the main islands of Tenerife and Gran Canaria had " stabilized " as winds eased and temperatures moderated .
-Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero inspected the damage and promised special government aid .
-Authorities say a quarter of the forests on both islands have been incinerated , along with habitats of rare plants and animals .
-The blazes have not reached coastal resorts popular with European tourists .
-Environmentalists call the fires a catastrophe .
-About 9,000 people were in emergency shelters on Tenerife Wednesday , while most of the 5,000 displaced people on Gran Canaria have begun returning home .
-Tenerife authorities say they suspect arsonists started the wildfire on the island .
-Police on Gran Canaria are holding a forest worker who confessed to starting a fire there last Friday .
-A group of prominent political religious and business figures , led by former Czech President Vaclav Havel , has criticized Russia 's handling of a separatist rebellion in Chechnya .
-A letter by the group Wednesday accuses Russian President Vladimir Putin of using the war in Chechnya to take away people 's freedoms and re-establish an autocracy .
-In addition to Havel , the authors of the letter include former Irish President Mary Robinson , retired South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu , and billionaire George Soros .
-The letter appeared in a Prague newspaper , the Mlada Fronta Dnes , Wednesday as the Russian leader was due to begin a visit to the Czech capital .
-Russian troops battled separatist rebels in Chechnya for several years in the 1990s , but the fighting has subsided in recent years with pro-Russian forces controlling much of the republic .
-Cuban President Raul Castro says the ruling Communist Party will hold a congress in April , the first party congress to be held in Cuba since 1997 .
-Mr. Castro said the island 's leaders will meet to chart a new economic future for the country .
-He made the announcement after meeting Monday with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez .
-There has been intense speculation that Fidel Castro 's future might be discussed at the next Communist Party congress , but Raul Castro did not mention his brother Monday .
-Fidel Castro , 84 , stepped down as president of Cuba in 2006 , but remains head of the Communist Party .
-Vatican officials say Pope John Paul II is getting nutrition through a nasal tube to boost his calorie intake and help what they call his " slow and progressive " recovery from throat surgery .
-A Vatican spokesman said the pontiff spends many hours in an armchair , celebrates Mass and works in contact with his aides in directly following church activities .
-He issued the statement shortly after the 84-year-old pontiff appeared at his window overlooking Saint Peter 's Square Wednesday , to bless the faithful .
-The crowd greeted the pope with cheers and applause when he raised his hand to bless them .
-But he was unable to speak when an aide put a microphone in front of him .
-The Vatican statement was the first official medical report on the pope since March 10 , three days before he was discharged from a hospital following a tracheotomy .
-A group of Palestinian gunmen have briefly seized Bethelehem city hall in the West Bank , apparently demanding financial assistance from the Palestinian Authority .
-About 20 gunmen appeared on the roof of the city hall Tuesday , ordered all workers out and threatened to open fire .
-Palestinian police sealed off the streets leading to the building on Manger Square , near the Church of the Nativity .
-Officials say the gunmen were linked to the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades militant faction of the ruling Fatah movement of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas .
-They were demanding money for about 300 members .
-The gunmen left the building after about an hour , following talks with the governor of Bethlehem .
-It was not immediately clear how the standoff was resolved .
-The incident is another sign of growing turmoil within the Palestinian territories ahead of a January parliamentary election .
-Pakistani officials say five militants , including suicide bombers , have been killed while trying to enter a military training area in the country 's northwest .
-Authorities say security forces opened fire on the attackers Tuesday as they tried to infiltrate the training center in the town of Mardan , near the Afghan border .
-Officials say three suicide bombers detonated their explosives during the gunbattle , while two other militants were killed by troops .
-Four soldiers were wounded in the attack .
-There was no immediate claim of responsibility , but Taliban militants have carried out attacks in the area in the past .
-Russian President Vladimir Putin says the Kremlin 's opposition to independence for Kosovo is based on international law and a desire for regional stability .
-Mr. Putin said during talks with Serbian President Boris Tadic Sunday that Russia 's position is not based on what he calls ethnic or historical considerations .
-Mr. Tadic repeated Serbia 's opposition to an independent Kosovo , but said he is willing to compromise .
-Kosovo is an ethnic Albanian majority province of Serbia .
-The United Nations Security Council is considering a draft resolution that backs a U.N. envoy 's plan for supervised independence for the region .
-Russia , a traditional Serbian ally , has hinted it would veto the resolution .
-Kosovo has been under U.N. supervision since 1999 , when NATO airstrikes drove out Serbian and Yugoslav forces waging violence against the ethnic Albanians .
-South Korea and China have canceled meetings with top Japanese officials to protest Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi 's visit to a controversial war shrine .
-South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday he had called off a trip to Japan , saying the visit would not be " appropriate . "
-Officials in Seoul also say President Roh Moo-hyun may cancel a summit with Mr. Koizumi , expected to take place later this year .
-Tuesday , China canceled a trip to Beijing by Japan 's foreign minister , saying the visit was not timely given the current situation .
-The Yasukuni shrine honors 2.5 million Japanese war dead , including convicted war criminals .
-Critics say Yasukuni represents Japan 's past military aggression , but Mr. Koizumi says his visits are to pray for peace .
-President Bush says sanctions are a " real possibility " against Iran for its controversial nuclear program .
-Interviewed Friday on the CBS television network , Mr. Bush said a free world can not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon .
-Mr. Bush said he is open to all possible options for dealing with Iran , including military intervention .
-But he said that would be the last option .
-In Tehran , the chief of Iran 's Revolutionary Guards , General Yahya Rahim Safavi , said Saturday his country would use ballistic missiles to defend itself if attacked .
-On Friday , the U.S. Senate voted unanimously to condemn Iran 's nuclear program , and to support referring Tehran to the United Nations Security Council for allegedly violating the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty .
-The International Atomic Energy Agency meets February 2 in Vienna to discuss the Iran nuclear standoff .
-A brief gunbattle between rival Fatah factions erupted outside the Gaza headquarters of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Wednesday , as the ruling party prepared to register its list of candidates for January 's parlimentary elections .
-Witnesses say at least three people were wounded .
-The clash occurred after Fatah gunmen stormed the building demanding that the party respect the results of recent primary elections .
-Mr. Abbas has decided to appoint candidates after canceling the results of the primaries in Gaza and some other areas where balloting was marred by violence and fraud .
-Some hard-liners fear they will not be properly represented in the Fatah list .
-On Tuesday , a flare-up of election-related violence in Gaza forced Palestinian election officials to close their offices in the there and in the West Bank .
-The offices are to open later today .
-Mr. Abbas has been struggling to contain internal unrest since Israel pulled out of Gaza in September .
-U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces have detained 49 suspected insurgents north of Baghdad , as operations continue to secure the country ahead of January 's election .
-The U.S. military says the pre-dawn raid Friday was in the town of Duluiyah , in the insurgent-plagued Sunni Triangle north and west of Baghdad .
-Meanwhile , in Baghdad , firefighters extinguished a blaze at the city 's main oil refinery , which was attacked by saboteurs late Thursday .
-Also Friday , near Fallujah , the body of an Iraqi National Guardsman was found with a note warning others against working with U.S.-led forces .
-Iraq 's security forces have been the main target of insurgent violence .
-And South Korea 's parliament overwhelmingly approved keeping its 3,600 troops in northern Iraq for another year .
-Pope Benedict has met with the parents of the four-year-old British girl who disappeared from a tourist resort in Portugal in early May .
-The pope Wednesday spoke to Gerry and Kate McCann following his weekly audience in St. Peter 's Square .
-The pontiff blessed a photograph of their daughter , Madeleine , who disappeared when the parents left her and two siblings in a resort hotel while they went to dinner .
-Kate McCann said the pope told her he would continue to pray for Madeleine 's safe return .
-The couple are devout Catholics , but Gerry McCann said he had conflicting emotions about meeting the pope because of the circumstances .
-The McCann 's are also planning to travel to Spain and Germany in their continued campaign to publicize their daughter 's disappearance .
-A public outcry in Britain and Portugal at the apparent abduction of young Madeleine has prompted politicians and celebrities to offer their support .
-A leading human rights group is criticizing what it calls the refusal by the United States and other western countries to intervene in Sudan 's troubled Darfur region .
-In its annual report , Human Rights Watch says western countries are wrong to leave peacekeeping duties in Darfur to the African Union , which the group calls a new institution with no peacekeeping experience .
-Last year , the African Union began sending peacekeepers to Darfur , where two years of fighting between rebels and government-backed militias have claimed an estimated 70,000 lives .
-On another issue , the HRW report says the abuse of prisoners by U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq weakened the worldwide system for protecting human rights .
-The report also condemns attacks on the rights of sexual minorities around the world .
-The Supreme Court of Pakistan has given the country 's election commission 30 days to register all eligible voters left out of draft electoral lists .
-The petition was filed by former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and her opposition Pakistan People 's Party .
-It contends that more than 20 million eligible voters had not been enrolled .
-At a hearing Friday , the election commission requested 140 days to prepare the revised lists .
-The two-member bench rejected the request , saying the time period was too long .
-The court instead granted the commission 30 days to make the necessary changes .
-The decision comes a day after Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf decided against declaring a state of emergency that could have delayed elections for a year .
-British diplomat John Sawers says Iran presented no major new proposals at Monday 's last-ditch talks aimed at resolving the standoff over Iran 's nuclear program .
-But Iran 's negotiator Javad Vaeedi described the session with Britain , Germany and France in Brussels as positive .
-The talks came before Monday 's meeting in London of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany on Iran 's nuclear program .
-President Bush , speaking at the White House , said there is an international consensus that Iran should not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon .
-He says U.S. and other officials are working on how to go about achieving that goal .
-Later this week , the International Atomic Energy Agency holds an emergency session that could see Iran referred to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions .
-The U.S. unemployment rate fell unexpectedly in July , in one of the strongest signals yet that the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression may be ending .
-A report from the Labor Department Friday shows the unemployment rate dropped to 9.4 percent last month , compared to 9.5 percent in June .
-It is the first time the jobless rate has fallen since April 2008 .
-Employers cut 2,47,000 jobs in July .
-The number is much less than analysts had expected , but still an indication of a weak job market .
-In total , about 14.5 million people are unemployed in the United States .
-President Barack Obama has said the $ 787 billion economic stimulus plan he signed within months of taking office has stopped the recession from getting worse .
-Chinese President Hu Jintao is calling for closer economic and cultural relations with Taiwan to maintain peace in the region , and to curb what he calls the island 's " secessionist activities . "
-China 's official Xinhua news agency says Mr. Hu made the comments Saturday in Beijing at a forum on China and Taiwan business ties .
-Xinhua says that during the forum , the Chinese leader met with the honorary chairman of Taiwan 's main opposition party , Lien Chan .
-About 500 participants are attending the two-day event .
-They are expected to discuss issues including direct flights from Taiwan to the mainland .
-Taiwan and China split in 1949 following a civil war .
-But Beijing still considers the island as part of its territory and has threatened to use force if necessary to reunite the two sides .
-The man who has been guiding the U.S. economy for the past 18 years , Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan , is set to retire at the end of January .
-The head of the U.S. central bank is highly regarded by economists , markets and political leaders .
-President Bush has given no indication who he is considering to replace Mr. Greenspan or when his decision will be announced .
-News reports speculate that the chairman of Mr. Bush 's Council of Economic Advisors , Ben Bernanke , is the leading candidate .
-He is a monetary economist and a former member of the key Fed committee that sets interest rates .
-Other candidates include academic economists with policy experience like Glenn Hubbard and Martin Feldstein .
-Venezuela says a bomb attack has killed Deputy Attorney General Danilo Anderson .
-Officials told VOA Friday the charred body has been positively identified as that of Mr. Anderson , who was killed around midnight Thursday as he drove through a suburb of Caracas .
-Mr. Anderson had been in charge of prosecuting several hundred politicians , businessmen and former military officers involved in a failed April 2002 coup that briefly ousted President Hugo Chavez .
-Officials say President Chavez has canceled his trip to Costa Rica Friday to attend the Ibero-American summit .
-They say he has also canceled a two-week tour of Spain , Iran , Libya and Russia that was to begin this weekend .
-The price of crude oil soared Tuesday , hitting a new record high above $ 119 a barrel in New York trading .
-The price of crude oil for future delivery went to $ 119.48 cents a barrel .
-Traders say a tight balance between demand and supply means oil prices jump when supplies seem threatened or demand rises .
-Currently supply concerns are growing out of violence in Nigeria , reports that Russia will produce less oil this year , and a possible strike by Scottish refinery workers .
-The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries says it will boost its current 32-million-barrel-a-day output by a bit more than one quarter by the year 2020 .
-That will help meet growing demand in the long term but has little effect on oil prices right now .
-OPEC officials say there is sufficient oil on the market and blames rising prices on speculators and the falling U.S. dollar .
-Three people have been rescued after a tunnel allegedly used by Palestinian weapons smugglers collapsed .
-Israel says a joint Israeli army and Palestinian operation succeeded in reaching the men , several hours after the tunnel along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt fell in .
-The incident happened in the same area where Israeli soldiers shot and killed three Egyptian police officers Thursday .
-The Israeli army says a tank crew mistook the Egyptians for Palestinian militants and opened fire .
-Egypt has condemned the killings .
-The Israeli army has expressed its regret .
-Israeli officials also apologized and opened an investigation .
-European Union regulators have fined Microsoft Corporation $ 357 million for failing to share programming code with its rivals , as demanded by a 2004 antitrust ruling .
-The EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes says Microsoft is continuing its illegal conduct , and no company is above the law .
-The fine was assessed at a rate of nearly $ 2 million a day from December 16 through June 20 .
-EU officials say Microsoft 's daily fines will double ( to $ 3.8 million ) at the end of this month if the company 's violations continue .
-The European Union fined Microsoft $ 633 million in 2004 and ordered the company to give its rivals the technical information necessary for their programs to operate smoothly on computers using Microsoft 's Windows operating system .
-Microsoft has said it has 300 people working full time to comply with the EU 's orders , and that any additional fines would be unjustified .
-Icy rain and snow brought down a major power line in Moscow , shutting down the city 's main airport and snarling traffic on its busy streets .
-Officials said on Sunday that flights from the Domodedovo airport were suspended for almost 15 hours until the power was partially restored and some planes were allowed to take off .
-Flights from Moscow 's second airport , Sheremetyevo , were operating , but travelers experienced delays .
-Roughly 2,00,000 people were left without power as ice snapped power lines and slicked over the capital 's streets and encased cars .
-According to Russia 's state-owned news agency , Ria Novosti , some 6,000 passengers were stranded at Domodedovo , and taxis were charging more than $ 300 to take clients to the airport .
-Officials warned residents to stay home until conditions improved .
-The United Nations says in the past year more than one million people contracted HIV infections in South Asia , and the disease is spreading largely due to drug use and unsafe sex .
-In its annual report on the global AIDS epidemic , the world body says the spread of HIV is stabilizing in some of India 's states , but overall it is still rising .
-India already has an estimated 5.1 million HIV-positive people .
-According to the report , some 42 percent of female sex workers in India say they are able to guess if their clients are HIV positive because of their physical appearance .
-But the report says ignorance about the disease is serious elsewhere in South Asia .
-Citing Pakistan as an example , the report says one in every five female sex workers in the largest city of Karachi can not recognize a condom , and one-third never heard of AIDS .
-Israel has agreed to free 170 Palestinian prisoners .
-The release is part of a promise Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon made to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to secure the release this month of an Israeli jailed by Egypt on espionage charges .
-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called Sunday 's decision a goodwill gesture toward the Egyptian leader .
-The Palestinians are expected to be freed in the next week .
-The prisoners ' identities were not immediately known , but Israel has said it would not release those it said had " blood on their hands . "
-Palestinian officials have long demanded the release of thousands of prisoners held by Israel .
-They have also criticized previous prisoner releases as inadequate .
-The U.S. secretary of the interior said he will not change a Bush administration rule on protection of polar bears , despite pressure from environmentalists .
-Ken Salazar announced Friday that a special rule applying to polar bears , under the Endangered Species Act , can only restrict dangers to the bears that originate in the bears ' northern habitat .
-That rules out application of the rule to carbon emissions farther south , even though they can affect the Arctic climate where the bears live .
-Salazar said the Endangered Species Act was not the " proper mechanism " for dealing with climate change and said a more comprehensive strategy is needed .
-Environmentalists criticized the decision as threatening to the polar bear population .
-Polar bears have been a touchstone in discussions on climate change because they rely on sea ice , which scientists say is melting as the planet 's atmosphere warms .
-Police in southwest Pakistan say gunmen have shot and killed the government spokesman in southwestern Balochistan province .
-Local officers say that Raziq Bugti died at the scene after unidentified assailants fired a barrage of shots into his vehicle as it traveled through the provincial capital , Quetta .
-Bugti served as the spokesman for the provincial government and advisor to the chief minister .
-In May , Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said that government forces have wiped out nearly all separatist camps in the gas-rich province .
-Nationalist rebels have been fighting for decades for a larger share of the profits from the resources of Balochistan , Pakistan 's biggest province .
-Hundreds of people have been killed in separatist attacks on gas , transport and other energy facilities .
-Nigeria has rejected as unfair a new corruption index which says the oil-rich nation is seen as the most corrupt on the African continent .
-In a statement , Nigeria 's Information Ministry said the index by Berlin-based group Transparency International failed to recognize the government 's efforts at fighting graft .
-It accused the group of using faulty and outdated information in its annual ranking of 146 nations based on perceived corruption .
-Nigerian officials also say the index focuses on governments taking bribes , but ignores western companies blamed for offering illegal payments .
-The index lists Nigeria ahead of only Bangladesh and Haiti as the most corrupt nations in the world .
-Transparency International says corruption is often high among other oil-producing nations as well , including Angola , Chad , Libya and Sudan .
-Afghanistan 's Interior Ministry says roadside bomb blasts in southern Helmand province have killed six civilians .
-The Interior Ministry said the deaths occurred Saturday in two places after the victims drove over the devices .
-Meanwhile , a joint NATO-Afghan security force has killed several Taliban fighters in an operation in the northeast .
-NATO says one of the insurgents killed Saturday near Alasay Valley in Kapisa province , outside Kabul , is a suspected Taliban commander .
-He is believed to be responsible for violent attacks against Afghan government officials , as well as the joint forces .
-Officials say the insurgents are also suspected of imposing strict curfews on the villages in the valley and conducting illegal patrols to enforce Taliban control on local civilians .
-Multiple weapons , including a rocket-propelled grenade , were discovered during the operation .
-In southern Afghanistan , the British Defense Ministry said Saturday one of its soldiers was killed by a suicide blast .
-Croatia 's Janica Kostelic has won her first ever women 's World Cup giant slalom title in Spindleruv Mlyn , the Czech Republic .
-Kostelic finished with a combined time of two minutes , 21.3 seconds .
-Kathrin Zettel of Austria was second , 0.08 of one second back .
-Another Austrian , Marlies Schild , was third ( 2.21.40 ) .
-Kostelic , the reigning Olympic giant slalom champion , had never won the event on the World Cup circuit before .
-Kostelic has won previously in World Cup slalom and combined events and claimed the world championships in the downhill , the slalom and the combined .
-A Ukrainian court has ruled the privatization of the country 's largest steel mill was illegal .
-A court in Kiev made the ruling Thursday regarding the Kryvorizhstal mill .
-A consortium that included the son-in-law of former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma purchased the complex in June for $ 800 million , far less than its estimated value .
-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said Wednesday that some 3,000 privatizations will be reviewed to ensure they were conducted fairly .
-Meanwhile , Justice Minister Roman Zvarych is threatening to quit after less than two weeks on the job , citing efforts by businessmen to influence his ministry .
-He told Canal Five television he refuses to allow businessmen who are also deputies with oil ties to interfere with his work , and said he will not allow members of the government , who he did not name , drag his family into corruption schemes .
-Military forces of two Burmese ethnic groups engaged in intense fighting along the border with Thailand earlier this week .
-Sources say the fighting broke out Tuesday between forces aligned with the Wa and Shan groups near Thailand 's northern Mae Hong Son province .
-The battle began after talks to resolve several issues broke down , including a dispute over water use .
-There is also speculation that illegal drugs also played a part in the fighting .
-Thailand has increased security along the Burmese border to keep the violence from spilling over into its territories .
-The U.S. military says it has captured a number of key terrorist leaders in a series of operations aimed at weakening al-Qaida in Iraq .
-The military says its forces spread out across central and northern Iraq Thursday , detaining 25 suspected terrorists .
-Officials say one of the suspects is an alleged leader of an al-Qaida cell in Baghdad who was helping to bring foreign terrorists into Iraq .
-Forces also arrested a man thought to be senior al-Qaida leader in Mosul .
-In violence Wednesday , a suicide car bomber attacked an Iraqi army patrol in the northern city of Mosul , killing three people and wounding 14 others .
-In Baghdad , the military said a roadside bomb wounded three Iraqi civilians .
-The military also said Iraqi soldiers recovered Iranian-made rockets and other weapons in Baghdad 's Sadr City district on Monday .
-It said some of the Iranian munitions had a manufacture date of early 2008 .
-Pakistan 's Interior Ministry says gunmen have released all the children briefly held hostage at a high school in North West Frontier Province .
-Ministry spokesman Javed Cheema says the gunmen surrendered to the local jirga ( tribal council ) along with their weapons and released the children .
-The ministry said up to 250 students were being held .
-The gunmen took refuge in the school after an aborted attempt to abduct a health official in a neighboring district .
-The official was eventually freed after clashes with police .
-Police then surrounded the building while tribesmen negotiated with the insurgents .
-Officials say the kidnappers had demanded safe passage in return for freeing the students .
-Violence has spread in recent months in areas of Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan , which are believed to be sanctuaries for al Qaeda and Taliban militants .
-The head of the World Health Organization says the world 's capacity for making enough swine flu vaccine for nearly seven billion people is " woefully inadequate . "
-Margaret Chan said at a Geneva conference Tuesday that almost everyone on the planet is susceptible to the H1N1 swine flu virus .
-But she said most of the limited supply of the vaccine will go to wealthy countries , calling it an example of life-saving intervention biased towards affluence .
-Chan called for more innovation in developing new medicines to ensure everyone gets the vaccine .
-WHO officials have said they believe the first mass vaccines will be available by September and that health care providers should get inoculated first .
-The latest WHO report confirms nearly 95,000 swine flu cases worldwide with 429 deaths .
-Political analysts say the results of some close elections across the United States could be delayed for days or weeks , as absentee and provisional ballots are counted .
-Many states have allowed voters to cast absentee ballots for weeks .
-Those votes , however , usually take longer to count , and a final tally of the results from those ballots could take days .
-Provisional ballots are often used when a voter is not registered at the polling place , who did not bring the proper type of identification or who shows up at the wrong voting precinct .
-In 2004 , the first year provisional ballots were used nationwide , about 1.9 million people cast them .
-More than 1.2 million of those votes were ruled valid .
-In the northwestern state of Washington in 2004 , provisional ballots played a role in delaying Democratic gubernatorial candidate Christine Gregoire 's victory for more than eight weeks .
-A massive winter storm is barreling across the central United States , causing mayhem on the roads and threatening to ruin many Americans ' Christmas holiday plans .
-The storm stretches as far north as Minnesota , along the Canadian border , to Texas in the south .
-Freezing rain , snow and heavy winds are making driving conditions extremely dangerous in some states .
-The National Weather Service has issued a blizzard warning to remain in effect for many areas until Saturday , predicting up to 30 centimeters of snow in many northern locales .
-The warning says " life-threatening " weather conditions are expected and strongly discourages travel .
-Americans on the east coast are just recovering from a major storm last week that dropped as much as 60 centimeters of snow in some areas , and caused widespread power outages .
-A winter storm in the northeastern United States has shut down airline travel and cut power to thousands of people .
-U.S. weather forecasters said more than 50 centimeters of snow has fallen in some areas since Saturday , and more snow was expected through Sunday .
-Officials closed at least two major airports servicing New York City , and air traffic was disrupted at other key cities .
-Service resumed at Ronald Reagan National airport in Washington , which had closed earlier in the day .
-Heavy snow snapped trees and power lines near Washington , cutting electricity to thousands of people .
-New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg warned residents to remain indoors until roads and sidewalks were cleared .
-A blizzard warning was in effect for New York city and surrounding areas .
-And The National Weather Service issued a heavy snow warning for an area extending from West Virginia to Maine .
-Cuba has announced an increase in government salaries for workers with advanced university degrees , municipal and provincial employees , and those certified as masters of their trades or otherwise noted for their productivity .
-The pay hike is designed to help those who were not affected by a minimum wage hike in May .
-Retirement and social assistance pensions were also raised .
-In a speech last week , Cuban President Fidel Castro indicated pay increases may be needed to battle corruption .
-At the same time , Cuba announced a steep increase in utility rates for heavy users of electricity .
-The heavily subsidized rates Cubans now pay for the first 100 kilowatt hours will stay the same , but after that , rates increase to up to three times their former rates for the heaviest users .
-Granma , the Cuban Communist Party newspaper , said the increase was to encourage energy conservation among Cubans .
-Iraqi authorities say at least 10 people have been killed and 21 others wounded in a car bomb attack on a Shi'ite mosque in central Iraq .
-Police say a suicide bomber blew himself up early Friday , as worshippers were leaving the al-Rasul al-Aadham mosque in the central town of Tuz Khurmatu , nearly 170 kilometers north of Baghdad .
-Earlier Friday in the capital , Iraqi police say gunmen opened fire on a group of day laborers , killing at least three people and wounding 13 others .
-The attacks come as part of a campaign of violence by insurgents that has killed more than 180 people in Iraq since Wednesday .
-Separately , the U.S. military says an American soldier was killed late Thursday in an explosion in the city of Ramadi , in al-Anbar province .
-A delegation of U.S. lawmakers and businessmen is expected to arrive in Cuba Wednesday for talks aimed at selling more agricultural products to the communist nation .
-Democratic Senator Max Baucus of Montana , state lawmakers and agricultural producers will meet in Havana with Cuban officials for several days of talks .
-They hope to sign deals aimed at selling $ 100 million in food and agricultural products to Havana .
-Under an exemption to the U.S. sanctions against Cuba , American agricultural goods can be sold to the island on a cash-only basis .
-Since 2001 , Havana has purchased more than $ 700 million in food products .
-Meanwhile , Cuba is pressing ahead with its largest military exercise in 20 years .
-Officials say military forces , reservists and millions of civilians are taking part in the six-day exercise , called Bastion 2004 .
-A top United Nations envoy has held what he describes as " encouraging " talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad about a U.N. resolution calling for all Syrian troops to leave Lebanon .
-After meeting the Syrian leader Thursday in Damascus , envoy Terje Roed-Larsen said he delivered a message from U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan , and that he is hopeful about implementing the U.N. measure .
-No schedule for further talks has been announced .
-Western analysts say Syria has at least 14,000 troops in neighboring Lebanon .
-Damascus has been sharply critical of a U.N. resolution passed last September , which calls for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Lebanon .
-Syria has criticized the resolution as an infringement on a bilateral agreement with the Beirut government .
-Federal officials in the U.S. state of Arizona have indicted 13 Bosnian Serbs on charges of lying on their visa applications about their prior military service .
-Officials said seven others were being held on similar charges .
-The indicted ethnic Serbs from Bosnia-Herzegovina are charged with concealing their prior service in Bosnian Serb forces .
-However , some families of the accused have said they did not serve in the military ; others said they were conscripted against their will .
-Last year , four other Bosnian Serbs in Arizona were arrested and charged with lying on immigration paperwork .
-All immigrants applying for legal residency in the United States must disclose prior military service .
-Widespread atrocities occurred during the conflict of the 1990s in Bosnia-Herzegovina , including the slaughter of thousands of civilians by Serb forces .
-Doctors say Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is recovering well from heart surgery and has been moved out of intensive care .
-His doctors told several Indian news agencies Wednesday that the prime minister is likely to be discharged from the hospital within the next few days if he continues to recover on schedule .
-The prime minister had heart bypass surgery on Saturday after he complained of chest pains and tests showed he had several blocked arteries .
-He had a similar operation in Britain in 1990 .
-Doctors have previously said that Mr. Singh , who is 76 , should be able to resume his full duties within four weeks .
-No acting prime minister has been named .
-Indian officials say until Mr. Singh recovers , there will be collective decision-making by the Cabinet , chaired by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee .
-The United Nation 's food agency has tripled the amount of emergency aid it is seeking for Niger , saying more is needed to save 2.5 million people from extreme hunger .
-The World Food Program said Wednesday it now needs more than $ 57 million for its operations in Niger .
-It says this is the third time in six months it has raised its appeal .
-Executive Director James Morris says if donors had responded earlier , the cost of the operation would be greatly reduced .
-He said the situation has deteriorated severely over recent months .
-The agency says donations only started flowing recently after television pictures showed images of starving children .
-Tuesday , Niger 's President , Mamadou Tandja , thanked humanitarian agencies for sending emergency aid and said Niger 's food crisis is improving .
-Lebanese soldiers have seized several buildings in a Palestinian refugee camp where they have been battling Islamic militants for two months .
-The Lebanese military says two soldiers were killed in Sunday 's fighting in the Nahr el-Bared camp near Tripoli .
-Witnesses say Lebanese flags were seen flying over buildings in the camp .
-The military also bombarded militants ' positions with artillery shells for a second day , as the militants fired rockets that hit fields outside the camp .
-More than 170 people , including at least 97 Lebanese soldiers , have been killed since the standoff began May 20th .
-Nearly all of the Palestinian refugees living in the camp have fled .
-Last month , Lebanese officials claimed victory in the fighting , but daily firefights have continued since then .
-The price of crude oil has fallen to its lowest level in more than 18 months as mild weather in the northern hemisphere has caused inventories to rise .
-Light sweet crude for February delivery Tuesday dropped as much as $ 2 a barrel to $ 53.88 .
-That is the lowest price per barrel in New York trading since June 2005 .
-The price drop comes despite the disruption of Russia 's oil exports to Europe .
-Moscow refuses to pay a newly imposed customs tax by Minsk for its oil crossing Belarus , which supplies 20 percent of Russian oil to Europe .
-Oil also declined as traders expressed skepticism OPEC plans to cut oil production by another 5,00,000 barrels per day .
-The international oil cartel agreed to a production cut of one million barrels per day in November , but prices have continued to drop .
-The White House is hailing an upcoming Israeli-Palestinian summit in Egypt , calling it an encouraging step that shows both sides want to seize the opportunity for peace .
-The U.S. comments Wednesday followed announcements that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will meet new Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Jordan 's King Abdullah Tuesday in Sharm al-Sheikh .
-The summit coincides with a visit to the region by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice , who is to meet separately with Mr. Sharon and Mr. Abbas the day before the February 8 summit .
-In Cairo Wednesday , Egypt held talks with Palestinian militant leaders , as part of a push to strengthen support for the de~facto Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire in effect for most of the past two weeks .
-Sources said Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal and Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Shallah both met with Egyptian negotiators .
-Egyptian security forces have arrested at least 10 more members of the country 's largest opposition group , the Muslim Brotherhood .
-Thursday 's arrests come after 17 Brotherhood members were detained earlier this week .
-The Egyptian government is intensifying its crackdown on the banned Islamist political group .
-The Brotherhood says the government campaign is a direct reaction to the group 's rejection of constitutional amendments proposed by President Hosni Mubarak .
-Officials of the Brotherhood say the amendments are aimed at giving the ruling party more power and barring Muslim Brothers from politics .
-The Brotherhood won a fifth of the seats in Egypt 's parliament by running members as independents in the 2005 elections , making it the largest opposition group .
-The constitutional amendments proposed by Mr. Mubarak would reduce the role of judges in monitoring elections and ban religious groups from forming political parties .
-The Brotherhood advocates an Islamic state , achieved through peaceful means .
-An Israeli security official says a top Hamas commander captured last week could be a " bargaining chip " to win the release of an Israeli soldier held for over a year .
-Public Security Minister Avi Dichter told Israeli Army Radio Monday that Hamas commander Mhawesh al-Qadi might be exchanged for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit .
-Israeli commandos dressed as Palestinian security forces abducted the Hamas commander in Gaza Strip in a raid on Friday .
-Shalit was captured by militant groups in Gaza in June 2006 .
-Hamas , which seized control of Gaza three months ago , has demanded the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the Israeli soldier .
-Afghan officials say two senior members of Afghanistan 's former Taleban regime have surrendered to the government under an amnesty offer .
-The two men are Mullah Mohammad Naseem , the former Taleban governor of Zabul province , and Haji Mohammad Akhtar , the former police chief of Farah province .
-The governor of Helmand province , Mullah Sher Mohammad , said they surrendered after month-long talks .
-In the southeastern Khost province , the U.S. military said coalition forces have killed at least 12 insurgents in a clash in southeastern Khost province .
-A military statement Thursday , said the fighting erupted late Tuesday , when insurgents fired rockets at a U.S. base at Salerno and troops retaliated with artillery and air strikes at rebel positions .
-There were no coalition casualties .
-The pairs freeskate program highlights action at the 2006 Olympics Monday in Turin , Italy as top Russian and Chinese pairs duel for a gold medal .
-Two-time world and five-time European champion Maxim Marinin and Tatiana Totmianina of Russian placed first in the short program Saturday .
-They will try to hold off Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao ( not related ) .
-The Chinese pair is second after the short program .
-Gold is up for grabs in the women 's 15-kilometer biathlon , which combines shooting with cross-country skiing .
-Seven-time world champion Liv-Grete Poiree of Norway will seek her first Olympic gold in her third appearance at the Winter Games .
-Women 's half-pipe snowboarding will award a gold medal , with 2002 Olympic champion Kelly Clark hoping to take home another gold and lead a U.S. sweep .
-The men go for gold in the 500-meters long track speed skating event .
-French authorities responded to several new arson attacks late Friday as rioting continued for the ninth straight night in the suburbs of Paris .
-Dozens of vehicles and buildings were set on fire in suburbs north of the city as gangs of young rioters , mostly of North African origin , harassed police and firefighters .
-Similar incidents were reported elsewhere in France for the second night .
-The latest outbreak comes despite the presence of more than one thousand police officers in the Paris suburbs .
-French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin met with youths from those areas earlier Friday to discuss the crisis .
-Many of the rioters say the French government has a racial bias and treats them as second class citizens .
-The violence started last week when two North African teenagers hid from police at a power station and were accidentally electrocuted .
-President Bush is on his way to Mar Del Plata , Argentina , to attend the Summit of the Americas , which opens Friday .
-Mr. Bush and 31 other democratically elected leaders will discuss ways to boost employment , fight poverty and strengthen democracy throughout the western hemisphere .
-Two other democratic nations : Panama and Honduras , are sending delegations , but not their head of state .
-At the summit , Mr. Bush is expected to push for resumed negotiations on a free trade zone that would encompass North , Central and South America .
-Mexico has voiced support for the idea , but critics such as Venezuela and Cuba say it will do nothing for the poor .
-Mr. Bush is also expected to meet privately with Argentina 's president , Nestor Kirchner .
-After the summit , the U.S. leader will visit Brazil and Panama before returning to Washington Monday .
-The U.S. Navy says it has captured a group of suspected pirates in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Somalia .
-The Navy says a missile destroyer , the USS Winston S. Churchill , and other U.S. Naval forces in the area located the pirate ship Saturday after receiving a report of a piracy attempt .
-After unsuccessful attempts to contact the ship , the destroyer began what the Navy called " aggressive maneuvering " to stop the vessel .
-The pirate ship finally stopped after the destroyer fired warning shots , and the crew effectively surrendered .
-The Navy says sailors discovered small arms on the ship .
-Pirates have carried out about 25 attacks off the Somali coast since last March .
-Somalia 's transitional government has signed a multi-million dollar deal with a U.S. maritime security firm to fight piracy .
-Australia is scheduled to host the sixth annual Homeless World Cup later this year .
-The event brings together hundreds of homeless players from 48 countries to compete .
-VOA 's Sean Maroney has more on the recent Homeless USA Cup in Washington .
-Indonesian authorities say a masked man featured on a video threatening attacks against the United States , Britain and Australia could be Malaysian fugitive Noordin Mohamad Top .
-The video was shown to the public Wednesday .
-It was among several found last week during raids that resulted in the killing of Azahari bin Husin , who police believe was the terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah 's master bombmaker .
-The tapes were discovered at a house that police say Noordin Mohamad Top rented in central Java .
-Police have been hunting him and Azahari since the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people .
-Authorities also blame the two men for other attacks , including a car bomb blast outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta last year that killed 10 people .
-The French sports daily L'Equipe has named Swiss tennis star Roger Federer its " Champion of Champions " for 2005 .
-The world number-one men 's tennis player received 676 points in a vote by L'Equipe journalists to give him an overwhelming victory over world motorcycle champion Valentino Rossi of Italy .
-Rossi got 387 points to take second place .
-Third place went to Formula 1 world champion Fernando Alonso of Spain , while Ethiopian distance runner Kenenisa Bekele took fourth place .
-The 24-year-old Federer dominated men 's tennis in 2005 , compiling an 81-4 winning record for the season .
-He also captured the Wimbledon and U.S. Open Grand Slam titles for the second straight year .
-Federer is the just the second tennis player to win the L'Equipe award in its 25-year history .
-American Andre Agassi won in 1999 .
-Iraqi officials say 965 Shi'ite pilgrims were killed Wednesday in a stampede on a bridge leading to a Baghdad shrine .
-They say more than 450 others were injured and that the death toll could still rise .
-Officials say panic swept through the crowd after a rumor spread that a suicide bomber was among the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims .
-Hundreds of women , children and the elderly were either trampled or shoved to their deaths in the Tigris River below .
-Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari declared three days of mourning .
-The United States offered its condolences and help to the victims .
-Earlier Wednesday , insurgents fired mortars near the shrine , killing seven people .
-A little-known militant group claimed responsibility for the attack in an unverifiable Internet statement .
-Elsewhere in Iraq , the U.S. military reports the deaths of two soldiers since Tuesday .
-Israel has returned to Lebanon the bodies of three Hezbollah militants who were killed in cross-border fighting earlier this week .
-Israeli military officials say the bodies were returned in an effort to defuse tensions and following a request from Lebanon .
-Red Cross officials brought the bodies to the Lebanese border , where hundreds of black-clad Hezbollah fighters were waiting .
-The three were killed Monday when they crossed into Israel during some of the heaviest fighting along the border since Israeli troops withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000 .
-A fourth Hezbollah fighter was killed , but his body was quickly retrieved by the Lebanese .
-Eleven Israeli soldiers were wounded in the fighting .
-Police in Pakistan say they have arrested six Islamic militants who belong to a group accused of attacks on the country 's Shi'ite minority .
-Police say the militants belong to the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi group , which has alleged links to al-Qaida .
-They made the arrests during a raid on the group 's base in Multan , in central Pakistan .
-Officials say the group is responsible for suicide bombings on Shi'ite religious sites and may have been planning new attacks .
-Police have arrested several other members of the group recently .
-Yemeni officials say al-Qaida militants ambushed a military convoy on Friday , killing 12 soldiers .
-Officials say the militants fired machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades at the convoy as it was traveling in southern Abyan province .
-Authorities say the convoy was carrying supplies , including water , to military bases in the area .
-Yemen 's weak central government is struggling with a growing threat from al-Qaida , which has stepped up attacks in the impoverished country .
-Meanwhile , the French News Agency ( AFP ) says secessionists militants in Yemen have kidnapped an intelligence officer and three other people .
-The news agency quotes southern secessionist activists as saying the abductions were in retaliation for the government 's hunt for a member of their group .
-A panel of U.N. experts has asked the Security Council to impose sanctions on people it accuses of blocking peace in Sudan 's Darfur region .
-The panel 's report says the council should consider placing a travel ban and a total asset freeze on figures in the Sudanese government , Darfur rebel groups , and government-backed militias .
-The Security Council authorized the sanctions last March but has yet to impose them on anyone .
-News agencies that obtained the report say it was scheduled to go to the full council this week but was temporarily blocked by Qatar and China .
-Tens of thousands of people in Darfur have been killed and some two million displaced during three years of conflict between the rebels and Sudan 's government .
-Several rounds of peace talks have failed to yield any substantial progress .
-The medical aid group Doctors Without Borders says lead poisoning has killed some 400 children in northern Nigeria over the past six months .
-The new toll is more than double the 160 deaths , including 111 children , that Nigerian authorities reported in June .
-At that time , the World Health Organization said lead concentrations in parts of Nigeria 's Zamfara state were 250 times higher than those allowed in residential areas in the United States and France .
-Nigerian health officials have said the poisoning is linked to illegal gold mining .
-The WHO has sent epidemiologists and pediatricians to help contain the outbreak and prevent similar problems in the future .
-Concentration of lead in the body can damage the kidneys , nervous system and reproductive system .
-Children under the age of six are especially vulnerable .
-Sri Lanka 's Tamil Tiger separatists are being praised by international aid workers for their efficient handling of the tsunami aftermath in the northern region controlled by the rebels .
-The Washington Post reports from northern Sri Lanka that the Tigers should get most of the credit for quickly restoring order , at least in the town of Mullaittivu , which lost 3,000 of its 5,300 residents to the tsunami .
-The report says by Monday afternoon , just eight days after the devastating tsunami hit Sri Lanka , most of the corpses had been burned and the ground sprayed with disinfectant .
-It says Mullaittivu 's streets had been cleared and utility poles were being re-erected .
-The newspaper 's correspondent found that some 1500 displaced residents had been sheltered in a college building - complete with adequate food , clothes and medicines .
-Japan 's foreign minister is in Afghanistan on an unannounced visit to meet with President Hamid Karzai and Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta .
-Masahiko Komuri arrived in Kabul Sunday after a visit to Pakistan .
-He was expected to discuss security issues and Afghan reconstruction with Mr. Karzai and with Spanta .
-The French news agency reports that Komura asked his Afghan counterpart to work on improving relations with Pakistan .
-The two nations have been struggling with armed militants sheltering along their mutual border .
-Japan said Komuri 's visit was not announced ahead of time because of safety concerns .
-President Karzai was the target of a bomb attack on April 27 .
-In Pakistan Saturday , Komuri met with President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani , as well as Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi .
-Talks there centered on terrorism and cooperation on infrastructure projects .
-Shops and schools are closed in the main city of Indian Kashmir in protest of Israel 's continuing air strikes on southern Lebanon .
-The one-day strike Saturday in Kashmir 's summer capital of Srinagar was called by Syed Ali Geelani .
-He heads the hard-line wing of the separatist alliance , the All Parties Hurriyat Conference .
-Angry protests were held in several parts of India Friday against Israel 's military action .
-Protests erupted soon after Muslim prayers Friday afternoon in Kashmir .
-Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and is claimed in full by both
-Haitian authorities said three inmates were killed Sunday in a prison riot in Haiti 's quake-damaged penitentiary .
-Officials said the three were trying to escape from the Port-au-Prince prison .
-It was not immediately clear if any other inmates did escape .
-United Nations troops and Haitian police were in the prison at the time of the uprising .
-The U.N. said the inmates briefly held seven people connected with the United Nations hostage .
-Some of the hostages suffered minor injuries .
-The Miami Herald newspaper reports the prison upheaval was quashed by mid-afternoon when U.N. troops blocked off the streets surrounding the prison .
-Sunday 's uprising continues a long saga of unrest and dangerous conditions in Haiti 's prisons .
-In the chaos after Haiti 's devastating earthquake in January , thousands of prisoners escaped the massively overcrowded penitentiary , including some well-known , dangerous gang leaders .
-A prominent U.S. Republican lawmaker is criticizing CNN for airing a video from Iraqi insurgents showing a U.S. soldier in Iraq getting shot by a sniper .
-Representative Duncan Hunter of California , who chairs the House Armed Services Committee , has sent a letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld saying the U.S.-based network served as " the publicist for an enemy propaganda film . "
-CNN first aired the video Wednesday .
-A CNN producer says the network broadcast the video " to present the unvarnished truth " about the situation in Iraq .
-But in his letter to Rumsfeld , Hunter denounces the film as " nothing short of a terrorist snuff film . "
-He is demanding that any CNN reporters embedded with U.S. forces in Iraq be expelled .
-Integra-A Hotel & Restaurant Co. said its planned rights offering to raise about $ 9 million was declared effective and the company will begin mailing materials to shareholders at the end of this week .
-Under the offer , shareholders will receive one right for each 105 common shares owned .
-Each right entitles the shareholder to buy $ 100 face amount of 13.5 % bonds due 1993 and warrants to buy 23.5 common shares at 30 cents a share .
-The rights , which expire Nov. 21 , can be exercised for $ 100 each .
-Integra , which owns and operates hotels , said that Hallwood Group Inc. has agreed to exercise any rights that are n't exercised by other shareholders .
-Hallwood , a Cleveland merchant bank , owns about 11 % of Integra .
-Having a small , open economy makes Macedonia vulnerable to economic developments in Europe and dependent on regional integration and progress toward EU membership for continued economic growth .
-At independence in September 1991 , Macedonia was the least developed of the Yugoslav republics , producing a mere 5 % of the total federal output of goods and services .
-The collapse of Yugoslavia ended transfer payments from the central government and eliminated advantages from inclusion in a de~facto free trade area .
-An absence of infrastructure , UN sanctions on the downsized Yugoslavia , and a Greek economic embargo over a dispute about the country 's constitutional name and flag hindered economic growth until 1996 .
-Since then , Macedonia has maintained macroeconomic stability with low inflation , but it has so far lagged the region in attracting foreign investment and creating jobs , despite making extensive fiscal and business sector reforms .
-Official unemployment remains high at 31.7 % , but may be overstated based on the existence of an extensive gray market , estimated to be more than 20 % of GDP , that is not captured by official statistics .
-In the wake of the global economic downturn , Macedonia has experienced decreased foreign direct investment , lowered credit , and a large trade deficit .
-However , as a result of conservative fiscal policies and a sound financial system , in 2010 the country received slightly improved credit ratings .
-Macroeconomic stability also was maintained by a prudent monetary policy , which kept the domestic currency at the pegged level against the euro , while interest rates were falling .
-As a result , GDP growth was modest , but positive , in 2010 .
-In late 1999 , about 70 % of the economic infrastructure of Timor-Leste was laid waste by Indonesian troops and anti-independence militias .
-Three hundred thousand people fled westward .
-Over the next three years a massive international program , manned by 5,000 peacekeepers ( 8,000 at peak ) and 1,300 police officers , led to substantial reconstruction in both urban and rural areas .
-By the end of 2005 , refugees had returned or had settled in Indonesia .
-The country continues to face great challenges in rebuilding its infrastructure , strengthening the civil administration , and generating jobs for young people entering the work force .
-The development of oil and gas resources in offshore waters has greatly supplemented government revenues .
-This technology-intensive industry , however , has done little to create jobs for the unemployed because there are no production facilities in Timor-Leste .
-Gas is piped to Australia .
-In June 2005 , the National Parliament unanimously approved the creation of a Petroleum Fund to serve as a repository for all petroleum revenues and to preserve the value of Timor-Leste 's petroleum wealth for future generations .
-The Fund held assets of US $ 6.6 billion as of October 2010 .
-The economy continues to recover strongly from the mid-2006 outbreak of violence and civil unrest , which disrupted both private and public sector economic activity .
-The government in 2008 resettled tens of thousands of an estimated 1,00,000 internally displaced persons ( IDPs ) ; most IDPs returned home by early 2009 .
-Government spending increased markedly in 2009 and 2010 , primarily on basic infrastructure , including electricity and roads .
-Limited experience in procurement and infrastructure building has hampered these projects .
-The underlying economic policy challenge the country faces remains how best to use oil-and-gas wealth to lift the non-oil economy onto a higher growth path and to reduce poverty .
-Finland was a province and then a grand duchy under Sweden from the 12th to the 19th centuries , and an autonomous grand duchy of Russia after 1809 .
-It won its complete independence in 1917 .
-During World War II , it was able to successfully defend its freedom and resist invasions by the Soviet Union - albeit with some loss of territory .
-In the subsequent half century , the Finns made a remarkable transformation from a farm / forest economy to a diversified modern industrial economy ; per capita income is now among the highest in Western Europe .
-A member of the European Union since 1995 , Finland was the only Nordic state to join the euro system at its initiation in January 1999 .
-In the 21st century , the key features of Finland 's modern welfare state are a high standard of education , equality promotion , and national social security system - currently challenged by an aging population and the fluctuations of an export-driven economy .
-Although 115 species of fish have been identified in the territorial waters of Clipperton Island , the only economic activity is tuna fishing .
-A RAVEN saw a Swan and desired to secure for himself the same beautiful plumage .
-Supposing that the Swan 's splendid white color arose from his washing in the water in which he swam , the Raven left the altars in the neighborhood where he picked up his living , and took up residence in the lakes and pools .
-But cleansing his feathers as often as he would , he could not change their color , while through want of food he perished .
-Change of habit can not alter Nature .
-A BOY was stung by a Nettle .
-He ran home and told his Mother , saying , " Although it hurts me very much , I only touched it gently . "
-" That was just why it stung you , " said his Mother .
-" The next time you touch a Nettle , grasp it boldly , and it will be soft as silk to your hand , and not in the least hurt you . "
-Whatever you do , do with all your might .
-The wind blew so much dust around the field today , we could n't even see who was beating us .
-Philosophy is a game with objectives and no rules .
-Mathematics is a game with rules and no objectives .
-Kids in the back seat cause accidents .
-Accidents in the back seat cause kids .
-The greatest financier in the Bible was the Pharaoh 's daughter .
-One day she went down to the Bank of the Nile and drew out a little prophet .
-Helium was up .
-Feathers were down .
-Paper was stationary .
-Knives were up sharply .
-Pencils lost a few points .
-Hiking equipment was trailing .
-Elevators rose , while escalators continued a slow decline .
-Light switches were off .
-Mining equipment hit rock bottom .
-Diapers remained unchanged .
-Shipping lines stayed at an even keel .
-Balloon prices were inflated .
-And batteries exploded in an attempt to recharge the market .
-A new public opinion poll indicates that Americans ' support for the war in Iraq is at its lowest ever - and that in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina , most Americans are concerned Iraq is draining money and resources needed at home .
-In a New York Times / CBS poll released Saturday , a record low number of those surveyed - only 44 percent - said the United States made the right decision in going to war in Iraq .
-Fifty-two percent wanted troops to be withdrawn as soon as possible , even if it means leaving the country unstable .
-Ninety percent said they would oppose cutting spending on domestic programs to continue funding the war .
-The nationwide poll of more than 1,000 adults was conducted September 9 through 13 .
-The United Nations food agency says a lack of funds has left three million Ethiopians who rely on food aid in danger of malnutrition .
-The World Food Program ( WFP ) appealed for $ 33 million Tuesday so that it can continue providing food in Ethiopia for the next two and a half months .
-It says it has received only slightly more than half of the $ 212 million it needs this year for food aid in Ethiopia .
-The agency says it has less than 20 percent of what it needs for non-food items such as health , water and sanitation facilities .
-The WFP says malnutrition rates are on the rise in Ethiopia , with the situation especially bad in the eastern Somali region .
-There , the WFP says nearly five percent of children are severely malnourished .
-U.S. military officials say elements of the Russian Air Force will join U.S. and Canadian air units in the first-ever joint air defense exercises between the former Cold War foes .
-A statement from the North American Aerospace Defense Command , NORAD , says the maneuvers - set to begin August 8 - will include training to detect and combat terrorist attacks on commercial airliners .
-The exercises , code-named Vigilant Eagle , will be coordinated from a U.S. military command center at Elmendorf air base in Alaska and Russian facilities near the Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk .
-Russian Air Force spokesman , Lieutenant Colonel Vladimir Drik , described the exercises as part of a working plan to improve cooperation between Russian and U.S. forces .
-A NORAD statement said the maneuvers will require both the Russian and NORAD bases to launch or divert fighter planes to investigate and shadow commercial aircraft .
-A U.S. general says Iraqi investigators have broken up a ring of police officers who were kidnapping people , extorting ransoms and sometimes killing their victims .
-In an interview with the USA Today newspaper , Major General Joseph Peterson said the unit is alleged to have operated in northern Baghdad , under the command of an Iraqi police general .
-General Peterson said the police general , who was not identified , was arrested and then released last month .
-He is said to remain under investigation .
-He said 17 others linked to the alleged ring remain in custody .
-Allegations of Iraqi police death squads operating in Iraq 's Shi'ite-dominated security forces have circulated widely in recent weeks .
-Hundreds of bodies - many of them showing signs of torture - have turned up in and around the capital since the February 22 bombing of a major Shi'ite shrine near Baghdad .
-At least 35,000 people have rallied in Pakistan 's largest city , Karachi , to protest controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad .
-Shouting anti-American and anti-European slogans , the demonstrators marched through the city to denounce the cartoons , first published in Denmark last September .
-A coalition of radical Islamic groups which opposes President Pervez Musharraf 's support for the U.S.-led war on terror organized Sunday 's rally .
-Hundreds of riot police closely watched the gathering but no violence was reported .
-Some protests in Pakistan have turned deadly and at least five people died in rioting last month .
-Iraqi officials say former dictator Saddam Hussein will go on trial in the second half of October , so as not to affect the outcome of a national referendum on the constitution to be held October 15 .
-No official announcement has come from the Iraqi Special Tribunal in charge of the trials , but officials close to the case said Friday that Saddam Hussein will be tried for the 1982 killing of dozens of residents of the town of Dujail .
-The killings were allegedly in retaliation for a failed assassination attempt against him there .
-Later , Saddam Hussein is expected to be tried for other alleged crimes , including the 1988 gassing of Kurds in Halabja and the 1991 suppression of a Shi'ite uprising in southern Iraq .
-A U.S. official says the United States is willing to give Iran more time to consider a key uranium enrichment deal that will yield fuel for an Iranian nuclear research reactor .
-Washington 's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency , Glyn Davies , told reporters in Vienna Monday that , in his words , " we want to give Iran some space . "
-Davies also noted the negotiations have gone beyond the scheduled time frame .
-Iran has not officially responded to a U.N.-backed uranium-enrichment proposal that was drafted three weeks ago in Vienna .
-But leading Iranian parliamentarian Alaeddin Boroujerdi Saturday indicated Tehran will reject the plan to send any of its 1,200 kilograms of enriched uranium abroad for further enrichment .
-IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei had asked for the parties involved with the proposal ( Iran , the United States , Russia and France ) to respond by October 23 .
-The U.S. Senate has been debating a military funding bill that would require President Bush to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq in October .
-The measure is expected to pass Thursday in the Democratic-controlled Senate .
-The legislation sets a non-binding goal of withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq by April of next year .
-It also sets benchmarks for Iraq 's government to show progress in securing the country .
-The Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives approved a similar measure Wednesday .
-White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said President Bush will veto the legislation " very soon " after it arrives on his desk .
-The House measure lacked the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto , and the Senate measure is not expected to have enough votes to override a veto , either .
-The Senate bill includes some $ 95 billion to fund military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan through the end of September .
-Amnesty International says Taleban insurgents are deliberately targeting civilians in Afghanistan to instill fear and exert control over the population .
-The London-based rights group said Thursday that civilians are increasingly facing suicide attacks , abductions and beheadings .
-The organization said Taleban militants have a deliberate policy of killing teachers , abducting aid workers and burning school buildings .
-It said targets also include women 's rights activists , clerics , government and health workers and teachers .
-Amnesty said at least 756 civilians were killed in 2006 , mostly from roadside bombs and suicide attacks .
-On Wednesday , a U.S. commander in eastern Afghanistan said an expected Taleban offensive has not materialized , partly because of increased operations by U.S. and NATO forces .
-Brigadier General Joseph Votel says there are clashes every day , but they are mostly small scale .
-U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is warning against irresponsible borrowing or lending to countries that have recently received debt relief .
-Speaking in Singapore Monday to the World Bank 's policy-setting committee , Paulson said the organization should develop an approach that prevents a reemergence of debt distress .
-He did not single out any country , but stressed that creditors are still providing large loans to countries that have recently received debt relief .
-China , in particular , has come under fire for providing loans to many countries in Africa that have only recently had large debts forgiven .
-Annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund take place in Singapore Tuesday and Wednesday .
-Sliders Preston Griffal and Dan Joye have earned the second U.S. Olympic luge team doubles berth by beating countrymen Christian Niccum and Patrick Quinn .
-Griffal and Joye won in the two-run competition by 0.12 seconds Wednesday in Lake Placid , New York .
-They will join two-time Olympic medalists Mark Grimmette and Brian Martinin the doubles competition .
-Niccum will still compete in singles luge but Quinn will not compete in the Turin Winter Games .
-Meanwhile , the final men 's singles spot on the U.S. team goes to Jonathan Myles , who beat compatriot Chris Mazdzer by 0.161 seconds .
-Myles and Niccum join medal hopeful Tony Benshoofin the men 's singles .
-The U.S. women 's luge team , named last week , will be Samantha Retrosi , Erin Hamlin and Courtney Zablocki .
-A top U.S. lawmaker says he has urged North Korea to return to the six-party talks over its nuclear weapons program .
-Congressman Tom Lantos - a Democrat from the western U.S. state of California - spoke in Beijing Tuesday after three days of talks with high-ranking North Korean officials including the vice president of the Presidium of the Supreme People 's Assembly , Yang Hyong-sop , and Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun .
-Mr. Lantos says the officials told him they support a resumption of the talks , but want to see the shape of President Bush 's second administration before making any commitments .
-However , Mr. Lantos says there is no reason for Pyongyang to expect a significant change in U.S. policy towards the Korean peninsula .
-North Korea has participated in three rounds of multi-party talks on its nuclear ambitions , but boycotted a fourth round scheduled for September because of what it called Washington 's hostile policy .
-Iraqi police say a car bomb has killed at least five people and wounded 17 others in Baghdad , shattering a lull in insurgent attacks in the Iraqi capital .
-Iraqi and U.S. forces launched a massive sweep for militants in Baghdad two weeks ago .
-About 1,000 suspects have been arrested and the number of attacks has dropped .
-But a U.S. military commander says he can not declare victory and warns that insurgents are looking for the chance to carry out large-scale attacks in Baghdad .
-The U.S military says a roadside bomb killed five Marines Thursday in Iraq 's western Anbar province .
-Also in Anbar Friday , police found the bodies of 21 Iraqi men who were apparently executed .
-Some of them had been beheaded .
-Authorities believe the victims were kidnapped Iraqi soldiers .
-The U.S. economy shrank at a 5.7 percent annual pace in the first three months of this year .
-Friday 's report from the Commerce Department said the decline was a bit less ( 0.4 percent ) than estimated earlier , and better than the prior quarter .
-Many government economic experts and private economists say the worst of the recession may have passed , and they predict slow economic growth will resume later this year .
-Other economic reports Friday showed U.S. business activity declining faster in a key region , while consumers grew less pessimistic .
-Consumer sentiment hit its highest level since September , but remained at a relatively low level .
-Economists track consumer confidence for clues about the consumer demand that drives most U.S. economic activity .
-A separate report from an industry group said the pace of business activity in the U.S. Midwest fell even faster in May than in the previous month .
-Riot police have clashed with thousands of demonstrators in Indian Kashmir 's summer capital , Srinagar .
-Police fired teargas to disperse up to 4,000 people who took to the streets Saturday to protest the shooting death of a musician by security forces .
-At least six police officers were injured in the clashes .
-Witnesses say police officers fired at 31-year-old composer Inayatullah Bhat late Friday near his home in Srinagar .
-A police spokesman said police acted when Bhat refused orders to stop , but residents say the musician was on a routine stroll .
-India has been fighting a separatist movement in its predominantly Muslim area of divided Kashmir since 1989 .
-Bomb attacks have killed nearly 70 people in Iraq , including about 50 who died in a double truck bomb explosion .
-More than 100 people were wounded in the twin truck bombing Tuesday in the northern town of Tal Afar .
-Hours earlier , a suicide bomber killed 10 people and wounded 25 near the city of Ramadi .
-The U.S. military also said two Marines died in separate incidents during combat operations in volatile al-Anbar province .
-On the political front , Iraq 's prime minister and president have introduced legislation to make it easier for former members of Saddam Hussein 's Baath party to resume working in government and security positions .
-Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih said the measure is necessary for national reconciliation .
-The cabinet and parliament still must approve the legislation .
-The most valuable player of Major League Baseball 's 2003 World Series has a new one-year contract with the Florida Marlins .
-Pitcher Josh Beckett avoided arbitration Tuesday by signing a deal worth $ 2.4 million .
-He earned $ 1.5 million last year .
-Considered one of Major League Baseball 's top young pitchers , the 24-year-old Beckett battled injuries last season and had three separate stints on the disabled list .
-He posted a 09-Sep record with an earned run average of 3.76 in 29 starts overall in 2004 .
-Beckett enjoyed his greatest success in the 2003 postseason , helping the Marlins to their second championship when he went 02-Feb in six games , including a win and loss in two World Series starts against the New York Yankees .
-Sirens wailed across Israel Tuesday in remembrance of victims of the Holocaust , with citizens briefly standing in silence and motorists stopping their cars at the sides of major highways .
-Commemorations honoring the estimated six million Jews killed by the Nazis during World War II were held at Yad Vashem holocaust memorial in Jerusalem .
-Thousands of people also marched in silence in southern Poland at the site of the Auschwitz death camp .
-Former Israeli Prime Minister and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shimon Peres joined the commemoration .
-A shofar , or ram 's horn sounded as about 8,000 people began the three-kilometer trek to the gas chambers at Birkenau , where the Nazis killed at least 1.1 million Jews , Roma ( Gypsies ) and others .
-The first such march was held 20 years ago and now takes place as an annual memorial to the victims of Nazi Germany 's extermination campaign .
-Sudan 's government and southern rebels have signed an agreement promising to end the nation 's 21-year civil war by the end of the year .
-A Sudanese government official and a negotiator from the rebel Sudan People 's Liberation Movement put the December 31 deadline in writing Friday , at a rare meeting of the United Nations Security Council in Nairobi , Kenya .
-Council members passed a resolution Friday urging Sudan 's government and southern rebels to make peace and linking future development aid to a comprehensive accord .
-The resolution also called for an end to the 21-month-old conflict between the government and a separate rebel group in Darfur , which has left more than a million people displaced .
-Malawai 's Vice President Cassim Chilumpha has been arrested on charges of plotting to overthrow the government .
-The Minister of Justice says the vice president was plotting with associates to hire an assassin to kill Malawi 's President Bingu wa Mutharika .
-He told local media he has taped conversations of Chilumpha 's meetings with the would-be assassin .
-In February , Mr. Mutharika tried to fire the vice president for failing to attend cabinet meetings , among other charges .
-Malawi 's high court reinstated Chilumpha last month .
-Mr. Mutharika and Chilumpha were running mates in the 2004 elections , but have been feuding since the president quit the United Political Party and created his own political party .
-France 's minister of education says the government has prepared lessons that could be broadcast on television and radio in case schools are shut down by outbreaks of swine flu .
-The minister , Luc Chatel , announced Wednesday that the lessons were prepared by distance learning authorities .
-He said that no closures are currently scheduled , but flu-related changes will be handled on a case-by-case basis .
-China is objecting to a decision by Internet search engine Google to change maps referring to Taiwan as a province of China .
-China 's state media report that officials are worried the decision may mislead people and give the impression of an independent Taiwan .
-A Google spokesman told Xinhua the change was part of a regular update of all the site 's maps , rather than a deliberate effort to update the Taiwan page .
-Earlier this month , Taiwan asked Google to stop listing it as a Chinese province on its maps .
-Now Google maps simply call the island Taiwan .
-Taiwan calls itself the Republic of China .
-China views Taiwan as a breakaway province .
-The two split in a civil war that ended in 1949 .
-The NATO-led force in Afghanistan says three of its soldiers have been killed in bomb attacks .
-NATO says two service members were killed by a bomb blast in the east , while another died in an explosion in the south .
-It did not give further details .
-More than 530 foreign troops have been killed in Afghanistan this year , making it the deadliest year for international forces since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 .
-Also Saturday , NATO said Afghan and coalition forces killed more than 30 insurgents in an operation in eastern Laghman province .
-In a separate operation in Paktika province , NATO said its forces killed a Taliban commander who helped conduct bombings and was directly linked to attacks during last week 's parliamentary elections .
-The commander was reported killed in an air strike Friday .
-NATO said at least two other Taliban commanders were captured this week .
-Afghanistan 's Interior Ministry says a suspected suicide bomber has tried to kill the governor of southern Helmand province by detonating a car bomb outside his office .
-A ministry spokesman says the blast occurred Monday just before key local officials were to meet at the governor 's office .
-The governor was not hurt in the explosion but the bomber , who was described as a foreigner , was seriously wounded .
-He later died in a local hospital .
-A man claiming to be a Taleban spokesman said the attacker was a local Taleban activist .
-The ousted Taleban regime and its supporters have recently stepped up insurgent activities mainly in southern and eastern Afghanistan .
-The International Committee of the Red Cross ( ICRC ) says a staff member who was kidnapped in Darfur three days ago is doing well and is in good spirits .
-The kidnappers allowed Red Cross officials to speak with Gauthier Lefevre by telephone for the first time on Sunday .
-Lefevre , a French national , was traveling in one of two clearly marked Red Cross vehicles when he was abducted Thursday near the town of Al Geneina in West Darfur .
-The Red Cross says Lefevre was taken captive after he and another staffer had just completed a trip to help local communities upgrade their water systems .
-The captors have not made any ransom demands .
-Foreign aid groups have faced increased hostility in Darfur since the International Criminal Court indicted Sudan 's President Omar al-Bashir in March for alleged war crimes .
-The presidents of Benin and Nigeria have helped launch a program to vaccinate 40 million children in the region against polio .
-Benin 's President Mathieu Kerekou and his Nigerian counterpart Olusegun Obasanjo met on their shared border Sunday to drop vaccine into babies ' mouths to start the campaign .
-The World Health Organization is backing the effort aimed at reversing a surge in polio cases which started in Nigeria .
-In late 2003 , Islamic leaders in northwestern Nigeria suspended immunizations , claiming the WHO had supplied a vaccine that would cause sterility .
-Health officials denied the claim .
-The WHO said the ban caused the number of polio cases in West Africa to double last year .
-Nigerian leaders last year agreed to resume anti-polio efforts , using a different vaccine .
-The news that the 17-year-old unmarried daughter of Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin is pregnant has brought the issues of teen sex and sex education into the media spotlight .
-For the first time in 15 years , the teen birth rate in America is on the rise .
-As Brian Padden reports , the issues of sexual activity by teens and how information about sex is conveyed to them in school are highly controversial .
-The U.S. business newspaper The Wall Street Journal says a United Nations study of problems with the U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq will criticize Secretary-General Kofi Annan for a series of management lapses , among them conflicts of interest involving Mr. Annan 's son , Kojo .
-An investigative panel headed by former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker is expected to criticize Mr. Annan for failing to take action to correct flaws in the U.N. bureaucracy that allowed problems to develop in the $ 40 billion oil-for-food program .
-The Wall Street Journal says the U.N. report will find that Mr. Annan held at least four meetings with Cotecna , a Swiss company that held lucrative United Nations contracts and also employed Mr. Annan 's son , Kojo .
-The new report , the second of three to be issued by the Volcker commission this year , is due to be made public on Tuesday .
-A senior Palestinian security official says there is progress in efforts to free two Western journalists abducted in Gaza nearly two weeks ago .
-Interior Minister Said Siyam , of the militant Islamic group Hamas , said Friday officials are attempting to secure the release of the men .
-He did not elaborate .
-His statement was the first upbeat assessment by Palestinian officials since gunmen seized Fox correspondent , American Steve Centanni , and cameraman Olaf Wiig of New Zealand on August 14 .
-On Thursday , Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh condemned the kidnapping and called for the release of the men .
-A group calling itself the Holy Jihad Brigades said it is holding the two journalists .
-It demanded that the U.S. release Muslim prisoners it is holding by Saturday .
-The commander of Russia 's strategic missile force says Russia is capable of targeting U.S. missile defense sites if they are built in the Czech Republic and Poland .
-General Nikolai Solovtsov warned Monday that Russia has the ability to resume building intermediate and short-range missiles if the Kremlin drops out of an arms treaty with the United States .
-A NATO spokesman Monday described the general 's comments as " extreme language " that is uncalled for and out of date .
-The Polish and Czech prime ministers , Jaroslaw Kaczynski and Mirek Topolanek , said Monday they would likely accept Washington 's proposal to build U.S. missile defense sites .
-Washington says the sites would defend against missile launches from Iran or North Korea .
-Russian President Vladimir Putin has called the presence of a missile defense system so close to Russia 's border a threat to its security .
-Thousands of Syrians took to the streets of Damascus Monday to protest a U.N. probe they said unfairly blames the government for the killing of Lebanese former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri .
-Damascus says the investigation was politically motivated and denies any involvement in the assassination .
-The U.N. report , issued last week , implicated Lebanese and Syrian officials in the killing .
-It said Syria 's cooperation in the probe was limited .
-In an interview with British radio on Sunday , U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw called for international pressure against Syria .
-Syria 's official news agency reported President Bashar al-Assad sent a message to members of the U.N. Security Council , which is expected to consider sanctions over the killing .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has called for an investigation into U.S.-based CNN , saying the news network was seeking his assassination after its Spanish-language channel ran an image of him next to a caption that read , " Who killed him ? "
-CNN issued an apology over Tuesday 's video mix-up , saying the caption had been meant for a story about Washington Redskins football star Sean Taylor , who died Tuesday in Florida of a gunshot wound .
-But President Chavez said he doubted the caption was broadcast next to his image by mistake and called on his attorney general to probe the incident .
-He accused the network of possibly seeking to " instigate a political assassination . "
-Mr. Chavez , who was briefly ousted in a 2002 coup , has often reported alleged attempts to assassinate him but without offering significant evidence .
-American tennis veteran Andre Agassi has notched another win at the Delray Beach International Championships in Florida .
-But the tournament 's top seed had to work to get past Ramon Delgado of Paraguay Wednesday .
-After losing the first set , 04-Jun , Agassi survived a tough second set that included two match points , 07-Jun .
-He then cruised through the deciding third set , 6-0 .
-Also winning in the second round was third seeded Xavier Malisse of Belgium .
-He defeated American Justin Gimelstob , 06-Feb , 07-May .
-German Florian Mayer , the sixth seed at the Delray Beach Tennis Center , ousted Oliver Marach of Austria , 07-May , 06-Mar .
-Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain was a 06-Mar , 06-Feb winner over Todd Widom of the United States in a match between unseeded players .
-Iraq 's top Shi'ite cleric , Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani , has warned the nation 's prime minister that the government must provide for security or risk " other groups " taking over that responsibility .
-In a statement released Saturday , the ayatollah called the failure of Iraqi security forces to decrease the violence plaguing the country " serious . "
-He made the comments after holding talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in Najaf .
-Mr. Maliki , who has been criticized for failing to clamp down on sectarian violence , said he planned to make changes to four government ministries .
-In other developments , Iraqi officials say they have found the bodies of 14 South Asian Shi'ite pilgrims slaughtered Thursday as they traveled for a religious ceremony in Karbala .
-Officials say the victims included 11 Pakistanis and three Indians .
-Panama and Chile have signed a free trade agreement that will eliminate nearly all tariffs between the nations within 10 years .
-Signed Tuesday , the deal aims to improve access to markets , cross-border services and conflict resolution .
-It also includes an environmental cooperation pact .
-Panamanian officials say the pact will also help the tiny country to build its export industry .
-Iraqi judges have begun questioning two of Saddam Hussein 's top 11 lieutenants in preparation for war crimes trials involving the former regime .
-The chief judge Raad al-Juhyi for the Special Tribunal , which is in charge of the trials , said Saddam 's cousin , Ali Hassan al-Majid , also known as " Chemical Ali , " appeared Saturday along with Saddam 's former defense minister , General Sultan Hashim Ahmad .
-The hearings will examine the charges brought against the men , examine any evidence , and determine whether they should stand trial .
-There are indications that Saddam likely will be tried last .
-No formal charges have been announced against Chemical Ali or the former defense minister , but charges are likely to include crimes against the country 's Kurds and Shi'ites , as well as the 1990 invasion of neighboring Kuwait .
-An insurgent group in Iraq has released a videotape that purports to show the suicide bomber who killed 22 people last week at a U.S. military base in the Iraqi city of Mosul .
-The video is posted on the Army of Ansar al-Sunna web site .
-In it , a masked man displays a map of the U.S. installation and describes plans for the attack .
-Another masked man , identified as the bomber , embraces colleagues .
-The video then shows what appears to be the explosion that ripped through the dining tent on Tuesday .
-In other developments , masked gunmen Sunday killed a high-ranking Iraqi security officer and wounded several of his bodyguards in Baghdad .
-Separately , a roadside bomb wounded three U.S. soldiers traveling in a convoy in Mosul .
-A senior United Nations aid official says tents used to shelter Pakistan 's earthquake survivors are not adequate for the harsh winter setting into the Himalayan region .
-Darren Boisvert , the U.N. official in charge of distributing shelter in the quake zone , said Friday more than 4,20,000 tents have been handed out , but that 90 percent of them have not been winterized .
-He said some survivors were strengthening their shelters with plastic sheets and blankets .
-Temperatures in the high mountains of Pakistani-controlled Kashmir have already fallen below freezing and snowfall is expected to increase in the coming weeks .
-The October 8 earthquake killed more than 70,000 people and left nearly three million without shelter .
-The United States ' Supreme Court has essentially revived a case against senior U.S. military officials launched by former detainees at Guantanamo Bay , Cuba .
-The justices Monday ordered an appeals court in Washington to reconsider its January 2008 dismissal of a lawsuit brought by four British men .
-The former detainees say they were tortured and prevented from freely practicing Islam during their imprisonment at the U.S. military detention facility .
-They argue that their treatment violated the U.S. Religious Freedom Restoration Act .
-The Supreme Court says the lower court must review the case based on the high court 's ruling in June .
-At that time , the Supreme Court said foreign terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo can challenge their detentions in civilian courts .
-The Bush administration has repeatedly said detainees in U.S. custody are treated humanely .
-About 250 men are still being held at Guantanamo .
-An Ethiopian court has issued a death sentence to a former regional official charged with murder and with supporting an Eritrean-backed terror group .
-The state-run Ethiopian News Agency reports that Jemua Ruphael Amen was found guilty and sentenced on Tuesday by the country 's Federal High Court .
-The agency cited a statement from the Ministry of Justice that said Jemua had murdered " three innocent civilians . "
-The statement also said Jemua formed a separatist movement in Benishangul Gumuz state and was carrying out terrorist attacks there with the Eritrean government .
-The agency says Juma was once in charge of economic planning in the regional government .
-Relations between Ethiopia and Eritrea have been tense since a 1998 to 2000 border war .
-The countries often accuse each other of being behind various plots and attacks on each other 's territory .
-California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a bill capping greenhouse gas emissions in the Western U.S. state -- a law he says will change the course of history .
-The Republican governor signed the bill Wednesday in a ceremony on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay .
-The new law makes California the first U.S. state to move beyond the federal government and impose its own greenhouse gas limits .
-The law requires major energy companies in the state to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 25 percent by 2020 .
-Schwarzenegger said California is entering a bold new era of environmental protection .
-He said people must do everything in their power to slow down global warming before it is too late .
-Many scientists blame pollution from cars , factories , and power plants for global warming while others say natural climate changes are causing the planet to warm .
-Iraq 's interior ministry has launched a probe into allegations that death squads are operating within the police force and targeting Sunni Arabs .
-A senior official , Major-General Hussein Kamal , said the probe follows the arrest of 22 people dressed as police commandos , who were taking away a Sunni man to be shot .
-An American general , Major General Joseph Peterson , told a U.S. daily , The Chicago Tribune , that the men were stopped by an Iraqi checkpoint in northern Iraq last month .
-Sunnis often complain of atrocities by Iraqi police , most of whom are Shi'ite Muslims .
-Meanwhile , Iraqi insurgents killed at least nine people in a series of attacks in Baghdad and northern Iraq Thursday .
-And radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr arrived in Jordan today for talks with King Abdullah and other officials in coming days .
-The U.S. State Department says the human rights situation in China remains poor and the government continues to commit numerous and serious abuses .
-The department 's annual human rights report says there has been a trend towards increased harassment , detention and imprisonment of those perceived as a threat to authority in China .
-The report says the Chinese government has also adopted measures to more tightly control print , broadcast and electronic media .
-The report did note efforts to make legal reforms in the past year , but those efforts stalled .
-The government did adopt new protections for religious groups .
-Also in East Asia , the State Department reports North Korea remains an absolute dictatorship where the government 's human rights record is extremely poor .
-The report says the human rights record of Burma 's military government also worsened over the year .
-The Iraqi government is urging voters to approve a new constitution Saturday , and says Iraqis should stand firm against insurgents trying to stop the referendum .
-In Baghdad Sunday , government spokesman Laith Kuba compared insurgents to rats , saying they spread disease and death among the people .
-Earlier , a suicide car bomb exploded in southern Iraq outside an apartment building used by a Shi'ite militia .
-At least one child was reported killed in the blast and several others wounded .
-The attack in Basra appeared aimed at the Iranian-backed Badr Brigade militia .
-News reports say Basra 's former governor Hassan al-Rashid , a senior militia leader , escaped unharmed .
-Separately , the U.S. military says a Marine was killed late Saturday in Ramadi when a bomb blast ripped through his vehicle .
-Egyptian authorities say the death toll from a massive rockslide in a poor Cairo neighborhood has risen to at least 72 , while many more bodies are feared to remain under the rubble .
-Security officials Thursday added to the official death toll with the discovery of more bodies , five days after giant rocks fell from the limestone cliff above the Manshiyet Nasr slum .
-Residents have clashed with rescue workers out of anger over what they consider an inadequate response to the disaster .
-Rescuers have had to work mostly by hand to remove debris because streets in the neighborhood are too narrow for large machinery .
-Officials say rockslides are frequent in the area .
-Argentina 's government offered small farmers a package of benefits Monday in an effort to end a 19-day strike triggered by new , higher taxes .
-President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner 's administration said it would give the farmers a rebate on the new export taxes on soy beans , sunflower seeds , and other grains .
-The government also offered to subsidize the cost of transporting grain from farm to market .
-President Fernandez has asked the farmers to lift the roadblocks they have constructed during the strike .
-The roadblocks have caused food shortages and blocked the export of agricultural products .
-Farm leaders rejected the president 's appeal and said the strike would continue at least through mid-week .
-The strike began on March 13 , two days after the government raised the agricultural export taxes in an effort to redistribute wealth to the poor and control domestic food prices .
-Venezuelan Foreign Minister Ali Rodriguez says his country and U.S. diplomats have agreed to discuss improving relations after weeks of increasingly sharp accusations between the two countries .
-Mr. Rodriguez issued the statement following a meeting Thursday with U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela William Brownfield .
-The meeting marks the first time Mr. Brownfield has held talks with a top official of the Caracas government since he arrived six months ago .
-Mr. Rodriguez says they agreed to work on " sensitive " issues , and have also agreed to move forward in the areas of energy-related issues , drug trafficking , and terrorism .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez recently accused the U.S. government of plotting to assassinate him - an accusation the Bush administration has dismissed as " ridiculous . "
-Mr. Chavez also has threatened to cut off oil sales to the United States .
-Syrian authorities say they have restored order at a prison near the capital , Damascus , after a riot there broke out Saturday .
-The official SANA news agency says security forces took action at Sidnaya prison Sunday and put down the violent protest started by prisoners convicted of extremism and terror crimes .
-The agency did not say whether there were any casualties .
-But the London-based group - The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights - said rioting by Islamist inmates , some of whom have been held at Sidnaya without trial , continued Sunday .
-The group said 25 prisoners were killed and many more wounded when security forces opened fire to end the disturbance , and that some prisoners fled to the roof , fearing for their lives .
-A new poll finds most Iraqis disapprove of the presence of American troops in their country , but are optimistic about this week 's election and the country 's future .
-The ABC News poll , conducted with Time Magazine , says more than two-thirds of the Iraqis surveyed oppose having U.S.-led coalition troops in Iraq .
-It says half say the U.S.-led invasion was wrong , up from 39 percent in early 2004 .
-But it says 71 percent of Iraqis say their own lives are going well , with their economic situation improving .
-The survey also says three-quarters of Iraqis expressed confidence in this week 's parliamentary vote , and 70 percent approve of Iraq 's constitution and want the country to remain unified .
-An unknown group in Iraq says it has abducted two Egyptian engineers .
-In an unauthenticated Internet statement , the Nationalist Movement to Free Iraq says the hostages are being interrogated about why they are in the country .
-In an accompanying video , two men are shown holding identification cards showing them to work for an Iraqi company .
-Meanwhile , an Iraqi-born Swedish citizen who had been held captive since January , says his kidnappers let him go Friday without a ransom being paid .
-The Iraqi Vengeance Brigade had threatened to behead Minas al-Yousifi , the head of the Iraqi Christian Democratic party unless a large ransom was paid and U.S. troops withdrew from Iraq .
-U.S. fighter planes in Iraq have begun dropping bombs on insurgent targets in western Iraq as part of a major combat operation launched against Iraqi rebels .
-Military officials say about 1,000 troops are taking part in " Operation Spear , " which began early Friday in Iraq 's restive Anbar province , near the Syrian border .
-Reuters news agency says U.S. fighter planes have dropped at least nine 220-kilogram bombs on insurgent target areas near the town of Qaim .
-Casualty figures are not yet available .
-Anbar province is where U.S. forces say they killed about 40 militants in air strikes in Karabila on June 11 .
-Elsewhere , at least six Iraqi police were killed and more than 20 others wounded Thursday in a suicide car bombing on Baghdad 's airport road .
-And an Iraqi judge and his driver were gunned down in the northern city of Mosul .
-U.S. pharmaceutical giant , Merck , says a recent study showed a new experimental vaccine to be 100 percent effective for the short-term in blocking two viruses that can cause cervical cancer in women .
-Merck said Thursday , its Gardasil vaccine blocks infection from Human Papillovirus 16 and 18 - which both cause about 70 percent of all cases of cervical cancer .
-The drug company said the trial among 12,000 women from 13 countries also found that Gardasil blocks cervical lesions that could become cancerous .
-Sexually transmitted viruses known as HPVs strike about 75 percent of all women at some time in their lives , and kill almost 3,00,000 women without healthy immune systems ever year .
-A separate study earlier this year found that a vaccine developed by British firm , GlaxoSmithKline , was 92 percent effective in blocking cancer from four HPVs .
-Kenyan police say they have arrested two Germans and a Dutch national on suspicion of terrorist activities .
-Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe says the three were arrested at Nairobi 's international airport late Thursday as they attempted to leave the country .
-The three have been identified as Germans Andrej Hermlin and Gerd Uwe , along with a Dutch woman , Fleur van Dissel .
-Kiraithe says the suspects entered the country as journalists but have " been conducting themselves in a suspicious manner . "
-He says the three took video footage of security installations in the country .
-The spokesman says police are still investigating the incident .
-Afghanistan 's education minister says the government will never allow the Taleban to set up schools in the south of the country .
-Mohammad Hanif Atmar told a news conference Monday that a Taleban vow to open schools in Afghanistan was an excuse for setting up terrorist training centers in the country .
-A Taleban spokesman , Abdul Hai Muthmahien , said by telephone from a secret location late Saturday that the schools would be set up beginning in March to " counter propaganda of the West and its puppets against Islam . "
-Atmar says Taleban militants had burned 183 schools in the past year and killed 61 students and teachers .
-He says Taleban violence had also closed down nearly 400 schools in areas where the militants said they would set them up .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is expected to buy more military equipment when he visits Russia later this month .
-The government of Venezuela announced Thursday that Mr. Chavez will meet with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev on July 22 , when he begins a five-day European tour .
-The statement said President Chavez plans to buy new military hardware , including tanks .
-Venezuela has already purchased $ 3 billion in Russian fighter jets , helicopters and guns .
-The two leaders are also expected to discuss setting up a joint bank and the development of industrial and technological projects .
-A Turkish press report says Turkey will remove Iran from a watchlist of nations it considers as threats to its national security .
-The newspaper Milliyet reported Monday that Turkey also will remove Russia , Iraq and Greece as primary threats in the so-called Red Book - a national security policy document .
-The report said the updated list is part of a security review by Turkey 's National Security Council , which will be adopted in October .
-The national security document was last revised in 2005 , when Islamic fundamentalism and Kurdish separatism were considered the greatest threats to Turkish security .
-Turkey and Iran are active trading partners in the energy sector .
-Turkey already buys a third of its gas imports from Iran and is looking to expand its relationship to power sales and the transit of Iranian gas to Europe .
-Afghan military officials say a roadside bomb blast in the volatile south has killed six Afghan soldiers .
-The officials say the incident occurred Tuesday , in the Sangin district in Helmand province .
-The blast came just hours after another roadside bombing in neighboring Kandahar province killed three Afghans and two foreigners .
-According to local officials , the victims worked for an American security company and were killed on the road linking Kandahar with Herat .
-Also Tuesday , in the center of Kandahar city , two suicide bombers blew themselves up but there were no other casualties .
-The governor of Kandahar province blamed the blasts on Taleban militants who have increased attacks in southern Afghanistan in recent months .
-Angola says the outbreak of the deadly Marburg virus , which has already killed 244 people , appears to be under control .
-Health ministry officials in Luanda Friday said the virus , which has already stricken 266 people , has largely been confined to the northwestern province of Uige .
-A spokesman said four neighboring provinces , including the capital where doctors previously detected infections , have not reported any new cases .
-International aid groups , including the World Health Organization , are working to control the highly contagious and incurable virus .
-Experts say the Ebola-like virus , which is spread through contact with bodily fluids , can be contained with relatively simple hygienic precautions .
-Previously , the most serious outbreak of the disease occurred in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo , killing at least 123 between 1998 and 2000 .
-Britain 's upper house of parliament has rejected a plan that would have allowed a government minister to issue restraints against terrorism suspects .
-The House of Lords Monday insisted that only a judge could issue orders to place suspects under curfew or impose bans on telephone and Internet use .
-Prime Minister Tony Blair has been trying to push through new anti-terrorism laws before March 14 , when current security legislation expires .
-The government last week conceded to lower-house demands that only a judge could issue orders for house arrest .
-In the face of strong criticism by the opposition and some members of his own Labor Party , Mr. Blair was given a public boost for new legislation Sunday .
-The recently retired head of London 's police force warned that there are at least 100 al-Qaida terrorists in Britain determined to carry out attacks there .
-Fugitive Taleban leader Mullah Omar says he is confident his followers will drive foreign troops out of Afghanistan .
-The message was sent to news agencies Friday .
-In it , he says Afghanistan has a history of expelling its enemies by force and that no aggressive force has left the country willingly .
-Omar also dismissed a proposal by Afghan and Pakistani officials to hold tribal councils on both sides of their border to end the violence .
-He said the councils are a " trap " created by aggressors and puppets .
-The authenticity of the message could not be verified .
-The U.S. government has offered a $ 10 million reward for Omar 's arrest .
-He went into hiding shortly after U.S.-led forces forced the Taleban from power in Afghanistan in 2001 .
-Hamas security forces briefly detained the Fatah-allied Palestinian attorney general Thursday after accusing him of taking important information from his office .
-Witnesses say Hamas forces seized Attorney General Ahmed Mughani at his office in Gaza City and released him a short time later .
-Mughani said the Hamas-led Executive Force asked him to sign an agreement to resign his duties and to remain in Gaza .
-The attorney general said he refused to sign the conditions and called Hamas ' action a violation of the law .
-Mughani is close with the Fatah-led Palestinian government in the West Bank , which is headed by President Mahmoud Abbas .
-Hamas , which took control of the Gaza Strip nearly two months ago , says it is aiming to reform the territory 's justice system .
-Turkish government ministers and representatives of the poultry industry are meeting Saturday to discuss how to minimize the economic effects of the bird flu outbreak .
-Deputy Prime Minister Abdulatif Sener told reporters ahead of the meeting in Ankara the group will try to find a solution to the problem .
-He says any measures must have Cabinet approval .
-Industry experts say poultry sales in the country have dropped by 70 percent since the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu was reported in humans in Turkey late last month and killed three people - the first bird flu deaths outside Asia .
-In another development , Belgian officials say a person has been hospitalized in Brussels with suspected bird flu after visiting the region in Turkey hit by the disease .
-The officials gave no other details .
-The Everglades stretch almost 200 kilometers across Florida
-Wildlife has also been threatened as the glades shrink .
-The National Park Service estimates that the number of wading birds has declined from a quarter of a million in the 1930s to fewer than 20,000 today .
-But you 'll still see plenty of alligators .
-They sun themselves along the old , two-lane state road through the Everglades , and may be diminished but are still an awesome sight .
-There 's nothing like them , anywhere in the world .
-Japan 's billion dollar Kibo science laboratory has been delivered to the International Space Station , and the astronauts have been installing and setting it up .
-This week , crew members from shuttle Discovery and the space station have also been doing a little " home repair " on the station 's toilet .
-Paul Sisco has a report on the week 's activities in space .
-Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori has announced he will run for president again in the upcoming election .
-Mr. Fujimori made the announcement at a news conference Thursday , in Japan .
-He has been living in self-imposed exile in Japan since fleeing Peru in November 2000 in the midst of a corruption scandal .
-He was granted Japanese nationality due to his ancestry , but last month received a new Peruvian passport .
-Peruvian prosecutors have also petitioned Japan to extradite Mr. Fujimori so he can face criminal charges on allegations ranging from abuse of power and embezzlement to sanctioning a paramilitary death squad .
-He has denied all the charges .
-Peru 's congress has banned him from holding public office again until at least 2010 .
-A New York art show chronicles the impact of the feminist movement on art between 1965 and 1980 .
-The show features works by artists from around the world and includes paintings , sculptures and performance art .
-VOA 's Behnam Nateghi toured the show at the P.S. One Contemporary Art Center .
-Jim Bertel narrates .
-Afghan officials say a kidnapped Italian aid worker is in good health and that her abductors have opened a channel of communication with authorities .
-Italian aid worker Clementina Cantoni is seen in this file photo released by CARE International
-Officials say they have spoken with the CARE International worker Clementina Cantoni , who was seized from her car in Kabul by four gunmen on Monday .
-Italian embassy officials in Kabul confirmed that contact has been established with alleged abductors , but declined to provide details .
-Earlier , Afghan police said a criminal gang kidnapped the woman and wanted to exchange her for its jailed leader and several accomplices .
-Tuesday , about 200 Afghan widows , who have received help from the aid worker , staged a tearful demonstration , demanding her immediate release .
-Norwegian Frode Andresen has won a World Cup men 's biathlon sprint event in Ruhpolding , Germany , but Frenchman Raphael Poiree is the overall leader .
-Andresen finished the 10-kilometer event in 25.03.05 seconds with one shooting miss .
-Michael Rösch of Germany was second 3.8 seconds back with no penalties .
-Michael Greis of German was third , 11.8 seconds behind Andresen with one shooting miss .
-Poiree finished fourth in the race , more than 15 seconds behind the Norwegian , but leads the overall World Cup standings with 298 points after 10 events .
-The men 's 12.5-kilometer pursuit race is Sunday at the same venue .
-Biathlon combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting from a variety of positions .
-Athletes must ski penalty laps for shooting misses .
-The leader of the world 's largest Muslim organization has warned Thai officials that using military force to try to end the unrest in Thailand 's south will only make the extremists stronger .
-The chairman of the Indonesia-based Nahdlatul Ulama , Hasyim Muzadi , gave the warning in Bangkok where he is meeting with Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and King Bhumibol Adulyadej on ways to end the unrest .
-Mr. Thaksin and Mr. Muzadi agreed that improved education in the south will help boost living standards and end economic problems that contribute to violence .
-Later this week , Mr. Muzadi will travel to Thailand 's three Muslim-majority southern provinces to meet Muslim leaders and leading Thai Buddhist monks .
-More than 650 people have been killed in separatist violence in southern Thailand since the beginning of 2004 .
-Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says his country wants to cooperate with the new administration of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama , and to contribute to Middle East stability .
-Mr. Assad made his remarks in an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel released Saturday .
-Mr. Obama has said he may seek Syria 's help in curbing Iran 's controversial nuclear work .
-In response , Mr. Assad said Damascus must be included in the process , and that Syria has long been isolated from the talks .
-Mr. Assad also signaled Damascus is not ready to give up its ties to Iran .
-He said good relations with the United States would not mean bad relations with Tehran .
-Syria 's president encouraged Mr. Obama to become seriously involved in the Middle East peace process .
-He said Syria must help in the process , together with the Europeans .
-Top officials from countries neighboring Iraq are holding talks in Turkey to welcome the formation of the new government in Baghdad .
-Diplomats from Iran , Jordan , Kuwait , Syria , Saudi Arabia and Turkey met in Istanbul Friday to set the agenda for talks by each country 's foreign minister on Saturday .
-Representatives of regional power , Egypt , also attended the meeting .
-Officials say the diplomats were to discuss the recent political developments in Iraq , and the next stages of the political process including the drafting of the nation 's constitution by the new government of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari .
-The participants also were expected to draft a statement of support for the new government .
-Sources say the document will stress the political integrity and sovereignty of the war-torn country and will call for international support for Baghdad .
-Military sources in Chad say the commander of its army has died from injuries sustained during a firefight with rebel forces .
-General Abakar Yusuf Itno was wounded Thursday near the eastern Chadian town of Adre .
-The sources say the rebels were backed by Janjaweed Arab militia forces who crossed the border from neighboring Sudan .
-Itno was the nephew of President Idriss Deby .
-Mr. Deby has been trying to quell a rebellion launched against his government by a group known as the Rally for Democracy and Liberty .
-He has accused Sudan of backing rebel efforts to overthrow him .
-The Khartoum-backed Janjaweed militias have been fighting with rebels in Sudan 's Darfur region .
-The fighting has left some 1,80,000 people dead and another two million homeless .
-U.S. authorities started a man-made flood in the Grand Canyon Wednesday in an attempt to help the canyon 's ecosystem .
-Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne pulled a lever releasing water from the Glen Canyon Dam , which regulates the flow of the Colorado River .
-He said the flooding is meant to help redistribute sediment deposits to rebuild beaches downstream .
-Kempthorne said the water is being released at a rate that would fill the Empire State Building - New York City 's tallest skyscraper - in 20 minutes .
-Authorities conducted similar experiments in 1996 and 2004 .
-Critics of the move say they fear the sudden change will damage wildlife habitats and affect endangered species .
-The superintendent of Grand Canyon National Park , Steve Martin told the Los Angeles Times he fears there are non-environmental motives for the flooding , suggesting it is well-timed to aid hydroelectric power producers preparing for high demand during the upcoming summer months .
-Lebanese and Israeli soldiers exchanged cross-border fire Wednesday , but no casualties were reported .
-The Lebanese army says its soldiers opened fire on an Israeli bulldozer that crossed the border .
-The Israeli army says its soldiers returned fire .
-The Israeli forces were searching for explosives along the border , after discovering four bombs there Monday .
-The Shi'ite militant group Hezbollah says it did not recently plant the bombs .
-Hezbollah officials said Tuesday that the bombs were placed before last year 's war between Israel and Hezbollah .
-Israeli officials have said they believe the bombs were placed in recent days under the cover of fog and rain .
-If Hezbollah is responsible for placing explosives in recent days , it would mark a violation of a U.N.-brokered ceasefire agreement declared last August .
-In July 2006 , Hezbollah abducted two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid , which started a month-long war between Israel and the militia .
-Early returns in Colombia 's legislative elections indicate majority support of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe .
-With at least 34 percent of the vote counted supporters of President Uribe 's tough stance on rebel forces seem likely to win a majority of the 102 senate seats that were being contested .
-Sunday 's election , which also selected 166 members of the lower house , was widely viewed as a test of Mr. Uribe 's popularity .
-He is up for re-election in May .
-The leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia , known as FARC , had stepped up attacks in advance of the election , killing dozens of civilians in the past few weeks .
-But the elections , themselves , were peaceful amid heavy security .
-Rightwing paramilitaries , who have made peace overtures to the Colombian government , have been campaigning for congressional allies .
-French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy has announced he will soon head to Colombia to try to win freedom for kidnapped former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt .
-Colombian Marxist rebels kidnapped her in February 2002 while she campaigned .
-Her father , the late Gabriel Betancourt , was a Colombian ambassador to France .
-Mr. Douste-Blazy told French television Tuesday that in the name of human rights , it is unthinkable to leave her in such conditions .
-Colombia 's main rebel group , the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia , has already rejected a joint French-Spanish-Swiss proposed prisoner exchange with the Colombian government to win freedom for Ms. Betancourt and other hostages .
-A purported Taleban commander says al-Qaida terror network chief Osama bin Laden and Taleban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar are both alive after more than three years on the run .
-The commander , identified as Mullah Akhtar Usmani , told Pakistan 's private GEO Television both men are in good health but refused to say where they are .
-He said Mullah Omar remains in command of the hard-line Islamic militia that formerly ruled Afghanistan .
-The Taleban remnants have again become active and have been attacking U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan , who ousted them in late 2001 .
-The commander , said to be Mullah Omar 's former deputy and now the head of Taleban operations , held a Kalashnikov assault rifle and partly covered his face with a black turban during the interview .
-Officials in Somalia say insurgents have killed two people and wounded two others in an attack on an army camp near Baidoa , the home of the transitional parliament .
-The Islamist insurgent group Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack on the Daynunay military base .
-Two days ago , Shabab insurgents fired mortars at the presidential palace and airport in Baidoa , killing at least two soldiers and wounding seven .
-Somali 's government dismissed that attack as a publicity stunt for the insurgent group , and said that Baidoa is functioning and safe .
-Insurgents have briefly overrun more a dozen towns in Somalia in recent months in their fight against the interim government and its Ethiopian military allies .
-Ethiopian troops entered Somalia two years ago to help the interim government fight an Islamist movement that was threatening to take over the country .
-Somalia has been continuously torn by conflict since the fall of the last stable government in 1991 .
-A top Russian lawmaker is denying a newspaper report that Russia has helped Iran acquire ballistic missile technology that would bring much of Europe within target range .
-Konstantin Kosachyov , who chairs the Duma 's International Affairs Committee , told the Interfax news agency Sunday that Russia could not and did not cooperate on such a project .
-He responded to a report published Sunday in London 's Sunday Telegraph , saying that members of the Russian military acted as go-betweens with North Korea and Iran .
-The report , which cited unidentified Western intelligence sources , says the deal enabled Teheran to get shipments of top-secret missile technology capable of delivering a nuclear weapon 3,500 kilometers .
-Moscow itself falls within that range .
-Mr. Kosachyov urged Russian agencies to respond to the report to prevent what he called a spiraling of speculation .
-A United Nations war crimes court has sentenced a former Rwandan mayor to 15 years in prison for his role in the 1994 genocide .
-The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda accepted a plea bargain in which Paul Bisengimina pled guilty to two counts of murder and extermination .
-In exchange , the prosecution dropped eight other charges .
-The 58-year-old Bisengimina was mayor of Gikoro in 1994 and was involved in the slaughter of minority Tutsis who had sought refuge at a church .
-Presiding Judge Arlete Ramaroson said Thursday that Bisengimina 's guilty plea could encourage others to come forward and confess their crimes .
-Hutu extremists killed an estimated 8,00,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus during the 1994 three-month killing spree .
-Health officials in Pakistan have confirmed the country 's first human fatality caused by bird flu .
-The Health Ministry says the victim worked at a poultry farm in Pakistan 's North West Frontier Province , near the border with Afghanistan .
-Officials say the brother of the man infected with avian influenza also died recently , but he was not tested for the disease .
-At least five other people from the same border region have recently been confirmed as suffering from the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu .
-Pakistani authorities say two have recovered , and the remaining patients are in quarantine .
-The World Health Organization said Saturday it was aware of eight suspected human cases of H5N1 bird flu in Pakistan 's Peshawar region .
-The Geneva-based organisation says it is providing technical support to the country 's Health Ministry .
-WHO says more than 200 people have died of bird flu worldwide since 2003 .
-Philippine military aircraft are rushing relief supplies to parts of the country devastated this week by heavy rains , flooding and mudslides caused by two typhoons .
-Cargo planes and helicopters delivered food , water , and medical supplies Saturday to residents on the northeastern coast of the main island of Luzon .
-President Gloria Arroyo visited towns in some of the hardest hit areas , and she declared a ban on commercial logging , which has been blamed for some of the mudslides .
-Authorities estimate at least 1,000 people are either dead or missing .
-International aid organizations and a number of countries have pledged millions of dollars in aid , and the United Nations says it is sending a team of experts to assist with recovery efforts .
-A U.S. newspaper reports that American officials are reviewing a second Dubai company 's plans to acquire interests in the United States .
-The Washington Post says Thursday the review involves plans by Dubai International Capital to take over a British firm , Doncasters Group that makes parts for U.S. defense contractors .
-The company confirms it is seeking U.S. approval for the billion-dollar deal .
-The report comes days after another Dubai firm , Dubai Ports World and U.S. officials agreed to a new , broader review of its plans to take over some operations in six U.S. ports .
-The port deal has angered U.S. lawmakers from both parties , who say they were not informed about the plan before its approval .
-The Post also reports that U.S. officials are reviewing an Israeli company 's bid to buy a software security firm that does business with the Defense Department .
-Thousands of Peruvians took to the streets of the capital , Lima , Tuesday to demand the extradition of former President Alberto Fujimori from Chile .
-Reports from the scene say the protest was led by human rights groups and labor unions seeking to have the former president returned to Chile , where he faces charges of corruption and of authorizing death squads during his 10-year presidency .
-Mr. Fujimori fled to Japan and faxed his resignation letter to Peru in the midst of a corruption scandal in 2000 .
-He was arrested when he traveled to Chile last week .
-Meanwhile , the Santiago Court of Appeals Tuesday turned down a motion by a private citizen to free the former president .
-The citizen 's connection to the case was not clear .
-This means Mr. Fujimori will remain under arrest .
-The United Nations is sending a veteran Portuguese diplomat to war-torn Ivory Coast to help organize presidential elections in October .
-U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan Friday chose Antonio Monteiro for the job , a former Portuguese foreign minister and U.N. ambassador .
-He is tasked with ensuring the elections are open , free and fair .
-Last month , Ivory Coast 's warring parties renewed pledges to abide by an April peace deal brokered by South Africa , which includes holding elections on October 30 .
-Several previous deals failed to take hold because of political disagreements and delays by both the government and rebels to disarm .
-Ivory Coast has been split in two , with rebels in the north and the government in control of the south , since a failed coup attempt in 2002 .
-Burma has released two lawyers who were convicted of contempt of court last year and sentenced to four months in prison .
-Supreme court lawyers U Aung Thein and U Khin Maung Shein were released Friday after serving their full sentences .
-The two lawyers had represented student activists .
-Burma 's High Court sentenced them in November for what was described as a lack of respect for the court .
-The Asian Human Rights Commission welcomed their release and expressed hope they will be permitted to continue practicing their profession .
-The Hong-Kong-based group quoted U Aung Thein and U Khin Maung Shein as saying they had no chance to defend themselves .
-The two said their clients withdrew their powers of attorney because they lost faith in the judicial process .
-The Asian Human Rights Commission said Burma 's contempt-of-court law contains no guidance on how contempt is to be assessed and heard fairly .
-Iraqi negotiators are struggling to reach an agreement on a new constitution before a Monday deadline , as hundreds marched to press their demands for a new government .
-Officials said Saturday they were nearing agreement on a Shi'ite demand to enshrine Islam as the only source of legislation .
-Kurdish officials said they still oppose the move .
-But negotiators say the United States may be prepared to drop its objections to having Islam as the sole basis of a new Iraqi government .
-Saturday 's talks also focused on granting self-determination to Iraqi Kurds .
-Meanwhile , hundreds of Sunni Arabs in Ramadi and Kirkuk marched against the possibility of a federal Iraq , saying they want a strong central government .
-If completed by Monday , the new constitution will be voted on in an October referendum .
-A U.S. bankruptcy court is considering whether it has jurisdiction in a case filed by the embattled Russian oil giant Yukos .
-Yukos filed the case with the court in Houston , Texas last year to stop a Russian court-ordered auction of its key production unit , Yuganskneftgaz .
-The U.S. court issued an injunction against the sale , but it went on anyway .
-Yukos assets in the United States are bank accounts and a home owned by the company 's financial chief .
-Yukos is now suing Russian energy firms including the natural gas giant Gazprom and the state-owned Rosneft for $ 20 billion in damages .
-A planned merger between Gazprom and Rosneft has been put on hold to wait for the decision from the U.S. court .
-Critics call the Russian government probe of Yukos politically motivated because former Yukos chief Mikhail Khodorkovsky had supported the opposition .
-The Kremlin says Yukos owes billions in back taxes .
-ROGERS COMMUNICATIONS Inc. said it plans to raise 175 million to 180 million Canadian dollars ( US $ 148.9 million to $ 153.3 million ) through a private placement of perpetual preferred shares .
-Perpetual preferred shares are n't retractable by the holders , the company said .
-Rogers said the shares will be convertible into Class B shares , but that the company has the option to redeem the shares before a conversion takes place .
-A spokesman for the Toronto cable television and telecommunications concern said the coupon rate has n't yet been fixed , but will probably be set at around 8 % .
-He declined to discuss other terms of the issue .
-Despite its small size and limited natural resources , Liechtenstein has developed into a prosperous , highly industrialized , free-enterprise economy with a vital financial service sector and likely the second highest per capita income in the world .
-The Liechtenstein economy is widely diversified with a large number of small businesses .
-Low business taxes - the maximum tax rate is 20 % - and easy incorporation rules have induced many holding companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein providing 30 % of state revenues .
-The country participates in a customs union with Switzerland and uses the Swiss franc as its national currency .
-It imports more than 90 % of its energy requirements .
-Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area ( an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association ( EFTA ) and the EU ) since May 1995 .
-The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe .
-In 2008 , Liechtenstein came under renewed international pressure - particularly from Germany - to improve transparency in its banking and tax systems .
-In December 2008 , Liechtenstein signed a Tax Information Exchange Agreement with the US .
-Upon Liechtenstein 's conclusion of 12 bilateral information-sharing agreements , the OECD in October 2009 removed the principality from its " grey list " of countries that had yet to implement the organization 's Model Tax Convention .
-By the end of 2010 , Liechtenstein had signed 25 Tax Information Exchange Agreements or Double Tax Agreements .
-Uruguay 's economy is characterized by an export-oriented agricultural sector , a well-educated work force , and high levels of social spending .
-Following financial difficulties in the late 1990s and early 2000s , economic growth for Uruguay averaged 8 % annually during the period 2004 - 8 .
-The 2008 - 9 global financial crisis put a brake on Uruguay 's vigorous growth , which decelerated to 2.9 % in 2009 .
-Nevertheless , the country managed to avoid a recession and keep positive growth rates , mainly through higher public expenditure and investment , and GDP growth exceeded 8 % in 2010 .
-Since 1997 , Sudan has been working with the IMF to implement macroeconomic reforms including a managed float of the exchange rate and a large reserve of foreign exchange .
-A new currency , the Sudanese Pound , was introduced in January 2007 at an initial exchange rate of $ 1 equals 2 Sudanese Pounds .
-Sudan began exporting crude oil in the last quarter of 1999 and the economy boomed on the back of increases in oil production , high oil prices , and significant inflows of foreign direct investment until the second half of 2008 .
-The Darfur conflict , the aftermath of two decades of civil war in the south , the lack of basic infrastructure in large areas , and a reliance by much of the population on subsistence agriculture ensure much of the population will remain at or below the poverty line for years to come despite rapid rises in average per capita income .
-Sudan 's real GDP expanded by 5.2 % during 2010 , an improvement over 2009 's 4.2 % growth but significantly below the more than 10 % per year growth experienced prior to the global financial crisis in 2006 and 2007 .
-While the oil sector continues to drive growth , services and utilities play an increasingly important role in the economy with agriculture production remaining important as it employs 80 % of the work force and contributes a third of GDP .
-In the lead up to the referendum on southern secession , which took place in January 2011 , Sudan saw its currency depreciate considerably on the black market with the Central Bank 's official rate also losing value as the Sudanese people started to hoard foreign currency .
-The Central Bank of Sudan intervened heavily in the currency market to defend the value of the pound and the Sudanese government introduced a number of measures to restrain excess local demand for hard currency , but uncertainty about the secession has meant that foreign exchange remains in heavy demand .
-The Swiss Confederation was founded in 1291 as a defensive alliance among three cantons .
-In succeeding years , other localities joined the original three .
-The Swiss Confederation secured its independence from the Holy Roman Empire in 1499 .
-A constitution of 1848 , subsequently modified in 1874 , replaced the confederation with a centralized federal government .
-Switzerland 's sovereignty and neutrality have long been honored by the major European powers , and the country was not involved in either of the two world wars .
-The political and economic integration of Europe over the past half century , as well as Switzerland 's role in many UN and international organizations , has strengthened Switzerland 's ties with its neighbors .
-However , the country did not officially become a UN member until 2002 .
-Switzerland remains active in many UN and international organizations but retains a strong commitment to neutrality .
-A CROW was jealous of the Raven , because he was considered a bird of good omen and always attracted the attention of men , who noted by his flight the good or evil course of future events .
-Seeing some travelers approaching , the Crow flew up into a tree , and perching herself on one of the branches , cawed as loudly as she could .
-The travelers turned towards the sound and wondered what it foreboded , when one of them said to his companion , " Let us proceed on our journey , my friend , for it is only the caw of a crow , and her cry , you know , is no omen . "
-Those who assume a character which does not belong to them , only make themselves ridiculous .
-A RICH MAN lived near a Tanner , and not being able to bear the unpleasant smell of the tan-yard , he pressed his neighbor to go away .
-The Tanner put off his departure from time to time , saying that he would leave soon .
-But as he still continued to stay , as time went on , the rich man became accustomed to the smell , and feeling no manner of inconvenience , made no further complaints .
-A FARMER who had a deadly and implacable hatred against a certain Fox , caught him and tied some tow to his tail ; then carrying him to the centre of his own grain-field , set the tow on fire and let the animal go .
-" Alas ! " said the Farmer , seeing the result ; " if that grain had not been heavily insured , I might have had to dissemble my hatred of the Fox . "
-SOME BOYS , playing near a pond , saw a number of Frogs in the water and began to pelt them with stones .
-They killed several of them , when one of the Frogs , lifting his head out of the water , cried out : " Pray stop , my boys : what is sport to you , is death to us . "
-- " One man 's pleasure may be another 's pain . " -
-Softball is better than baseball because the Seventh Inning Stretch means stand up and go home .
-Math is like love ; a simple idea , but it can get complicated .
-I 'm not saying that the customer service in my bank is bad , but when I went in the other day and asked the clerk to check my balance ... she leaned over and pushed me .
-A priest who was walking through a small town saw a blackboard outside the front door of a school .
-It had been washed and put out to dry in the open air .
-There was a piece of chalk at the foot of the blackboard .
-The priest took the chalk and wrote in large letters , " I 'm a priest and I pray for you all . "
-A lawyer happened to pass next and when he saw what the priest had written , he added under it , " I 'm a lawyer and I defend you all . "
-Then , a doctor came by , took the piece of chalk , and wrote on the blackboard , " I 'm a doctor and I cure you all . "
-Finally , an ordinary citizen stopped , looked at what the others had written , thought for a few seconds and then added , " I am an ordinary citizen and I pay for you all . "
-A strain of the bird flu virus that can spread to humans has been found among poultry in northern Nigeria .
-The Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health says it found a " highly pathogenic " version of the H5N1 strain at a chicken farm in the village of Jaji in Kaduna state .
-This is the first reported case of H5N1 in Africa .
-The organization says Nigerian authorities have disinfected the premises , and imposed a quarantine and restrictions on the movement of animals .
-It says it plans to coordinate a joint response to the situation with the U.N. 's Food and Agriculture Organization .
-Avian flu has killed or forced the slaughter of millions of birds over the last two years .
-The H5N1 strain has killed at least 88 people in seven countries , mostly in Asia , since late 2003 .
-The European Parliament has endorsed next week 's planned start of European Union membership talks with Turkey .
-However , lawmakers on Wednesday also postponed ratifying Turkey 's customs accord with the European Union because of Turkey 's continued refusal to recognize Cyprus , which gained EU membership last year .
-Also , the European Parliament passed a non-binding resolution calling on Turkey to recognize the massacre of hundreds of thousands of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire as a genocide .
-Armenia says 1.5 million Armenians were slaughtered by the Turks 90 years ago during the final years of the Ottoman Empire .
-Turkey says 3,00,000 Armenians and thousands of Turks were killed during an Armenian uprising .
-Police in Afghanistan say suspected Taleban militants have kidnapped four Afghan aid workers in the eastern part of the country .
-A provincial police chief General Abdul Hanan Raufi said Monday the four aid workers , employed by the International Organization for Migration , were abducted Sunday in eastern Paktia province .
-He said elders in the area are involved in negotiating for their release .
-Farther east , the U.-S.-led coalition force says troops captured a known al-Qaida terrorist and five other extremists Monday during an operation near the city of Khost .
-A military statement did not identify the captured men , but said the troops found grenades , military equipment , armor-piercing rounds and assault rifles during a search of the compound where the men were caught .
-Russia 's foreign minister says Moscow will let NATO take armored vehicles through its territory to Afghanistan under an expanded transit deal .
-Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news conference in Moscow Thursday that the opening of the Russian route applies to vehicles with anti-mine protection .
-NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced last week at a NATO-Russia Council meeting that Russia had agreed to increase its cooperation on the war in Afghanistan , allowing more equipment to be moved through the country to support NATO troops .
-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev led the NATO-Russia Council talks in Lisbon .
-It was the first gathering of the 29-member group since April 2008 , just before Moscow 's brief war with Georgia , a Western ally .
-Tropical Storm Ophelia has headed northward , as residents of coastal North and South Carolina assess damage from the slow-moving storm .
-Thousands of homes and businesses remained without power Friday , despite the fact that the nation 's first hurricane since Katrina never officially made landfall .
-Experts say the Category 1 hurricane caused power outages , flooded streets , and significant damage to buildings because it moved slowly , battering the same area for two days and dumping dozens of centimeters of rain .
-As Ophelia continues to weaken and move northward , tropical storm watches are in effect for parts of the northeastern U.S. state of Massachusetts and the Canadian province of Nova Scotia .
-A remote-controlled bomb ripped through the vehicle of an influential pro-government figure in southern Afghanistan Friday , wounding several people and killing at least two others .
-Tribal elder Mullah Naqib , as well as some of his family members and guards , were wounded in the blast as their vehicle crossed a bridge in Kandahar province .
-Naqib also was a commander during the resistance to the Soviet occupation in the 1980s .
-Witnesses say two bystanders also were killed .
-In separate news , authorities in northern Afghanistan say police Friday detained eight suspects in connection with Thursday 's killing of a German aid worker .
-It is not clear if the suspects were militants or bandits .
-The foreign aid worker was killed when gunmen attacked his vehicle in Sari Pul province .
-The assailants robbed three Afghan nationals traveling with him .
-A study indicates that the average level of nicotine in cigarettes has risen 10 percent in the past six years , making it harder for smokers to quit .
-The health department for the state of Massachusetts released a study this week .
-It shows how much nicotine content has changed and how much nicotine smokers inhale when they smoke .
-The study said cigarettes in 2004 yielded the smoker nearly 10 percent more nicotine per cigarette than in 1998 .
-The increase in nicotine levels varied by brand , with some increasing as much as 30 percent .
-Fifty two out of 116 brands studied had nicotine increases of more than 10 percent .
-Health experts say higher nicotine content makes cigarettes more addictive and smoking harder to quit .
-U.S. tobacco companies have not commented on the study .
-Turkey has sent more troops and tanks to the Iraqi border , as speculation grows about a possible Turkish incursion against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq .
-Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says his patience has run out for the United States and Iraq to take action against the Kurdish rebels .
-But U.S. officials have expressed concerns that a cross-border operation could destabilize northern Iraq .
-Meanwhile , Turkish security forces continue large-scale operations against the Kurdistan Worker 's Party , or PKK , rebels in southeast Turkey .
-A Turkish soldier in the region was killed Wednesday by a landmine blast .
-Pressure for action against the PKK is mounting as Turkey prepares for national elections on July 22 , and after two bombings last week .
-The PKK has been fighting for autonomy in Turkey 's mainly Kurdish southeast since 1984 .
-The United States , the European Union and Turkey classify the PKK as a terrorist group .
-A South Korean official who visited Washington last week says talks to discuss North Korea 's nuclear program could resume as early as this month .
-In a radio interview Monday , Kim Sook , director-general for North American affairs at the South Korean Foreign Ministry , said he is cautiously optimistic about the resumption of six-party talks in July .
-He added that North Korea has not set a firm date for their return to the negotiating table .
-Mr. Kim joined South Korea 's Unification Minister , Chung Dong-young , in Washington last week for talks with U.S. officials concerning Pyongyang .
-Reuters quotes Japan 's foreign minister today saying Tokyo 's patience on North Korea 's decision is running out .
-Nobutaka Machimura told the news agency that Japan is neither optimistic nor pessimistic about the talks resuming anytime soon .
-Former Sudanese President Jaafar Nimeiri - who imposed strict lslamic law on Sudan - has died .
-A statement from Sudan 's presidential office says the 79-year-old former leader died from an unspecified illness .
-It says he will be buried on Sunday in Omdurman near the capital , Khartoum .
-Mr. Nimeiri came to power in a coup in 1969 and served for 16 years until he too was ousted by a coup in 1985 while visiting the United States .
-President Nimeiri imposed Islamic Sharia on Sudan in 1983 , a move that alienated the largely non-Muslim south , and is widely viewed as the catalyst for the nation 's 22-year civil war .
-Following his ouster , Mr. Nimeiri lived in exile in Egypt .
-He returned to Sudan in 1999 .
-The Nigerian military has fired on several barges it says were being used by oil smugglers in the Niger Delta region .
-A helicopter gunship carried out the attack Wednesday in Delta state , near the city of Warri .
-It was the first known assault by Nigeria 's military in the Delta since local militants carried out a series of attacks against the oil industry , including the kidnapping of four foreign oil workers last month .
-A local group known as the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta condemned the helicopter strike , saying it targeted ethnic Ijaw communities .
-The group alleges the helicopter took off from an civilian airstrip operated by Royal Dutch Shell .
-It threatened to shoot down aircraft using the strip if Nigeria 's military uses it again .
-The militants want greater local control over southern Nigeria 's oil wealth .
-The United States says it has temporarily suspended the resettlement of at least 6,000 Hmong refugees from Thailand , after at least a score of refugees already in the U.S. were diagnosed with tuberculosis .
-At least 20 refugees infected with the disease are in the western U.S. state of California .
-Health officials say 11 of the patients are children .
-A handful of other cases were located in the midwestern states of Minnesota and Wisconsin .
-The U.S. has resettled at least 9,000 Hmong refugees living in the Wat Tham Krabok camp since June of last year .
-Officials say they will begin enhanced medical treatment and screenings at the camp .
-The suspension is expected to last for up to six months .
-Zimbabwe 's ruling party has elected its first woman vice president .
-At the conclusion of the ZANU-PF party congress Saturday , delegates approved the nomination 49-year old Joyce Mujuru , Zimbabwe 's minister of water and infrastructure .
-She will share the post with Joseph Msika - filling a vacancy left by Simon Muzenda , who died last year .
-Ms. Mujuru was President Robert Mugabe 's hand-chosen candidate .
-Earlier this week , Mr. Mugabe suspended seven top party officials and reprimanded another for allegedly plotting against Ms. Mujuru 's election , in favor of another candidate , parliamentary speaker Emmerson Mnangawa .
-Analysts said whoever won the vice presidency would be in a good position to possibly succeed Mr. Mugabe , now 80 years old , when he steps down .
-The United Nations has condemned the killing of an Afghan election worker by suspected Taleban rebels , the first killing linked to parliamentary polls scheduled for September .
-U.N. spokeswoman Ariane Quentier said the world body condemns any type of violence aimed at derailing the democratic process in Afghanistan .
-Officials say suspected Taleban rebels surrounded a village Friday and shot the election worker as he came out of a mosque .
-The victim was part of a project educating villagers on how to cast their votes in Uruzgan province .
-The killing has raised fears of further violence ahead of the September 18 parliamentary polls - the country 's next key step toward democracy after 25 years of war .
-A new survey shows support for U.S. President Barack Obama has fallen in Europe , though his popularity remains high .
-Mr. Obama 's approval ratings among Europeans dropped from 83 percent in 2009 to 78 percent in the annual Transatlantic Trends survey released Wednesday .
-The poll , conducted by the German Marshall Fund of the United States , surveyed 1,000 people each in the United States , Turkey and 11 European Union nations .
-While Mr. Obama enjoys overall support in Europe , fewer than half of those polled approved of his handling of Iran and Afghanistan .
-A majority of Europeans said membership in the EU was good for their economy , even if the euro currency was not .
-U.S. military officials say five Americans are being held in Iraq under suspicion of terrorist activity .
-Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman declined to identify any of the detainees .
-But news reports said three of them are Iraqi-Americans , one is an Iranian-American and the fifth suspect is Jordanian-American .
-Mr. Whitman said none of them have been charged with a crime and that there is no connection between the suspects .
-The Iranian-American has been identified by his family as Cyrus Kar of Los Angeles .
-His laywers have sued the U.S. government in an effort to secure his release .
-President Bush says the United States is a prayerful nation , which he says he believes makes the nation strong .
-He made the remark at a White House event Thursday for the National Day of Prayer , which is observed on the first Thursday of May .
-Those in attendance included members of the military , religious leaders , lawmakers , cabinet officials , and Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty .
-Mr. Bush says Americans have answered the call for prayer since the founding of the nation more than two centuries ago .
-He says the greatest gift someone can give is the gift of prayer , saying it has the power to change lives and the course of history .
-China says at least 18 people have been killed after moderate earthquake hit a mountainous area in southwest China 's Yunnan province .
-The official Xinhua news agency says the 5.1-magnitude earthquake shook Yunnan 's Yanjin county Saturday morning .
-The epicenter of the quake was about 90 kilometers from Zhaotong city .
-Rescue teams have been deployed to the area , where large rocks tumbled down from hills onto residential areas .
-At least 56 houses were reported destroyed in the quake .
-At least 60 people were injured .
-They have been taken to hospitals for treatment .
-Experts with a local seismological bureau told Xinhua that houses in Yanjin were built mostly near hillsides , making them vulnerable to earthquakes .
-Yanjin is a county on the Yunnan-Guizhou plateau with a population of 3,50,000 people .
-The head of South Korea 's ruling Uri Party has resigned after parliament failed to pass several pieces of reform legislation by the end of 2004 .
-Uri Party Chairman Lee Bu-young and members of the party 's standing central committee stepped down Monday citing the failure of his attempts to scrap the National Security Law .
-The Uri Party vowed to push through a bill repealing the law last year , but the opposition Grand National Party blocked the legislation , saying North Korea still poses a threat to national security .
-The impasse over the security legislation threatened passage of the country 's budget and a one-year extension of its troop deployment in Iraq .
-The Uri Party leadership plans to hold a meeting this week to pick an interim leader who will serve until a party convention in April .
-The U.S. State Department 's annual human rights report , released Tuesday , says some African countries are making progress , while others are regressing or lagging behind .
-The report praises Liberia , noting that President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has dismissed some corrupt officials , and that her government is investigating war crimes committed during the country 's civil war .
-But the U.S. report has harsh words for Zimbabwe , saying the Mugabe government continues " across-the-board " human rights violations .
-The report is even harder on Eritrea 's government , which it says continues to be one of the most repressive in sub-Saharan Africa .
-There is especially strong criticism of Sudan .
-The report says the Sudanese government and government-backed Janjaweed militia bear responsibility for what the U.S. calls the genocide in Darfur .
-Singapore 's men 's national football team has defeated Indonesia , 03-Jan , in the first leg of the Tiger Cup finals in Jakarta .
-First-half goals from England native Daniel Bennett and Khairul Amri gave Singapore the lead .
-Nigerian-born Agu Casmir added another goal in the second half .
-Indonesia 's only score came in injury time when substitute Mahyadi Panggabean deflected a free kick into the goal .
-Singapore holds a two-goal lead over Indonesia headed into the second leg match in Singapore January 16 .
-Singapore is trying to win the tournament for the second time in six years .
-Indonesia has lost twice before in the Tiger Cup finals in 2000 and 2002 .
-Attacks in Pakistan 's southern Shaktoi area have become a source of friction between the U.S. and Pakistan , which sees them as a violation of its sovereignty Pakistani officials say a suspected U.S. drone missile strike has killed at least 20 militants .
-Authorities say the toll could rise .
-Sunday 's attack took place in the Shaktoi area of Pakistan 's restive South Waziristan region .
-Saturday , Pakistani Taliban militants issued a new audio recording they said proved their leader , Hakimullah Mehsud , survived a suspected U.S. missile strike last week .
-Pakistani intelligence sources had said Mehsud was wounded in the missile strike that killed at least 12 suspected militants Thursday .
-The United States has increased attacks using drones since a suicide bomber killed seven U.S. intelligence agents in eastern Afghanistan in late December .
-An international journalism advocacy group says the U.S.-based Yahoo Internet company works regularly with Chinese police to supply information on dissidents who use its service .
-In a statement issued Thursday , the Paris-based organization Reporters Without Borders called on Yahoo to release a list of all the dissidents on whom it has provided data .
-The group says it has discovered that Yahoo provided information relating to the arrest of at least two jailed dissidents , one in 2003 and the other last year .
-Reporters Without Borders says the men received sentences of eight and 10 years , both based on electronic data supplied by Yahoo .
-Yahoo spokeswoman Mary Osako says that when the company receives subpoenas it is not usually told how the information is being used .
-A U.S. congressional committee will hold a hearing next week on ethical responsibilities of Internet companies .
-Three Australians went on trial Wednesday in Bali for allegedly trying to smuggle heroin from the resort island .
-They are among nine Australians facing charges after the group was arrested in April .
-If convicted , they could be executed .
-Two other trials began Tuesday .
-This is the latest in a string of high-profile drug cases involving Australians in Indonesia .
-In May , Australian Schapelle Corby was sentenced to 20 years in prison on charges of smuggling marijuana onto the island .
-Her conviction angered some in Australia who say she is innocent or the sentence is too harsh .
-Indonesia has some of the toughest drug laws in the world .
-Those convicted of possessing or distributing illegal drugs face sentences ranging from several years in prison to the death penalty .
-German officials say that Russia is to remove large quantities of enriched uranium from the Soviet-era atomic reactor in former East Germany .
-Police said Sunday that more than 300 kilograms of nuclear waste , produced in the Rossendorf reactor near the city of Dresden , was to be flown out of Germany overnight .
-Germans shut down the Soviet-built research reactor soon after reunification in 1990 .
-The waste is to be treated in Russia under an international agreement aimed at preventing proliferation of nuclear material .
-Representatives of U.N. Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency were to observe loading of the nuclear waste into aircraft at the Dresden airport .
-Iran continues to downplay the threat of U.S. military strikes , and says any U.S. attack on the Islamic republic would be a strategic mistake .
-Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told a news conference Sunday the chance of a U.S. strike is very low , echoing recent comments from President Mohammad Khatami .
-Washington and Tehran have been locked in a three-year stand-off over U.S. allegations that Iran is using its nuclear program to develop banned weapons .
-Iran has repeatedly denied the charges .
-Last week , a published report said U.S. commandos have carried out clandestine missions in Iran to identify targets for possible military strikes .
-The White House rejected The New Yorker magazine report , but President Bush later said military action to deal with Iran 's nuclear threat had not been ruled out .
-Sunday , Mr. Asefi characterized the president 's comments as psychological warfare .
-Security forces in Bosnia-Herzegovina have detained a former Bosnian Serb paramilitary leader suspected of crimes against humanity during the Balkan conflict of the 1990s .
-Authorities say they picked up Momir Savic in the southeastern town of Visegrad .
-Prosecutors issued a warrant for Savic 's arrest on suspicion of war crimes against Muslim civilians in the Visegrad area in 1992 , as ethnic Serb forces killed or expelled most of the Muslims and Croats from eastern Bosnia .
-Authorities gave no further details .
-The Bosnian conflict formally ended with the 1995 Dayton Accord , which divided the country into two entities , the Bosnian Serb Republic and the Muslim-Croat Federation .
-Brazil 's president declared the country independent of the need for foreign oil as he opened a huge new offshore oilrig in the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday .
-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva flipped a switch and drenched his hands in the flowing oil .
-His gesture recreated one made by President Getulio Vargas when he created the government-run Petrobras oil company in 1953 .
-Ironically , the new rig came online in the same week that oil prices set record highs .
-Roughly 30 years ago , Brazil imported about 80 percent of its oil .
-Petrobras says that when the huge new P-50 oil rig is producing at full capacity six months from now , Brazil 's oil production will average 1.9 million barrels a day , slightly more than the nation 's average daily consumption of 1.85 barrels a day .
-A cease-fire due to be signed Friday by the Ugandan government and rebels to end an 18-year war in the north of the country has been postponed .
-The delay was announced as negotiators on both sides tried to hammer out unresolved parts of the proposed cease-fire agreement during meetings in the northern district of Kitgum , near the Sudanese border .
-A new date for its signing has not been decided .
-The chief mediator for the Ugandan government , Betty Bigombe , said Thursday the agreement could clear the way for formal negotiations on ending the conflict .
-The northern-based Lord 's Resistance Army has fought to overthrow the Ugandan government since 1987 , displacing more than one million people .
-Its rebels are notorious for attacking civilians and kidnapping children .
-The U.S. space agency 's Mars probe is set to land Sunday , May 25 .
-NASA scientists in Washington recently talked about what they call the mission 's " seven minutes of terror . "
-That is how long it will take for a probe to slow down enough to land on its surface .
-Once there , the Phoenix Mars Lander will dig into the Martian ice and soil , study the planet 's atmosphere , and more .
-VOA 's Paul Sisco reports .
-Thousands of New Orleans residents are returning to their homes and businesses Friday , as clean-up efforts continue after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita .
-Many residents who live in reopened areas of the city , including the French Quarter and Garden District , have been permitted to return with proof of residency .
-Utility crews continue to work on restoring electricity and providing drinkable water .
-Some business owners returned to the city on Thursday , and many are dealing with both structural damage and losses from looting .
-Police say they are investigating whether some police officers took part in looting after Hurricane Katrina .
-Police spokesman Marlon Defillo says the investigation centers on about 12 officers who allegedly took non-essential items from store shelves .
-Police in Afghanistan say Afghan and NATO forces have killed 10 Taleban rebels in fighting in the country 's south .
-Police say the fighting broke out when Afghan and NATO forces raided the rebels ' hideouts in Helmand province 's Garmser district .
-It is the same area where , on Tuesday , Afghan and NATO forces killed 18 Taleban insurgents .
-One police officer was also killed .
-NATO took over security operations from U.S.-led coalition forces this week in six southern Afghan provinces .
-Russian President Vladimir Putin and British Prime Minister Tony Blair have met in London for talks focusing on energy issues and the struggle against terrorism .
-Russian officials say during the 90 minutes of discussions the two leaders paid special attention to the energy issue , noting that within seven years Britain will become an importer of natural gas and oil .
-The Russian officials say both sides expressed readiness to cooperate in efforts to deal with tensions in the Middle East , Central Asia and Afghanistan .
-They said Mr. Blair stressed the importance of tightening British anti-terrorist legislation .
-The meeting came ahead of ceremonies in which Mr. Putin honored the British team that helped rescue seven Russian sailors trapped in a submarine off the coast of Russia 's Kamchatka Peninsula last August .
-Tuesday , Mr. Putin and European Union leaders held a summit in London .
-President Bush has condemned the terrorist attacks at three hotels in Jordan , and expressed his condolences to King Abdullah and the country 's people .
-In a statement , the president 's spokesman said the United States will offer any cooperation to Jordan in investigating the attacks and bringing those responsible to justice .
-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called the attacks a " great tragedy , " adding it shows people are willing to take innocent life without remorse .
-United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan condemned the attacks and renewed a call for U.N. members to advance a comprehensive plan to combat terrorism .
-U.N. officials said Mr. Annan , who is currently on a Middle East trip , has canceled plans to visit Jordan this week .
-A Vietnamese man has died from bird flu , raising the country 's death toll from the deadly virus to 39 .
-Health officials say the Hanoi resident died Tuesday after being hospitalized six days earlier .
-It was unclear how the man contracted bird flu .
-The Vietnamese government says it will begin nationwide vaccinations of poultry in August in an effort to contain the spread of the virus , which has also killed 12 people in Thailand and four others from Cambodia .
-Medical experts say the H5N1 virus that causes bird flu appears to be spread only by close contact between humans and infected poultry .
-However , they warn that bird flu could change into a form that can easily pass between people , triggering a global pandemic .
-Members of the Philippine Senate have urged President Gloria Arroyo to pressure Burma 's military government to free pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi .
-All 23 members of the Senate signed a resolution urging the action Wednesday .
-It is nonbinding , meaning it only serves to express the lawmakers ' opinions .
-The resolution also opposes Burma 's takeover of the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations next year as scheduled .
-It says Burma 's human rights record makes it unfit to head the organization .
-President Arroyo met last month with Burma 's leader , Lieutenant-General Soe Win , and expressed fear for Aung San Suu Kyi , who has been under house arrest since May , 2003 .
-Indonesia 's Health Ministry says a 17-year-old woman has died of bird flu .
-Authorities say the woman died Tuesday in Tangerang , west of Indonesia 's capital , Jakarta .
-She is the 83rd Indonesian to have died of the virus .
-Earlier this week , a 29-year-old woman living on the island of Bali died of the disease , becoming the resort island 's first known human fatality from the often-deadly H5N1 strain of the virus .
-More than 190 people worldwide have died from bird flu since the outbreak began in 2003 , mostly in Asian nations .
-The virus is mainly passed to humans through contact with infected animals , but experts fear the virus could mutate into a form that is easily transmissible by human-to-human contact .
-NATO officials say alliance troops have killed at least 48 suspected Taleban rebels and several civilians in three separate clashes in southern Afghanistan .
-The alliance said Wednesday four civilians were also wounded in the clashes in Kandahar 's Zhari and Panjwayi districts Tuesday .
-A NATO spokesman says the alliance is looking into " credible reports " of civilian deaths during at least one of the clashes .
-He says the alliance deeply regrets any civilian casualties .
-Earlier , NATO officials said Afghan police and NATO-led troops seized more than nine tons of hashish from a truck traveling in southern Afghanistan .
-Alliance officials say security forces found the drugs while searching the truck at a checkpoint in Zabul province .
-The troops arrested the driver and three passengers .
-Afghan officials say Taleban-led militants are fueling the drug trade because it helps fund the rebellion .
-The United Nations children 's agency has called for an end to female genital mutilation , saying the cruel and dangerous practice is spreading .
-A report issued Thursday by UNICEF says millions of girls and women in Africa alone are still subjected to the procedure , known as female circumcision , which involves cutting off portions of or all of the female genitalia .
-The report says that immigration has led to a " globalization " of the practice and it is affecting far more women than previously believed .
-It says the procedure often leads to hemorrhaging , infection and , later , problems during child birth .
-UNICEF is working with other organizations to stop female circumcision through education within traditional communities .
-Iran 's new foreign minister says Tehran will not return to a full suspension of nuclear fuel activities and warned against referring the issue to the U.N. Security Council .
-Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki made his comments at a news conference Sunday .
-Mr. Mottaki reiterated Iran 's position that it will not stop uranium processing .
-He also rejected a European threat to refer Tehran to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions as a no-win situation .
-He warned such a move would result in certain consequences , but he did not elaborate .
-European negotiators have been trying to convince Iran to totally abandon nuclear fuel work in exchange for a package of trade , diplomatic , security and technological incentives .
-The United States accuses Iran of using its nuclear program as a cover to secretly produce nuclear weapons .
-Tehran says it only wants nuclear technology to produce electricity .
-A leading human rights group is calling on European investigators to look into allegations of torture in secret prisons in Chechnya .
-The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights released a report Monday in which it says it has proof that Russian and Chechen security forces are operating such prisons .
-It says Chechens are kidnapped and then tortured and sometimes killed in the jails .
-The report says the prisons violate Russian law and European human rights treaties .
-Russia has not yet responded to Monday 's report , but has denied allegations of torture in Chechen prisons in the past .
-Russia has been battling Chechen separatists for much of the last decade .
-Thailand 's military-installed government says it plans to lift a ban on political gatherings but will maintain martial law .
-Interim Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont said Tuesday in Bangkok that the political restrictions will be lifted after consultations with the military panel of coup leaders .
-Martial law and related restrictions were put in place after Thailand 's military removed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra from office in a peaceful coup in September .
-Cases of violence or discontent have been rare since then .
-Mr. Thaksin had faced public calls for his resignation over allegations of abuse of power and graft .
-Mr. Surayud has vowed to unite the country .
-He will remain prime minister until elections next October .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has met with Russian business leaders to discuss joint oil and gas ventures during a visit to Moscow .
-According to Associated Press , Mr. Chavez praised the close ties between Russia and Venezuela during the meeting , and urged top executives to invest in future energy projects .
-President Chavez is on a two-day visit to Russia .
-He scheduled to hold talks with his Russian counterpart , Vladimir Putin on Friday .
-Russia is the world 's second largest oil exporter , while Venezuela is fifth among oil-exporting countries .
-Muslims around the world are awaiting the sighting of the crescent moon to begin fasting for Islam 's holy month of Ramadan .
-Muslims observe the ninth month of the lunar Islamic calendar by abstaining from eating , drinking and sexual relations from dawn until sunset .
-The holy month is expected to begin Wednesday or a day later , depending on the sighting of the moon the night before .
-This year Ramadan begins amid scorching temperatures in the Middle East and elsewhere , with the first six months of 2010 being the warmest ever recorded .
-The month marks the time more than 1,400 years ago when Muslims believe the words of Islam 's holy book , the Koran , were revealed to the Prophet Mohammed .
-Muslims celebrate the month with family visits , invitations to iftars and shared meals that break the fast .
-Ramadan will conclude in September with a celebration called Eid al-Fitr .
-Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has made a rare visit to Darfur , where he made an appeal for peace and unity in the region .
-Mr. Bashir spoke Saturday to a gathering in Nyala , the provincial capital .
-The president said citizens want a comprehensive peace followed by development .
-He called on armed rebels to join the political process .
-Later Sunday , President Bashir will chair a Cabinet meeting in El~Fasher , the capital of north Darfur .
-He returns Monday to Khartoum .
-More than four years of fighting in the western Sudanese Darfur region have killed an estimated 2,00,000 people and displaced more than two million others .
-The Sudanese government has been accused of arming Arab militia , which have been blamed for many atrocities .
-Khartoum denies any connection with the violence .
-British police say they are examining suspicious material found in a north London apartment connected to at least one of the suspects in last week 's failed transit bombings .
-Investigators Tuesday said they found a large quantity of possibly explosive material in the house .
-The apartment , which police raided Monday , has been dubbed by some British newspapers as a ' bomb factory . '
-Earlier , police released the names of two of the suspects , one a naturalized British citizen from Eritrea and one a Somali living in the country legally .
-No one was injured in the July 21 attacks , and officials say the four would-be bombers are most likely hiding in Britain .
-Two weeks before , on July 7 , 56 people , including four suicide bombers , died when explosions ripped through three subway trains and a bus .
-Six American and two Afghan soldiers were killed Sunday when a suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden van into a new jointly operated outpost in southern Kandahar province .
-U.S. and Afghan officials said a number of American and Afghan troops were wounded in the powerful blast .
-The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack .
-In other violence , NATO said its security forces killed two insurgents , including a reputed Taliban leader , in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday .
-Also in the east , a joint Afghan-NATO force hunting for a Taliban " shadow governor " killed one insurgent and detained 10 others in Nangarhar province Saturday night .
-In northern Kunduz province , one insurgent was killed and five others detained during a search for a high-ranking leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan .
-And in southern Helmand province Saturday , a joint NATO-Afghan force found a drug cache containing one ton of opium and 37 kilograms of refined morphine .
-Jordan has announced that parliamentary elections will be held on November 9 .
-The date was set in a Cabinet meeting Tuesday .
-It comes nearly a month after the government enacted a new election law increasing the number of seats from 110 to 120 .
-It also doubled the quota of women lawmakers to 12 .
-Jordan 's King Abdullah dissolved parliament last year after accusing lawmakers of ineffectiveness .
-French police placed four people four youths under investigation in connection with a bus attack Saturday in Marseille that left a passenger in critical condition .
-Under the French legal system , being placed under investigation is one step short of the filing of formal charges Officials say the teenagers , between the ages of 15 and 17 , have previous records for delinquency .
-A Marseille prosecutor , Jacques Baume , said three of the youths have admitted taking part in the incident .
-The victim - a 26-year-old woman - remains hospitalized after being burned on more than half of her body .
-The bus attack is one of the most severe incidents coinciding with the anniversary of riots that raged through mainly immigrant suburbs of France a year ago .
-Immigrant families rioted last November to protest discrimination and a lack of jobs for young people .
-Officials from Nigeria 's southeastern state of Bayelsa say they are negotiating the release of two German and four Nigerian oil workers kidnapped by militants .
-The six employees were abducted on Wednesday while traveling by boat to an offshore oil field .
-They work for the German firm Bilfinger Berger , a subsidiary of Royal-Dutch Shell .
-The kidnappers - ethnic Ijaw militants - are demanding $ 20 million in ransom from Shell along with a promise to honor a previous agreement to give jobs and other benefits to local residents .
-Communities in Nigeria 's oil rich southern region have long complained they have been cut out of the money made from the resources extracted from their land .
-Militant groups frequently attack oil operations of multi-national companies to demand social services and better job opportunities .
-Lawyers for veterans of Kenya 's Mau Mau uprising of the 1950s say the British government has denied responsibility for colonial-era claims of torture and other atrocities .
-At a news conference in Nairobi Tuesday , the lawyers presented a letter from the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office rejecting the claim .
-The letter argues the British government had no direct link to the colonial administration in Kenya at the time .
-The office also said too much time had passed to consider the claims .
-Six Mau Mau veterans have launched a claim against the British government seeking damages for torture and other abuses suffered during the uprising against British colonial rule from 1952 to 1959 .
-The veterans say they plan to move forward with legal action against the British government .
-A Japanese energy company says Tokyo has given it permission to drill in a gas field in the East China Sea along a disputed sea border with China .
-Teikoku Oil said Japan 's Economy , Trade and Industry Ministry informed the company Thursday , it can explore the deep-sea gas deposits .
-The area is inside territory that Japan regards as its exclusive economic zone , but Beijing disputes the demarcation .
-China says a Japanese authorization of drilling in the area will infringe on China 's sovereignty and complicate the situation in the East China Sea .
-Japan and China have been feuding over a range of territorial and diplomatic disputes , including claims to the undersea gas deposits .
-Iran 's top nuclear negotiator has called for other countries to join the three European nations engaged in talks with Tehran about its nuclear program .
-Iranian state television quotes Ali Larijani as saying questions have been raised in Iran as to why the talks are being conducted with just Britain , Germany and France .
-He said Iran would welcome negotiations with other members of the International Atomic Energy Agency 's board of governors and members of the Non-Aligned Movement .
-Iran 's talks with Europe appeared close to collapse this week when the European nations canceled an August 31 meeting .
-But both sides have expressed a willingness to continue .
-The European powers are trying to persuade Iran to give up parts of its nuclear program that could be used to produce nuclear weapons .
-Iran insists it has a right to the technology , and asserts that its nuclear program is peaceful .
-The Red Cross and the Pentagon have acknowledged that they discussed complaints of Koran desecration from detainees held at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay , Cuba in 2002 and 2003 .
-On Thursday , Red Cross officials said that after several discussions with the Pentagon about the allegations , the complaints ceased .
-Neither Red Cross officials nor the Pentagon have disclosed details of the allegations , but the Pentagon said the incidents were rare and minor .
-Defense officials say they are continuing to investigate allegations of Koran desecration that have fueled anti-U.S. protests around the world , leaving at least 17 people dead in Afghanistan .
-The uproar began after Newsweek magazine said a Defense Department report found that U.S. interrogators had flushed a copy of the Muslim holy book down a toilet to rattle detainees .
-Newsweek later retracted the story and apologized .
-Russia says it has conducted a successful test launch of an interceptor missile from a testing range in Kazakhstan .
-A spokesman for the Russian space forces , Alexei Kuznetsov , said the launch on Tuesday was part of a program aimed at extending the service life of interceptor missiles in the country 's defense system .
-Kuznetsov told the Interfax news agency that initial information indicates that the tests confirmed the missile 's main characteristics .
-Interceptor missiles are designed to shoot down enemy missiles .
-Russia conducted a similar test in 2004 .
-The United Nations highest court has begun hearing the Democratic Republic of Congo 's complaint against neighboring Uganda for violating humanitarian law .
-Congo accused Uganda of massacring civilians , looting and destruction in its opening argument Monday at the International Court of Justice in The Hague .
-Congo also charged the Ugandan government with continuing to back warlords on Congolese territory who are plundering natural resources in the eastern part of the country .
-Resource-rich Congo is demanding reparations for damages suffered during five years of war in which more than three million people died .
-Uganda has previously denied the allegations and will make its argument Friday .
-Congo first took Uganda to the World Court for abuses in 1999 , one year after Uganda and Rwanda launched an invasion .
-Both nations have since signed peace deals with the Congolese government .
-Britain 's Prince Charles and his new wife , Camilla , have begun a week-long tour of the United States with a visit to the site of the World Trade Center in New York City .
-Television reports say few onlookers turned out for a glimpse of the Prince of Wales and his longtime companion , the Duchess of Cornwall , whom he married earlier this year .
-Prince Charles and Camilla are expected Tuesday to dedicate a memorial garden for British victims of the September 11 , 2001 terrorist attacks .
-On Wednesday they travel to Washington to visit President and Mrs. Bush at the White House .
-Friday , the royal couple will visit New Orleans to meet with victims of Hurricane Katrina , which devastated the Gulf Coast in August .
-Opinion polls indicate American interest in the trip falls far short of the prince 's 1985 visit with his first wife , the late Princess Diana .
-A Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect wanted for shelling Sarajevo has been taken into custody and will be sent to the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague .
-Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte announced Friday that Dragomir Milosevic had apparently surrendered in Serbia .
-Mr. Milosevic , who is no relation to former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic , was commander of a Bosnian-Serb corps wanted for attacks on the Bosnian capital .
-Ms. del Ponte said she had few details on the suspect 's surrender .
-Two of the tribunal 's top suspects - Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic - are still at large .
-Thousands of followers of radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr have rallied in the streets of Iraq to protest a triple car bombing Wednesday that killed at least 40 people and wounded about 125 more .
-Protesters took to the streets in Baghdad and Basra Friday to denounce the attacks .
-There has been no claim of responsibility for the bombings in the mainly Shi'ite southern city of Amarah .
-In other violence , the U.S. military in Iraq says two American soldiers were killed in separate incidents .
-The military says one soldier was shot in an attack in the capital Thursday , and another soldier died of wounds from a roadside bombing south of Baghdad .
-Separately , the military says coalition forces killed three suspected terrorists and detained 12 others during operations Friday targeting al-Qaida networks in central Iraq .
-Somalia 's Prime Minister Mohammed Ali Gedi has postponed a visit to his homeland .
-Some press reports say the trip was delayed because the government had not been able to obtain aircraft capable of landing in Somalia 's various airstrips .
-But Yusef Omar Azhari , the legal and political advisor President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed , says the delegation is waiting for some parliamentarians to return to Nairobi from Rome today ( Wednesday ) before leaving for Mogadishu in the next few days .
-The president and prime minister are expected to tour Somalia as part of an effort to relocate the interim government from neighboring Kenya .
-Military experts from several African nations have already been in Somalia to assess the security situation ahead of a proposed peacekeeping mission .
-Mr. Azhari told VOA reporter William Eagle that he expects the government to be completely relocated from Nairobi , Kenya to Somalia by March 20th
-The European Union has urged oil-producing countries and oil companies to do more to increase oil production in the face of rising gas prices that EU officials say pose a threat to the bloc 's economic growth .
-In a statement issued Saturday at the end of their two-day meeting in Manchester , England , EU finance ministers urged oil companies to , among other things , increase investment in oil exploration , production and refinement .
-EU officials have said higher oil prices in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in the southern United States could cut economic growth across the 12-country euro currency zone from the originally forecast 1.3 percent to as little as one percent .
-Oil prices closed at $ 64.08 a barrel in New York on Friday after hitting an all-time record high of $ 70.85 on August 30 .
-The European Union has extended sanctions against Burma 's military government and has called for an international arms embargo .
-The 27-member bloc endorsed a one-year extension of political and economic sanctions Tuesday at a meeting in Luxembourg .
-EU foreign ministers issued a statement warning that the measures could be expanded .
-Those sanctions ban EU arms exports to Burma and impose an assets freeze and travel ban on Burmese leaders .
-In its statement , the EU also called for the release of all political prisoners , including detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi .
-Last week , the United States circulated a revised draft Security Council statement , urging Burma to initiate dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi , who has been under house arrest since 2003 .
-The non-binding statement also called for the Burmese military government to allow the Nobel Prize laureate and other political figures to fully participate in a constitutional referendum scheduled for May 10 .
-An al-Qaida Internet statement says a Saudi militant killed in 2004 was supposed to have been the 20th suicide plane hijacker in the September 11 , 2001 attacks on the United States .
-The statement says Osama bin Laden chose Turki bin Fuheid al-Muteiry to be the 20th attacker .
-It says the militant , who also went by the name Fawaz al-Nashmi , did not take part because of the timing of the September 11 attacks .
-Most of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals .
-U.S. officials have called Zacarias Moussaoui the 20th hijacker .
-He confessed to a role in the attacks and is serving life in prison .
-But bin Laden said in a tape earlier this year that Moussaoui had nothing to do with September 11 .
-Muteiry died in a shootout with Saudi security forces in 2004 after the militant allegedly took part in an attack on foreigners in the oil city of Khobar .
-Nineteen suspected members of the violent street gang , Mara Salvatrucha ( or MS-13 ) have been indicted on federal racketeering charges in Maryland .
-The indictments , released Thursday , accuse the men of murders , kidnappings and other gang-related crimes from April 2003 to June of this year .
-The 19 suspected gang members are accused of six murders and several attempted murders .
-The crimes took place in suburban Maryland , outside of Washington , D.C.
-The gang is traditionally made up of immigrants from El Salvador .
-Its U.S. activities originated in Los Angeles in the 1980s .
-An estimated 10,000 members are in the United States .
-Federal agents and local police officers arrested many of the indicted gang members Thursday .
-The indictments are the latest attempt by the federal government to target the organization .
-Somali pirates say they have moved a kidnapped British couple onto land , to await negotiations for their rescue after demanding $ 7 million in ransom .
-The pirates spoke by phone to news agencies Saturday .
-Paul and Rachel Chandler were headed to Tanzania on a trip that started in the Seychelles when they sent a distress signal October 23 off the coast of Somalia .
-Their yacht , the Lynn Rival , later was found empty in waters off East Africa .
-Chandler has since spoken several times to reporters and said he and his wife are doing well .
-In recent months , France and the United States have used military force to rescue hostages , while at other times , foreign hostages have been released after ransoms were paid .
-There have been persistent high-seas hijackings in recent years in waters off east Africa , despite a growing armada of international warships to secure the area .
-Al-Qaida-linked terrorists in Iraq say they have killed Egypt 's top envoy , who was kidnapped late last week in the Iraqi capital .
-A video posted on a website Thursday , showed a blindfolded man believed to be Egyptian Ambassador Ihab al-Sherif .
-The tape did not show the killing , and has not been authenticated .
-The diplomat was kidnapped off a Baghdad street on Saturday as he stopped to buy a newspaper .
-Meanwhile , Iraqi police say twin car bombs have killed at least 13 people and wounded nearly 30 others south of Baghdad in the town of Mashruh .
-In Mosul , authorities say three Iraqis were killed and more than 40 others wounded by insurgent mortar fire apparently aimed at police stations in the central city .
-Israeli medical officials say former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has been transferred to the intensive care unit of a Tel Aviv hospital for kidney dialysis .
-The 78-year-old former political leader has been in a coma for six months , since suffering a massive stroke on January 4 .
-A hospital spokesperson , Anat Dolev , said Mr. Sharon was taken to intensive care Wednesday so doctors could remove excess fluids that have accumulated in his body as a result of kidney failure .
-Earlier in the week , hospital officials said that Mr. Sharon 's condition had deteriorated , noting the accumulation of fluids and changes in his brain tissue .
-China has announced a new outbreak of bird flu virus among birds in its northwestern region of Ningxia .
-China 's Agriculture Ministry says the outbreak of the deadly H5N1 virus was found in Zhongwei city .
-Details on how many birds were affected or whether it was among farm-raised poultry were not immediately available .
-China has reported nearly 40 outbreaks of bird flu in birds and poultry across China over the past year .
-The country 's human bird flu infections stands at 19 , 12 of whom have died .
-The World Health Organization says the H5N1 strain of the virus has killed at least 130 people since reappearing in Asia in 2003 .
-Most of the victims have gotten the disease from animals , but health experts fear the virus may change into a form easily passed between humans .
-The first witness to appear in person at the trial of Saddam Hussein has given graphic testimony about the 1982 killing of more than 140 people in a mainly Shi'ite town .
-Ahmed Mohammed Hassem said he knew several people killed in Dujail after an assassination attempt on Saddam there .
-His testimony was interrupted by exchanges with one of Saddam 's seven co-defendants - his half-brother Barzan Ibrahim .
-Before the judge adjourned proceedings , Saddam told the court he is not afraid of execution .
-He earlier yelled out " long live Iraq , long live the Arab state . "
-Court officials say the trial will resume Tuesday .
-Also Monday , one of Saddam 's lawyers , former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark , demanded better security for defense lawyers , two of whom have been killed .
-On Sunday , Iraqi authorities said they had foiled an insurgent plot to bomb the trial during Monday 's proceedings .
-Kid Rock wo n't face charges after a woman claimed he pushed her headfirst into a snowbank after a night of drinking .
-The 36-year-old rock singer - real name Bob Ritchie - now says he 'll sue the 28-year-old woman for filing a FALSE police report .
-She alleged that Kid Rock roughed her up after meeting her and a male friend at a bar in the Midwestern state of Michigan , and then inviting them to his house .
-Prosecutors said March 16 that insufficient evidence existed to charge Kid Rock with a crime .
-Kid Rock made headlines last year after marrying - and divorcing - actress Pamela Anderson in a four-month span .
-Rival factions in Kenya have clashed again in an increasingly violent campaign over a constitutional referendum , as authorities appealed for calm and vowed to punish anyone provoking unrest .
-Police say Thursday 's riot in the central town of Garissa began when supporters of the referendum tried to disrupt a rally held by opponents of the constitution .
-Police restored order after the crowd hurled rocks , bananas - the ballot symbol for a " yes " vote - and oranges , representing a " no " vote .
-At least one person was injured .
-Kenyans are to vote on a new proposed constitution in a national referendum on November 21 .
-The 197-page document allows Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki to retain his wide-ranging powers .
-Opponents say it fails to establish a strong prime ministerial post , which they argue is needed to balance the president 's authority .
-Election officials in East Timor say there were many " inconsistencies " in the country 's presidential election last Monday .
-The reported inconsistencies range from poor organization to discrepancies between the number of voters and the votes cast .
-Several districts , including the capital , Dili , had problems .
-A spokesman for the National Electoral Commission Martinho Gusmao told a news conference Friday that voting officials have just 72 hours to resolve the issues before official results are announced on Monday .
-Election officials have rejected a request from several candidates for a recount .
-Unofficial results show ruling party Prime Minister Jose Ramos-Horta and parliament chief Francisco " Lu Olo " Guterres will be competing in a runoff election .
-East Timor has been struggling to strengthen its democracy since voting for independence from Indonesia in 1999 .
-Police in Kenya have detained a Somali minister and two lawmakers for their role in a bloody brawl that broke out during a parliamentary session of the Somali government-in-exile .
-The fight on Thursday took place during a contentious vote over the deployment of peacekeepers to Somalia .
-Television footage showed lawmakers beating each other with walking sticks and throwing chairs and books at each other at a hotel in Nairobi where parliament is meeting .
-Police say one of those detained is Somali trade minister , Musa Sudi Yalahow .
-Somali lawmakers are divided over whether to allow peacekeepers into Somalia from bordering countries .
-Friday , East African officials attempted to defuse the situation , saying the first group of peacekeepers would only come from countries that do not border Somalia .
-The World Health Organization has confirmed Burma 's first human case of bird flu .
-Based on information provided by the Burmese Ministry of Health , the WHO identified the victim as a seven-year-old girl from eastern Shan State .
-Officials say she developed symptoms of the disease last month in an area where there had been an outbreak of the H5N1 virus in poultry .
-The girl survived the disease .
-Seven countries in East Asia have reported human cases of the potentially deadly H5N1 virus .
-The two with the greatest number of cases are Indonesia and Vietnam .
-More than 200 people in 13 countries have died from the disease since 2003 .
-A second group that says it has links to the al-Qaida terrorist network has claimed responsibility for Thursday 's attacks in London .
-Injured tube passengers are escorted away from Edgware Road Tube Station in London following explosion , Thursday A group calling itself the " Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades " posted a statement on an Arabic language Islamist website Saturday , congratulating itself for the bombings on three subway trains and one bus in the central part of the British capital .
-The same group also claimed responsibility for the March , 2004 Madrid train bombings that killed nearly 200 people .
-Just hours after Thursday 's bombings , a group calling itself " The Secret Organization of al-Qaida in Europe " issued a statement on another Arabic language Islamist website claiming responsibility for the attacks .
-Neither claim has been verified .
-Britain says it will extradite a computer expert to the United States to face terrorism charges .
-Home Secretary Charles Clarke says he has agreed to extradite 31-year-old British citizen Babar Ahmad , who is accused of running web sites in support of the al-Qaida terrorist network , Afghanistan 's ousted Taleban regime and Russia 's Chechen separatists .
-Mr. Ahmad has been in jail since his arrest in August 2004 under a U.S. arrest warrant .
-New British laws allow the United States to seek the extradition of someone without presenting any evidence .
-A British court ruled earlier this year that Mr. Ahmad should be extradited after the United States promised he would not be labeled an " enemy combatant " and imprisoned in the U.S. naval base on Guantanamo Bay , Cuba .
-The case was then passed on to Mr. Clarke .
-Mr. Ahmad 's family is denouncing the decision , and promises to appeal .
-Kurdish witnesses in northwestern Iran say security forces killed at least 11 Kurdish demonstrators in a clash Wednesday in the city of Saqiz .
-Witnesses tell VOA that government buildings in the town were damaged in the clash .
-They say police are heavily deployed across Saqiz .
-The Iranian government has not commented on the reports .
-The protest and clash are the latest in a wave of violence across Kurdish areas of Iran following last month 's killing of a Kurdish activist by Iranian security forces .
-A North Korean patrol boat crossed briefly into South Korean waters Sunday to seize a Chinese fishing boat that had been illegally fishing in the North .
-The patrol boat sped nearly two kilometers into the southern section of the Yellow Sea , notifying the South Korean navy that it was tracking an illegal fishing boat .
-South Korea 's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement , the South Korean navy radioed a warning about the border crossing , and 25 minutes later the patrol boat crossed back into North Korean waters .
-The Yellow Sea , on the western side of the Korean Peninsula , has been the scene of deadly North and South confrontations in recent years .
-The two sides have established a radio protocol to prevent future clashes .
-Activists from the environmental group Greenpeace displayed dead whales and dolphins in front of Berlin 's famed Brandenburg Gate Monday to demonstrate why it believes a whale hunting moratorium should continue .
-Greenpeace says it found the dead mammals on various European beaches , saying some drowned while trapped in fisherman 's nets while others were badly wounded in collisions with ships .
-Greenpeace marine biologist Stefanie Werner says 3,00,000 whales and dolphins drown in fishing nets every year and many others die from pollution , accidents with ships , or from the effects of global warming .
-She asked how can pro-whaling nations justify hunting them ?
-The International Whaling Commission meets next week in Anchorage , Alaska , where Iceland , Japan , and Norway are expected to push to end a worldwide ban on commercial whaling .
-Whaling is a tradition and an industry for many in those countries .
-Police in Nepal 's capital have arrested a senior opposition party official ahead of a planned protest .
-Police detained Arjun Narsingh , spokesman of the Nepali Congress Party , outside the party 's offices in Kathmandu .
-Mr. Narsingh had called a party meeting to plan demonstrations on Friday - Nepal 's Democracy Day - against the new royal government .
-Nepal 's King Gyanendra dismissed the previous government and declared a state of emergency two weeks ago because of what he said was its failure to put down a growing Maoist rebellion .
-Outside Nepal the power grab has been widely criticized and several nations , including the United States , some EU countries and Nepal 's close ally India , have recalled their ambassadors for consultations .
-An Iranian news agency says authorities have reinstated 300 more candidates ahead of next month 's parliamentary elections , bringing the total reinstated in the past week to almost 600 .
-Iran 's official news agency , IRNA , quotes an official as saying the candidates ' names will be released later Saturday .
-Iran 's Interior Ministry banned more than 2,200 candidates , mostly reformists , from competing in the March 14 vote .
-Several days ago , Iran 's highest oversight body , the Guardian Council , said that it had reinstated 280 of those candidates .
-Iranian authorities can disqualify candidates who are not deemed as showing sufficient loyalty to Iran 's Islamic system .
-Reformists and conservatives have strongly criticized the mass disqualifications , warning that they undermine the election process .
-British Prime Minister Tony Blair has again defended plans to toughen anti-terrorism laws and detain suspects for three months without charge .
-Mr. Blair told his monthly news conference in London that police have made compelling arguments to extend the length of detention from its current two weeks .
-He says authorities are fighting a new kind of terrorism , which requires more time to investigate and often the cooperation of foreign agencies .
-But civil rights activists and opposition politicians say the changes are counterproductive and will undermine efforts by authorities to get more cooperation from Britain 's Muslim community .
-Mr. Blair proposed the new laws , which would also allow authorities to deport extremists , after the July 7 suicide bombings in London that killed 52 people .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warns that he will not renew the license of a television station he accuses of backing a failed coup against him in 2002 .
-Mr. Chavez said in a speech Thursday to the military that the concession for Radio Caracas Television will end in March .
-Earlier , the information minister , William Lara , said the broadcaster 's license would expire next May .
-Mr. Chavez also said he will not tolerate any media outlets that support efforts to remove him from power .
-There was no immediate response from the Caracas-based station .
-President Chavez has repeatedly denounced RCTV and other pro-opposition broadcasters for what he says is overly critical coverage of his government .
-The press rights group Reporters Without Borders has urged Venezuela to end its efforts to shut down RCTV .
-The death toll from Saturday 's collapse of a metal exposition hall roof in the southern Polish city of Katowice continues to climb .
-Officials now say they have pulled at least 26 bodies from the rubble .
-A spokesman for the government of the Silesia region , where Katowice is located , said another 130 were injured .
-Police say about 500 people from Poland and other countries across Europe were inside the facility attending a homing pigeon exhibition .
-Officials say several foreigners were believed to be among the casualties , but there are conflicting reports about their nationalities and condition .
-Officials say the collapse was likely the result of the weight of snow on the roof after heavy snows and an arctic freeze that swept through Poland and neighboring countries this week .
-Temperatures plunged to minus 15 degrees Celsius as rescue efforts continued .
-Israeli troops and tanks entered the northern Gaza Strip Sunday , hours after Israel ended an operation against Palestinian militants in southern Gaza .
-The Beit Hanoun operation began soon after Israeli forces withdrew from Khan Younis after a three-day assault .
-Israel says both raids were aimed at stopping militants from firing rockets and mortar shells at Israeli settlements and towns .
-The Israeli military actions come one week before Palestinian elections to replace the late Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat .
-A new opinion survey by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research shows Palestine Liberation Organization chairman Mahmoud Abbas with a 65-to-22 percent lead over his nearest rival , Mustafa Barghouti .
-Mr. Abbas has vowed to protect Palestinian militants from Israeli raids .
-He also has criticized attacks on Israelis , saying they are not productive .
-An auction house in Hong Kong has broken the price-per-carat record for a gemstone auctioned off , with the sale of a six-carat blue diamond at nearly $ 8 million .
-Sotheby 's of Hong Kong announced the sale Monday , noting that the price comes out to $ 1.32 million a carat .
-The sale bested a 20-year record held by a diamond known as the " Hancock Red " that fetched just over $ 9,00,000 per carat in 1987 .
-The buyer for the diamond is Moussaieff Jewelers , a London-based jeweler that collects rare gemstones .
-The diamond is said to be in perfect condition with a rare , vivid blue color - the result of the element boron in the stone 's crystal structure .
-The Iraqi government 's top executive body , called the president 's council , has issued a controversial law that allows some former members of Saddam Hussein 's Baath Party to return to government service .
-The Kurdish , Jalal Talabani , and Shi'ite , Adel Abdul-Mahdi , representatives of the three-member presidency council issued the law Sunday despite the objection of the Sunni representative , Tareq al-Hashemi .
-Sunni politicians say the law contains provisions that will force out many current government workers .
-The law is one of 18 pieces of so-called benchmark legislation aimed at achieving reconciliation among Iraq 's Kurdish , Sunni Arab and Shi'ite communities .
-Meanwhile , the U.S. military says the bodies of four Iraqi militia members working with U.S. forces were recovered in Baquba Sunday .
-The military also said coalition forces killed three suspected terrorists and captured 36 others in the last two days in operations in central and northern Iraq .
-Bosnian officials say DNA tests on human remains taken from mass graves have identified 50 victims of the war in Croatia in the early 1990s .
-Experts in Bosnian and Croatian laboratories compared the DNA with blood samples taken from more than 750 families who have reported missing relatives .
-Fifty of the samples led to positive identifications .
-A Bosnian official calls the results extraordinary .
-The Sarajevo-based International Commission for Missing Persons runs one of the world 's most sophisticated DNA laboratories
-The lab helped identify victims of the September 11 , 2001 terror attacks on the United States and last year 's Asian tsunami .
-The United States has announced it is giving $ 40 million worth of food aid to Bangladesh , which is facing shortages after flooding and a devastating cyclone last year .
-U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh James Moriarty said Sunday in Dhaka the aid will go to school children , along with cyclone and flood victims .
-Last year 's Cyclone Sidr killed an estimated 3,500 people and left another two million homeless .
-The cyclone also destroyed roughly two million tons of rice .
-The Bangladeshi government has said this year 's rice crop looks like it will be plentiful , but it is still anticipating possible rice shortages .
-Bermuda enjoys the third highest per capita income in the world , more than 50 % higher than that of the US ; the average cost of a house by the mid-2000s exceeded $ 10,00,000 .
-Its economy is primarily based on providing financial services for international business and luxury facilities for tourists .
-A number of reinsurance companies relocated to the island following the 11 September 2001 attacks and again after Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 contributing to the expansion of an already robust international business sector .
-Bermuda 's tourism industry - which derives over 80 % of its visitors from the US - continues to struggle but remains the island 's number two industry .
-Most capital equipment and food must be imported .
-Bermuda 's industrial sector is largely focused on construction and agriculture is limited , with only 20 % of the land being arable .
-The former French colony of Ubangi-Shari became the Central African Republic upon independence in 1960 .
-After three tumultuous decades of misrule - mostly by military governments - civilian rule was established in 1993 and lasted for one decade .
-President Ange-Felix PATASSE 's civilian government was plagued by unrest , and in March 2003 he was deposed in a military coup led by General Francois BOZIZE , who established a transitional government .
-Though the government has the tacit support of civil society groups and the main parties , a wide field of candidates contested the municipal , legislative , and presidential elections held in March and May of 2005 in which General BOZIZE was affirmed as president .
-The government still does not fully control the countryside , where pockets of lawlessness persist .
-Unrest in the neighboring nations of Chad , Sudan , and the DRC continues to affect stability in the Central African Republic as well .
-The Gilbert Islands became a British protectorate in 1892 and a colony in 1915 ; they were captured by the Japanese in the Pacific War in 1941 .
-The islands of Makin and Tarawa were the sites of major US amphibious victories over entrenched Japanese garrisons in 1943 .
-The Gilbert Islands were granted self-rule by the UK in 1971 and complete independence in 1979 under the new name of Kiribati .
-The US relinquished all claims to the sparsely inhabited Phoenix and Line Island groups in a 1979 treaty of friendship with Kiribati .
-Spain 's mixed capitalist economy is the 12th largest in the world , and its per capita income roughly matches that of Germany and France .
-However , after almost 15 years of above average GDP growth , the Spanish economy began to slow in late 2007 and entered into a recession in the second quarter of 2008 .
-GDP contracted by 3.7 % in 2009 , ending a 16-year growth trend , and by another 0.2 % in 2010 , making Spain the last major economy to emerge from the global recession .
-The reversal in Spain 's economic growth reflected a significant decline in construction amid an oversupply of housing and falling consumer spending , while exports actually have begun to grow .
-Government efforts to boost the economy through stimulus spending , extended unemployment benefits , and loan guarantees did not prevent a sharp rise in the unemployment rate , which rose from a low of about 8 % in 2007 to 20 % in 2010 .
-The government budget deficit worsened from 3.8 % of GDP in 2008 to 9.2 % of GDP in 2010 , more than three times the euro-zone limit .
-Spain 's large budget deficit and poor economic growth prospects have made it vulnerable to financial contagion from other highly-indebted euro zone members despite the government 's efforts to cut spending , privatize industries , and boost competitiveness through labor market reforms .
-Spanish banks ' high exposure to the collapsed domestic construction and real estate market also poses a continued risk for the sector .
-The government oversaw a restructuring of the savings bank sector in 2010 , and provided some $ 15 billion in capital to various institutions .
-Investors remain concerned that Madrid may need to bail out more troubled banks .
-The Bank of Spain , however , is seeking to boost confidence in the financial sector by pressuring banks to come clean about their losses and consolidate into stronger groups .
-A CROW in great want of food saw a Serpent asleep in a sunny nook , and flying down , greedily seized him .
-The Serpent , turning about , bit the Crow with a mortal wound .
-In the agony of death , the bird exclaimed :
-" O unhappy me ! who have found in that which I deemed a happy windfall the source of my destruction . "
-AT ONE TIME the Horse had the plain entirely to himself .
-Then a Stag intruded into his domain and shared his pasture .
-The Horse , desiring to revenge himself on the stranger , asked a man if he were willing to help him in punishing the Stag .
-The man replied that if the Horse would receive a bit in his mouth and agree to carry him , he would contrive effective weapons against the Stag .
-The Horse consented and allowed the man to mount him .
-From that hour he found that instead of obtaining revenge on the Stag , he had enslaved himself to the service of man .
-THE people of Madagonia had an antipathy to the people of Novakatka and set upon some sailors of a Novakatkan vessel , killing two and wounding twelve .
-The King of Madagonia having refused either to apologise or pay , the King of Novakatka made war upon him , saying that it was necessary to show that Novakatkans must not be slaughtered .
-In the battles which ensued the people of Madagonia slaughtered two thousand Novakatkans and wounded twelve thousand .
-But the Madagonians were unsuccessful , which so chagrined them that never thereafter in all their land was a Novakatkan secure in property or life .
-Softball is better than baseball because you do n't have to watch your team lose for NINE innings .
-Ukraine 's Supreme Court has halted official publication of the results of the December 26 presidential election .
-The high court announced Tuesday it must first review an appeal from former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych , who officials say lost the race to opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko .
-The results must be printed in two government newspapers before the winner can be inaugurated .
-Election officials say Mr. Yushchenko garnered 52 percent support in the court-ordered repeat election , over Mr. Yanukovych 's 44 percent .
-The former prime minister is alleging widespread fraud in the hotly contested race , and has filed a number of complaints with the Supreme Court and electoral officials .
-The December election replaced a November run-off that the high court said was rigged in favor of Mr. Yanukovych .
-Top officials with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have congratulated Mr. Yushchenko on the election .
-The child molestation trial of pop star Michael Jackson is set to begin in southern California .
-Lawyers are expected to begin screening the first of as many as 750 potential jurors at a Santa Barbara county court Monday for the trial that could last several months .
-Mr. Jackson faces 10 charges involving a child under the age of 14 .
-He has pleaded not guilty , saying he is completely innocent .
-In a court-approved video statement Sunday , Mr. Jackson criticized recent leaks of grand jury testimony on the case , calling them " malicious , disgusting and FALSE . "
-Grand jury testimony , although secret and not publicly released , is often leaked to the media .
-Russia 's President Vladimir Putin has made more harsh comments about the Bush administration , accusing it of using what he calls a " nonexistent Russian threat " to get more defense spending from Congress .
-Mr. Putin said during a visit to Jordan Tuesday that the administration has used the " Russian card " to address its political problems , including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan , and for the deployment of a missile defense system .
-He said he only expressed what many other countries also believe , when he complained last week about what he described as the almost uncontained use of U.S. military force .
-The White House called his remarks disappointing .
-Last week , U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates spoke to a congressional committee and identified Russia as a potential threat .
-Two armed Pakistani inmates were holed up in Afghanistan 's main prison Friday , after an escape attempt that left at least five people dead .
-The head of the Pul-i-Charki prison in the Afghan capital , Kabul , says four inmates linked to the al-Qaida terrorist network began the uprising Friday .
-The four men , identified as one Iraqi and three Pakistanis , overpowered and killed a prison guard and seized his rifle , then killed two more guards .
-Two of the original four prisoners died in a shootout .
-Reports from the scene say a shootout has been under way between the remaining two inmates and security forces surrounding the prison .
-The prison , on the outskirts of Kabul , is used to house inmates held for criminal offenses .
-It is separate from detention facilities operated by the United States to house captured Taliban and al-Qaida fighters .
-Iran 's intelligence minister says authorities have arrested members of a group which allegedly carried out an attack in northwestern Iran on Wednesday that killed 12 people .
-Heidar Moslehi did not publicly identify the group Thursday .
-However , he said those responsible for what he called " this terrorist attack " had targeted " unity " between Shi'ites and Sunnis in the region .
-The bombing in the town of Mahabad came during a military parade marking the 30th anniversary of the start of the Iran-Iraq War .
-Officials say at least 70 others were injured in the blast .
-No group has claimed responsibility .
-Local officials blamed Kurdish separatists .
-But a leading Kurdish faction condemned the bombing .
-Former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani is in Iraq for talks on boosting political , religious and economic ties .
-Mr. Rafsanjani , who heads the influential Expediency Council , arrived Monday in Baghdad and met with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani .
-Mr. Talabani was in Iran last week , as the two former foes rebuild their ties following the ouster of Iranian arch-rival , former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein .
-Mr. Talabani was seeking Iranian investment in his country , devastated in the years since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 .
-Washington has expressed concern about increasing ties between the two Shi'ite-majority neighbors .
-It has accused Tehran of supporting anti-U.S. militants in Iraq , a charge Iran denies .
-About 7,000 Hamas supporters have held a rally in Gaza City to mark the anniversary of the assassination of the group 's founder and send a warning to Israel .
-Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was killed in an Israeli air strike March 22 , last year .
-Hamas leaders Friday vowed to resume attacks on Israel unless it accepts their demands for prisoner releases and other concessions .
-A top Hamas official said he would participate in cease-fire talks scheduled next week in Egypt , but has not decided on whether the group will sign an agreement .
-Some palestinian militants have been observing a " cooling off " period with Israel that was agreed to during a recent summit in Sharm el-Sheik , Egypt .
-India and Sri Lanka say peace talks with Tamil rebels should resume early in order to prevent the island nation from plunging back into civil war .
-The call was made after visiting Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse met with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and briefed him about his government 's efforts to restart peace talks with Tamil Tiger rebels .
-An Indian spokesman said both countries agreed about the need to strengthen the almost three-year-old ceasefire , which is becoming fragile .
-Both the Tigers and the Sri Lankan government have agreed to hold talks , but the government insists they must take place in an Asian country , while the rebels want to hold them in Norway , which brokered a 2002 truce .
-In New Delhi , Mr. Rajapakse is also holding talks on enhancing economic cooperation and trade relations with India .
-United Nations humanitarian agencies say they are searching for a new route into southern Lebanon to help war refugees , after Israel imposed an indefinite ban on movement in the region .
-A spokeswoman for the U.N. World Food Program , Christiane Berthiaume , said Tuesday relief agencies are looking for alternative ways to provide aid to Lebanese civilians cut off by heavy fighting .
-Aid officials say road transport is too dangerous after the Israeli military warned it would strike any vehicle traveling south of the Litani River on suspicion of transporting weapons .
-The U.N. spokeswoman said there are hundreds of thousands of people who need aid in Lebanon .
-The World Food Program has brought 404 tons of food into the region , but she said that is not enough .
-The U.N. human rights chief says Sudanese authorities are restricting press freedoms and making arbitrary arrests , as a referendum approaches on the independence of south Sudan .
-Navi Pillay said it is important the referendum is free and fair , calling it a critical moment in Sudan 's history .
-She urged the governments of Sudan and south Sudan to quickly halt efforts to intimidate voters or taint the result of the referendum , which begins on Sunday .
-Nearly 4 million southern Sudanese are registered to vote in the referendum , which will allow voters to secede or remain united with the north .
-The vote is expected to split Africa 's largest country in two .
-The referendum is the centerpiece of the 2005 peace deal that ended Sudan 's north-south civil war .
-U.S. President George Bush Tuesday thanked troops who are back from Iraq and Afghanistan , where he said , thanks to their sacrifices , " the forces of freedom and liberty will prevail . "
-Mr. Bush addressed about 7,500 military personnel at Fort Campbell , in the central U.S. state of Kentucky two days before the Thanksgiving Day holiday .
-About 10,000 Fort Campbell troops have returned from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq since October .
-Others troops are scheduled to depart for the regions in the coming week .
-Mr. Bush told the men and women that they have earned the thanks of every American for a " job well done . "
-He credited the troops with taking the fight against terrorism overseas so that Americans do not have to face the threat at home .
-A senior Afghan intelligence official says a military aircraft crashed in the country 's northern region Thursday .
-Provincial intelligence chief Abdul Majid Azimi says the aircraft went down in the mountains of Afghanistan 's Baghlan province .
-He says it is unclear if the aircraft involved is a helicopter or a plane or to whom it belonged .
-A spokesman for NATO 's international coalition in Afghanistan ( International Security Assistance Force or ISAF ) says there were no immediate reports of a crash involving any of its aircraft .
-British anti-terror police have arrested six Muslim men in a series of London raids , on suspicion of raising funds for terrorists and inciting others to commit acts of terrorism .
-One of the suspects , identified as radical Muslim Abu Izzadeen , was widely known in Britain for heckling Home Secretary John Reid last year in a televised public meeting .
-A spokesman , Anjem Choudary , for the banned Islamic militant group al-Ghurabaa confirmed Izzadeen 's arrest Tuesday .
-Izzadeen , a Muslim convert and former electrician , was arrested and released on bail earlier this year in a separate case alleging that he encouraged terrorism .
-Police say the suspects , aged between 21 and 35 , are in custody at a London police precinct .
-Authorities also say other searches in connection with the probe are ongoing .
-Turkish officials say three people were killed Wednesday at a publishing house that printed Bibles .
-They say the attackers slit the throats of the victims at the Zirve publishing house in the city of Malatya .
-A fourth person was injured when he jumped out of window to escape .
-The publisher had received threats for printing Bibles .
-Officials say police are questioning several people in relation to the attack .
-Turkish television showed police wrestling a man to the ground outside the building .
-The attack is the latest on Turkey 's small Christian minority .
-Last year , a Catholic priest was shot and killed in the Black Sea city of Trabzon .
-Police in Chad Tuesday killed at least one person when they opened fire on a protest by wounded soldiers demanding better medical care .
-A Defense Ministry official , Blabague Marboulaye , said Wednesday that the soldiers were demonstrating in front of a military hospital in the capital , N'Djamena .
-The official said the troops were disruptive and that the protests had been infiltrated by civilians who wanted to benefit from health services .
-Police were called in to disperse the protest , making several arrests in addition to shooting the demonstrator .
-Officials say the protests had interrupted operations at the hospital , but calm has been restored at the facility .
-The troops were wounded in combat against rebels in eastern Chad .
-The rebels have waged a low-intensity war against the government of President Idriss Deby for the past year .
-Separatist politicians from Indian Kashmir are making an unprecedented trip to Pakistani Kashmir for talks on the disputed region 's future .
-The officials from Indian Kashmir 's main separatist political alliance , the All Parties Hurriyat Conference , are using the recently launched bus service between the two regions .
-They plan to meet with leaders of Pakistani Kashmir and Pakistan-based rebel groups which have been involved in a violent insurgency in Indian Kashmir for the past 15 years .
-The Hurriyat alliance seeks an independent Kashmir .
-But its hard-line pro-Pakistani splinter group has rejected the invitation , accusing Islamabad of diluting its stand over Kashmir and appeasing New Delhi .
-India has previously denied permission to Hurriyat leaders to visit Pakistan , saying the Kashmir dispute is India 's internal matter .
-The United Nations has condemned alleged abuses by American forces in Afghanistan , calling them " totally unacceptable " .
-Asked about a report that U.S. troops allegedly burned the bodies of two Taleban fighters to taunt other fighters , a U.N. spokesman said such abuses are an affront to the work of the international community in Afghanistan .
-The United Nations issued a similar statement in May amid claims of abuses of Afghan prisoners by U.S. forces .
-Afghan President Hamid Karzai has also condemned the purported burning incident and ordered an inquiry .
-U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the alleged actions do not represent the overwhelmingly positive behavior of the U.S. military , adding he wants the U.S. military in Afghanistan to accelerate its own investigation .
-The U.S. military in Afghanistan says two American soldiers have been charged with assaulting detainees at a coalition base in Uruzgan province .
-A statement says the two soldiers allegedly punched two detainees on the chest , shoulders and stomach , but that neither detainee required medical attention .
-The charges come 10 days after the U.S. military began an investigation into allegations that American soldiers burned the bodies of two Taleban fighters and used the act to taunt other fighters .
-Australian television aired a video purportedly showing the soldiers burning the bodies of the fighters they had killed near the former Taleban stronghold of Kandahar .
-Cremation of corpses is banned in the Islamic faith and the alleged desecration sparked outrage in Afghanistan .
-A top U.S. official says " uncertainties " about how China will use its increasing power may inhibit its relations with other countries , including the United States .
-Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick addressed the National Committee on U.S. - China Relations Wednesday in New York .
-Mr. Zoellick praised the " constructive role " China played in hosting the recent six-party talks on North Korea 's nuclear program .
-But he also encouraged China to be a responsible stakeholder in global affairs .
-He said Beijing 's " lack of transparency " raises questions about the purpose of China 's rapid military modernization On trade , Mr. Zoellick said China should not take for granted its access to the U.S. market .
-On democracy issues , Mr. Zoellick said China 's closed political system is " simply not sustainable . "
-He said as economic growth continues , the Chinese people will want a greater say in their future .
-The Egyptian Health Ministry says a 15-year-old girl has died of bird flu , the second such death in as many days .
-The ministry says the girl died Monday after contracting the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu .
-The girl was apparently from the same family as a 30-year-old woman who died of bird flu on Sunday .
-Two members of the woman 's family had also been diagnosed with bird flu .
-A regional official of the World Health Organization said the woman had been hospitalized in mid-December but was only tested for the deadly form of the flu in the last few days .
-He said she initially did not tell health officials that she lived in close contact with ducks .
-Nine Egyptians have now died from bird flu since it was first detected in Egyptian poultry in February .
-Many poor Egyptians live in close contact with chickens and ducks that they raise for their own consumption .
-The U.S. military is denying a report that Saddam Hussein has begun a jailhouse hunger strike , and says the ousted Iraqi leader had eaten on Sunday .
-A lawyer for Iraq 's former deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz said earlier that Saddam Hussein and other detainees had stopped eating .
-Monday is the first anniversary of Saddam 's capture by U.S. forces .
-A U.S. spokesman said authorities are checking reports that others in a group of 11 high-profile detainees in U.S. custody may be rejecting some meals .
-Meanwhile , the U.S. military says a U.S. Marine was killed in action west of Baghdad Sunday in Anbar province .
-Separately , a U.S. soldier wounded by a roadside bomb Saturday in Baghdad has died .
-Military officials also say U.S. forces and Iraqi police detained more than 50 people during weekend raids targeting insurgents around Baquba , north of Baghdad .
-Scientists at the U.S. space agency , NASA , have unveiled dramatic photographs of a huge crater on Mars taken by the roving surface probe Opportunity .
-On Friday , Opportunity sent back its first color panorama of Victoria , the 800-meter-wide Martian crater the rover reached last week after a 21-month trek .
-NASA scientists told reporters Friday the sharp images of rock formations and soil layers open a window on the past of the planet .
-They say Victoria 's exposed rock layers could help reveal the mystery of whether life existed on Mars .
-NASA also displayed new photos taken by the Mars Reconnaissance satellite orbiting overhead , that included pictures of Victoria Crater and the Opportunity rover .
-NASA researchers say they will use the photographs to plot the best route for the six-wheeled rover to descend into the crater .
-The U.S. media seized on recent reports that high school girls in a Massachusetts town had made a pact to get pregnant and raise babies together .
-Officials have rejected reports of a pregnancy pact , but the incident highlights concern among some adolescent health experts that the U.S. teen birth rate is starting to rise again .
-Leta Hong Fincher has more on teen mothers and efforts to reduce teen pregnancy .
-A Nigerian military aircraft carrying at least 12 people has crashed in the southeast part of the country .
-Military officers are among those who were on board .
-Some on the plane are believed to have survived the crash .
-The air force plane was flying from Nigeria 's capital , Abuja , to Obudu near Nigeria 's southeast border with Cameroon .
-Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet is spending his 90th birthday Friday under house arrest after a judge charged him with human rights violations .
-The charges , which were leveled against the former dictator Thursday , stem from the disappearance of seven people arrested by General Pinochet 's security services in the early years of his 1973 to 1990 rule .
-They were among 119 people who disappeared while in custody in a case known as " Operation Colombo . "
-This is the second indictment in two days against the former dictator .
-General Pinochet had just made bail following his indictment Wednesday on charges of tax evasion , corruption and using FALSE passports in a case involving an estimated $ 27 million hidden in foreign bank accounts .
-Dutch oil giant Shell has asked a Nigerian court to block oil workers from joining a nationwide labor strike set to begin November 16 .
-A judge in Lagos Monday declined to rule on the case immediately and scheduled a second hearing two days after the launch of the strike .
-Sunday , the country 's main labor union , the Nigeria Labor Congress , said the next work stoppage will be " indefinite " and will aim to disrupt the country 's oil exports .
-The union 's president , Adams Oshiomole , also called Shell an " enemy " of the Nigerian people .
-Last month , the union held a four-day strike , which did not include oil workers .
-Nigerian unions have criticized rising fuel prices in the country , Africa 's leading oil producer .
-The government says price hikes are needed to end costly subsidies .
-The leader of a Saudi Arabian opposition group is calling on protesters to take to the streets of Riyadh and Jeddah Thursday in a peaceful call for the monarchy 's removal .
-Saad al-Fagih , the London-based head of the Movement of Islamic Reform in Arabia and protest organizer , says his group wants total change , not minor economic , political or social reform .
-He said he expects " tens of thousands " of people to take part in the protest , which will begin after noon prayers Thursday .
-Such demonstrations are illegal in Saudi Arabia , and those participating would risk arrest .
-Mr. Fagih , has lived in London for eight years .
-Last year , he accused Saudi agents of attempting to kill him in a stabbing incident at his London home .
-The Saudi government denied any involvement .
-Former Iraqi President Abdel Rahman Aref , who was overthrown in a 1968 coup that brought Saddam Hussein 's Baath Party to power , has died in Jordan .
-He was 91 .
-Mr. Aref died Friday at a hospital in Amman .
-He had lived in Jordan for the last three years .
-Mr. Aref , who is survived by his wife and five children , became president in 1966 after his brother , who was president at the time , died in an aviation crash .
-The brother was part of a 1958 military coup that overthrew the monarchy .
-Mr. Aref was president for two years , until he was ousted in a Baathist Party coup .
-He lived in exile in Turkey and eventually returned to Iraq .
-He moved to Jordan in 2004 .
-The World Health Organization estimates that at least 17 million people die every year from cardiovascular disease .
-Because heart related illnesses are often diagnosed in people who are overweight or obese , treatment can be complicated .
-But as VOA 's Melinda Smith reports , a drug used for weight loss is showing promise for some heart patients .
-A top North Korean official says Pyongyang will increase its nuclear deterrent to defend against alleged hostile U.S. policies .
-News reports quote Kim Yong-nam , head of the North 's legislature , as saying Pyongyang will increase its nuclear deterrent to counter any threat to isolate and stifle the republic .
-He said North Korea would destroy any aggressor if war breaks out on the Korean peninsula .
-Mr. Kim , who ranks second behind top leader Kim Jong-il , is the highest ranking North Korean official to state Pyongyang 's intention to boost its nuclear arsenal .
-His comments come amid a standoff over the North 's nuclear weapons program .
-Pyongyang claimed in February to possess atomic weapons and said it would indefinitely boycott international disarmament talks .
-U.S. economic forecasters say total losses from Hurricane Katrina 's devastation could top $ 100 billion .
-In terms of insurance losses alone , industry forecasters say they are estimating payouts to be around $ 25 billion .
-Insurance adjusters say they will have a clearer picture of the damage when they are able to enter New Orleans and other Gulf of Mexico coastal cities .
-They say losses are likely growing by tens of millions of dollars each day in New Orleans as water damage becomes worse , sporadic fires continue to burn and looters ravage the city .
-President Bush has signed a $ 10.5 billion emergency spending bill for the hurricane area , and said more relief will be needed .
-He has also appointed his father , former President George Herbert Walker Bush , and former President Bill Clinton to coordinate private fundraising efforts .
-The European Union is expected to review credit rating companies after allegations that they were too slow to warn of problems with the U.S. home loan businesses .
-French President Nicholas Sarkozy has urged the group of seven industrialized nations to better monitor international financial markets in the face of global credit concerns .
-His appeal in a letter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel was made public Thursday as the French stock market dropped to its lowest level this year .
-Critics have accused credit rating firms , including Moody 's Investors Service and Standard and Poor 's , of underestimating the risk in the sub-prime mortgage market .
-Defaults on sub-prime loans , or those made to people with poor credit , have risen sharply in the United States in recent months .
-The problem has begun to affect banks and financial companies elsewhere in the world .
-The U.S. military says the pilot of an American U-2 spy plane was killed when the plane crashed late Tuesday in southwest Asia .
-Military officials have not specified the exact location of the crash , saying that " host nation sensitivities " are involved .
-But officials say the plane went down as it returned to Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates .
-The U-2s are assigned to the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing , which operates out of the base .
-Central Command says the plane had just finished a mission for Operation Enduring Freedom - the name for U.S. operations in Afghanistan .
-Officials say they do not believe the plane was brought down by hostile fire .
-The U-2 is a high-altitude aircraft used for reconnaissance and surveillance .
-The U.S. State Department has announced that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will depart Saturday for a tour of three Persian Gulf nations to promote political reform and discuss regional security concerns .
-The five-day visit will include stops in the United Arab Emirates , Oman and Qatar .
-A state department official says Clinton will meet with government officials to discuss " a full-range of regional and bilateral issues . "
-In Qatar , Clinton is to participate in the seventh Forum for the Future , a U.S.-backed effort for political reform in the Middle East .
-It will be Clinton 's second trip to the Gulf in as many months .
-She participated in a global security conference in Bahrain in early December .
-The U.S. military says seven U.S. Marines have been killed in action in western Iraq .
-A spokesman says six of the troops were killed Monday in the town of Haditha , near the Syrian border , but he did not give details .
-The seventh Marine also died on Monday , in a car bomb blast in Hit , about 70 kilometers southeast of Haditha .
-Earlier this week , the U.S. military reported killing 11 insurgents during fighting in Haditha .
-Elsewhere , Iraqi police say some civilians were killed when a car bomb targeting a U.S. military convoy exploded Tuesday in central Baghdad .
-More than 20 people were also wounded in the explosion .
-There were no reports of U.S. casualties .
-Also in Baghdad , Iraqi police say gunmen killed the head of the Abu Ghraib police station , Mizhir Hamad Yousi .
-His driver was wounded in the attack .
-Togo 's new President Faure Gnassingbe has visited his counterpart in Gabon , amid intense international pressure on the Togolese leader to step down .
-Mr. Gnassingbe said he went to Gabon Thursday to seek advice from President Omar Bongo , calling him a wise man and brother .
-The Togolese leader then left for talks with Libyan officials in Tripoli .
-Meantime , the African Union postponed a meeting Thursday to discuss the crisis in Togo until Friday .
-The AU 's Peace and Security Council is expected to consider sanctions against the West African country to pressure Mr. Gnassingbe to step down .
-The bloc has suspended Togo , accusing the country 's military of staging a coup to install Mr. Gnassingbe , after his father 's death this month .
-Monday , Togo 's parliament ordered new presidential elections in 60 days , while allowing Mr. Gnassingbe to remain in office .
-Thousands of Pakistani women have demonstrated in south-central Punjab province , calling for equal rights on International Women 's Day .
-The rally in Multan Wednesday was being led by Mukhtaran Mai , a woman who gained international attention after she was gang-raped in 2002 on the orders of a tribal council , as punishment for her brother 's alleged affair .
-Women also rallied against oppression in the southern city of Karachi .
-In Afghanistan , President Hamid Karzai Wednesday called for an end to forced marriage and violence against women .
-Speaking at a Women 's Day event , the president says women are still oppressed , despite strides toward gender equality since the Taleban was overthrown in 2001 .
-The oil company Royal Dutch Shell says one of its key oil terminals in Nigeria can not honor its export contracts due to security problems .
-The company issued a statement Thursday saying security concerns have prevented workers from repairing pipeline leaks at the Bonny terminal in the West African nation .
-Shell says it will not be able to meet orders for 1,30,000 barrels of light crude oil per day through March .
-Shell invoked a contractual provision that lifts delivery obligations in case of events out of the company 's control .
-Armed attacks and kidnappings by rebels in the Niger Delta have disrupted oil production over the past two years and reduced by a quarter regular oil output of 2.5 million barrels per day .
-Officials in Nairobi say Somali pirates have released a vessel with its crew , after holding it for almost two months .
-The Liberian-flagged chemical tanker Biscaglia with its crew of 25 Indians and three Bangladeshis was hijacked November 28 .
-Three security guards jumped overboard shortly after the pirates overtook the vessel .
-It was not immediately clear whether a ransom was paid for the release of the ship and its crew .
-Pirates based in Somalia have made the waters off East Africa some of the most dangerous in the world .
-An international coalition of warships patrols in the area off Somalia to prevent hijackings .
-Former world indoor triple-jump champion Ashia Hansen of Britain has announced her retirement after failing to recover from a knee injury in time for next month 's Beijing Olympics .
-The 36-year-old American-born Hansen had been expected to be a gold medal contender at the 2004 Athens Olympics .
-But she missed those Games after suffering a knee injury at the 2004 European Cup final .
-Hansen set the former indoor world record of 15.16 meters at the European Championships in 1998 .
-She had hoped to compete at the British Olympic trials in Birmingham this weekend , but decided she was not fit enough to do so .
-Hansen said it had become clear to her that she could " no longer train through the pain of injury " as she used to .
-She added that it was time to take the pressure off herself and that she had few complaints after the achievements in her career .
-The Vatican says Pope John Paul 's condition has worsened .
-The Vatican Friday said the pontiff 's breathing has become shallow , he is facing kidney problems , and his respiratory and circulatory difficulties have increased .
-Earlier , spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said the pope received Vatican officials in his apartment and asked for scriptures to be read .
-He also celebrated Mass .
-Cardinal Camillo Ruini celebrated a public Mass in Rome Friday for the pope .
-Officials Friday also announced the appointment of a number of bishops and other church officials .
-The Vatican said Thursday the pontiff suffered a " cardio-circulatory collapse " after developing a high fever from a urinary tract infection .
-Officials said the pope was informed of the gravity of his situation , but wanted to remain at his apartment in the Vatican .
-He underwent a procedure in February to ease breathing difficulties .
-The U.S. military in Afghanistan says one of its soldiers , an Afghan serviceman and 11 insurgents were killed in heavy fighting Monday in southern Uruzgan province .
-A military statement described how a group of 15 to 30 militants attacked a coalition patrol with guns , mortars and rocket-propelled grenades .
-It added that U.S. fighter jets and helicopters responded to the attack and pounded militant positions .
-In addition to those killed , three American troops and an Afghan soldier were wounded .
-Eight insurgents were captured and a number of weapons seized .
-Also today , in Kabul , three Afghan policemen were wounded when a bomb exploded at a checkpoint on a road to the city 's airport .
-And , in eastern Khost province , another blast wounded a pro-government Muslim cleric who the day before had spoken out against the ousted Taleban regime in a radio interview .
-The Sudanese government says it will stop flying Russian-made Antonov planes over the Darfur region where it has been accused of bombing villages .
-Sudan 's Interior Minister Abdel Rahim Hussein told Reuters news agency ( Saturday ) the government would no longer use the aircraft , a move that follows last week 's request by the United Nations .
-Top U.N. envoy Jan Pronk told Sudan 's government that civilians are fleeing their homes and villages whenever the planes fly over , and also fear the Antonovs are being used to coordinate ground attacks with Arab militia .
-Government bombers and helicopter gunships have been reported over Darfur in recent weeks .
-The Sudanese insist the Antonovs are being used for surveillance , not bombing .
-Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the western Sudan region while nearly two million people have fled their homes .
-Burmese state media say North Korea 's first ambassador to Burma has taken up his post after a diplomatic break of 24 years between the two countries .
-Burma 's New Light of Myanmar says ties were restored Friday when North Korean Ambassador Kim Sok Chol presented his credentials to Senior General Than Shwe in the administrative capital , Naypyidaw .
-The two countries severed ties in 1983 after North Korean agents carried out a bombing in Rangoon that killed more than 20 people during a visit by South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan .
-Burma and North Korea agreed to resume diplomatic relations in April during a visit by North Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Yong Il .
-Doctors and other trained professionals can face steep challenges when they move to the United States and pursue their careers .
-License requirements and added education can make it a difficult transition .
-VOA 's Brian Wagner reports on a program in Florida that helps immigrant physicians find new careers in U.S. hospitals .
-Two spectators were injured Thursday at a parade in New York when a huge balloon went out of control , knocking part of a lamp post down on the victims .
-A woman , 26 , and a girl , 11 , were taken to a hospital for treatment .
-The wayward balloon was part of the Macy 's Thanksgiving Parade , an American tradition since 1924 .
-The Macy 's parade features many huge balloons , which are made to resemble cartoon characters and are guided down the streets by dozens of people hanging onto ropes .
-It is the second such recent accident for the parade .
-Back in 1997 , a balloon seriously injured a woman when a " Cat in the Hat " balloon was caught by high winds and knocked over a lamppost .
-French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin has announced he is formally endorsing the presidential bid of his longtime rival , Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy .
-The interior minister is the leader of the conservative ruling party , the Union for a Popular Movement .
-Monday 's endorsement of Sarkozy by the prime minister comes a day after President Jacques Chirac announced his retirement .
-Mr. Chirac has not endorsed a candidate for next month 's election .
-In addition to Sarkozy , the two other main candidates vying to succeed Mr. Chirac are Socialist leader Segolene Royal and centrist leader Francois Bayrou .
-Colombia 's largest rebel group says it will release two hostages on Saturday .
-In a statement Wednesday , the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia , or FARC , said it will fulfill a promise to release police officers Luis Almanza Patron and Carlos Alberto Logarda .
-The statement said the two men will be handed over to the Red Cross and presidential candidate Alvaro Leyva in Putumayo department , near Colombia 's border with Ecuador .
-The police officers were captured in a FARC offensive late last year .
-The rebels also have a group of nearly 60 hostages they want to exchange for hundreds of rebel fighters jailed by Colombian authorities .
-But the administration of President Alvaro Uribe has shown no willingness to make such a swap .
-Israel 's parliament has approved the government 's plan to withdraw Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank .
-By a vote of 59 to 40 , Israeli lawmakers passed a bill Wednesday to compensate the 8,500 settlers who will be affected by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon 's plan .
-Lawmakers rejected proposed amendments to call a referendum on the withdrawal and delay evacuation orders .
-The Sharon government hopes to implement its plan by September , over strong opposition from hardline Israeli nationalists .
-The plan could still be derailed if the government does not win passage of a state budget by March 31 - a failure that would cause its automatic fall from power .
-In Ramallah Wednesday , Palestinian officials said leader Mahmoud Abbas has formed a new cabinet , with supporters due to take over the interior and foreign ministries .
-Militants in Nigeria 's oil-rich Niger Delta region say they have killed three soldiers in a clash near a major natural gas plant .
-The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta made the announcement in an e-mail statement Saturday .
-The group says it seized a military boat as well as weapons and ammunition during Thursday 's encounter .
-An Army spokesman says three soldiers went missing near Soku , but says at this time , there is no confirmation of them being killed .
-Militants groups are demanding greater autonomy for the Delta region .
-They have carried out several attacks and kidnapped foreign oil workers in recent months .
-Militants are still holding three hostages , two Americans and a Briton .
-A human rights group says tens of thousands of women and girls in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo have been raped by armed groups on both sides of the conflict .
-U.S.-based Human Rights Watch says government soldiers and rebel forces have sexually assaulted females on a daily basis since fighting broke out in 1998 .
-But the group says only a handful have been prosecuted for the crimes .
-Human Rights Watch says many more incidents of rape have probably gone unreported in the Congo .
-World oil prices declined slightly Wednesday after the Bush administration said it will release crude oil from a national reserve to ease disruptions caused by Hurricane Katrina .
-U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman told television interviewers the oil will be loaned to refiners who need it .
-The U.S. government 's Strategic Petroleum Reserve has nearly 700 million barrels of crude oil in underground salt caverns - enough to meet U.S. demand for about one month .
-World oil prices surged to a record $ 70.85 a barrel Tuesday as investors worried that hurricane damage will curtail U.S. crude oil , gasoline , and heating oil production .
-Prices fell below $ 70 after the announcement .
-The loan of crude oil will help some refineries continue production .
-But analysts say the industry still has to get storm affected refineries back to the work of converting crude oil to gasoline and heating oil .
-President Bush says he would consider using force to press Iran to give up its nuclear program , but only as a last resort .
-Speaking from his Texas ranch in an interview with Israeli television broadcast Saturday , Mr. Bush said the United States and Israel agree that Iran must not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon .
-When asked if that included the use of force , Mr. Bush said " all options are on the table " if diplomacy fails .
-Iran angered Washington and the European Union by resuming uranium conversion this week after rejecting an EU offer of political and economic incentives in return for giving up its nuclear program .
-Tehran says the program is only for peaceful purposes .
-Europe and the United States have warned they will refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions if Tehran does not cooperate .
-Suspected Taleban insurgents have attacked a police post in Afghanistan 's southern Kandahar province , leaving at least four policemen and five militants dead .
-Local officials say the militants fled after the Monday night clash , which lasted for three hours .
-Earlier , security officials say that suspected Taleban rebels ambushed and killed an Afghan government official in an area bordering Pakistan .
-Police say the official , Mohammed Zahir , was attacked Tuesday , in the town of Paktia .
-In the exchange of fire , Zahir and one of the attackers were fatally shot and at least one other militant was wounded .
-The Taleban was ousted from power in Afghanistan by U.S.-led forces in late 2001 .
-The invasion was carried out after the fundamentalist regime refused to hand over al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden following the September 11th terror attacks on the United States .
-Israeli police investigating a money-laundering scheme have arrested 22 employees of the country 's largest bank .
-Authorities say the employees of Bank Hapoalim helped customers transfer hundreds of millions of dollars without filing the reports required by Israeli law .
-Police say the arrested employees all worked at the same branch in Tel Aviv .
-While no customers have yet been arrested , they say the case involves many individuals and companies overseas .
-In a news conference Sunday , France was the only foreign country named by police as working with investigators .
-Authorities say their year-long investigation involves 80 bank accounts and 170 customers .
-A spokesman for Bank Hapoalim said the bank has ordered its employees to cooperate fully with police .
-A United Nations envoy says Mozambique is showing signs of becoming a vibrant economy but still faces humanitarian problems .
-James Morris told reporters Wednesday that he is impressed by the progress Mozambique has made since 1992 , when rebels signed a peace deal ending 16 years of civil war with the government .
-But he says the southern African country still faces challenges because of natural disasters , food shortages and rising rates of HIV / AIDS .
-He says as long as those problems remain , the country 's poorest people will suffer .
-Morris , a U.N. special envoy for humanitarian aid , spoke at the end of a two-day visit to Mozambique .
-Mozambique 's economy is growing about 10 percent per year , but natural disasters have left 8,00,000 people in need of food aid .
-A published report says members of the commission that investigated the September 11 terrorist attacks have criticized the federal government for failing to act on many of the panel 's recommendations to prevent another terrorist attack .
-The New York Times says members of the commission will release new , privately financed report on Thursday that is critical of the Bush administration and Congress .
-Timothy Roemer , a former Democratic congressman and a member of the bipartisan panel , is quoted as saying the Federal Bureau of Investigation will be singled out for not carrying out promised reforms .
-The Times says the White House is also criticized for not doing enough to defend civil liberties and privacy rights .
-The International Monetary Fund has proposed several structural reforms aimed at improving its ability to respond to crises in a rapidly changing global economy .
-The proposed reforms include increasing the voice of emerging market countries in the Fund 's decision-making process .
-The world 's lender of last resort also agreed to overhaul its economic surveillance mechanism .
-The change could give the Fund more oversight in exchange-rate policies as well as broader powers in addressing regional trade disputes , such as the massive trade deficit between the United States and Asia .
-The IMF 's 184 member countries is finishing spring meetings urging the leadership to develop concrete reform proposals for September 's meeting in Singapore .
-On Friday , the World Bank approved full debt cancellation for some of the world 's poorest countries , including Bolivia , Ethiopia , Nicaragua and Rwanda .
-Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has nominated a veteran executive to head the country 's all-important oil ministry , after his first three nominees failed to gain the backing of parliament .
-In a televised session of parliament Sunday , the president named career oil official Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh to the post .
-Lawmakers are to vote on the nominee next week .
-Mr. Ahmadinejad 's first three nominees - a politician , a Revolutionary Guards commander and an architect - were widely criticized for their lack of oil experience .
-Two were rejected by parliament , and a third withdrew his nomination .
-Analysts say the months-long dispute has shaken investor confidence and hurt the Iranian economy , which derives 80 percent of its revenues from oil exports .
-Swedish police have ordered artist Lars Vilks out of his own home telling him it is no longer safe for him to live there .
-The head of al-Qaida in Iraq , Abu Omar al-Baghdadi , says he will pay as much as $ 1,50,000 to anyone who can kill Vilks because of what he calls offensive pictures of the Muslim Prophet Momammad .
-Vilks says police have told him that the threats on his life are very serious .
-He says he was only allowed to return to his house in Stockholm to pick up a few items .
-A Swedish newspaper last month printed Vilks ' cartoon of Mohammad 's head on a dog 's body .
-Vilks received support of the press freedom group Reporters Without Borders Monday , saying what it calls barbaric fundamentalism can not take away the freedom to draw cartoons .
-It says offering a reward for Vilks ' death shows a shocking lack of humanity .
-Lebanese security officials say Syria has completed the first phase of its troop withdrawal from Lebanon .
-The announcement comes amid U.S. , European and Lebanese opposition demands for an end to Syria 's three-decade military presence in Lebanon .
-A senior Lebanese security official told Reuters news agency all Syrian troops and intelligence officers in Lebanon had pulled back either to the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon or had crossed back into Syria .
-Syria began the re-deployment of its 14-thousand troops in Lebanon on March 8th , after coming under international pressure to withdraw following the February 14th assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri in Beirut .
-Meanwhile , a top Lebanese security chief says he and other security officials are willing to stand trial to clear them of any allegations of involvement in the assassination .
-The United Nations counter-narcotics chief says Afghanistan has reduced the production and cultivation of opium for the first time since the Taleban regime fell in 2001 .
-Antonio Maria Costa says land devoted to growing opium poppies was down 21 percent over the past year .
-But good weather made remaining fields more bountiful , and the harvest declined just 2.4 percent .
-The UN officials says he is pleased to credit the drop to farmers ' restraint - a crucial element in controlling the drug production and trafficking problem .
-But he says Afghanistan remains the world 's biggest producer of opium , the basis of heroin .
-After US-led forces toppled the fundamentalist Taleban nearly four years ago , opium production in Afghanistan surged .
-The international community has donated millions of dollars for drug eradication efforts .
-South Africa says two of its citizens were abducted this week in Nigeria 's volatile , oil-rich Niger Delta region .
-The South African Foreign Affairs Ministry says its officials in Nigeria are doing everything they can to secure the hostages ' release .
-It says the victims were kidnapped Tuesday .
-It is not clear who carried out the abduction .
-Gunmen in the Niger Delta regularly attack oil company facilities and kidnap their staff .
-Most hostages are released unharmed .
-Some attackers are militants who say they are fighting so the region 's impoverished residents get a greater share of the oil wealth .
-Others are gangs motivated by the ransom companies pay for the hostages .
-A surge in the unrest that began in late 2005 has resulted in Nigeria 's oil production dropping by about 25 percent .
-Nigeria 's former education minister and six legislators have been charged in one of the country 's most serious cases of high-level corruption .
-All seven were charged in the High Court in Abuja with a string of offenses related to giving and receiving bribes .
-They all pleaded not guilty .
-Former education minister Fabian Osuji is accused of paying legislators , including then Senate President Adolphus Wabara , $ 4,00,000 to approve an inflated budget .
-Mr. Osuji has admitted to paying the money .
-He was fired last month by President Olusegun Obasanjo during a televised address to the nation .
-Last week , the senate president resigned his post - the third highest ranking position in Nigeria 's government .
-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says his country could eventually remove more West Bank settlements than originally planned .
-In an interview published Friday in Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot , Mr. Sharon was asked whether Israel would pull out of several small West Bank settlements in addition to the four already slated for withdrawal .
-He responded that not everything would remain and said the issue would be raised during final status negotiations with the Palestinians .
-He added that he has no regrets about his plan to evacuate about 8,500 Jewish settlers from 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip beginning Wednesday , despite fierce internal opposition .
-Separately , the militant Palestinian group Hamas says it will not surrender weapons to the Palestinian Authority after Israel 's withdrawal , because its resistance against Israel 's occupation of Palestinian lands continues .
-OPEC 's president Sheikh Ahmad Fahd al-Sabah , who is also Kuwait 's energy minister , said Monday the cartel will pump an extra 5,00,000 barrels a day in May to calm supply fears .
-Over the weekend , the Group of Seven Industrialized nations - comprising the United States , Japan , Germany , France , Britain , Italy , and Canada - asked OPEC to lower prices by increasing output .
-Last month , the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries boosted its production quota by 5,00,000 barrels a day to 27.5 million barrels .
-OPEC 's 11 members supply nearly 40 percent of the world 's crude oil .
-In Monday 's trading , crude oil for May delivery rose 41 cents to $ 50.9 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange .
-Prices remain about 30 percent higher than a year ago .
-British Prime Minister Tony Blair says he has not ruled out eventually holding an official inquiry into Britain 's role in the war in Iraq , but he said now is not the time .
-Mr. Blair spoke just hours after his government narrowly defeated a parliamentary motion calling for an immediate inquiry into Britain 's involvement in the war .
-At his weekly question and answer session in parliament Wednesday , the prime minister said an immediate inquiry would send an unwelcome signal to coalition allies and " dismay " the Baghdad government .
-Late Tuesday , lawmakers voted against the proposed inquiry 298 to 273 , with 12 members of Mr. Blair 's Labor Party voting in favor .
-Welsh and Scottish nationalist parties proposed the motion in light of deteriorating security and growing sectarian violence in Iraq .
-A U.S. military court has convicted an Army sergeant of murdering two of his comrades and wounding 14 others in a grenade and rifle attack two years ago in Kuwait .
-A military jury in Fort Bragg , North Carolina Thursday found Sergeant Hasan Akbar , a member of the Army 's 101st Airborne Division , guilty of ambushing the troops as they slept in tents at the start of the Iraq war .
-Sergeant Akbar faces a possible death sentence .
-If condemned to death , he would become the first soldier to be executed in more than 40 years .
-His military lawyers claimed that constant ridicule over his being a black Muslim caused him to snap , triggering the attack .
-The trial 's sentencing phase is scheduled to begin Monday .
-American pop star Madonna has visited an orphanage in Malawi for children who have lost their parents to the AIDS epidemic .
-Several orphans sang to the music star at the home near the city of Blantyre Thursday .
-Madonna handed out copies of her children 's book , The English Roses , which had been translated into Malawi 's main language .
-The singer arrived in the southern African country on Wednesday , in part to inspect a large orphan care center she is funding near the capital , Lilongwe .
-Government officials have said Madonna also is using the trip to adopt a boy from Malawi .
-But a spokesperson for Madonna , Liz Rosenberg , denied the reports .
-She added the singer hopes publicity surrounding her trip will draw attention to the plight of Malawi 's estimated one million AIDS orphans .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Cuban leader Fidel Castro have strongly criticized the U.S.-backed Free Trade Area of the Americas as a plan by Washington to dominate Latin America .
-During a rally in Havana Friday at the end of a three-day visit to Cuba , Mr. Chavez called on regional governments to instead join the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas - a competing plan he introduced last year .
-So far , Cuba is the only country to join the Venezuelan leader 's socialist alternative to the U.S.-backed plan , which was to begin in January , but has yet to be finalized .
-The Cuban and Venezuelan leaders announced new bilateral trade agreements on Friday , including Cuba 's plan to buy $ 412 million worth of goods from Venezuela , which provides inexpensive oil and other subsidies to communist Cuba .
-A United Nations war crimes court has increased a Roman Catholic priest 's sentence to life imprisonment for his role in Rwanda 's 1994 genocide .
-An appeals court for the International Criminal Court for Rwanda ruled Wednesday that an original sentence for Father Athanase Seromba of 15 years in prison was too lenient .
-The priest was convicted by the court in 2006 on charges of genocide and extermination .
-Prosecutors say the priest helped to orchestrate the slaughter of 2,000 ethnic Tutsis who sought shelter at his parish church .
-Witnesses say the priest ordered militias to demolish the crowded church with bulldozers , and to kill anyone who survived the church 's collapse .
-During Rwanda 's 1994 genocide , Hutu extremists killed an estimated 8,00,000 minority Tutsis and Hutu moderates during the span of 100 days .
-Indian officials say four chickens have tested positive for the H5 bird flu virus in western India , but it was unclear whether they had the deadly H5N1 strain .
-The outbreak is in the state of Maharashtra , the scene of India 's first outbreak of bird flu last month .
-Officials say four villages in Jalgaon district in the northern part of the state were affected by the latest outbreak .
-Jalgaon is one district away from Nandurbar , where India reported the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu last month .
-Hundreds of thousands of chickens were destroyed in the town of Navapur and neighboring areas after that outbreak , and last week authorities said they had contained the virus there .
-Officials say chickens in the Jalgaon area will also be culled .
-A private Chinese company plans to build the country 's first oil pipeline to Russia .
-Chinese state media say the planned 30-kilometer project announced Wednesday will link railway lines between Heihe in China 's northeast Heilongjiang province and the eastern Russian city of Blagoveshchensk .
-The two cities are the closest along the borders of the two countries , separated by the Heilongjiang River in China - known as the Amur River in Russia .
-The $ 64 million project is expected to be operational in September 2006 , and will carry 21 million barrels of oil per year .
-It is the latest project to help Beijing as it looks for alternatives to Middle East oil .
-Polish President Lech Kaczynski has invited his Russian counterpart Dmitri Medvedev to this month 's 65th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp , Auschwitz .
-President Kaczynski 's office confirmed the invitation in a statement on his Web site .
-The move is being seen as an effort to improve ties with Russia .
-More than one million people died at the Auschwitz camp in southern Poland - most of them Jews - before it was liberated by Soviet troops on January 27 , 1945 .
-The camp was part of a network set up by Nazi Germany during World War II to exterminate Jews and anyone else it considered undesirable .
-The anniversary commemoration at the camp site , which is now a museum , is expected to draw a range of foreign officials .
-Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian briefly joined a massive rally Saturday in Taipei to protest China 's threat to use force against the island if it formally declares independence .
-Speaking to more than 1,00,000 protesters , Mr. Chen told the crowd that Taiwan is an independent , sovereign state .
-He said the island 's future should not be decided by China .
-Demonstrators chanted slogans such as " Loving Peace , Opposing Missiles , " and " Oppose Annexation . "
-The rally comes amid this week 's one-year anniversary of China 's approval of an anti-secession law .
-The law says China will employ " non-peaceful means " to prevent Taiwan 's independence if efforts at peaceful reunification fail .
-Mr. Chen angered Beijing last month when he decided to stop funding a unification council and scrap guidelines for reunification with China .
-China and Taiwan split in 1949 after a civil war , but Beijing considers Taiwan a renegade province .
-Israel forces say they killed a Palestinian militant in the Gaza Strip during a gunbattle early Friday .
-The army says three Palestinians began firing missiles and small arms at Israeli soldiers from an abandoned building near the Gaza settlement of Kfar Darom .
-As Israeli forces returned fire , two of the militants escaped , but an army spokesman says the third man was killed .
-Three militant groups , Hamas , the Popular Resistance Committees and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs ' Brigade , say they were involved in the attempt to infiltrate the Jewish settlement .
-Today 's clash further strained a shaky three-month cease-fire .
-Hamas and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs ' Brigade have pledged to respect the truce , but both groups say they are determined to avenge Israel 's recent military actions in Gaza .
-The Israeli military has been ordered Thursday to use all means necessary to suppress Gaza militants ' attacks on Jewish targets .
-U.S. officials in Afghanistan say a member of a Special Operations team missing since Tuesday has been rescued in the eastern part of the country .
-Defense Department officials say he is a member of the elite Navy Seals .
-The sailor was wounded , but evaded the enemy until his rescue on Sunday .
-He has been flown to a U.S. military hospital in Germany .
-Three other members of his Navy Seals team are still missing .
-U.S. and Afghan troops are scouring the mountainous region in Kunar province looking for them .
-The Navy commandos went missing Tuesday after calling for help during a battle with insurgents while on a reconnaissance mission .
-The U.S. military helicopter sent to rescue them was shot down by suspected Taleban militants , killing all 16 U.S. service members aboard .
-Pope Benedict XVI waves from his studio 's window overlooking St. Peter 's Square during the Angelus prayer
-Pope Benedict has called on the terrorists responsible for last week 's London bombings to , in his words , " stop in the name of God . "
-Speaking at the Vatican Sunday , the pontiff urged the faithful to pray not only for the London victims and their families , but also for the attackers .
-The pope said he hopes God will touch their hearts .
-In comments directed at the terrorists , Benedict said , " God loves life , which he created , not death . "
-Benedict made his plea following his weekly blessing in St. Peter 's Square .
-On the day of the London transport system bombings , the German-born pope condemned the attacks as " barbaric acts against humanity . "
-Iran 's president says Tehran will never abandon its nuclear activities , but will continue talks , for now , on its nuclear program with the European Union and the International Atomic Energy Agency .
-In an interview with a French newspaper , Le Figaro , President Mohammed Khatami said Iran is ready to consider any reasonable solution , but will not suspend its nuclear activities permanently .
-He said the Europeans must understand that the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and other international agreements allow Iran to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes .
-France , Germany and Britain , with U.S. support , are offering Iran economic incentives in exchange for its suspension of uranium enrichment activity .
-The enrichment process , which makes fuel for civilian reactors , can also be used to make weapons grade material .
-The United States accuses Iran of secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons .
-Iran denies the charge .
-Kevin Costner is suing a music promoter , alleging the company breached a contract to back his fledgling music career .
-The 52-year-old movie actor-turned-musician filed an April 3 lawsuit against Mahee Worldwide Ventures Inc. , accusing it of fraud and breach of contract .
-Costner is seeking damages in excess of $ 8.5 million .
-Kevin Costner is the lead singer and songwriter for the Kevin Costner Band .
-The lawsuit claims Costner 's music company , Kevin 's Music LLC , entered into a two-year agreement with Mahee Worldwide Ventures which would allow the band to perform as many as five concerts annually .
-Mahee would also create and maintain a Web site marketing Costner 's band .
-The suit claims Mahee reneged on all its agreements .
-Mahee Worldwide Ventures has not responded to requests for comment .
-The International Monetary Fund says Haiti qualifies for partial cancellation of its debt .
-Takatoshi Kato , the IMF 's deputy managing director , said Tuesday that Haiti has an unsustainable amount of debt and therefore is eligible for assistance under the Highly Indebted Poor Countries Initiative .
-The impoverished country is struggling to manage roughly $ 1 billion in debt .
-The Fund said in July that under the IMF-World Bank initiative , Haiti could receive up to $ 14 million in credit in the first year and possibly additional contributions of $ 22 million .
-Kato said the IMF welcomes the Haitian government 's commitment to policies aimed at sustaining macroeconomic stability .
-But , he said Haiti needs continued financial support from the international community as the country faces challenges in the areas of security , social conditions and sustained income growth .
-A Moroccan court has sentenced to death two radical Islamists convicted of leading a terror cell .
-Prosecutors say the two , Toufik Hanouichi and Mohcine Bouarfa , led a group that killed several Moroccans , including a Moroccan Jew .
-Four people arrested with them were given life sentences .
-Another 31 cell members were given prison terms of one to 20 years , and nine were acquitted .
-Most of the terror cell members were arrested in January , 2004 , during a massive police operation in the towns of Meknes and Fez .
-Morocco has not carried out a death sentence in more than a decade .
-Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf says India will allow leaders of Kashmir 's main separatist political alliance to visit Pakistan for talks on the disputed region 's future .
-Pakistan has invited an alliance of about two dozen Kashmiri separatist groups known as the All Parties Hurriyat Conference to visit on June 2 .
-India has previously denied permission to Hurriyat leaders to visit Pakistan , saying the Kashmir dispute is India 's internal matter .
-But in an interview with the Daily Times published Tuesday , General Musharraf speaks of a breakthrough , saying this time Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has allowed Hurriyat leaders to travel to Pakistan .
-He said once they talk to Pakistan and then India , there will be a trilateral arrangement going .
-There has been no word from New Delhi .
-General Musharraf met the Kashmiri separatist leaders last month during his visit to New Delhi .
-The United Nations has launched an urgent appeal for more than $ 20 million to build shelter for people left homeless by a devastating earthquake in Pakistan and a demolition drive in Zimbabwe .
-The Nairobi-based U.N. Human Settlement Program , popularly known as HABITAT , has asked donors to contribute $ 22 million for the appeal .
-HABITAT chief Ann Tibaijuka has issued a statement , saying there is an urgent need to stabilize the shelter conditions of poor people evicted in Zimbabwe , and those left out in the open in Pakistan .
-More than $ 18 million will be spent in Pakistan , where more than three million people were left homeless by the October quake .
-The remainder is to be used in a U.N.-backed program to build 2,500 semi-permanent housing units for at least 12,500 Zimbabweans .
-China has criticized Japan 's defense agency for charting out scenarios for a potential Chinese military attack against Japan .
-A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue accused Japan of having , in her words , a " Cold War mentality , " adding that the scenarios were without merit .
-Japanese media reported Monday that a Japanese defense agency review presented three possibilities for Chinese action against Japan .
-It says China might take action to secure Chinese interests in a gas field in the East China Sea , to seize a disputed set of islands known as Daioyu in China and Senkaku in Japanto or to keep U.S. forces based in Japan from protecting Taiwan .
-The Japanese report advises using diplomatic means to keep the situation stable .
-Some of this information provided by Reuters and AP .
-Defending World Cup football champion Brazil has defeated Croatia , 1-0 , in the opening match for both teams in Germany .
-Kaka scored in the 44th minute Tuesday for the only goal of the Group F game in Berlin .
-Earlier in Group G , South Korea defeated Togo , 02-Jan , in Frankfurt while France and Switzerland played to a scoreless draw in Stuttgart .
-South Korea battled back from 1-0 half-time deficit for a 02-Jan win that sent the Asian side to the top of the group standings with three points .
-Togo captain Jean-Paul Abalo was sent off in the 53rd minute after receiving his second yellow card .
-Lee Chun-soo and Ahn Jung-hwan scored for South Korea .
-The Swiss and French teams sputtered to their third draw in as many encounters .
-Britain says a raid by multinational forces in Iraq has freed three Western Christian aid workers who had been held hostage by Muslim militants since November .
-The announcement of the release of the two Canadians and one Briton has been made in London by British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw .
-" This is wonderful news for the family and it 's a huge tribute to the professionalism of the multinational forces and the Iraqi forces that they 've been able to achieve this result , " he said .
-Straw says 74-year-old Norman Kember of Britain is in reasonable condition after the raid .
-However , he says , Canadian citizens James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden have required hospital treatment .
-A fourth hostage , American Tom Fox , was found shot to death on March 10 .
-All four men had been kidnapped in November by a Muslim militant group called the Swords of Righteousness Brigade .
-Sao Tome 's prime minister , Damiao Vaz de Almeida , has resigned following contentious oil deals negotiated by the president .
-The Associated Press quotes Mr. Vaz de Almeida as saying he objected to President Fradique de Menezes awarding oil exploration deals to Nigerian companies , which he said were " of doubtful credibility and inadequate technical ability . "
-According to the report , Mr. Vaz de Almeida was angered by the president 's refusal to back the government this week during a major civil servants ' strike over pay .
-Mr. Vaz de Almeida had been in office for about eight months .
-Two years ago , President Menezes was briefly removed from power in a bloodless coup by rebellious soldiers .
-They demanded more transparency in oil contracts , following the discovery of large oil reserves .
-A senior Iranian official has warned countries opposed to Tehran 's nuclear program that they will face retaliation if sanctions are imposed on Iran .
-Iran 's top nuclear negotiator , Ali Larijani , issued the warning in comments to reporters in Tehran Friday .
-Larijani said Western nations will face " painful " measures if the United Nations Security Council imposes sanctions on Iran for its nuclear program .
-The permanent U.N. Security Council members plus Germany are trying to reach agreement on a sanctions resolution .
-Iran ignored an August 31st UN deadline to suspend uranium enrichment .
-The U.S. and its western allies believe Iran 's enrichment activities are part of a program to develop nuclear weapons .
-Iran says its nuclear program is to produce energy , not weapons .
-A United Nations war crimes court has sentenced a former Rwandan administrator to 25 years in prison for his role in the country 's 1994 genocide .
-The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda , based in Tanzania , found Dominique Ntawukulilyayo guilty of genocide .
-Court prosecutors say Ntawukulilyayo , who was deputy administrator of Rwanda 's southern Gisagara district , transported soldiers to an area where thousands of Tutsis had taken refuge , leaving the soldiers to carry out a mass slaughter .
-Ntawukulilyayo was arrested in France in 2007 and later transferred to the U.N. detention facility in Arusha to face charges .
-Hutu extremists killed an estimated 8,00,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus during the 1994 Rwandan genocide .
-The U.N. tribunal was set up to prosecute those who organized the killings .
-The court has convicted about 40 people so far , while about 30 suspects are either being tried or awaiting trial .
-World leaders are hailing key general elections in Afghanistan , saying Afghans have braved Taleban violence in a show of determination to build a peaceful future .
-President Bush congratulated the Afghan people and the government for a successful vote .
-He said it was a major step forward in Afghanistan 's development as a democratic state governed by the rule of law .
-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the extremist elements that once again attempted to disrupt the electoral process have failed .
-Pakistan 's Foreign Ministry said the completion of the electoral process in Afghanistan was a big step forward on the road to peace and stability , national reconstruction and development .
-The European Union , the United Nations and NATO hailed the election and praised those who voted .
-Afghan President Hamid Karzai called the election a defeat for terrorism .
-NATO 's secretary general says a proposed U.S. missile defense system in Europe risks splitting the alliance between those countries it would fully protect and those left vulnerable to threats .
-Jaap de Hoop Scheffer 's warning appeared Monday in an interview with the British newspaper , The Financial Times .
-Experts say the proposed missile system in Poland and the Czech Republic would shield most of Europe from any attacks from what Washington calls rogue states such as Iran or North Korea .
-But NATO officials told the newspaper that countries in southeastern Europe such as Turkey , Greece and Italy would need extra short-range missile protection because of their proximity to Iran .
-De Hoop Scheffer suggests that the proposed U.S. system could be complemented by NATO plans for a smaller , mobile system scheduled to become operational in 2010 .
-Venezuela 's ambassador to Washington is calling on the U.S. to extradite a Cuban militant accused of planning a deadly airplane bombing in 1976 .
-Ambassador Bernardo Alvarez told Venezuelan state television Monday the extradition of Luis Posada Carriles should not be considered an immigration issue .
-Carriles is a former CIA operative who is considered to be the mastermind behind the in-flight bombing of a Cubana Airlines plane that killed 73 people .
-He is being held in a detention center in the U.S. state of Texas for immigration violations .
-Alvarez called Carriles the " Osama bin Laden " of Latin America .
-He said he discussed the extradition request with U.S. Under Secretary of State Thomas Shannon last month .
-Venezuela 's government often clashes with Washington .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez sharply criticized President Bush Sunday , days after a White House report called Mr. Chavez a demagogue .
-William C. Walbrecher Jr. , an executive at San Francisco-based 1st Nationwide Bank , was named president and chief executive officer of Citadel Holding Corp. and its principal operating unit , Fidelity Federal Bank .
-The appointment takes effect Nov. 13 .
-He succeeds James A. Taylor , who stepped down as chairman , president and chief executive in March for health reasons .
-Edward L. Kane succeeded Mr. Taylor as chairman .
-Separately , Citadel posted a third-quarter net loss of $ 2.3 million , or 68 cents a share , versus net income of $ 5.3 million , or $ 1.61 a share , a year earlier .
-The latest results include some unusual write-downs , which had an after-tax impact of $ 4.9 million .
-Those included costs associated with the potential Valley Federal Savings and Loan Association acquisition , which was terminated on Sept. 27 , 1989 .
-In addition , operating results were hit by an increase in loan and real estate loss reserves .
-In American Stock Exchange composite trading , Citadel shares closed yesterday at $ 45.75 , down 25 cents .
-Oil-rich Nigeria has been hobbled by political instability , corruption , inadequate infrastructure , and poor macroeconomic management but in 2008 began pursuing economic reforms .
-Nigeria 's former military rulers failed to diversify the economy away from its overdependence on the capital-intensive oil sector , which provides 95 % of foreign exchange earnings and about 80 % of budgetary revenues .
-Following the signing of an IMF stand-by agreement in August 2000 , Nigeria received a debt-restructuring deal from the Paris Club and a $ 1 billion credit from the IMF , both contingent on economic reforms .
-Nigeria pulled out of its IMF program in April 2002 , after failing to meet spending and exchange rate targets , making it ineligible for additional debt forgiveness from the Paris Club .
-In November 2005 , Abuja won Paris Club approval for a debt-relief deal that eliminated $ 18 billion of debt in exchange for $ 12 billion in payments - a total package worth $ 30 billion of Nigeria 's total $ 37 billion external debt .
-Since 2008 the government has begun to show the political will to implement the market-oriented reforms urged by the IMF , such as modernizing the banking system , curbing inflation by blocking excessive wage demands , and resolving regional disputes over the distribution of earnings from the oil industry .
-GDP rose strongly in 2007 - 10 because of increased oil exports and high global crude prices in 2010 .
-President JONATHAN has pledged to continue the economic reforms of his predecessor with emphasis on infrastructure improvements .
-Infrastructure is the main impediment to growth and in August 2010 JONATHAN unveiled a power sector blueprint that includes privatization of the state-run electricity generation and distribution facilities .
-The government also is working toward developing stronger public-private partnerships for roads .
-Nigeria 's financial sector was hurt by the global financial and economic crises and the Central Bank governor has taken measures to strengthen that sector .
-Bahrain is one of the most diversified economies in the Persian Gulf .
-Highly developed communication and transport facilities make Bahrain home to numerous multinational firms with business in the Gulf .
-As part of its diversification plans , Bahrain implemented a Free Trade Agreement ( FTA ) with the US in August 2006 , the first FTA between the US and a Gulf state .
-Bahrain 's economy , however , continues to depend heavily on oil .
-Petroleum production and refining account for more than 60 % of Bahrain 's export receipts , 70 % of government revenues , and 11 % of GDP ( exclusive of allied industries ) .
-Other major economic activities are production of aluminum - Bahrain 's second biggest export after oil - finance , and construction .
-Bahrain competes with Malaysia as a worldwide center for Islamic banking and continues to seek new natural gas supplies as feedstock to support its expanding petrochemical and aluminum industries .
-Unemployment , especially among the young , is a long-term economic problem Bahrain struggles to address .
-In 2009 , to help lower unemployment among Bahraini nationals , Bahrain reduced sponsorship for expatriate workers , increasing the costs of employing foreign labor .
-The global financial crisis caused funding for many non-oil projects to dry up and resulted in slower economic growth for Bahrain .
-Other challenges facing Bahrain include the slow growth of government debt as a result of a large subsidy program , the financing of large government projects , and debt restructuring , such as the bailout of state-owned Gulf Air .
-San Marino 's economy relies heavily on its tourism and banking industries , as well as on the manufacture and export of ceramics , clothing , fabrics , furniture , paints , spirits , tiles , and wine .
-The per capita level of output and standard of living are comparable to those of the most prosperous regions of Italy , which supplies much of its food .
-The economy benefits from foreign investment due to its relatively low corporate taxes and low taxes on interest earnings .
-San Marino has recently faced increased international pressure to improve cooperation with foreign tax authorities and transparency within its own banking sector , which generates about one-fifth of the country 's tax revenues .
-Italy 's implementation in October 2009 of a tax amnesty to repatriate untaxed funds held abroad has resulted in financial outflows from San Marino to Italy worth more than $ 4.5 billion .
-Such outflows , combined with a money-laundering scandal at San Marino 's largest financial institution and the recent global economic downturn , have contributed to a deep recession and growing budget deficit .
-Industrial production declined sharply in 2010 , especially in the textile sector .
-However , San Marino has little national debt , and an unemployment rate less than half the size of Italy 's .
-The San Marino government has adopted measures to counter the downturn , including subsidized credit to businesses .
-San Marino also continues to work towards harmonizing its fiscal laws with EU members and international standards .
-In September 2009 , the OECD removed San Marino from its list of tax havens that have yet to fully implement global tax standards , and in 2010 San Marino signed Tax Information Exchange Agreements with most major countries .
-The future of the country 's economy will be heavily influenced by the signing of a financial information exchange agreement with Italy , which many Italian investors see as fundamental for their business operations with San Marino .
-Revenues of this tiny island traditionally have come from exports of phosphates .
-Few other resources exist , with most necessities being imported , mainly from Australia , its former occupier and later major source of support .
-In 2005 an Australian company entered into an agreement to exploit remaining supplies .
-Primary reserves of phosphates were exhausted and mining ceased in 2006 , but mining of a deeper layer of " secondary phosphate " in the interior of the island began the following year .
-The secondary phosphate deposits may last another 30 years .
-The rehabilitation of mined land and the replacement of income from phosphates are serious long-term problems .
-In anticipation of the exhaustion of Nauru 's phosphate deposits , substantial amounts of phosphate income were invested in trust funds to help cushion the transition and provide for Nauru 's economic future .
-As a result of heavy spending from the trust funds , the government faced virtual bankruptcy .
-To cut costs the government has frozen wages and reduced overstaffed public service departments .
-Nauru lost further revenue in 2008 with the closure of Australia 's refugee processing center , making it almost totally dependent on food imports and foreign aid .
-Housing , hospitals , and other capital plant are deteriorating .
-The cost to Australia of keeping the government and economy afloat continues to climb .
-Few comprehensive statistics on the Nauru economy exist with estimates of Nauru 's GDP varying widely .
-The French colonies of Senegal and the French Sudan were merged in 1959 and granted their independence as the Mali Federation in 1960 .
-The union broke up after only a few months .
-Senegal joined with The Gambia to form the nominal confederation of Senegambia in 1982 .
-The envisaged integration of the two countries was never carried out , and the union was dissolved in 1989 .
-The Movement of Democratic Forces in the Casamance ( MFDC ) has led a low-level separatist insurgency in southern Senegal since the 1980s , and several peace deals have failed to resolve the conflict .
-Nevertheless , Senegal remains one of the most stable democracies in Africa .
-Senegal was ruled by a Socialist Party for 40 years until current President Abdoulaye WADE was elected in 2000 .
-He was reelected in February 2007 and has amended Senegal 's constitution over a dozen times to increase executive power and to weaken the opposition , part of the president 's increasingly autocratic governing style .
-Senegal has a long history of participating in international peacekeeping and regional mediation .
-A CERTAIN HUNTER , having snared a hare , placed it upon his shoulders and set out homewards .
-On his way he met a man on horseback who begged the hare of him , under the pretense of purchasing it .
-However , when the Horseman got the hare , he rode off as fast as he could .
-The Hunter ran after him , as if he was sure of overtaking him , but the Horseman increased more and more the distance between them .
-The Hunter , sorely against his will , called out to him and said , " Get along with you ! for I will now make you a present of the hare . "
-A physicist and a mathematician are sitting in a faculty lounge .
-Suddenly , the coffee machine catches on fire .
-The physicist grabs a bucket and leap towards the sink , filled the bucket with water and puts out the fire .
-Second day , the same two sit in the same lounge .
-Again , the coffee machine catches on fire .
-This time , the mathematician stands up , got a bucket , hands the bucket to the physicist , thus reducing the problem to a previously solved one .
-President Bush says he is starting the process of picking the cabinet and White House staff for his second term in office .
-Mr. Bush , spending the weekend at the presidential retreat , Camp David , in Maryland , did not indicate what changes he is considering for his team .
-U.S. media reports , however , say Attorney General John Ashcroft could depart before Mr. Bush is sworn in for a second term in January .
-Others reportedly considering leaving include Secretary of State Colin Powell and Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge .
-Meanwhile , U.S. counterterrorism coordinator Cofer Black has resigned his post , becoming the first to leave since President Bush 's re-election .
-He had served the State Department since 2002 , and had previously worked for the CIA for nearly three decades .
-The U.S. Army 's top general says the Army is planning for the possibility of keeping the current number of troops in Iraq - well over 1,00,000 - for four more years .
-General Peter Schoomaker told the Associated Press Saturday he was confident the Army could continue to provide the current number of forces in Iraq for several more years .
-President Bush , in his weekly radio address , expressed confidence in what he called the " ultimate triumph of our cause . "
-In Saturday 's Democratic radio address , former Senator Max Cleland of Georgia said Mr. Bush 's plan for victory is not working .
-Mr. Cleland said the United States needs a strategy to win in Iraq or an exit strategy to leave .
-Mr. Bush has said there will be no timetable for withdrawing the troops , because that would signal the United States is weak .
-Iran is insisting it will resume uranium conversion this week , after rejecting European incentives to end its nuclear fuel work .
-Speaking Sunday in Tehran , a Foreign Ministry spokesman said work at Iran 's Isfahan nuclear plant will begin once the International Atomic Energy Agency installs surveillance cameras .
-The IAEA says inspection equipment will be in place by mid-week .
-British , French and German negotiators have called an emergency meeting of the IAEA on Tuesday to issue Tehran a final warning against restarting the fuel program .
-Western governments suspect Iran 's nuclear activities are aimed at developing atomic weaponry .
-Tehran insists its nuclear intentions are peaceful .
-If the stand-off continues , the Europeans say they will ask the U.N. Security Council to consider imposing economic sanctions to force Tehran to end its fuel work .
-Israel 's attorney general has ordered a new criminal investigation into Prime Minister Ehud Olmert , who is facing two other police probes .
-A Justice Ministry statement says the new probe will focus on political appointments made while Mr. Olmert was trade and industry minister .
-The police will also look into suspicions Mr. Olmert assisted his political friends in different public bodies .
-The prime minister says the new investigation is unnecessary and will be closed without any results .
-Last week , police questioned Mr. Olmert about allegations he tried to steer the sale of government-owned Bank Leumi in 2005 while he was acting finance minister .
-Mr. Olmert also is under investigation for his purchase of a Jerusalem apartment in 2004 .
-He allegedly received a discounted price in return for helping the builder obtain construction permits from the city government .
-A British newspaper reports that United Nations peacekeepers in southern Sudan are facing allegations of raping and sexually abusing children as young as 12 .
-The Daily Telegraph says it based its story on an internal report by the United Nations Children 's Fund .
-The newspaper says the alleged abuse started shortly after U.N. peacekeepers arrived in southern Sudan in March , 2005 .
-One 13-year-old alleged victim said U.N. personnel enticed him into their car with money , sexually abused him , then tossed him out with no cash .
-A British peacekeeping official has already denied the charges .
-But a senior U.N. official has told the Associated Press that the allegations will be treated seriously and investigated .
-U.N. officials fired one peacekeeper and suspended several others without pay in 2005 for allegations of bribing women and girls for sex in the Democratic Republic of Congo .
-Gunmen in Iraq attacked a local police chief 's convoy Saturday , wounding him and two others .
-The police chief was traveling near Mosul when militants fired on the motorcade .
-The attack sparked a clash between police and militants that left one officer dead and at least one other person wounded .
-Another policeman was killed and at least two others wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near their patrol outside Fallujah .
-The European Union under the rotating presidency of Slovenia says it will seek to move forward with accession talks with Turkey .
-Speaking in the Slovenian capital , Prime Minister Janez Jansa told reporters Monday that he will seek the total support of all EU member-countries for expanded accession talks .
-Turkey is an official candidate for EU membership .
-But its entry bid has roused opposition , most notably from France .
-President Nicolas Sarkozy has said repeatedly that largely-Muslim Turkey should be offered a privileged partnership rather than full membership .
-The internationally recognized Greek-led government of Cyprus also opposes Turkish EU membership .
-Turkey has refused to open trade and travel links with the Cyprus government , as part of its ongoing territorial dispute over the divided island .
-The first members of a U.N. peacekeeping mission for southern Sudan have arrived in the country to help implement a January peace deal .
-Twelve Nepalese soldiers flew into the central town of El-Obeid Wednesday , one of the main operational centers for aid agencies working in the south .
-The soldiers are part of an eventual deployment of 10,000 peacekeeping troops .
-The force will come mostly from Bangladesh , China , Egypt , India , Kenya and Zambia .
-The conflict in southern Sudan lasted more than two decades and claimed more than two million lives , mostly from war-induced famine and disease .
-It is separate from the conflict in Sudan 's western Darfur region .
-More than 2,000 African Union troops have been deployed there to monitor a cease-fire .
-Indonesia 's national police chief says one of Southeast Asia 's most wanted men may be dead .
-General Sutanto says they hope to confirm the death of Malaysian bomb maker Azahari bin Husin Thursday .
-Indonesian police raided a suspected militant hideout in Batu , in East Java Province Wednesday .
-At least three people are thought to be dead from the gunbattle and explosions that rocked the house .
-Police fear the building may be booby trapped and will wait for daylight before retrieving the bodies and making further investigations .
-Witnesses say Azahari bin Husin may have blown himself up rather than be captured by police .
-The fugitive terrorist is linked to Jemaah Islamiyah , a group seen as the regional arm of al-Qaida , and is accused of masterminding at least four deadly blasts in Indonesia , including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people .
-A suicide bomber targeted a police station in Pakistan 's capital , Islamabad , Monday evening , killing himself and one officer .
-Officials say police tried to stop the bomber at a point before he detonated his explosives .
-It is not clear how many people were wounded in the attack .
-Militants have staged a wave of attacks over the past few years in Pakistan , including several in the capital .
-The government has recently signed two separate peace deals with Islamist groups in the tribal regions near the border with Afghanistan .
-The country marked its national holiday , Pakistan Day , on Monday .
-The holiday commemorates the 69th anniversary of the movement by Muslims on the Indian sub-continent to create a separate country .
-One of the most powerful women in U.S. business has been forced out of her job as chief executive of the huge , high-tech Hewlett-Packard company .
-Carly Fiorina stepped down Wednesday after six years at the helm , citing differences with the board of directors over the company 's strategy .
-HP is the world 's second largest personal computer maker and operates a highly profitable printer business .
-Ms. Fiorina pushed HP to merge with rival Compaq , saying the merger would bring increased scale , efficiency , and profit .
-But some investors and analysts say the result was disappointing .
-Chief Financial Officer Robert Wayman was named interim CEO .
-A district court in Belarus has sentenced a political opposition figure to 15 days in jail on charges resisting police forces .
-Syarhei Antonchyk was sentenced Friday - one day after several other opposition figures were given similar sentences , all of which will keep them imprisoned until after the presidential election , set for March 19
-Thursday , a Minsk court sentenced Vintsuk Vyachorka , leader of the Belarus Popular Front , for taking part in what it called an unsanctioned demonstration .
-Police detained him and other campaign staff members of opposition presidential candidate Alexander Milinkevich Wednesday after an opposition rally in the Belarusian capital .
-President Alexander Lukashenko has ruled the former Soviet republic since 1994 , and is seeking a third term .
-The West has criticized his human rights record and quashing of political opposition .
-The United States has called Mr. Lukashenko Europe 's last dictator .
-French and Iraqi officials say a French engineer kidnapped last month in Baghdad has been freed .
-Iraq Interior Ministry officials and police say Bernard Planche was found Sunday near a security checkpoint , west of Baghdad .
-Mr. Planche was abducted Thursday from his home in Baghdad .
-The kidnappers had threatened to kill him if France did not end what they called its " illegitimate presence " in Iraq .
-The engineer 's release comes a day after an American journalist was kidnapped in Baghdad .
-Meanwhile , the U.S. military says five Marines were killed in separate insurgent attacks in Iraq Sunday and Saturday .
-On the political front , Iraqi President Jalal Talabani says leaders of the country 's political parties have agreed in principle to form a national unity government .
-Pro-Taleban militants have released at least 30 of nearly 250 Pakistani soldiers abducted near the Afghan border in late August .
-The militants freed the soldiers early Saturday in the South Waziristan tribal region .
-Last month , pro-Taleban militants handed over at least 25 of the captured soldiers to a tribal council of elders ( or jirga ) near Wana , the main town in South Waziristan .
-The militants have demanded that Pakistani security forces release detained fighters and pull out of the tribal region in return for freeing more soldiers .
-The capture of the troops has been an embarrassment for Pakistan 's army as it struggles to contain a recent upsurge in violence near the Afghan border .
-The violence follows the collapse of a peace deal in July between Pakistan 's government and pro-Taleban tribesmen .
-Tibet 's spiritual leader , the Dalai Lama , has expressed condolences for Pope John Paul , saying he had great respect and admiration for the Catholic leader .
-The Dalai Lama said the pope 's experience in Communist Poland helped give him a clear understanding of conditions in Tibet under Chinese rule .
-The Tibetan leader said he developed a close personal friendship with the pontiff , after meeting on several occasions .
-The Dalai Lama also praised John Paul for his mission to bring peace to the world and his frequent travels , despite the pontiff 's failing health .
-He says he and the pope shared a keen interest in promoting harmony among different religious traditions in an effort to spread a unified message of peace .
-Nepal 's Maoist rebels have called for an indefinite nationwide strike as part of their campaign against the royalist government .
-A statement released Saturday said the strike will begin April 3 .
-Rebel leaders say the strike will be preceded by a blockade of the capital , Kathmandu , on March 14 .
-King Gyanendra seized absolute power a year ago , saying the move was necessary to curb the Maoist rebellion .
-Some 13,000 people have died in the insurgency since 1996 .
-Elections held earlier this month were marred by low voter turnout and allegations by several countries , including India , Japan , Britain and the United States , who all said the vote was flawed .
-Seven major opposition parties boycotted the vote , and the election sparked almost daily anti-government demonstrations .
-Chinese health officials say a 44-year-old woman from southern China has died from the deadly strain of the bird flu virus .
-A statement on the Web site of the Health Department of Guangdong province identified the woman as a migrant worker from Shanwei City in Sichuan province .
-The statement said the woman tested positive for the H5N1 strain of the disease and that she became ill after contact with dead poultry suspected of having the virus .
-It also said that no one else who has come into contact with the woman has shown any symptoms of the virus .
-China 's central Health Ministry in Beijing has yet to comment on the case .
-China has reported two other bird flu deaths this year .
-The World Health Organization says China has had 19 bird flu deaths and 29 cases since the outbreak began in 2003 .
-U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says Central American democracies must work together to fight drug trafficking , smuggling , hostage-taking , terrorism and gang violence .
-Mr. Rumsfeld is hosting a two-day conference in Miami on regional security cooperation with defense ministers from seven Central American countries .
-The Defense Department says the meeting is meant to strengthen Central America 's group identity and capabilities .
-In addition to the topics Mr. Rumsfeld listed , ministers are discussing maritime security and the formation of a regional peacekeeping unit and a rapid response force for coping with disasters .
-The ministers may also address the role improved security can play in promoting economic development .
-Participants include ministers from Guatemala , Honduras , El Salvador , Nicaragua , Belize , Costa Rica , and Panama .
-Mexico and several other countries were expected to send observers .
-An exiled Iranian opposition group has accused a well-known Pakistani scientist of giving Tehran weapons grade uranium in 2001 .
-Farid Soleiman , a spokesman for the group , National Council of Resistance of Iran , made the comment Wednesday to reporters in Vienna , the home of the International Atomic Energy Agency .
-He said the enriched uranium in question was given to Iran by Abdul Qadeer Khan , who built Pakistan 's nuclear bomb .
-Mr. Khan ran a global nuclear black market that supplied Libya , North Korea and Iran with nuclear technology until it was shut down this year .
-The Iranian opposition group also said Iran has been conducting secret nuclear activities at sites unknown to international inspectors .
-International Atomic Energy Agency officials and the government of Iran have yet to respond to the accusations .
-A European Union court has upheld sanctions imposed on U.S. software giant Microsoft by a European anti-trust commission .
-The Luxembourg-based European Court of First Instance announced the decision Wednesday .
-Microsoft said after the ruling it still hopes to reach a settlement with the anti-trust authorities .
-In March , the EU competition commission ruled Microsoft had abused its position in the market by only offering a version of Windows with Media Player .
-The commission said this shut out competitors who produced servers and media player programs .
-It ordered the company to market a version of Windows without Media Player software and to share more information with competitors .
-British military officials in Iraq say three British soldiers have been killed in a suspected roadside bombing in the southern part of the country .
-The British command says the attack occurred early Saturday in the city of Amarah , north of Basra .
-The combat deaths were the first for British forces in Iraq in months .
-British forces , based in the mainly Shi'ite south , have suffered far fewer losses than the much larger U.S. force fighting Sunni Arab insurgents and foreign fighters in the rest of Iraq .
-Two United Nations agencies are warning that North Korea is still struggling with severe food shortages , despite enjoying its best harvest in a decade .
-The World Food Program and the Food and Agriculture Organization said Tuesday that 6.4 million North Koreans - more than a quarter of its population - will require international food aid in 2005 .
-The agencies also noted a sharp rise in North Korean food prices , saying the cost of rice came to about 30 percent of a typical North Korean monthly wage .
-Experts blame much of the problem on Pyongyang 's mismanagement of agriculture .
-The World Food Program has provided more than one billion dollars in food aid to North Korea since 1995 .
-A senior NATO official says member nations face a growing threat of attack by long-range missiles .
-NATO 's Assistant Secretary General for Defense Investment , Marshall Billingslea , Wednesday urged officials to consider ways to address such a threat , including the creation of a missile defense system .
-Billingslea did not say which nations pose a security threat to NATO members , nor did he elaborate upon the current threat level .
-The comments came as Billingslea presented a 10,000 page report on the subject of threats and defense systems to NATO officials .
-Billingslea says the study , commissioned in 2002 , found that a missile defense shield would be technically and financially feasible .
-India will proceed with plans to help build a pipeline from Iran even though that nation is facing international sanctions because of its nuclear activities .
-India reaffirmed it 's commitment to the project Saturday during Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh 's visit to Tehran .
-He is expected to leave the country on Sunday .
-Following talks with his Iranian counterpart ( Manouchehr Mottaki ) , Mr. Singh said he hopes oil ministers from Iran , India and Pakistan can hold a joint meeting to finalize the pipeline deal before the end of the year .
-Mr. Singh also announced plans for a joint commission meeting in March 2006 to review bilateral relations between India and Iran .
-The United States and the European Union suspect Iran is using its nuclear program to develop atomic weapons , which Iran has denied .
-Broadcasters in the Somali capital , Mogadishu , have gone off the air for 24 hours to protest a government crackdown on independent media .
-The four local radio stations still operating went silent Monday .
-Their directors say they want to show solidarity with three other stations the government shut down last week .
-Authorities have accused Radio Simba , Radio Banadir and Radio Shabelle of making inflammatory and anti-government broadcasts .
-The government has also ordered all Somali media houses to register with the government or face closure .
-Media advocacy groups like Reporters Without Borders have strongly criticized the moves , saying the government is trying to censor unwelcome news .
-The closed stations have reported regularly on the violence in Mogadishu between insurgents and Ethiopian troops backing the Somali interim government .
-The fighting over the past 11 months has killed thousands , and prompted hundreds of thousands more to flee the Somali capital .
-Deep into the mountain state of West Virginia , a group of volunteers is determined to restore nature the way it was a century ago , before mining , logging and fires changed the landscape .
-To do so , thousands of native trees are being planted .
-Producer Zulima Palacio prepared the story .
-Iraqi insurgents have threatened to kill a kidnapped U.S. journalist unless female prisoners in Iraq are released within 72 hours .
-The kidnappers made the threat in a new videotape shown Tuesday by Arab satellite broadcaster al-Jazeera .
-The tape also showed the journalist , Jill Carroll , speaking , but her voice could not be heard .
-Gunmen seized Carroll and killed her Iraqi interpreter in an attack in Baghdad earlier this month .
-In Washington , a State Department spokesman said officials are making every effort to secure Carroll 's release .
-Meanwhile , gunmen in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk killed at least one person in an attack on the offices of a Kurdish group .
-And Iraq 's military called on Iran to release nine coast guard sailors seized in a dispute on the Shatt al-Arab waterway .
-Russia 's state-owned oil firm Rosneft has installed one of its senior executives as head of Yuganskneftegas , a key unit of dismantled oil empire Yukos .
-Rosneft said Friday it has registered its ownership of Yuganskneftegas and named Vladimir Bulba as company chief .
-Last Sunday , the mysterious Baikal Group picked up the Yukos subsidiary at a government auction for about half of what analysts said it was worth .
-In turn , Rosneft bought Baikal last week .
-Next month , Rosneft and another state-owned energy firm , Gazprom , are expected to merge .
-The Russian government ordered the sale of Yukos assets to recover what it says are more than $ 25 billion in back taxes by the company .
-Critics of the Kremlin have called the move payback for political activities by Yukos founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky , who is now in prison .
-The Kremlin has denied the charge .
-The World Health Organization says it has confirmed 160 human cases of bird flu worldwide .
-A statement from the United Nations health agency Tuesday said 85 of those infected have died , including four people in Turkey .
-The WHO also said it is sending a team of specialists to northern Iraq to investigate possible bird flu cases there .
-Iraqi health minister said Monday that a girl who died earlier this month in the Kurdish city of Sulaymaniya , near the border with Turkey and Iran , had the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu .
-Iraqi officials are on high alert to try to prevent the virus from becoming established .
-Authorities are destroying hundreds of thousands of birds and have quarantined a number of people who have symptoms of the disease .
-The Palestinian parliament has passed a new electoral law , removing an obstacle that had delayed elections for a new legislature .
-The new law creates a mixed electoral system , with half the lawmakers to be chosen by districts and the other half to be chosen from a national slate of party candidates .
-Differences over the voting system led to the postponement earlier this month of elections that had been scheduled for mid-July .
-There is no word yet on a date for re-scheduled elections .
-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has arrived in the United States , seeking President Bush 's strong endorsement for Israel 's scheduled withdrawal from the Gaza Strip .
-The two leaders are to meet Monday at the president 's Texas ranch , for talks also expected to focus on Israel 's plan to expand its largest West Bank settlement .
-Israel insists on building 3,500 new homes in the Maale Adumim settlement near Jerusalem .
-But U.S. officials have said the plan is at odds with the U.S.-backed " roadmap " for peace between Israel and the Palestinians .
-In Jerusalem , Israeli police deployed in force Sunday to head off ultranationalist Jews who threatened to occupy a site sacred to Muslims and Jews .
-Authorities say about 200 protesters were blocked from entering the hill-top compound known to Muslims as the Nobel Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount .
-The U.S. military in Afghanistan says four coalition and four Afghan soldiers have been wounded in separate explosions in the eastern and southern parts of the country .
-A military spokesman says the coalition troops were wounded when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in the Khogyani district of eastern Nangarhar province .
-No details of the soldiers ' nationalities nor the extent of their wounds were given .
-Hours later , in southern Zabul province , a similar explosion wounded four Afghan soldiers on patrol .
-Meanwhile , Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered an investigation into the killings of eight Afghans , including a child , by U.S.-led coalition forces in Kunar province on Thursday .
-Afghan and U.S.-led forces say the dead were suspected al-Qaida militants , but local authorities say they were civilians who had no connection to the terror network .
-The White House says President Bush will travel to Argentina , Brazil and Panama next month .
-A statement issued Wednesday said the president will visit Argentina from November 3 through 5 to meet with President Nestor Carlos Kirchner , and to attend the Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata .
-That summit will bring together 34 democratically elected heads of state and government from North , Central and South America .
-The White House says Mr. Bush will promote open markets , free trade and what it calls the " consolidation of democracy " in the region .
-Afterward , Mr. Bush is to visit Brazil on November 5 and 6 at the invitation of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva .
-He then is expected to go to Panama to meet with President Martin Torrijos Espino .
-Nepal 's royal government has imposed a day-time curfew in Kathmandu and its suburbs on Friday after an opposition alliance said it will hold a pro-democracy rally on that day .
-Police have also rounded up nearly 80 political activists and cut off cell phone communications ahead of the rally .
-But political activists say hundreds of people have been detained .
-India , Japan , the United Nations and the European Union have expressed concern about the arrests and restrictions , calling them regrettable .
-Nepal 's Home Minister Kamal Thapa says the arrests were a protective move to prevent Maoist rebels from infiltrating the protest and inciting violence .
-An alliance of seven political parties has called for the rally despite a government ban and Maoist rebels have been urging support for the protest .
-The king fired the elected parliament and seized absolute power last February .
-Pope Benedict says the anniversary of the 2001 September 11 attacks on the United States should be a day to remember all victims of terrorism .
-The pope Sunday called for all people to , in his words , " renounce hatred and build a world of justice , solidarity , and peace . "
-The Roman Catholic leader made his comments to pilgrims gathered outside his summer residence in Castelgandolfo near Rome to hear his weekly blessing .
-U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has made a surprise Christmas Eve trip Friday to Iraq , visiting American soldiers wounded in Tuesday 's suicide attack near Mosul .
-Twenty-two people were killed and 69 wounded in the attack , and Mr. Rumsfeld awarded medals to some of the injured at a hospital not far from the base .
-The secretary said his trip had been planned before the attack , but was kept secret for security reasons .
-Following a stop in Tikrit , Mr. Rumsfeld visited troops near Fallujah , where dozens of American military personnel were killed last month in an offensive to crush insurgents holed up there .
-The U.S. military says more than 900 displaced residents returned to Fallujah for the first time Thursday , assisted by U.S. and Iraqi troops who are providing security and humanitarian aid .
-World Cup football ( soccer ) champion Brazil has knocked 2006 host Germany out in the semifinals of the Confederations Cup tournament in Nuremberg .
-Two goals by Adriano ( in the 21st and 76th minutes ) and a Ronaldinho penalty gave the Brazilians the 03-Feb victory .
-Brazil had the lead twice at the Frankenstadion , but Germany was able to even the match on a goal from Lukas Podolski ( 23rd minute ) and Michael Ballack 's penalty kick ( in the 48th minute ) .
-However , Adriano scored the game winning goal to put Brazil into the final against the winner of Sunday 's semifinal between Mexico and Argentina .
-Germany will play the loser of the Mexico-Argentina match for third place in Leipzig .
-The final is in Frankfurt Wednesday .
-Ukraine and Russia have signed an agreement to create a joint venture to deliver Russian and Central Asian gas to Ukraine .
-The agreement ended a bitter price dispute between the two countries , which led to a brief Russian cut off of natural gas deliveries to Ukraine New Year 's Day .
-Under the deal , the new venture , UkrGazEnergo will oversee gas sales to Ukrainian consumers .
-It will be co-owned by Naftogaz Ukraine and RosUkrEnergo , which is controlled by Russia 's giant natural gas monopoly Gazprom and a group of unidentified investors .
-The agreement calls for Ukraine to pay Russia $ 95 per 1,000 cubic meters of natural gas - nearly twice as much as the previous rate but less than the amount originally charged by Gazprom .
-Top-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain has advanced to the semifinals of the Canberra International women 's tennis tournament in Australia .
-Medina Garrigues beat Ekaterina Bychkova of Russia , 06-Mar , 06-Apr on Wednesday to advance to the final four .
-She will play number four Shahar Peer of Israel , who bounced back from a first set loss after a three-hour rain delay to beat Japan 's Aiko Nakamura , 02-Jun , 06-Mar , 6-0 .
-Sixth-seeded Catalonia Cassation of Colombia also made it into the semifinals .
-She was leading 05-Feb when her opponent , Julia Scruff of Germany , withdrew due to heat illness .
-Cassation will face South Korea 's Cho Yoon-jeong , who advanced with a 04-Jun , 06-Mar , 06-Mar win over Melinda Czink of Hungary .
-American classical pianist Martin Berkofsky has long impressed music critics around the world with his firebrand virtuosity .
-But as VOA 's Irina Robertson learned when she met recently with Berkovsky , he stopped playing for personal fame 25 years ago and began performing for charitable causes .
-Scot Riddlesberger narrates the story .
-Former Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt has met with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to discuss Venezuelan support for freeing other hostages held by rebels in Colombia .
-Betancourt met with Mr. Chavez Monday at the presidential palace in Caracas .
-The French-Colombian politician has been on a tour of South American countries to solicit regional support for persuading rebels with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia , or FARC , to release their captives .
-The rebels are holding some 700 hostages for ransom or political leverage .
-Betancourt 's tour , which began last month , included her native country as well as Ecuador , Brazil , Argentina , Peru , Chile , Bolivia , and now Venezuela .
-Betancourt was a presidential candidate in Colombia when she was captured by FARC rebels in 2002 .
-She was held for more than six years before being rescued by the Colombian military in July .
-The commander of NATO-led forces in Afghanistan says the alliance is sending thousands of extra troops to the war-torn country .
-During a visit to the southern Afghan city of Kandahar Friday , General David Richards said NATO is committed to the mission in Afghanistan .
-He said the U.S. would provide part of the increase by extending the tour of more than 3,000 American troops by four months .
-General Richards did not specify which other NATO members would be sending additional forces .
-Meanwhile , NATO says it has killed a senior Taleban leader and his deputies in an airstrike along Afghanistan 's southern border with Pakistan .
-The alliance did not identify the suspected Taleban members killed in the attack .
-Last month , in the same province , a U.S. airstrike killed the Taleban 's chief of military operations , who was also a close associate of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden .
-Turkey 's state-run news agency says a court has charged four army officers in connection with an alleged plot to overthrow the government .
-The Anatolia news agency said Saturday that the officers - two colonels and two lieutenants - had been charged with belonging to a terrorist organization which , the ruling party says , was seeking to topple Turkey 's Islamic-rooted government .
-The agency did not release the names of those charged .
-On Friday , Anatolia reported that investigators had found a weapons cache full of missile launchers , plastic explosives , and other weaponry at a state-owned farm outside the capital , Ankara .
-Eighty-six people , including former army officers , leftist politicians and journalists , are already on trial in the case .
-Prosecutors accuse them of planning assassinations and bombings to sow chaos in Turkey , forcing the army to step in and overthrow the government .
-Ukraine 's president , Victor Yushchenko , has called for closer ties between his country and Ukrainians living abroad in an effort to revive the economy and solidify democracy .
-President Yushchenko Friday presented his concept of cooperation to representatives of ethnic Ukrainians attending a three-day World Forum conference in Kiev .
-He said about 20 million Ukrainians live in more than 60 countries .
-Ethnic Ukrainians abroad often have stronger nationalistic tendencies than those at home .
-The president urged Ukrainians to abandon the idea of a federal state , which some political groups have proposed for the country divided between Russian-speaking and Ukrainian-speaking populations .
-Mr. Yushchenko said federalism would further split Ukraine .
-A U.S.-based global labor advocacy group says Colombia is the world 's most dangerous country for labor activists .
-The AFL-CIO Solidarity Center said in a report released Thursday that more trade union members are killed in Colombia each year than in the rest of the world combined .
-The Washington-based non-profit group also said about 4,000 trade unionists have been murdered in Colombia since the mid-1980s and that most of the incidents can be directly linked to the victims ' participation in a labor dispute .
-Colombian President Alvaro Uribe called the report outdated .
-The Colombian leader met Wednesday in Washington with President Bush for talks that covered trade and the fight against illegal drug trafficking .
-Both presidents said they hoped soon to finalize remaining details of a free trade agreement between their countries so Mr. Bush can submit it to Congress .
-They also pledged to continue working together to defeat the drug trade .
-U.S. military officials in Iraq say fighting in the northern city of Mosul has calmed after an intense operation Tuesday to regain police stations and government buildings taken by insurgents last week .
-Officials Wednesday said that some pockets of resistance remain as coalition forces work to secure Iraq 's third-largest city .
-Earlier today , U.S. and Iraqi forces pounded insurgent positions in Fallujah , in an effort to oust the remaining fighters more than a week after the launch of an offensive there .
-Scattered attacks and car bombings have been reported today in other parts of Iraq , causing an unknown number of casualties .
-Meanwhile , family members of CARE International aid worker Margaret Hassan say it appears she has been killed by kidnappers who abducted her last month in Iraq .
-Pope Benedict encourages priests to embrace new digital media to create deeper forms of relationship with faithful across greater distances Pope Benedict has urged Roman Catholic priests to use the Internet to spread the word of God .
-In his message Saturday , the pope encouraged priests to embrace the new digital media to create deeper forms of relationship with the faithful across greater distances .
-But the pontiff also warned that Catholic clergy should be less notable for their media skills than for their vocation .
-The pope 's message comes as the church prepares for its annual World Communication Day , May 16 .
-The Vatican has long had a Web site in several languages .
-It has recently created a news channel on the Youtube video sharing site and a Facebook networking site Pope2You .
-U.S. lawmakers have approved a measure to double the number of U.S. troops in Colombia to 800 .
-The government of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe welcomed the support in its fight against the drug trade and left-wing Marxist rebels .
-But human rights groups criticized the increase , saying more U.S. troops could escalate the violence in the South American country .
-The U.S. Congress also voted to increase the number of American civilian contractors in Colombia from 400 to 600 .
-The United States is providing $ 1.3 billion for " Plan Colombia , " an initiative launched by Colombia 's government to fight the illegal drug trade , protect human rights , and expand economic development .
-Three Pakistan cricketers accused of involvement in a match-fixing scandal are returning home .
-Lawyers representing test captain Salman Butt , and bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir said their clients are flying back to Pakistan from Britain Friday .
-A British tabloid accused the players of taking bribes to intentionally bowl illegal " no-balls " during a test match against England last month .
-British police questioned the players on September 3 , but so far no charges have been brought against them .
-Cricket 's world authority , the ICC , suspended Butt , Asif and Amir last week pending its own investigation .
-The three maintain they are innocent .
-Lawyers said the trio has agreed to continue cooperating with British police and would return to London , if required .
-The World Health Organization is warning that malaria could become resistant to new drugs unless they are used in combination with a second medicine .
-Dr. Pascal Ringwald , a medical officer with the WHO , says it is crucial that the drugs be used correctly .
-He says so far , the U.N. health agency has not discovered any resistance , but that it is monitoring the situation closely .
-New malaria-fighting drugs , derived from a plant known as Artemisia , have been developed in response to other anti-malaria medicines becoming ineffective as resistance developed .
-The WHO says the new Artemisian-based drugs must be used together with older malaria medication , such as mefloquine .
-The agency estimates the mosquito-borne disease kills more than one million people every year , most of them young children in Africa .
-A Kurdish news agency says Turkish warplanes have bombed Kurdish rebel positions in northern Iraq .
-The Firat news agency quotes Kurdish party officials as saying Turkish jets hit the Hakurk region Wednesday near the borders of Iraq , Iran and Turkey .
-It said there were no reports of casualties .
-A spokesman for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers ' Party , or PKK , confirmed the strike .
-There was no official confirmation from the Turkish military .
-Turkey accuses the PKK of using strongholds in northern Iraq to launch attacks .
-The military has conducted several air strikes and at least one ground incursion into Iraq against the rebels this year .
-The PKK has been fighting for Kurdish autonomy in Turkey 's mainly Kurdish southeast for nearly 25 years .
-That violence has killed more than 30,000 people .
-Turkey , the United States and other nations have designated the PKK a terrorist group .
-Police in Brussels have clashed with several hundred demonstrators protesting President Bush 's visit to the Belgian capital .
-Police arrested several demonstrators during the sometimes violent clashes but there are no reports of serious injuries .
-Authorities used trucks to push demonstrators back from European Union headquarters , where Mr. Bush was meeting with EU leaders .
-Demonstrators carried signs and chanted slogans criticizing what they called Mr. Bush 's " warmongering " policies , including the U.S.-led war in Iraq .
-The French News Agency reports that rallies against Mr. Bush 's European visit also took place in several cities in Germany , where Mr. Bush is scheduled to arrive on Wednesday .
-Pakistani officials say security forces backed by helicopter gunships attacked a militant training camp near the Afghan border Tuesday , killing at least three rebels .
-Army spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad said after receiving reports about the facility in North Waziristan , tribal elders were sent to the area to tell the organizers to shut it down .
-The general said fighting began when militants refused to meet the peace delegation and opened fire on them .
-Pakistan reached a peace deal with pro-Taleban militants in North Waziristan last year to stop attacks on security forces inside Pakistan and Afghanistan and expel foreign militants .
-Local tribal leaders are responsible for overseeing the deal 's implementation .
-British police are questioning five people detained under anti-terrorism laws after police found a number of weapons in their possession .
-Authorities say the detentions of the three men and two women follow a raid Friday on a home in the southwestern British city of Plymouth .
-Officers confiscated a number of weapons , suspected imitation weapons , other suspicious devices and materials related to what authorities described as " political ideology . "
-But officials say the investigation is not linked to any religious group .
-Authorities identified the five as British nationals and said three of them face drug charges .
-News media reports say authorities believe the five were planning to take part in protests in London during the Group of 20 economic summit in the British capital Thursday .
-Security is reported extremely tight in the city with thousands of officers taking part .
-Witnesses say Syrian security forces have clashed with gunmen thought to be Islamist militants in the northwestern city of Aleppo .
-The Associated Press quotes residents as saying the clashes occurred Sunday on a road leading to the airport in the city .
-Al Jazeera television said as many as three gunmen died when they blew up their car after being surrounded by police .
-There were no reports of further casualties .
-There has been no official confirmation of the clash from the Damascus government .
-Indonesia 's communications minister says local broadcasters will soon be banned from airing live news provided by foreign broadcasters , such as the Voice of America and the British Broadcasting Corporation .
-Communications and information minister Sofyan Djalil said Monday the ban will take effect February 5 when new media regulations are implemented .
-Under the regulations , foreign news and music broadcasts must be edited locally .
-Indonesian officials say that will ensure that the content meets community standards .
-It remains unclear what the standards will be , but last week , Sofyan told a VOA correspondent the rules may be ambiguous .
-The new regulations were approved in November , but after an outcry by media companies and lawmakers , the government and parliament postponed implementing them .
-Discussions continue in parliament , but it is unclear how long the talks will go on , or what effect they may have on the media regulations .
-Iraqi authorities say at least eight Iraqi prison guards and detainees have been killed in a shootout at a high-security jail in Baghdad .
-Authorities say a prisoner attempting a jail break grabbed an assault rifle from a guard and opened fire .
-A U.S. soldier was one of at least four people wounded .
-The prison is said to hold several hundred detainees including some foreigners held as suspected terrorists .
-Meanwhile , demonstrations against alleged fraud in the recent parliamentary elections are continuing in mainly Sunni Arab regions of Iraq .
-Protesters are demanding a re-vote in some areas and an international probe into hundreds of ballot complaints .
-Initial vote results show that Shi'ite candidates won 130 seats in the 275-seat parliament .
-Final results are expected next month .
-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has met the editors and the son of slain Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya .
-U.S. officials say the meeting took place at Rice 's hotel in Moscow , where she arrived Saturday for talks with Russian officials .
-The meeting included editors from Novaya Gazeta and Politkovskaya 's 28-year-old son .
-Before arriving in the Russian capital , Rice told reporters that the fate of journalists in Russia is a major concern for the United States .
-Politkovskaya was shot dead in the elevator of her Moscow apartment building October seventh .
-Investigators say her death was likely related to her reporting on human rights abuses by the Russian military in Chechnya .
-The Sri Lankan military says suspected Tamil Tiger rebels have launched a series of attacks against security forces in the eastern part of the country , killing four people and wounding at least 19 others .
-Officials say the attacks occurred Thursday in the cities of Batticaloa and Trincomalee .
-The attacks came shortly after the government in Colombo extended the state of emergency throughout the country for another month , despite protests by minority Tamil legislators .
-Parliament has been extending the state of emergency by one month at a time since August , following the assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar .
-The government accuses Tamil rebels of carrying out the killing .
-But they deny the charge .
-Israeli warplanes have carried out air strikes in the Gaza Strip , after two Israeli soldiers were wounded Tuesday in a mortar bomb attack by Palestinian militants .
-VOA Jerusalem Correspondent Luis Ramirez talks about the raid :
-Local sources say the air strikes targeted smuggling tunnels in southern Gaza and a site near the town of Khan Younis close to the Egyptian border .
-There were no immediate reports of casualties .
-Palestinians use tunnels under the Egypt-Gaza border to sneak weapons and goods into the Palestinian enclave .
-On Monday , Israeli troops killed a Palestinian militant in the Gaza Strip near the Israeli border .
-The Israeli military said the militant was killed when troops opened fire on Palestinians trying to plant an explosive device close to the border .
-Former U.S. President Bill Clinton will lead U.N. efforts to promote reconstruction in South Asian countries hit by December 's tsunami , but will not play a role in ending conflicts in Indonesia and Sri Lanka .
-On Wednesday , U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said he misunderstood Mr. Clinton 's mandate when he told reporters earlier the former president would also try to make progress in resolving conflicts in those nations .
-Mr. Eckhard said Mr. Clinton will focus on maintaining the world 's interest in the vital recovery and reconstruction efforts following the devastating tsunami .
-Mr. Clinton said in a statement he is looking forward to taking up the post once he returns from a trip to the region later this month with former president George H.W. Bush .
-Former women 's world number-one tennis player Martina Hingis of Switzerland will play in her first professional tournament in more than two years in Thailand next month .
-Hingis has agreed to play the Volvo Women 's Open in Pattaya .
-She says she will use the tournament to raise money for Thai charities that help women and children who have suffered from abuse , homelessness and illness .
-Hingis won 76 singles and doubles titles during her career , including five Grand Slam singles crowns .
-She retired at age 22 in 2002 due to ankle problems .
-The U.S. Senate has approved legislation allocating up to $ 4 billion to fight bird flu by stocking up on anti-viral drugs .
-The Senate measure passed Thursday also commits money to increase global surveillance of the disease .
-The legislation , passed as an amendment to an unrelated military spending bill , now goes to the House of Representatives , where it faces an uncertain future .
-Supporters of the measure say the time to act is now , before an outbreak occurs .
-U.N officials warn an avian flu pandemic could kill as many as five million people worldwide , and have urged the international community to take an aggressive stand against the disease .
-Military officials in Russia say six Chechen rebels have been killed in a clash with Russian commandos south of the provincial capital , Grozny .
-A military spokesman said Monday Russian forces on an overnight mission Sunday in the North Caucasus region ambushed the guerrillas near two villages , Starye Atagi and Novye Atagi .
-A spokesman for the Chechen rebels denies the clash took place and accuses the Russian military of spreading disinformation to discredit a cease-fire called by rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov .
-Russian officials have consistently refused to hold any talks with Mr. Maskhadov , whom they call a terrorist and accuse of attacking civilians .
-Russian forces have been battling Chechen insurgents for much of the past decade .
-U.S. congressional leaders are close to finishing work on a compromise budget bill that includes money for the U.S.-led war in Iraq , without a deadline to withdraw the troops .
-The $ 500 billion spending package would include at least $ 70 billion to fund military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan , while providing $ 11 billion more than what President Bush requested for domestic programs favored by Democratic Party representatives .
-The agreement on the Iraq war funding represents the latest failed attempt by many congressional Democrats to impose a timeline that would bring U.S. troops out of Iraq .
-President Bush has adamantly rejected any timelines , and lawmakers in his Republican Party have firmly backed his efforts .
-The measure is expected come to a vote in the House of Representatives early next week .
-Afghan Muslim clerics and tribal elders have urged U.S. authorities to quickly investigate allegations that U.S. interrogators desecrated the Muslim holy book .
-The clerics and tribal elders gathered Sunday in Faizabad , the capital of Badakhshan province , to pass a resolution demanding a reaction from U.S. authorities within three days .
-Their call came after four days of deadly anti-American protests following an unconfirmed report in a U.S. magazine that interrogators at Guantanamo military prison allegedly desecrated the Koran .
-The Bangladeshi government also condemned the alleged abuses urging Washington to bring those responsible to justice .
-A foreign ministry statement said " the incident has hurt the sentiments of Muslims all over the world not least in Bangladesh . "
-U.S. officials have promised an open investigation into the allegations contained in the Newsweek magazine article , but say that so far they have found nothing to confirm the report .
-An avalanche in a mountainous area of northern Pakistan has killed 25 people who were digging for precious stones .
-Officials say the incident happened Thursday in the remote Kohistan region , in Pakistan 's Northwest Frontier province .
-Authorities say the victims were exploring mines and searching for precious stones when they were buried by the avalanche .
-Rescuers rushed to the site but were only able to save one person .
-Kohistan is about 350 kilometers northeast of Peshawar , the provincial capital .
-Three Romanian journalists kidnapped in Iraq nearly two months ago have returned to Bucharest , one day after their release .
-A military plane carrying the journalists , reporter Marie-Jeanne Ion , cameraman Sorin Miscoci , and newspaper reporter Eduard Ovidiu Ohanesian , returned home Monday from Baghdad .
-Iraqi insurgents kidnapped the journalists , along with their Iraqi-American translator Mohammed Monaf , in Baghdad on March 28 .
-The militants threatened , in a videotape , to kill the hostages by April 27 unless Romania withdrew its troops from Iraq .
-That deadline passed without word on their fate .
-Romanian President Traian Basescu said that the continuing violence in Iraq had made it increasingly difficult to maintain contact with the kidnappers .
-The incident sparked protests in Romania , with demonstrators taking to the streets of Bucharest , calling for the withdrawal of Romanian troops from Iraq .
-Bosnian police have arrested a former Bosnian Serb police officer suspected of genocide in the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys .
-Authorities Monday said Dragan Crnogorac has been arrested by the State Investigation and Protection agency in the northern town of Banja Luka .
-The 38-year-old is accused of personally taking part in the executions of Bosnian Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica , in what is considered the worst atrocity in Europe since World War Two .
-Prosecutors say Crnogorac was a member of Bosnian Serb forces that captured the U.N.-protected Srebrenica enclave on July 11 , 1995 , at the end of Bosnia 's three-year war .
-The Bosnian war crimes court has put dozens of Bosnian Serbs on trial for complicity in the Srebrenica killings .
-The head of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries ( OPEC ) has called on the United States to release some of its oil reserves to help reduce world oil prices .
-Purnomo Yusgiantoro , who is also Indonesia 's energy minister , did not say whether the United States has responded to the request .
-The United States has hundreds of millions of barrels of oil in its strategic petroleum reserve .
-The reserve has been tapped on several , exceptional occasions .
-World oil prices have risen sharply this year , and currently stand at over $ 55 a barrel .
-The top United Nations envoy to Haiti has congratulated the country on its successful holding of local , municipal and legislative elections .
-A U.N. statement says more than 3,00,000 voters in 25 communities voted in 69 centers and 770 polling stations to choose their representatives .
-The statement says all polling stations opened on time with the help of the U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti , known as MINUSTAH , and the Haitian national police .
-Last month , the U.N. said it had mobilized nearly 600 members of its staff in Haiti to support the country 's electoral process .
-The head of electoral support for the U.N. mission , Marc Plum , said the elections would show the international community that democracy is still alive in Haiti .
-Haiti is the Western Hemisphere 's poorest country and has been plagued by violence .
-An Indian court has convicted two men , and acquitted one , on charges connected to a series of bombings 13 years ago that killed 257 people in Mumbai - formerly known as Bombay .
-The court found Nasir Dhakla and Mohammed Shaikh guilty Thursday of attending conspiracy meetings and undergoing arms training in Pakistan .
-But the court acquitted a third man accused of making arrangements for the bombings due to insufficient evidence .
-The judge in the case says prosecutors failed to prove Mohammed Mansoor was responsible for facilitating terrorist acts .
-Indian authorities say the bombings were in retaliation for the destruction of a 16th century mosque , in the northern city of Ayodhya , by a Hindu mob a year earlier .
-The mammoth trial began in 1994 , and the latest two guilty verdicts bring the number of convictions to 28 .
-India and the United States have discussed new areas of cooperation in high-technology , less than a month after Washington lifted restrictions on nuclear technology exports to India .
-An Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman said U.S. Undersecretary of State for Commerce Kenneth Juster and India 's Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran have identified four sectors of potential collaboration .
-They include biotechnology , nano-technology , advanced information technology and defense .
-Nano-technology is used to make micro-miniature equipment by manipulating atoms and molecules .
-U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia , Christina Rocca , will visit India next week to further discuss this cooperation .
-The United States imposed sanctions on India and Pakistan after they conducted nuclear weapons tests in 1998 .
-Restrictions included the sale of technology that could potentially be used for developing weapons .
-European Union nations have summoned Iranian ambassadors to protest the detention of British Embassy staff in Tehran .
-Officials say EU members agreed to the move Friday at a meeting in Brussels .
-EU officials are considering additional measures including visa bans on Iranian officials .
-A top Iranian cleric Friday said that some British Embassy staff will be put on trial for allegedly playing a role in post-election demonstrations .
-Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati said during a prayer sermon that some embassy employees confessed to instigating unrest .
-Jannati is close to Iran 's supreme leader .
-Nine British Embassy staffers were arrested in Tehran last Sunday .
-Some were freed , but the British government says two are still in custody .
-Britain 's foreign office expressed concern Friday and said it is investigating reports that the employees face trial .
-Turkey 's Foreign Ministry has denied that it canceled this week 's international air force exercise over opposition to Israel 's participation .
-The ministry said Monday the cancellation was " not political , " and urged Israeli officials to approach the situation with common sense .
-Israeli military officials said Saturday Turkey canceled the Anatolian Eagle exercise because it wanted to exclude the Israeli air force from taking part in the drill .
-The military exercise also was scheduled to include U.S. , Italian and NATO forces .
-Turkey and Israel have had close ties , but their relations have been uneven since Israeli forces clashed with Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip at the beginning of this year .
-Turkey 's prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has criticized the Israeli campaign in the Palestinian territory .
-Turkey has also played a role in trying to restart peace talks between Israel and Syria , but those contacts broke down last year .
-American Thomas Schelling Israeli-American Robert Aumann have won this year 's Nobel Prize in Economics for their work on people 's decisions in business and society .
-The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the one-point-three million dollar prize Monday in Stockholm .
-Mr. Schelling and Mr. Aumann were honored for their separate work on " game theory . "
-The theory attempts to explain how people make strategic and mathematically-based decisions on matters ranging from trade disputes , crime , and wars to such mundane choices as theater seats .
-The Nobel committee says their research goes far beyond economics to global security and arms control .
-The final 2005 Nobel Prize to be awarded is in literature .
-The date for the prize has yet to be announced .
-Election officials in Haiti have scheduled runoff elections for a new legislative assembly for late April .
-The election was originally scheduled for March 19 , but was delayed following widespread street protests that accompanied last month 's presidential elections .
-Rene Preval was declared president after his supporters staged angry demonstrations accusing election officials of manipulating the vote count to deny him a first-round victory .
-The delay in holding the legislative runoffs forced the postponement of Preval 's inauguration , which was scheduled for March 29 .
-The Vatican has announced that U.S. President George Bush will meet with Pope Benedict in June .
-Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said Saturday that the exact date for the private meeting has not yet been set , but it could be around June 9 or June 10 .
-President Bush is to travel to Europe in June to attend a summit of the Group of Eight industrialized nations in Germany .
-Mr. Bush visited the Vatican in 2005 for Pope John Paul 's funeral .
-Iran 's nuclear energy chief says the country has built a new generation of centrifuges , which are used to enrich uranium .
-Ali Akbar Salehi , the head of the Atomic Energy Organization , announced the development Tuesday .
-Enriched uranium can be used in nuclear fuel for a power plant .
-But Western countries suspect Iran is using the ingredient to build a nuclear weapon .
-Iran denies this .
-Iranian officials are expected to resume negotiations with world powers about their controversial nuclear program next week .
-Kazakhstan 's Information Ministry has ordered a popular opposition newspaper to close .
-In ordering the closure , the ministry accused the Respublika newspaper of inciting ethnic hatred by publishing an interview with a prominent Russian politician who made disparaging remarks about Kazakhs .
-The paper 's deputy editor Galina Dyrdina called the closure order politically-motivated , and vowed to appeal .
-The newspaper has been dogged by lawsuits and attacks , including a firebombing .
-Government critics in Kazakhstan say the order is part of a crackdown on free media ahead of possible presidential elections in December .
-President Nursultan Nazarbayev has ruled the former Soviet Republic since its independence in 1991 , and is expected to run again in December .
-Afghan officials say a suicide bomber has killed seven people , and wounded nearly 30 others in an attack in southeastern Afghanistan .
-Police say the attack happened Saturday in the town of Spin Boldak , in the southern province of Kandahar .
-Police say the bomber was riding a motorbike when he blew himself up near a busy market .
-Officials say he was targeting police officers in the area .
-Two policemen were among those killed .
-Reuters news service says the Taleban claimed responsibility for the attack .
-Taleban militants have carried out numerous attacks in southern and eastern Afghanistan as part of their campaign against the government and foreign troops .
-The bombing comes as Muslims celebrate the Eid-al-Fitr holiday which marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan .
-The U.S. military says it has opened a criminal probe into the death of a relative of Iraq 's ambassador to the United Nations .
-The son of Ambassador Samir Sumaidaie 's cousin was killed in June as U.S. Marines searched his home in western Iraq .
-A U.S. military statement Sunday says the top Marine commander in Iraq has referred the case to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service .
-Mohammed Sumaidaie was killed near Haditha on June 25 .
-Weeks later , the ambassador called the killing a crime and demanded a full investigation .
-Meanwhile , Iraqi Kurdish , Sunni and Shi'ite negotiators are meeting today in an 11th-hour effort to agree on a constitution ahead of a Monday night deadline .
-Negotiators have been unable to bridge differences over demands for political autonomy and the role of Islamic law in post-war Iraq .
-Oil prices fell sharply Monday as the U.S. House of Representatives voted against a $ 700-billion government plan to rescue troubled U.S. financial institutions .
-The price of a barrel of oil for future delivery dropped more than $ 10 to hit $ 96.26 a barrel at the close of New York trading Monday .
-Traders worried that rejection of the controversial plan could hurt U.S. economic growth , and cut demand for energy .
-A century-old rabbi has declared Israel 's Western Wall off-limits to Jews on their holiest day of the week because he says security cameras at the holy site are desecrating the Sabbath .
-Yosef Shalom Eliashiv says that use of the closed-circuit surveillance cameras violates the Jewish practice of refraining from operating electronics on the weekly holy day .
-A rabbi overseeing religious activities at the wall says talks with Jerusalem police are under way to find a compromise .
-The 100-year-old rabbi is highly revered among ultra-Orthodox Jews .
-His opinion has wide influence among them .
-The Western Wall is at the base of a compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount , which is Judaism 's holiest site .
-Muslims also consider the compound one of their holiest sites , calling it the Noble Sanctuary .
-Iraq 's foreign minister says four Iraqi military officers have been detained in the kidnapping this week of an Iranian diplomat .
-Foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari told reporters in Baghdad Wednesday that the four men , although military officers , were apparently not linked to the government .
-He did not elaborate .
-He said the men are being questioned about who ordered the kidnapping .
-Gunmen in Iraqi army uniforms kidnapped the Iranian diplomat on Sunday .
-Iran has said it holds the United States responsible for the safety of the diplomat .
-An Iranian spokesman said the kidnappers are linked to Iraq 's defense ministry , which , he said , " works under the supervision of American forces . "
-The U.S. has denied involvement in the incident .
-U.S. forces in Iraq arrested a number of Iranians recently .
-Washington has accused Tehran of aiding Shi'ite militants involved in sectarian attacks .
-At least five people have been killed and six others wounded in shootings at two Pakistani military posts in a semi-autonomous tribal region bordering Afghanistan .
-Security officials say rockets hit a base near Miranshah in North Waziristan before dawn Sunday , killing at least three people , including a soldier , and wounding four .
-Later in the same region , Pakistani security forces fatally shot two armed men at a checkpoint and arrested two others , one of whom was wounded .
-Pakistan 's army has been trying to clear militants from its tribal regions .
-Many of the militants operating in the border areas are al-Qaida-linked fighters who fled Afghanistan after U.S.-led forces ousted the Taleban .
-Afghan President Hamid Karzai has rejected U.S. criticism of his anti-drug program , called international help in the fight " half-hearted , " and demanded greater control over U.S. military operations in his country .
-Speaking on CNN on the eve of a White House meeting Monday with President Bush , Mr. Karzai also condemned the reported deaths of two Afghan prisoners in U.S. custody .
-He called for strict punishment for those who abuse detainees , but added the behavior of a few must not reflect on the United States as a whole .
-Mr. Karzai noted that at least 30 percent of the country 's poppy fields have been destroyed and called on international community to step up its own efforts instead of blaming the Afghans .
-The United Nations says unidentified gunmen in Sudan 's western Darfur region have ambushed and wounded three members of an African Union team .
-A U.N. spokeswoman said Wednesday , two of those wounded were AU monitors .
-The third victim was a Sudanese translator .
-The spokeswoman said one of the monitors was shot in the neck during the attack Tuesday north of the town of Nyala .
-She said the other two were only lightly hurt and that all three are now in stable condition .
-Last week , a U.S. development official was shot in the face while working in Darfur .
-She survived the attack .
-The African Union has a force of at least 2,000 personnel in Darfur , including troops and cease-fire monitors .
-The force has limited power to protect civilians .
-Negotiations to win the freedom of 19 South Korean hostages held in Afghanistan have stalled .
-Face to face talks between South Korean officials and Taleban militants broke down last week after the kidnappers released two female hostages in what they called a gesture of goodwill .
-Taleban spokesmen say South Korean negotiators have asked for more time .
-The militants have already executed two male hostages and are threatening to kill the rest if the Afghan government does not release Taleban prisoners .
-Kabul has ruled out a prisoner swap .
-Taleban militants abducted the group of 23 Koreans more than a month ago as they traveled by bus to southern Afghanistan to do charity work on behalf of their Christian church .
-Muslims around the world are preparing for the start of Islam 's holy month of Ramadan .
-Some countries begin observances Monday .
-The timing of the start of the holiday varies in Muslim communities and countries depending on the sighting of the new moon .
-Ramadan , the ninth month of the Islamic calendar , marks the time 1,400 years ago when Muslims believe the words of Islam 's holy book , the Koran , were revealed to the Prophet Muhammed .
-During Ramadan , Muslims fast from sunrise to sundown - abstaining from eating , drinking , smoking and sexual relations .
-The fast is broken at sundown each day with a feast called " iftaar . "
-Pakistani officials say a clash between security forces and Taliban militants has killed at least 10 people in the northwestern Swat Valley region .
-Officials say the fighting erupted when militants attacked a paramilitary convoy late Tuesday in the Kabal area , a Taliban stronghold .
-They say security forces later foiled a suicide attack , destroying an explosives-laden vehicle in the same area .
-Officials say at least five security personnel and five militants were killed in the fighting .
-Since August , Pakistan 's military has been locked in ongoing battles against Taliban and al-Qaida militants in parts of the country 's rural northwest .
-The Pakistani government is under pressure from neighboring Afghanistan and the United States to take on militants based along the Afghan border .
-Several armed Palestinian factions have pledged to maintain calm during Wednesday 's Palestinian parliamentary elections .
-The groups , including Hamas and Fatah-linked al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades , say their militants will not be armed during the vote .
-Despite the pledge , a Fatah election worker was killed in the West Bank town of Nablus overnight .
-Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called Tuesday for all Palestinians to take part in the election .
-Opinion polls show almost equal support for the militant group Hamas and Mr. Abbas ' Fatah .
-Both groups have indicated they would be ready to form a coalition after the vote .
-A top Hamas leader also suggested his group might agree to future negotiations with Israel through a third party .
-Hamas has carried out dozens of suicide bombings and remains committed to Israel 's destruction .
-Israeli and U.S. officials call Hamas a terrorist organization .
-Health officials in China say the number of cholera cases reported on the southern island of Hainan has increased to 51 .
-China 's official Xinhua news agency reports the provincial health department saying that 29 of those affected have been treated and released from the hospital .
-No deaths from the outbreak have been reported .
-On Sunday , authorities sealed the campus of Hainan University after 70 students were hospitalized with intestinal problems .
-Health officials say the outbreak began at a village dinner party near Danzhou .
-They have blamed heavy floods for creating conditions ripe for the disease .
-Cholera is a water-borne disease , which starts with acute diarrhea and can lead to kidney failure .
-It is especially dangerous for young children .
-Reed International PLC said that net income for the six months ended Oct. 1 slipped 5 % to # 89.7 million ( $ 141.9 million ) , or 16 pence a share , from # 94.8 million ( $ 149.9 million ) , or 17.3 pence a share .
-The British paper , packaging and publishing concern , said profit from continuing lines fell 10 % to # 118 million from # 130.6 million .
-While there were no one-time gains or losses in the latest period , there was a one-time gain of # 18 million in the 1988 period .
-And while there was no profit this year from discontinued operations , last year they contributed # 34 million , before tax .
-Pretax profit fell 3.7 % to # 128 million from # 133 million and was below analysts ' expectations of # 130 million to # 135 million , but shares rose 6 pence to 388 pence in early trading yesterday in London .
-Reed is paying an interim dividend of 4.6 pence , up 15 % from 4 pence a year earlier .
-Sales fell 20 % to # 722 million .
-Earnings were hurt by disposal of operations in its restructuring , Reed said .
-The German economy - the fifth largest economy in the world in PPP terms and Europe 's largest - is a leading exporter of machinery , vehicles , chemicals , and household equipment and benefits from a highly skilled labor force .
-Like its western European neighbors , Germany faces significant demographic challenges to sustained long-term growth .
-Low fertility rates and declining net immigration are increasing pressure on the country 's social welfare system and necessitate structural reforms .
-The modernization and integration of the eastern German economy - where unemployment can exceed 20 % in some municipalities - continues to be a costly long-term process , with annual transfers from west to east amounting in 2008 alone to roughly $ 12 billion .
-Reforms launched by the government of Chancellor Gerhard SCHROEDER ( 1998 - 2005 ) , deemed necessary to address chronically high unemployment and low average growth , contributed to strong growth in 2006 and 2007 and falling unemployment .
-These advances , as well as a government subsidized , reduced working hour scheme , help explain the relatively modest increase in unemployment during the 2008 - 9 recession - the deepest since World War II - and its decrease to 7.4 % in 2010 .
-GDP contracted 4.7 % in 2009 but grew by 3.6 % in 2010 .
-In its annual projection for 2011 , the Federal Government expects the upswing to continue , with GDP forecast to grow this year at a real rate of 2.3 % .
-The recovery was attributable primarily to rebounding manufacturing orders and exports - increasingly outside the Euro Zone .
-Domestic demand , however , is becoming more significant driver of Germany 's economic expansion .
-Stimulus and stabilization efforts initiated in 2008 and 2009 and tax cuts introduced in Chancellor Angela MERKEL 's second term increased Germany 's budget deficit to 3.3 % in 2010 .
-The Bundesbank expects the deficit to drop to about 2.5 % in 2011 , below the EU 's 3 % limit .
-A constitutional amendment approved in 2009 likewise limits the federal government to structural deficits of no more than 0.35 % of GDP per annum as of 2016 .
-Two centuries of Viking raids into Europe tapered off following the adoption of Christianity by King Olav TRYGGVASON in 994 .
-Conversion of the Norwegian kingdom occurred over the next several decades .
-In 1397 , Norway was absorbed into a union with Denmark that lasted more than four centuries .
-In 1814 , Norwegians resisted the cession of their country to Sweden and adopted a new constitution .
-Sweden then invaded Norway but agreed to let Norway keep its constitution in return for accepting the union under a Swedish king .
-Rising nationalism throughout the 19th century led to a 1905 referendum granting Norway independence .
-Although Norway remained neutral in World War I , it suffered heavy losses to its shipping .
-Norway proclaimed its neutrality at the outset of World War II , but was nonetheless occupied for five years by Nazi Germany ( 1940 - 45 ) .
-In 1949 , neutrality was abandoned and Norway became a member of NATO .
-Discovery of oil and gas in adjacent waters in the late 1960s boosted Norway 's economic fortunes .
-In referenda held in 1972 and 1994 , Norway rejected joining the EU .
-Key domestic issues include immigration and integration of ethnic minorities , maintaining the country 's extensive social safety net with an aging population , and preserving economic competitiveness .
-In 1959 , three years before independence from Belgium , the majority ethnic group , the Hutus , overthrew the ruling Tutsi king .
-Over the next several years , thousands of Tutsis were killed , and some 1,50,000 driven into exile in neighboring countries .
-The children of these exiles later formed a rebel group , the Rwandan Patriotic Front ( RPF ) , and began a civil war in 1990 .
-The war , along with several political and economic upheavals , exacerbated ethnic tensions , culminating in April 1994 in a state-orchestrated genocide , in which Rwandans killed up to a million of their fellow citizens , including approximately three-quarters of the Tutsi population .
-The genocide ended later that same year when the predominantly Tutsi RPF , operating out of Uganda and northern Rwanda , defeated the national army and Hutu militias , and established an RPF-led government of national unity .
-Approximately 2 million Hutu refugees - many fearing Tutsi retribution - fled to neighboring Burundi , Tanzania , Uganda , and Zaire .
-Since then , most of the refugees have returned to Rwanda , but several thousand remained in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo ( DRC ; the former Zaire ) and formed an extremist insurgency bent on retaking Rwanda , much as the RPF tried in 1990 .
-Rwanda held its first local elections in 1999 and its first post-genocide presidential and legislative elections in 2003 .
-Rwanda in 2009 staged a joint military operation with the Congolese Army in DRC to rout out the Hutu extremist insurgency there and Kigali and Kinshasa restored diplomatic relations .
-Rwanda also joined the Commonwealth in late 2009 .
-Tourism , commerce , and finance are the mainstays of Andorra 's tiny , well-to-do economy , accounting for more than three-quarters of GDP .
-An estimated 9 million tourists visit annually , attracted by Andorra 's duty-free status for some products and by its summer and winter resorts .
-Andorra 's comparative advantage eroded when the borders of neighboring France and Spain opened , providing broader availability of goods and lower tariffs .
-The banking sector also contributes substantially to the economy .
-Agricultural production is limited - only 2 % of the land is arable - and most food has to be imported .
-The principal livestock activity is sheep raising .
-Manufacturing output and exports consist mainly of perfumes and cosmetic products , products of the printing industry , electrical machinery and equipment , clothing , tobacco products , and furniture .
-Andorra is a member of the EU Customs Union and is treated as an EU member for trade in manufactured goods ( no tariffs ) and as a non-EU member for agricultural products .
-A PRINCE had some Monkeys trained to dance .
-Being naturally great mimics of men 's actions , they showed themselves most apt pupils , and when arrayed in their rich clothes and masks , they danced as well as any of the courtiers .
-The spectacle was often repeated with great applause , till on one occasion a courtier , bent on mischief , took from his pocket a handful of nuts and threw them upon the stage .
-The Monkeys at the sight of the nuts forgot their dancing and became ( as indeed they were ) Monkeys instead of actors .
-Pulling off their masks and tearing their robes , they fought with one another for the nuts .
-The dancing spectacle thus came to an end amidst the laughter and ridicule of the audience .
-- " Not everything you see is what it appears to be . "
-A HUNTSMAN , returning with his dogs from the field , fell in by chance with a Fisherman who was bringing home a basket well laden with fish .
-The Huntsman wished to have the fish , and their owner experienced an equal longing for the contents of the game-bag .
-They quickly agreed to exchange the produce of their day 's sport .
-Each was so well pleased with his bargain that they made for some time the same exchange day after day .
-Finally a neighbor said to them , " If you go on in this way , you will soon destroy by frequent use the pleasure of your exchange , and each will again wish to retain the fruits of his own sport . "
-Abstain and enjoy .
-A THIEF who had brought a suit against his accomplices to recover his share of the plunder taken from an Honest Man , demanded the Honest Man 's attendance at the trial to testify to his loss .
-But the Honest Man explained that as he was merely the agent of a company of other honest men it was none of his affair ; and when the officers came to serve him with a subpoena he hid himself behind his back and wiled away the dragging hours of retirement and inaction by picking his own pockets .
-One day after Senator Barack Obama picked up the endorsement of a key Democrat , U.S. media reports say Obama has gained as many as eight delegates .
-The reports conflict on how many moved from Senator John Edwards , who endorsed Obama May 14 .
-On Thursday , the Democratic Party frontrunner lashed out at the White House , following comments by President Bush in Israel .
-VOA 's Robert Raffaele has more .
-Tension has flared on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan after the two sides exchanged artillery and machine-gun fire .
-There were no confirmed reports of casualties in the clash that took place late Monday in the North Waziristan tribal region .
-The clash came a day after mortar rounds fired from the Afghan side of the border killed a Pakistani soldier and wounded three others in the same mountainous border area .
-Pakistani military officials say they are still unclear about who was responsible for the firing from the Afghan side of the border .
-On Monday , a Pakistani spokesman said he is certain the shelling did not come from American positions , but is asking for a U.S. investigation because coalition forces are responsible for security along the Afghan border .
-The United States and Britain have temporarily closed their diplomatic offices in Lagos , Nigeria , citing a security issue .
-A public affairs officer , Claudia Annyaso , at the U.S. Embassy in Abuja told VOA Friday that the U.S. consulate in Lagos has been close because of an security issue , which was being addressed by U.S. and Nigerian officials .
-The officer would not speculate on when the consulate would reopen , and had no further information on the security situation .
-British officials say they also have closed their High Commission offices in Lagos .
-In the past , al-Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden has cited Nigeria as a candidate for what he called " liberation . "
-Nigeria is a major petroleum producer and Africa 's most populous nation .
-Musician Ted Onulak is passionate about his music .
-His playing and singing style are deeply rooted in the blues , and he lists such jazz greats as Charlie Parker and John Lee Hooker as his musical influences .
-But his current career only came about when fate intervened in his life .
-VOA 's Tetiana Koprowicz recently caught up with him and has more on how this former diplomat turned his loss of eyesight into inspiration .
-Jim Bertel narrates .
-In Bangladesh , the death toll from flooding and mudslides unleashed by monsoon rains reached nearly 100 on Monday .
-Bangladeshi officials say worst hit was the southeastern port city of Chittagong , where 84 people died after many hillside homes were swept away or collapsed under tons of mud .
-Telephone lines to the rest of Bangladesh are down , and shops and schools in Chittagong are closed .
-Another 15 people were reported killed in other parts of the country by thunderstorms and lightning .
-Many people are missing , and the death toll is expected to rise as rescue workers search through rubble .
-Rescue efforts are being hampered by damaged roads and flooding .
-June marks the beginning of the annual monsoon season in South Asia which lasts until mid-September .
-Iraqi officials say two suicide bombers killed at least four people and wounded 17 in an attack outside a Shi'ite mosque in the northwestern city of Tal Afar .
-Police say security forces fired at the bombers , who still managed to blow themselves up during prayer services Friday at the mosque .
-In other news , the U.S. military says troops detained two suspected al-Qaida in Iraq fighters allegedly linked to a fatal roadside bombing on January 29 .
-A military statement says one of the suspects was the " number one high value " target of the U.S. brigade that captured him .
-The statement says five other al-Qaida members suspected of facilitating roadside bombings in Taji Qada , northwest of Baghdad , were also detained .
-U.S. military officials in Iraq say at least 21 Iraqis have been killed in three attacks north of Baghdad .
-In the largest attack , authorities say gunmen in two vehicles opened fire on buses taking Iraqis to work at a U.S. facility in Tikrit , killing 17 civilians and wounding 13 others .
-Later , officials say a car bomb killed at least three Iraqi National Guardsmen north of Tikrit .
-Separately , an Iraqi soldier was killed when a patrol came under attack in Samarra .
-In other developments , the U.S. military says its engineers have begun drafting a reconstruction plan for the city of Fallujah .
-Much of the flashpoint city west of Baghdad was devastated last month in fighting between insurgents and U.S. forces .
-Officials say engineers will first move to restore water and electricity , before rebuilding hospitals , schools and solid waste facilities .
-The U.S. military says a roadside bomb has killed an American soldier in eastern Afghanistan .
-The blast in Paktika province wounded another U.S. service member and an Afghan soldier .
-In neighboring Zabul province , suspected Taleban insurgents killed an Afghan intelligence officer Thursday .
-And in Helmand province , a Muslim cleric was wounded by unidentified gunmen riding a motorcycle .
-A purported Taleban spokesman claimed responsibility for those two attacks .
-Meanwhile , the United States and Afghanistan agreed in principle to transfer most Afghans in U.S. custody to the Afghan government .
-A spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai says prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay detention center and U.S. facilities in Afghanistan will be among those handed over .
-Former world number one women 's tennis player Kim Clijsters of Belgium has beaten Russia 's Vera Douchevina at the Eastbourne , England grass court tennis tournament to claim her third tournament title this year .
-Clijsters , seeded seventh , ousted Douchevina in straight sets , 07-May , 6-0 .
-Earlier this year , Clijsters won tournaments at Indian Wells , California , and Miami , Florida .
-Douchevina was the 2002 junior champion at Wimbledon and had beaten top-seeded Amelie Mauresmo of France on her way to the finals .
-The grass court tournament is a key warm-up for the Wimbledon championships , which start Monday in London .
-Two suspected Taleban members blew themselves up while strapping on explosives in southern Afghanistan .
-The blast occurred Thursday near a market in an Afghan town near the Pakistani border .
-Afghan officials say no one else was hurt in the explosion .
-The blast came a day after a roadside bomb ripped through a U.S. military vehicle in the eastern province of Kunar , killing one soldier and wounding two others .
-Suicide attacks have increased in Afghanistan in recent months , primarily in southern and eastern regions where U.S.-led coalition forces are hunting Taleban and al-Qaida fighters .
-United Nations peacekeepers in Haiti say they will increase patrols to prevent possible kidnappings when schools reopen next week .
-In a statement , U.N. officials said troops and Haitian police will conduct vehicle searches and other security measures .
-A U.N. spokesman told the Associated Press that officials fear that kidnappers may seek new victims as students return to class .
-The U.N. Children 's Fund has condemned recent abductions of children in and around the Haitian capital , Port-au-Prince .
-Since 2004 , the U.N. force in Haiti has been working to restore security and battle impunity in the impoverished nation .
-The United Nations torture investigator says he has been blocked from visiting Cuba to look into allegations of human rights abuses .
-Manfred Nowak said Wednesday he was disappointed when Cuba informed him they would be unable to accommodate his mission before his term ends several months from now on October 30 .
-Nowak said Cuba had issued a " clear invitation " to allow him to assess the torture situation on the ground , but repeated attempts to schedule the trip had been blocked .
-There was no immediate comment from Cuba .
-Last week , the U.S.-based human rights group Freedom House named Cuba among the top 20 worst human rights abusers in the world , saying it and the other listed countries severely suppress political opposition , independent organization , and criticism of the state .
-President Bush was in the state of Tennessee Friday , to highlight some of his administration 's environmental accomplishments .
-He stopped there after bad weather forced him to cancel an Earth Day visit to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park .
-The president said Earth Day is an opportunity for Americans to recommit themselves to good stewardship of the land .
-He said that since the 1970s , " the air 's cleaner , the land is better ... and the economy is growing . "
-He added that ozone levels have dropped , said he has enacted provisions to cut emissions from heavy diesel engines by 90 percent , and described how his administration is aggressively restoring , improving and protecting a total of three million acres of wetlands .
-But critics chide him for , among other things , allowing companies to sidestep anti-pollution regulations and seeking to open public lands to timber , oil and gas exploration .
-Colombia has rejected asylum requests by former Venezuelan military officers accused of plotting a 2002 coup against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez .
-A Colombian government official said Tuesday the requests for refugee status had been denied but also said the decisions are being appealed .
-Venezuelan former Admiral Hector Ramirez told Colombian television Tuesday that he and at least seven other former top officers face persecution if they go back to Venezuela .
-The group has been in Colombia since late last year .
-Mr. Ramirez was named defense minister during the two-day long coup which temporarily deposed President Chavez .
-Venezuelan business leader Pedro Carmona , who served as president during the coup , has been granted asylum by Colombia .
-Brazilian police have detained two men in connection with the recent theft of nearly $ 70 million from a bank vault in one of the largest bank robberies in history .
-Authorities say the men were detained near the southeastern city of Belo Horizonte Wednesday , after police stopped their truck loaded with vehicles that were purchased in cash Saturday from a car dealership .
-Officials say they also found a fraction of the stolen money hidden in one of the vehicles .
-Police say Saturday 's daring theft at a central bank branch in the northeastern city of Fortaleza was carried out by 10 to 20 people taking three months to dig an 80-meter tunnel from a house where they had set up a phony landscaping company .
-The thieves left behind tools used to dig the tunnel and get through the vault 's one-meter thick concrete and steel floor .
-Russian lawmakers have voted to extend presidential term limits from four to six years .
-The lower house of parliament overwhelmingly approved the measure during its first reading Friday .
-It will need to pass through two more readings to change the constitution and become law .
-The lower house has fast tracked the measure , which was announced by President Dmitri Medvedev last week .
-Opponents say the measure could allow former Russian President Vladimir Putin , who now is Russia 's prime minister , to quickly seek to return to the presidency .
-Mr. Medvedev has also proposed extending the term of the State Duma from four to five years .
-Britain 's Prime Minister Tony Blair has called a national election for May 5 .
-Mr. Blair made the announcement Tuesday after asking Queen Elizabeth for permission to dissolve parliament , in line with pre-election protocol .
-The prime minister had been expected to call the election , with Britain enjoying a strong economy .
-Several opinion polls published today show Mr. Blair 's Labor Party with a lead of two to five percentage points .
-The main opposition parties hope to overcome that lead by highlighting Mr. Blair 's support for the war in Iraq , which remains largely unpopular in Britain .
-The Labor Party enters the race with a commanding 161-seat majority in parliament .
-Mr. Blair will be seeking his third term in office , following landslide victories in 1997 and 2001 .
-Military officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo say rebel fighters have attacked an army camp in the eastern Ituri region .
-There were few details about Saturday night 's raid , but army officials said at least two militia fighters were killed in gunbattles .
-Rebel groups regularly clash with military forces in the DRC .
-The United Nations says the violence has caused some 1,70,000 Congolese to flee their homes in recent months .
-Some 17,000 U.N. peacekeepers are stationed in Congo to secure the country for nationwide elections July 30 .
-On Friday , the head of the notorious Mai Mai militia surrendered to U.N. forces and pledged to disarm his troops .
-Officials said it was a major victory for stabilizing the country .
-Burma 's prime minister , General Thein Sein , will make official visits to Indonesia and Singapore later this month .
-Burma 's state-owned New Light of Myanmar newspaper said the prime minister would make the visits in the near future .
-It gave no further details of his plans .
-However , Burmese officials said on condition of anonymity that General Thein Sein will depart Sunday for Indonesia .
-Burma , Indonesia and Singapore all belong to the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian nations , which held a summit in Thailand earlier this month .
-During that meeting , Southeast Asian leaders encouraged Burma 's military government to release political detainees and open up next year 's election to more political parties .
-The military has ruled Burma since 1962 .
-The government has created a " roadmap to democracy , " but critics say it further strengthens the generals ' grip on power .
-Pakistani officials say security forces and helicopter gunships have killed at least 21 suspected militants in the northwestern tribal region of Orakzai .
-They say troops and aircraft attacked militant compounds in the area on Wednesday , destroying a training center , a bunker and an ammunition dump .
-In the past year Pakistani forces have been carrying out anti-Taliban offensives in the country 's northwestern tribal regions , particularly South Waziristan .
-U.S. missile strikes in the tribal areas are also targeting Taliban and al-Qaida commanders , often in the North Waziristan region .
-Militants based in the region have retaliated by launching gun and bomb attacks against government workers , police and civilians in Pakistan 's cities .
-President Bush said nations around the world need to stand with moderate reformers in the MIddle East .
-He said the world must seek stability in the region through the establishment of free and just societies .
-Mr. Bush also pledged to continue to support the government of Iraq in its struggle with terrorists .
-In addition , the president said Iran must abandon what he called its ambition for nuclear weapons .
-He said the United States is working for a diplomatic solution to the issue , and said the U.S. does not oppose a truly peaceful nuclear program for Iran .
-Hong Kong police have released 944 protesters detained after sometimes violent demonstrations during last week 's World Trade Organization meetings .
-More than 1000 anti-free trade protesters were arrested .
-Most of them were South Korean farmers .
-On Saturday , the demonstrators attacked riot police with bamboo poles , pipes and bottles as they tried to force their way into the conference hall where trade ministers were meeting .
-Hong Kong police say they are charging 14 people with unlawful assembly .
-Nearly 200 of the demonstrators had been released earlier .
-South Korea 's Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Kyu-hyung arrived in Hong Kong Monday to express his government 's regret over the violence .
-The government of Colombia says it will allow no more international missions seeking the release of hostages held by leftist rebels .
-Foreign Minister Fernando Araujo said Monday that the failed mission led by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez left what he called " a bad taste " .
-Araujo said Mr. Chavez and the leftist observers came to criticize the government and defend the guerrillas .
-In late December Mr. Chavez assembled the observers to oversee the release of three hostages held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC .
-On New Year 's Eve , the release collapsed amid accusations from the FARC that Colombian military operations interfered with the release .
-It was later learned that one of the hostages , a three-year-old boy , was not under the control of the FARC , but had been released in 2005 .
-French authorities say violence flared for the 13th night in several cities despite night-time curfews , but the number of attacks dropped sharply .
-Official say rampaging youths burned more than 600 vehicles across the country , about half the number set aflame night before .
-Police say 204 people were arrested in the latest violence , which has been carried out mainly by Muslim youths of North African descent .
-A state of emergency went into effect at midnight permitting such cities as Amiens , Orleans and the Paris suburb of Savigny-sur-Orge to declare curfews .
-In the southern city of Lyon , officials shut the entire subway system after a firebomb exploded in one station late Tuesday .
-No injuries were reported .
-Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin Tuesday announced a number of measures to address what many French say are the main causes of the riots - youth unemployment , poor schools and discrimination .
-Cuban state media say former President Fidel Castro will appear at a special session of parliament Saturday for the first time since 2006 , when he ceded power to his younger brother , Raul .
-The reports said Wednesday that the Cuban National Assembly will debate several issues relating to the international situation , but did not elaborate .
-The elder Castro said last week that he would ask for such a session to discuss his concerns that a nuclear war involving the United States and Iran will erupt in the near future .
-The former president , who turns 84 later this month , has increased his public appearances in recent weeks following a long period of seclusion , resulting from an illness suffered in 2006 .
-Fidel Castro underwent intestinal surgery that year and turned over power on a provisional basis to his brother , who formally assumed the presidency in February 2008 .
-Military officials in the Philippines say the death toll from a fuel truck explosion in the country 's south has risen to 50 , with more than 40 others injured .
-The truck exploded Friday on a road in Zamoanga del Sur province , destroying the tanker , as well as a passenger bus on the opposite side of the road .
-Soldiers are still recovering bodies .
-There are disagreements as to what the truck was carrying .
-Some reports say it was hauling compressed carbon dioxide , while others say it was carrying liquified petroleum gas .
-Top finance officials of the Group of Eight industrialized nations meet Friday in London in an effort to work out an agreement on debt relief for the world 's poorest countries .
-The finance ministers will try to settle differences over the issue before a G8 summit next month in Scotland .
-President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair said earlier this week after meeting in Washington that they were close to completing a proposal to cancel all debt for the world 's poorest countries .
-The New York Times Friday quotes an unidentified senior official in Washington as saying an agreement has been reached .
-The report says the plan would free 18 mostly African countries from their entire debt obligation .
-However , other G8 countries are sharply divided on how to finance debt relief .
-Bernie Mac says he intends to retire from stand-up comedy after 30 years .
-The 49-year-old comic - real name Bernard McCullogh - made the announcement Monday March 19 on David Letterman 's U.S. television talk show .
-He says the move will allow him to continue producing and acting in films , while spending more time at home .
-Later this year , he 'll release his final performance film , The Whole Truth , Nothing But The Truth , So Help Me Mac .
-Bernie Mac 's next film , the sports drama Pride , opens March 23 in the United States .
-The husband of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto says he wants to improve relations between India and Pakistan .
-Asif Ali Zardari , leader of the Pakistan People 's Party , says he wants to set aside the dispute over the Kashmir region so the two countries can focus on other issues , including boosting trade .
-He made the remarks during an interview broadcast on India 's CNN-IBN television network Friday .
-Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan , but is claimed in total by both .
-The two countries have fought two wars over the disputed territory located in the Himalayan mountain valley .
-Zardari says relations between India and Pakistan should not be held hostage to the Kashmir situation , and that both countries can agree to disagree on the issue .
-Violence in Indian-controlled Kashmir has declined since India and Pakistan entered into a peace process in 2004 .
-Ceremonies are being held Wednesday in the United States to mark the 64th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor , Hawaii , which drew America into World War II .
-One ceremony is taking place at the USS Arizona Memorial , the site at Pearl Harbor where that battleship was sunk in the attack .
-Guests at the memorial observed a moment of silence at the same time the Japanese attack began on December 7 , 1941 .
-The attack killed more than 2,400 people and destroyed most of the U.S. Pacific fleet , which was based at Pearl Harbor .
-In a speech Wednesday in Washington , President Bush honored Americans who fought in World War II , saying the United States did not waver in the cause for freedom .
-Mr. Bush also said the victory by Allied forces in the war laid a foundation of peace for generations .
-A series of bombings has killed at least 14 people in Baghdad , ahead of the highly anticipated transfer of operational command of Iraq 's armed forces from the U.S.-led coalition to Iraqi authorities .
-Officials say more than 30 others were wounded in suicide car bombings and roadside bomb blasts across the city Thursday .
-The deadliest attack took place in the Karrada neighborhood , where a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-filled car at the entrance of a gas station for police vehicles .
-At least 10 people died and 17 others were wounded in that attack .
-Meanwhile , senior Iraqi military officials are preparing for the country 's prime minister to take control of the armed forces at a ceremony that was originally scheduled five days ago .
-Separately , the Iraqi government said 27 " terrorists " convicted of killings and rapes were executed Wednesday .
-The top U.S. presidential candidates say the latest unemployment numbers make it much more important for Congress to act quickly and responsibly to address the country 's financial crisis .
-Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama released statements Friday , calling on the House of Representatives to pass a financial bailout package for troubled financial institutions .
-Both candidates are U.S. senators , and voted in favor of a revised rescue plan earlier this week .
-McCain says Friday 's jobs report from the Labor Department shows the nation 's economy is on the wrong track .
-He says if elected president he will " clean up the mess " created by the greed of financial firms , and fix the root causes of the crisis .
-Obama says if elected he will rebuild the middle class and create millions of new jobs by investing in the country 's infrastructure and in renewable energy .
-Iraq 's interim defense minister says one of Saddam Hussein 's closest aides , Ali Hassan al-Majid - better known as Chemical Ali - will be the first member of the ousted regime to go on trial for war crimes .
-The minister , Hazem Shaalan , told reporters in Baghdad Wednesday , the trial could begin as early as next week , and that he did not expect it to be a long process .
-On Tuesday , interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi announced that trials against Saddam 's top deputies would start next week , but did not specify which officials would appear in court .
-Meanwhile , campaigning for Iraq 's January 30 election officially got under way Wednesday .
-Mr. Allawi was among the first to officially announce his candidacy Wednesday , appealing to the country 's diverse ethnic and religious groups .
-Egypt 's health ministry says a teenage girl who tested positive for the H5N1 avian flu has died -- raising the number of deaths from the disease in Egypt to 14 .
-The health ministry said the 15-year-old girl died at a Cairo hospital late Tuesday , despite being treated with the antiviral drug Tamiflu and being placed on a respirator .
-The girl was hospitalized last week .
-Officials say none of her family members was found to have the deadly form of bird flu .
-The Egyptian government and the World Health Organization say 34 Egyptians , including several children , have contracted the H5N1 form of avian flu .
-Fourteen of them have now died died .
-Egypt has the largest number of human bird flu cases outside of Asia .
-Australian Prime Minister John Howard says the apparent killing of international aid worker Margaret Hassan in Iraq is shocking and inhumane .
-Mr. Howard also told the parliament Thursday in Canberra that the body of a woman found in Fallujah appears to be that of Ms. Hassan .
-However , when questioned by reporters afterwards , Mr. Howard would not elaborate on the statement , saying only that Ms. Hassan 's killers have not returned her body .
-On Sunday , U.S. Marines in Fallujah found the mutilated body of what appeared to be a Western woman .
-Days earlier , Arabic television network al-Jazeera had said it received a video that appeared to show the killing .
-Unidentified kidnappers abducted Ms. Hassan last month and called on Britain to withdraw its troops from Iraq .
-Ms. Hassan headed Iraqi operations of the international charity CARE , as an employee of the group 's Australian branch .
-Police in southern Kyrgyzstan say a clash between protesters and security guards outside a hotel in the city of Osh has injured four people .
-Local authorities say security guards fired at the demonstrators with automatic weapons to disperse them .
-The hotel is believed to be owned by prominent politician , Bayaman Erkinbayev , who survived an attempt on his life by unknown assailants six weeks ago .
-Monday 's clash in Osh follows a similar incident at a market place in the border town of Kara-Suu Thursday , which Mr. Erkinbayev says belongs to his wife .
-Kyrgyzstan , a mountainous Central Asian country , has been unstable since President Askar Akayev 's ouster in March .
-Presidential elections to replace Mr. Akayev are scheduled for July 10 .
-Mr. Erkinbayev is one of the candidates .
-Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his Colombian counterpart , Alvaro Uribe , have held talks that included the diplomatic dispute between Colombia and Venezuela .
-The two presidents met in a Colombian town to discuss the rift over Colombia 's capture of a FARC rebel leader in Caracas last month .
-Brazil and Mexico have offered to mediate the rift , which began after Colombia acknowledged paying bounty hunters to capture Rodrigo Granda .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says Colombia violated his country 's sovereignty .
-Last week , Venezuela froze trade relations with Colombia and recalled its ambassador from Bogota .
-The Colombians say they plan to send Caracas proof that Colombian guerrillas are in Venezuelan territory .
-Colombia is mired in a long-running civil war involving leftist rebels , rightist paramilitaries and the government .
-The conflict leaves thousands dead each year .
-Australian scientists have unveiled fossils of what they say are the largest dinosaurs ever found in Australia .
-Fossilized bones of two titanosaurs went on display Thursday at the Queensland Museum in the eastern city of Brisbane .
-The 25-meter-long dinosaurs , nicknamed Cooper and George , were found by ranchers in 2005 and 2006 , near the town of Eromanga , in southwest Queensland state .
-The discoveries were kept secret until now to allow scientists to dig them up and study them .
-A single leg bone from one of the titanosaurs measures 1.5 meters long , and weighs 100 kilograms .
-The titanosaurs were among the largest and heaviest prehistoric animals ever to roam the Earth , with extremely long necks and tails .
-The titanosaurs were plant-eating dinosaurs , called sauropods , that lived more than 100 million years ago .
-Trial began in Amman Monday , for an Iraqi woman charged with taking part in a triple bomb attack that killed 60 people in the Jordanian capital last year .
-Sajida Mubarak al-Rishawi was captured when her explosives belt failed to detonate during the suicide attack at three hotels on November 9 .
-Al-Rishawi , whose husband blew himself up in the bombings , is the only defendant in custody .
-Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi , the accused mastermind of the attacks , and others were charged in absentia .
-Al-Zarqawi 's al-Qaida in Iraq group claimed responsibility for the attacks , which were aimed at foreign visitors but wound up killing mostly Jordanians .
-John Bolton appearing before Senate President Bush 's choice for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations is fielding tough questions at his confirmation hearing Monday .
-In his opening statement , John Bolton pledged to work with other countries to make the United Nations stronger and more effective .
-But Senate Democrats remain clearly opposed to Mr. Bolton , who has in the past condemned the world body and bluntly criticized a number of countries .
-Democrats today raised questions about an incident in which Mr. Bolton pressured State Department intelligence analysts who challenged his assertion that Cuba possessed banned weapons .
-In testimony , Mr. Bolton admitted that he tried to have the men moved to other jobs .
-Senator Christopher Dodd called that " dreadfully wrong . "
-Mr. Bolton currently serves as undersecretary of state for arms control .
-His hearing continues through Wednesday .
-The first group of United Nations peacekeepers has left Burundi as part of a gradual 12-month withdrawal plan from the central African country .
-U.N. officials say some 170 Mozambican peacekeepers departed Saturday from an airport in the capital , Bujumbura .
-The United Nations plans to reduce its 5,500-member peacekeeping force in Burundi by 40 percent by April .
-Next to leave will be the Kenyans , followed by the Ethiopians and other nationalities which make up the force .
-U.N. peacekeepers have been in Burundi since 2004 , when the government and rebels signed an agreement ending their 12-year civil war .
-Some 3,00,000 people died in the long ethnic conflict between Hutu rebels and the politically-dominant Tutsis .
-Water levels are receding in India 's desert state of Rajasthan and relief workers there have stepped up efforts to rescue thousands of stranded villagers .
-Officials say floods caused by monsoon rains killed at least 140 people in the past week , most of them in the district of Barmer .
-More than 7,00,000 people have been stranded .
-In western and southern India , more than 500 people have been killed and millions left homeless since the annual monsoon rains began in June .
-Floods have also killed at least 31 people in neighboring Nepal in the past three days .
-Soldiers have been using helicopters and rubber boats to rescue hundreds of people .
-Officials say most of the deaths came in the worst-hit seven districts in the plains of western Nepal .
-U.S. and Iraqi forces are continuing a major security operation in restive al-Anbar province , west of Baghdad .
-American military officials say strict security measures were imposed Sunday on several cities along the Euphrates River , including Ramadi , where a curfew was ordered .
-In another development , the Indonesian foreign ministry confirmed Monday that kidnappers in Iraq have freed two Indonesian journalists who were abducted last week .
-Meanwhile , Iraqi officials in the northern city of Mosul say an anchorwoman for a regional television station was abducted at gunpoint late Sunday .
-A videotape said to come from al-Qaida has been seen on al-Jazeera television .
-The tape carries a message in the name of the terrorist group 's No. 2 leader , Ayman al-Zawahiri , denouncing U.S. calls for reform in the Muslim world .
-Lebanese troops have unearthed the remains of 25 bodies from a mass grave in an eastern town near the former headquarters of Syrian intelligence in Lebanon .
-Officials Saturday said the bodies were found in the Bekaa Valley town of Anjar .
-They say the bodies , one of which was dressed in a Lebanese military uniform , have been buried for years .
-The Syrian headquarters was notorious for the arrest and torture of Lebanese prisoners during its nearly three-decade presence in Lebanon .
-Authorized by the Arab League , Syria first moved troops into Lebanon in 1976 to try to maintain order one year after the outbreak of the country 's devastating 15-year civil war .
-Damascus was forced to withdraw its troops earlier this year under intense domestic and international pressure after senior Syrian officials were implicated in the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri .
-Syria has denied any role in the killing .
-India and Pakistan have begun a trial run of a bus service linking the Sikh holy city of Amritsar in India with the Pakistani city of Lahore .
-Indian transport officials were on board the yellow bus as it left Amritsar Sunday for the 60-kilometer journey to Lahore .
-The bus crossed into Pakistan at Wagah .
-A Pakistani bus will carry out a trial run to Amritsar on December 13 , and the full twice-weekly passenger service between the two cities is expected to begin on December 23 .
-The bus link is part of efforts started two years ago to ease decades of hostility between India and Pakistan .
-In early April , buses started running across divided Kashmir to reunite families , some of whom have been separated for almost 60 years .
-Haiti 's government says it is seeking the arrest of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on corruption charges .
-Prime Minister Gerard Latortue announced Friday that formal instructions have been sent to the Justice Ministry for an arrest warrant to be issued as quickly as possible .
-Mr. Aristide is in exile in South Africa .
-Mr. Latortue made the remarks as the government opened a commission to investigate the charges against Mr. Aristide , who fled Haiti during an armed uprising in February .
-Mr. Aristide 's Miami-based lawyer , Ira Kurzban , says the allegations are politically motivated and have no basis in fact .
-Mr. Kurzban also tells VOA the charges are a public relations ploy to divert attention from a government he says was not elected and that is engaged in gross human rights violations .
-Medical personnel in the stricken city of New Orleans are desperately trying to continue to aid patients amid depleting supplies and deteriorating conditions .
-Hospitals are severely crippled in the flooding that has submerged most of the city .
-Some patients , including babies , have been airlifted to other facilities .
-The Associated Press says doctors from two hospitals have issued a plea for their facilities to be evacuated , saying conditions are dire and they are nearly out of food and emergency power .
-In the streets of New Orleans , corpses are lying in the open and anxious refugees are pleading for water and food .
-Field hospitals are overwhelmed with the sick .
-U.S. officials say shots have been fired at emergency personnel and the security situation remains a problem .
-The New Orleans mayor has issued a desperate SOS ( plea for help ) .
-China has confirmed that senior envoys from the United States , North Korea , and China met in Beijing this week in an effort to restart six-nation talks on Pyongyang 's nuclear program .
-A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said Thursday Wednesday 's talks included the top U.S. envoy to the nuclear negotiations , Christopher Hill .
-Further details were not provided .
-Wednesday , North Korea 's official news agency confirmed leader Kim Jong il recently visited China , and held talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao .
-It said during the talks Mr. Kim reaffirmed a commitment to rid the Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons and pursue the six-party talks .
-Pyongyang has demanded that the United States first lift economic sanctions against North Korea as a precondition for returning to the stalled talks .
-Washington has rejected the demand .
-Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko met with leaders of parliamentary factions Tuesday in an effort to end a standoff that has prevented the formation of a new government .
-Representatives of the country 's pro-Western coalition say talks scheduled for Monday were canceled after Viktor Yanukovych , the leader of the opposition pro-Russian Party of Regions failed to attend .
-But a spokesman for the opposition group said the meeting was intended for experts , not top leaders .
-The pro-Russian party has been blocking parliamentary proceedings for the past week by barring access to the podium .
-Party members are dissatisified with the role they have been offered in the new government .
-They contend that because they won more seats in parliament than any other group in the March elections , they deserve a bigger role .
-The pro-Western coalition is made up of three parties that led the 2004 Orange Revolution and brought Mr. Yushchenko to power .
-American Andy Roddick , Czech Tomas Berdych and Spaniard David Ferrer have claimed the remaining qualifying spots for the Association of Tennis Professionals ( ATP ) World Tour Finals in London .
-The players will be joining Spaniard Rafael Nadal , Swiss Roger Federer , Serbian Novak Djokovic , Scott Andy Murray and Swede Robin Soderling in the eight-man tournament that takes place from November 21 - 28 .
-It will be the first appearance at the season finale for 2010 Wimbledon finalist Berdych .
-The final spots were decided when Frenchman Gael Monfils scored a third-round victory over Spain 's Fernando Verdasco at the Paris Masters .
-Verdasco needed to reach the final to have any hope of qualifying for the elite indoor hard-court tournament .
-Russian Nikolay Davydenko defeated Argentine Juan Martin del Potro to claim the 2009 title .
-Neither will be playing in this year 's edition .
-NATO peacekeepers in Bosnia-Herzegovina have raided a business owned by the son-in-law of fugitive Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic .
-Alliance officials say the raid on a photography and electronics business in Pale run by Branislav Jovicevic was aimed at gaining additional information about the supply network assisting Mr. Karadzic and was aimed at disrupting it .
-The United Nations war crimes tribunal has indicted Mr. Karadzic for his role in attacks on civilians during the Bosnian conflict of the 1990s .
-He is believed to be hiding in Bosnia or in neighboring Montenegro .
-The U.S. military says it has not found the pilot of an F-16 fighter jet that crashed in Iraq Monday .
-Officials say the pilot was not at the crash site northwest of Baghdad when U.S. ground forces arrived .
-The Air Force says it can not confirm whether the pilot is alive or dead .
-Military officials say fighter aircraft spotted insurgents in the area of the crash site immediately after the warplane went down .
-Air Force officials say the cause of the crash is being investigated but that it is unlikely the jet was shot down .
-A scientist watches a rocket carrying CARTOSAT-1 and HAMSAT on a screen just before the take-off at Sriharokota , India India has launched a rocket carrying two satellites , as part of the country 's ambitious space program that aims to send a probe to the moon .
-The indigenous high-tech rocket , called the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle , or PSLAV blasted off from India 's spaceport of Sriharokota on the coast of the Bay of Bengal Thursday .
-Among the two satellites , the heavier CARTOSAT-1 is designed to supply high-resolution pictures for more precise maps for a wide range of uses , including water resources management , town planning and environmental assessment .
-The smaller HAMSAT communication satellite will provide high radio frequencies .
-Indian space scientists say they plan to use a version of the PSLAV rocket for their moon mission which they hope to complete by 2008 .
-Two Lebanese soldiers were killed in fighting , as the army continues its assault against Islamic militants holed up inside a Palestinian refugee camp .
-Army officials say the soldiers were killed Wednesday inside the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon .
-More than 130 people - including 63 soldiers and at least 20 civilians - have been killed since fighting between Lebanese troops and the militant group Fatah al-Islam broke out at the camp more than three weeks ago .
-Tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees managed to flee the area , but thousands more remain inside .
-In related news , the U.S.-based rights group Human Rights Watch has accused the Lebanese army of physically abusing and illegally detaining civilians fleeing the camp .
-Lebanese officials would not comment on the allegations .
-Oil prices hit new record highs Tuesday on heightened concerns about a potential Turkish incursion into northern Iraq to pursue Kurdish rebels .
-The price of U.S. crude for November delivery settled up $ 1.48 at a record $ 87.61 per barrel .
-Earlier , the price climbed as high as $ 88.2 .
-Dealers say there is concern that an escalation of fighting along the Turkish-Iraqi border could affect oil production and pipelines in northern Iraq .
-They say another factor driving up the prices is low supplies of oil in the United States and other consumer nations heading into winter .
-In a statement Tuesday , the chief of powerful oil cartel OPEC , Abdullah Al-Badri , said the group does not favor higher prices , and insists the market is well-supplied .
-Iraq 's defense ministry says security forces have arrested 93 suspects in an al-Qaida crackdown in the western Anbar province .
-A defense ministry spokesman , Major General Mohammed al-Askari , said Thursday the arrests included 60 wanted men .
-He said the detentions resulted from a series of raids launched late Tuesday that included help from police , the army , pro-government tribal forces and members of an anti-al-Qaida militia .
-Earlier this week , Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki named security as one of his top priorities after parliament approved cabinet ministers for his new government .
-Meanwhile , Iraqi officials say gunmen using silencers have killed a brigadier general and wounded a police lieutenant colonel .
-Both incidents occurred late Wednesday in Baghdad .
-Turkey has detained 10 people with suspected links to the al-Qaida terrorist network .
-Among those arrested was a lawyer who identified himself as the leader of the group in Turkey .
-The official Anatolia news agency said Saturday the suspects were detained in simultaneous operations begun in November in the capital , Ankara , Istanbul and the western city of Izmir .
-Turkey has suffered several attacks blamed on al-Qaida .
-In November 2003 , more than 60 people were killed in bombings of two synagogues , the British Consulate and a bank office in Istanbul .
-The United States Supreme Court has ruled that lawsuits are permitted against tobacco companies who allegedly use deceptive tactics to advertise " light " brand cigarettes .
-By a narrow 05-Apr vote Monday , the justices said smokers may use state consumer protection laws to sue companies for the way they promote " low tar " or " light " cigarettes .
-The case stems from a class action lawsuit from three residents in the northeastern state of Maine who alleged manufacturers hid information that " light " cigarettes are as dangerous as regular ones .
-Tobacco companies argued that a federal cigarette-labeling law does not allow states to regulate any aspect of cigarette advertising involving smoking and health .
-The high court decision Monday is a blow to Altria Group 's Philip Morris unit and other tobacco companies , who face scores of similar lawsuits across the country .
-The European Union has announced a $ 195 million humanitarian aid package for 10 African nations , including Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo .
-EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel says millions of Africans remain vulnerable to " silent tsunamis " such as droughts , floods and armed conflicts .
-Nearly $ 57 million has been earmarked to help displaced persons return to Sudan 's violence-plagued Darfur region , while $ 45 million will be spent to improve health care for women and children in the war weary Congo .
-The rest of the money will fund aid efforts in Uganda , Burundi , Comoros , Liberia , Ivory Coast , Madagascar , Chad and Tanzania .
-The money will be funneled through several humanitarian aid organizations , including the United Nations and Red Cross .
-Leaders of Germany 's two main political parties will hold a special meeting Thursday to determine who should lead a so-called " grand coalition " government , after last month 's general election ended without a clear winner .
-The announcement followed Wednesday 's third round of coalition talks between Christian Democratic leader Angela Merkel and Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder , who heads the ruling Social Democrats .
-Ms. Merkel , who is battling to become chancellor , told reporters she is more optimistic than pessimistic .
-The Social Democrats have insisted that Mr. Schroeder remain in office even though the Christian Democrats hold a slight lead in parliament after recent elections .
-Both parties failed to win enough seats to govern with their respective small party allies .
-A poll released Wednesday shows 34 percent of Germans supporting Ms. Merkel as chancellor and 26 percent for Mr. Schroeder .
-U.S. and Iraqi officials say insurgents killed at least 13 people in several attacks across Iraq Monday .
-The officials say two car bombs in western Baghdad killed five people each .
-One of the cars exploded near a courthouse .
-Insurgents killed at least two people in drive-by shootings outside the capital .
-Elsewhere , the U.S. military in Iraq says a roadside bomb killed an American soldier southeast of Baghdad .
-And the bodies of two Iraqi journalists were found Monday , one day after they were abducted .
-Authorities also found the bodies of three police commandos kidnapped last week .
-In a separate statement , the U.S. military says troops killed Ali Wali , an explosives expert and member of the Ansar al-Islam terrorist group , during a counterterrorist raid in ( the Mansur district of ) Baghdad on Saturday .
-Heather Mills vows she 's ready to hit the dance floor on U.S. television .
-The model-turned-activist , currently divorcing her husband of four years , Paul McCartney , says her decision to compete on the popular U.S. TV series Dancing With The Stars is no publicity stunt .
-Mills , who lost her left leg below the knee in a 1993 motorcycle accident , will be the show 's first contestant with an artificial limb .
-She will dance with a sleeve over her prosthesis to prevent it slipping off , and says she also has a spare if necessary .
-Heather Mills plans to donate her appearance fee to the animal rights organization Viva .
-One of the highest-rated shows on U.S. television , Dancing With The Stars begins its fourth season on March 19 .
-At least 30 people were killed in a theater fire that broke out Monday night in the Egyptian town of Beni Suef , about 100 kilometers south of Cairo .
-At least 45 were injured .
-Candles being used by performers came into contact with the stage curtains during a play , panicking the crowd of about 1000 people who fled the theater .
-Some of the victims are believed to have been trampled underfoot .
-Senate Democrats are asking President Bush not to choose a hard-line conservative to replace retiring U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor .
-Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said the president should nominate a candidate " whose views are within the broad constitutional mainstream , " as former President Ronald Reagan did when he nominated Ms. O'Connor .
-She was approved by the Senate unanimously .
-Senator Ted Kennedy said Democrats will oppose a candidate who , in his words , wants to roll back the freedoms of the American people .
-Mr. Bush and Senate Democrats waged an extended political battle earlier this year over several of the president 's nominees for U.S. appeals court positions .
-A Supreme Court nominee has to win a majority of Senate votes for confirmation .
-Republicans control the Senate by a 55-to-45 margin .
-A Nigerian militant group has released the nationalities of seven hostages abducted Sunday from an offshore oil rig in Akwa Ibom state .
-The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said Friday its hostages are two Americans , two French nationals , one Canadian and two Indonesians .
-MEND says they are in good health .
-The seven were abducted during an attack on a rig operated by Afren .
-At least two of the rig 's crew members were wounded in the attack and left on the rig .
-U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said earlier this week that the United States is working with Nigerian officials to secure freedom for the hostages .
-The Niger Delta is home to criminal gangs that steal oil and take hostages for ransom .
-The region also has militants who say they are fighting for a fairer distribution of oil wealth .
-South Korea 's Defense Ministry says the country will draw up plans by the end of June to withdraw its remaining troops from Iraq .
-The ministry said Friday , that a plan on the termination of the mission will be sent to parliament .
-Speaking in Seoul Thursday , visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said South Korea can begin reducing its troops in northern Iraq next month , after Iraqi forces take over security in the Kurdish region .
-South Korea sent nearly 3600 soldiers to Iraq in 2004 - the third-largest contingent after the United States and Britain .
-Seoul has been gradually withdrawing its troops since then .
-Mr. Maliki is the highest-ranking Iraqi official to visit South Korea since the Iraqi government took office last May .
-During his three-day visit , he also urged South Korean companies to take part in his country 's postwar reconstruction projects .
-Regulators say they will publish results of a special examination of the 19 largest U.S. banks on May 4 .
-Worries that the large banks might not be strong enough to cope with a deepening recession prompted officials to institute a series of " stress tests . "
-Experts looked over the banks ' assets and tried to figure out if they would need financial help if unemployment rose even higher or other economic conditions deteriorated .
-A suspected U.S. missile strike has killed two people in Pakistan 's North Waziristan tribal region .
-Pakistani intelligence officials say the strike Saturday hit a house near the region 's main town of Miran Shah .
-The Pakistani government has strongly condemned the suspected U.S. strikes in the country , saying they undermine Pakistan 's counter-terrorism efforts .
-Pakistan 's defense minister , Ahmed Mukhtar , says officials will meet in early December to discuss the strikes , which allegedly are carried out by unmanned ( drone ) U.S. aircraft .
-Iran says it stands by its U.N. commitments not to use violence against another country , amid international criticism over the Iranian president 's call for Israel 's destruction .
-The foreign ministry said Saturday Iran has never resorted to , nor threatened to resort to force against another country .
-Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad caused an international outcry on Wednesday by saying Israel should be " wiped off the map . "
-He stood by those comments Friday during massive anti-Israeli protests in Tehran .
-Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said Palestinians have recognized Israel 's right to exist .
-He said what the international community should be discussing is adding a Palestinian state to the map , not wiping Israel from it .
-Friday , the U.N. Security Council condemned the Iranian president 's remarks .
-Iraqi officials say a car bomb has exploded in northern Baghdad , killing at least seven people .
-Authorities say the blast in the Kadhimiya district on Wednesday evening injured at least 14 others .
-Bomb attacks and other violence Wednesday in Iraq killed about 50 people overall , many in the Baghdad area .
-The attacks included a roadside bomb blast that killed five police officers in Samarra , north of the capital , while gunmen killed four policemen in an ambush near Kirkuk .
-In other news , the U.S. military says a high-level al-Qaida leader , Mehmet Yilmaz , and his associate Mehmet Resit Isik were killed in a coalition raid Saturday south of Hawija .
-A military spokesman described the men as dangerous and significant international terrorists .
-The military also announced the combat-related deaths of two U.S. troops , one in eastern Baghdad Wednesday and the other in al-Anbar province on Tuesday .
-A leading American newspaper says police and security forces in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk have abducted hundreds of Arabs and Turkmens - sometimes with the knowledge of U.S. forces in the region .
-Citing U.S. government documents and victims ' families , the Washington Post said the men have been abducted in raids led by Kurdish political parties and the detainees transferred secretly to prisons in Kurdish cities in northern Iraq .
-The newspaper says it has obtained a confidential U.S. State Department cable addressed to the White House , the Defense Department and the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad that raises concern about the unlawful detentions and transfers .
-Kirkuk is claimed by three Iraqi ethnic groups - Kurds , Arabs and Turkmens .
-There has been a sharp rise of violence and tension in the oil-rich city in recent months
-President Bush plans to meet Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Washington next month for talks on cooperation in the war against terrorism .
-The White House released a statement Tuesday that said the talks will be held October second and will include discussion on how to counter Kurdish rebels in Turkey .
-The statement said the two leaders also will discuss ways to advance freedom in Lebanon , Iraq and other parts of the Middle East .
-And they will talk about political and economic reforms in Turkey , as well as U.S. support for Turkey 's efforts to join the European Union .
-The human rights group Amnesty International has issued a critical report charging that Israel prevents Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip from receiving adequate water supplies .
-The report , issued Tuesday , says Israel is pumping more than its share of water from an aquifer it controls in the West Bank .
-According to Amnesty , on a per-capita basis , Israelis use four times as much water as Palestinians , whose water supply is far below the minimum recommended by the World Health Organization .
-Israeli officials say the Amnesty report is biased and incorrect .
-They contend water shortages result from the Palestinians ' failure to develop their own water infrastructure .
-The scarcity of water in Israel and the Palestinian territories has led to steep price increases for all residents .
-U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is offering to hold an international summit on global finance reform by early December .
-The secretary-general Saturday agreed to host the gathering at the U.N. headquarters in the northeastern U.S. state of New York .
-Mr. Ban says French President Nicolas Sarkozy , who holds the rotating EU presidency , has agreed to the gathering .
-The U.N. chief says it is important to work quickly to reform the global financial system .
-In September , President Sarkozy told the U.N. General Assembly the international community has a political and moral responsibility to act quickly .
-Mr. Sarkozy called for the creation of global institutions to regulate and rebuild the financial system .
-U.S. Government experts are drawing a more complete picture of hurricane damage to the southern United States .
-The Commerce Department said Friday , Hurricane Katrina caused $ 100 billion in damage that will not be covered by insurance .
-Higher energy prices sparked by hurricanes also helped to depress one measure of consumer spending by about one percent - the steepest drop since the terror attacks in 2001 .
-Experts track consumer spending because consumer demand drives most U.S. economic activity .
-A separate report from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office on Thursday says the hurricanes will temporarily cut U.S. economic growth by about 0.5 percent .
-That is less than first thought , and the CBO says the reduction will probably be offset by a surge of rebuilding activity by early next year .
-Russia 's natural gas firm Gazprom is seeking at least a threefold increase in the price for gas sold to Belarus next year .
-The firm 's deputy chairman , Alexander Ryazanov , said Tuesday that the two sides will negotiate a price but stressed that the hike would be an economic decision , not a political one .
-He said Belarus is the only member of the Commonwealth of Independent States not paying market prices for Russian gas .
-Ryazanov said Belarus now pays about $ 47 for 1,000 cubic meters of gas .
-The world price stands at about $ 230 per 1,000 cubic meters .
-Earlier this year , Gazprom temporarily shut off gas supplies to Ukraine when Kiev initially refused to pay a sharp hike in prices .
-Pakistan and India have opened a fifth and final crossing point along the Line of Control in the divided Kashmir region to exchange earthquake relief aid .
-Officials say permission to people to cross the de~facto border will be given at a later date .
-Meanwhile , British military helicopters have joined the airlift of relief supplies from the capital of Pakistani Kashmir , Muzaffarabad , to remote villages devastated by October 8 quake .
-Aid agencies and governments are trying to help quake survivors before the harsh Himalayan winter sets in .
-Donors are to meet in Islamabad on Saturday .
-President Pervez Musharraf has appealed for more than five billion dollars for quake relief and reconstruction .
-He also says the disaster presents an opportunity for Pakistan and India to resolve their long-running dispute over Kashmir .
-The Pakistani president said the final and most accurate death toll in the quake now stands at more than 73,000 .
-A relatively strong earthquake rocked southeastern Iran , Saturday , a day after a 5.7 magnitude quake shook a northeastern province , injuring at least 170 people .
-Iranian state media say Saturday 's quake had a 5.7 magnitude .
-The U.S. Geological Survey says it had a magnitude of 5.3 .
-The quake jolted the Negar region of Kerman province around mid-morning , local time .
-There have been no reports of damage or injuries .
-The U.S. Geological Survey says Friday 's quake was centered near the northeastern city of Torbat-e-Heydariyeh .
-Iran is located on major seismic fault lines .
-The worst recent quake in Iran occurred in 2003 , killing about 30,000 people and destroying much of the ancient southern city of Bam .
-Lindsay Lohan has reportedly checked into a Utah rehabilitation center .
-CBS News reports the 21-year-old actress has checked into the Cirque Lodge drug and alcohol treatment center in Sundance , Utah .
-It would be her third stint in rehab , following two stays at Wonderland and Promises in the Los Angeles area .
-Town and Country Magazine recently named Cirque Lodge as one of the nation 's top substance abuse treatment facilities .
-The New York Post reported that Lohan had on August 3 gone to her mother 's home on Long Island .
-The exact day of her reported check-in to Cirque Lodge is not known .
-Lohan 's representatives did not comment on her whereabouts .
-She is due in court in Santa Monica , CA on August 24 , when she faces charges from her July 24 arrest for suspicion of driving under the influence and driving on a suspended license .
-She also faces previous DUI-related charges .
-Officials say the clinic in Mexico where Coretta Scott King died has been shut down .
-The health department in Mexico 's Baja California state announced the closure of the Hospital Santa Monica Thursday because it was performing some procedures without authorization .
-The statement said the alternative-medicine clinic , located some 26 kilometers south of San Diego , was performing surgeries , X-rays and unconventional treatments without permission .
-It also said unknown substances were found there .
-A spokesman for the clinic told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper Friday that Mrs. King was only receiving nutrition and had not yet started treatments .
-She checked into the clinic January 26 , suffering from ovarian cancer and the effects of a stroke and heart attack sustained last year .
-North Korea has rejected a recent United Nations resolution that criticized Pyongyang 's human rights record .
-North Korea 's foreign ministry said the report was politically motivated and baseless .
-Last week , the 53-country U.N. Human Rights Commission passed a resolution condemning what it called " systematic " violations of human rights in North Korea .
-The vote was 30 to nine .
-The U.S. State Department says North Korea remains one of the most repressive countries in the world , where an estimated 1,50,000 to 2,00,000 people are held in detention camps for political reasons .
-It says defectors report many prisoners have died from torture , starvation , disease or exposure .
-Several Burmese government departments reportedly are preparing to move from Rangoon to a more secure location , as protection against what leaders of the military junta fear might be a possible U.S. invasion .
-News reports from the Burmese capital quote diplomatic analysts as saying the Ministries of Agriculture , Defense , Energy and Information will relocate to Pyinmana , just over 150 kilometers north of Rangoon , within a few months .
-A series of major construction projects in the area already has begun , with office buildings , bunkers , hospitals , underground tunnels and military airstrips reportedly nearing completion .
-Pyinmana , in central Burma , was the military headquarters of Burma 's resistance movement against occupying Japanese forces during World War II , and the rugged area also served as a hideout for Communist insurgents .
-Some analysts say the ruling generals fear an Iraq-style invasion by the United States and want a defensible fallback position .
-The head of the United Nations mission in Kosovo is in Belgrade for two days of talks with top Serbian officials .
-U.N. representative Soren Jessen-Petersen met Sunday with Serbia-Montenegro 's Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic .
-A statement later issued by Mr. Draskovic 's office said that he had demanded protection for the province 's Serb minority .
-On Monday , Mr. Jessen-Petersen is scheduled to meet with Serbian President Boris Tadic and Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica .
-Talks on the province 's future between Kosovo 's ethnic Albanian-led government and Serbian leaders are due to begin later this year .
-Kosovo 's ethnic Albanian majority wants independence , while its Serb minority wants the province to remain part of Serbia .
-The U.N. has been administering the area since 1999 .
-Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is calling on the U.S. to abandon ties to President Pervez Musharraf .
-During an appearance on Voice of America , Mr. Sharif said Pakistan was going through a major security and political crisis and that President Musharraf should be excluded from the national government .
-Mr. Sharif also said the government has done nothing to improve security after the December 27 assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto .
-He criticized his own security detail , saying he had not been given a bullet and bomb-proof vehicle .
-Mr. Sharif has accused President Musharraf of ordering anti-terror operations that have left the country " drowned in blood . "
-The former Pakistani prime minister has been campaigning for his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party ahead of the February 18 parliamentary elections .
-Mr. Sharif has been barred from running .
-He was deposed by President Musharraf in coup in 1999 .
-Afghan police say Taliban militants attacked a police patrol in southern Helmand province overnight Saturday , killing four officers and wounding seven others .
-The local police commander , Khair Mohammad Shuja , said the attack took place in the Gereshk district and that his forces detained wounded Taliban at the scene early Sunday .
-News reports say two additional attacks took place in Afghanistan Sunday resulting in more police and civilian deaths but details are still emerging about those incidents .
-Mauritania has extradited to Mali a Malian national convicted of kidnapping three Spanish aid workers last year .
-Mauritanian authorities say Omar Sid-Ahmed Ould Hamma was extradited late Monday .
-No further details were released .
-Ould Hamma was sentenced in July to 12 years in prison for organizing the kidnapping of the aid workers and for handing them over to an al-Qaida-linked group in the region , al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb .
-The three Spanish aid workers were seized last November on a road that links the Mauritanian capital , Nouakchott , with the city of Nouadhibou to the north .
-One of the captives was released in March , but the other two are still being held in an unknown location in the vast Sahara desert .
-The region stretches through Mauritania , Mali , Algeria and Niger , all countries struggling to contain Islamist militant groups .
-N.V. DSM said net income in the third quarter jumped 63 % as the company had substantially lower extraordinary charges to account for a restructuring program .
-The Dutch chemical group said net income gained to 235 million guilders ( $ 113.2 million ) , or 6.7 guilders a share , from 144 million guilders , or 4.1 guilders a share , a year ago .
-The 32 % state-owned DSM had eight million guilders of extraordinary charges in the latest quarter , mainly to reflect one-time losses in connection with the disposal of some operations .
-The charges were offset in part by a gain from the sale of the company 's construction division .
-Last year , DSM had 71 million guilders of extraordinary charges for the restructuring program and other transactions .
-The earnings growth also was fueled by the company 's ability to cut net financing spending by half to around 15 million guilders .
-Also , substantially lower Dutch corporate tax rates helped the company keep its tax outlay flat relative to earnings growth , the company added .
-Sales , however , were little changed at 2.46 billion guilders , compared with 2.42 billion guilders .
-The economy of Saint Barthelemy is based upon high-end tourism and duty-free luxury commerce , serving visitors primarily from North America .
-The luxury hotels and villas host 70,000 visitors each year with another 1,30,000 arriving by boat .
-The relative isolation and high cost of living inhibits mass tourism .
-The construction and public sectors also enjoy significant investment in support of tourism .
-With limited fresh water resources , all food must be imported , as must all energy resources and most manufactured goods .
-Employment is strong and attracts labor from Brazil and Portugal .
-Until recently , only two autocratic presidents had ruled Gabon since its independence from France in 1960 .
-The recent president of Gabon , El Hadj Omar BONGO Ondimba - one of the longest-serving heads of state in the world - had dominated the country 's political scene for four decades .
-President BONGO introduced a nominal multiparty system and a new constitution in the early 1990s .
-However , allegations of electoral fraud during local elections in 2002 - 3 and the presidential elections in 2005 exposed the weaknesses of formal political structures in Gabon .
-President BONGO died in June 2009 .
-New elections in August 2009 brought Ali Ben BONGO , son of the former president , to power .
-Despite political conditions , a small population , abundant natural resources , and considerable foreign support have helped make Gabon one of the more prosperous and stable African countries .
-In January 2010 , Gabon assumed a nonpermanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2010 - 11 term .
-The third smallest state in Europe ( after the Holy See and Monaco ) , San Marino also claims to be the world 's oldest republic .
-According to tradition , it was founded by a Christian stonemason named Marinus in A.D. 301 .
-San Marino 's foreign policy is aligned with that of the European Union , although it is not a member ; social and political trends in the republic track closely with those of its larger neighbor , Italy .
-Almost five centuries as a Portuguese colony came to a close with independence in 1975 .
-Large-scale emigration , economic dependence on South Africa , a severe drought , and a prolonged civil war hindered the country 's development until the mid 1990s .
-The ruling Front for the Liberation of Mozambique ( Frelimo ) party formally abandoned Marxism in 1989 , and a new constitution the following year provided for multiparty elections and a free market economy .
-A UN-negotiated peace agreement between Frelimo and rebel Mozambique National Resistance ( Renamo ) forces ended the fighting in 1992 .
-In December 2004 , Mozambique underwent a delicate transition as Joaquim CHISSANO stepped down after 18 years in office .
-His elected successor , Armando Emilio GUEBUZA , promised to continue the sound economic policies that have encouraged foreign investment .
-President GUEBUZA was reelected to a second term in October 2009 .
-However , the elections were flawed by voter fraud , questionable disqualification of candidates , and Frelimo use of government resources during the campaign .
-As a result , Freedom House removed Mozambique from its list of electoral democracies .
-Ecuador is substantially dependent on its petroleum resources , which have accounted for more than half of the country 's export earnings and approximately one-third of public sector revenues in recent years .
-In 1999 / 2000 , Ecuador suffered a severe economic crisis , with GDP contracting by 5.3 % .
-Poverty increased significantly , the banking system collapsed , and Ecuador defaulted on its external debt .
-In March 2000 , the Congress approved a series of structural reforms that also provided for the adoption of the US dollar as legal tender .
-Dollarization stabilized the economy , and positive growth returned in the years that followed , helped by high oil prices , remittances , and increased non-traditional exports .
-From 2002 - 6 the economy grew an average of 5.2 % per year , the highest five-year average in 25 years .
-After moderate growth in 2007 , the economy reached a growth rate of 7.2 % in 2008 , in large part due to high global petroleum prices and increased public sector investment .
-President Rafael CORREA , who took office in January 2007 , defaulted in December 2008 on Ecuador 's sovereign debt , which , with a total face value of approximately US $ 3.2 billion , represented about 80 % of Ecuador 's private external debt .
-In May 2009 , Ecuador bought back 91 % of its " defaulted " bonds via an international auction .
-Economic policies under the CORREA administration - including an announcement in late 2009 of its intention to terminate 13 bilateral investment treaties , including one with the United States - have generated economic uncertainty and discouraged private investment .
-The Ecuadorian economy contracted 0.4 % in 2009 due to the global financial crisis and to the sharp decline in world oil prices and remittance flows .
-Growth picked up to a 3.7 % rate in 2010 , according to Ecuadorian government estimates .
-One time I had to go to a funeral at 6 AM .
-I should n't have been there .
-I 'm not a mourning person .
-The United Nations ' food agency says the battle to contain the lethal form of avian flu in Indonesia is failing .
-Joseph Domenech , the head of the U.N. 's Food and Agricultural Organization , says the East Asian archipelago is facing " an uphill battle " trying to control the H5N1 form of the virus .
-Domenech says he is concerned that the high levels of infected birds in Indonesia could help the virus mutate into a form that could be passed among humans , triggering a worldwide pandemic that could kill millions .
-The H5N1 form of avian flu has killed nearly 240 people across Asia since it was first detected in 2003 , including 105 in Indonesia .
-Domenech says major financial and human resources , stronger political commitment and better coordination between all levels of government in Indonesia are needed to fight the virus .
-French aviation authorities say they have banned Cameroon Airlines flights from France because of safety concerns .
-The civil aviation authority said in a statement Friday that Cameroon Airlines was not respecting international standards for safety .
-The statement said the concerns were notably in the areas of loading , transport of dangerous materials , navigation documentation and tire maintenance .
-The statement said French and Cameroonian authorities agreed on a plan of action earlier this year to correct the situation , but new tests carried out in July and August still showed persistent problems .
-Earlier this month , France banned six African , Caribbean , and Asian airlines from its airspace for safety reasons , following a string of recent aviation accidents .
-Brad Delp was found dead March 9 , at his home in the northeastern state of New Hampshire .
-The 55-year-old musician , who sang for the popular rock act Boston , was apparently alone at the time of his death .
-A police investigation is ongoing .
-Formed in the early 1970s , Boston remains a staple on U.S. classic rock radio playlists .
-The band was reportedly planning a mid-year tour .
-Kenya 's President Mwai Kibaki has announced the resignation of two senior cabinet members implicated in corruption scandals .
-Speaking on state television today , Mr. Kibaki said his energy minister and education minister have stepped down so investigations into the scandals can proceed .
-The Kibaki government has been shaken by accusations of multi-million dollar graft against several top officials , including Vice President Moody Awori .
-The allegations led former finance minister David Mwiraria to resign last month .
-The accused officials have denied any wrongdoing .
-The Kibaki government took power in 2002 pledging to stamp out corruption , which was prevalent under previous Kenyan governments .
-Iraqi police say an Italian journalist , a reporter for the Italian newspaper Il Manifesto , has been kidnapped in Baghdad .
-Unknown gunmen abducted Giuliana Sgrena Friday as she was conducting an interview near Baghdad University .
-Several Italians have been kidnapped in Iraq over the past 18 months .
-Two Italian aid workers were abducted in Baghdad last September and threatened with death before being released unharmed several weeks later .
-Another Italian journalist was snatched in August and was killed after Rome refused to yield to the kidnappers ' demand that Italy withdraw its nearly 3,000 troops from Iraq .
-Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono says his country plans to build a hospital for Palestinians in Gaza Strip .
-Mr. Yudhoyono made the pledge during a meeting Saturday with visiting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas .
-He said Indonesia will contribute more than $ 2 million to fund the project .
-Speaking to reporters in Jakarta after the meeting , he also said Indonesia is ready to play a role in the Middle East peace process .
-Mr. Abbas said he had asked President Yudhoyono to support of his efforts to end Israel 's siege of Gaza .
-Israel has blockaded the Palestinian territory for three years , after the militant group Hamas seized power from the moderate government .
-Indonesia is the world 's most populous Muslim nation .
-It has long supported the Palestinian cause and does not have diplomatic relations with Israel .
-President Abbas is on an Asian tour that will also take him to Vietnam and Malaysia .
-Japan and South Korea have announced plans to create tens of thousands of new jobs aimed at boosting the economy while protecting the environment .
-The Japanese environment ministry says it is preparing a so-called " Green New Deal Plan " to create at least one million new jobs in energy-saving and other environment-friendly technologies .
-The plan could include incentives to encourage the production and purchase of electric cars and energy-efficient household electronics .
-South Korea 's government Tuesday also unveiled a so-called Green New Job Creation Plan , expected to create 9,60,000 new jobs .
-About 1,40,000 new jobs are targeted for this year .
-Officials say they will invest about $ 38 billion in the next few years to clean-up the country 's four main rivers , maintain forests , develop cleaner transportation and conserve energy .
-A new report by the United Nations Children 's Fund ( UNICEF ) says millions of children in Eastern Europe and Central Asia still live in poverty , despite economic progress across the regions .
-UNICEF says its findings indicate economic growth alone does not necessarily improve the lives of children .
-At Wednesday 's unveiling of the report in Moscow , UNICEF director Carol Bellamy said poverty leads to poor nutrition and sick children , as well as young people not being able to attend school .
-She said , at worst , it also " means violence and desperation , with more children in institutions , " plus " soaring drug and alcohol abuse among the young . "
-The report laments that economic growth in the regions has rarely been accompanied by initiatives to tackle serious problems affecting children .
-Chinese state media say a fire in a popular restaurant in the northeastern province of Liaoning has killed 11 people and injured 16 others .
-The official Xinhua news agency reports Sunday that the fire broke out in the kitchen and fully engulfed the Baixinglou restaurant in the city of Chaoyang Saturday evening .
-Firefighters put out the blaze after battling the flames for more than hour .
-Xinhua says the victims included diners and waiters at the restaurant .
-They are hospitalized and are reported in stable condition .
-The news agency says initial investigations show improper use of a stove sparked the fire .
-India 's trade minister says rich countries must be flexible if negotiations on a new global trade treaty are to be revived .
-Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath says he has been speaking with trade ministers of several other countries in an effort to revive the talks .
-Trade ministers from the United States , the European Union , Japan , Australia , India and Brazil halted the talks last month because of differences over farm subsidies .
-The World Trade Organization or WTO organized the talks .
-Nath says the talks collapsed because the United States and EU sought to backtrack on their commitments to reduce agricultural subsidies and tariffs in coming years to help poor countries .
-He said the rich countries want greater market access for their exports before helping poorer nations .
-He said that WTO talks could go no where until that mind-set changed .
-Christians on a rampage in southern Nigeria have burned two mosques in retaliation for Muslim protests last weekend in which dozens of people , many of them Christian , died .
-Today 's riots took place in Onitsha , the capital of the mostly Christian state of Anambra .
-At least one person has died .
-An Anambra police spokesman told the French news agency that a scuffle broke out between Hausas , who are Muslim , and Ibos , ethnic Christians from the south .
-Christian rioters then set the mosques on fire .
-The spokesman said order has been restored .
-Muslim protests last weekend in northern Nigeria were the deadliest yet since cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad appeared in a Danish newspaper last year .
-Rioters attacked Christians and burned down churches .
-Nigeria is mostly Muslim in the North and Christian in the south .
-Sectarian violence in one part of the country frequently sparks reprisals elsewhere .
-U.S. military spokesmen say four American soldiers have been wounded by an insurgent 's roadside bomb that hit their armored vehicle in northeastern Afghanistan .
-The troops were attacked as they returned from defusing another bomb near Asadabad town , in Kunar province .
-A military statement says the wounded were evacuated to Bagram Air Base , north of Kabul , where they are in stable condition .
-The statement also says U.S. and Afghan troops have begun a search " to kill or capture those responsible . "
-Similar attacks in the past have been blamed on the Taleban , which was ousted by a U.S.-led invasion four years ago .
-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says great democracies have an obligation to respect the rule of law .
-She also told reporters Thursday in Brussels that if allegations of human rights abuses by U.S. personnel are reported , they will be investigated and punished .
-Ms. Rice discussed U.S. policy on detainees with NATO officials on Wednesday .
-Afterward , NATO Secretary-General Jaap De Hoop Scheffer said Ms. Rice had cleared the air about Washington 's views on secret prisons and the treatment of terrorist suspects overseas .
-He did not elaborate .
-Ms. Rice 's four-nation European tour has been overshadowed by reports that the CIA has used European airports to fly terror suspects to secret prisons in eastern Europe .
-She has not confirmed or denied the existence of the prisons , but on Wednesday she said the United Nations Convention Against Torture applies to U.S. personnel both at home and abroad .
-Hundreds of truckers gathered in Washington DC on April 28 to protest the high cost of fuel .
-The truckers say Washington lawmakers have been far too silent on an issue that has grave repercussions for the U.S. economy .
-They called on Congress to stop subsidizing big oil companies and demanded a cap on the cost of fuel .
-VOA 's Mil Arcega reports .
-A U.S.-based press watchdog group has sent a delegation to Venezuela to study allegations of repression against journalists in the country .
-Members of the Inter American Press Association say they hoped to discuss the concerns with officials , but add Information Minister William Lara had refused to meet them .
-Tuesday , the delegation visited the offices of Correo del Caroni newspaper , which local lawmakers had slated for demolition .
-In a report last year , the group said press freedom is " seriously threatened " in Venezuela , and accused officials of persecuting opposition journalists .
-It also expressed concern about recent laws that restrict television and radio broadcasts .
-Venezuela 's government has defended the laws , saying they are intended to raise media standards and not limit free speech .
-Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders , meeting in Singapore , have called for more cooperation on global economic recovery efforts , and have warned against withdrawing economic stimulus measures too early .
-Russian President Dmitri Medvedev Saturday called for broad international cooperation to overcome the global crisis and achieve sustainable growth .
-Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd proposed creating an Asia-Pacific Community , styled after the European Union .
-Chinese President Hu Jintao said promoting openness in international trade and curbing protectionism would help revive the world economy .
-Mexican President Felipe Calderon singled out Washington for " going in the opposite sense of free trade . "
-Russian President Dmitri Medvedev made the same point .
-In Tokyo earlier Saturday , U.S. President Barack Obama called on Asian countries to break their dependence on exports to the United States , and to pursue " balanced " and sustainable economic growth .
-The leader of Al-Qaida in Iraq has called on weapons experts to supply his fighters with biological weapons and dirty bombs .
-In an audio recording posted Thursday on the Internet , a man who identified himself as Abu Hamza al-Muhajer also urged militants in Iraq to kidnap Western Christians to swap for a Muslim cleric jailed for life in the U.S. Egyptian cleric Omar Abdel-Rahman was convicted of plotting to attack New York city landmarks , including the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center .
-The voice on the recording could not be independently verified .
-In violence Thursday , more than 20 people were killed in Iraq .
-Bombings and shootings in and around Baghdad targeted civilians , Iraqi soldiers and police .
-Officials also reported finding 40 bodies showing signs of torture .
-U.S. military intelligence officials warned that illegal militias are returning to Baghdad neighborhoods recently cleared by U.S. and Iraqi troops .
-The United Nations says U.N. and Congolese troops have launched an offensive against a militia group in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo .
-The U.N. peacekeeping force in Congo says one government soldier and at least six militia fighters have been killed in fighting this week in Ituri province .
-A spokesman for the force said at least 1,000 Congolese government troops are involved in the operation .
-Reuters news agency cites him as saying the militiamen are ethnic Lendu fighters who have refused to join the U.N.-backed disarmament process .
-Some 15,000 U.N. troops are in Congo trying to restore order after years of instability and war .
-Wednesday , the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution deploring that foreign armed groups continue to operate in the eastern DRC , and demanded that they immediately disarm .
-Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have shot and killed four Palestinians during a raid on a town in the northern West Bank .
-Witnesses say Israeli troops killed two Palestinian gunmen during the raid Thursday , including a local leader of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade .
-The militant group is linked to the Fatah faction of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas .
-In fierce exchanges of fire , two unarmed Palestinians were also killed and at least 10 others wounded .
-In other news , Arab League foreign ministers met in Cairo Wednesday to discuss ways to revive the Middle East peace process .
-Bahrain 's foreign minister , Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa , told the opening session that a new and effective mechanism from the United Nations Security Council is needed to re-launch the process .
-For most of the countries of the former Yugoslavia , the ride from armed conflict during the 1990s to the calmer waters of European integration has been stormy , with various degrees of success .
-VOA 's Jela de Franceschi takes a closer look at progress made in transforming the Western Balkans into a region of economic and political stability .
-Reports from China say a woman in southwestern Sichuan province has died of bird flu .
-China 's Health Ministry confirmed Monday that the 29-year-old woman was the seventh person to succumb to the deadly H5N1 form of the bird flu virus .
-Indonesian health officials said Wednesday local tests have confirmed that a chicken seller in Jakarta has the deadly strain of the virus .
-World Health Organization officials in Indonesia say they are focusing on the need to improve hygiene at markets to reduce exposure to the disease .
-Friday , health workers from refugee camps and migrant communities on Burma 's border are to meet with local officials and donors in Thailand to prepare for possible bird flu outbreaks .
-Bird flu has killed at least 81 people in East Asia and Turkey since 2003 .
-European Union leaders are meeting at Britain 's Hampton Court Palace near London to consider policies that will help the grouping compete in the world economy and deal with challenges posed by globalization .
-British Prime Minister Tony Blair , whose country holds the rotating EU presidency , wants leaders to reach consensus on how the block will deal with such issues as free trade .
-He also hopes the one-day informal summit will help resolve the stalemate over the bloc 's upcoming five-year budget for the period beginning in 2007 .
-Budget talks collapsed in June after a dispute between Britain and France on EU spending .
-Ahead of Thursday 's meeting , Mr. Blair told the European Parliament in Strasbourg that Europe is facing competition from such emerging economies as China and India .
-Meanwhile , the parliament asked EU countries to contribute more money for research , development , and to aid poor regions .
-Russian news reports say police have arrested the governor of a mineral-rich region on suspicion of embezzlement .
-The reports say Alexi Barinov , governor of the Nenets autonomous region in Russia 's Arctic , is in police custody and has begun a hunger strike .
-Prosecutors reportedly opened a case against Barinov last week .
-The suspect was previously the chief executive officer for a unit of the oil company Lukoil .
-Barinov said last week that while at Lukoil prosecutors had dropped a criminal case against him for lack of evidence .
-The RIA-Novosti news service says the probe centers on allegations that Barinov used his post at Lukoil to purchase several apartments illegally through the company .
-A Barinov spokesman has denied the charges .
-Iraq 's oil minister says government forces could be ready to take over security responsibility from international forces by the end of next year .
-Hussain al-Shahristani , who is making his first visit to Australia , told reporters in Canberra Thursday that it would not take years for foreign troops to withdraw from Iraq .
-He said more than half of country is now under total control of Iraqi forces .
-He said for the rest of the country , the government is planning to have sufficient trained and equipped Iraqi forces by the end of 2007 or - perhaps 2008 .
-But Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer called the Iraqi official 's timeframe " optimistic . "
-Downer cautioned against a premature withdrawal of international forces from Iraq , saying the insurgents are likely to call that a victory and use that argument to recruit more terrorists .
-French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin says European Union membership negotiations with Turkey can not begin unless Ankara recognizes all EU member states , including Cyprus .
-Mr. de Villepin made the comment during a radio interview Tuesday .
-In response , Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said Ankara expects France 's continued support for Turkey 's EU process .
-The 25-nation bloc plans to open membership talks with Turkey in October .
-Last week , Turkey signed an accord that extends its customs agreement with the European Union to new member states .
-These include the divided island of Cyprus , which joined the bloc last year .
-But Turkey said the agreement does not represent a diplomatic recognition of the Greek Cypriot government .
-The EU and most nations view the Greek Cypriot government as the divided island 's legitimate authority .
-Ankara recognizes a separate government dominated by ethnic Turks .
-A jury has been selected for the trial of pop star Michael Jackson on child molestation charges .
-Attorneys Wednesday settled on a jury of four men and eight women , ranging from 20 to 79 years old .
-The jury reportedly contains eight whites , three Hispanics , one Asian , and no African-Americans .
-The selection process took only two-and-a-half days after being delayed for a week by Jackson 's hospitalization with flu-like symptoms .
-The entertainer is accused of sexually molesting a 13-year-old boy at the singer 's Neverland ranch .
-Jackson has pleaded not guilty and predicted his acquittal .
-In 1993 , he paid more than $ 23 million to settle a separate child molestation case out of court .
-Sri Lanka 's Tamil Tiger rebels say new government air raids have killed 14 people , but the military denies that civilians were targeted in the attacks .
-A rebel statement Tuesday said fighter jets dropped bombs on Mannar in northwest Sri Lanka , destroying residential homes .
-It said six children were among those killed , and that dozens of other civilians were wounded .
-But the military strongly denied targeting civilians .
-A military spokesman said one raid focused on a rebel naval base in Mannar , while another air attack was carried out on a rebel position in the east .
-Violence has flared in Sri Lanka despite a 2002 truce between the government and rebels , who are fighting for independence .
-More than 3,000 people were killed last year .
-Since 1983 , some 67,000 civilians , troops and rebels have died in the conflict .
-Top-seeded Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia has broken Spaniard Carlos Moya 's hold on the Chennai Open tennis tournament by beating the two-time defending champion 07-Jun , 06-Feb in the title match in India .
-The third-seeded Moya , who was trying for his third straight title at this event , squandered a 4-0 lead in the first set tiebreaker Sunday .
-Ljubicic then dominated Moya in the second set .
-But before making it to the title match , Ljubicic had to get past Belgium 's Kristof Vliegen in a semifinal match disrupted by heavy rain Saturday night .
-Ljubicic led the match 03-Jan in the first set when the match was suspended .
-Resuming Sunday , Ljubicic won the first set 06-Mar , before dropping the second set 03-Jun .
-The Croatian then survived a scare from Vliegen by rallying from 0-3 and 02-May deficits in the final set tiebreaker to win the match , 06-Mar , 03-Jun , 07-Jun .
-A published report says the Bush administration is planning new measures against anyone doing business with Iranian , North Korean and Syrian companies Washington believes are involved in weapons programs .
-The Washington Post quotes unidentified U.S. officials in its report Monday saying the plan would initially target eight entities mostly suspected of working with missile programs in those three countries .
-An internal government memo indicates the plan would provide a new tool against the trafficking of weapons of mass destruction .
-The newspaper says new measures would include freezing assets of any U.S. or foreign individual or company conducting business with the suspected Iranian , North Korean and Syrian companies .
-White House officials are reported to be hopeful President Bush will sign the executive order before he heads to Scotland late this week for the Group of Eight summit .
-Heavy monsoon rains in Pakistan 's south have killed at least 26 people and cut off electricity in the country 's largest city , Karachi .
-The rainfall started Saturday and flooded areas of the port city .
-Officials say some of the victims died from drowning and electrocution .
-Others were killed by collapsing homes .
-The 15 centimeters of rainfall damaged hundreds of buildings and downed power lines across the city .
-Pakistani officials say they are working to restore electricity and control the situation .
-Despite the downpour , meteorologists are predicting almost a third less rainfall this year .
-Karachi suffers from outdated infrastructure and a poor drainage system that leaves parts of the city vulnerable to flooding .
-The Court of Arbitration for Sport has denied the appeal by Greek sprinters Konstantinos Kenteris and Ekaterina Thanou to be allowed to return to competition .
-The court refused to lift the sprinters ' provisional ban until after it rules whether Kenteris and Thanou deserve suspensions for missing three doping tests before the 2004 Olympics in Athens .
-The Lausanne-based court said Monday it will take up the case again on June 26 , and plans to render its ruling within two to three days .
-But the ban will stand until a decision is reached .
-Kenteris was the 200-meter Sydney Olympics champion in 2000 , while Thanou won the women 's 100-meter silver medal at the same Games .
-They were provisionally suspended by the athletics world governing body , IAAF last year after the Greek Athletics Federation refused to punish them .
-Chilean President Ricardo Lagos is promising that his country will give a fair extradition trial to jailed former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori .
-President Lagos said in Santiago that Mr. Fujimori will be accorded due process in line with the tradition of Chile 's judicial system .
-Peru is seeking Mr. Fujimori 's extradition so he can face charges that include corruption and human rights abuses .
-He fled Peru in 2000 , after 10 years in office , and spent the past five years in his parents ' native Japan .
-Mr. Fujimori arrived in Chile Sunday , despite an international warrant for his arrest .
-He was later arrested by Chilean police and was refused bond Japanese Embassy officials met with him at his detention facility on Wednesday .
-They say that Mr. Fujimori , who holds Japanese citizenship , expressed satisfaction with his living conditions .
-The government of the Netherlands has suspended education , environment and water programs in Kenya , citing concerns over corruption .
-In a statement , the Dutch government said it was suspending aid worth nearly $ 150 million to the east African country , because it has not seen enough proof the Kenyan government is fighting corruption .
-The Dutch government said it will continue to fund judicial reform and good governance programs .
-The government of Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has been hit by two major multimillion dollar corruption scandals that have forced the ministers of energy , finance and education to resign .
-Kenya 's vice president , central bank governor , former intelligence and security ministers and other officials are being investigated in connection with the scandals .
-Mr. Kibaki won the presidency in 2002 and pledged to root out the systemic corruption that marked former President Daniel arap Moi 's 24 years in power .
-Police in Iraq say 17 people have been killed in a car bomb explosion south of Baghdad .
-Officials say Saturday 's blast occurred near a hospital in Musayyib , about 55 kilometers south of the Iraqi capital .
-About 20 people were injured .
-Earlier Saturday , masked assailants in the southern city of Basra shot and killed a judge , Taha al-Amiri , who had worked in Saddam Hussein 's regime .
-Meanwhile , police in the northern city of Mosul say they have discovered the bodies of at least six Iraqis who had been shot in the head and chest .
-The violence comes one day after 23 people were killed in attacks against Shi'ite Muslim targets in Iraq .
-About 20,000 Mexican union workers clogged rush hour traffic in the capital Tuesday demanding that the recently ousted miners ' union boss be reinstated .
-Union leaders threatened to call a general strike if the government did not retract its support for the newly installed General Secretary of the miners ' union , Elias Morales .
-The government had earlier removed Napoleon Gomez from the elected position .
-Gomez has been under investigation by the government for alleged corruption .
-Tuesday 's march comes days after the 250,000-member National Miners and Metal Workers Union shut down most mining and steel operations across the country in a two-day strike to support Gomez .
-Egypt 's ruling party said Wednesday that it will back 82-year-old Hosni Mubarak if he decides run for another term as president in 2011 , even though Mr. Mubarak has yet to say whether he will seek another term .
-Egypt 's state-run MENA news agency quotes National Democratic Party leader Safwat Sherif as saying his party is just waiting for President Mubarak 's decision on whether he will run again in 2011 .
-The 82-year-old leader has ruled Egypt for nearly 30 years .
-There has been speculation about his health and whether he will again seek office since his gallbladder surgery in March .
-Also , many political experts believe Mr. Mubarak is grooming his son , Gamal , to take over .
-Mr. Mubarak and his son have both denied any succession plan , but the Reuters news agency quotes one party official as saying Gamal Mubarak could be a candidate , along with others in the 2011 contest .
-A hamstring injury will keep Olympic triple jump champion Christian Olsson of Sweden out of the Summer Games in Beijing .
-Olsson says he pulled a muscle Tuesday in his fourth jump at the DN Galan athletic meet in Stockholm .
-The 28-year-old Swede has been plagued by injuries since winning the gold medal in Athens four years ago .
-He was competing this week for the first time after a long break .
-Olsson placed third with a jump of 17-meters from a second round jump at Olympic Stadium .
-But Olsson says he will have to consider if he should continue his career .
-Marian Oprea of Romania won Tuesday 's triple jump with an effort of 17 meters , 25 centimeters .
-Dmitrij Valukevic of Slovakia was second - 17 meters , one centimeter .
-Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga says the unprecedented tragedy gripping the country offers an opportunity to find a permanent solution to the ethnic conflict plaguing the island nation .
-In a New Year 's message , Mrs. Kumaratunga asked her country to unite - without regard to ethnicity , religion or class - to face the staggering destruction from Sunday 's tsunami .
-The president 's attempts to revive peace talks with Tamil separatists have been deadlocked for 20 months and her remarks were being seen in Colombo as an overture for peace .
-Relief supplies have begun arriving in Sri Lanka , but reports indicate that aid convoys continue to have difficulty reaching some of the hardest hit areas .
-The Israeli parliament has voted down the 2005 state budget , triggering a political crisis that could stall or wreck Prime Minister Ariel Sharon 's plans to evacuate the Gaza Strip .
-The 69-43 vote comes as Mr. Sharon struggles to keep his minority Likud coalition together ahead of upcoming votes on the planned 2005 Gaza withdrawal .
-Opponents have vowed to scuttle the evacuation .
-The political crisis erupted Wednesday , when the secular Shinui party - upset with funding provisions for religious parties - defied Mr. Sharon 's orders and voted against the budget on its first reading .
-A short while later , the prime minister fired the renegade Shinui ministers , leaving the Likud coalition in control of only 40 votes in the 120-seat Knesset .
-Party officials say Mr. Sharon will soon begin negotiations to bring the opposition Labor Party 's 22 lawmakers into the government .
-The Israeli military says it has carried out three air strikes on Gaza following rocket attacks by Palestinian militants .
-Gaza officials say no injuries were reported from the strikes .
-The Israeli army says two of the strikes hit smuggling tunnels on the territory 's border with Egypt .
-Aircraft also struck a building allegedly used by militants to store arms .
-Palestinian militants fired two rockets into Israel Sunday causing no injuries .
-Israel launched a three-week offensive in late December against the Palestinian militant group Hamas , which rules the Gaza Strip .
-The offensive was in response to continuing rocket attacks from Gaza .
-Both Hamas and Israel declared unilateral cease-fires in January , but the violence continues almost daily .
-Chad 's president has urged Sudan 's government and rebels in the western Darfur region to respect a repeatedly violated cease-fire , and declare an end to their two-year civil war .
-President Idriss Deby told officials from both sides at a meeting in Chad Thursday that it is time for them to respect their commitments .
-Wednesday , officials at the meeting , including Sudan 's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir , asked mediators to prepare for a new round of talks later this month .
-Three previous rounds of talks have failed to stop the violence in Darfur , which has left at least 70,000 people dead and 1.5 million others displaced .
-U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the Security Council Wednesday to act quickly to stop what he called " further death and suffering " in Darfur .
-Differences over an election bill and choice for interior minister have delayed Monday 's expected announcement of formation of a new government in Lebanon .
-An official in Beirut said talks were under way to break the impasse , which threatens to delay parliamentary elections scheduled for May .
-Lebanon has been without a government since mass protests erupted after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri .
-Under intense domestic and international pressure following the demonstrations , pro-Syrian Prime Minister Omar Karami and his government resigned in February .
-He was re-appointed two weeks later after pro-Syrian legislators refused to accept his resignation .
-Anti-Syrian opposition leaders say Mr. Karami 's inability to form a new government is really a delaying tactic to try to derail the elections , which can not be held until a new government if formed .
-U.S. President George Bush has signed a measure extending unemployment benefits for a growing number of out-of-work Americans .
-Mr. Bush signed the legislation into law Friday and it allows unemployed Americans to receive government payment for an extra seven weeks .
-Those in states with higher unemployment rates can receive benefits even longer .
-The U.S. Senate passed the bill Thursday , after a new report showed the number of unemployed Americans signing up for benefits for the first time grew to the highest level in 16 years .
-The White House said the financial and credit crises has slowed the U.S. economy " dramatically " , and has had an impact on job creation .
-U.N. special envoy , former U.S. President George H.W. Bush , has toured a tent camp in the Pakistani capital , Islamabad , housing the survivors of last year 's devastating earthquake .
-But winter weather prevented him from visiting Pakistani Kashmir 's ruined capital , Muzaffarabad , and also grounded vital aid flights to survivors there for a third straight day .
-At a joint news conference with Pakistan 's Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz , Tuesday Mr. Bush said his role is to encourage those who have pledged relief and reconstruction aid to deliver on their pledges .
-A U.N.-led relief operation is under way in Pakistan , but U.N. officials say the world body is still far short of the $ 500 million needed to sustain the effort .
-The October 8 quake killed more than 73,000 people and left some three million homeless .
-Pope Benedict says the Catholic Church must examine failures that have allowed for " an unimaginable dimension " of sexual abuse by priests .
-The pope said Monday that church authorities also must renew efforts to help victims and screen potential pedophiles from the priesthood .
-Speaking to cardinals and bishops gathered in Rome to hear the pontiff 's traditional Christmas message , the pope defended most priests for their good works but said the church had to ask itself what was wrong in its message that allowed such abuse to occur .
-Catholics in Ireland , Germany , the Netherlands and Belgium have demanded church accountability for the abuses , which began coming to light eight years ago in the United States and later became apparent in Europe .
-Victims have accused the church hierarchy of failing for decades to act swiftly to punish errant priests .
-Peru 's economy expanded 9.8 percent in 2008 as strong commodity prices helped it grow at the fastest rate in 14 years .
-News reports say growth slowed a bit at the end of 2008 and the beginning of this year .
-A report from Bloomberg also says Peru 's government is reporting a one percentage point increase in unemployment , putting the rate at 8.8 percent .
-Peruvian officials apparently hope to boost trade to help economic growth .
-Japan 's Kyoto news service reports that Peru 's foreign and trade ministers plan a visit to Japan for talks on bilateral trade and other issues February 23 .
-Japan is seeking lower duties on cars it sells to Peru while Peru wants better access to Japan 's farm and fisheries markets .
-China has confirmed that the next round of six-country talks on North Korea 's nuclear weapons program will begin November 9 in Beijing .
-The date was announced Thursday , by China 's Foreign Ministry .
-Next Wednesday 's start for the six-party talks comes just ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum November 18 and 19 in Busan , South Korea .
-At the last round of nuclear talks in September , North Korea agreed to abandon its nuclear programs in exchange for economic aid and security assurances .
-But Pyongyang then said it will not disarm unless it is first given a civilian light-water nuclear reactor for power generation - a demand U.S. officials say is unacceptable .
-The six party talks include both Koreas , China , Russia , Japan and the United States .
-Former Ecuadorean President Lucio Gutierrez has formally requested political asylum in Colombia after receiving reports he is wanted in his homeland on treason charges .
-Colombian officials say Mr. Gutierrez submitted his application after arriving from Peru Wednesday and that he has permission to remain in Colombia for 90 days while the asylum request is examined .
-Last July , the Ecuadorean government issued an arrest warrant for the former president , charging him with harming national security .
-Aides to Mr. Gutierrez say the charges may be related to comments he made in the United States shortly after his ouster in April , claiming he remains Ecuador 's constitutional president .
-Ecuador 's Congress removed Mr. Gutierrez from office after weeks of mass protests .
-Critics had demanded his resignation for what they called an abuse of power after he packed the Supreme Court with his allies .
-Israeli media say the navy is building an underwater barrier off the coast of northern Gaza to stop potential Palestinian infiltrators .
-The Jerusalem Post newspaper quotes Israeli military officials as saying the barrier will stretch 950 meters into the sea from Israel 's border with the Gaza Strip .
-The report says the first 150 meters will consist of cement pilings buried into the sandy bottom while the remaining 800 meters will be formed by a floating fence .
-The structure is designed to stop Gaza-based militants from swimming to the Israeli coast once Israel pulls out of Gaza and parts of the West Bank .
-Israel is also building a land barrier along the West Bank .
-The U.S. military says three more American service members have been killed in Iraq .
-A military statement says two Marines died Thursday from wounds sustained in combat in Anbar province -- a Sunni insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad .
-Another statement said a soldier died in combat this week in Ninewa province , northwest of Baghdad More than 2900 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq since the 2003 invasion .
-In Baghdad Thursday , Arizona Republican Senator John McCain called for 15,000 to 30,000 more U.S. troops in Iraq to help stop sectarian violence .
-But the U.S. Army 's top general , Peter Schoomaker , warned of the strains on the Army from overseas deployments .
-The general said the Army " will break " without thousands more active duty soldiers .
-The Israeli military says a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip has landed in southern Israel , further straining the fragile cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas .
-Israeli officials did not report any injuries or damage from the rocket .
-No one has claimed responsibility for Monday 's incident .
-Hamas has warned it will take action against anyone who breaks the truce .
-On Sunday , Israel re-opened a border crossing with Gaza to allow about 80 truckloads of commercial goods into the Palestinian territory .
-Israel closed the crossings after an Islamic Jihad rocket attack last week .
-The group said the attack was revenge for Israel 's killing of one of its commanders in the West Bank .
-The West Bank is not included in a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip .
-Supporters and opponents of the war in Iraq have faced off against each other at rival rallies outside President Bush 's Crawford , Texas ranch .
-On Saturday , police kept dozens of Bush supporters and anti-war activists on separate sides of a narrow country road , as the two sides jeered at each other .
-At least two people were arrested .
-Elsewhere in town , thousands of people gathered for pro-Bush and anti-war rallies .
-Folk singer and peace activist Joan Baez led supporters in song at the anti-war gathering .
-The anti-war activists are led by Cindy Sheehan , whose son , Casey , was killed in Iraq last year .
-Mrs. Sheehan began holding vigils in Crawford earlier this month and has demanded to meet with President Bush to discuss the war .
-During his radio address Saturday , the president appealed for Americans to be patient with the military mission in Iraq .
-Colombia 's Constitutional Court has approved a law that allows presidents to serve more than one term , which could pave the way for the current president to run again .
-The decision from the country 's highest court came Wednesday .
-Colombian President Alvaro Uribe must wait for the court to decide on another measure that sets the rules for incumbents before his name can appear on the ballot for elections set for May .
-The president , who was elected in 2002 , has instituted tough policies against insurgents and drug traffickers .
-Colombia has been mired in four decades of civil war .
-Egypt 's intelligence chief Omar Suleiman met with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal Tuesday in Cairo for talks on forging a power-sharing deal between Hamas and its political rival Fatah .
-The meeting comes just days after Suleiman met with members of a Fatah delegation .
-Egypt has been trying to get the two groups to form a unity government , but tensions between the rival factions have been rising , with recent deadly clashes in the West Bank .
-In the West Bank Tuesday , Palestinian security forces shot and wounded a motorist who they believed was threatening a convoy carrying a senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas .
-A spokesman for the security forces , Adnan Damiri , said the driver refused orders to move his car away from the convoy carrying Mr. Abbas ' aide , Tayyeb Abel-Rahim .
-The spokesman said it was not clear whether the man was posing a deliberate threat .
-Crude oil prices rose above $ 96 a barrel in Tuesday 's trading .
-That is a rise of more than $ 2 .
-Oil traders say the rising price of oil is partly the result of the falling value of the U.S. dollar .
-The greenback hit a record low compared to the euro Tuesday .
-Oil has traditionally been priced in dollars , so when the value of the dollar falls , it puts upward pressure on the price of crude .
-Palestinian security forces have arrested a Hamas militant long wanted by both the Palestinian Authority and Israel .
-Senior Palestinian security officials , speaking on the condition of anonymity Friday , said forces captured Ayoub Al-Qawasmi near the West Bank city of Hebron .
-Officials said al-Qawasmi has been wanted since 1998 for a series of attacks on Israelis .
-Israel has also been conducting security sweeps near Hebron in recent days .
-Israeli forces on Thursday seized a Hamas member of the Palestinian parliament who had recently been released from an Israeli prison .
-Separately , the French News Agency ( AFP ) Friday said Israel 's Shin Bet security service released a statement saying 2010 has had the fewest militant attacks against Israel since a Palestinian uprising began a decade ago .
-But , the statement also says Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip have intensified efforts to smuggle in advanced weapons .
-British Finance Minister Gordon Brown has outlined a series of measures to halt the funding of terrorists .
-During a speech in London Tuesday , Mr. Brown said the new measures would allow the Treasury to act based on classified intelligence .
-He said there should be no safe haven for terrorists nor those who finance them anywhere in the world .
-Brown said the government measures would be accountable to parliament scrutiny .
-Political analysts say the speech was designed to bolster Brown 's credentials to succeed Prime Minister Tony Blair , who has said he plans to step down within the next year .
-The British government already has tightened several anti-terrorism laws since four British Islamist suicide bombers killed 52 people on London 's transport network last July .
-The traditional Christmas shopping season in the U.S. kicked off in surprising fashion this past weekend .
-But , some analysts say the brief spending spree will not be enough to boost retail profits or spare the industry from the weakest holiday sales in decades .
-As Carolyn Presutti reports , the gains came at the expense of stores that slashed prices to lure shoppers .
-Israeli troops have shot and killed three Hamas militants in separate incidents along Israel 's border with the Gaza Strip .
-In the first incident Wednesday , Israeli soldiers killed two Hamas militants near the Karni cargo crossing .
-Hours later , the Israeli military says troops opened fire at several gunmen who approached the border fence near the Erez crossing in northern Gaza .
-One Hamas militant was reported killed and two others were wounded .
-Israeli troops frequently fire at Palestinians who approach Gaza 's border fence to prevent infiltrations and to stop militants from launching rockets into Israel .
-Hamas seized control of Gaza in mid-June after weeks of fighting with rival Fatah security forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas .
-Israel and the international community support the West Bank-based Palestinian government formed by Mr. Abbas and do not recognize Hamas as a legitimate governing body .
-A train accident in the Republic of Congo has killed around 60 people and injured hundreds of others .
-Officials with rail company CFCO say four train cars filled with passengers derailed and plunged into a ravine late on Monday .
-Media reports say at least 300 people were hurt in the crash .
-The accident occurred near the southern coastal city of Pointe Noire .
-The train was en route to the capital , Brazzaville .
-Pakistani officials say gunmen have killed 16 people in two separate attacks in the restive southwest of the country .
-Police say the first incident took place Saturday in Aab-e-Ghum , a town near the Baluchistan provincial capital of Quetta .
-Gunmen stopped a bus , forced some passengers off the vehicle and then killed 10 of them .
-Police say the victims were all non-ethnic Baluchis from the eastern Punjab province .
-The second attack occurred in Quetta , where gunmen killed six people .
-No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attacks and it was not clear whether they were linked .
-Separatists have waged a low-level insurgency in Baluchistan for years , seeking more autonomy for the province and a greater share of the profits from its natural resources .
-The region is also plagued by sectarian violence .
-Nepalese journalists staged a protest in the capital , Kathmandu , to demand an end to government censorship .
-More than 300 journalists marched through the city Tuesday , waving signs calling for freedom of the press and down with autocracy .
-Police did not break up the rally or make any arrests , as in previous protests .
-Nepal 's King Gyanendra dismissed the government on February 1 , suspended civil liberties and imposed emergency rule .
-The Federation of Nepalese Journalists ( FNJ ) says at least 13 journalists have been detained since then .
-The head of the organization says its members are going to fight until complete press freedom is restored in the country .
-King Gyanendra said he made the power grab in order to subdue increasingly violent Maoist rebels .
-U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland says he may halt aid to the western Darfur region of Sudan if violence there continues to escalate .
-Mr. Egeland told reporters at U.N. headquarters in Geneva Wednesday that the rising violence in the Darfur region has put aid workers at risk .
-He says if the situation worsens , they may not be able to continue the humanitarian operation for the 2.5 million people in the region who require assistance .
-Mr. Egeland says the situation has gotten so serious , the aid could stop within a day .
-Earlier this week , special U.N. advisor Juan Mendez said violence was continuing in Darfur despite the claims of the Sudanese government .
-The fighting in Darfur pits rebels against government-backed Arab militia and has sent hundreds of thousands of people fleeing into Chad .
-Former South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma has held a fundraising rally on the eve of the verdict in his high-profile rape trial .
-Thousands of supporters attended a concert in the Johannesburg suburb of Soweto for the 64-year-old anti-apartheid veteran .
-Zuma is accused of raping a 31-year-old H.I.V. positive woman who is a longtime family friend .
-He claims the sex was consensual .
-The trial has drawn widespread interest across South Africa and Monday 's verdict ( at 700 UTC ) is scheduled to be broadcast live on television .
-The three-month trial has focused attention on South Africa 's high incidence of rape and H.I.V. infection .
-The 64-year-old Zuma was once considered a strong contender to succeed President Thabo Mbeki , who fired him because of corruption-related accusations last year .
-Zuma is due to stand trial on corruption charges in July .
-Russian lawmakers have passed a sweeping new anti-terrorism bill that would allow the military to attack planes and ships used in terrorist acts , even if hostages are aboard .
-The 450-seat lower house of parliament , or Duma , overwhelmingly approved the legislation by a vote of 423-1 , Sunday .
-The bill now goes to the upper house of parliament , where approval is expected , after which it would be signed into law by Russian President Vladimir Putin .
-The legislation defines terrorism and what constitutes a terrorist act , and outlines procedures for carrying out counter-terrorism operations within and outside Russian territory .
-The proposed law also would allow Russian authorities to monitor telephone conversations and control electronic communications for security reasons .
-Six Arab states on the Persian Gulf are considering a proposal to invite Iran to join in declaring the oil-rich region a nuclear-free zone .
-Leaders of Bahrain , Kuwait , Oman , Qatar and Saudi Arabia joined UAE officials in Abu Dhabi Sunday under tight security for the two-day meeting .
-Before the summit , the Gulf Cooperation Council 's secretary-general ( Abdul Rahman al-Attiya ) said the group trusts Iran , but wants to ensure that a nuclear power plant is not built close to the waters of member states .
-Iran is under intense international pressure to halt work on its suspect nuclear fuel program and allow inspectors full access to its nuclear sites .
-The United States accuses Tehran of secretly trying to develop an atomic bomb , but Iran says its program is aimed at developing electricity .
-The Bush administration 's top economic advisors say immigration benefits native-born workers in the United States .
-A report issued Tuesday , by the President 's Council of Economic Advisors also says immigrants make up more than 15 percent of the U.S. workforce , and they pay more in taxes than they use in benefits .
-Immigrants are concentrated in the lowest and highest economic levels - those without a high school diploma , and those who hold a doctorate degree .
-Fierce political debates have been going on in the United States over how to cope with the estimated 12 million people who have already migrated here illegally .
-Congress and the Bush administration are also haggling over who should be allowed to immigrate in the future .
-The U.S. military says coalition forces killed between 15 to 20 militants in the past two days in Sangin district , of the southern Afghan province of Helmand .
-A statement says the militants were carrying assault rifles and grenade launchers .
-The violence continued Monday , with two suicide attacks and a roadside bomb blast .
-Local officials say a suspected Taleban suicide attacker in a car exploded a bomb near a coalition convoy in Uruzgan province .
-The attacker died , and one soldier and one civilian were hurt .
-Another suicide attacker blew up his car near an Afghan army convoy in Helmand province , killing the attacker but hurting no one else .
-Meanwhile , a bomb exploded near a convoy of coalition forces traveling along a highway in southern Kandahar province , injuring two Canadian soldiers .
-Violence has intensified in Afghanistan in recent months , as NATO builds up troop numbers in the restive south .
-U.S. automaker Ford unveils its latest attempt to stem North American losses on Monday .
-Media reports say Ford will cut 25,000 or more jobs over the next four to five years , and close some manufacturing facilities .
-Chief Executive Officer William Clay Ford Jr. will announce the new plan , which has been dubbed " Way Forward . "
-It will be the CEO 's second major restructuring of the company since taking over in 2001 .
-Ford is the world 's third-largest automaker .
-It has endured 10 consecutive years of market-share losses to Asian carmakers , particularly Toyota .
-Some of its most popular products , such as the Explorer SUV , have seen sales fall dramatically as fuel prices have risen to record levels .
-Afghanistan and Italy have expressed confidence that kidnapped Italian aid worker Clementina Cantoni will be released safely .
-Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal told a Kabul news conference Saturday the government has been in regular contact with the kidnappers who seized Ms. Cantoni May 16th and that leaders are optimistic she will be freed .
-Later , Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi expressed similar views to journalists after speaking with Italy 's intelligence minister about the case .
-The statements came a day after Afghan religious leaders issued a fatwa , or religious decree , pledging death to anyone killing a foreigner who is in the country legally .
-Ms. Cantoni , who is 32 , has run a Care International food distribution program in Kabul for three years , assisting thousands of widows and orphans .
-A happy event has turned to tragedy at the Beijing Zoo , where officials say a giant panda accidentally crushed and killed her newborn cub .
-The cub was one of two born Friday to 8-year-old mother Yinghua .
-But in what zookeepers say is normal panda behavior , Yinghua abandoned one of the cubs , which has been removed to an incubator in Sichuan province .
-Xinhua news agency quoted zoo official Zhang Jingguo saying the mother was looking for the remaining cub in order to nurse it when she rolled over and crushed it early Saturday .
-He said pandas are known for their poor eyesight .
-Pandas are among the world 's most endangered species , with only about 300 living in captivity and 1,600 in the wild .
-The Beijing Zoo has seven pandas .
-Ghana plans Friday to repatriate 45 Liberian refugees who were arrested earlier this week at a refugee camp outside the capital , Accra .
-Authorities say the refugees found their way illegally into the Gomoa Buduburam Refugee Camp .
-They are among the 600 refugees rounded up for fueling tensions in the camp with a month-long protest .
-The refugees had refused to stop the demonstration against a United Nations-funded program that provides refugees with a free trip and $ 100 to resettle in Liberia .
-Many refugees say they would rather settle in another country because they fear persecution at home .
-U.N. officials have said large-scale resettlement outside Liberia is not an option , and that these refugees should make an effort to help rebuild their country .
-Ghana says 40,000 Liberian refugees remain in the country , even though the Liberian civil war ended in 2003 .
-Iraqi authorities say a suicide bomber has killed at least 25 people outside an Iraqi army recruitment center near the border with Syria .
-Police say dozens more people were wounded in the attack in the town of Rabiah , about 10 kilometers east of the Syrian border .
-In an Internet statement , Abu Musab al-Zarqawi 's terror group , al-Qaida in Iraq , claimed responsibility for the bombing , saying one of their members carried out the attack using an explosives belt .
-It was not possible to authenticate the claim of responsibility .
-Iraqi security forces and police are frequent targets of insurgents .
-In other developments , ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein appeared before the Iraqi Special Tribunal Thursday to answer questions about the repression of a Shi'ite uprising in 1991 .
-Palestinian medical officials say two Palestinian children were killed in an explosion in the Gaza Strip that may have been caused by an Israeli tank shell .
-The medical officials say the children , who were cousins aged 10 and 12 , died in the explosion Wednesday in the northern Gaza Strip .
-The officials say a young female cousin was critically injured .
-The Israeli military said it fired at rocket launchers in the area .
-Tuesday , the leaders of Israel and the Palestinian Authority met in Jerusalem to discuss some of the core issues of the Mideast conflict .
-Israeli officials said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas talked about the status of Jerusalem , Palestinian refugees and final borders .
-The International Court of Justice has affirmed a decades-old treaty that granted Colombia three small islands in the Caribbean .
-The court in The Hague , Netherlands , Thursday said the sovereignty of the islands of San Andres , Providencia and Santa Catalina was settled in the 1928 treaty between Colombia and Nicaragua .
-Nicaragua had challenged the ownership to the islands , which lie some 220 kilometers off its coast in waters rich in fish and potential oil .
-The U.N. court is now to take up the question of sovereignty over other areas in the archipelago that are not addressed in the treaty .
-Amnesty International is denouncing Algeria 's alleged use of torture to obtain information about terrorism from prisoners .
-The human rights group says Algeria 's intelligence agency , the Department for Information and Security , is using the international " war on terror " to perpetuate abuses .
-The group says detainees are held for months without outside contact and are subject to beatings , electrical shocks and the forced ingestion of dirty water , urine or chemicals .
-Amnesty also urged foreign governments to not forcibly return Algerians likely to be abused .
-Amnesty issued its report Monday one day before Algeria 's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is to meet British Prime Minister Tony Blair in London .
-They are expected to discuss an agreement that would enable Britain to deport Algerian terror suspects .
-The Algerian Embassy in London declined comment on the Amnesty report .
-The U.S. Treasury Department is putting tight financial restrictions on the Syria-based leader of a group linked to al-Qaida , accused of helping supply terrorists in Iraq .
-The Treasury announced Thursday it is freezing all assets held by Abu Khalaf under U.S. jurisdiction , and is prohibiting American citizens from doing business with him .
-According to the department , Khalaf is a senior leader of al-Qaida in Iraq 's " facilitation network , " which controls the flow of resources -- including weapons , money and militants -- from Syria into Iraq .
-A Treasury official , Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart Levey , said the department will continue to target al-Qaida-linked terrorists who " threaten the safety of Coalition Forces and the stability of Iraq . "
-The Treasury Department has the authority to impose financial sanctions on foreign businesses and people considered a threat to U.S. national security and foreign policy goals .
-Jordan 's largest opposition group says it will boycott the country 's November parliamentary elections .
-The decision late Thursday deals a blow to polls the government hailed as a cornerstone of political reforms .
-The powerful Muslim Brotherhood Movement based its decision on the fallout from a new electoral law , which it says will undercut the group 's robust showing in past elections .
-The new legislation reduced seats for lawmakers elected from urban areas , where the Brotherhood is popular .
-It increased seats from rural regions , dominated by pro-government Bedouin tribes .
-The boycott by the country 's largest opposition group will leave it without a voice in parliament .
-Kuwait 's Interior Ministry says a suspected Saudi militant has been killed in a lengthy gunbattle with police .
-Another militant , with Kuwaiti nationality , was captured , and authorities seized a large cache of weapons , ammunition and explosives in the daytime raid Saturday .
-House-to-house searches were continuing in the residential Umm al-Haiman district , south of Kuwait City for several other suspects who fled .
-State television carried pictures of the scene , where two security officers also were wounded .
-Citizens were warned not to harbor any fugitives and to call police if they saw any suspicious activity .
-Today 's incident is the second in less than a week .
-A militant and two policemen were killed in a gunfight Monday in Kuwait City .
-Israel 's cabinet is set to vote Sunday on a final go-ahead for this month 's evacuation of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip .
-Officials say the debate may be prolonged , but Prime Minister Ariel Sharon 's evacuation plan is likely to win final approval .
-The cabinet is expected to begin by reviewing plans for evacuating the three most isolated settlements in Gaza - Netzarim , Morag and Kfar Darom - a stronghold of those who oppose the withdrawal .
-Fears of violence have increased ahead of the August 15 pullout , since a Jewish militant boarded a bus and shot four Israeli Arabs to death , apparently to stir unrest and draw security forces away from Gaza .
-In the West Bank today , Palestinian militants opened fire on an Israeli car near the Jewish settlement of Ateret , north of Jerusalem .
-At least two people , including a 10-year-old boy , were wounded .
-The United Nations Security Council is extending the mission of the joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force in Sudan 's war-torn Darfur region for another year .
-In a resolution unanimously adopted Thursday , the council extended the mandate of the force ( UNAMID ) until July 31 , 2010 .
-The United Nations and African Union are in the final phase of deploying the world 's largest peacekeeping mission in the troubled region .
-U.N. officials have said they expect 26,000 soldiers to be in Darfur by the end of this year .
-Darfur rebel groups took up arms against Sudan 's government in 2003 , accusing it of neglecting Darfur .
-The United Nations estimates 3,00,000 people have died during the conflict .
-Sudan 's government gives a much lower figure of 10,000 war-related deaths .
-The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross has met with President Bush to discuss concerns about detainees held at U.S. facilities in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay , Cuba .
-Red Cross officials in Geneva say the Monday talks between ICRC President Jakob Kellenberger and Mr. Bush in Washington focused on the humanitarian agency 's concerns regarding U.S. detentions , ICRC relief operations and armed conflicts worldwide .
-A White House spokesman Tuesday said the president 's meeting with Mr. Kellenberger focused on a wide range of issues , but he did not give details .
-The spokesman said that when the ICRC has concerns , the Bush administration listens .
-Mr. Kellenberger also met Monday with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice , and he is scheduled to meet with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld later today .
-The ICRC has been at odds with the Bush administration over the status of prisoners since the 2001 U.S.-led war in Afghanistan .
-State media in Guinea say military leaders have put the army on high alert after learning of an alleged plot to overthrow the government .
-An official statement read on television said Captain Moussa " Dadis " Camara took the measures after learning that fighters in neighboring countries were planning to attack Guinea .
-It said the fighters are financed by drug traffickers who have fled Guinea to avoid arrest .
-The report did not say where the government was getting its information .
-Camara seized power in December just hours after the death of longtime dictator Lansana Conte .
-The military leader quickly suspended the constitution and dismissed the civilian government .
-He won public support by vowing to crack down on corruption and drug trafficking .
-But critics such as Human Rights Watch have accused Camara 's forces of restricting political activity and arbitrarily arresting and beating people .
-The trial of Saddam Hussein is to resume Monday , but it remains unclear if the former Iraqi leader and his seven co-defendants will appear in court .
-Saddam , his co-defendants and his defense team boycotted the last session of the trial , saying they would not return until the new chief judge is replaced .
-They say the judge , Rauf Abdel Rahman , is biased against the defendants .
-Saddam 's legal team also said they were wrong in earlier reporting that he planned to go on a hunger strike to protest his trial .
-They now say no hunger strike is planned .
-The former Iraqi dictator and his co-defendants are on trial for the killing of more than 140 Shi'ites , in the village of Dujail , following a 1982 assassination attempt against Saddam .
-Israel 's top general has ordered the army to stop using Palestinian civilians as human shields in arrest raids .
-Thursday 's order from General Dan Halutz came hours after the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the army 's practice of forcing Palestinian civilians to approach the homes of suspected militants violates international law .
-The court ruling grew out of a 2002 case brought by Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups , after a Palestinian teenager was forced to knock on the door of a suspected West Bank militant .
-The teenager was shot dead when gunfire erupted moments later .
-In August of 2002 , the court issued a temporary injunction against the practice .
-But a 2004 photograph of a Palestinian boy strapped to the front of an Israeli jeep under attack by Palestinian stone-throwers prompted human rights activists to complain the army was ignoring the court order .
-The judge at the trial of Saddam Hussein has thrown out one of the former Iraqi leader 's co-defendants amid fierce arguments over the veracity of prosecution witnesses .
-The judge in Baghdad removed defendant Barzan al-Tikriti from the courtroom and threatened to keep him in a cell after a heated exchange of words between the two men Wednesday .
-Earlier , the defense team accused a prosecution witness of perjury and presented a video disc , claiming it contained a contradictory statement from a witness who testified against Saddam late last year .
-The footage shown in the court shows the witness saying there was no attempt to kill Saddam in Dujail in 1982 , only celebratory firing to mark the former dictator 's visit .
-Saddam and seven co-defendants are facing charges of crimes against humanity in connection to the deaths of 148 Shi'ite Muslims following the failed attempt on his life .
-China says a recent outbreak of avian flu in the northwestern Xinjiang region has killed nearly 5,000 birds .
-Official Chinese news agency Xinhua reported Friday that authorities killed 29,000 birds to control the outbreak in the city of Turpan .
-On Thursday , a government laboratory confirmed the presence in poultry of the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus .
-Bird flu outbreaks were reported also this week in Bangladesh , Israel and Vietnam .
-The World Health Organization says the virus has killed more than 200 people worldwide .
-The U.S. government says it has distributed nearly $ 690 million in direct aid to the victims of Hurricane Katrina .
-The Federal Emergency Management Agency says it has distributed the money among more than 3,30,000 families displaced by the catastrophic storm .
-The majority of the money ( $ 551 million ) has been handed out to 2,68,000 families in the hard-hit state of Louisiana .
-Much of the money has been given out in the form of $ 2,000 grants .
-FEMA has been criticized for what many say was a slow response to Hurricane Katrina .
-Michael Brown , the agency 's director , was removed this week from heading relief operations in the Gulf Coast .
-U.S. officials say differences remain in talks with India on a civilian nuclear cooperation agreement , but there is hope a final deal can be reached before President Bush visits New Delhi next month .
-The U.S. Embassy released a statement Saturday expressing hope for an agreement after Washington 's negotiator , Nicholas Burns , left New Delhi following three days of talks .
-Washington has offered to provide India with civilian nuclear technology , but wants assurances that the Indian government will not use the technology for military purposes .
-President Bush has said he wants to return from India with a final nuclear cooperation pact so he can begin work on getting approval from Congress .
-Mr. Bush 's national security advisor , Stephen Hadley , said Friday that if no deal is reached before the visit , negotiations will continue after the president 's trip .
-Syria 's ambassador to Washington says his country has halted military and intelligence cooperation with the United States , because of what he calls unjust American allegations .
-In an interview with the New York Times published Monday , Ambassador Imad Moustapha said that in the last 10 days , Damascus severed all links with the U.S. military and Central Intelligence Agency .
-Mr. Moustapha said he believes the Bush administration has decided to escalate the situation with Syria , despite steps it has taken against insurgents in Iraq and the pullout of its troops from Lebanon .
-Bush administration officials have frequently complained that Syria is not doing enough to stem the flow of men and money to the insurgency in Iraq .
-The New York Times says Syria 's action has prompted high-level debate within the Bush administration about steps that might be taken against the Syrian government .
-Afghan security forces have stopped a suspected al-Qaida assassination attempt on a provincial governor in northern Afghanistan .
-Police say bodyguards arrested an alleged al-Qaida member when he entered the home of the governor of Balkh province , Atta Mohammed , with explosives hidden under his clothes .
-Police say the man is from the African nation of Mali , and they suspect he intended to blow himself up when he was with the governor .
-Atta Mohammed was a senior leader in the Northern Alliance , which teamed up with U.S.-led international forces to oust the Taleban in 2001 .
-In eastern Afghanistan , a U.S. soldier was killed in an attack on his patrol near Mihtarlam , in Laghman province .
-A U.S. statement says the patrol returned fire and called in air support but the attackers fled .
-More people in divided Kashmir are being allowed to use the five crossing points opened by India and Pakistan on the military Line of Control after the October earthquake .
-Earlier , the openings were used mainly for exchanging materials for quake relief .
-The crossing points have been opened to civilians so they can know the welfare of relatives on the other side .
-On Thursday , 25 people crossed the Line of Control , in the Uri sector of Indian Kashmir .
-Indian officials say 20 went to the Pakistani side , while five people returned home to the Indian side .
-Those crossing to the Pakistani side included four residents of Pakistani Kashmir who had been stranded in Indian Kashmir .
-The effort to reunite separated Kashmiri families by opening the de~facto border is seen as an offshoot of the almost two-year-old peace process between Pakistan and India .
-Iran has barred journalists from the Cable News Network from the country , following a mistaken translation that quoted Iran 's president as saying his country has a right to build nuclear weapons .
-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told reporters Saturday that his nation has a right to pursue nuclear technology .
-But CNN 's translator used the word " weapon " instead .
-CNN has apologized for the error .
-But Iran says the network 's reporters and stringers are barred until further notice .
-The network said Monday it has not been officially notified of the ban .
-CNN does not have a permanent correspondent in Iran .
-But reporters have occasionally been allowed to enter the country for brief assignments .
-Elco Industries Inc. said it expects net income in the year ending June 30 , 1990 , to fall below a recent analyst 's estimate of $ 1.65 a share .
-The Rockford , Ill. , maker of fasteners also said it expects to post sales in the current fiscal year that are " slightly above " fiscal 1989 sales of $ 155 million .
-The company said its industrial unit continues to face margin pressures and lower demand .
-In fiscal 1989 , Elco earned $ 7.8 million , or $ 1.65 a share .
-The company 's stock fell $ 1.125 to $ 13.625 in over-the-counter trading yesterday .
-Characterized by large and well-developed agricultural , mining , manufacturing , and service sectors , Brazil 's economy outweighs that of all other South American countries , and Brazil is expanding its presence in world markets .
-Since 2003 , Brazil has steadily improved its macroeconomic stability , building up foreign reserves , and reducing its debt profile by shifting its debt burden toward real denominated and domestically held instruments .
-In 2008 , Brazil became a net external creditor and two ratings agencies awarded investment grade status to its debt .
-After record growth in 2007 and 2008 , the onset of the global financial crisis hit Brazil in September 2008 .
-Brazil experienced two quarters of recession , as global demand for Brazil 's commodity-based exports dwindled and external credit dried up .
-However , Brazil was one of the first emerging markets to begin a recovery .
-Consumer and investor confidence revived and GDP growth returned to positive in 2010 , boosted by an export recovery .
-Brazil 's strong growth and high interest rates make it an attractive destination for foreign investors .
-Large capital inflows over the past year have contributed to the rapid appreciation of its currency and led the government to raise taxes on some foreign investments .
-President Dilma ROUSSEFF has pledged to retain the previous administration 's commitment to inflation targeting by the Central Bank , a floating exchange rate , and fiscal restraint .
-Greece achieved independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1829 .
-During the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century , it gradually added neighboring islands and territories , most with Greek-speaking populations .
-In World War II , Greece was first invaded by Italy ( 1940 ) and subsequently occupied by Germany ( 1941 - 44 ) ; fighting endured in a protracted civil war between supporters of the king and other anti-Communists and Communist rebels .
-Following the latter 's defeat in 1949 , Greece joined NATO in 1952 .
-In 1967 , a group of military officers seized power , establishing a military dictatorship that suspended many political liberties and forced the king to flee the country .
-In 1974 , democratic elections and a referendum created a parliamentary republic and abolished the monarchy .
-In 1981 , Greece joined the EC ( now the EU ) ; it became the 12th member of the European Economic and Monetary Union in 2001 .
-In 2010 , the prospect of a Greek default on its euro-denominated debt created severe strains within the EMU and raised the question of whether a member country might voluntarily leave the common currency or be removed .
-Tokelau 's small size ( three villages ) , isolation , and lack of resources greatly restrain economic development and confine agriculture to the subsistence level .
-The people rely heavily on aid from New Zealand - about $ 10 million annually in 2008 and 2009 - to maintain public services .
-New Zealand 's support amounts to 80 % of Tokelau 's recurrent government budget .
-An international trust fund , currently worth nearly US $ 32 million , was established in 2004 to provide Tokelau an independent source of revenue .
-The principal sources of revenue come from sales of copra , postage stamps , souvenir coins , and handicrafts .
-Money is also remitted to families from relatives in New Zealand .
-Eastern Turkmenistan for centuries formed part of the Persian province of Khurasan ; in medieval times Merv ( today known as Mary ) was one of the great cities of the Islamic world and an important stop on the Silk Road .
-Annexed by Russia between 1865 and 1885 , Turkmenistan became a Soviet republic in 1924 .
-It achieved independence upon the dissolution of the USSR in 1991 .
-Extensive hydrocarbon / natural gas reserves could prove a boon to this underdeveloped country once extraction and delivery projects are expanded .
-The Turkmen Government is actively working to diversify its gas export routes beyond the still dominant Russian pipeline network .
-In 2010 , new gas export pipelines that carry Turkmen gas to China and to northern Iran began operating , effectively ending the Russian monopoly on Turkmen gas exports .
-President for Life Saparmurat NYYAZOW died in December 2006 , and Turkmenistan held its first multi-candidate presidential election in February 2007 .
-Gurbanguly BERDIMUHAMEDOW , a deputy cabinet chairman under NYYAZOW , emerged as the country 's new president .
-Like many other South Pacific island nations , the Cook Islands ' economic development is hindered by the isolation of the country from foreign markets , the limited size of domestic markets , lack of natural resources , periodic devastation from natural disasters , and inadequate infrastructure .
-Agriculture , employing more than one-quarter of the working population , provides the economic base with major exports made up of copra and citrus fruit .
-Black pearls are the Cook Islands ' leading export .
-Manufacturing activities are limited to fruit processing , clothing , and handicrafts .
-Trade deficits are offset by remittances from emigrants and by foreign aid overwhelmingly from New Zealand .
-In the 1980s and 1990s , the country lived beyond its means , maintaining a bloated public service and accumulating a large foreign debt .
-Subsequent reforms , including the sale of state assets , the strengthening of economic management , the encouragement of tourism , and a debt restructuring agreement , have rekindled investment and growth .
-SOME White Christians engaged in driving Chinese Heathens out of an American town found a newspaper published in Peking in the Chinese tongue , and compelled one of their victims to translate an editorial .
-It turned out to be an appeal to the people of the Province of Pang Ki to drive the foreign devils out of the country and burn their dwellings and churches .
-At this evidence of Mongolian barbarity the White Christians were so greatly incensed that they carried out their original design .
-A MIND Reader made a wager that he would be buried alive and remain so for six months , then be dug up alive .
-In order to secure the grave against secret disturbance , it was sown with thistles .
-At the end of three months , the Mind Reader lost his money .
-He had come up to eat the thistles .
-The church janitor was also the organist , and had to watch his keys and pews .
-The White House is reported ready to eliminate funding to service the Hubble Space Telescope and has directed the U.S. space agency NASA to focus on de-orbiting the popular spacecraft .
-According to a report by the online news service space.com Friday , NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe will announce the decision to scrap the repair mission when he reveals the space agency 's 2006 budget request in February .
-The Earth-orbiting observatory has operated continuously for 14 years , providing incredibly sharp celestial images that have made significant contributions to astronomical research .
-NASA has been unable to complete the final repair mission for Hubble due to the grounding of the space shuttle fleet following the destruction of the Space Shuttle Columbia in February 2003 .
-Sources say lawmakers are likely to try to restore funding to repair the telescope , which has widespread support .
-Haiti 's interim government has announced that the nation 's Supreme Court will no longer have the ability to overrule election officials .
-The decision came Thursday , two days after the nation 's highest court ruled a Haitian-American businessman could run for office .
-Election authorities had previously told Haitian-born Dumarsais Simeus that he was not eligible to run because he holds U.S. citizenship .
-Also Thursday , Haiti 's government announced a committee would be created to review the nationalities of all candidates running for the presidency .
-Haiti 's interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue has said the nation 's elections will be delayed by several weeks , and not be held November 20 as scheduled .
-The upcoming election will be the first since President Jean-Bertrand Aristide 's ouster in February 2004 .
-Ethiopia says scores of birds found dead recently have tested negative for the bird flu .
-A spokesman for Ethiopia 's Agriculture Ministry , Mulgueta Debalk , says the birds that were tested died of the Newcastle virus , which is common among fowl but harmless to humans .
-Ethiopia tested a total of 62 birds after hundreds of pigeons , chickens and other birds were found dead in various parts of the country several weeks ago .
-Ethiopia and other African nations have been watching for any sign of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus .
-The virus has killed more than 70 people in Asia since 2003 .
-There are fears that migratory birds could carry it to Africa .
-The virus has already been found in birds in Europe and the Middle East .
-The U.N. refugee agency says at least 33 migrants trying to reach Yemen have drowned in the Gulf of Aden .
-The agency says the drownings occurred after human smugglers forced all 137 passengers off a boat and into deep waters off the Yemeni coast .
-It says the boat had sailed from Somalia with 134 Somalis and three Ethiopians on board .
-Some of the migrants reached shore , but others are still missing .
-The agency says it learned of the tragedy on Saturday , but it was unclear when the incident actually occurred .
-Thousands of Somalis and Ethiopians try to cross the Gulf of Aden each year in hopes of escaping poverty and violence in their homelands .
-The U.N. says many of the smugglers are ruthless , beating the migrants or making them swim long distances to shore .
-Violence continues to flare in southern Thailand despite the government 's latest action to ease tension in the Muslim-dominated region , an air drop of millions of paper doves as a gesture of peace .
-Police say a bomb explosion in Narathiwat province Monday injured at least one soldier .
-A second bomb exploded in the province several hours later , injuring an official .
-Arson attacks in the same area on Sunday destroyed a home for teachers and damaged a school .
-About 50 Thai air force planes flew over three restive southern provinces Sunday to drop 120 million ( origami ) birds made of folded paper , symbolizing the national wish for peace .
-All Thais were asked to take part in the campaign , which also marked the birthday of King Bhumibol Adulyadej .
-A suicide bomber blew himself up Sunday in a northern Iraqi cafe , killing at least 13 people and wounding 23 others in the town of Tuz Khurmatu .
-Elsewhere , Iraqi officials say gunmen who kidnapped 30 sports officials have freed six of them in Baghdad .
-There was no word on the other hostages , including Iraq 's Olympic Committee chief .
-Meanwhile , insurgents raided the detention wing of a hospital northeast of Baghdad and freed several wounded comrades .
-Four security men were killed in the attack .
-In southern Iraq , British officials said gunmen killed a British soldier in Basra - the country 's first military death in Iraq since late May .
-Separately , two British soldiers were wounded by a roadside bomb .
-In Kirkuk , U.S. and Iraqi forces killed one gunman and captured two after the gunmen ambushed and wounded an Iraqi security officer .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says his country is willing to reconsider pulling out of the five-nation Andean Community trade bloc .
-Mr. Chavez on Monday said Venezuela would reconsider its decision if Colombia and Peru reconsider their free trade deals with the United States .
-Bolivian President Evo Morales has called on Mr. Chavez to reverse his decision , and he also called for a meeting to save the bloc .
-Last week , President Chavez said the bloc is " fatally wounded " because Colombia and Peru finalized free trade agreements with the U.S. Advocates say the free trade deals open up markets and create more jobs .
-Critics say the pacts leave developing countries at a disadvantage with competition from cheaper U.S. products .
-A showdown looms in the U.S. Senate , which has begun debate on one of President Bush 's most contested judicial nominees and a possible rule change strongly opposed by Democrats .
-The debate began Wednesday with Republican Majority Leader Bill Frist raising the nomination of Judge Priscilla Owen .
-She is one of seven appeals court candidates Democrats have blocked using filibusters , a parliamentary delaying tactic .
-Republicans have said that unless Democrats allow votes on all seven , they will try to enact a new rule banning filibusters against judicial nominees .
-The minority Democrats , who consider the seven Bush nominees too conservative , accused Republicans of making a power grab .
-The dispute has been intensified by the effect the proposed change could have on future Supreme Court nominations .
-It is unclear whether Republican leaders have the votes to achieve their goal , known as the " nuclear option . "
-French President Jacques Chirac has completed his four-day visit to China with a tour of archaeological sites in the historic city of Xian .
-Mr. Chirac visited an ancient tomb built more than 2,000 years ago for an emperor of China 's Han dynasty .
-He expressed a strong admiration for Chinese history and the efforts of archaeologists .
-Mr. Chirac earlier traveled to the central Chinese city of Wuhan to lay the foundation stone for a new Peugeot-Citroen auto factory .
-The plant is a joint venture with Chinese firm Dongfeng , and is expected to start producing cars in 2009 .
-In Beijing Thursday , the French president presided over the signing of 13 deals between French and Chinese businesses .
-The highlight was China 's decision to buy 150 Airbus passenger jets , worth about $ 10 billion .
-Mr. Chirac also met with Chinese President Hu Jintao Thursday to discuss the nuclear disputes with Iran and North Korea .
-Pakistani officials say two bombings have killed more than 50 people and wounded nearly 100 others in the country 's northwest tribal area near the Afghan border .
-Police said Friday a suicide bomber on a motorcycle detonated explosives outside a government office in the Yakaghund village in Pakistan 's northwest Mohmand tribal region .
-They suspected the second explosion was from a car bomb .
-The early morning blasts flattened dozens of buildings .
-They occurred as officials nearby were distributing wheelchairs and other aid to those in need .
-Mohmand is part of Pakistan 's lawless tribal belt where Taliban and al-Qaida militants are believed to be hiding .
-The Pakistani army has carried out operations in Mohmand , but it has been unable to extricate the militants .
-Pakistan is under pressure from the United States to go after the insurgents , who also have carried out attacks on Western forces in Afghanistan .
-Iranian authorities have shut down two Kurdish language newspapers in northwestern Iran , a day after at least 11 people were killed in that region during a clash between Kurdish demonstrators and Iranian police .
-The official Iranian news agency ( IRNA ) quotes the managing editor of the bilingual ( Kurdish and Iranian ) Ashti daily Thursday as saying a provincial court ordered the temporary closure of the paper .
-A Kurdish journalist in the region told VOA 's Kurdish service that a second paper , Aso , also was shut down because it reported on the recent wave of anti-Iranian protests in Iran 's northern Kurdish region .
-The killing last month of a Kurdish activist by Iranian security forces sparked demonstrations , some of them violent , in several predominantly Kurdish cities in northwestern Iran .
-A Turkish court has jailed five suspects pending trial in the killing of three people at a Christian publishing house last week .
-No trial date has been set .
-The court also released Sunday six other people who were in custody .
-It is unclear what charges they faced .
-A German citizen and two Turks who had converted to Christianity were killed in the attack in Malatya .
-They were found bound to chairs with their throats slit .
-At least one of the victims also had several stab wounds .
-Representatives of Turkey 's small Protestant community have blamed the killings on growing intolerance towards Christians and missionaries .
-The Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches have condemned the attack , as has Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer , who said there can be no justification for it .
-Chinese state media say an explosion at a chemical plant in eastern China has killed at least 14 people and injured 30 others .
-The official Xinhua news agency says the blast happened Friday at a chemical plant in Anhui province 's Dangtu County .
-It is not immediately clear how many workers were in the plant at the time of the explosion .
-Xinhua says the plant produces explosives for civilian uses such as mining .
-World leaders and diplomats are uniting to condemn Saturday 's deadly suicide bombings on the Indonesian resort island of Bali .
-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice denounced the attacks and said the United States stands with Indonesia as it works to bring the perpetrators to justice .
-British Prime Minister Tony Blair says his government is ready to help in any way possible , while Australian Prime Minister John Howard accused the attackers of trying to undermine Indonesia 's moderate government .
-A U.N. spokesman says Secretary-General Kofi Annan is " dismayed " that Bali is again the scene of an attack , and he urged authorities to promptly bring the perpetrators of what he called a " cowardly attack " to justice .
-Leaders of Japan , the Philippines , New Zealand , Singapore , Germany , France and other nations around the globe have also condemned the attacks .
-Sweden will have the chance to add the Olympic Games women 's curling title to its world and European crowns .
-The Swedes reached the tournament final at the Turin Winter Games with a 05-Apr semifinal victory over Norway Wednesday .
-In the final on Thursday , Sweden will face Switzerland , which was a 07-May winner over 1998 Olympic champion Canada .
-Both Sweden and Switzerland will compete for gold with identical records in Turin .
-Each finished the preliminary round with win-loss records of 07-Feb in the 10-nation tournament .
-Indonesian officials say a landslide has killed five people on Flores Island .
-Local officials said the landslide was triggered by several days of heavy rain .
-Floods and landslides are common in Indonesia , especially during the rainy season .
-Many landslides are caused by illegal logging or the clearing of farmland that strips away natural barriers .
-Flores is an island in the southeastern part of the Indonesian archipelago , about 15 hundred kilometers from the capital , Jakarta .
-An Italian newspaper says Italy 's defense minister has ruled out a troop withdrawal from Afghanistan as demanded by the kidnappers of an Italian photojournalist .
-The Italian daily La Stampa reported Thursday that Defense Minister Arturo Parisi says the troops will stay in Afghanistan despite the new demand .
-Kidnappers who seized Italian photojournalist Gabriele Torsello in Afghanistan last week issued the demand late Wednesday .
-Previously , the abductors said they would release Torsello if Italian authorities returned an Afghan convert to Christianity who was granted asylum in Italy .
-Torsello was kidnapped in Helmand province last week .
-Authorities blamed the abduction on the Taleban , but the radical Islamist group denies any involvement .
-In Rome , the Foreign Ministry said it was working for the release of the photographer .
-U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says there is reason for optimism in Afghanistan five years after the fall of the Taleban .
-In an opinion piece in Saturday 's Washington Post newspaper , Rumsfeld wrote that despite Afghanistan 's rising opium production and violence in the south , " the trajectory is a hopeful and promising one . "
-The secretary cited several improvements including an economy that has tripled in five years , a military that has grown by 1,000 soldiers a month and a 500 percent increase in children attending school .
-Rumsfeld also mentioned a few setbacks , including a surge in drug production and rising violence by insurgents .
-Pakistan has criticized remarks by a U.S. State Department counter-terrorism official who said Pakistan is not doing enough to remove Taleban and al-Qaida members from its soil .
-Henry Crumpton , in Kabul Saturday after talks in Pakistan , praised Pakistan for arresting hundreds of al-Qaida members but added that miliant leaders had found safe haven in Pakistan 's lawless semi-autonomous tribal region bordering Afghanistan .
-Pakistan 's military and government spokesman , Major-General Shaukat Sultan , called Crumpton 's statement irresponsible , saying he did not make the same criticisms during his talks with Pakistani officials .
-Pakistan , a key U.S. ally in the war against terrorism , has deployed about 80,000 troops to its tribal regions to root out foreign militants and their local allies .
-Pakistani officials say that 324 militants , including 76 foreigners had been killed in the area since last July .
-Insurgents in Iraq have launched new attacks Thursday on police and U.S. troops , killing at least 17 people .
-In the deadliest blast , witnesses say a suicide bomber , dressed in a police uniform , drove into the compound of the Tikrit police headquarters and detonated his vehicle .
-The massive explosion in Saddam Hussein 's hometown killed at least 12 people , wounded 35 , and set a dozen cars on fire .
-South of the capital , in Iskandariya , an explosion near a police convoy killed two policemen and at least one civilian .
-Despite the continued violence against Iraqi police , nearly 2,000 new recruits , including 46 women , graduated this week from police training courses in Sulaymaniyeh and Baghdad .
-Meanwhile , the U.S. military says two American soldiers were killed and another two were wounded in separate roadside bombings north of Baghdad .
-Iraqi police say a suicide truck bomb attack has killed at least 22 people and wounded 40 others in a small town in northern Iraq .
-Authorities say the blast ripped through a crowded outdoor market Saturday in Emerli , a village north of Baghdad .
-On Friday , a car bombing in a Kurdish village killed at least 22 people and wounded about 17 others .
-Police said they believe a suicide car bomber was responsible for the attack in the village of Ahmad Maref , northeast of the capital .
-The U.S. military Saturday reported the deaths of six American soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter over the past few days , mostly in Baghdad .
-Six soldiers were wounded .
-In other news , Britain 's defense ministry says a British soldier has died in the southern city of Basra .
-A spokesman did not provide details .
-Authorities in California say lightning strikes have sparked more than 400 fires in the northern part of the state , consuming thousands of hectares and forcing some residents to evacuate .
-The office of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger says the fires stretch more than 500 kilometers from south of San Francisco to the border of the neighboring state of Oregon .
-The governor has ordered the California National Guard to assist in fighting the blazes .
-Meanwhile , much of California is bracing for a fifth straight day of record high temperatures .
-Forecasters say temperatures reached above 32 degrees Celsius on Saturday in San Jose , Los Angeles and the state capital of Sacramento .
-The heat wave has sent people scurrying to beaches and rivers to cool off , and strained regional power grids as millions of residents turn on air conditioners .
-Afghanistan 's foreign minister has met with top Pakistani officials in Islamabad to discuss issues that affect both countries ahead of a visit by the new U.S. special envoy .
-The Pakistani foreign ministry says visiting Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta met with his Pakistani counterpart , Shah Mahmood Qureshi , and with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari .
-The ministry says they expressed readiness to strengthen their cross-border cooperation on fighting terrorism and militancy .
-The new U.S. envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan , Richard Holbrooke , will visit South Asia next week as the Obama administration reviews its policy on the Afghan conflict .
-A statement from Pakistan 's foreign ministry says Qureshi hopes what it called a " military surge " in Afghanistan will be paired with a politically and developmentaly-oriented surge .
-The United States says it is boosting its troop strength in Afghanistan by some 30,000 soldiers .
-In Iran , a gunman on a motorcycle has shot dead a judge trying the high-profile case of jailed Iranian journalist Akbar Ganji .
-A judiciary spokesman says the judge , Massoud Moghaddasi , was shot Tuesday while he was leaving his office in Tehran .
-The judge has been presiding over the case of Mr. Ganji , who has been in jail since 2001 for publishing articles implicating government officials in the murders of prominent dissidents .
-Mr. Ganji currently is in custody at a Tehran hospital .
-His family says his health is rapidly deteriorating because he has been on a hunger strike for more than 50 days .
-Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte says US looks forward to working with new Pakistani leaders
-The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Tropical Storm Tomas is about 640 kilometers south-southeast of Haiti 's capital , Port-au-Prince , with maximum sustained winds of 75 kilometers per hour .
-The storm was downgraded from a hurricane late Sunday , but forecasters expect it to gain strength again on Wednesday .
-Current projections put the storm on a path to Haiti , where hundreds of thousands of people are living in tent camps following an earthquake in January .
-United Nations agencies and other aid groups have ordered food , shelter and emergency supplies to be stockpiled in camps across Haiti and coastal communities threatened by the storm .
-The country is also struggling to contain a cholera outbreak that has already killed more than 300 people .
-Somalia 's transitional government has announced plans to begin relocating to the capital Mogadishu from Kenya February 21 .
-The government has been operating from Kenya since its formation last year , fearing continued instability in Somalia .
-Officials met Tuesday with clan leaders in Mogadishu who promised to hand over the city 's port and former government buildings .
-Somalia 's Prime Minister Mohammed Ali Gedi said today how quickly the relocation takes place depends on the support the new government receives from donor nations .
-The government is seeking about $ 77 million to fund its transition .
-Tuesday , the African Union authorized the deployment of east African troops to help the new government relocate .
-A former Haitian refugee is being sworn in Tuesday as Canada 's governor general , the representative of Britain 's Queen Elizabeth .
-Michaelle Jean will be the first black and only the third woman to hold the position .
-At 48 , she is also one of Canada 's youngest governor generals .
-She replaces Adrienne Clarkson in the ceremonial role .
-Ms. Jean immigrated to Canada 's French-speaking Quebec province as a child , after her parents fled Haiti to escape dictatorial rule .
-Critics have accused her of ties to Quebec 's separatist movement , although the former broadcast journalist says she is committed to Canadian federalism .
-Canada became a self-governing dominion in 1867 , but retains some ties to the British crown .
-Vice President Dick Cheney says U.S. officials are not concerned that Iraq 's next government will seek to fashion an Islamic state like neighboring Iran .
-The vice president was responding a story in the New York Times that said leading Iraqi Shi'ite clerics want Islam to be the guiding principle in Iraq 's new constitution .
-Asked about the story on the Fox News Sunday television program , Mr. Cheney said it is premature to say what the clerics are pushing for .
-But he said Shi'ite religious leader Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has made it clear that clerics should not play a direct role in the new government .
-He said he thinks a " great many people " involved in Iraq 's political process want a balance between secular beliefs and religion .
-Early returns from last Sunday 's Iraqi elections show the main Shi'ite coalition headed for victory .
-Luxembourg voters will cast ballots Sunday in a referendum on the European Union 's troubled constitution .
-Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker , who has been a strong promoter of passage of the constitution , has threatened to resign if Luxembourg voters reject it .
-A June opinion poll showed 45 percent of respondents oppose the constitution .
-The Luxembourg vote comes despite the postponement of referendums in Britain , Denmark , Portugal , Sweden and Finland .
-French and Dutch voters rejected the constitution in referendums , placing the future of the pact in doubt .
-EU leaders put the constitution issue on hold at a meeting last month in response to the rejections .
-The constitution requires unanimous backing from all 25 member nations .
-So far , 11 countries have ratified the document .
-NATO early warning surveillance aircraft will patrol the skies over alliance members Latvia and the Netherlands when President Bush visits the two countries later this week .
-An alliance statement Wednesday , says NATO Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft , commonly called AWACS , will monitor airspace over the two countries from Friday to Sunday at the request of their governments .
-Mr. Bush is flying to the Latvian capital , Riga , Friday for talks on Saturday with the presidents of Estonia , Latvia and Lithuania .
-He then flies to the Netherlands , where he will meet with Dutch officials and mark the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe with a stop at an American military cemetery in Margraten .
-President Bush then travels to Moscow for Monday 's World War II observances in the Russian capital .
-Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco says a number of fishing villages in the state 's Cameron Parish have been " erased from the map " by Hurricane Rita .
-Search and rescue operations are set to wrap up today in the state 's rural Vermilion Parish , also hard-hit by tidal surges from the storm that made landfall on Saturday .
-Many streets and homes are more than one meter under water .
-Governor Blanco has asked the federal government for $ 34 billion in recovery aid for her state , which has been hit by two major hurricanes in four weeks .
-In New Orleans , Mayor Ray Nagin is calling on residents of one neighborhood , Algiers , to return home and help rebuild the city .
-In Texas , thousands of residents are planning to return to Houston Monday .
-The nation 's fourth largest city escaped the worst of the storm .
-Police in northwest Pakistan say a suicide bomber has struck near a market , killing at least 18 people and wounding more than 30 .
-Authorities say the attack happened Wednesday in the town of Kohat .
-Police say the bomber blew himself by a passenger bus near Tirah market .
-Officials say the bus was headed to nearby Orakzai district .
-No one has claimed responsibility for the blast .
-Meanwhile , a purported spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for a deadly blast that took place Monday during an anti-Taliban meeting .
-In that attack , two suicide bombers blew themselves in Mohmand near the Afghanistan border , killing 50 people .
-The Pakistani army has been fighting insurgents in the area but has been unable to defeat Taliban and al-Qaida linked groups .
-Insurgents in Iraq launched a wave of suicide attacks against U.S. forces and kidnapped an American contractor Monday .
-A spokesman for the U.S. embassy says the contractor was abducted near Baghdad .
-Earlier , suicide bombers blew up three vehicles at the entrance to a U.S. base in western Iraq .
-Three U.S. Marines and three Iraqi civilians were wounded .
-Insurgents in another vehicle opened fire on the base before a U.S. helicopter destroyed their car .
-And in Samarra , a suicide car bomber killed three people and wounded 20 others when his vehicle exploded near a U.S. convoy .
-Meanwhile , media reports say the U.S. Defense Department may withdraw tens of thousands of troops from Iraq by early next year .
-Lebanon 's prime minister-designate says he will offer his resignation to the Lebanese president , after failing to form a government of national unity .
-Omar Karami told reporters Tuesday in Beirut he will inform President Emile Lahoud of his decision when they meet on Wednesday .
-The pro-Syrian Mr. Karami first resigned on February 28 , in the face of growing anti-Syrian protests sparked by the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri .
-President Lahoud re-appointed him on March 10 , but he has not been able to bring the opposition into a new government .
-Meanwhile , security officials say the pro-Syrian head of military intelligence in Lebanon , General Raymond Azar , will take a month-long leave of absence .
-Opposition leaders have called for his resignation , along with those of several other security officials .
-Defending Olympic women 's marathon champion Mizuki Noguchi of Japan has withdrawn from the Beijing Games because of a left thigh injury .
-The chief of Japan 's Olympic delegation Tomiaki Fukuda made the announcement Tuesday , saying the 30-year-old Noguchi has an injured muscle in her left thigh .
-Japan will not send a replacement marathoner for Noguchi , because her substitute also is injured .
-No runner has won the women 's marathon gold in two consecutive Olympics .
-This year 's field looks wide open , with Noguchi out and British world record holder Paula Radcliffe still attempting to recover from a stress fracture in her left thigh .
-The U.N. Security Council has unanimously approved a new mission to East Timor to help establish security in the country .
-The resolution passed on Friday sends more than 1,600 police and military liaison officers to East Timor for six months .
-There will be no military troops in the new mission , but the Australian-led peacekeeping force already in East Timor will remain in place .
-Australia sent 1,500 troops and 200 police officers to East Timor in May after weeks of street violence , sparked by a split in the ranks of East Timor 's armed forces .
-Another 600 peacekeepers come from Malaysia , New Zealand , and Portugal .
-Earlier on Friday , the commander of the peacekeepers , Steve Lancaster , said officers have detained 62 people for questioning in an attack on one of the Australian police officers last week .
-With the HIV / AIDS epidemic now 25-years-old , the World Bank has launched a new strategy to combat the disease where it is the most prevalent -- Africa .
-Nearly two million have died on the continent and HIV has cost the World Bank $ 1.6 billion .
-In Washington this week , World Bank officials said it 's time to move away from an initial " emergency response " to a new four-year action agenda .
-Producer Zulima Palacio has the story .
-Carol Pearson narrates .
-Witnesses in Somalia 's capital Mogadishu say fighting between rival militias has claimed the lives of at least 15 people since Saturday .
-Residents say the clashes resumed Monday after a one-day lull .
-The fighting was sparked by a territorial dispute between gunmen loyal to Mogadishu 's Islamic courts and fighters allied with local warlords .
-Ten people were killed and 40 wounded in Saturday 's clashes .
-Somalia has been without an effective central government since 1991 , when warlords overthrew former President Mohamed Siad Barre .
-The country 's interim government , set up in 2004 , has been hampered by disputes between political leaders .
-The interim parliament is scheduled to hold its first meeting on Somali soil this Sunday after previous meetings in Kenya .
-Acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has called a meeting of top military and political officials to discuss the possibility that the radical Hamas movement may make strong gains in upcoming Palestinian elections .
-Hamas , whose military wing has claimed scores of attacks against Israel , has called for the destruction of the Jewish state .
-Surveys ahead of Wednesday 's polls show a Hamas slate almost even with Fatah candidates .
-Sunday , Israeli cabinet minister Tzachi Hanegbi was quoted by Reuters as saying that Hamas ' presence in a post-election Palestinian Authority would have a " tragic impact " on any future peace talks .
-Separately , a published report says the United States is providing financial assistance to boost political support for the ruling Fatah movement .
-The Washington Post says the U.S. Agency for International Development is using about $ 2 million to promote the Palestinian Authority ahead of the polls .
-Italian police say a parcel bomb was found Monday at the Greek embassy in Rome .
-Police say the device failed to explode and was defused by bomb disposal experts .
-The bomb arrived just days after two similar packages exploded at the Chilean and Swiss embassies in the Italian capital .
-Two staffers were wounded in those blasts .
-Members of an anarchist group claimed responsibility for last week 's parcel bombs , but there was no immediate claim for Monday 's attempt .
-Police across much of Europe have been on heightened alert since a suicide bombing in Stockholm earlier this month killed the suspected bomber and wounded two others .
-Last week , 12 terror suspects were arrested in Britain .
-North Korea has barred border crossings with South Korea for a second straight day Saturday , stranding hundreds of people in the North .
-Pyongyang banned border traffic on Friday , preventing more than 400 people who work at a joint industrial complex at Kaesong from returning South .
-Seoul 's Unification Ministry says five people were allowed to cross , including four foreigners and a bride-to-be .
-Earlier this week , North Korea switched off military military phones to the South to protest annual military exercises being conducted jointly by the United States and South Korea .
-North Korea routinely accuses the United States and South Korea of having aggressive intentions when they carry out the joint military drills .
-The maneuvers include a U.S. aircraft carrier , 26,000 U.S. troops and more than 30,000 South Korean soldiers .
-The drills are expected to conclude on March 20 .
-The United Nations Security Council is considering a 12-month extension of the peacekeeping force in Haiti .
-The council met Monday but did not reach a decision about the force 's mandate , which is due to expire February 15 .
-Former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan had called for a 12-month extension before leaving his post last year .
-After Monday 's meeting , Russia 's U.N. ambassador Vitaly Churkin said that some of the council 's 15 members continue to oppose extending the force .
-There are almost 8,000 U.N. peacekeepers in Haiti currently working to root out violent gangs .
-The peacekeepers were deployed in 2004 after former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted in an uprising .
-Philippine President Gloria Arroyo says a Philippine hostage in Iraq has been released after nearly eight months in captivity .
-Ms. Arroyo announced Wednesday , that Roberto Tarongoy is in the custody of Philippine diplomats in Baghdad and that arrangements are being made for him to return home .
-President Arroyo did not provide further details .
-Mr. Tarongoy , who worked for a Saudi firm , was abducted in early November along with an American colleague , Roy Hallums , whose fate remains unknown .
-Last year , the Philippines pulled out its small military contingent from Iraq , after a Philippine truck driver was kidnapped .
-The truck driver was later released .
-The word tattoo is most often associated with artwork on someone 's body .
-But it also a military tradition dating back to the 17th century of calling soldiers or sailors back to their quarters at night with a drum or bugle .
-Each year that tradition is recreated in Washington in a weekly sunset military pageant known as the " Twilight Tattoo " .
-VOA 's Jeff Feuer has more on this storied tradition .
-The European Union has insisted that Poland restructure the historic Gdansk shipyard , site of protests that led to the formation of the Solidarity labor union .
-EU officials said Tuesday that the Gdansk shipyard must streamline its operations or repay hefty state subsidies , to come into line with rules allowing subsidies only for businesses working toward long-term sustainability .
-Trade unions object to proposed changes at the shipyard , saying they will eliminate hundreds of jobs .
-The Gdansk shipyard is the location where labor leader Lech Walesa led a strike that led to government recognition for the Solidarity labor union , a major development in the eventual collapse of European communism .
-About 100 Polish workers demonstrated outside EU headquarters in Brussels last week to protest plans to restructure the shipyard .
-It was the 27th anniversary of the ratification of the agreement that led to Solidarity 's creation .
-Lebanese opposition leaders have called for a one-day national strike to demand that Beirut 's pro-Syrian government resign .
-The strike , set for Monday , would come two weeks after the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri .
-It would also coincide with opposition plans to call for a no-confidence vote against the government .
-Opposition leaders blame Beirut and close-ally Syria for the car bombing that killed Mr. Hariri February 14 .
-Both Beirut and Damascus deny involvement .
-Earlier Wednesday , Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak dispatched his intelligence chief to Damascus , in a move to ease post-assassination tensions between Syria and Lebanon .
-A Mubarak spokesman said the mission was also triggered by growing pressure on Syria coming from a U.S.-European summit in Brussels .
-President Bush and European leaders are calling for Syria to withdraw its forces from Lebanon , and for a speedy investigation into the Hariri killing .
-Gunmen dressed in Iraqi police commando uniforms killed eight people during a raid on a Baghdad electronics store Wednesday .
-Three women were among those killed .
-Another six people were wounded .
-The attack is the latest in the affluent Mansour district and comes after gunmen abducted more than 30 Iraqis in Baghdad this week .
-North of the capital , a roadside bomb killed three Iraqi soldiers near Kirkuk .
-And the U.S. military said Wednesday three insurgents were killed Tuesday when an unmanned aircraft fired a missile at them while they were planting a roadside bomb near Balad Air Base .
-In other violence Tuesday , two U.S. soldiers were killed in separate incidents .
-Iran has attacked President Bush 's planned trip to the Middle East and says it has no plans to normalize relations with the United States .
-Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told a new conference Sunday that Iran sees Mr. Bush 's trip as interference in the countries of the region .
-Hosseini also said Iran has no immediate plans to restore ties with America .
-Iranian leaders have often said they would not establish ties with the United States unless Washington changes its behavior towards the Islamic Republic .
-Iran 's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei suggested last Thursday that ties with Washington might one day be possible , although he said it would harm Iran to restore relations now .
-Gunmen in Iraq have assassinated a prominent tribal leader in the northern Iraqi city of Tikrit .
-Iraqi police said Tuesday Mahmoud al-Nida , the head of Saddam Hussein 's tribe , died following the attack Monday night .
-Meanwhile , an influential Shi'ite leader in Iraq said residents should be allowed to form self-defense units to protect themselves against sectarian attacks .
-Abdul Aziz al-Hakim , the leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq , told the Washington Post that Iraqis should band together and take up arms to protect their neighborhoods against rampant violence .
-The continuing violence comes as Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki met with President Bush Tuesday to discuss ways to end the rising sectarian violence in Baghdad .
-French President Jacques Chirac says the U.S-led invasion of Iraq has destabilized the entire Middle East and boosted the spread of terrorism .
-In the latest in a series of speeches marking the New Year , Mr. Chirac Friday called the war in Iraq an American " adventure . "
-He said it has increased divisions between Iraqi communities and undermined the integrity of the war-torn country .
-The French president also renewed his call for an international conference on the Middle East peace process .
-In separate speeches earlier this week , Mr. Chirac addressed the French economy and homelessness in his country .
-Although widely seen as unlikely to run for a third term in this year 's presidential elections , the 74-year-old president has not yet announced his intentions for the April balloting .
-At the plaza in front of the Western Wall , Israeli police arrest an ultra-Orthodox Israeli Israeli police have prevented right-wing Jewish extremists from staging a rally at a disputed holy site in Jerusalem .
-Thousands of Israeli police encircled Jerusalem 's Old City Sunday , stopping cars and setting up roadblocks to prevent an ultranationalist group from entering a disputed holy site .
-Authorities say police arrested at least a dozen Israeli right-wing activists , including the leader of an ultranationalist group , Revava .
-The group planned to lead thousands of activists into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound Sunday .
-The hilltop compound is the most hotly contested site in Jerusalem , known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount .
-Palestinian militants have warned of an uprising if the Jews try to enter the site .
-Crude oil prices are down more than $ 1 in New York after a U.S. government report showed inventories rose to the highest level in six years .
-Crude oil for June delivery is down $ 1.17 , to $ 50.9 a barrel in New York Wednesday afternoon .
-The U.S. Energy Department says supplies climbed 2.7 million barrels last week - more than twice what analysts were expecting .
-In London , Brent crude oil for June delivery fell 87 cents , to $ 50.56 a barrel on the International Petroleum Exchange .
-The International Energy Agency says oil demand around the world is lower due to an economic slowdown in China , Europe and the United States in the first quarter .
-Leaders from northern and southern Sudan are holding negotiations on how to run the country after next year 's referendum that will determine if the south becomes an independent state .
-Tuesday 's talks are focusing on a range of unresolved issues between the two sides -- including demarcating the border , citizenship and the sharing of oil revenues and Nile water resources .
-The semi-autonomous south is scheduled to hold a referendum January 9 on whether to become an independent state .
-The vote was a key part of the 2005 agreement ending Sudan 's north-south civil war .
-Much of Sudan 's oil wealth is believed to lie along the disputed border .
-The oil-rich Abyei region holds a separate referendum January 9 on whether to be part of the north or the south .
-As India prepares to hold next month 's state assembly elections in its part of Kashmir , a trade route has been reopened between the two Kashmirs .
-VOA 's Ravi Khanna reports Washington experts see these moves leading to an eventual end to the long-running conflict over the disputed territory .
-The mayor of New Orleans has ordered a mandatory evacuation for most of the residents of his southern U.S. city , as Hurricane Katrina nears with winds of 250 kilometers per hour .
-Sunday , the U.S. National Weather Service upgraded Katrina to a rare category 5 storm , the most intense on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale .
-Forecasters expect Katrina to make landfall in the state of Louisiana sometime Monday , bringing heavy rains and a high storm surge along with the winds .
-Officials are especially concerned about New Orleans , most of which sits below sea level and is vulnerable to flooding .
-Weather officials have warned a major loss of life is possible unless residents take precautions immediately .
-At last report , the hurricane was located about 400 kilometers off the southern Louisiana coast , in the Gulf of Mexico .
-President Bush has already declared a federal state of emergency for the state of Louisiana .
-German Chancellor Angela Merkel has arrived in Jordan for talks with King Abdullah about regional developments .
-It is the first stop of her three-day visit to the Middle East .
-Ms. Merkel Saturday is expected to discuss with the Jordanian monarch the Arab peace plan for Israel , as well as the situation in Iraq .
-The trip will allow Ms. Merkel to continue the European Union 's diplomatic efforts in the Middle East while her country holds the EU 's rotating presidency .
-The German chancellor 's trip follows a recent agreement among Arab countries to revise a 2002 peace plan with Israel .
-Ms. Merkel acknowledged before her trip that the plan shows some progress , but she also warned that it poses some difficult challenges .
-Ms. Merkel also is scheduled to travel to Israel , the Palestinian territories and Lebanon .
-The Disney Channel now can claim the most-watched basic cable TV movie in broadcasting history .
-High School Musical 2 drew an audience of 17.2 million for its August 17 premiere , more than doubling the viewership of its predecessor .
-High School Musical attracted 7.7 million viewers in 2006 .
-The previous basic cable record-holder was CNN 's 1993 debate on the North American Free Trade Agreement , which drew 16.8 million viewers .
-If kids were watching TV on August 17 , they were probably watching High School Musical 2 .
-The Disney Channel said the movie attracted four out of five female viewers in the six-to-11-year-old age group .
-The High School Musicalphenomenon has made stars of cast members Zac Efron and Ashley Tisdale , while also spawning hit records and sold-out concerts .
-President Bush is holding a news conference Monday , just hours after defending the war in Iraq in a nationally televised speech late Sunday .
-Mr. Bush is expected to face questions about his authorization of a secret domestic surveillance program , which has drawn harsh criticism in Congress .
-He is also expected to be questioned on Iraq , and about his efforts to renew the Patriot Act , which expanded the government 's search and surveillance powers after the September 11 , 2001 terrorist attacks .
-In Sunday 's speech , Mr. Bush said the United States is winning the war in Iraq and warned against a quick withdrawal .
-The president lashed out at opposition Democrats , calling their criticism of his handling of the war " defeatism " , and said it is not justified by the facts .
-North Korea says banning nuclear weapons from the Korean peninsula should be the main goal of the six-party talks that resumed Tuesday in Beijing .
-But during the opening session Japan 's chief negotiator , Kenichiro Sasae , raised the issue of North Korea 's abduction of Japanese citizens during the 1970s and 80s , despite objections from South Korea .
-Chief U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill said in his opening statement that the United States views North Korea as a sovereign nation and that Washington has " absolutely no intention " of attacking the Stalinist state .
-This fourth round of talks involving the two Koreas , the United States , China , Japan and Russia is aimed at convincing Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear ambitions .
-North Korea had boycotted the negotiations for more than a year , citing a hostile U.S. policy .
-Iran says it wants to continue talks about its nuclear program with the European Union , despite a deadlock over Tehran 's desire to produce nuclear fuel .
-Iran 's Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazzi told reporters Thursday that his country will continue the negotiations , provided they lead to a tangible outcome .
-Mr. Kharazzi spoke at the United Nations after meeting with Secretary-General Kofi Annan .
-In a deal with Britain , France and Germany , Iran agreed late last year to suspend nuclear-fuel activities while the sides tried to negotiate an agreement regarding Iran 's nuclear ambitions .
-But Iran recently said it will resume some work relating to enriched uranium , which can be used both as fuel for nuclear power plants and explosive material for atomic bombs .
-Washington accuses Tehran of running a secret nuclear weapons program , a charge Iran denies .
-Palestinian officials say militants have agreed to halt mortar and rocket attacks on Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip that have threatened to derail a three-month cease-fire with Israel .
-A Palestinian Interior Ministry spokesman Saturday , said the groups , including Hamas , agreed to stop the attacks after meeting late Thursday with Interior Minister Nasser Youssef .
-Hamas unleashed intensive mortar strikes on Jewish settlements earlier in the week after Israeli soldiers killed several militants .
-Israel has threatened to use all necessary means to halt the attacks .
-Israel 's Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres says Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , who said Israel should be wiped off the map , must know that Iran can also be destroyed .
-Mr. Peres told the Reuters News Agency that Israel would defend itself under any condition .
-He said Iran is not just a threat to Israel , but a danger to the whole world .
-He warned of a world arms race if Iran builds a nuclear weapon , saying some bombs could fall into the hands of terrorists .
-Mr. Peres also said Iran 's defiance is making a mockery of the world .
-He called on the the United Nations Security Council to act or face endangering an important world body .
-Ethiopia says it has broken off diplomatic relations with Qatar , accusing the Gulf state of supporting armed opposition groups in the Horn of Africa .
-In a statement Monday , Ethiopia 's government charged that Qatar is a source of instability in the region .
-It alleged that Qatar supports armed opposition groups within Ethiopia as well as Islamic insurgents in Somalia , where Ethiopian troops are supporting the government .
-It also cited Qatar 's strong ties with Ethiopia 's rival Eritrea .
-There was no immediate response from Qatar .
-The Ethiopian government said Qatar has been one of the most important supporters of terrorism and extremism in the region .
-The statement said Ethiopia had long observed what it called Qatar 's " hostile behavior " and had been patient before taking Monday 's measure .
-Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says his country is ready to build ties with neighboring Armenia , despite disagreements over decades-old allegations of Turkish genocide against Armenians .
-In an interview with the newspaper Milliyet , Mr. Erdogan renewed his call for creation of a joint Turkish-Armenian commission to study the disputed genocide issue .
-He said this could coincide with the establishment of political relations between the two neighbors .
-The countries share a border , but have no diplomatic ties .
-Tuesday , Armenian President Robert Kocharian said his country could take part in a commission , but he first called for improved ties .
-Armenia says 1.5 million of its nationals were slaughtered by the Turks during the final years of the Ottoman Empire 90 years ago , characterizing this as genocide .
-Turkey says 3,00,000 Armenians and thousands of Turks were killed during a Russia-backed Armenian uprising against Ottoman rule .
-A militant in southern Afghanistan has demanded the release of Taleban prisoners in exchange for four Afghan health workers and their driver who were kidnapped Tuesday in Kandahar province .
-A man who claimed to be a local Taleban commander called news agencies Thursday , saying the kidnappers are demanding the release of Taleban prisoners in exchange for the five hostages .
-He said the medics and their driver were safe .
-The demand comes more than a week after the Afghan government released five Taleban prisoners in exchange for an Italian journalist who was abducted and held for two weeks .
-The United States strongly criticized the deal , saying that agreeing to the demands of extremists only encourages more kidnappings and violence .
-Dominican authorities have quarantined and sacrificed a number of birds after detecting a strain of bird flu last month .
-The World Organization for Animal Health said in a report that 130 birds were slaughtered after authorities discovered a case of the virus near the capital , Santo Domingo , and another some 145 kilometers to the east in the village of Higüey .
-Officials say the virus is the H5N2 strain , which does not affect humans .
-Government livestock director Angel Faxas said officials believe the virus reached the Dominican Republic through birds introduced into the country illegally .
-The World Health Organization reports that the more virulent H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed 216 people worldwide since 2003 .
-Health officials in Vietnam say a 23-year-old woman has tested positive for a deadly strain of bird flu .
-This is the second human case of bird flu diagnosed in Vietnam this year .
-Officials in northern Quand Ninh province say the woman became sick after eating chicken .
-Hospital director Nguyen Quoc Hung says the woman has been under treatment for five days .
-Last month , an eight-year old girl from northern Thanh Hoa province also tested positive for the H5N1 virus .
-On Saturday , animal health authorities confirmed bird flu outbreaks in poultry in three provinces in Vietnam .
-The H5N1 strain of avian influenza remains largely a virus in birds , but experts fear it could mutate into a form that is easily transmitted by humans .
-The World Health Organization says bird flu has killed 248 people since it resurfaced in Asia in 2003 .
-More than 50 of the deaths have been in Vietnam .
-Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev has apparently claimed responsibility for last week 's raid on a city in southern Russia .
-A statement said to be written by Mr. Basayev posted on a rebel website Monday says he directed last Thursday 's coordinated attacks on Nalchik .
-The message says militants from the group Caucasus Front carried out the operation .
-More than 100 people were killed in the fighting in Nalchik , the provincial capital of Russia 's Kabardino-Balkaria region .
-The province borders the republic of Chechnya where Russian forces have been fighting Muslim separatists for more than a decade .
-Shamil Basayev is the most wanted man in Russia .
-The Chechen warlord claimed responsibility for the 2004 Beslan school massacre that claimed 330 lives , most of them children .
-The United Nations Children 's Fund says new initiatives in East Asia and the Pacific are leading the way in fighting the commercial sexual exploitation of children in the region .
-Delegates from more than 20 East Asian and Pacific countries met in Thailand this week to discuss new measures to protect children , help victims , and punish exploiters .
-They include a memorandum of understanding against trafficking , signed last month by Cambodia , China , Burma , Laos , Thailand , and Vietnam .
-UNICEF says despite progress , a lack of reliable information continues to be a major obstacle to implementing effective strategies to stop the sex trade in children .
-It says another concern is the exponential rise in child pornography on the Internet .
-The Pakistani Taliban says it is open to holding talks with the country 's newly elected government .
-A spokesman for the militant group Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan , Maulvi Omar , says the group is ready to cooperate with the government and bring peace to tribal areas .
-However , he urged Pakistani officials to end their cooperation with U.S.-led forces that are fighting an insurgency in neighboring Afghanistan .
-On Saturday , Pakistan 's newly-elected Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said that fighting terrorism will be his government 's top priority , but added that he is willing to talk to militants who are ready to lay down their arms .
-Pakistan has suffered from a series of recent attacks blamed on al-Qaida and Taliban militants operating in the country 's tribal regions .
-The U.S. military says it has begun a major security operation in Iraq 's western al-Anbar province .
-The operation includes an overnight curfew in the provincial capital , Ramadi , and increased security measures in several cities along the Euphrates River , including Hit , Baghdadi , and Hadithah .
-Iraqi security forces are said to be assisting with the operation , dubbed Operation River Blitz .
-A statement from U.S. Marine Major-General Richard Natonski says the Iraqi government asked for the operation .
-Ramadi , located 110 kilometers west of Baghdad , has been a stronghold of insurgents fighting U.S. and Iraqi security forces .
-Separately , the U.S. military says a Marine was killed in al-Anbar during a security operation on Saturday .
-Insurgents killed at least 40 people in attacks in and around Baghdad on Saturday .
-The U.N. Security Council has pushed for full implementation of Ivory Coast peace accords , threatening sanctions against those fail to comply .
-In a statement issued Wednesday by its new president , Greek Ambassador Adamantios Vassilakis , the council said those who thwart the peace process face a year-long travel ban and the freezing of their financial assets .
-The council president also said the people of Ivory Coast must begin putting their words into action .
-Although the war is over , Ivory Coast remains divided between the government and rebel-held territory .
-Peace accords to end the conflict have not been fully implemented .
-An April deal to begin disarming was ignored and the warring parties returned to negotiations last month .
-They recommitted themselves to a new date for disarmament along with other steps that will pave the way for new elections in October .
-The U.S. military in Iraq says seven people have been killed and 20 others wounded in a suicide bombing at a government facility in Baquba .
-A U.S. statement says the dead include a U.S. soldier , a U.S. contractor and five Iraqi government workers .
-At least 20 others , including nine U.S. personnel , were wounded .
-Meanwhile , Sunni , Shi'ite and Kurdish negotiators are scrambling Tuesday to reach an accord on a new Iraqi constitution , ahead of a parliament vote on the charter set for Thursday .
-Officials say issues of federalism and the division of authority between the presidency and parliament remain unresolved .
-Majority Shi'ites and the Kurds are seeking a decentralized government that allows significant regional autonomy in the Kurdish north and Shi'ite southern Iraq .
-Sunnis want a centralized government seen as protecting their minority interests in central Iraq .
-A published report says that shareholders in the Russian oil company , Yukos , are taking legal action in an effort to be compensated by the government for the sharp drop in the firm 's market value .
-Thursday 's edition of the London-based Financial Times newspaper says the director of Menatep , the group that controls 60 percent of Yukos , has filed a complaint against the Russian government under the Energy Charter signed by Russia designed to protect investors .
-The newspaper says Menatep 's legal action is the first aggressive effort made by the oil company 's investors to be compensated for losses incurred as share prices have plummeted since last year .
-This sharp drop in Yukos ' value is attributed to taxes imposed on the company by the Russian government .
-Observers claim the taxes are politically motivated .
-The U.S. military in Afghanistan said 20 militants were killed by an airstrike in the Taliban stronghold of Helmand province .
-A statement said the airstrike was ordered after Afghan and U.S. led coalition troops were ambushed while on foot patrol in Kajaki district on Wednesday .
-The U.S. military said troops made sure there were no civilians in the area before calling in air support .
-Southern Afghanistan is the center of a growing Taliban-led insurgency , fueled in part by the illicit opium trade from Helmand 's poppy harvests .
-The Obama administration has announced a revised strategy to fight militants in Afghanistan and stabilize neighboring Pakistan .
-The new plan includes the deployment of thousands of additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan and more money to train Afghan police and develop tribal areas .
-The United States has warned Americans against flying on local airlines in Indonesia because of safety concerns raised by recent accidents .
-The U.S. Embassy in Jakarta issued the warning Tuesday .
-The statement said the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration downgraded the country 's safety rating from one to two due to serious concerns about oversight and operational systems .
-An Indonesian airliner plunged into the sea in January , killing all 102 people on board .
-In March , another plane overshot a runway and burst into flames , leaving 21 dead .
-Indonesia 's Transportation Minister Hatta Radjasa defended the country 's safety initiatives Tuesday during a lunch with the Jakarta Foreign Correspondents ' Club .
-He said enforcement has been stepped up after the recent airplane disasters .
-Google , the world 's largest computer search company , will promote word processing and office software from Sun Microsystems .
-Some analysts say the alliance is a step toward challenging Microsoft 's dominance of the software industry .
-At a news conference late Tuesday , Sun and Google offered a vision of working together to build the next generation of the Internet , but gave few specific details .
-Google is used by 78 million people each month , which could help Sun draw users from Microsoft products .
-Currently , products made by software giant Microsoft run the vast majority of personal computers around the world .
-The Israeli Housing Ministry is seeking bids to build an additional 228 housing units in West Bank settlements , despite a requirement for a freeze in settlement activity under the international " road map " peace plan .
-According to a published tender , the construction plan is to build 150 units in the ultra-orthodox settlement of Beitar Illit and another 78 units in Efrat .
-Both settlements are within a few kilometers of East Jerusalem , where Palestinians hope to establish the capital of a future Palestinian state .
-The " road map " peace process calls on Israel to halt all settlement activity in occupied territories .
-It also calls on the Palestinian Authority to crack down on militants attacking Israelis
-Incoming Bolivian President Evo Morales is pledging to launch an investigation into allegations that military officials worked with the United States to destroy shoulder-fired missiles owned by the Bolivian army .
-Mr. Morales Wednesday described the move as treason , saying disarming a country and its armed forces is a crime .
-He previously filed a legal complaint against outgoing President Eduardo Rodriguez over the order .
-President Rodriguez says he authorized the missiles ' destruction , but not their transfer to the United States .
-The president Tuesday fired Army chief General Marcelo Antezana over the matter and Defense Minister Gonzalo Mendez resigned .
-Washington has previously denied charges of a secret , U.S.-led operation to remove the missiles from Bolivia .
-The United States said Wednesday it complied in good faith with a Bolivian government request for assistance in disposing of outdated arms .
-Time zone by time zone , nearly 4,000 cities and towns in 88 countries marked Earth Hour Saturday , by dimming nonessential lights from 8.30 to 9.30 p.m.
-From an Antarctic research station , to the Great Pyramids of Egypt and several buildings in Washington , including the Smithsonian Castle , famous structures went dark in a campaign to highlight the threat of climate change .
-China participated for the fist time , cutting the lights at Beijing 's Bird 's Nest Stadium and the Water Cube .
-In the Chilean capital of Santiago lights were turned off at a number of buildings , including the Presidential Palace where President Michelle Bachelet hosted a dinner by candlelight for U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden .
-Earth Hour organizers say there is no uniform way to measure how much energy was saved worldwide .
-The event was first organized in Sydney in 2007 .
-A deadly winter storm that swept across the United States this week has left more than people 50 dead and has destroyed nearly $ 1 billion worth of California 's produce industry .
-The harsh winter mix of snow , sleet and freezing rain has left more than 3,00,000 people without power from the southwestern U.S. state of Texas to the northeastern U.S. state of Maine .
-A separate bout of icy weather threatens to decimate California 's citrus crop .
-On Tuesday , California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency and asked the federal government for disaster aid .
-California is the nation 's top producer of fresh citrus fruits , and analysts say they expect some citrus prices to at least double at the wholesale level .
-Forecasters say the cold temperatures will continue through Thursday , followed by a warming trend across most of the country .
-Reports from central Somalia say fierce fighting between a pro-government militia and Islamist rebels has left at least 24 people dead and dozens others wounded .
-Witnesses and officials said Wednesday the fighting a day earlier was the worst seen in months .
-Witnesses say the al-Qaida-linked Al Shabab militia , which has been fighting a civil war with the government , attacked the towns of Dhusamareb and Marergur .
-The area has been under the control of the pro-government militia Ahlu Sunna Waljama .
-The witnesses said residents fled the fighting and bodies were strewn across the villages .
-Somalia 's fragile central government controls only a few small parts of the capital , Mogadishu , with the help of African Union peacekeepers .
-The rest of the city is controlled by the al-Shabab and fellow Islamist militant group Hizbul Islam .
-The two groups also control much of central and southern Somalia .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has promoted a diplomat who was thrown out of the United States in retaliation for Venezuela 's expulsion of a U.S. official accused of spying .
-President Chavez told reporters Friday in Caracas that Jeny Figueredo Frias has been named deputy foreign minister for Europe .
-The president was quoted by Reuters as saying the move is in recognition of Figueredo 's work and what she means for Venezuela .
-Figueredo served as chief of staff to the Venezuelan ambassador in Washington when she was ordered to leave the United States .
-She was not accused of wrongdoing , but State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the U.S. had been " forced to respond . "
-Figueredo was ordered out after Venezuela expelled naval Captain John Correa for spying .
-The State Department says none of the military attachés at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas has been involved in any inappropriate activity .
-A South African judge is expected to hand down the verdict Monday in a high-profile rape trial involving former deputy president Jacob Zuma .
-Zuma is accused of raping a 31-year-old , HIV-positive woman who is a longtime family friend .
-He claims the sex was consensual .
-The trial has drawn widespread interest across South Africa , focusing attention on the country 's high incidence of rape and HIV infection .
-Monday 's verdict is scheduled to be broadcast live on television .
-Sunday , the 64-year-old Zuma attended a fundraising concert in the Johannesburg suburb of Soweto , where he thanked thousands of audience members for their support .
-The proceeds from the concert went to his legal fund .
-Zuma was once considered a strong contender to succeed President Thabo Mbeki , who fired him because of corruption-related accusations last year .
-Zuma is due to stand trial on corruption charges in July .
-Taleban militants have attacked a convoy in southern Afghanistan , killing up to 13 Afghan guards and wounding others who worked for a private security firm .
-Officials said Monday that the convoy was attacked late Sunday on the road from the capital , Kabul , to Kandahar .
-That is the same road where a group of 23 South Korean Christian evangelicals was abducted on July 19 and where two Germans were kidnapped in a separate incident .
-Sunday 's attack led to a long gun battle with insurgents that resulted in the death of five Taleban militants .
-The International Atomic Energy Agency says Iran has obtained instructions from international smugglers for making nuclear weapons components .
-The IAEA accusation is included in a report for presentation to the 35-nation IAEA board Thursday in Vienna .
-The report , obtained by Western journalists , also confirms that Tehran has begun renovation work at a key nuclear plant , but has not yet begun actual uranium enrichment work .
-European and U.S. officials accuse Iran of seeking high-grade enriched uranium to make an atomic bomb , but Tehran insists it is seeking a lower grade to make electricity .
-Tuesday , Britain , the United States , China , Russia and France said the IAEA should refer Iran to the United Nations Security Council for allegedly violating a key nuclear treaty with its atomic program .
-However , Iran 's Foreign Minister said U.N. inspectors will be barred from its nuclear facilities starting Saturday if a referral is made .
-German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is traveling to the United States for a meeting with President Bush on Monday .
-The two leaders are expected to discuss Iran 's nuclear program and reform of the United Nations .
-A White House spokesman says they also intend to focus on how the U.S. and Europe can work together to resolve a broad agenda of global issues .
-After his visit with the president , Mr. Schroeder is scheduled to speak to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and to meet with members of Congress .
-Mr. Schroeder was a strong critic of the U.S.-led war in Iraq , but tensions between the two countries eased somewhat after a meeting between President Bush and the Chancellor in the German city of Mainz in February .
-Oshkosh Truck Corp. , Oshkosh , Wis. , estimated earnings for its fourth quarter ended Sept. 30 fell 50 % to 75 % below the year-earlier $ 4.5 million , or 51 cents a share .
-The truck maker said the significant drop in net income will result in lower earnings for the fiscal year .
-In fiscal 1988 , the company earned $ 17.3 million , or $ 1.92 a share , on revenue of $ 352.9 million .
-Oshkosh Truck attributed the downturn in its earnings to higher start-up costs of its new chassis division , a softer motor-home market and higher administrative costs of compliance with government contractor regulations .
-The company said it is in the process of phasing out John Deere , its current source of production for midsized motor home chassis .
-In anticipation of the start-up of its new factory , the company said a larger-than-normal chassis supply has been built to carry it through the transition period .
-The inhabitants of the area of Oman have long prospered on Indian Ocean trade .
-In the late 18th century , a newly established sultanate in Muscat signed the first in a series of friendship treaties with Britain .
-Over time , Oman 's dependence on British political and military advisors increased , but it never became a British colony .
-In 1970 , QABOOS bin Said Al-Said overthrew the restrictive rule of his father ; he has ruled as sultan ever since .
-His extensive modernization program has opened the country to the outside world while preserving the longstanding close ties with the UK .
-Oman 's moderate , independent foreign policy has sought to maintain good relations with all Middle Eastern countries .
-Inspired by the popular uprisings that swept the Middle East and North Africa in 2010 - 11 , Omanis began staging marches and demonstrations - a small number of which turned violent in clashes with government security forces - to demand economic benefits , an end to corruption , and greater political rights .
-In February and March 2011 , in response to protester demands , QABOOS reshuffled his cabinet , pledged to create more government jobs , and promised to implement economic and political reforms , such as granting legislative and regulatory powers to the Council of Oman .
-Following World War I , France acquired a mandate over the northern portion of the former Ottoman Empire province of Syria .
-The French administered the area as Syria until granting it independence in 1946 .
-The new country lacked political stability , however , and experienced a series of military coups during its first decades .
-Syria united with Egypt in February 1958 to form the United Arab Republic .
-In September 1961 , the two entities separated , and the Syrian Arab Republic was reestablished .
-In November 1970 , Hafiz al-ASAD , a member of the Socialist Ba'th Party and the minority Alawite sect , seized power in a bloodless coup and brought political stability to the country .
-In the 1967 Arab-Israeli War , Syria lost the Golan Heights to Israel .
-During the 1990s , Syria and Israel held occasional peace talks over its return .
-Following the death of President al-ASAD , his son , Bashar al-ASAD , was approved as president by popular referendum in July 2000 .
-Syrian troops - stationed in Lebanon since 1976 in an ostensible peacekeeping role - were withdrawn in April 2005 .
-During the July-August 2006 conflict between Israel and Hizballah , Syria placed its military forces on alert but did not intervene directly on behalf of its ally Hizballah .
-In May 2007 Bashar al-ASAD was elected to his second term as president .
-Influenced by major uprisings that began elsewhere in the region , antigovernment protests broke out in the southern province of Da'ra in March 2011 and spread to other Syrian cities .
-Protesters called for the repeal of the restrictive Emergency Law allowing arrests without charge , the legalization of political parties , and the removal of corrupt local officials .
-The government responded with a mix of force and concessions , including the repeal of the Emergency Law , but as of mid-April 2011 had not succeeded in quelling protests .
-Singapore has a highly developed and successful free-market economy .
-It enjoys a remarkably open and corruption-free environment , stable prices , and a per capita GDP higher than that of most developed countries .
-The economy depends heavily on exports , particularly in consumer electronics , information technology products , pharmaceuticals , and on a growing financial services sector .
-Real GDP growth averaged 7.1 % between 2004 and 2007 .
-The economy contracted 1.3 % in 2009 as a result of the global financial crisis , but rebounded nearly 14.7 % in 2010 , on the strength of renewed exports .
-Over the longer term , the government hopes to establish a new growth path that focuses on raising productivity , which has sunk to 1 % growth per year in the last decade .
-Singapore has attracted major investments in pharmaceuticals and medical technology production and will continue efforts to establish Singapore as Southeast Asia 's financial and high-tech hub .
-The Atlantic Ocean provides some of the world 's most heavily trafficked sea routes , between and within the Eastern and Western Hemispheres .
-Other economic activity includes the exploitation of natural resources , e.g. , fishing , dredging of aragonite sands ( The Bahamas ) , and production of crude oil and natural gas ( Caribbean Sea , Gulf of Mexico , and North Sea ) .
-THE Warden of a Penitentiary was one day putting locks on the doors of all the cells when a mechanic said to him :
-" Those locks can all be opened from the inside - you are very imprudent . "
-The Warden did not look up from his work , but said :
-" If that is called imprudence , I wonder what would be called a thoughtful provision against the vicissitudes of fortune . "
-A Dog looking out for its afternoon nap jumped into the Manger of an Ox and lay there cosily upon the straw .
-But soon the Ox , returning from its afternoon work , came up to the Manger and wanted to eat some of the straw .
-The Dog in a rage , being awakened from its slumber , stood up and barked at the Ox , and whenever it came near attempted to bite it .
-At last the Ox had to give up the hope of getting at the straw , and went away muttering :
-" Ah , people often grudge others what they can not enjoy themselves . "
-The New York Times , among other papers , recently published a new Hubble photograph of distant galaxies colliding .
-Of course , astronomers have had pictures of colliding galaxies for quite some time now , but with the vastly improved resolution provided by the Hubble Space Telescope , you can actually see the lawyers rushing to the scene .
-Most elementary school children will be able to tell you that the first American flag was made by Betsy Ross .
-What they are not taught was that she was also a social scientist who developed the techniques now used by Gallop and others .
-It started when she asked a group of colonists what they thought of the flag she had made .
-This was the origin of ... the flag poll .
-Members of Aung San Suu Kyi 's opposition democracy party in Burma have sent a letter to the country 's military leaders asking for permission to meet with the detained Nobel laureate .
-National League for Democracy party chairman Aung Shwe told reporters Saturday that it has been three years since Aung San Suu Kyi 's party members met with her .
-Aung Shwe said party members want to meet her to discuss appealing her detention , which was extended for another year late last month .
-Aung San Suu Kyi has spent most of the past 18 years under detention or house arrest .
-Her National League for Democracy won free elections in 1990 , but the military-led government has never recognized the results of the election .
-African Union foreign ministers have developed a plan that would give the continent two permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council .
-The ministers decided on the plan Saturday during a meeting in the Libyan resort city of Sirte .
-In addition to the permanent seats , Africa wants three non-permanent members on the council .
-The proposal approved by the AU ministers goes farther than a plan circulated by the so-called Group of Four nations of Brazil , Germany , India and Japan .
-That plan would give Africa just two non-permanent seats on the council .
-The 15-member U.N. body currently has five permanent members - a status that includes veto power for the United States , Britain , France , Russia and China .
-The AU ministers ' meeting was held in advance of the African Union summit Monday and Tuesday in Sirte .
-Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi says he will push ahead with plans to privatize Japan 's postal service , despite growing resistance from some members of his ruling party .
-With more than $ 3 trillion in deposits and insurance assets , Japan Post is the world 's biggest bank , and its privatization is the main pillar of the prime minister 's controversial economic reform program .
-As a new session of Parliament opened Friday , Mr. Koizumi told the lawmakers he intends to split the postal service 's mail delivery , insurance and savings systems into four separate businesses .
-Many conservative lawmakers in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party oppose privatization , in part because this could lead to closure of small post offices in rural areas , a traditional stronghold of the party .
-A Turkish court trying an Islamist militant accused of treason has adjourned until April .
-Metin Kaplan , also known as the " Caliph of Cologne , " faces charges of trying to overthrow Turkey 's constitutional order .
-He is accused of activities that include allegedly plotting to crash an airplane into the mausoleum of the founder of secular Turkey , Kemal Ataturk .
-During Monday 's start of his trial , the accused said he opposes terrorism and was not involved in any terrorist activity .
-Metin Kaplan was extradited from Germany in October , where he had served a prison sentence for inciting his followers to murder a rival .
-His group " Caliphate State " lobbies for the creation of an Islamic government and is banned in Germany .
-Iran has confirmed that authorities recently arrested two Iranian journalists on charges of spreading propaganda against the government .
-An Iranian justice spokesman , Alireza Jamshidi said Wednesday that journalists Soheil Asefi and Farshad Ghorbanpour are under investigation for publishing what he calls " lies " and giving information to foreign news Web sites .
-The media rights group Reporters Without Borders has called for the release of the two journalists .
-It said authorities arrested Ghorbanpour on July 31 and Asefi on August 4 .
-The Iranian spokesman says authorities are considering granting Ghorbanpour a lower bail after it was initially set at $ 1,60,000 .
-The Iranian official provided no information about a third journalist , Masood Bastani , who Reporters Without Borders said also was detained last month .
-Reporters Without Borders says 11 journalists and cyber-dissidents are being held in Iran , which it describes as the region 's biggest media prison .
-A Philippine court has sentenced to death seven members of the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group for an attack four years ago that killed 10 farm workers .
-Dozens of soldiers and police guarded the courthouse on the southern island of Basilan , as the verdict was read to six of the convicted men Wednesday .
-A seventh man is still at large .
-Officials say the attackers were disguised as soldiers when they abducted the farm workers in August of 2001 .
-They beheaded nine of them and shot another before some of the hostages escaped .
-Abu Sayyaf militants have fought for decades to establish an Islamic state in the southern Philippines .
-The United States has formally declared it a terrorist group .
-Mauritanian officials say unknown gunmen have killed at least three government soldiers in an attack on a military post .
-News media have quoted officials who asked not to be named as saying the attack took place Thursday in the northeastern region , near the town of Ghalawiya , close to the Mauritanian-Algerian border .
-The attack follows the assassination of four French tourists on Monday in eastern Mauritania .
-The government has blamed an al-Qaida sleeper cell for the killings .
-A newspaper editor Isselmou Ould Moustapha in Mauritania 's capital , Nouakchott , told VOA it is believed that the same group attacked the military post Thursday .
-In 2005 , Islamic militants killed at least 15 government troops in a June attack on a military post near the border with Mali .
-Palestinian security forces in the Gaza Strip have destroyed three illegally-built homes of senior Palestinian officers - as part of what the Palestinian Authority says is a new anti-corruption campaign .
-A spokesman for the Palestinian Interior Ministry says bulldozers destroyed the homes built on illegally seized public land .
-He said the violators were informed ahead of Monday 's action , and that the buildings were not occupied .
-Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas , who succeeded the late Yasser Arafat in January , has been under pressure to end growing chaos in the Gaza Strip and West Bank , and to root out corruption among senior Palestinian officials and commanders of security forces .
-Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva says he plans to work for democracy in Cuba and against the U.S. economic embargo on the communist-run island .
-President da Silva made the comment following a meeting in Rome with Cuban National Assembly speaker Ricardo Alarcon .
-The two officials met at Brazil 's embassy in Rome Friday after attending the funeral of Pope John Paul II .
-Mr. da Silva said his country must help in the fight against the U.S. economic embargo , saying that Brazil has a chance to help restore normal relations for Cuba .
-Washington has consistently defended the four-decade-long embargo against Cuba , saying it is a necessary part of the strategy to liberate the island from Fidel Castro .
-A snow storm that has swept across the central U.S. and upper midwest is blamed for at least 11 deaths .
-Heavy snow , ice and fog Saturday and Sunday caused deadly road accidents and power outages .
-The storm also grounded flights for Christmas holiday travelers .
-The winter weather forced about 300 cancellations at Chicago 's busy O'Hare International Airport .
-The National Weather Service on Sunday issued winter storm warnings for parts of the Great Lakes region bordering Canada , with snow and powerful winds in the states of Minnesota , Wisconsin and Michigan .
-While precipitation was the most visible effect of the severe weather , bitter cold in some areas including the northern Plains where homes are still without power was more dangerous , with temperatures plunging below minus 17 degrees Celsius .
-Weather forecasters say the bulk of the storms have moved to the east coast , where precipitation is falling mostly as rain .
-Afghan officials say ballot counting in last month 's legislative elections has been completed and authorities now are auditing the results and investigating reports of vote fraud .
-Spokesman for the joint U.N.-Afghan election commission , Aleem Siddique says the physical count is complete with the exception of those materials that are subject to audit .
-Officials say the unofficial results show that warlords and opponents of President Hamid Karzai have fared relatively well , and women lawmakers could hold the balance of power in the new national assembly .
-Final results from the September 18 vote , which also chose provincial councils , are due by October 22 , after complaints are resolved .
-Suspected Taleban insurgents , who failed to stop more than six million people from voting , resumed their attacks this week .
-A bomb blast near the Pakistani border Tuesday killed three people .
-The Russian foreign ministry says it will not renew the credentials of the American television network ABC after it aired an interview with a wanted Chechen rebel leader .
-The ministry Tuesday said Russian state agencies will now consider the network unwelcome after last week 's broadcast featuring Shamil Basayev , who has taken responsibility for numerous terrorist attacks in Russia .
-The ministry said the broadcast supported the propaganda of terrorism and made direct threats against Russian citizens .
-Moscow protested the interview to U.S. officials .
-A U.S. State Department official said Washington considers Mr. Basayev a terrorist - but ABC had the constitutional right to broadcast the piece .
-Mr. Basayev has taken responsibility for last year 's school seizure in the town of Beslan which killed more than 330 people .
-In the interview , he said he was planning more attacks .
-Russian forces and separatists in Chechnya have been at war for most of the past decade .
-Ecuadorean officials say troops have been sent to reinforce security at oil wells in a move to crush protests that have paralyzed oil exports .
-A report from Quito by Reuters says the forces have also taken control of government buildings in two Amazon provinces to stop the protests .
-Earlier , security forces fired tear gas to disperse protesters in the province of Sucumbios , forcing the state-owned oil company , Petroecuador to suspend production and exports .
-Ecuador 's daily oil exports of nearly 1,50,000 barrels each day have been completely stopped .
-Most of the exports go to the United States .
-Demonstrators seized 200 oil facilities and airports in the Lago Agrio and El
-Coca provinces and are demanding new contract negotiations with foreign oil firms , along with increased spending on infrastructure and social programs .
-Tuesday is scheduled to be a lucky day for two turkeys designated as the official U.S. national Thanksgiving turkey and its alternate .
-President Bush is scheduled to give the turkeys the traditional Thanksgiving pardon during a ceremony at the White House .
-The two turkeys will later be flown to Disneyland in California to be part of the holiday display and will also serve as honorary grand marshals for Disneyland 's Thanksgiving Day parade on Thursday .
-They will spend the rest of their lives at a Disneyland ranch .
-For the past 15 years , the national Thanksgiving turkey and its alternate have been retired to a farm just outside Washington , D.C. , in Virginia .
-Millions of Americans traditionally enjoy a roasted turkey meal on this Thursday 's Thanksgiving Day holiday .
-U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan says the situation in Sudan 's Darfur region is deteriorating , and he is calling for a stronger international action to fix the matter .
-Writing in Wednesday 's Washington Post newspaper , Mr. Annan says recent events in Darfur have changed his view of the region from hopeful to pessimistic .
-He says rebels and Sudanese government forces routinely break a cease-fire , and that many areas are now too dangerous for relief workers to reach .
-He says two million people have been displaced from their homes .
-Mr. Annan says African Union troops make a valiant effort to provide security but that there are too few of them to cover the vast region .
-He calls on U.N. members to increase the size of the peacekeeping force and pressure the combatants to put down their weapons and work towards peace .
-Russian lawmakers have passed a new anti-terrorism bill allowing the military to shoot down hijacked passenger planes .
-The lower house of parliament , the Duma overwhelmingly passed the bill Sunday 423 to 1 .
-It now goes to the upper house , where it is likely to pass , and then to President Vladimir Putin who is expected to sign it .
-The new law would let the the military shoot down a hijacked jet if terrorists threaten to fly into a building or populated target .
-It also gives the Russian president the authorization to order a counter-terrorist operation outside Russian territory and allows authorities to monitor telephone calls and other electronic communications .
-The bill also defines terrorism and what constitutes a terrorist act .
-The Venezuelan Congress has recommended that the state assume majority control over four key oil projects in the oil-rich Orinoco River basin .
-The recommendation was made Thursday , days after President Hugo Chavez said he plans to raise taxes on foreign oil companies in Venezuela .
-He described the move as an extraction tax , saying it would create $ 1 billion in new state revenue .
-The new tax will be 33 percent , up from 16.7 percent .
-The Chavez government has been taking measures to strengthen state control of the energy sector in the world 's fifth-largest oil exporter .
-He has accused foreign oil companies of exploiting his country 's vast petroleum reserves without paying sufficient taxes .
-Thirty two oil fields previously operated under contract by private companies are now run by " mixed companies " in which the state holds majority shares .
-A new poll finds the front-runner in the race for the Mexican presidency has seen his lead narrow in recent weeks .
-The survey by the Mitofsky polling agency says Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador 's popularity among voters dropped from 39 percent in February to 38 percent in March .
-Lopez Obrador represents the Democratic Revolution Party , or PRD .
-Released Tuesday , the poll also shows that Felipe Calderon of the ruling National Action Party , or PAN , had 31 percent of voter support , up one percentage point .
-Roberto Madrazo of the Institutional Revolutionary Party , PRI , also gained - rising to 29 percent from 28 percent .
-The polling company questioned 1,000 registered voters and says the survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percent .
-The winner of the July 2 election will replace President Vicente Fox , who by law can not seek a second six-year term .
-Nigerian Vice President Goodluck Jonathan says the country 's ailing president will return to Nigeria soon .
-The vice president , speaking in Abuja , did not indicate when President Umaru Yar'Adua is expected back .
-Mr. Yar'Adua left Nigeria in late November , when he traveled to a Saudi hospital to be treated for a heart condition .
-He also suffers from a chronic kidney ailment .
-On Wednesday , Nigeria 's cabinet and Senate made conflicting statements on whether Mr. Yar'Adua is fit to remain in office .
-The cabinet , appointed by the president , ruled that Mr. Yar'Adua is capable of performing his duties .
-The Senate said Mr. Yar'Adua should formally notify the National Assembly of what it called his " medical vacation . "
-The constitution says if such notification is given , the vice president must take over temporarily .
-Witnesses in Somalia 's capital say a grenade attack on a gathering of Yemeni nationals has killed one person and wounded four others .
-The witnesses say the Yemeni community was electing a local leader in southern Mogadishu Thursday when a grenade was thrown into the meeting hall .
-An officer from the Yemeni embassy in Mogadishu was among those present at the gathering .
-It is not clear who was behind the attack .
-Mogadishu has endured more than a year of chronic violence stemming from the conflict between Islamist militants and Ethiopian-backed government forces .
-The country as a whole has been plagued by unrest since since warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 .
-Germany 's Christian Democrats and Christian Social Union have re-elected Angela Merkel as leader of their parliamentary group .
-Party officials say she received more than 98 percent support .
-The vote , seen largely as a demonstration of confidence , comes after Ms. Merkel 's Christian Democrats edged out incumbent Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder 's Social Democrats by three seats in the 598-seat lower house of parliament .
-German political leaders say Mr. Schroeder and Ms. Merkel 's parties plan to meet for coalition talks on Thursday , even though both leaders have claimed the right to be chancellor .
-Meanwhile , Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer says he will give up his role as leader of the Green Party , if the group gores into the opposition following Sunday 's vote .
-An investigation is under way into the crash of a British military plane north of Baghdad Sunday , believed to have killed 10 military personnel .
-Officials in London say they are aware of reports that the C-130 aircraft may have been shot down , but say they can not draw any conclusions until the investigation is complete .
-The aircraft went down on a flight between Baghdad airport and Balad airbase .
-Two militant groups have separately claimed responsibility for downing the plane .
-Sunday 's crash is the deadliest single incident suffered by British troops since the war in Iraq began nearly two years ago .
-U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte will travel to Central and South America next week to meet with regional officials on a range of issues , including security and trade .
-On Monday , Negroponte will begin a two-day visit to Medellin , Colombia , where he is leading the U.S. delegation to a meeting of the Organization of American States General Assembly .
-He will travel to El Salvador , Honduras and Guatemala from June 3 through June 6 .
-While in those countries , Negroponte is scheduled to meet with government and business leaders on issues including the Merida Initiative , in which nations partner to fight criminal organizations .
-Discussions are also expected to cover commercial relations , trade , development and security concerns .
-Officials in Burundi say they have freed another 780 political prisoners as part of an accord to end the country 's civil war .
-The move follows the release of 673 political prisoners last month .
-Amnesty International has criticized the releases , saying they could allow war criminals to go unpunished .
-The human rights group says Burundi 's government has yet to create a truth and reconciliation commission it says the prisoners would have to appear before .
-In an interview with VOA , Burundi 's information minister also acknowledged criticism over the release of military personnel convicted of assassinating Burundi 's first democratically-elected president , Melchior Ndadaye .
-Kalenga Ramadhani says it did not make sense to jail the people who executed the crime while the masterminds remain at large .
-Burundi 's 12-year-civil war ended in 2004 .
-Some 3,00,000 people were killed .
-The U.S. military says coalition forces have discovered a suspected insurgent chemical production facility and storage site in northern Iraq .
-A senior military official says the chemicals collected at the site in Mosul are being analyzed to determine the type and quantity produced .
-But another official close to the investigation told VOA 's Baghdad correspondent that the materials are " precursor chemicals commonly associated with the production of narcotics . "
-In a statement earlier Saturday , the military said the raid , conducted Tuesday , was based on intelligence obtained during interrogation of detainees .
-An investigation is continuing to determine which terrorist or insurgent group built and operated the covert facility .
-Authorities in Los Angeles have not filed charges against a 26-year-old punk rock musician , following a deadly stabbing .
-Anthony Lovato , who sang in the defunct quartet Mest , was arrested March 25 , after telephoning police to report the altercation .
-Police say Lovato fought 25-year-old Wayne Hughes early Sunday morning in a Los Angeles parking structure .
-Hughes later died in a hospital .
-The two had apparently been involved with the same woman at different times .
-Authorities declined to file charges against Lovato , citing insufficient evidence .
-He was released from jail March 27 .
-Anthony Lovato and his brother Matt formed Mest in 1995 .
-They recorded several albums for Madonna 's Maverick label before disbanding in 2006 .
-The northeastern U.S. state of Connecticut has given its social services agencies permission to supply thousands of needy families with discounted heating oil from a Venezuelan-owned oil company .
-The state 's Attorney General Richard Blumenthal cautioned that the deal is politically sensitive , given Venezuela 's tense relationship with the United States , but he ruled that the program is legal .
-Blumenthal also criticized the U.S. Congress for this year 's controversial cuts to federal heating assistance to the poor , saying that is what made outside help necessary .
-Venezuela has already delivered oil through Citgo , its U.S. subsidiary , to communities in seven other U.S. states .
-The oil is sold at a 40 percent discount to low income families .
-Critics of the program say Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is trying to embarrass President Bush and build support for himself .
-Iraqi police say insurgents have killed four truck drivers and set their convoy on fire in an ambush north of Baghdad .
-Police say the drivers were carrying construction material Sunday to a U.S. military base when they were attacked in the al-Nabaie area .
-Separately , authorities say a police general and two of his bodyguards were killed in a roadside bombing near Kirkuk .
-Elsewhere , officials say a shepherd led search teams to the wreckage of a small plane that crashed three days ago in a remote northern area .
-Authorities say all six people on board - including three German businessmen - were apparently killed in the crash .
-The plane - headed to Sulaymaniya from Azerbaijan - went missing in a storm late Thursday .
-Authorities said there was no evidence that hostile action played any part in the crash .
-World oil prices rose to new record highs in New York and London as conflict spread in the Middle East and tensions continued in Iran and Nigeria .
-The price of oil for future delivery hit $ 76.4 a barrel in New York trading Thursday .
-The price increases follow Israel 's attacks inside Lebanon in a campaign against the Hezbollah militant group .
-Dealers say the increases also are related to Iran 's standoff with Western nations over its suspected nuclear weapons program and explosions that hit two oil pipelines in Nigeria 's troubled Niger Delta region .
-Strong demand for oil leaves little unused oil production capacity anywhere in the world .
-The tight balance between supply and demand means any disruption in oil supplies could cause prices to soar .
-Uzbek President Islam Karimov , right , inspects the Guard of honor alongside Chinese President Hu Jintao outside of Beijing 's Great Hall of the People China has welcomed embattled Uzbek President Islam Karimov .
-Mr. Karimov arrived in Beijing Wednesday , a day after China voiced support for his regime 's bloody crackdown on anti-government protesters .
-The Chinese and Uzbek governments say Mr. Karimov 's visit was planned long before the May 13 uprising in Uzbekistan 's eastern city of Andijan .
-President Karimov is facing harsh international criticism over the incident , which he blames on Muslim extremists .
-But he has found support in China , which fears Islamic militancy in the region could spread to its own territory .
-The number of people who died in Andijan is in dispute .
-The Uzbek government says 169 were killed but rights groups say many more people died .
-The United Nations food agency estimates that between 30,000 and 50,000 Somalis are in need of immediate relief assistance following the Indian Ocean tsunami .
-A World Food Program statement Wednesday said efforts to rush aid to one of the worst-hit Somali towns , Hafun , are being held up because waves have washed away the access road .
-The agency said the town is in a state of total desolation , with most homes destroyed .
-The United Nations says at least 114 Somalis died in the massive waves that were generated by an underwater earthquake thousands of kilometers away near Indonesia .
-In Tanzania , officials have said at least 10 swimmers died when they were dragged out to sea by powerful water currents .
-The tsunami is also blamed for killing two people in Seychelles and one tourist in Kenya .
-Ukraine 's prime minister is rejecting a planned price hike by Russia 's state-run natural gas company , Gazprom , as an unacceptable move aimed at putting direct economic pressure on Ukraine .
-Yuriy Yekhanurov told officials in Kiev his country will take all necessary legal steps if the dispute is not resolved .
-His comments came as Ukraine 's energy minister , Ivan Plachkov , left for Moscow for talks on a settlement .
-Gazprom intends to more than quadruple the price it charges Ukraine to bring its prices in line with the world market .
-Kiev supports an increase but wants a gradual one to avoid damaging its economy .
-Gazprom is threatening to cut supplies on January first if no deal is reached .
-Ukraine says it has sent its proposals and will seek international arbitration if there is no agreement .
-Organizers have unveiled the route for this year 's Dakar Rally .
-It 's a shorter , but more intense course that starts in Barcelona , Spain December 31 .
-The race covers 8,956 kilometers in 16 stages , 2,000 kilometers shorter than last year 's race .
-However , the rally has several sand dune crossings in succession , including six stages in Mauritania .
-The race starts with a four-kilometer special stage around Barcelona and then heads to Granada before passing into Morocco , Mauritania , Mali , and ending in Senegal January 16 .
-In the motorcycle section , no rider will wear the number-one jersey out of respect for the late Richard Sainct , a three-time Dakar Rally champion who was killed in September during the Rally of the Pharaohs in Egypt .
-The World Health Organization has confirmed two more human deaths from bird flu in Indonesia , bringing the country 's death toll from the virus to 18 .
-The confirmation from a Hong Kong laboratory came Sunday after local tests showed that two women who died last week had contracted the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus .
-Recent tests have also confirmed the H5N1 bird flu was found in wild swans in Italy , Greece and Bulgaria .
-Officials in Romania have also reported new cases of suspected bird flu in the Danube Delta .
-Italian veterinary officials are holding an emergency meeting Sunday , and in Greece , experts are checking poultry farms and homes ( around the northern city of Thessaloniki ) where the infected birds were found .
-Bird flu has killed about 90 people worldwide since 2003 .
-Experts say migratory birds are spreading the virus .
-World health officials are working to prevent a global pandemic .
-A Labor Department Tuesday says U.S. wholesale prices jumped five-tenths of a percent in March , pushed upward by rising gasoline costs .
-Economists set aside volatile energy and food prices to gauge inflation in the rest of the economy .
-By that measure , the so-called " core " inflation rate was up a modest one-tenth of a percent .
-Analysts say strong price competition among businesses makes companies reluctant to pass rising costs along to customers .
-Wednesday , we will get a look at inflation at the consumer level when the government publishes the consumer price index .
-Some analysts predict it will be up about four-tenths of a percent for the month .
-A separate government report Tuesday showed further evidence that the U.S. housing market is cooling off as interest rates rise .
-The number of new homes started in March fell nearly eight percent .
-Kuwait has reported two cases of bird flu , the first incidence of the virus in the Persian Gulf region .
-Kuwaiti agriculture officials said Thursday that the virus was discovered in two birds , one a migrating flamingo .
-It is not clear if the birds were carrying the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus .
-Italian health officials say a wild duck in northern Italy tested positive for the virus , but posed no threat to humans .
-Meanwhile , China has reported two new outbreaks of bird flu among poultry in the northeastern province of Liaoning , bringing the total number of reported outbreaks in the country over the past month to six .
-EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou told officials in Thailand Thursday that the European Union will provide financial assistance in fighting the spread of bird flu .
-Thailand 's government says it will provide free cable television in the country 's restive south in its latest effort to stem violence in the Muslim-dominated region .
-Under the plan announced Tuesday by Interior Minister Kongsak Wanthana , the government will install at least 500 television sets in local stores .
-Programming will be limited mainly to sports , including English Premier League soccer matches .
-Mr. Kongsak says the move could encourage the youth to become more interested in sports , and less interested in violence .
-More than 800 people have been killed since violence broke out in the Muslim-dominated provinces of Pattani , Narathiwat and Yala in January 2004 .
-The Thai government has tried a range of measures to quell the violence , including martial law and air-dropping millions of paper birds as a goodwill gesture .
-South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-Young will visit China this week to discuss stalled six-nation talks on North Korea 's nuclear program .
-Mr. Chung , who is also chairman of South Korea 's National Security Council , will arrive in Beijing on Tuesday .
-During four days in China , President Roh Moo-Hyun 's special envoy is expected to meet parliamentary chief Wu Bangguo , Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing and other top Chinese officials , with the focus largely on North Korea .
-China has hosted three rounds of six-nation talks , bringing together representatives of the two Koreas , the United States , Japan and Russia in an effort to curb Pyongyang 's nuclear weapons program .
-North Korea boycotted a fourth round of talks scheduled for last September , refusing to take part due to what Pyongyang called Washington 's co-called " hostile policy " toward the communist state .
-Venezuelan Vice President Jose Rangel has dismissed U.S. concerns over his country 's plan to buy 1,00,000 Russian-made rifles .
-Mr. Rangel said Tuesday Venezuela is buying the rifles to strengthen its national defense , and that the purchase should not concern Washington .
-His remarks were in response to recent comments by Roger Noriega , Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs , expressing concern that the weapons could wind up in the hands of criminal groups .
-Relations between the United States and Venezuela have been strained in recent years .
-Washington has criticized Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez ' populist policies and his country 's close relationship with Cuba .
-President Chavez has accused the United States of backing attempts to oust him , including a 2002 coup which briefly removed him from power .
-South African President Thabo Mbeki is meeting with Ivory Coast 's rebel leaders to discuss the latest peace initiatives .
-Tens of thousands of people with banners demanding that President Laurent Gbagbo quit welcomed Mr. Mebki as he arrived in the northern rebel-held stronghold of Bouake Sunday .
-Mr. Mebki will try to persuade the rebels to accept a plan to hold a referendum on a constitutional revision .
-The change would end a ban on Ivorians of foreign parents from running as presidential candidates .
-Such a revision would allow former Prime Minister and rebel-backed leader Alassane Ouattara to run for president .
-The crisis in Ivory Coast escalated last month when government forces bombed rebel positions , breaking a 18-month cease-fire .
-Because of the turmoil , the U.S State Department has warned Americans not to travel to Ivory Coast .
-American Idol Thursday , March 8 narrowed the field of contestants to 12 .
-Viewers submitted 37 million phone calls and text messages , eliminating Antonella Barba , Jared Cotter , Jason " Sundance " Head , and Sabrina Sloan .
-Six men and six women now vie for a record contract .
-Now in its sixth season , American Idol continues to dominate U.S. television ratings , attracting between 27 and 37 million viewers a week .
-The winner will be announced May 23 .
-Norwegian ski jumper Roar Ljoekelsoey has successfully defended his title at the Ski Flying World Championships in Bad Mitterndorf , Austria .
-Ljoekelsoey finished with two faultless jumps of 190 and 207.5 meters for a total of 788 points .
-Austrian Andreas Widhoelzl was second ( 762.4 points ) with compatriot Thomas Morgenstern third ( 752.2 points ) .
-The Norwegian also won the gold medal at the last World Championships in Planica , Slovenia , two years ago .
-For Widhoelzl , Saturday 's result was his second world silver medal - he also finished second in 2000 .
-The team event is scheduled for Sunday .
-A new audit of U.S. funds in Iraq has revealed overpayments and mismanagement of millions of dollars .
-The report from the Office of the U.S. Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction says American civilian and military personnel and contractors in south-central Iraq kept woefully inadequate records and lost track of millions of dollars .
-The audit says contractors were paid in full for jobs that were never completed .
-It says three people were killed when a hospital elevator , which was supposed to be replaced , crashed .
-The report says one contracting officer kept about $ 2 million in cash in a personal safe ; while a paying agent kept some $ 6,78,000 in cash in an unlocked footlocker .
-It also says a U.S. soldier gambled away between $ 20,000 and $ 60,000 during a trip to the Philippines with the Iraqi Olympic boxing team .
-U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan say a roadside bomb hit a security patrol in the country 's south , killing one soldier and wounding two others .
-A coalition statement said the troops were on patrol with Afghan forces Tuesday when a mine exploded and hit their vehicle along the Helmand River .
-There were no further details of the nationalities of the victims .
-The statement also said other soldiers in the patrol discovered and neutralized two additional improvised explosive devices in the area .
-Afghan authorities said five Afghan civilians were killed and another one wounded late Monday when a roadside blast struck a vehicle in Helmand province .
-In neighboring Kandahar province , a roadside bomb hit a police patrol , killing two Afghan policemen and wounding three others .
-Police have blamed that attack on the Taliban .
-Suspected militants in Pakistan have blown up 36 oil tankers that supply fuel to U.S.-led forces in neighboring Afghanistan .
-Pakistani officials Monday said the attackers set off two bombs near the trucks , triggering fires and explosions Sunday night in the Khyber tribal district .
-At least 70 people were wounded .
-More than 80 oil tankers bound for Afghanistan were parked in the area when the explosion happened .
-No one has claimed responsibility .
-A senior U.S. commander says Washington could reduce its 18,000-strong combat force in Afghanistan next year if Taleban militants accept an amnesty to be drawn up jointly by Kabul and Islamabad .
-In an interview with the Associated Press , Lt. Gen. David Barno said he will have a much better sense by next summer , after the April parliamentary polls , if the security threat has diminished or not .
-Since Hamid Karzai 's landslide victory in the recent presidential election in Afghanistan , the government has unveiled a detailed plan to reconcile with the Taleban remnants .
-General Barno said Mr. Karzai , who is to be sworn in as Afghanistan 's first popularly elected leader on Tuesday , will produce a list of Taleban leaders to be excluded from the amnesty and pass it to Islamabad .
-Rwandan President Paul Kagame says his country may pull its troops from the African Union peacekeeping force in Sudan 's war-torn Darfur region .
-In remarks to reporters this week , Mr. Kagame said the troops are not getting the funding , equipment or support they need and are having little impact .
-The president says Rwandan officials are evaluating the situation and a decision will be made regarding the troops very soon .
-Rwanda has supplied about 2,000 of the 7,000 African Union troops in Darfur .
-The force has not been able to stop violence in the region that has killed at least 2,00,000 people and displaced two million more .
-The U.N. Security Council has authorized a larger peacekeeping force for Darfur .
-But Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has refused to allow U.N. forces to enter the country .
-A Nigerian militant group says at least 10 of its fighters have been killed in a clash with Nigerian soldiers .
-The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta says Nigerian government troops in gunboats ambushed a group of its fighters late Sunday .
-The ambush was in Baylesa state , in the oil-rich delta region .
-Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo announced a clampdown on Niger Delta militants last week , after a series of kidnappings of foreign oil workers .
-The kidnappings and attacks on oil facilities have caused a 20 percent drop in Nigeria 's oil production since February .
-Nigeria 's army said Saturday that more than 100 militants had been detained in a military sweep .
-Iraqi medical officials said Saturday the death toll from a suicide bombing at a cafe northeast of Baghdad had risen to at least 26 .
-The blast took place late Friday in the town of Balad Ruz , in Diyala province .
-The town is located in a predominately Kurdish Shi'ite region , about halfway between the city of Baquba and the Iranian border .
-An Iraqi police official says the bomber detonated an explosives-filled belt inside a popular cafe .
-At least 45 people were wounded .
-The world economy 's downturn is having contrary effects on two leading U.S. food retailers .
-Shares in Starbucks , a chain of pricey coffee shops , fell more than three percent Tuesday , one day after it reported a 97 percent drop in profits in the 4th quarter of this year .
-The value of Starbucks ' shares has been falling sharply in recent months .
-Earlier this year , the Seattle , Washington-based company cut 1,000 jobs , shut 600 stores in the United States , and closed another 61 stores in Australia .
-While coffee-drinkers are avoiding Starbucks ' expensive products , budget hamburgers are selling briskly .
-McDonald 's announced Monday that its global sales jumped 8.2 percent in October .
-McDonald 's sales rose more than five percent in the United States , nearly 10 percent in Europe and more than 11 percent in the Asia-Pacific , Middle East and Africa .
-Madonna has released a new digital song aiming to raise awareness about environmental issues .
-Titled " Hey You , " the ballad does n't specifically refer to saving the earth , instead choosing to speak of loving and saving each other .
-Produced by Madonna and Pharrell Williams , " Hey You " hit the market May 16 .
-The first one million downloads are free , and Microsoft will donate 25 cents per download to the Alliance For Climate Protection .
-Madonna will perform the song July 7 at the London edition of Live Earth , a global environment-themed pop event .
-Other shows will take place in New Jersey ; Tokyo ; Shanghai , China ; Rio De Janeiro , Brazil ; Sydney , Australia ; Johannesburg , South Africa ; Hamburg , Germany ; and Istanbul , Turkey .
-Iraqi police say gunmen have killed seven members of a family belonging to Iraq 's minority Yazidi sect .
-Police Monday said the family was assassinated in their home in the town of Sinjar , west of Mosul .
-The mayor of Sinjar , Dakhil Qasim , said the killings may have been part of what he called a " social dispute " - a reference that can be related to honor killings .
-Yazidis are part of a Kurdish-speaking , pre-Islamic religious sect , and have suffered in the violence of post-invasion Iraq .
-Last year , suicide truck bombers killed at least 400 people in two Yazidi villages .
-The explosions were one of the deadliest coordinated militant attacks in Iraq since the U.S.-led war began in 2003 .
-In a separate attack Monday , Iraqi police say a suicide bomber killed at least eight policemen at a checkpoint west of Baghdad .
-A top Iranian nuclear official says Iran will resume nuclear research activities in the coming days , ending a suspension declared more than two years ago .
-Mohammad Saeedi , the deputy chief of Iran 's Atomic Energy Organization , says Tehran has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency by letter of its intention to restart research into nuclear fuel technology .
-Speaking Tuesday in Tehran , Mr. Saeedi did not identify the new research .
-But he stressed that no decision has been made to resume the actual production of nuclear fuel .
-Iran suspended uranium enrichment activities in October of 2003 , under intense international pressure .
-Both the United States and the European Union have voiced grave concerns that Tehran is seeking highly enriched uranium to make an atomic bomb .
-Tehran says it wants a lower grade of the enriched ore to fuel a nuclear power plant .
-Tamil Tiger rebels have rejected an offer from the Sri Lankan government to hold another round of peace talks because of a dispute over the venue for the session .
-The government has suggested talks to take place in any Asian country .
-The rebels have turned down the offer , insisting that the talks be held in Norway .
-The rejection comes just days after Japan offered to host the peace talks .
-The rebels have been fighting for a separate homeland for the ethnic Tamil minority for more than two decades .
-The conflict claimed more 64,000 lives before Norway brokered a cease-fire between the rebels and the government that took effect in 2002 .
-The deadlocked talks are threatening to further disrupt the already shaky truce .
-A couple of long-standing trade disputes saw new actions on Monday .
-The World Trade Organization ruled that a new European Union tariff on imported bananas violates international agreements .
-Nine Latin American nations said the $ 279-a-ton levy would seriously harm their ability to export the fruit .
-In a separate WTO case , Japan said it will slap 15 percent levies on U.S.-made steel imports at the beginning of September .
-The move could cost American industry up to $ 50 million , and is retaliation for U.S. measures that the WTO has said unlawfully protected the U.S. steel industry .
-Washington placed tariffs on certain steel products from Japan , Brazil and other nations several years ago , amid allegations that those nations sold their products at unfairly low prices .
-The United Nations reports heavy fighting between Ugandan rebels and a joint U.N.-Congolese force in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo .
-The U.N. mission in Congo says 35 Ugandan rebels have been killed , along with three Congolese government troops and an Indian U.N. peacekeeping soldier .
-The U.N.-Congolese force attacked the rebels Saturday south of Beni in North Kivu province .
-U.N. officials say the offensive was launched after the rebels , known as the Allied Democratic Forces , rejected repeated attempts to negotiate their return to Uganda .
-This is the second U.N.-Congolese offensive against militias in the region since last week 's constitutional referendum .
-The troops hope to assert government control in areas dominated by foreign-backed rebels or local militias .
-U.N. and Congolese troops captured the town of Nioka from ethnic Lendu rebels on Saturday .
-A car bomb has exploded outside a Shi'ite mosque in the Iraqi town of Hillah , killing at least 25 people as Iraqi Shi'ites observed the first day of the holy month of Ramadan .
-Police say nearly 90 others were wounded Wednesday evening as the faithful gathered at the mosque to pray before breaking their fast .
-The attack comes 10 days before Iraqis are scheduled to vote in a referendum on a new constitution , and concerns are high about a possible upsurge in violence .
-Earlier , parliament , under international pressure , voted to reverse controversial new election rules that Shi'ite and Kurdish legislators were accused of passing to ensure the document 's success .
-Also Wednesday , a video dated September 12 was posted on the Internet and attributed to the Ansar al-Sunna militant group .
-It showed the apparent beheading of what the group claimed were two Iraqis who spied for the U.S. military .
-Burundi has confirmed it sent an additional 850 soldiers to Somalia last week to bolster the African Union peacekeeping force .
-The deployment brings the AU force in the capital , Mogadishu , up to its full authorized strength of 8,000 .
-Officials with the Burundian army and the African Union mission , known as AMISOM , confirmed the deployment .
-The peacekeeping force helps the U.N.-backed Somali government hold off a fierce Islamist insurgency .
-Uganda , which provides the bulk of the AU troops , has offered to increase the force 's size to 20,000 , if other parties will provide funding , logistics , and equipment .
-Somalia has dealt with nearly two decades of violence and lawlessness since the fall of the last stable central government .
-Two journalists in Kenya have pleaded innocent to charges of inciting the public with an opinion article on the political struggle around the nation 's upcoming constitutional referendum .
-The managing editor of the Kenya Times , Onyango Omollo , and reporter David Ochami were released on bail after appearing in court Thursday .
-Their case will be heard November 8 .
-The charges against them stem from an opinion article on Sunday entitled , " Coups in Africa Do Not Occur Out of Nothing . "
-It focused on comments by ministers who have accused opponents of the draft constitution of wanting to overthrow President Mwai Kibaki .
-On November 21 , Kenyans are scheduled to vote on the document - in which the president retains his wide-ranging powers .
-Rallies for and against the constitution recently have turned violent .
-A top Iranian lawmaker says Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei played a role in parliament 's approval Thursday of nominees for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad 's Cabinet .
-Deputy speaker Mohammad Reza Bahonar said Friday the supreme leader had privately urged lawmakers to approve the nominees .
-Bahonar says at least eight of the nominees may have been rejected if Mr. Khamenei had not intervened .
-Parliament approved 18 nominees put forward by President Ahmadinejad for his 21-member Cabinet , including Ahmad Vahidi , a defense minister , accused of involvement in a 1994 bombing in Argentina .
-Lawmakers also approved Iran 's first female Cabinet member Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi since the 1979 Islamic Revolution .
-Mr. Ahmadinejad was re-elected in a controversial vote in June .
-Government opponents say the election was fraudulent , and it set off days of street demonstrations .
-Thousands of Iranians were arrested for protesting the outcome of the election .
-Prominent former judges and lawmakers in Pakistan are urging President Pervez Musharraf to quit his army post and let the Supreme Court hold elections through a neutral caretaker administration .
-In a letter to General Musharraf , they say the president has failed to respect the oath he took as army chief that he would not indulge in politics .
-Two former chief justices of Pakistan , Sajjad Ali Shah and Seeduzzaman Siddiqui , and two former National Assembly speakers , Elahi Bakhsh Soomro and Syed Fakhar Imam , are among the eight prominent personalities who signed the letter .
-Last month , a similar letter was sent to President Musharraf by 18 prominent politicians , including several former aides to the military leader .
-The letters come amid criticism of the government in parliament for alleged corruption , a charge denied by the government .
-The opposition in parliament has said it plans to present a no-confidence motion on August 23 .
-The U.S. military says American and Iraqi forces fighting insurgents near the Syrian border have cleared most of the western city of Ubaydi of insurgents , but pockets of resistance remain .
-The military says coalition forces have encountered some of the heaviest fighting in Ubaydi since Operation Steel Curtain began 10 days ago .
-Officials say three Marines and 80 insurgents have been killed since coalition forces entered the city on Monday .
-They have found houses and cars rigged with explosives , other explosive devices and mines , and weapons caches .
-The operation is intended to restore security along the Euphrates River Valley ahead of next month 's Iraqi parliamentary elections .
-Meanwhile , insurgent attacks in Baghdad and Kirkuk killed eight policemen Tuesday .
-And coalition forces say they captured a high-level Baath Party leader Hamid Sharki Shadid in Diyala province .
-The eldest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong il said Saturday he has no interest in leading the country and only his father can choose a successor .
-Kim Jong Nam 's comments came in Beijing while on a personal visit to China .
-South Korea 's Yonhap news agency cited unnamed intelligence sources earlier this month in reporting Mr. Kim had selected his youngest son , Kim Jong Un , as his eventual successor .
-Chinese state media on Friday reported Mr. Kim met a visiting Chinese envoy in Pyongyang .
-It was Mr. Kim 's first reported encounter with a foreign dignitary since August , when U.S. and South Korean officials say he suffered a stroke .
-North Korea has denied the claim and released a series of undated photos to show Mr. Kim is in good health .
-U.S.-based Intel Corporation , the world 's largest computer-chip manufacturer , has announced plans to invest one billion dollars in a new plant in Vietnam .
-Intel Vice President Brian Krzanich said Friday that , when completed in 2009 , the plant will be anywhere from 14,000 to 46,000 square meters and will employ up to 4,000 people .
-It will be located in an industrial park outside Ho Chi Minh City .
-The company originally announced plans for the plant in February .
-At that time it had been planned to be a 300-million-dollar project .
-Intel 's announcement comes the same week the World Trade Organization ( WTO ) voted to accept Vietnam as a member , and one week before Hanoi is scheduled to host the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit .
-Intel makes computer chips for use in personal computers and other electronic devices .
-Pakistan has closed the main supply route in the Khyber Pass for NATO forces operating in Afghanistan , as Pakistan launched an offensive against militants in the region .
-Tariq Hayat , Pakistan 's top administrator for the tribal Khyber region , told reporters Tuesday that helicopter gunships , tanks and artillery units have deployed in the area near the Afghan border .
-Hayat says supplies to NATO forces through the pass will be " suspended " until the operation is complete .
-Militants have carried out a series of attacks on NATO and U.S. military convoys along the vital supply route in recent weeks .
-The supplies are delivered through the Khyber Pass after arriving in the Pakistani port city of Karachi .
-Militants have also destroyed several supply depots in northwestern Pakistan .
-For the first time , Americans can go on the Internet to find out more about the quality of care at their local hospitals .
-The data also includes hospital death rates for the most common fatal illnesses , such as heart attacks , heart failure and pneumonia .
-In the case of children , the survey also evaluates the medical treatment for asthma .
-VOA 's Melinda Smith says this information measures whether a hospital is performing up to national standards .
-The Spanish government says police have seized three tons of cocaine from a cargo ship off the Canary Islands and arrested 16 people .
-Police boarded the Panamanian-flagged cargo ship Thursday .
-The raid was the culmination of an investigation that lasted over a year .
-The vessel 's entire ten-man crew was taken into custody , as were six other people in the Canary Islands and Madrid .
-Cuban President Fidel Castro says he is not well enough to attend celebrations in Havana to belatedly mark his 80th birthday .
-Mr. Castro made the comments late Tuesday in a statement read by a presenter to hundreds of people attending a gala in the Cuban capital .
-The Cuban leader turned 80 on August 13 .
-Celebrations to mark the occasion were postponed after he underwent intestinal surgery that forced him to hand over power temporarily to his younger brother , Raul , in late July .
-Cuban officials say more than 1,300 people from around the world are expected to attend the five-day celebration .
-They include Bolivian President Evo Morales , Haitian President Rene Preval and Nicaraguan President-elect Daniel Ortega .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is not expected to attend because he faces a national election on Sunday .
-The festivities in Cuba culminate on Saturday with a military parade in Havana .
-Iraqi President Jalal Talabani says leaders of the country 's political parties have agreed to form a national unity government - but that the details are yet to be worked out .
-He made the comments after meeting Saturday in Baghdad with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw - who also urged Shi'ite , Kurdish and Sunni leaders to form a broad-based unity government .
-In another development , police say a suicide car bomber attacked a passing police patrol in southeast Baghdad , wounding at least nine people .
-Meanwhile , police say an American journalist has been kidnapped and her translator killed in Baghdad .
-Authorities say the journalist - who was not identified - was en route to a meeting with a Sunni Arab leader Saturday , when gunmen stopped her car in west Baghdad .
-Even though demand has fallen nearly two percent since last year , gasoline prices continued to break records across the United States this week .
-And the U.S. Oil Price Information Service warns that prices will go higher as the peak driving season approaches .
-U.S. lawmakers are busy looking for solutions , but some fear it may be too little , too late to help some Americans .
-VOA 's Mil Arcega reports .
-Burma 's military junta has freed well-known journalist and key opposition figure U Win Tin and other prominent political figures in a mass release of prisoners .
-The ailing 74-year-old prize-winning writer , a member of the National League for Democracy headed by Aung San Suu Kyi , has spent the last 15 years in prison .
-Also freed were three NLD Members of Parliament Major Kyaw San , Ohn Maung , and Toe Bo and two other NLD members , Aung Zin and Khun Sai .
-The junta announced Thursday evening that it would release 3,937 people who may have been wrongfully jailed by the recently disbanded National Intelligence Bureau .
-General Khin Nyunt , the prime minister purged in mid-October , headed the feared NIB .
-He has been charged with corruption .
-Mexican President Vicente Fox has pledged to send buses to rescue thousands of tourists stranded in resort areas along the Yucatan peninsula that were hit hard by Hurricane Wilma .
-President Fox toured the resort city of Cancun , where luxury hotels have been destroyed by the storm and shopping centers emptied by looters in its wake .
-Mr. Fox said Cancun 's airport would not open until Tuesday and that tourists would be bused to the city of Merida and flown out from there .
-As many as 30,000 tourists faced a fourth night in crowded shelters Monday in Cancun and other resorts .
-The storm is blamed for at least seven deaths in Mexico .
-Meanwhile , rescue teams in rafts and boats pulled people from flooded homes in the Cuban capital , Havana , Monday after seas swollen by Wilma submerged parts of the city under water .
-The African Union 's Peace and Security Council has affirmed its continuing support for the deployment of United Nations peacekeepers in Sudan 's violence-plagued Darfur region .
-In a communiqué issued in Banjul , The Gambia , ahead of Saturday 's AU summit , the council said it is targeting September 30 for the U.N. to take over the African Union 's peacekeeping mission in Darfur .
-The Council also announced it would impose travel bans and freeze the assets of people undermining or obstructing the Darfur Peace Agreement of May 5 , or violating its ceasefire .
-Sudan 's President Omar al-Bashir has repeatedly refused to allow U.N. peacekeepers into the country .
-Mr. Bashir and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan are expected to discuss the situation at the African Union summit taking place in The Gambia Saturday and Sunday .
-President Bush has used his weekly radio address to repeat a pledge that he will focus during his second term on the challenges facing the American economy .
-Mr. Bush used a two-day economic conference this week to promote his economic plan , which includes a proposal for privatizing the federal retirement system known as Social Security .
-In his radio address Saturday , the president repeated earlier calls for Congress to pass legislation that would make his tax cuts permanent and would simplify the tax code .
-He promised not to ignore the challenges that face the U.S. economy , like record high budget deficits and a net loss of jobs since he took office .
-The president pledged to work with both Republicans and Democrats in Congress to , in his words , keep the economy innovative and competitive .
-Hospital officials in Afghanistan say an autopsy has confirmed that two bodies found in the southern part of the country are those of missing Japanese tourists .
-Hassan Halemi , head of the pathology department at Kabul University where the autopsies were carried out , said hours of testing Saturday confirmed the identities of teachers Jun Fukusho and Shinobu Hasegawa .
-The pair had been shot and their bodies dumped near the Spin Boldak highway , which links the former Taleban stronghold of Kandahar with the Pakistani border town of Chaman .
-Officials say the two missing Japanese crossed into Afghanistan from Pakistan August 8 , and were believed to be sight-seeing .
-The pair had not been seen or heard from since .
-President Bush says he expects that Iran 's new president , Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , will receive a U.S. visa to attend an annual United Nations meet in New York City next month .
-Mr. Bush made the remark Thursday after meeting at his Crawford , Texas ranch with his top defense and foreign policy advisors , including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld .
-The president also praised the International Atomic Energy Agency for demanding Iran suspend its recently resumed nuclear activity .
-On Iraq , the president said he expects the country 's new constitution will be completed by August 15 .
-He also said that no decision has been made on U.S. troop reductions in Iraq .
-Mr. Bush added that he understands the frustration of anti-war activists and Americans who want a timetable for troop withdrawals from Iraq .
-Recent opinion polls indicate that Americans are becoming increasingly disillusioned by the rate of progress in Iraq .
-The Olympic torch will make two trips to the world 's highest peak as part of the build-up to the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing , China .
-The Olympic flame will go to the top of Mount Everest twice , once as part of a run-through in 2007 and the second time during the actual torch relay in 2008 .
-Chinese Olympic officials say the torch , which is being specially designed to burn at such a high altitude , is in the final stage of design .
-The full schedule of the torch relay , which still has to be approved by the International Olympic Committee , has not been released .
-U.S. prosecutors have begun closing arguments in the trial of Michael Jackson , accused of giving alcohol to a boy and then molesting him .
-Prosecutor Ron Zonen told jurors Thursday , the case is about the exploitation and abuse of a 13-year-old cancer survivor at Mr. Jackson 's Neverland Ranch .
-The judge Rodney Melville has said he will hand the case to the jury Friday , after the pop star 's defense team makes its closing arguments .
-Mr. Jackson 's lawyers have questioned the credibility of the boy 's mother , saying she filed FALSE income tax returns and tried to extort money from other celebrities .
-Last week , prosecutors showed a 2003 police video in which the boy said the pop star repeatedly molested him after nights of heavy drinking .
-Hundreds of Somalis have marched in the capital , Mogadishu , to criticize the possible deployment of peacekeepers from Ethiopia and Djibouti .
-The city 's self-declared governor Abdullahi Ganey Firimbi helped organize Sunday 's demonstration , the latest in a series of protest marches .
-Some members of Somalia 's new government have rejected plans for an African peacekeeping force that includes troops from nations bordering Somalia .
-Some clan leaders say no foreign troops at all should be allowed in the country .
-Somalia 's President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed has said international troops are needed to protect the new government when it moves home from its current base in Kenya this year .
-Thursday , the U.S. State Department said a regional force should not include Somalia 's immediate neighbors , due to perceptions of bias .
-A U.S. Defense Department plan to cut military bases across the United States has suffered two setbacks .
-A federal base-closing panel voted Friday to keep open South Dakota 's Ellsworth Air Base .
-It was a major political victory for the state 's new Republican senator , John Thune , who defeated last year the Senate 's top Democrat , former Minority Leader Tom Daschle .
-During campaigning , Mr. Thune argued he would be in a better position to save Ellsworth - South Dakota 's second-largest employer and home to a fleet of B-1 bombers .
-In another decision , a federal judge threw out plans to close down a Pennsylvania Air National Guard division .
-The judge said the Pentagon does not have the power to dissolve the 111th Fighter Wing without the approval of Governor Ed Rendell .
-Rescuers in southern China have recovered the body of one of the 123 miners trapped in a flooded coal mine , and are holding out little chance any others will survive .
-The miners have been trapped in the Daxing mine at Xingning in Guangdong province since Sunday .
-State media say that so far rescuers have been unable to find the source of the flooding .
-Chinese police have arrested 11 people for their roles in the disaster , including the mine 's owner , manager , board chairman and chief technician .
-The government also has suspended the mayors of the cities of Xingning and Meizhou for failing to supervise coal mine production .
-China has the most dangerous mines in the world .
-More than 2,700 miners have been killed in the first half of this year alone .
-Hundreds of supporters of a coalition of radical Islamic groups have demonstrated in Pakistan 's central city of Lahore to press the country 's military president to resign .
-The Associated Press reports some 10,000 people participated in the rally .
-The coalition known as the Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal has been holding rallies in Pakistan since December , when President Pervez Musharraf reneged on a promise to quit his second job as army chief .
-Last year , he promised to quit his military post before the end of 2004 , if the religion-based coalition agreed to accept him as president until 2007 .
-At the rally , coalition chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed said General Musharraf will soon be forced to resign , accusing him of serving the interests of the United States instead of working for the betterment of the masses .
-Iran is warning that it could quit the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and resume enriching uranium if it is referred to the United Nations Security Council over its suspect nuclear program .
-Top Iranian negotiator Ali Larijani spoke Tuesday in Vienna , on the sidelines of an emergency session of the International Atomic Energy Agency .
-The IAEA is considering a European draft resolution alleging that Iran has breached the treaty by withholding information on its nuclear fuel cycle program .
-That draft , which the United States supports , cites what it calls Iran 's many failures and breaches of its obligations under the NPT treaty .
-Tehran has repeatedly insisted its nuclear intentions are peaceful .
-Diplomats say Russia , China and many non-aligned member states oppose the referral , arguing that nuclear talks between Iran and European negotiators should be given more time .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has reshuffled his cabinet .
-Mr. Chavez announced late Saturday that Ali Rodriguez , who heads the state-run oil company , Petroleos de Venezuela , would replace Jesus Perez as foreign minister .
-Oil minister Rafael Ramirez will take over the state-run oil company , while also retaining his government oil portfolio .
-The high-profile changes had been widely expected and come after Mr. Chavez consolidated his political power with a victory in an August 15 referendum on his government .
-Iran 's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the nation 's nuclear program is necessary because its vast oil and gas reserves can not last forever .
-Iran 's state-run television Saturday quoted Khamenei as saying nations must have alternate energy sources to avoid being at the mercy of domineering countries .
-Khamenei lashed out at critics of Iran 's nuclear program , calling them narrow-minded .
-The U.S. accuses Iran of using its civilian nuclear program as a cover up to build nuclear weapons .
-Iran has always rejected those charges , insisting its atomic program is peaceful in nature .
-Iranian officials have said it has every right to pursue its goals .
-Police in London arrested and questioned Hugh Grant , after a photographer claimed the actor attacked him with a tub of baked beans .
-Speaking to the Daily Star newspaper , photographer Ian Whittaker said the 46-year-old Grant abused and kicked him on April 24 , prior to lobbing the beans .
-The paper printed photos of Grant with a plastic tub of food raised over his head .
-A police spokeswoman said a 46-year-old man had been arrested April 25 and questioned over an assault in west London .
-He was freed on bail and ordered to return in May .
-His lawyers were not immediately available for comment .
-Hugh Grant 's screen credits include Four Weddings And A Funeral , Notting Hill , and Love Actually .
-Travelers Corp. 's third-quarter net income rose 11 % , even though claims stemming from Hurricane Hugo reduced results $ 40 million .
-Net advanced to $ 94.2 million , or 89 cents a share , from $ 85 million , or 83 cents a share , including net realized investment gains of $ 31 million , up from $ 10 million a year ago .
-But revenue declined to $ 3 billion from $ 3.2 billion .
-Travelers estimated that the California earthquake last month will result in a fourth-quarter pre-tax charge of less than $ 10 million .
-The insurer 's earnings from commercial property / casualty lines fell 59 % in the latest quarter , while it lost $ 7.2 million in its personal property / casualty business , compared with earnings of $ 6.1 million a year ago .
-Travelers 's employee benefits group , which includes its group health insurance operations , posted earnings of $ 24 million , compared with a loss of $ 3 million last year .
-In the first nine months , net was $ 306 million , compared with a loss of $ 195 million in the 1988 period .
-The year-ago results included a $ 415 million charge in the 1988 second quarter for underperforming real estate and mortgage loans .
-Small , landlocked , and mountainous , Lesotho relies on remittances from Basotho employed in South Africa , customs duties from the Southern Africa Customs Union ( SACU ) , and export revenue for the majority of government revenue .
-However , the government has recently strengthened its tax system to reduce dependency on customs duties .
-Completion of a major hydropower facility in January 1998 permitted the sale of water to South Africa and generated royalties for Lesotho .
-Lesotho produces about 90 % of its own electrical power needs .
-As the number of mineworkers has declined steadily over the past several years , a small manufacturing base has developed based on farm products that support the milling , canning , leather , and jute industries , as well as an apparel-assembly sector .
-Despite Lesotho 's market-based economy being heavily tied to its neighbor South Africa , the US is an important trade partner because of the export sector 's heavy dependence on apparel exports .
-Exports have grown significantly because of the trade benefits contained in the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act .
-Most of the labor force is engaged in subsistence agriculture , especially livestock herding , although drought has decreased agricultural activity .
-The extreme inequality in the distribution of income remains a major drawback .
-Lesotho has signed an Interim Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility with the IMF .
-In July 2007 , Lesotho signed a Millennium Challenge Account Compact with the US worth $ 362.5 million .
-Economic growth dropped in 2009 , due mainly to the effects of the global economic crisis as demand for the country 's exports declined and SACU revenue fell precipitously when South Africa - the primary contributor to the SACU revenue pool - went into recession , but growth returned to 3.5 % in 2010 .
-In 1865 , Britain and Bhutan signed the Treaty of Sinchulu , under which Bhutan would receive an annual subsidy in exchange for ceding some border land to British India .
-Under British influence , a monarchy was set up in 1907 ; three years later , a treaty was signed whereby the British agreed not to interfere in Bhutanese internal affairs and Bhutan allowed Britain to direct its foreign affairs .
-This role was assumed by independent India after 1947 .
-Two years later , a formal Indo-Bhutanese accord returned the areas of Bhutan annexed by the British , formalized the annual subsidies the country received , and defined India 's responsibilities in defense and foreign relations .
-A refugee issue of over 1,00,000 Bhutanese in Nepal remains unresolved ; 90 % of the refugees are housed in seven United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees ( UNHCR ) camps .
-In March 2005 , King Jigme Singye WANGCHUCK unveiled the government 's draft constitution - which would introduce major democratic reforms - and pledged to hold a national referendum for its approval .
-In December 2006 , the King abdicated the throne to his son , Jigme Khesar Namgyel WANGCHUCK , in order to give him experience as head of state before the democratic transition .
-In early 2007 , India and Bhutan renegotiated their treaty to allow Bhutan greater autonomy in conducting its foreign policy , although Thimphu continues to coordinate policy decisions in this area with New Delhi .
-In July 2007 , seven ministers of Bhutan 's 10-member cabinet resigned to join the political process , and the cabinet acted as a caretaker regime until democratic elections for seats to the country 's first parliament were completed in March 2008 .
-The king ratified the country 's first constitution in July 2008 .
-The islands have no indigenous economic activity , but the Australian Government allows limited fishing in the surrounding waters .
-The government continues to balance the need for economic loosening against a desire for firm political control .
-The government announced it would eliminate 5,00,000 state jobs by March 2011 and has expanded opportunities for self-employment .
-President Raul CASTRO said such changes were needed to update the economic model to ensure the survival of socialism .
-The government has introduced limited reforms , some initially implemented in the 1990s , to increase enterprise efficiency and alleviate serious shortages of food , consumer goods , and services .
-The average Cuban 's standard of living remains at a lower level than before the downturn of the 1990s , which was caused by the loss of Soviet aid and domestic inefficiencies .
-Since late 2000 , Venezuela has been providing oil on preferential terms , and it currently supplies about 1,00,000 barrels per day of petroleum products .
-Cuba has been paying for the oil , in part , with the services of Cuban personnel in Venezuela including some 30,000 medical professionals .
-The economy is limited to traditional subsistence agriculture , with about 80 % of labor force earnings from agriculture ( coconuts and vegetables ) , livestock ( mostly pigs ) , and fishing .
-About 4 % of the population is employed in government .
-Revenues come from French Government subsidies , licensing of fishing rights to Japan and South Korea , import taxes , and remittances from expatriate workers in New Caledonia .
-A Jay venturing into a yard where Peacocks used to walk , found there a number of feathers which had fallen from the Peacocks when they were moulting .
-He tied them all to his tail and strutted down towards the Peacocks .
-When he came near them they soon discovered the cheat , and striding up to him pecked at him and plucked away his borrowed plumes .
-So the Jay could do no better than go back to the other Jays , who had watched his behaviour from a distance ; but they were equally annoyed with him , and told him :
-" It is not only fine feathers that make fine birds . "
-A SEAGULL having bolted down too large a fish , burst its deep gullet-bag and lay down on the shore to die .
-A Kite saw him and exclaimed : " You richly deserve your fate ; for a bird of the air has no business to seek its food from the sea . "
-Every man should be content to mind his own business .
-A SPENDTHRIFT , seeing a single swallow , pawned his cloak , thinking that Summer was at hand .
-It was .
-A FOX , seeing some sour grapes hanging within an inch of his nose , and being unwilling to admit that there was anything he would not eat , solemnly declared that they were out of his reach .
-SOME DOGS , finding the skin of a lion , began to tear it in pieces with their teeth .
-A Fox , seeing them , said , " If this lion were alive , you would soon find out that his claws were stronger than your teeth . "
-It is easy to kick a man that is down .
-Oil cleanup efforts in the Gulf of Mexico soon could get a boost , if tests of a new skimming vessel go well .
-Crews began testing the massive Taiwanese tanker , dubbed A Whale , on Friday and continued those operations on Saturday .
-The ship , about 275 meters long , takes in oil-laden sea water through vents , separating the oil and then pumping the cleaned water back into the Gulf .
-Its makers say it can process up to 80 million liters of oily water a day .
-A smaller group of oil skimmers also was hard at work Saturday , after halting operations for several days because of rough conditions created by then-Hurricane Alex .
-Alex also delayed the hookup of a third containment vessel that is set to double the amount of oil being collected to up to 53,000 barrels a day .
-The vessel is now expected to be in place next week .
-Separately , U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lisa Jackson visited Pensacola , Florida Saturday to inspect the ongoing response to the oil spill .
-Jackson was there to oversee beach cleanup operations .
-The oil crisis followed an explosion on a rig leased by oil company BP .
-The April 20 blast killed 11 workers .
-Government estimates say the broken well is gushing up to 60,000 barrels of oil into the Gulf each day .
-Afghan election officials say they plan to increase the number of voting stations for next week 's presidential runoff election , despite concerns that could lead to more fraud than in the first vote .
-Afghanistan 's independent election commission says it will slightly increase the number of polling centers to 6,322 and have enough staff to ensure a credible process .
-Foreign election observers had recommended reducing the more than 6,000 polling centers used in the first round after auditors found more than one million fraudulent votes .
-Many fake ballots are believed to have come from remote polling stations that never opened or did not have observers monitoring the vote .
-Meanwhile , the Taliban in Afghanistan has vowed to intensify its attacks leading up to the November 7 election .
-A Taliban spokesman told the French news agency the militant group has new plans and tactics to disrupt the election .
-The United Nations has not responded to the Afghan announcement of an increase in polling centers .
-On Wednesday , U.N. officials said workers will continue to help the country prepare for the vote , despite a deadly Taliban attack on a Kabul guesthouse that killed five U.N. staff members .
-The Taliban said the attack Wednesday was the first step of a plan aimed at disrupting the vote , in which incumbent President Hamid Karzai is facing off against former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah .
-The United Nations says that some 100 villagers in the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu have been forced to relocate because of rising seas , becoming one of the world 's first examples of " climate change refugees . "
-Officials with the United Nations Environmental Program said Tuesday that locals on Tegua island in the northern part of the archipelago completed their move inland in August .
-Officials said more frequent flooding and accelerating erosion in recent years has routinely damaged houses and boosted waterborne diseases in the population .
-The executive director of the U.N. agency said the rising sea levels and storm surges in Vanuatu are the first manifestation of global changes that eventually will touch everyone .
-An international human rights group is urging Iran to stop executing people under the age of 18 .
-Human Rights Watch says Iran executes more minors than any other country in the world .
-It says Iran has carried out 17 such executions since 2004 .
-It says some juveniles were given death sentences for crimes they committed when they were 15 .
-An official with the rights group says Iran needs to stop sending children to the gallows and live up to its international obligations by banning the juvenile death penalty .
-Human Rights Watch says the only other countries known to have executed juveniles since 2004 are Sudan , which executed two juveniles and China and Pakistan , which each executed one .
-Arabic language al-Jazeera television has broadcast what it says is a new videotape of kidnapped U.S. journalist Jill Carroll pleading for freedom for female Iraqi prisoners .
-The tape is time-stamped January 28 , showing Carroll dressed in traditional Islamic headscarf and crying .
-Al Jazeera did not broadcast any sound with the tape Monday .
-But a newscaster said Carroll appealed to the U.S. military in Iraq to free all women prisoners .
-This was the main demand of her captors who threatened to kill her if it was not met .
-Carroll is a journalist for the U.S. based Christian Science Monitor newspaper .
-She was kidnapped January 7 .
-The U.S. military freed five female prisoners in Iraq last week , but said their release was not connected to the Carroll case .
-A U.S. soldier has been killed and four others wounded in a bomb attack in southeastern Afghanistan .
-The U.S. military says the troops were conducting security operations when the blast occurred Friday in Paktika province , near the border with Pakistan .
-American casualties have been mounting amid a major upsurge in violence across Afghanistan ahead of legislative elections scheduled on September 18 .
-With vote counting nearly completed , Liberia appears headed for a presidential run-off election between football ( soccer ) star George Weah and former World Bank economist Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf .
-Neither candidate captured the outright majority in last Tuesday 's vote to avoid the run-off , which is expected to be held November 8 .
-The latest tally shows Mr. Weah leading the field of 22 candidates with 28.9 percent of the vote .
-Ms. Johnson-Sirleaf is second with 19.7 percent .
-More than 90 percent of polling stations had reported results as of early Monday .
-Last week 's presidential and parliamentary elections were the first in Liberia since a peace deal in 2003 ended 14 years of warfare and sent former President Charles Taylor into exile .
-Chinese officials are urging the European Union to go ahead with the lifting of a ban on arms sales to Beijing .
-The EU had been moving towards a June date for ending the ban on arms deals , despite U.S. opposition .
-Diplomats , however , say the Chinese parliament 's recent approval of a bill authorizing the use of force against Taiwan if it tries to declare independence has effectively stalled the action .
-A Chinese foreign ministry official says linking the two issues is unreasonable and amounts to political discrimination not in keeping with the times .
-The embargo was put into place after the Chinese crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square in 1989 .
-Diplomats have told various news organizations that the effort to lift the embargo , originally spearheaded by France , will probably not move forward until sometime next year .
-An Iraqi woman suspected of being infected with the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus has died .
-Iraqi officials said Thursday further tests are being conducted in Baghdad and Cairo .
-If confirmed , the death would be the second caused by the virus in Iraq this year .
-Meanwhile , German officials are warning pet owners to keep cats inside and dogs on a leash after lab tests confirmed a cat died from the H5N1 virus , the same strain found in a dead swan in the region .
-The discoveries come a day after World Bank officials warned that an outbreak of bird flu in Nigeria is far from over .
-The World Bank said Wednesday Nigeria has failed to contain the spread of the H5N1 virus among chickens , and offered to fund a bird vaccination program there .
-Health officials say since 2003 , bird flu has killed more than 90 people worldwide , mostly Asians .
-Two U.S. astronauts from the space shuttle Discovery have completed a third spacewalk to make external repairs on the International Space Station .
-Michael Fossum and Ronald Garan spent more than six hours Sunday outside the orbiting laboratory , where they replaced a nitrogen tank used to cool the station .
-They also inspected a problematic joint attached to the station 's solar power panels .
-The astronauts collected samples of debris from the joint for analysis on Earth .
-This was the astronauts ' final spacewalk of the 14-day shuttle mission .
-The Discovery arrived at the station last week to install a new Japanese laboratory named Kibo .
-On Saturday , Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda spoke to Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide through a video link to congratulate the team on its work .
-Hoshide and the other astronauts tested the Kibo 's robotic arm for the first time on Saturday .
-Kibo is Japanese for " hope . "
-A Danish court has dismissed a legal case filed by citizens who accused Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen of violating the country 's constitution by sending troops to Iraq .
-The group , including the family of a Danish soldier killed in Iraq , had brought suit against the prime minister .
-The suit accused him of violating the constitution because he dispatched the troops in the absence of a United Nations resolution authorizing the Iraqi operation .
-The plaintiffs have indicated readiness to appeal to Denmark 's Supreme Court .
-Denmark has fewer than 500 troops serving in southern Iraq .
-Mr. Rasmussen has announced plans to withdraw them later this year and replace them with four helicopters and an air force unit of about 50 .
-Israeli and Palestinian security officials met Sunday for the first time since Israel froze contacts after a suicide bombing nearly two weeks ago .
-Generals from both sides met to map out plans for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from five West Bank cities and towns that Israel re-occupied during the recently-halted Palestinian uprising .
-The withdrawal is part of a package of pledges made by Israel during an Israeli-Palestinian summit early last month .
-As the generals met , Israeli security sources revealed that Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz will meet with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in the coming days to further the often-stalled Mideast peace process .
-Israel suspended its diplomacy after a Palestinian suicide bombing killed five Israelis February 25 in a Tel Aviv nightclub .
-Sudan 's Vice President , Salva Kiir Mayardit , has discussed the investigation into the death of his predecessor , John Garang , with the Ugandan president .
-A spokesman for Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni told the French News Agency that Mr. Salva Kiir expressed satisfaction with the progress of the investigation .
-The two officials also discussed the possibility of Sudanese soldiers joining forces with the Ugandan army to fight the rebel Lord 's Resistance Army in northern Uganda .
-Vice President Garang died on July 30 when the Ugandan military helicopter he was traveling in crashed .
-Mr. Garang had been in Uganda to visit with President Museveni , a long-time ally .
-The investigation into Mr. Garang 's death is a multinational effort involving officials from Uganda , Sudan , Kenya the United States and the United Nations .
-World leaders attending a conference on Islam 's global roles are calling on Muslim clerics and scholars to do more to denounce terrorism and its masterminds .
-The gathering in Vienna of religious and political leaders is examining ways to improve contacts between the West and Muslim nations .
-Iraqi President Jalal Talabani told the gathering that if terrorism is not denounced it might allow Islamic radicalism to spread .
-He said Islamic leaders must declare that terrorist groups are only trying to deceive their followers and do nothing but create destruction .
-Afghan President Hamid Karzai warned that failure to defeat Taleban-led terrorism in his country could have wider consequences , and predicted more attacks to come .
-But he vowed they will not stop him from democratizing the country and further strengthening the democratic institutions .
-Somali elders in the north of the country say pirates have released two German hostages who were kidnapped more than six weeks ago .
-The Germans were freed Friday .
-Elders say a ransom was paid for the two .
-They are now in the Somalia 's main port city Bossaso and are expected to be flown out of the country soon .
-They were abducted from their yacht off the coast of Yemen when they were traveling to Thailand .
-Piracy is rife along Somalia 's coast and has increased over the last year .
-An Indonesian health official says a chicken seller suspected of being infected with bird flu has died at Jakarta 's infectious diseases hospital .
-A hospital spokesman said the 22-year-old dead man had a history of contact with poultry .
-Indonesian authorities say their tests indicate the man was infected with the deadly H5N1 strain of the avian flu virus .
-If the World Health Organization laboratory in Hong Kong confirms the case , the man will be Indonesia 's 15th fatality from avian influenza .
-The Philippine government says it will resume peace talks with Muslim separatist rebels next month in neighboring Malaysia .
-Manila 's top negotiator Silvestre Afable said Friday that talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front ( MILF ) will begin in Kuala Lumpur on April 16 .
-Both sides have been observing a cease-fire for the past 20 months , monitored by a 60-member Malaysian-led international contingent .
-The MILF , which has been fighting a three-decade-old insurgency in the southern Philippines , has renounced terrorism and pledged to help hunt down foreign extremists .
-But the group has been accused of sheltering operatives of the regional terror network Jemaah Islamiyah , accusations the MILF has repeatedly denied .
-The Olympic games now underway are not just about sports , they also are an opportunity for China to introduce its culture to the world .
-But as China modernizes , some warn that one of its most traditional arts is in danger of disappearing .
-Daniel Schearf reports from Beijing .
-The head of the U.N. nuclear agency says Iran will eventually need security assurances from the United States in exchange for guarantees not to develop nuclear weapons .
-Mohamed ElBaradei , the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency , spoke to reporters in Paris Monday on the sidelines of a conference on the future of nuclear energy .
-He said Washington will have to get involved when the European Union and Iran discuss security issues .
-Mr. ElBaradei says " regional security is not only a European affair . "
-Britain , France and Germany have offered Iran political and economic incentives if it abandons uranium enrichment activities capable of producing weapons grade material .
-The United States , which accuses Iran of secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons , is now supporting the European effort by offering added incentives .
-Iran insists its nuclear program is only for generating electricity .
-Amid rising gasoline prices and slumping U.S. sales , international auto giant General Motors announced a plan Tuesday [ July 15th ] to cut expenses and shift production to more fuel-efficient cars .
-Company officials say they will lay off workers , cut truck production and suspend its stock dividend .
-VOA 's Jeff Swicord Reports .
-A group of veteran Chinese Communist Party members and academics has issued a joint statement criticizing the government for excessive media censorship .
-The statement released to reporters Wednesday warned Beijing of unrest if some measures of free expression were not permitted .
-The statement in particular referred to last month 's closure of a popular supplement to the China Youth Daily .
-Freezing Point was a more than 10-year old publication that gained popularity for its bold articles .
-The joint statement was signed by 13 people , many of whom formerly were high-ranking officials .
-Among the signatories were Chairman Mao 's former secretary Li Rui ; the former head of the Communist Party 's Propaganda Department , Zhu Houze ; and Li Pu , the retired deputy director of the official Xinhua news agency .
-During his two-day stay , Hu Jintao 's talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair are expected to touch on a range of issues , including economic relations and global warming .
-Mr. Hu also is expected to discuss Beijing 's push for an end to a 16-year European Union arms embargo against China .
-The ban was imposed after China 's brutal crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests .
-The Chinese president also will attend a banquet with Queen Elizabeth II .
-Following his visit to Britain , Mr. Hu is to travel to Germany and Spain before heading to South Korea for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum that begins November 18 .
-The Norwegian Nobel Institute has announced a near-record number of nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 .
-The five-member awards committee says there are 191 nominations .
-Last year 's award to the International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA ) and its leader Mohamed ElBaradei followed a record 199 nominees .
-The committee keeps the nomination list secret .
-The institute 's director Geir Lundestad would only say 168 individuals and 23 organizations were suggested from all parts of the world .
-However , those who submit nominations can announce their selections .
-Nominees include a former Finnish President and Indonesian President for negotiating peace in Indonesia 's Aceh province .
-Also on the list are U2 singer Bono and Live 8 organizer Bob Geldof for their work on poverty eradication .
-The Peace Prize is awarded on December 10 in Oslo .
-Vietnamese veterinary officials say bird flu has infected chickens on two farms in the capital , Hanoi .
-Officials say authorities have slaughtered the surviving chickens after a number of birds died on the farms in Hanoi 's Dong Anh district .
-Authorities say some of the dead chickens tested positive for the often-fatal H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus .
-Wednesday 's announcement follows one from Ha Tay province , where a bird flu outbreak was reported Tuesday .
-Last month , the virus was identified on farms in the provinces of Hai Duong and Vinh Long .
-Bird flu emerged in Vietnam in 2003 and has killed 42 people in the country since then .
-It has not reported any human cases of bird flu since late 2005 .
-The disease has killed 167 people worldwide .
-The president of India , Abdul Kalam , has donated the money meant to be used for the New Year 's celebrations at his presidential palace for the tsunami disaster relief fund .
-A spokesman says the president has canceled the New Year festivities in view of the grim situation in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands , Tamil Nadu , Pondicherry , Kerala and Andhra Pradesh .
-He also has urged well-to-do families of India to adopt at least one victim of the disaster .
-Meanwhile , Prime Minister Manmohan Singh 's office says he will be traveling to the Andaman and Nicobar islands soon to assess the situation .
-The announcement was made as he returned to New Delhi from a similar three-day trip to India 's tsunami-affected southern states of Tamil Nadu , Kerala and Andhra Pradesh .
-Iran has warned that it will make what it calls " unilateral decisions " regarding its nuclear program if Europe refers the Islamic Republic to the United Nations Security Council for sanctions .
-The warning Sunday by an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi comes just days before the resumption of high-level talks with France , Germany and Britain .
-He told journalists that negotiations this week in Geneva will prove whether Tehran can reach an agreement with Europe .
-Iran has raised the stakes in the negotiations by threatening to resume processing uranium , a step in its nuclear program that could allow it to manufacture nuclear reactor fuel or weapons-grade nuclear material .
-Tehran says its nuclear program is intended for peaceful purposes .
-The United States says it is meant to hide a secret weapons program .
-At least 40 people were killed and more than 120 injured when a train packed with holiday travelers derailed in the early morning hours on Wednesday in southern Pakistan .
-The train was heading from the port city of Karachi to Lahore when the majority of its cars slipped off the rails near the town of Mehrabpur in Sindh province .
-The manager of Pakistan 's railway system has ruled out sabotage as a cause .
-He said initial reports indicate a welded joint in the track broke , due to contraction in the extreme cold .
-Local villagers helped rescue those trapped in the wreckage in total darkness , before emergency crews arrived on the scene .
-Many of the passengers were heading home to celebrate the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha , the festival of sacrifice .
-Pakistan suffered its worst train accident in 2005 when more than 130 people were killed after three trains collided also in Sindh province .
-Meterologists say a new tropical storm has formed off the east coast of Florida but do not expect the storm to become a hurricane .
-The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Tropical Storm Tammy is centered about 32 kilometers east of Cape Canaveral , home of the United States ' space shuttle fleet .
-The storm is expected to move up the East Coast and dump heavy rain on the states of Florida , Georgia , and South Carolina .
-But forecasters say Tammy will likely spend only a short time over water , preventing it from gaining hurricane strength .
-Tammy is the 19th named storm of this year 's unusually active Atlantic hurricane season .
-The 18th storm of the season , Tropical Storm Stan , is dissipating after passing over the mountains of southeastern Mexico .
-The Hollywood movie studio that produced well-known films like the James Bond series and " The Wizard of Oz " has filed for bankruptcy .
-For decades , MGM has been making films that begin with the distinctive picture and sound of a lion roaring .
-The studio is to be restructured and given new leadership , but it will continue making movies .
-Executives from a rival film company , Spyglass Entertainment , will now run MGM .
-The creditors included billionaire Carl Icahn , who was pressing for a different company to take over the failing studio .
-After lengthy negotiations , the creditors agreed to exchange about $ 4 billion in debt for shares in the new company .
-The studio was hurt by some expensive films that sold too few tickets to make a profit , slumping sales of DVDs , and a heavy debt burden .
-U.S. soldiers in Iraq have discovered a large cache of weapons and ammunition during a random house-to-house search in Baghdad .
-U.S. military officials say the soldiers also detained five suspected terrorists in Monday 's operation in the Al Rashid district of the capital .
-Rocket launchers , mortars , AK-47 rifles , explosives and 300 rounds of ammunition , along with several Iraqi police uniforms were among the items seized from the house .
-Meanwhile , Iraqi and Egyptian official say there has been no contact from the assailants who abducted Egypt 's top envoy to Iraq .
-Officials say the envoy , Ihab al-Sherif , was kidnapped Saturday near his home in Baghdad as he stopped to buy a newspaper .
-His abduction follows Cairo 's announcement that Egypt would become the first Arab nation to establish full diplomatic ties with Iraq 's new government .
-Donor nations have pledged a record $ 25 billion to help fight poverty in the world 's poorest nations , which are home to two and a half billion people .
-The new donations boost the bank 's International Development Association 's budget to more than $ 41 billion over the next three years .
-A total of 45 nations pledged donations , including six new countries -- China , Cyprus , Egypt , Estonia , Latvia and Lithuania .
-Egypt and China were once recipients of World Bank aid .
-The International Development Association is one of the largest sources of assistance for the world 's poorest countries .
-The money addresses education , health , water , sanitation , environmental issues , business development and other issues .
-Former world number one women 's tennis player Martina Hingis has lost in the semifinals of the Australian women 's hard court tournament in Gold Coast , falling to fourth seeded Italian Plavia Pennetta 01-Jun , 07-Jun , 06-Feb .
-The loss Friday ended Hingis ' three match winning streak in her first tournament since injuries forced the Swiss tennis player into retirement three years ago .
-She also announced after the match that she would not play in a scheduled semifinal doubles match later Friday because of a hip injury .
-Hingis still intends to play in the Sydney International Tournament next week and the Australian open which begins January 16 .
-In the other semifinal match Friday , the Czech Republic 's Lucie Safarova defeated third-seeded Dinara Safina of Russia , 06-Apr , 06-Feb .
-A member of an Islamic terrorist group in the U.S. has been sentenced to 12.5 years in prison for plotting attacks against targets in Los Angeles , California .
-Gregory Patterson pleaded guilty to conspiracy to wage war against the United States and possession of a firearm .
-The 24-year-old was sentenced Monday by a U.S. District Court .
-Patterson was among four men charged in connection with the plot .
-Targets included the Los Angeles International Airport , U.S. military recruiting centers , and the Israeli Consulate .
-Last month , co-conspirator Levar Washington was sentenced to 22 years imprisonment for conspiracy and weapons charges .
-The men belonged to Jam'iyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh , a local terrorist cell founded by Kevin James in 1997 while he was in prison .
-James is expected to be sentenced early next year .
-A fourth co-conspirator , Hammad Samana , was declared unfit to stand trial and is in a psychiatric facility .
-A Latina member of the U.S. Congress has accused Republicans of scapegoating illegal immigrants .
-In the Democratic party 's weekly radio address Saturday , Hilda Solis of California said Republicans have steadily built up an assault on immigrants over the past few years to divide voters and win elections .
-The lawmaker , the child of Mexican and Nicaraguan immigrants , said a House bill that criminalizes being or helping illegal immigrants is alienating all Americans .
-Solis called for renewed debate on immigration reform as soon as Congress returns from its two-week recess .
-She said reform should be tough , smart , and comprehensive , yet compassionate .
-Foreigners are flocking to the Chinese capital for the Olympic Games and Beijing has gone on the charm offensive .
-With an army of volunteers ready to help tourists , thousands of police on patrol , and floral displays providing a facelift , Beijing hopes to win over the world with its makeover .
-Mandy Clark reports from the Chinese capital for VOA .
-Afghan officials say at least 10 civilians were killed Friday when a barrage of rockets targeting a U.S. military base in eastern Afghanistan hit a nearby village .
-Several others were wounded in the attack in Kunar province believed to be the work of Taleban militants .
-Hours earlier , a suicide bomber blew up a car packed with explosives near an entrance to the Kabul International Airport , killing two Afghan soldiers and wounding about 10 others .
-The bomber rammed the car into a NATO vehicle but the explosives did not go off immediately .
-The car sped off and then exploded , hitting a group of Afghan soldiers waiting to fly to Italy for military training .
-The Taleban claimed responsibility for the attack .
-The past 19 months in Afghanistan have been marked by a steady rise in militant attacks , marking the bloodiest period since the Taleban was ousted from power by U.S. troops in 2001 .
-The political leader of Hamas says the Palestinian militant group is ready to merge all armed factions to form an army that will defend the Palestinian people .
-Speaking Saturday from his base in Damascus , Syria , Khaled Mashaal rejected U.S. , European and Israeli demands for Hamas to disarm .
-But he said the group will honor existing agreements between the Palestinian Authority and Israel , provided they serve the Palestinians ' interests .
-Hamas has claimed many suicide attacks against Israel and has vowed to destroy the Jewish state .
-Meanwhile , armed activists of the Palestinian Fatah party have held protests in the West Bank and Gaza , following Hamas ' stunning election victory this week over Fatah .
-Fatah gunmen fired shots in the air today from the roof of the Palestinian parliament building in the West Bank town of Ramallah , demanding the resignation of Fatah leaders .
-There were no reports of casualties .
-The U.S. Embassy in Riyadh , Saudi Arabia , and the consulates in Jeddah and Dhahran will be closed on Monday and Tuesday due to terror threats against U.S. government buildings in the kingdom .
-An embassy statement urges U.S. citizens in Saudi Arabia to maintain a high level of vigilance .
-It says there is no specific information about the timing or targets in any possible attacks .
-But it notes that terrorist groups in the past have targeted housing compounds and other facilities frequented by Westerners .
-Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Amhed says he will hold a national reconciliation conference in the coming weeks to help the country return to peace .
-Speaking during a Thursday visit to London , Mr. Yusuf said the conference will be open to moderate Islamists .
-He said the only conditions for taking part in the talks are to lay down weapons , renounce violence and be committed to a peaceful Somalia .
-Ethiopian and Somali government troops drove Islamist forces from the capital , Mogadishu , late last year .
-Since then , insurgents have mounted frequent attacks , which have killed many people , mainly civilians .
-At least two mortar rounds landed near Mogadishu 's international airport Thursday , but no injuries were reported .
-And officials say unknown gunmen shot to death two local government officials in the capital late Wednesday .
-A sports agent based in the U.S. state of California has been found guilty of smuggling Cuban baseball players into the United States .
-A court in Key West , Florida , found Gustavo Dominguez guilty Thursday on 21 federal charges , including conspiracy , smuggling , transporting , and harboring illegal immigrants .
-Most of the charges carry a maximum prison sentence of 10 years .
-Dominguez is free until his sentencing July 9 .
-His lawyer says they will appeal .
-Dominguez was on trial for smuggling five baseball players from Cuba to Florida in 2004 .
-Only two are still playing baseball .
-Osbek Castillo is a pitcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks ' feeder team in Alabama , while Francisely Bueno pitches for the Atlanta Braves ' feeder team in Mississippi .
-An international journalists ' rights group has called on the European Union to maintain its support for Cuban dissidents .
-In a statement released Friday , the Paris-based Reporters without Borders called Cuba the world 's biggest prison for the press after China .
-The group criticized the EU Committee on Latin America 's recommendation to reestablish cooperation with Cuban authorities .
-It said resumption of dialogue with the communist nation would not result in significant progress in human rights .
-The group said the EU should maintain the measures adopted after the " Black Spring " arrests in March 2003 , and recommended more active support for dissidents now being repressed in Cuba .
-In a separate statement , the group also strongly condemned the January 22 kidnapping of photographer Hernan Arboleda in Colombia .
-It called on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia , known as FARC , to immediately release Mr. Arboleda .
-Energy officials in Georgia say strong winds and heavy snow have downed power lines in the western part of the country , cutting power to millions of citizens .
-Deputy Energy Minister Alexander Khetaguri told the Associated Press Thursday fierce weather ruptured power lines leading from the Inguri hydroelectric station to eastern regions , leaving about three million people in the dark .
-He said most of the capital , Tbilisi , was also without electricity today after a unit at a power station malfunctioned .
-The small former Soviet country is already battling freezing winter temperatures with limited supplies of natural gas after two explosions Sunday hit a pipeline in Russia carrying supplies to Georgia .
-Top-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain is the winner of the Canberra International tennis tournament in Australia .
-She overcame South Korea 's Cho Yoon-jeong in three sets on Friday , 06-Apr , 0-6 , 06-Apr .
-Medina Garrigues raced to a 05-Jan lead in the first set before Cho won the next three games .
-The 23-year-old Spaniard served out the set to take it 06-Apr .
-Cho won the next eight games and led 2-0 in the deciding third set before Medina Garrigues rallied and claimed six of the next eight games to win her fifth WTA title .
-This was Cho 's third appearance in a WTA tour final , but her first since 2003 when she had jaw surgery .
-She has a difficult opponent in her opening round match at next week 's Australian Open in Melbourne , as she has to face world number two Kim Clijsters of Belgium .
-A new government report says orders for certain U.S. goods rose in February , increasing for a third consecutive month .
-The Commerce Department said Wednesday that orders for so-called durable goods were up 0.5 percent in February , led by a jump in orders for airplanes and machinery .
-Durable goods are items meant to last several years or more , and orders for such items are seen as a good measure of the country 's economic health .
-The Commerce Department also said that orders for durable goods were stronger in January than previously thought , rising 3.9 percent , more than the 2.6 percent increase initially reported .
-Officials also said that inventories of durable goods rose three-tenths of a percent , the biggest gain since December 2008 .
-China and Cuba have signed 16 agreements as Chinese President Hu Jintao continues his visit to Havana .
-Mr. Hu and his Cuban counterpart , Fidel Castro , witnessed the signings late Monday in the Cuban capital , Havana .
-The accords include deals to build a nickel production plant in Cuba and setting up a joint venture to explore untapped Cuban nickel deposits .
-In addition , China agreed to a 10-year extension for repayment of loans given to Cuba in the 1990s .
-Cuban state-run media say Mr. Hu 's visit is a sign of the high priority both countries give to the development of their bilateral relations .
-Cuba has suffered economically since the collapse of its former backer , the Soviet Union , more than a decade ago .
-Ukraine 's parliament has voted to dismiss Prime Minister Yuri Yekhanurov 's government over a gas deal with Russia .
-Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko told reporters in Astana , Kazakhstan that the vote was unconstitutional .
-He said he will elaborate on the matter after consulting with his lawyers .
-Even if he is dismissed , Mr. Yekhanurov will remain acting prime minister until a new cabinet is named .
-Ukraine 's Justice Minister , Serhiy Holovaty says a new cabinet can only be formed after parliamentary elections in March .
-The vote followed criticism of a deal reached last Wednesday under which Ukraine would pay $ 95 for 1,000 cubic meters of Russian gas .
-The price is double what Ukraine had been paying .
-Ukraine 's former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko last week announced plans for court action to challenge the agreement .
-She said she would seek charges of betrayal of national interests and exceeding authority .
-The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency says Iran appears to have suspended its uranium-enrichment activities , as it had promised .
-Mohamed ElBaradei told reporters
-Monday , at IAEA headquarters in Vienna , he thinks " pretty much everything has come to a halt " at Iran 's nuclear laboratories , but that the U.N. agency will need a few days to verify Tehran 's compliance .
-Mr. ElBaradei says the IAEA should have a definite answer about Iran 's uranium-enrichment work by Thursday .
-The enrichment process can be used to produce either nuclear fuel for peaceful purposes ( such as reactors to generate electricity ) or weapons-grade uranium suitable for warheads .
-The United States contends Iran is engaged in a secret plan to build nuclear weapons .
-Last week , President Bush said he has seen evidence that Iran was trying to accelerate its military program ahead of today 's deadline .
-Pakistani officials say U.S. drone aircraft have fired missiles into a suspected militant compound in the country 's northwest tribal belt , killing at least 10 militants .
-The strike took place in Datta Khel , about 45 kilometers west of Miranshah , in the North Waziristan district .
-Elsewhere Sunday , Pakistani army helicopter gunships pounded suspected insurgent hideouts in the Shana Garhi area of neighboring Orakzai tribal region , and officials say at least eight militants were killed .
-Pakistan 's northwestern tribal areas are considered strongholds of al-Qaida and the Taliban .
-European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana is visiting Afghanistan Tuesday for talks with the country 's political leaders on the upcoming presidential election .
-Solana met with Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta to discuss the latest developments in the region .
-He is also scheduled to meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai , several of the country 's election candidates , as well as , the head of the EU election observation mission in Afghanistan .
-The European Union is deploying about 100 observers to help monitor Afghanistan 's presidential and provincial elections on August 20 .
-Seventeen EU experts are already in the country to monitor pre-election preparations .
-Solana 's visit follows talks in neighboring Pakistan where he pledged EU support for the nearly two million people displaced by an anti-Taliban operation in the country 's northwest .
-Muzaffarabad , a city of 6,00,000 people that was shaken to pieces by the Kashmir earthquake , is a scene of chaos Monday , with survivors ransacking shops in a desperate hunt for food and fuel .
-Reports from Pakistani Kashmir say angry crowds attacked military trucks that entered the city today , carrying the first shipments of tents , blankets and medicine for Muzaffarabad .
-Military officials say Saturday 's earthquake killed at least 11,000 people in Muzaffarabad and left more than 1,20,000 others in urgent need of shelter .
-Aid agencies say conditions are even worse in many smaller towns and villages .
-A VOA correspondent who traveled with a military convoy from Pakistan 's North-West Frontier Province into the disaster zone today says helicopters are airlifting the most seriously injured survivors out of Muzaffarabad .
-Crowds have gathered at a stadium in the center of the city .
-Bodies of scores of dead are piled on the stadium steps .
-Security officials say at least 27 people have died in intense clashes between pro-government forces in Somalia and al-Shabab militants .
-The fighting erupted late Thursday and continued into Friday in Bula Hawo , an area bordering Ethiopia and Kenya .
-Officials say hundreds of residents have fled into Kenya .
-Government and African Union troops captured the long-time rebel stronghold earlier this week .
-The militants were trying to take it back , but government commanders said Friday they had been driven off .
-Somalia has experienced nearly two decades of violence and lawlessness since the fall of the last stable central government .
-The current government has been wracked by infighting and has stayed in power only with the strong support of AU peacekeepers .
-The British and Irish prime ministers say much has been achieved in the Northern Ireland peace process but an accord on restoring the province 's power-sharing government is not yet complete .
-Britain 's Tony Blair and his Irish counterpart , Bertie Ahern , spoke in Belfast Wednesday , their latest deadline for agreement .
-The two men insisted a deal on the issue is very close and reaffirmed their commitment to continue efforts for an accord .
-The Irish Republican Army said Tuesday it turned down a demand by hard-line Protestants that it provide photographic evidence of its disarmament .
-The head of the IRA 's political wing says that to do so would mean public humiliation .
-Negotiators are trying to revive a power-sharing administration established under the 1998 Good Friday peace accord .
-Britain suspended the Northern Ireland government two years ago , amid charges of IRA spying on provincial officials .
-Former Maoist rebels attacked vehicles , forced shops to close and blocked highways Sunday in Nepal to enforce a general strike called to protest the president .
-Maoists in Nepal began a three-day strike Sunday , forcing the closure of shops and businesses , and blocking roads and highways .
-The former rebels are protesting what they call the unconstitutional actions of Nepal 's president in overturning their decision to fire the head of the army .
-The protest has been largely peaceful , although police say some vehicles have been vandalized , and some protesters have been arrested .
-Tensions have been high in Nepal since a Maoist-led government resigned in May amid a dispute with President Ram Baran Yadav concerning the army chief .
-The former rebels have since led a series of protests .
-Maoists ended a decade-long civil war in 2006 to join a peace process .
-They won a majority of seats in parliament in elections last year .
-Leaders from the Palestinian militant group Hamas say Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will formally ask their prime minister-designate to form a government on Tuesday .
-Following talks with Mr. Abbas , Hamas leaders said the president would present Ismail Haniyeh with a formal letter of appointment and officially begin the process of filling Cabinet posts .
-Hamas dominated recent parliamentary elections , and the naming of Ismail Haniyeh as prime minister is a formality .
-Mr. Abbas said Sunday that the new government faces a financial crisis after Israel stopped the monthly transfer of millions of dollars in customs revenue it collects for the Palestinian Authority .
-Western nations have also threatened to cut funds unless Hamas renounces violence and accepts Israel 's right to exist .
-Also Monday , other Hamas leaders met with Iran 's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran .
-The ayatollah urged Muslim nations to provide financial support to the Palestinian government .
-In a solemn ceremony , the United Nations has marked the third anniversary of the deadly attacks on the world body 's offices in Baghdad .
-In a statement Friday , U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the bombing dealt a fatal blow to the illusion that wearing a U.N. blue helmet or hoisting a U.N. flag placed peacekeepers out of reach of violence .
-He said U.N. staff now confront direct and deadly threats to their safety .
-He said , however , the world body remains committed to work for peace in such places as Lebanon , Darfur , Haiti and Iraq .
-Twenty-two people were killed and hundreds others injured when a bomb struck the U.N. offices in the Iraqi capital three years ago Saturday .
-Among those killed was the U.N. 's top envoy in Iraq and High Commissioner for Human Rights , Sergio Viera de Mello .
-Pakistani security forces say they have arrested a senior Taleban figure in northwestern Pakistan , near the Afghan border .
-Pakistani Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao says the head of the ousted Taleban 's Culture and Information Council , Maulvi Muhammad Yasir , was arrested last week and is being interrogated .
-He did not elaborate .
-In another development , Muslim cleric Muhammad Adil Khan accused of having terror links and his son , Muhammad Hassan Adil , have arrived in Pakistan after being deported from the United States .
-Pakistani officials say the two were detained upon their arrival in the city of Lahore and are being questioned by authorities .
-They are part of a group of five men arrested in June as part of an FBI probe into alleged terror activities involving the Islamic community in Lodi , California .
-A spokesman for Indonesia 's navy says five of its warships have left a disputed area in the Sulawesi Sea ahead of talks Wednesday with Malaysia .
-Indonesian Foreign Minister Hasan Wirayuda is to meet with his Malaysian counterpart , Syed Hamid Albar , in Jakarta to discuss competing claims in the oil and gas-rich area .
-Both countries have vowed to solve the matter diplomatically .
-The dispute escalated in February when Malaysia awarded exploration contracts to Royal Dutch / Shell .
-Indonesia responded by deploying seven warships and four
-F-16 fighter jets in the area .
-The issue has further strained relations between the two countries .
-Indonesians are also angry about Kuala Lumpur 's recent crackdown on several hundred thousand illegal migrant workers from Indonesia .
-French President Jacques Chirac says his top priority is ending the two-week-old wave of urban unrest , as he pledged to address the root causes of the violence
-The French leader told a Paris news conference Thursday the government will have to respond to problems in largely Muslim-inhabited working class suburbs , which have experienced most of the rioting .
-The violence has involved youths of immigrant background who have complained of police harassment , racism and job discrimination .
-The violence began October 27 after the accidental deaths of two teenagers of North African descent who thought they were being chased by police .
-Police Thursday reported fewer violent incidents in France 's metropolitan centers .
-Authorities also said they have suspended eight police officers pending investigation into Monday 's beating of a young man in a northern suburb of Paris during the disturbances .
-Afghan and coalition forces have killed at least 48 suspected militants in two operations in southern Afghanistan .
-An Afghan army general , Sher Mohammad Zazai , said Wednesday that 23 suspected Taliban fighters had been killed after Afghan and coalition forces stormed a Taliban stronghold near the capital of Uruzgan province .
-The general said regional Taliban commander Mullah Ismail was among the militants killed in the assault .
-In neighboring Helmand province , Afghan officials said troops killed at least 25 suspected militants .
-The Taliban-dominated province is where more than 500 British soldiers began carrying out a major air assault on a Taliban stronghold late last week .
-Meanwhile , Afghan officials said at least seven civilians were killed in a roadside bombing in Helmand province .
-In southern Zabul province , local officials said two Afghan intelligence officers and four alleged Taliban fighters were killed Tuesday in separate incidents .
-Marc Anthony has agreed to pay approximately $ 2.5 million in back taxes , after failing to file income tax returns for five years .
-Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said the Latin music singer , who is married to singer-actress Jennifer Lopez , failed to file returns from 2000 through 2004 on $ 15.5 million in income .
-Morgenthau said he did file for 2005 .
-Marc Anthony - born Marco Antonio Muniz - signed the payment agreement April 3 .
-Morgenthau said his office did not prosecute the 38-year-old singer because he was apparently unaware of errors on the part of the professional accountant who prepared his tax returns .
-At least six people , including a U.S. soldier , have died in roadside bombs and shootings Saturday in Iraq .
-In a town 80 kilometers south of Baghdad , gunmen abducted a policeman and his brother and shot them .
-Also south of Baghdad , insurgents attacked an Iraqi army convoy , killing two soldiers .
-In western Baghdad , a roadside bomb killed an Iraqi policeman and wounded two others .
-The U.S. military said an American soldier died when a roadside bomb hit his convoy southwest of Baghdad .
-The bodies of at least six men , apparently killed execution-style , were found in the capital .
-The violence comes as Iraqi leaders continue their efforts to form a new cabinet .
-Washington says a national unity government will help stem the violence .
-This month , about 70 U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq , making it the deadliest month for US troops this year .
-China has ruled out holding a meeting with senior leaders from Japan and South Korea during an upcoming Asian economic meeting in Malaysia .
-The three nations have met on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit for the past six years .
-China 's foreign ministry spokesman said the three-way meeting would not take place due to reasons he described as " known to all . "
-That was an apparent reference to China 's objections to Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi 's repeated visits to a controversial war shrine .
-The Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo honors Japan 's war dead , including those guilty of criminal acts during World War II .
-Critics say the shrine glorifies Japan 's wartime past , but Mr. Koizumi says he visits the shrine to pray for peace .
-Japan 's Prime Minister Taro Aso has unveiled a nearly $ 300 billion economic stimulus package to bolster the world 's second largest economy and help it survive the global financial crisis .
-Mr. Aso announced the plan Thursday .
-It includes tax cuts , benefits to households , a reduction in highway tolls , and loans to help small businesses .
-The stimulus package is the first drafted under Mr. Aso , who took over a month ago , replacing former Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda .
-Mr. Fukuda stepped down over political deadlock in parliament and perceived mishandling of the economy .
-The media and politicians have widely expected Mr. Aso to hold snap elections after taking office .
-But , he says he wants to first focus on the economy .
-Elections in Japan must take place by September 2009 .
-Tokyo is calling for dialogue with Beijing after violent anti-Japanese protests in China during the weekend .
-Japan 's chief cabinet secretary , Hiroyuki Hosada , told reporters Monday that hard work must be done to prevent misunderstandings from growing .
-His remarks came a day after thousands of protesters mobbed Japan 's consulate in Guangzhou and a Japanese supermarket in Shenzhen Sunday .
-Two Japanese students were attacked in a Shanghai restaurant Sunday , and on Saturday , protesters in Beijing broke windows at the Japanese Embassy .
-The unrest was triggered by Tokyo 's decision to approve history textbooks that allegedly minimize Japan 's brutal occupation of China before and during the Second World War .
-China 's Foreign Ministry says Japan must find a way to address the feelings of the Chinese people .
-Afghan soldiers remove the wreckage of damaged tankers from the explosion site in Kandahar Suspected Taleban rebels set off a bomb that destroyed five oil tankers carrying fuel for a U.S. military base in southern Afghanistan .
-Local officials say the pre-dawn attack Sunday blew up one of the trucks parked outside Kandahar airbase , and set off a chain of explosions that destroyed four other tankers .
-Three truck drivers were critically injured in the incident .
-The attack comes a day after the top U.S. commander in the country , Lieutenant General David Barno , predicted the Taleban militia would collapse within the next 12 months .
-He warned , however , that remaining militants financed and trained by al-Qaida allies may try to compensate by staging a " high profile attack " before the country 's first post-Taleban parliamentary elections .
-Pakistani police have used batons to break up a protest march by survivors of the October 8 earthquake protesting their eviction from a makeshift camp in Pakistani Kashmir .
-Officials say the violence erupted Friday as some 200 people marched through the streets of Muzaffarabad .
-Police blocked their way , then began dispersing the crowd with batons , rifle butts and canes .
-Several people were reported injured .
-Police made a number of arrests .
-Officials say quake survivors had been asked to leave the informal camps set up throughout the city because the facilities lacked adequate sanitation and posed a public health risk .
-International organizations say the 7.6 magnitude earthquake killed at least 86,000 Pakistanis and made some three million homeless .
-More than 1,300 people were killed in Indian Kashmir .
-Uruguay 's President-elect Tabare Vazquez has announced his administration will re-establish diplomatic relations with Cuba .
-Mr. Vazquez announced his plans Wednesday in the Uruguayan capital , Montevideo , at a meeting of the leaders of his Broad Front coalition .
-The socialist leader said Uruguay will resume diplomatic ties with Havana on March first , when he takes office .
-Outgoing Uruguayan President Jorge Battle severed diplomatic ties with Cuba in April , 2002 .
-Mr. Vazquez , an oncologist and former mayor of Montevideo , was elected president two weeks ago on the Broad Front ticket , with just slightly more than 50 percent of the vote .
-His election ended 170 years of conservative party dominance .
-Venezuela has rejected accusations from U.S. Secretary of State-nominee Condoleezza Rice that it meddles in the affairs of other Latin American countries .
-At a news conference in Caracas Wednesday , Venezuelan Foreign Minister Ali Rodriguez called the comments from Ms. Rice " unacceptable . "
-He denied that the government of President Hugo Chavez interferes in other countries ' affairs , and accused the United States of trying to meddle in Venezuela 's affairs .
-Ms. Rice made her comments Tuesday at her U.S. Senate confirmation hearing .
-She called the Chavez government a " negative force " that affects other countries and suppresses opposing voices .
-She also said the relationship between the leftist Mr. Chavez and Cuban leader Fidel Castro has been " deeply troubling . "
-U.S.-Venezuelan relations have been tense since Mr. Chavez took power in 1999 .
-Norway has expelled an Iranian diplomat in a dispute that comes a week after Iran ordered a Norwegian diplomat to leave Tehran .
-In a statement Wednesday , the Norwegian Foreign Ministry did not identify the diplomat , but characterized the expulsion as a strong reaction to a similar move by Tehran several weeks ago .
-The dispute erupted last month , when Oslo granted asylum to Iran 's former counsel-general , Mohammed Reza Heydari .
-The Iranian quit his post in January to protest Iran 's deadly crackdown on opposition demonstrators in the Islamic republic a month earlier .
-Heydari went into hiding immediately after his resignation , saying he feared for his life .
-The U.S. Energy Department says oil supplies fell by 8,00,000 barrels last week , as prices continue to climb toward $ 100 a barrel .
-Crude oil prices rose above $ 98 a barrel during trading in New York Wednesday as the dollar weakened and investors anticipated the drop in U.S. stockpiles .
-Industry experts say it is inevitable that oil will reach the $ 100 mark .
-Investors have been buying oil to counter the risks of inflation posed by the weak dollar .
-As the dollar declines in value , oil becomes cheaper for foreign investors .
-A report from the International Energy Agency , IAEA , Wednesday says oil costs will continue to rise through the year 2030 , as demand rises , particularly in China and India .
-A major battle is shaping up in the U.S. Senate , with Democratic majority leader Harry Reid accusing congressional Republicans of abusing power for their own political good .
-Speaking in his party 's weekly radio address Saturday , Senator Reid of Nevada said plans by Republican leaders to ban the use of filibusters threatens the checks-and-balances system devised by the nation 's founding fathers .
-He said stripping away the power of senators to use extended debate to stall or reject presidential judicial nominees would simply make the U.S. Senate a rubber stamp for the White House .
-Mr. Reid has previously threatened to retaliate by bringing Senate business to a virtual halt if the Republican plan , called the nuclear option , is enacted .
-Two surveys of Americans this week suggest support for President Bush is near or at an all-time low .
-A poll by CNN , USA Today and the Gallup released Friday indicates 38 percent of Americans approve of the way the president is handling his job , a point higher than the record low the group found last November .
-Those surveyed noted concerns over the war in Iraq , the influence business has on the administration , and the state of health care .
-The recent controversy over a Dubai company taking over management at some U.S. ports did not appear to have influenced respondents ' opinions .
-A poll earlier in the week by CBS News found Mr. Bush 's popularity at an all-time low , 34 percent , with those questioned voicing discontent with the port deal , the government response to Hurricane Katrina , and the Iraq war .
-The New York Times newspaper reports the Pentagon used military analysts working for U.S. television networks to generate favorable coverage of the war in Iraq and other issues .
-The newspaper Sunday said the analysts were invited to private briefings with senior military leaders , taken on tours of Iraq and given access to classified intelligence .
-The Times also said viewers were not made aware that most of the analysts have ties to military contractors .
-Many of the analysts are retired high-ranking military officials .
-The report says the companies included large defense businesses and smaller companies that had a vested interest in the war policies the analysts discussed .
-The Times quotes a Pentagon spokesman , Bryan Whitman , as saying the analysts had been given only factual information about the war .
-The newspaper says it based its report on 8,000 email messages , transcripts and records it secured after winning a lawsuit against the Pentagon .
-After September 11 , Russia , India , and China joined the United States ' anti-terrorism coalition .
-Some political analysts suggest that a major motive was to gain international acceptance for these countries ' own policies toward minorities such as the Chechens , Kashmiris , Tibetans , and Uighurs .
-Of these groups , the least well known are the Uighurs , a Turkic-speaking Muslim people of northwestern China .
-Since the People 's Republic of China was founded , the Uighurs have resisted Beijing 's attempts to control their religious and political activities .
-In the past few years , Uighur separatist groups have been blamed for attacks in northwest China as well as the capital .
-Chinese officials have warned that Beijing will not tolerate separatism or social disturbances under the guise of religion .
-Judith Latham explores the condition of the " Uighurs of China " in this edition of Dateline .
-An Indian unmanned mission to the moon will carry two scientific instruments designed by the U.S. space agency , NASA , to find minerals and ice on the lunar surface .
-The deal was signed Tuesday , by NASA administrator Michael Griffin and Indian space agency ISRO 's Chairman G. Madhavan Nair in the southern Indian city of Bangalore .
-The mission has been named Chandrayaan-1 , and is set to launch in 2007 or 2008 .
-It will map the lunar surface using an array of sensors .
-This deal is being seen as another sign of the increasingly close ties between New Delhi and Washington after decades of distance during the Cold War era .
-Chandrayaan-1 also will carry scientific instruments from European research centers .
-Burma 's pro-democracy leader , Aung San Suu Kyi , is resting at her home in Rangoon after being treated at a hospital for a stomach illness .
-A spokesman for her party , the National League for Democracy , tells reporters she was taken to the hospital Friday , but is now back at home .
-He said she was suffering from acute diarrhea .
-The Burmese military confirmed that the pro-democracy leader has been sick .
-It has confined her to her home for much of the past two decades .
-On Friday , the military leadership confirmed that Aung San Suu Kyi 's house arrest was extended in May for another year .
-The government said she remains a threat to the state .
-The United States , Britain and several of Burma 's neighbors in Southeast Asia have urged the military to release Aung San Suu Kyi and take steps toward political reconciliation in Burma .
-Hundreds of Iraqis gathered Friday in a Christian church in Baghdad to mark 40 days since al-Qaida militants carried out a deadly October siege there .
-Christians at the badly damaged Our Lady of Salvation ( Sayidat al-Nejat ) church remembered the 46 worshippers who died in the October 31 attack .
-Witnesses say militants entered the church firing guns and immediately killed one of the priests at point-blank range .
-The militants then held more than 100 worshippers as hostages until Iraqi forces stormed the church and ended the siege .
-The families of victims and survivors were among those who attended Friday 's mass .
-As many as 1.2 million Christians lived in Iraq before the 2003 invasion to oust leader Saddam Hussein .
-However , many have since fled abroad in the wake of stepped-up violence by al-Qaida-linked Muslim insurgents .
-Jamaica 's prime minister has announced plans for a huge economic stimulus package to stave off some of the side effects of the global financial slowdown .
-In a televised broadcast Sunday night , Bruce Golding said the measures would mostly be aimed at small businesses , manufacturing and the ailing tourism industry .
-The plan includes tax cuts and at least $ 6.4 million in loans for the tourism sector to help with cash flow .
-Another $ 4.5 million will go toward small businesses .
-Mr. Golding also pledged to help workers who have lost their jobs and borrowers who are having difficulty making their mortgage payments .
-Mr. Golding said the moves would help weather the crisis , but that further re-structuring would be needed to make Jamaica more business and investment friendly .
-Colombian leftist rebels have attacked a local military post with homemade rockets , killing 14 marines and wounding 25 others .
-Navy officials say members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia , or FARC , carried out the attack in the southwestern county of Iscuande .
-The Associated Press reports some of the troops were natives of the area and were receiving military training .
-Colombia is mired in a long-running conflict involving leftist rebels , rightist paramilitaries and the government .
-The violence leaves thousands dead each year .
-Since 2000 , the United States has provided Colombia with about three million dollars in mostly military aid to combat the rebels and drug production .
-The United Nations says Somali gunmen who hijacked a U.N.-chartered vessel carrying food aid for tsunami victims have released the ship after holding it for more than two months .
-A spokeswoman for the U.N. World Food Program , Rene McGuffin , says the vessel is en route to the Somali port of El-Maan and is expected to arrive in a few days .
-She says the U.N. agency has negotiated with El-Maan port authorities to ensure a free passage of the food aid to Somalia 's transitional government for distribution .
-The World Food Program hired the Kenyan vessel to carry 850 metric tons of rice donated by Japan and Germany .
-The ship and its 10-person crew was hijacked by pirates as it sailed from Kenya to Somalia in June .
-The International Criminal Court 's chief prosecutor , Luis Moreno-Ocampo , has asked judges to report Sudan to the U.N. Security Council for failing to comply with court warrants .
-Earlier this week , Moreno-Ocampo formally requested the judges issue a finding of " non-cooperation " against Sudan 's government for failing to hand over former Humanitarian Affairs Minister Ahmed Harun and militia leader Ali Kushayb .
-The two men were charged in 2007 with committing crimes against humanity and war crimes in Sudan 's war-torn Darfur region .
-Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is also wanted by the court for alleged war crimes in Darfur .
-He has refused to comply with a warrant for his arrest .
-Darfur rebel groups have been fighting the Sudanese government since 2003 .
-The United Nations says the fighting and related violence has killed up to 3,00,000 people and displaced some 2.7 million others .
-Sudan puts the death toll at 10,000 .
-A Pakistani immigrant has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for helping an al-Qaida operative gain entrance to the United States .
-Uzair Paracha had been convicted last November of posing as former U.S. resident Majid Khan , in order to obtain documents so the al-Qaida operative could slip back into the United States .
-Prosecutors said Khan plotted to bomb underground gasoline storage tanks in the eastern U.S. state of Maryland in 2003 .
-Khan never arrived in the country and the plot was never carried out .
-Paracha 's lawyers told the court that he had been duped into participating in the plot , and that his statements to investigators had occurred under pressure .
-The judge in the case said Paracha was fully aware that he was dealing with al-Qaida when he agreed to help Khan .
-The U.S. military is denying reports that Pakistani soldiers fired at two U.S. helicopters for allegedly violating Pakistani airspace .
-Lieutenant Nathan Perry Monday told VOA that U.S. helicopters did not enter
-Pakistan and that there was no operation going on in the border area that would cross into Pakistan .
-Local officials in Pakistan 's northern tribal region said the incident happened late Sunday when the helicopters crossed into Pakistan 's North Waziristan district .
-The Pakistani army has so far not commented on the alleged incident .
-Last week , Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said his government will not tolerate violations of Pakistan 's sovereignty by any power in the name of combating terrorism .
-His comments were made after a series of suspected U.S. missile strikes and a ground attack against militant targets in Pakistan .
-India 's prime minister has met with top nuclear scientists to discuss their objections to changes proposed by US lawmakers in the civilian nuclear agreement reached last year between New Delhi and Washington .
-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met with the group of eight scientists Wednesday after they had urged India 's parliament to reject the changes .
-They said in an open letter earlier this week that the proposed modifications would place restraints on India 's nuclear options .
-Mr. Singh is scheduled to speak to the upper house of parliament Thursday and is expected to reassure it that the government will not accept any changes to last year 's deal .
-The U.S. House of Representatives approved the changes in India-US civilian nuclear agreement in July .
-The U.S. Senate is expected to vote on it next month .
-Iraq 's parliament is due to hold a special session Sunday to try to resolve political disputes delaying the passage of a provincial elections law .
-Parliamentary speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani says a special session is needed to debate the measure because the assembly went into summer recess Wednesday .
-Iraq 's government had hoped to hold provincial elections in October , but disagreements between Iraqi factions about electoral guidelines mean the vote may be delayed until next year .
-Iraqi Kurdish lawmakers have rejected proposals to share provincial council seats in Kirkuk equally among the region 's ethnic groups .
-Iraqi Kurds and their allies currently hold the majority in Kirkuk 's assembly .
-Hundreds of Iraqi Kurds protested in the northern city of Sulaimaniya Wednesday against the proposal for power-sharing in Kirkuk .
-A similar protest in the city of Irbil on Tuesday drew thousands of people .
-Ethiopia says it has accepted " in principle " an independent commission 's ruling on its border with former foe Eritrea .
-Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told parliament members Thursday the government has accepted the ruling in the best interests of the country .
-Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a 2.5-year border war between May 1998 and December 2000 in which tens of thousands of people were killed .
-As part of a deal to end the war , the two nations agreed to form an independent boundary commission and that its decision would be final and binding .
-Eritrea accepted the April 2000 decision but Ethiopia said it disagreed with some aspects of its findings .
-Irish officials have agreed to meet with representatives of about 40 Afghan asylum seekers on a hunger strike in Dublin 's Saint Patrick 's Cathedral after being denied permission to remain in Ireland .
-Church and local authorities Tuesday said Justice Ministry officials will meet protest representatives to discuss their asylum requests .
-At least five protesters suffering from dehydration have been hospitalized since the hunger strike began Sunday .
-Many in the group began taking water after the Irish officials agreed to meet with them .
-Officials say the group is frustrated over the rejection of their applications to remain in Ireland .
-They say their lives will be in danger if they are forced to return to Afghanistan .
-Justice ministry officials have said all the asylum applications were handled in a comprehensive and fair manner .
-A purported spokesman for the Taleban says members of the group have killed four kidnapped foreigners but released their four Afghan colleagues .
-He said the foreigners were killed without demands because demands were never met in the past .
-But there is no independent confirmation about the fate of the eight men .
-The four ethnic Albanians and four Afghans were abducted in an area between the restive southern provinces of Kandahar and Helmand .
-They all worked for Ecolog , a German cleaning company contracted to U.S.-led forces .
-In a separate development , U.S. military officials say coalition forces have detained 11 militants suspected of involvement in a bombing that killed four American troops in eastern Kunar province Sunday .
-Meanwhile , the U.S. military says another American serviceman was killed Monday when his vehicle overturned during a combat operation in eastern Nangarhar province .
-Former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide says he hopes to return to Haiti as soon as possible , after nearly two years in exile in South Africa .
-Mr. Aristide told South African television Tuesday , he is in talks with Haitian officials about his return , now that Haiti has elected a new president .
-Aristide left the country after a popular revolt in 2004 that brought down his presidency .
-Haiti 's new leader is former Aristide ally Rene Preval , who was declared the winner of this month 's election after a controversial change in the way blank ballots were counted .
-Earlier Tuesday , Haiti 's chief elections official , Jacques Bernard , fled to the United States after receiving threats and finding his home ransacked .
-The United Nations says it will summon more Syrian officials for questioning in its probe of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri .
-In an interview with Lebanon 's al-Mustaqbal newspaper , which is owned by the Hariri family , U.N. chief investigator Detlev Mehlis says he will ask permission from Syria in the next few days to question more officials about the assassination .
-He did not specify which officials he wants to question .
-International investigators interrogated five Syrian officials in the Austrian capital , Vienna , this week in connection with the February 14 truck bomb that killed Mr. Hariri and 22 others .
-Mr. Mehlis said the Vienna interviews were more fruitful than a series of earlier interrogation sessions in Damascus .
-In an interim report in October , the U.N. investigator implicated senior Syrian security officials and their Lebanese allies in the murder .
-The U.S. military says American Marines accused of killing 19 Afghan civilians while responding to an ambush last year acted in accordance with military rules .
-Military officials said Friday the commander of Marine Corps forces ( Central Command ) decided not to bring criminal charges against officers involved in the March 2007 operation .
-Officials said Lieutenant General Samuel Helland determined the officers acted " appropriately " after coming under attack in Afghanistan 's eastern Nangarhar province .
-The military has called the incident a " complex attack , " in which a suicide car bomber rammed a U.S. convoy before other militants opened fire , sparking a gun battle .
-Afghan witnesses and police have said U.S. troops fired on civilians , killing up to 19 people and wounding several others .
-U.S. officials have said it is not clear whether the civilians were killed by American troops or the militants .
-Argentine tennis player Juan Ignacio Chela and Spanish veteran Carlos Moya have reached the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadows , New York .
-Chela needed three hours and 41 minutes and five sets to defeat Stanilas Warwrinka of Switzerland , 04-Jun , 06-Feb , 07-Jun , 01-Jun , 06-Apr .
-The Argentine will next face the winner of all-Spanish encounter between second seed Rafael Nadal and 15th seed David Ferrer .
-Moya , the 17th seed , reached the quarterfinals for the first time since 1998 with a four-sets victory over 19-year-old Latvian Ernest Gulbis , 07-May , 06-Feb , 06-Jul , 06-Apr .
-The 31-year-old Moya moves on to play third seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia , who ousted Argentine Juan Monaco , 07-May , 07-Jun , 06-Jul , 06-Jan .
-The featured Tuesday night match on the women 's side will be top seed Justine Henin of Belgium against eighth seed Serena Williams of the United States .
-The Washington Post newspaper reports Wednesday that the U.S. government database of alleged international terrorism suspects and their associates now contains 3,25,000 names .
-The paper says the list has quadrupled in size since it was created in 2003 .
-The list is maintained by the National Counterterrorism Center .
-Civil liberties advocates say they are concerned that innocent people may be on the list .
-Counterterrorism center officials say the actual number of people on the list is approximately 2,00,000 , because the same person may appear under different spellings or aliases .
-An administration official told the Post that U.S. citizens make up only a small fraction of the names .
-The newspaper report says the database is a compilation of reports supplied by the CIA , FBI , and other agencies .
-Seven South American countries are launching a new development bank aimed at expanding regional trade and growth .
-The Banco del Sur , or Bank of the South , is to be officially established on November third in Caracas , Venezuela .
-The date was agreed on by regional finance ministers meeting in Brazil Monday .
-The bank , championed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez , is also supported by Argentina , Brazil , Bolivia , Paraguay , Uruguay and Ecuador .
-The presidents of each country must sign off on the deal before the bank can get underway .
-Mr. Chavez proposed the regional bank as part of a drive to counter the conditional lending practices of international institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund .
-Officials say the bank will be open to all South American countries .
-A senior Pakistani security official says security forces have arrested a suspected Al-Qaida militant believed to have been involved with the London terrorist attacks of July 2005 .
-The official , who asked not to be named , told Western news agencies that Zabi ul-Taifi was arrested along with six fellow militants in a pre-dawn raid outside the northwestern city of Peshawar .
-He said Taifi is an Arab national wanted in connection to the July 7 , 2005 , terrorist attacks on London 's mass transit system .
-The four coordinated bombings killed 52 commuters .
-British police say three of the four bombers were British citizens of Pakistani origin who are believed to have trained in Al-Qaida camps in Pakistan or Afghanistan .
-Automobile sales in the United States fell in June as high gasoline prices kept consumers away from trucks and sports utility vehicles that require a lot of fuel .
-U.S.-based General Motors , the world 's largest carmaker , Tuesday announced sales fell more than 18 percent in June from the same month last year .
-GM's Japanese rival Toyota reports its sales fell more than 21 percent .
-In a statement , GM said its truck market has been affected by the sudden rise in fuel prices .
-But , it says demand is continuing to grow for hybrid cars , which use less fuel than conventional vehicles because they combine a gasoline engine with high-tech batteries and electric motors .
-On Friday , a major U.S. credit-rating service announced renewed concerns about the top three American automakers , GM , Ford and Chrysler , due to the industry-wide sales slump .
-The death toll in the crash of a passenger plane in northern China now stands at 54 , with the discovery of one victim on the ground .
-The official Xinhua news agency had earlier reported two people had been killed on the ground , but later changed the figure to one .
-The China Eastern Airlines jet , carrying 53 passengers and crew , plunged into a lake in Nanhai Park just seconds after taking off from Baotou city in Inner Mongolia at about 8.20 a.m. , local time [ 20 UTC ] .
-Witnesses said they heard a blast while the plane was still in the air .
-The aircraft broke into flaming fragments as it came down , damaging a house near the lake and scorching several yachts .
-The aircraft was a Canadian-made Bombardier CRJ-200 , a commuter jet designed to carry 50 passengers .
-Australian police say they have foiled a large-scale terrorist attack , with at least 16 arrests in Melbourne and Sydney .
-Police say a suspect in the case was shot and wounded by police near Sydney , and that a bomb squad robot was being used to examine a backpack he was wearing .
-A lawyer for a Muslim cleric in Melbourne named Abu Bakr said his client was among those arrested early Tuesday .
-In August , Abu Bakr praised Osama Bin Laden during an interview aired by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation .
-Police said the arrests disrupted a " large scale " terrorist attack in Australia .
-They said bomb-making materials were found during the raids .
-The arrests come just days after the federal government rushed an amendment through parliament that would give police the power to arrest people involved in the early stages of planning attacks .
-Colombian President Alvaro Uribe says the country 's domestic intelligence agency will no longer be in charge of intercepting communications , after it came under investigation for an illegal wiretapping scandal .
-Mr. Uribe announced Thursday that all wiretaps will now be conducted by the national police , and will require judicial authorization .
-The domestic intelligence agency , known as DAS ( the Department of Administrative Security ) is under federal investigation over charges that its agents illegally wiretapped politicians , journalists and judges .
-The agency is accused of passing intercepted information to drug traffickers and other illegal armed groups .
-The accusations were first made by the Colombian news magazine " Semana . "
-DAS has been accused of wrongful spying in the past .
-Last year , the head of the agency , Maria del Pilar Hurtado , resigned after it was revealed that agents were ordered to spy on opposition leaders .
-A published report says the Bush administration is considering plans for permanently imprisoning some suspected terrorists held by the U.S. military and Central Intelligence Agency .
-The Washington Post Sunday quotes unidentified U.S. officials as saying the White House is considering a plan to indefinitely hold certain detainees the administration does not want released or turned over to courts in the United States or other countries .
-In some cases , the reason is said to be a lack of evidence .
-The newspaper says Washington is considering transferring large numbers of prisoners from Afghanistan , Yemen and Saudi Arabia held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay , Cuba to U.S.-built prisons in their homelands .
-International human rights groups have criticized the Bush administration for indefinitely detaining people without charges or allowing them access to legal counsel .
-Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz says Arab residents of East Jerusalem will be allowed to vote in this month 's Palestinian parliamentary elections .
-Mofaz said Tuesday that Arabs will be able to cast ballots at post offices , as they have in past Palestinian elections , under interim peace deals in the 1990s .
-But other Israeli officials say that decision has not yet been finalized .
-Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat says he has not heard anything on the matter from Israeli officials .
-Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Monday that U.S. officials assured him voting would take place in East Jerusalem as scheduled .
-He had threatened to cancel the election if Israel barred voting in East Jerusalem , to protest the inclusion of candidates from the Hamas militant group .
-Two senior U.S. envoys are due in the region this week for talks with both sides ahead of the January 25 vote .
-Human Rights Watch says the international community is not doing enough to stop the violence in Sudan 's western Darfur region .
-Executive Director Kenneth Roth , in a statement , said the world has responded to the crisis by expressing concern and feigning action , but nothing more .
-He said it is not enough to condemn atrocities in Darfur and to send a handful of African Union troops to , " merely observe the slaughter " of civilians .
-A.U. troops in Darfur are not mandated to protect civilians .
-Mr. Roth also said the international community has put no serious pressure on the Sudanese government to stop what he called its " murderous campaign . "
-The United Nations and western countries , including the United States , have accused Sudan of backing Arab militia who have waged a campaign of murder and rape .
-Sudan denies the charge .
-Officials for the 2012 London Olympics have announced the costs and confirmed the builders for the Olympic Stadium and aquatic center .
-The Olympic Delivery Authority ( ODA ) said Tuesday the 80,000 - seat Olympic Stadium will cost about $ 976 million and will be built by a consortium including HOK Sport , Buro Happold and Robert Alpine .
-The price includes the cost of converting the stadium to a 25,000 seat multiple-use venue after the Olympics .
-Meanwhile , the Aquatics Center and land bridge that will be a main gateway into the Olympic Park will cost some $ 476 million .
-The venue , which will be built by Balfour Beatty , will seat 2,500 people when it is reconfigured after the Games .
-Police say at least 20 people have been killed in an explosion set off by Maoist rebels in central India 's Chattisgarh state .
-Police say the rebels blew up a vehicle filled with anti-Maoist activists Tuesday .
-The killings come on the eve of President Bush 's visit to India .
-Maoist rebels say they are fighting for the rights of poor peasants and landless workers .
-They have battled authorities for decades .
-Pope John Paul is hailing the European Union 's newly-signed constitution , while urging Europe to remember its Christian roots .
-In his weekly appearance at St. Peter 's Square in Rome , the pope described Friday 's signing of the EU constitution as a significant moment in the creation of a new Europe .
-But the pope added that Europe 's Christian heritage remains a fundamental part of the Union 's future .
-The Vatican had pushed unsuccessfully for a reference to Europe 's Christian tradition in the constitution .
-On Saturday , Italy 's candidate for the European Union 's top executive body , Rocco Buttiglione - a conservative Catholic - stepped down from consideration following controversial remarks that included his description of homosexuality as a sin .
-Militants in Iraq detonated several roadside bombs Friday , killing at least two people and injuring eight others .
-Police in Iraq say insurgents set off a bomb near a U.S. Army convoy in Baghdad 's exclusive Mansour district .
-The explosion killed one person and wounded at least five others -- some seriously .
-Across town , a bomb targeting Iraqi National Guard troops killed one person and wounded at least three others .
-The attacks followed twin suicide car-bomb blasts Thursday that killed at least 15 people and wounded more than 30 others .
-A.L. Williams Corp. was merged into Primerica Corp. , New York , after a special meeting of Williams shareholders cleared the transaction , the companies said .
-Primerica , which had owned nearly 70 % of Williams , will pay about 16.7 million shares , currently valued at almost $ 472 million , for the rest of Williams .
-The financial-services company will pay 0.82 share for each Williams share .
-Williams shares , which were to be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange after the close of composite trading yesterday , closed at $ 23.25 , off 12.5 cents .
-Primerica closed at $ 28.25 , down 50 cents .
-Williams , Duluth , Ga. , is an insurance and financial-services holding company .
-Its subsidiaries ' services are marketed by closely held A.L. Williams & Associates .
-Primerica , as expected , also acquired certain assets of the agency and assumed certain of its liabilities .
-Terms were n't disclosed .
-Fiji , endowed with forest , mineral , and fish resources , is one of the most developed of the Pacific island economies though still with a large subsistence sector .
-Sugar exports , remittances from Fijians working abroad , and a growing tourist industry - with 4,00,000 to 5,00,000 tourists annually - are the major sources of foreign exchange .
-Fiji 's sugar has special access to European Union markets but will be harmed by the EU 's decision to cut sugar subsidies .
-Sugar processing makes up one-third of industrial activity but is not efficient .
-Fiji 's tourism industry was damaged by the December 2006 coup and is facing an uncertain recovery time .
-In 2007 tourist arrivals were down almost 6 % , with substantial job losses in the service sector , and GDP dipped .
-The coup has created a difficult business climate .
-The EU has suspended all aid until the interim government takes steps toward new elections .
-Long-term problems include low investment , uncertain land ownership rights , and the government 's inability to manage its budget .
-Overseas remittances from Fijians working in Kuwait and Iraq have decreased significantly .
-Fiji 's current account deficit reached 23 % of GDP in 2006 .
-Ghana is well endowed with natural resources and agriculture accounts for roughly one-third of GDP and employs more than half of the workforce , mainly small landholders .
-The services sector accounts for 40 % of GDP .
-Gold and cocoa production and individual remittances are major sources of foreign exchange .
-Oil production at Ghana 's offshore Jubilee field began in mid-December and is expected to boost economic growth .
-Ghana signed a Millennium Challenge Corporation ( MCC ) Compact in 2006 , which aims to assist in transforming Ghana 's agricultural sector .
-Ghana opted for debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Country ( HIPC ) program in 2002 , and is also benefiting from the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative that took effect in 2006 .
-In 2009 Ghana signed a three-year Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility with the IMF to improve macroeconomic stability , private sector competitiveness , human resource development , and good governance and civic responsibility .
-Sound macro-economic management along with high prices for gold and cocoa helped sustain GDP growth in 2008 - 10 .
-In early 2010 President John Atta MILLS targeted recovery from high inflation and current account and budget deficits as his priorities .
-High population density , limited land and sea access , continuing isolation , and strict internal and external security controls have degraded economic conditions in the Gaza Strip - the smaller of the two areas in the Palestinian Territories .
-Israeli-imposed crossings closures , which became more restrictive after HAMAS violently took over the territory in June 2007 , and fighting between HAMAS and Israel during December 2008 - January 2009 , resulted in the near collapse of most of the private sector , extremely high unemployment , and high poverty rates .
-Shortages of goods are met through large-scale humanitarian assistance - led by UNRWA - and the HAMAS-regulated black market tunnel trade that flourishes under the Gaza Strip 's border with Egypt .
-However , changes to the blockade in 2010 included moving from a white list - in which only approved items were allowed into Gaza through the crossings - to a black list , where all but non-approved items were allowed into Gaza through the crossings .
-Israeli authorities have recently signaled that exports from the territory might be possible in the future , but currently regular exports from Gaza are not permitted .
-Chad 's primarily agricultural economy will continue to be boosted by major foreign direct investment projects in the oil sector that began in 2000 .
-At least 80 % of Chad 's population relies on subsistence farming and livestock raising for its livelihood .
-Chad 's economy has long been handicapped by its landlocked position , high energy costs , and a history of instability .
-Chad relies on foreign assistance and foreign capital for most public and private sector investment projects .
-A consortium led by two US companies has been investing $ 3.7 billion to develop oil reserves - estimated at 1 billion barrels - in southern Chad .
-Chinese companies are also expanding exploration efforts and are currently building a 300-km pipeline and the country 's first refinery .
-The nation 's total oil reserves are estimated at 1.5 billion barrels .
-Oil production came on stream in late 2003 .
-Chad began to export oil in 2004 .
-Cotton , cattle , and gum arabic provide the bulk of Chad 's non-oil export earnings .
-A DOG , crossing a bridge over a stream with a piece of flesh in his mouth , saw his own shadow in the water and took it for that of another Dog , with a piece of meat double his own in size .
-He immediately let go of his own , and fiercely attacked the other Dog to get his larger piece from him .
-He thus lost both : that which he grasped at in the water , because it was a shadow ; and his own , because the stream swept it away .
-MERCURY ONCE DETERMINED to learn in what esteem he was held among mortals .
-For this purpose he assumed the character of a man and visited in this disguise a Sculptor 's studio
-having looked at various statues , he demanded the price of two figures of Jupiter and Juno .
-When the sum at which they were valued was named , he pointed to a figure of himself , saying to the Sculptor , " You will certainly want much more for this , as it is the statue of the Messenger of the Gods , and author of all your gain . "
-The Sculptor replied , " Well , if you will buy these , I 'll fling you that into the bargain . "
-SOME TRAVELERS , journeying along the seashore , climbed to the summit of a tall cliff , and looking over the sea , saw in the distance what they thought was a large ship .
-They waited in the hope of seeing it enter the harbor , but as the object on which they looked was driven nearer to shore by the wind , they found that it could at the most be a small boat , and not a ship .
-When however it reached the beach , they discovered that it was only a large faggot of sticks , and one of them said to his companions , " We have waited for no purpose , for after all there is nothing to see but a load of wood . "
-Our mere anticipations of life outrun its realities .
-SEEING a ship sailing by upon the sea of politics , an Ambitious Person started in hot pursuit along the strand ; but the people 's eyes being fixed upon the Presidency no one observed the pursuer .
-This greatly annoyed him , and recollecting that he was not aquatic , he stopped and shouted across the waves ' tumultous roar :
-" Take my name off the passenger list . "
-Back to him over the waters , hollow and heartless , like laughter in a tomb , rang the voice of the Skipper : " 'T ai n't on ! "
-And there , in the focus of a million pairs of convergent eyes , the Ambitious Person sat him down between the sun and moon and murmured sadly to his own soul :
-" Marooned , by thunder ! "
-A PUBLIC Treasury , feeling Two Arms lifting out its contents , exclaimed :
-" Mr. Shareman , I move for a division . "
-" You seem to know something about parliamentary forms of speech , " said the Two Arms .
-" Yes , " replied the Public Treasury , " I am familiar with the hauls of legislation . "
-China 's government says passengers at Shanghai 's Pudong International Airport will be screened for bird flu .
-Starting Monday passengers entering or leaving China will be asked to fill out a health declaration form and have their temperature checked .
-Any passenger whose body temperature is greater than 38 degrees ( Celsius ) will be further examined , and if the person has been in an area affected by bird flu , he or she will be required to undergo treatment at a hospital .
-Meanwhile , China 's official Xinhua news agency quotes a health ministry official as saying the bird flu virus isolated from human patients in China is slightly different from that found in humans in Vietnam .
-However , the ministry says the changes do not make the virus any easier to spread .
-British officials say they have reached preliminary agreement with Jordan , allowing Britain to deport Jordanian nationals with guarantees they will not be mistreated .
-A spokesman for British Prime Minister Tony Blair Wednesday said the move could lead to similar agreements with several North African nations .
-Under international law , Britain must seek guarantees that deportees will not face torture or the death penalty before expelling them .
-The spokesman said once the formal agreement is signed several Jordanian nationals may face deportation proceedings .
-One cleric who could face deportation is Abu Qatada , who fled to Britain claiming persecution in Jordan .
-He has been convicted in absentia of terrorism in Jordan .
-The Islamic militant group Hamas says one of its militants has been killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip .
-Israel says it fired early Wednesday on a group of armed men in the border area .
-The attack came hours after Israeli troops killed two children in northern Gaza during fighting Tuesday with Palestinian militants .
-Israel 's military says troops fired at two Palestinians seen next to a rocket launcher in an area where militants had fired rockets at Israel .
-The Israeli military accused the militants of sending children to retrieve rocket launchers after the projectiles are fired .
-Earlier Tuesday , Israeli forces killed three Islamic Jihad militants in southern Gaza .
-Israeli forces have carried out frequent airstrikes and incursions into Gaza since Hamas seized the territory in June in fighting with the rival Fatah faction .
-There has been some positive news coming out of the International Conference on Alzheimer 's , held July 26-31 in Chicago , Illinois .
-Two preliminary studies show progress with use of an antihistamine and a nasal spray .
-But researchers say lifestyle factors and heredity also play a crucial role in determining whether you develop Alzheimer 's .
-VOA 's Melinda Smith has more .
-Tropical Storm Katrina has strengthened over the central Bahamas and is moving toward Florida , where it is expected to hit later this week .
-The U.S. National Hurricane Center reports a tropical storm warning remains in effect for the central and northern Bahamas .
-It says Katrina is expected to bring heavy rains and batter the shore with large and dangerous waves .
-The weather service also issued a tropical storm warning and a hurricane watch for the southeast Florida coast from Vero Beach southward to Florida City .
-On Tuesday , tropical storm Jose dumped heavy rains on the Gulf of Mexico .
-Olympic officials in China have announced that more than half the available domestic tickets for the 2008 Beijing Games have been sold in the month since they went on sale in April .
-China made 2.2 million tickets available a month ago and 2,30,000 fans have bought almost 1.1 million of them .
-Olympic Ticketing Center head Rong Jun said Tuesday that tickets to the opening ceremony , basketball and diving competitions have been the best sellers .
-Fans can purchase tickets to the opening and closing ceremonies as well as all 28 sports during the first phase , which ends June 30 .
-Tickets will be assigned between July and August , with a random selection process utilized for oversold events .
-The second leg of domestic sales will run from October through December .
-Olympic committees of individual countries and territories are conducting overseas sales .
-Indonesia 's Health Ministry says a woman from Bali has died of bird flu - the second confirmed death from the virus on the Indonesian resort island .
-Authorities say the woman died Tuesday and had been in contact with poultry before becoming ill .
-If confirmed by the World Health Organization it would bring to 84 the number of people in Indonesia who have died from the disease .
-Nearly 200 people worldwide , mostly in Asia , have died from bird flu since 2003 .
-The dangerous H5N1 strain of the virus is mainly transmitted by contact with infected animals , but experts fear it could mutate into a form that is easily passed between people .
-The death toll from a bus accident Thursday afternoon in Indian Kashmir has risen to at least 42 , with an equal number of people injured .
-Local officials say the bus was carrying pilgrims to a holy site when it skidded off a mountain road some 165 kilometers north of Jammu and plunged into a deep ravine .
-Meanwhile , violence in the disputed region continues .
-The Indian army says government troops raided a militant hide-out near the Line of Control that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan , killing four suspected Muslim separatists .
-Hours later , suspected rebels lobbed a grenade in Srinagar , wounding at least 15 people including children .
-Muslim separatists in Indian Kashmir are fighting for an independent Kashmir or its merger with neighboring Pakistan .
-The U.S. military says a helicopter has crashed in northern Iraq , killing all 12 Americans believed to be on board .
-Military officials say they are investigating the crash of the Blackhawk in a sparsely populated area near the border with Syria on Sunday .
-They said military personnel discovered the crash site 12 hours after losing communication with the helicopter .
-Elsewhere , U.S. officials said gunmen killed three Marines in separate incidents in Fallujah .
-Members of the Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars criticized U.S. forces over a raid on a mosque in the Iraqi capital .
-U.S. officials said six people were detained in what they called an anti-terrorist operation .
-And a French engineer , Bernard Planche , has been freed nearly a month after being seized by insurgents .
-On the political front , Iraqi President Jalal Talabani says leaders of the country 's political parties have agreed in principle to form a national unity government .
-Thousands of opposition supporters marched in the Democratic Republic of Congo Wednesday to demand that voter registration be reopened .
-Opposition party leader Etienne Tshisekedi asked supporters to join the rally and press for electoral concessions .
-The march to U.N. peacekeeping headquarters in Kinshasa coincided with a visit to the DRC by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan .
-Speaking Tuesday in Kinshasa , Mr. Annan said the June elections must be run by the rules , but also must be inclusive .
-The vote in June will be Congo 's first democratic elections in more than 40 years .
-Earlier this month , riot police used batons and tear gas to disperse opposition members during a similar political rally .
-Authorities in Iraq say a suicide attacker blew himself up among a group Iraqi army recruits in Baghdad Wednesday , killing at least 10 people and wounding several others .
-Police say the bomber mingled with a crowd of men standing outside a recruiting center before detonating his explosives belt .
-Insurgents have targeted the same recruiting center several times in the past .
-In another development , a number of Sunni Muslims on the committee drafting Iraq 's new constitution suspended their membership - a day after two of their colleagues were assassinated in Baghdad .
-Hours before Tuesday 's assassinations , Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said he hoped the draft constitution could be ready ahead of the August 15 deadline , if Sunni concerns could be quickly addressed .
-Mexico 's state-run Pemex oil monopoly says six explosions believed to be sabotage have damaged oil and natural gas pipelines in Veracruz state .
-Officials say at least 21,000 people living near the explosions were evacuated , but there have been no confirmed casualties from the incident .
-The Associated Press reports that a secretive leftist rebel group named the People 's Revolutionary Army has claimed responsibility for the blasts .
-The group took credit for similar Pemex pipeline attacks a few months ago .
-Also Monday , a truck loaded with chemical fertilizer exploded following a vehicle accident , creating a massive fireball that killed at least 29 people and wounded 150 others .
-News reports say the truck collided with another vehicle in the mining state of Coahuila .
-As onlookers gathered around the crash , the vehicle exploded , killing rescue workers and bystanders .
-Pakistan 's military says one soldier and seven militants were killed during a gun battle in the northwestern Swat Valley .
-An army statement Wednesday said forces were conducting a search operation in Charai when the clash broke out .
-Two soldiers also were wounded .
-The army says it has captured at least 23 suspected militants in the area .
-Pakistan 's government launched an offensive in late April aimed at clearing militants from the greater Swat valley region .
-The military says it has driven most of the Taliban from the valley , but sporadic fighting persists .
-President Bush is again calling on the U.S. Senate to give him authority to remove certain items from bills before signing them into law .
-Mr. Bush raised the issue Tuesday in a speech in Washington .
-It is called the line-item veto .
-He also talked about it Saturday in his weekly radio address .
-The President said the move would help him get rid of wasteful spending measures tacked onto important legislation .
-He said those last-minute additions , known as earmarks , have grown more common in recent years .
-President Clinton briefly had line-item veto authority before the Supreme Court struck it down as unconstitutional in 1998 .
-The Court said it gave the president too much power .
-House lawmakers on Thursday voted to grant President Bush a modified line-item veto that would allow Congress to approve or reject his changes before they become law .
-Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian has assured the United States that he will not push for independence from mainland China during the rest of his term .
-Mr. Chen met with the new U.S. envoy to Taiwan , Stephen Young , Tuesday .
-He said there will be " no more surprises . "
-Mr. Chen was referring to his decision last month to scrap a government body dedicated to unification with mainland China .
-The U.S. requested clarification on the issue .
-China , meanwhile , reacted angrily to Taiwan , warning that the decision could bring disaster to the island .
-Mr. Chen says he will maintain the status quo with China , and that Taiwan 's government will continue to serve as a responsible contributor to maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait .
-China and Taiwan split in 1949 after a civil war , but Beijing considers Taiwan a renegade province .
-Iran says it is ready , under certain circumstances , to help the United States withdraw its troops from Iraq .
-Iran Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki made the comment Saturday in Manama , Bahrain at a conference of the International Institute of Strategic Studies .
-Mottaki said Tehran would be willing to help with any troop withdrawal if Washington decides on such action , and changes its attitude .
-He did not say what help Iran would offer .
-Opening a dialog with Iran and its regional ally Syria was one of the key recommendations of a bipartisan panel of former Washington policy makers reviewing U.S. policy in Iraq .
-President Bush said Thursday Iran and Syria must stop helping extremists and commit to help Iraq 's fledgling government before any talks .
-Namibian authorities have ordered two Americans deported for recruiting Namibians for security jobs in Iraq and Afghanistan .
-The Namibian Security Council ordered the immediate closure of their company , called Special Operations Consulting-Security Management Group .
-Namibian officials declared the company 's representatives , Paul Grimes and Frederic Piry , as " prohibited immigrants . "
-Grimes told local media earlier this week that the U.S.-based company had Namibian government approval to recruit within the country .
-He said they were trying to recruit at least three thousand Namibians for security jobs abroad .
-Namibian law prohibits its citizens from taking part in military or security operations in other countries , without written approval from the Namibian government .
-The Vatican says Pope Benedict XVI is deeply saddened about the situation in the U.S. Gulf Coast and is praying for the victims of Hurricane Katrina .
-In a telegram , Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano said the pontiff is praying for all those affected by the tragedy .
-The telegram says Pope Benedict is also praying for the rescue workers and those helping the victims , and encouraging them to continue their efforts to bring relief and support .
-Japan has called for the United States to fully investigate why a recent shipment of American beef contained prohibited spinal material that could cause " mad-cow " disease .
-Japanese Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe says no American beef will be allowed into Japan until the U.S. takes action to prevent a repeat of the incident .
-Abe says Tokyo will ask meat sellers to inspect all U.S. beef shipments already in Japan to see if they contain potentially dangerous cattle parts .
-U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick apologized for the incident in talks with Japanese officials in Tokyo Monday .
-He said the company that shipped the suspicious meat will be barred from further exports .
-Japan resumed U.S. beef imports last month following a two-year halt , but reimposed the ban Friday after inspectors found spinal material in a shipment of veal .
-China and Russia will hold their first joint military exercises later this month .
-The Chinese Defense Ministry says the exercises , which have been dubbed " Peace Mission 2005 , " will take place August 18 through the August 25 in the Russian city of Vladivostok and on China 's coastal province of Shandong .
-More than 10,000 troops from both nations armies , navies , marines and air forces will be involved .
-The ministry says the goal of the exercises is to " deepen Sino-Russian trust " and improve their capability to fight international terrorism .
-The exercises are a symbol of the improving ties between the once-bitter Cold War rivals , who are dealing with Muslim separatists in their respective countries .
-A suicide bomber driving a tractor near Iraq 's Abu Ghraib prison has blown himself up in the second attack on the facility in the past two days .
-Police say at least four civilians were hurt in Monday 's blast .
-The U.S. military says Saturday 's assault on the prison involved multiple , simultaneous attacks .
-It estimates the assailants suffered 50 casualties , and says 23 U.S. troops and 13 detainees were wounded .
-Meanwhile , Iraqi Shi'ite and Kurdish negotiators seeking agreement on the makeup of a new government are meeting today , before parliament 's next session Wednesday .
-Lawmakers say they hope to select a new president , two vice presidents and a prime minister when the session convenes .
-Sunday , lawmakers elected a Sunni Arab cabinet minister , Hajim al-Hassani , to head the new assembly .
-The U.S. Defense Department says it will comply with a federal judge 's order to release the identities of hundreds of terror suspects being held at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay , Cuba .
-A Pentagon spokesman says the military is working with the U.S. Justice Department to release uncensored transcripts of military tribunal hearings at Guantanamo by a court-ordered deadline of March 3 .
-The judge 's order last month was part of a ruling issued in favor of the Associated Press , which filed a lawsuit to obtain the transcripts to determine whether detainees had been properly classified as enemy combatants .
-The military released hundreds of transcripts last year , but blacked out the names and nationalities of detainees .
-The Pentagon is strongly opposed to releasing the identities , but has ultimately decided not to appeal the order .
-The United States has warned of possible terrorist attacks against its interests in the Middle East and North Africa , and has cautioned American citizens to be vigilant about their security in those areas .
-In a statement posted Saturday on the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait 's website , the State Department says potential attacks could include bombings , hijackings , hostage taking , kidnappings and assassinations .
-It also warned that chemical and biological agents must be considered a possible threat .
-The State Department singled out Westerners , oil workers and U.S. contractors working with the military as potential targets .
-The statement pointed to last month 's bombings of three Jordanian hotels as underscoring the desire of terrorists to target places perceived to cater to Westerners .
-A Palestinian official says Israeli settlers stoned cars and set fire to Palestinian-owned olive trees in the West Bank Monday .
-Official Ghassan Daglas said two Palestinians were lightly injured as the rampaging settlers torched fields and hurled rocks in the northern city of Nablus .
-He said some of the settlers were on horseback , leaving fires blazing in their wake .
-Reports of the crowd size vary , with between 10 and 30 settlers taking part in the unrest .
-An Israeli border guard spokesman said one settler was arrested .
-The settlers were apparently retaliating because the army removed a settler 's caravan from an unauthorized settlement outpost in the area earlier in the day .
-Al-Qaida loyalists in Iraq say they kidnapped Algeria 's top diplomat in Baghdad .
-In a statement posted Saturday on an Islamist Internet site , the group al-Qaida in Iraq said it targeted the chief of the Algerian mission in Baghdad as part of a campaign to drive out diplomats from other Muslim nations .
-Al-Qaida in Iraq , which is headed by the country 's notorious fugitive Abu Musab al-Zarqawi , compared the Algerian envoy 's abduction this week to the kidnapping and murder earlier this month of Egypt 's ambassador to Iraq .
-The Algerian mission chief , Ali Belaroussi , and another member of Algeria 's diplomatic staff in Iraq were snatched by gunmen on Thursday .
-Saturday 's statement did not mention the second man .
-Attacks by insurgents in Iraq have driven many diplomats from Baghdad , undermining the U.S.-backed government 's efforts to gain support among Arab countries .
-The foreign minister of the ousted Taleban regime in Afghanistan has decided to run for a seat in September 's parliamentary elections .
-The election commission says Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil has nominated himself to run for a seat from the former Taleban stronghold of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan .
-Mr. Muttawakil was considered by many as a moderate element in the ousted regime .
-He surrendered to U.S. troops after the fall of the Taleban in late 2001 .
-After 18 months in custody , he was released by the U.S. military in October , 2003 .
-Last year , Afghan President Hamid Karzai offered an olive branch to rank-and-file Taleban fighters , inviting them to join the political process .
-But he said his offer is not for those hardcore militants who are wanted for human rights violations .
-Pope Benedict XVI has expressed understanding for a former Warsaw archbishop who resigned last month after admitting that he agreed to cooperate with Poland 's communist-era security police .
-In a letter to Stanislaw Wielgus published Tuesday , the pontiff said he is fully conscious of the exceptional circumstances under which Polish priests performed their duties while under Soviet domination .
-The letter contained what Benedict called a " special apostolic blessing " to the cleric .
-It also encouraged him to resume his religious duties .
-Wielgus resigned his post on January 7 , after a church commission said it found numerous documents confirming the cleric had collaborated with communist security organizations for years .
-Last week , lawyers for the former archbishop said they were moving to clear their client 's name of spy charges , claiming that he never actually collaborated .
-Vatican authorities said in January there is no clear proof that Wielgus ' actions harmed anyone .
-At least two cars driven by suicide bombers exploded Monday at the entrance to a U.S. military camp in western Iraq .
-Early reports from the camp near Qaim say at least two U.S. personnel were wounded in the attack .
-A military spokesman in Baghdad said officials were still gathering details early this afternoon .
-Meanwhile , Iraqi security forces backed by U.S. troops rounded up dozens of suspected insurgents during raids today in central Baghdad .
-A U.S. military statement says more than 500 Iraqi soldiers and police took part in the operation .
-In other developments , Pakistan says kidnappers are seeking ransom for the release of an embassy employee abducted Saturday in Baghdad .
-A Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman declined to disclose details , but he said the victim , Malik Mohammed Javed , is unharmed and in contact with embassy officials .
-Venezuela 's Information Minister Andres Izarra has resigned to run a new satellite television channel backed by President Hugo Chavez .
-Mr. Izarra said Wednesday he was stepping down to ensure the " independence " of the Telesur channel , which began limited broadcasts this week .
-President Chavez and the governments of Argentina , Cuba and Uruguay have supported the new channel , saying it is needed to focus on news and issues in Latin America .
-Critics have expressed concern that Telesur may be a mouthpiece for propaganda by Mr. Chavez and Cuban President Fidel Castro .
-Last week , the U.S. House of Representatives passed a measure calling for television and radio broadcasts to Venezuela to counter alleged " anti-American " rhetoric on the channel .
-The Senate has yet to approve the bill .
-Police were also among the more than 11 people wounded in Wednesday 's blast , which happened in Quetta , the provincial capital .
-Baluchistan has long been the site of a low-level insurgency seeking more autonomy for the province and a greater share of money from its natural resources .
-In recent weeks , the region has also seen several attacks on trucks carrying supplies to NATO troops in Afghanistan .
-The U.S. military says four car bombings in the Iraqi capital Wednesday , killed at least 26 people and wounded more than 20 others .
-A statement said the bombings occurred within a span of 90 minutes and that security forces prevented the suicide bombers from reaching their intended targets .
-Two Iraqis were killed and two Australian solders wounded in the first blast near the Australian embassy .
-Shortly afterwards , a car bomb exploded near a central Baghdad hospital , killing at least 18 people , including five Iraqi policemen .
-Two other car bombings killed Iraqi soldiers , security guards and civilians .
-Iraq said Tuesday it will close its borders and ban non-governmental vehicles from the roads to boost security for the country 's January 30 election .
-The movie The Da Vinci Code will be released in Indian theaters on Friday after its distributors agreed to attach a disclaimer saying the film is a work of fiction .
-The film is opening in India a week later than originally planned because the distributors and India 's censorship board could not agree on the wording and placement of the disclaimer .
-Indian Christians had protested the film .
-The film board ruled that only adults could watch the film and that it must have a 15-second disclaimer at both the beginning and end of the movie .
-Both the book and the movie version of The Da Vinci Code have been controversial because of their assertion that Jesus married and had children and the Vatican tried to suppress that information .
-Christians view that as blasphemous .
-Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has wrapped up a visit to Venezuela by signing a series of defense and energy deals with the Andean nation .
-Prime Minister Zapatero and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Wednesday signed the agreements , which include sales of Spanish military transport planes and coastal patrol vessels to Venezuela .
-Both President Chavez and Prime Minister Zapatero said the defense equipment will be used for peaceful purposes .
-Mr. Chavez said Venezuela would use the aircraft and vessels to patrol land and sea borders to prevent drug trafficking .
-The two leaders also signed an accord that calls for Spain 's Repsol oil company to invest in Venezuela .
-Another deal calls for Spain to build three ships , including an oil tanker , for Venezuela .
-The Los Angeles Police Department earlier this year investigated possible threats against Britney Spears ' ex-husband Kevin Federline .
-On Monday , LAPD spokeswoman Norma Eisenman said the department probed allegations in June , but later determined there was not enough information to keep the investigation active .
-The FBI 's Los Angeles field office received " nonspecific , uncorroborated allegations regarding a threat against Mr. Federline , " according to FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller .
-She said the bureau passed the information to the LAPD because it was not a federal matter .
-Eimiller declined to say whether the FBI received the information and would not describe the threat .
-Kevin Federline was married to Britney Spears from 2004 to 2006 .
-He is currently seeking primary custody of their sons , two-year-old Sean Preston and one-year-old Jayden James .
-The men 's downhill highlights action at the 2006 Olympics Sunday with American Bode Miller hoping to add a gold medal to his trophy case .
-Miller will have to beat countryman Daron Rahlves and the strong Austrian Alpine team , including double Olympic champion Hermann Maier , World Cup downhill leader Michael Walchhofer , and reigning gold medalist Fritz Strobl .
-Apollo Anton Ohno of the United States makes his first appearance in Turin when he skates in the men 's 1,500-meters short track speed skating race .
-Germans Claudia Pechstein and Anni Friesinger go for gold in the women 's 3,000-meters long track speed skating event .
-Men 's luge will award a gold medal , with World Cup and Olympic champion Armin Zoeggeler of Italy hoping to take home the prize .
-Gold is also up for grabs in men 's half pipe snowboarding and in men 's and women 's cross-country skiing pursuit races .
-Iraqi officials say a car bomb exploded outside a police crime lab in the northern city of Mosul Tuesday , killing two officers .
-At least seven other people were wounded in the morning attack .
-In a similar incident last month , a suicide bomber struck a police forensics lab in Baghdad , killing 22 people .
-A group affiliated with al-Qaida , the Islamic State of Iraq , claimed responsibility for that attack .
-Also in Mosul Tuesday , a police official says gunmen opened fire on two Christian university students , killing one and wounding another .
-On Monday , three bombings in western Iraq left one person dead , and wounded at least four others .
-Afghan authorities say a suicide bomber has killed eight people at a governor 's residence in southern Afghanistan .
-They say the attack in Helmand province killed guards , but did not harm the governor , Mohammed Daud .
-In the same province , a British Marine was killed while on patrol .
-And in Khost , U.S.-led forces killed four people , including a teenage girl , during a raid .
-Meanwhile , Afghan President Hamid Karzai says resolving difficulties with neighboring Pakistan will put an end to the Taleban .
-He says Pakistan is responsible for violence in Afghanistan .
-In other developments , Human Rights Watch is calling on Mr. Karzai to quickly establish a truth and reconciliation court to deal with war crimes and human rights abuses committed in the country over the past 30 years .
-Prince William County , in the Virginia suburbs outside of Washington , is drawing attention across the United States by enforcing local laws that lead to the deportation of hundreds of illegal immigrants .
-Community activists say it has created a hostile environment toward all immigrants .
-Producer Zulima Palacio prepared the story .
-African Union officials say the Republic of Congo will be named head of the African Union this year and Sudan will take the A.U. chair in 2007 under a compromise reached early Tuesday .
-The officials say the decision resolves an impasse among summit delegates in Khartoum over host-country Sudan 's bid for the chairmanship .
-The A.U. summit host country usually chairs the organization .
-But human rights groups objected to Sudan 's bid because of violence and abuses in the Darfur region .
-Five African leaders made a formal request for President Omar al-Bashir to forgo the post .
-Late Monday , officials appointed five African nations to pick a new chair candidate to propose to the 53-nation body on Tuesday .
-Tens of thousands of people in Darfur have been killed in fighting between government-backed Arab militias ( known as Janjaweed ) and rebel forces .
-Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has banned smoking in a wide range of public places .
-Mr. Assad announced the ban Sunday , forbidding smoking in restaurants , cafes , movie theaters , educational institutions and hospitals .
-Smoking will also be banned on public transportation .
-The measure includes the use of water pipes favored by locals and tourists alike .
-Violators of the ban face a fine of about $ 45 .
-Earlier this year , Syria issued a law forbidding the sale of tobacco to those under 18 years of age .
-Afghan and foreign troops are getting ready to take back a southern Afghan town that is being controlled by Taliban militants .
-Afghan defense ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi says security forces are beginning an operation near Musa Qala , a town in southern Helmand province .
-Taliban militants overran Musa Qala in February , after British troops withdrew and handed over security responsibilities to local elders .
-British military officials say the goal is to take back the town .
-The Taliban says it has more than 2,000 armed fighters ready to defend Musa Qala .
-Separately , NATO foreign ministers are discussing appointing an international " super " envoy to Afghanistan .
-The envoy would help better coordinate U.N. and NATO civilian and military efforts within the country .
-The leader of Iraq 's largest Shi'ite Muslim political party has endorsed the country 's draft constitution , urging Shi'ites to approve it in next month 's national referendum .
-Abdel Aziz al-Hakim of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq ( SCIRI ) told thousands of supporters at a rally in Baghdad Saturday that it is their religious duty to vote " yes . "
-His endorsement echoes a similar call Thursday from the top Shi'ite religious authority in Iraq , Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani .
-In a separate development , a judge in the southern city of Basra ordered the arrest of two British soldiers who were freed Monday in a controversial British raid on a local prison .
-The charges against them include killing an Iraqi policeman .
-British officials say their troops are not under Iraqi jurisdiction .
-In Baghdad , a suicide car bomb exploded near an Iraqi military checkpoint Saturday , killing two soldiers .
-China has reacted angrily to the United States ' decision to place sanctions on six Chinese companies accused of supplying Iran with sensitive military equipment .
-China 's Foreign Ministry Wednesday demanded that the U.S. lift the sanctions immediately .
-The ministry said the U.S. actions will not benefit the two countries ' cooperation in anti-proliferation efforts .
-The year-long sanctions announced Tuesday block the firms from doing business with the U.S. government or obtaining American high-tech products .
-The State Department says the restrictions are an effective tool in blocking Iran from developing missiles and weapons of mass destruction .
-The six Chinese companies are a missile exporter known as Norinco , the chemical equipment group Zibo Chemet Co. , China Aero-Technology Import-Export Corp. , Hongdu Aviation Industry Group , Ounion International Economic and Technical Cooperative Ltd. , and Limmt Metallurgy and Minerals Co.
-Sanctions were also imposed on two Indian companies and an Austrian firm .
-The Walt Disney Company has agreed to sell Miramax Films to an investor group for more than $ 660 million .
-Disney agreed to the deal late Thursday after Filmyard Holdings paid a nonrefundable $ 40-million deposit .
-Filmyard is an investment group headed by Los Angeles construction magnate Ron Tutor .
-The financing for the transaction is expected to be finalized by the end of the year .
-The Miramax library of 700 movies includes Pulp Fiction , Shakespeare in Love , Chicago and No Country for Old Men .
-Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger said in a statement , Disney 's current focus is on the development of - in his words - " great motion pictures " under the Disney , Pixar and Marvel brands .
-The Filmyard deal marks the culmination of a drawn-out sale that had attracted various Los Angeles-based rival bidders , including Bob and Harvey Weinstein , the brothers who founded the studio .
-North Korea has called Vice President Dick Cheney a " bloodthirsty beast " and said his comments describing ruler Kim Jong-il as " irresponsible " could keep Pyongyang away from future nuclear negotiations .
-North Korea 's official KCNA news agency quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman Thursday as saying the U.S. vice president is a hated , cruel monster who drenched various parts of the world in blood .
-White House spokesman Scott McCellan says such provocative statements only further isolate the country from the international community .
-In an interview Sunday on the U.S. Cable News Network , Mr. Cheney called President Kim one of the world 's most irresponsible leaders , who runs a police state and has one of the most heavily militarized societies in the world .
-The United States has been seeking diplomatic pressure to get the North to return to six party talks .
-Palestinian sources say an Israeli helicopter gunship fired a missile at militants during a clash in northern Gaza , killing three of them .
-The Israeli army confirmed the air attack .
-It said soldiers spotted militants trying to launch rockets at Israel and that a gunbattle followed involving Israeli aircraft .
-At least five people were wounded in the clash .
-The militants involved were members of Islamic Jihad .
-In other news , Israel 's interior minister says four Hamas lawmakers must quit the organization if they want to continue living in east Jerusalem .
-Ronnie Bar-On issued the ultimatum while speaking Monday on an Israeli TV station .
-He said letters were sent to the Hamas lawmakers giving them 30 days to resign or risk being expelled .
-Hamas ' charter calls for the destruction of Israel .
-Madagascar 's Andry Rajoelina , who took power in a coup that toppled president Marc Ravalomanana in March , now says he is the only man who can provide leadership to the Indian Ocean island nation .
-Rajoelina , along with the ousted president Ravalomanana and two other former presidents last week negotiated an agreement to share power in a new consensus government to stay in place until next year 's elections .
-In an interview on state-run radio and television stations , Rajoelina said it is unimaginable that anyone else should lead the transition .
-The agreement reached on August 9 calls for a 31-member unity transition government led by a prime minister and three deputy prime ministers .
-Further negotiations on power sharing issues are set for this week with elections to be held in 15 months .
-Egypt says 12 small Palestinian factions have agreed to Egyptian proposals for a truce with Israel in the Gaza Strip .
-Egypt 's state news agency ( MENA ) quotes officials as saying the Palestinian groups approved the cease-fire offer at a meeting Wednesday in Cairo .
-It says the truce would begin in Gaza and be extended later to the West Bank .
-No timeframe was given .
-The larger Hamas militant group that controls Gaza told Egypt last week it would support a six-month cease-fire with Israel in Gaza , to be followed by a similar truce in the West Bank .
-Egypt has been trying for months to mediate an Israeli-Palestinian deal that would include a truce , an exchange of prisoners and an opening of Gaza 's border crossings .
-Israel has expressed doubts about the latest Palestinian truce offers , arguing they would give militants time to re-arm .
-A report out of Kenya says Somali pirates have hijacked a German ship with 24 crew members on board .
-Andrew Mwangura , of the Mombasa-based East African Seafarers ' Assistance Program , says pirates seized the 20,000 ton container vessel Saturday in the Indian Ocean .
-He says the hijacking occurred about 740 kilometers off the coast of Kismayo , between Kenya and the Seychelles .
-Somali pirates have seized dozens of ships over the past 18 months , receving millions of dollars in ransom payments .
-The number of successful hijackings dropped off during January and February after the United States , China and other world powers deployed warships to the area .
-But the pirates have seized at least six ships since mid-March , including four European commercial vessels and two yachts from Seychelles .
-British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw says it is " inconceivable " that any military action will be taken against Iran over its nuclear program .
-The United States has accused Tehran of using its nuclear program to develop atomic weapons , and President Bush has previously said all options are on the table to resolve the issue .
-But Mr. Straw told British radio Wednesday , that the use of military force is " not on the agenda . "
-He also says Mr. Bush is taking a position advocated by " all United States presidents . "
-The International Atomic Energy Agency passed a resolution last Saturday accusing Iran of failing to comply with international nuclear safeguard agreements .
-The resolution puts Iran on notice that it could be referred to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions if it fails to cooperate fully with IAEA inspectors .
-Ecuadoreans protest against Government of President Lucio Gutierrez shouting " Out Lucio " in Quito , Ecuador , Friday Ecuador 's President Lucio Gutierrez has dismissed the Supreme Court and declared a state of emergency in the capital , Quito , in an effort to ease a mounting political crisis .
-Mr. Gutierrez made the announcement late Friday in a nationally televised address .
-Thousands of pro-opposition activists have been staging mostly peaceful street rallies for the last few days to protest the government 's restructuring of the Supreme Court late last year .
-In December , Congress fired 27 of 31 justices and designated new ones after President Gutierrez accused the judges of bias against him .
-The move outraged the opposition , which complained the restructuring by the ruling party dominated congress was an attempt by the Gutierrez government to establish control over the high court .
-The president fired the new judges Friday .
-Russian President Vladimir Putin has dissolved the government .
-Russian officials and news reports say Mr. Putin dismissed the government Wednesday after Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov offered his resignation .
-The reports say Mr. Fradkov decided to urge Mr. Putin to dissolve the government because of upcoming major political events , and a desire to give the president the full freedom to make decisions about staff .
-Russia is set to hold parliamentary elections in December .
-Presidential elections are to be held three months after that .
-Burmese state media reported Wednesday that border police seized a large quantity of heroin and other illegal drugs near the border with Thailand this week .
-The reports say an anti-drug squad found more than 700 kilograms of heroin and nearly 3 million methamphetamine pills in the town of Tachilek Monday .
-Officers arrested four people and confiscated two guns and ammunition from the raid on two houses .
-Last month , Burmese police seized about 760 kilograms of heroin and large quantities of other drugs in the same town .
-Burma is one of the world 's largest producers of heroin .
-It is also a major source of methamphetamine .
-The illegal drugs are often smuggled into Thailand .
-The European Union is proposing to slap sanctions on U.S. exports in a dispute over a controversial U.S. anti-dumping law .
-The EU is considering additional duties of up to 15 percent as of May 1 , affecting such products as paper , textiles , machinery and farm produce .
-The proposal is aimed at punishing Washington for not repealing an anti-dumping law ruled illegal by the World Trade Organization .
-The law is known as the Byrd Amendment .
-It allows American companies to collect money from special duties on foreign goods that are found to be either illegally subsidized or dumped on the U.S. market .
-A maritime official says German forces have rescued an Egyptian ship from a pirate attack in the Gulf of Aden .
-Noel Choong of the International Maritime Bureau , IMB , says pirates tried to hijack a bulk carrier with 31 crew off the coast of Somalia Thursday .
-He says a passing ship alerted the bureau , which asked a multinational coalition force in the area to help .
-Choong says a German warship sent a helicopter that scared off the attackers , but not before the pirates shot and injured a crew member .
-He says the injured man was airlifted to the German ship for treatment .
-Germany is one of several nations with ships patrolling the pirate-infested waters off Somalia .
-The International Maritime Bureau says pirates have attacked 110 ships this year and hijacked 42 , most of which were released after hefty ransom payments .
-The pirates are currently holding 14 ships and their crews .
-Colombian and Organization of American States officials have supervised the destruction of thousands of weapons surrendered by demobilized right-wing paramilitary fighters .
-More than 18,000 weapons were melted down Friday .
-They were handed over as part of a 2003 peace pact between the Colombian government and the United Self-Defense Force of Colombia , or AUC .
-Former fighters and their victims , as well as foreign dignitaries , attended the event .
-The melted weapons will be used to make plagues honoring the 9,000 civilian victims of the AUC fighters .
-The 2003 peace accord resulted in the demobilization of over 30,000 men .
-However , officials say there is evidence that some fighters are re-arming .
-Iraqi police say insurgents have shot dead the governor of Baghdad province .
-Police say Ali al-Haidari and his bodyguard were killed Tuesday while driving through the Baghdad city neighborhood of Hurriyah .
-In an separate attack , a suicide bomber rammed his explosives laden truck into a police post in central Baghdad , killing at least 10 people and wounding more than 50 others .
-Insurgents have been increasingly targeting senior Iraqi government officials , police and other security personnel as they press on with a violent campaign to disrupt elections set for January 30 .
-Monday , at least 18 people - mostly Iraqi police and guardsmen - were killed in a series of ambushes , car bombings , and suicide attacks in Baghdad and several cities and towns to the north .
-Palestinian radio says Israeli artillery fire killed an eight-year-old girl when the shell hit her home in the northern Gaza Strip .
-Thirteen other children in the house were reported to be wounded .
-Witnesses said an artillery round set the house in Beit Lahiya on fire .
-A relative said all the casualties were members of the same family .
-The Israeli military has not commented on the death , but confirmed that Israel has been shelling sites that it suspects Palestinian militants are using to fire rockets into southern Israel .
-At least 16 Palestinians have been killed since last Friday , when Israel began stepping up air and artillery strikes in Gaza , in a push to curb the rocket fire .
-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says no U.S. aid will go to the Hamas-led Palestinian government , but the United States will still contribute to humanitarian programs like immunizing children in the Palestinian territories .
-In testimony to a Senate committee Wednesday , Rice repeated the U.S. position that Hamas must meet international demands to renounce violence and recognize Israel 's right to exist .
-Hamas is preparing to take control of the Palestinian parliament when it convenes Saturday .
-On Wednesday , the group nominated Abdel Aziz Duaik as parliament speaker and Mahmoud Zahar as faction leader .
-In Israel , top policy makers began a three-day review of how to deal with a Hamas-dominated Palestinian government .
-Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said Israel will have no contacts with the Palestinians as long as Hamas is involved in terrorism and refuses to recognize Israel .
-Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and two of his South American counterparts have opened a gas pipeline between Colombia and Venezuela .
-Venezuela 's Hugo Chavez and Rafael Correa of Ecuador participated in a ceremony Friday by turning on the pipeline valves in Colombia 's Guajira region .
-It connects Guajira with Venezuela 's Lake Maracaibo area .
-Venezuela 's state-owned oil company , PDVSA , invested millions of dollars in the 225-kilometer-long pipeline .
-All but 89 kilometers of the line are in Venezuelan territory .
-Officials say the pipeline will have the capacity to pump 14 million cubic meters of natural gas daily from Colombia to Venezuela .
-They also say that the pipeline is to carry gas to Venezuela until 2011 , then reverse course to take the gas in the other direction .
-Venezuela 's president has been promoting Latin American energy integration .
-He also wants to extend a vast gas pipeline across South America .
-An Israeli newspaper reports Israel has agreed to pay some $ 2 million to the family of a British journalist killed by Israeli soldiers in 2003 .
-The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported the settlement on Sunday , saying it followed lengthy legal discussions .
-The attorney for the victim confirmed that a settlement had been reached with the Israeli government , although he would only say the amount was more than $ 1.4 million .
-Cameraman James Miller was shooting a documentary on Palestinian children in the Gazan border town of Rafah in 2003 when he was killed by Israeli gunfire despite carrying a white flag .
-The soldier who fired the shot was cleared in a court-martial , but a British inquest concluded the event constituted murder .
-The Miller family lawyer said Sunday that the family believes the settlement is the closest thing to an admission of guilt that they can get .
-Microsoft says it will sell a stripped-down version of its Windows operating system in Europe after bickering with regulators over the name of the product .
-The action is part of the software giant 's lengthy legal battle with European Union regulators who say the company abused its near-monoply in the operating system market to unfairly crush its competitors .
-EU regulators last year fined Microsoft $ 650 million and demanded it change some business practices .
-The EU ordered Microsoft to offer a version of its operating system that did not contain the Microsoft program that plays films and music on computers in the hope of allowing competitors to enter this growing market .
-Microsoft calls its reduced software package Windows XP Home Edition N .
-Security sources say Palestinian forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas have shut down four charities and two printing shops in the West Bank for their alleged ties to rival political faction Hamas .
-The stores and charities , located in an around the southern town of Hebron , were closed Friday .
-Sources say the printing shops were publishing material that could incite violence against the government .
-Mr. Abbas has recently intensified a crackdown on Hamas in the West Bank .
-Last year , Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip after routing Fatah forces loyal to the Palestinian president .
-Reports from Georgia say President Mikheil Saakashvili has fired reformist Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze .
-News agency reports quote senior Georgian officials as saying Georgia 's ambassador to Turkey , Grigol Mgalobishvili , will replace the prime minister .
-An official statement is expected later Monday .
-Mr. Gurgenidze , a 37-year-old technocrat and former banker , became prime minister late last year , with the primary task of attracting foreign investment and maintaining a high rate of economic growth .
-A five-day military conflict with Russia in August has since eroded investor confidence and slowed what otherwise was widely seen as a healthy economy .
-Mr. Gurgenidze visited Washington earlier this month , holding talks with U.S. National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley .
-Authorities in Afghanistan say up to 22 insurgents were killed Thursday night during an operation led by coalition troops .
-The U.S. military says coalition and Afghan forces raided a compound in central Ghazni province , and that a number of militants were killed .
-Afghan police put that number at 22 .
-Officials also say troops found a cache of weapons , including grenades and ammunition .
-In other clashes , two Afghan policemen and two British soldiers have died in separate incidents .
-Afghanistan 's Interior Ministry says a roadside bomb killed the two police officers near the southern border with Pakistan on Thursday .
-The latest British deaths were in southern Helmand province .
-British and U.S. forces are conducting an offensive in southern Afghanistan to try to clear out Taliban militants .
-Nine British troops have been killed in as many days .
-The former Pakistan prime minister , Benazir Bhutto , has been served with an order placing her under house arrest in Islamabad .
-But VOA 's Barry Newhouse spoke to a member of her political party , who said he is in a car with her outside her house , and they are trying to force their way through the hundreds of police surrounding the area .
-Here is his report .
-" I 'm standing at a police barricade about 200 meters from Benazir Bhutto 's private residence in Islamabad .
-We have reports that she 's been served with an arrest warrant .
-I just spoke with a senior party official in a car with her .
-He says they and about 300 party supporters are trying to force their way through police barricades … but so far have been unsuccessful at doing so . "
-Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar says he hope to visit Burma soon to see evidence of democratic reform .
-The state Bernama news agency quoted Mr. Syed Hamid Saturday as saying discussions are being held with Burma 's Minister of Foreign Affairs to set a date for the trip .
-The Malaysian diplomat said he hopes to visit the military-ruled country this month .
-At the three-day Association of Southeast Nations ( ASEAN ) summit in Kuala Lumpur in December , Mr. Syed Hamid was chosen to lead an ASEAN delegation to visit Burma to observe democratic reforms .
-Burma welcomed the visit , but did not set a specific date .
-Mr. Syed Hamid said results from the visit are vital in keeping up the integrity and credibility of ASEAN .
-Israel is continuing its month-long military offensive against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip in an attempt to stop rocket attacks on Israel and free a captured soldier .
-Palestinian medics say Israeli fire killed 3 Palestinian civilians Thursday , including a 75-year-old woman .
-A tank shell hit her home near the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza .
-On Wednesday , Israeli forces and Palestinian gunmen fought fierce battles across the Gaza Strip resulting in the deaths of 23 Palestinians , including three children .
-Palestinians identified at least 12 of the dead as gunmen .
-Militants also kept up attacks with homemade rockets , despite the Israeli offensive .
-More than 140 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israeli forces moved into the Palestinian territory after militants captured an Israeli soldier on June 25 .
-The United Nations mission in Rwanda says government troops are gearing up to attack Rwandan Hutu rebels based in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo .
-A spokeswoman , Patricia Tome , says the head of the mission , William Swing , received a telephone call from a Rwandan official , advising him of the action .
-She declined to identify the official .
-Reuters news agency quotes an adviser to Rwanda 's President Paul Kagame , Richard Sezibera , who confirmed the possibility of clashes .
-He said Hutu rebels in Congo are massing near the border with Rwanda , adding that the government will take any means necessary to defend Rwandan territory .
-In recent years , Rwandan troops have entered Congo on two occasions to attack Hutu extremists who fled across the border after participating in the massacre of hundreds of thousands of minority ethnic Tutsis during Rwanda 's 1994 genocide .
-Human rights group Amnesty International says Mexican authorities have failed to prosecute police accused of sexually abusing women from the town of San Salvador Atenco .
-Amnesty says more than 20 women have complained of being abused or raped by police who were sent to the town in May to stop a protest by local residents .
-The women were among more 200 people arrested and beaten by police during the riots .
-Amnesty says Mexico 's federal government should investigate accusations of police brutality against women during the riots .
-The group says local authorities are ignoring or covering up the alleged abuses , which it says amount to acts of torture .
-The unrest in San Salvador Atenco began when Mexican police tried to stop protests by a small farmers ' organization .
-Hundreds of protesters fought with police , and several officers were kidnapped .
-The U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia is warning that extremists may be planning to attack Westerners in the central province of al-Qassim .
-A message posted on the embassy 's website , and dated August 4 , said officials there have received credible information about a possible attack .
-It said the timing and method of the potential attacks are unknown and advises U.S. citizens to take necessary precautions .
-The embassy says this is the first time this year it has warned of a possible attack by extremists .
-Afghan officials say NATO warplanes mistakenly killed 14 Afghan construction workers while hunting for Taliban militants in the rugged mountains of eastern Afghanistan .
-The governor of Nuristan province , Tamin Nuristani , says the road workers were sleeping in tents when the aircraft attacked late Monday .
-He says NATO was acting on reports that militants were in the area .
-NATO Brigadier General Carlos Branco said the alliance fired air strikes against entrenched Taliban positions in the area , adding that an investigation is under way .
-NATO and other foreign troops in Afghanistan have come under scathing criticism this year for air strikes targeting militants that have seen hundreds of Afghan civilians killed .
-Afghan President Hamid Karzai has denounced U.S. and NATO troops for the deaths , urging a change in military operating procedure .
-A renewed Taliban insurgency has turned this year into the deadliest yet since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion ousted the Taliban government .
-A suicide bomber drove a car full of explosives into a police checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan , killing at least 16 people .
-Local police officials say Wednesday 's attack in Charsadda , near the city of Peshawar , killed at least nine policemen and several civilians .
-Peshawar is the capital of Pakistan 's North West Frontier Province and the gateway to the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan .
-Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Giliani condemned the attack .
-In a statement , President Zardari said the perpetrators of " such a heinous crime " would be brought to justice .
-The region has experienced a surge of militant attacks by Pakistani Taliban fighters and other Islamic groups .
-Attacks also have been carried out in other parts of Pakistan , including the capital , Islamabad , and the commerical center , Karachi .
-The head of the United Nations children 's agency , or UNICEF , says at least 17,000 children died in schools destroyed by the October 8 earthquake in Pakistan .
-Ann Veneman said those children who survived have been traumatized by injuries and loss of friends and teachers who died in the quake .
-She repeated warnings about a " second wave " of deaths if tens of thousands of people who are still homeless are not provided with shelter , food , drinking water and proper health care .
-With a bitter Himalayan winter approaching , aid workers fear hunger , disease and untreated injuries could kill thousands more .
-Meanwhile , U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is expected to attend a donors meeting in Islamabad on November 19 to raise funds for rebuilding earthquake-hit areas .
-The October 8 quake killed about 55,000 people , most of them in Pakistani Kashmir .
-Palestinian militants have attacked a police station in the West Bank town of Nablus , sparking a gunfight with Palestinian police .
-Witnesses say several militants took up positions outside the police station Friday and began shooting , prompting police to return fire .
-At least two people were reported wounded .
-The gunmen were from a small militant group al-Adwa , affiliated with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas ' Fatah faction .
-There are conflicting reports as to what the gunmen were upset about .
-One report says a militant was refused permission to visit his jailed brother , while another quotes police as saying the group was upset that one of its members had been beaten while in police custody .
-Friday 's incident underscores the challenges facing Mr. Abbas as he tries to rein in militants and restore law and order .
-Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz Poland 's parliamentary speaker W?odzimierz Cimoszewicz says he will run for president in October 's election , with recent opinion polls suggesting he could win .
-Mr. Cimoszewicz , of the ruling Democratic Left Alliance , has remained untouched by a string of scandals that have tarnished his party .
-Polls have put him ahead of other hopefuls , including leading conservative Lech Kaczynski .
-Poland 's President Alexander Kwasniewski can not run for re-election because he has already served two terms .
-Opinion polls indicate Polish leftists will be defeated in parliamentary elections , scheduled for September 25 .
-Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has signed an agreement allowing visa-free travel between Argentina and his country .
-Argentine ambassador to Russia Leopoldo Bravo attended the signing ceremony Wednesday in Moscow .
-Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana signed the document last week in Buenos Aires .
-The agreement will take effect after ratification by parliaments of both countries .
-Russia 's Itar-Tass news agency says under the agreement , citizens of Russia and Argentina will be able to enter and leave the territories of each others ' countries without visas .
-They will also be able to travel through or stay there for 90 to 180 days .
-Travelers seeking longer visits or those who wish to engage in business will still need visas .
-Egyptian officials have announced the site for the country 's first nuclear power plant , settling the controversy over its location .
-A presidential spokesman said Wednesday the new plant will be located in el-Dabaa , an area northwest of Cairo on the Mediterranean coast .
-Local business officials had criticized the government for considering el-Dabaa , saying a power plant could have a negative impact on the region 's tourism .
-However , the presidential spokesman says President Hosni Mubarak reached a decision on the site during a meeting with the country 's nuclear energy council .
-Egyptian officials say the plant should be in operation by 2019 .
-The government also plans to have three other nuclear facilities up and running by 2025 .
-Power outages across the country in addition to depleting oil and gas resources have forced officials to consider alternative energy solutions .
-The government has also begun using solar and wind energy .
-U.S. officials are about to announce indictments against three men charged with plotting to attack major U.S. financial buildings .
-Media reports identify the suspects as Dhiren Barot , Qaisar Shaffi , and Nadeem Tarmohammed .
-U.S. officials say Mr. Barot is a high-level al-Qaida figure also known as Esa al-Hindi .
-The men are being held in Britain , where they were arrested along with five other terrorist suspects last year .
-The suspects allegedly conducted surveillance of the financial buildings in 2000 and 2001 .
-The buildings included the New York Stock Exchange , New York 's Citicorp Building , the Prudential Building in Newark , New Jersey , and the International Monetary Fund in Washington .
-Discovery of the surveillance led U.S. officials to raise the terrorism alert level around the buildings last August .
-The House Highways and Transit Subcommittee is examining the impact of rising diesel prices on the trucking industry .
-The Triple A automotive association says the price of diesel fuel , which is used by most transport trucks , has risen much faster than regular gasoline .
-The trucking industry says record high fuel prices are cutting into profits and in some cases , destroying livelihoods .
-VOA 's Mil Arcega reports .
-Afghan officials say two separate accidental explosions killed four children and three police officers in the capital , Kabul , Monday .
-In the first incident , authorities said a group of children was playing with an old artillery shell when it exploded .
-The blast killed four of the children .
-Afghanistan remains littered with unexploded munitions and landmines after decades of war .
-The second blast happened as a group of police officers was preparing for a mission .
-A spokesman for the Interior Ministry said one of the officers accidentally dropped a rocket-propelled grenade .
-The explosion killed three officers .
-Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko has warned foreign nations against taking sides in the country 's new presidential runoff election .
-Mr. Yushchenko said outsiders should only work to ensure the vote is fair .
-His comments followed pledges from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to support Ukraine 's new court-ordered presidential run-off election .
-Thousands of Mr. Yushchenko 's supporters have continued their vigil in the capital Kiev , where Ukraine 's parliament remained deadlocked on proposals to amend the country 's election laws .
-Opposition lawmakers support legal changes aimed at preventing voter fraud .
-Pro-government politicians are pushing for constitutional changes that would reduce the powers of the president .
-On Saturday , Ukraine 's Supreme Court threw out results from the last presidential election and scheduled a new run-off for December 26 .
-The top U.S. immigration enforcement official says federal agents expect to deport more than 2,00,000 immigrants this year who are in prisons across the country .
-The head of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency , Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Julie Myers , made the remark in an interview published Tuesday in The New York Times newspaper .
-She says the agency filed formal immigration charges in 2007 against 1,64,000 immigrants convicted of crimes in the United States , compared to 64,000 cases in 2006 .
-Myers says the move to speed the deportation of foreign-born criminals is aimed at helping U.S. prisons reduce the costs of housing immigrants .
-She says imprisoned foreigners include immigrants who were legal residents but lost their legal status after their convictions .
-Mexican police have reopened a central square in the city of Oaxaca after clearing out protesters demanding that the state governor resign .
-Witnesses said federal police cleaned up trash and painted over graffiti left by activists who launched the protests five months ago .
-Some foreign tourists also returned to the popular vacation spot on Tuesday .
-Protesters , however , remain in control of many other parts of the city .
-And organizers say they will not quit the protests until Governor Ulises Ruiz resigns over corruption allegations .
-At least nine people , including a U.S. journalist , have been killed in the crisis in recent weeks .
-A United Nations human rights expert says he has received reports of abuse by paramilitary groups in the crackdown .
-He urged Mexico 's government to investigate the claims of murder and arbitrary detention .
-In Africa , elephant conservation has always been threatened by the illegal ivory trade .
-This spring there was another new threat to the elephants when South Africa lifted its 13-year ban against culling .
-Officials announced plans to thin the herds by 5,000 .
-Yet , animal advocates argue that elephants are an endangered species .
-VOA 's Carolyn Turner reports on the background of the ivory politics .
-U.S. military officials say 75 prisoners at the American naval base at Guantanamo Bay are on a hunger strike .
-A military spokesman for the base Navy Commander Robert Durand says the hunger strike is an attempt to gain media attention .
-He said it may be related to May 18 clashes between detainees and military guards .
-Some of the detainees have been on the hunger strike since August .
-In past months , the military has force-fed hunger strikers by placing a tube through their noses into their stomachs .
-Earlier this month , lawyers for a detainee filed a complaint saying the force-feeding method amounts to torture .
-More than 400 prisoners are being held at Guantanamo on suspicion of links to al-Qaida or the Taleban .
-Pakistan security officials say a U.S. missile strike has killed four suspected militants in the country 's northwestern region , along the Afghan border .
-Officials say three missiles hit a vehicle carrying the militants in the Datta Khel village in the North Waziristan tribal district .
-The U.S. has launched nearly 20 missile strikes against Taliban and al-Qaida-linked militant strongholds in Pakistan 's northwestern tribal region this month .
-Pakistani officials publicly condemn the drone strikes , saying they violate the country 's territorial sovereignty .
-U.S. officials do not publicly comment on the strikes , which Pakistan generally says are carried out by drones .
-Pope Benedict XVI has received top officials of the World Jewish Congress , who pressed concern about threats from Iran and urged the pontiff to pursue dialogue with moderate Muslims .
-The Jewish organization 's President Ronald Lauder and its Secretary General Michael Schneider presented their concerns to the pope at a private audience at the Vatican .
-The Jewish leaders noted anxiety over what they said is the continued appearance of instances of anti-Semitism in Europe and Iran .
-They specifically raised the issue of a Polish priest , accused of broadcasting anti-Semitic views on his influential radio station .
-The delegation thanked the pontiff for his efforts in building interfaith relations and called building dialogue with moderate Muslim countries important in efforts to secure a peaceful future .
-Delegation members also invited the pontiff to meet with senior Jewish leaders during his trip to New York next year .
-Germany 's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier says there is still time for Iran to agree to talks on its nuclear program and avoid international sanctions .
-Steinmeier told a European radio broadcaster ( Inforadio ) that European Union leaders are set to meet Tuesday to discuss backing sanctions by the U.N. Security Council .
-He called on Iran to agree to suspend enrichment activities , saying that currently there is no possibility for successful talks with Iran .
-Western nations say Iran must suspend enrichment before a new round of negotiations on its nuclear program .
-Iran has rejected the suspension as a condition for talks .
-U.S. officials say the five permanent members of the Security Council - United States , Britain , Russia , France and China - plus Germany have reached broad agreement on sanctions against Iran .
-Western nations accuse Iran of seeking nuclear weapons , which Iran denies .
-The Israeli defense minister has approved a proposal to delay a withdrawal from the Gaza Strip by three weeks , clearing the way for top officials to make a final decision on the plan .
-Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz previously had sent mixed signals about delaying the pullout from July 20 until after August 14 , when an annual Jewish mourning period ends .
-But he accepted the delay at a meeting with top officials Thursday .
-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told reporters the Gaza pullout will go forward , but he also vowed to build more housing in the West Bank .
-The United States has repeatedly said that such construction violates the internationally-backed peace plan known as the " road map " .
-Meanwhile , the Israeli army said Palestinian militants detonated a roadside bomb in Gaza Thursday , wounding one soldier .
-Iranian officials say an explosion Wednesday near the southwestern port city of Daylam was caused by construction work , and was not a hostile attack .
-News of the blast raised concerns , because it was in the same province where Iran and Russia are building a nuclear reactor .
-However , the blasting site was about 150 kilometers north of the Bushehr nuclear facility .
-Earlier state television reported that residents had seen an aircraft overhead at the time of the blast .
-The television channel reported that the explosion may have been caused by a fuel tank dropping from an Iranian airplane .
-A top Colombian official says his government will investigate Ecuador 's claim that Colombian military aircraft violated Ecuadorean territory .
-Deputy Foreign Minister Camilo Reyes said Tuesday his government has received a protest note from Ecuador .
-But he told reporters that the incursion , if it happened , was not premeditated .
-Reyes noted Colombian military forces have been pursuing leftist rebels in southern Colombia , near the border with Ecuador .
-Ecuador says Colombian military aircraft and helicopters strayed into Ecuadorean air space Saturday and fired machine guns at targets in Ecuadorean territory .
-The Associated Press quotes Ecuador 's Defense Minister , Oswaldo Jarrin as demanding an apology from Colombia .
-Ecuador has long expressed concern that violence from Colombia 's four-decade war against leftist rebels could spill across the lengthy border separating the two nations .
-NATO said two U.S. soldiers have been killed in a bomb blast in southern Afghanistan .
-The NATO-led force released no other details of the incident .
-The U.S. military confirmed the soldiers were American .
-July has been the deadliest month for international forces in Afghanistan since the Taliban-led government was ousted in 2001 .
-In recent weeks , 4,000 U.S. Marines , along with British and Afghan troops , have launched a major offensive in southern Afghanistan , targeting Taliban insurgents in their traditional strongholds .
-The operation is aimed at ensuring security ahead of Afghanistan 's presidential election next month .
-The United Nations special envoy to Burma says that country 's foreign minister has refused to meet with him on the sidelines of this week 's Association of Southeast Asian Nations ministerial meeting in Laos .
-Razali Ismail says Foreign Minister Nyan Win told him in a message that he would be " too busy " during this week 's conference .
-Mr. Razali met separately Monday with the foreign ministers of Thailand and the Philippines .
-He is hoping the ASEAN nations can convince Rangoon to let him return to Burma , which he last visited in 2004 .
-The UN envoy is pushing for reconciliation between Burma 's military rulers and pro-democracy forces let by Aung San Suu Kyi .
-Intelogic Trace Inc. , San Antonio , Texas , said it bought 2.7 million shares , or about 18 % , of its common stock from an unaffiliated shareholder for $ 3.625 a share , or $ 9.9 million .
-The move boosts Intelogic Chairman Asher Edelman 's stake to 20 % from 16.2 % and may help prevent Martin Ackerman from making a run at the computer-services concern .
-Mr. Ackerman already is seeking to oust Mr. Edelman as chairman of Datapoint Corp. , an Intelogic affiliate .
-The action followed by one day an Intelogic announcement that it will retain an investment banker to explore alternatives " to maximize shareholder value , " including the possible sale of the company .
-In New York Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday , Intelogic shares rose 37.5 cents to close at $ 2.75 .
-Mr. Edelman declined to specify what prompted the recent moves , saying they are meant only to benefit shareholders when " the company is on a roll . "
-He added , " This has nothing to do with Marty Ackerman and it is not designed , particularly , to take the company private . "
-But Mr. Ackerman said the buy-back , and the above-market price paid , prove that Mr. Edelman is running scared .
-Some fishing takes place in adjacent waters .
-There is a potential source of income from harvesting finfish and krill .
-The islands receive income from postage stamps produced in the UK , sale of fishing licenses , and harbor and landing fees from tourist vessels .
-Tourism from specialized cruise ships is increasing rapidly .
-Although ultimately a victor in World Wars I and II , France suffered extensive losses in its empire , wealth , manpower , and rank as a dominant nation-state .
-Nevertheless , France today is one of the most modern countries in the world and is a leader among European nations .
-Since 1958 , it has constructed a hybrid presidential-parliamentary governing system resistant to the instabilities experienced in earlier more purely parliamentary administrations .
-In recent decades , its reconciliation and cooperation with Germany have proved central to the economic integration of Europe , including the introduction of a common exchange currency , the euro , in January 1999 .
-In the early 21st century , five French overseas entities - French Guiana , Guadeloupe , Martinique , Mayotte , and Reunion - became French regions and were made part of France proper .
-The economy has grown 05-Jun % per year since 1996 despite political instability , poor infrastructure , corruption , insufficient power supplies , and slow implementation of economic reforms .
-Bangladesh remains a poor , overpopulated , and inefficiently-governed nation .
-Although more than half of GDP is generated through the service sector , 45 % of Bangladeshis are employed in the agriculture sector , with rice as the single-most-important product .
-Bangladesh 's growth was resilient during the 2008 - 9 global financial crisis and recession .
-Garment exports , totaling $ 12.3 billion in FY09 and remittances from overseas Bangladeshis , totaling $ 11 billion in FY10 , accounted for almost 25 % of GDP .
-Nepal is among the poorest and least developed countries in the world , with almost one-quarter of its population living below the poverty line .
-Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy , providing a livelihood for three-fourths of the population and accounting for about one-third of GDP .
-Industrial activity mainly involves the processing of agricultural products , including pulses , jute , sugarcane , tobacco , and grain .
-Nepal has considerable scope for exploiting its potential in hydropower , with an estimated 42,000 MW of feasible capacity , but political instability hampers foreign investment .
-Additional challenges to Nepal 's growth include its landlocked geographic location , civil strife and labor unrest , and its susceptibility to natural disaster .
-It happened that a Dog had got a piece of meat and was carrying it home in his mouth to eat it in peace .
-Now on his way home he had to cross a plank lying across a running brook .
-As he crossed , he looked down and saw his own shadow reflected in the water beneath .
-Thinking it was another dog with another piece of meat , he made up his mind to have that also .
-So he made a snap at the shadow in the water , but as he opened his mouth the piece of meat fell out , dropped into the water and was never seen more .
-Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow .
-America and Israel struck a deal to bolster each others Armies .
-The Israelis said they would like to exchange three generals for three generals .
-The Americans agreed , stating they wanted an IDF General to teach tactics , an armor General to teach desert warfare , and a Mossad General to teach espionage .
-The Israelis replied and said they wanted General Electric , General Motors , and General Dynamics .
-Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov says Moscow will go ahead with a controversial weapons sale to Syria .
-Russian news agencies quote Mr. Ivanov as saying Russia will supply Strelets air defense systems to Syria .
-He said Moscow believes the sale will not disrupt the balance of forces in the region .
-Mr. Ivanov spoke after meeting with Ukraine 's defense minister , Anatoliy Hrytsenko , in Moscow .
-Tuesday 's comments come one day before Russian President Vladimir Putin is to travel to Israel .
-The Israeli government has expressed concern that the weapons could fall into the hands of terrorists .
-Mr. Ivanov also said Moscow theoretically could begin withdrawing from the two remaining Soviet-era bases in Georgia this year if there is an agreement on a date for completing the pullout .
-Russia 's foreign minister made similar comments Monday .
-Georgia has demanded a quick pullout , while Moscow says it could take years .
-NATO officials say a cargo helicopter chartered by a military contractor is missing in Afghanistan , and that NATO troops are assisting in the search .
-NATO spokesmen Thursday declined to say where the search is taking place , citing security reasons .
-The firm Supreme Global Services , which handles catering and logistics , chartered the helicopter .
-It disappeared this week , but there are conflicting reports about which day it went missing .
-Officials in central Afghanistan 's Logar province say there were reports Wednesday night of a helicopter making an emergency landing .
-It was not immediately clear if that was the cargo helicopter reported missing .
-Venezuela lawmakers have given preliminary approval for a referendum to scrap presidential term limits .
-The National Assembly debated the constitutional amendment Thursday .
-It would allow President Hugo Chavez to run for re-election in 2012 and beyond .
-Election officials said the referendum on the amendment could be held in March if the lawmakers give their approval on the second reading of the draft amendment in January .
-Government officials said Chavez supporters collected nearly five million signatures to symbolically support the amendment sought by the socialist leader .
-Last year , Venezuelans narrowly rejected a broad package of constitutional amendments that lifted term limits for the presidency .
-Mr. Chavez has asked voters to change Venezuela 's constitution to move the country toward what he called 21st century socialism .
-Tens of thousands of people in insurgency-plagued Indian Kashmir voted Saturday in the territory 's first local elections in a quarter-century .
-Witnesses say large numbers of voters turned out despite freezing weather and the threat of rebel attacks .
-Gunmen killed one candidate and wounded two others Friday , but no violence was reported once voting began .
-More than 96,000 people were eligible to cast ballots today in two districts bordering the portion of Kashmir administered by Pakistan .
-Voting for mayors and town council members in other districts will take place during the next two weeks .
-Militants who want to drive India out of Kashmir called for a boycott of the election , which they contend is an attempt by New Delhi to show that Kashmir is a legitimate part of India .
-A U.S. helicopter has crashed late Friday in eastern Afghanistan , killing all 10 American soldiers on board .
-U.S. military officials say the crash late Friday occurred during combat operations in Kunar province .
-The CH-47 Chinook went down about 240 kilometers east of the capital , Kabul , not far from the Pakistan border .
-Military spokeswoman Lieutenant Tamara Lawrence says an investigation is under way to determine the cause of the crash .
-" But it is important to note that the crash was not due to any hostile action or enemy fire , " she said .
-She says the bodies of all 10 soldiers have been recovered .
-More than 2,000 U.S. and Afghan soldiers have been targeting al-Qaida and Taleban insurgents in Kunar province since last month .
-It is one of the largest offensives since the U.S.-led coalition ousted the Taleban from power in 2001 .
-Syria has rejected Israel 's call to hold unconditional peace talks with Damascus .
-The official Tishrin newspaper said in an editorial Wednesday that Israel 's reported air strike in Syria earlier this month shows that Israel is not interested in peace .
-The editorial also cites Israel 's fighting in Lebanon last year .
-Syria has accused Israel of violating its air space and dropping munitions on its territory on September 6 .
-The Israeli government has refused to comment on the alleged incident .
-On Monday , Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel is ready to negotiate with Syria without preconditions .
-The Syrian newspaper is calling on Israeli officials to show sincerity by resuming negotiations at the point where they broke down in 2000 .
-Israel-Syria peace talks collapsed over the Golan Heights .
-Israel seized the territory from Syria during the 1967 war .
-Syria has repeated its willingness to cooperate with the U.N. investigation into the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri .
-In a statement released Friday , Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Damascus would " continue " to cooperate with the international probe into Mr. Hariri 's assassination .
-The announcement comes hours after Mr. al-Assad held talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in the Syrian capital .
-The U.N. Security Council is expected to resume talks next week on a draft resolution , co-sponsored by the United States , Britain and France , that threatens Syria with sanctions if it does not fully cooperate with the U.N. investigation .
-Last week , a U.N. report on the investigation implicated Syrian officials in the assassination of Mr. Hariri .
-In Beirut , Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said the Shi'ite group would stand by Damascus in the wake of the U.N. report .
-Crude oil prices have closed at a record high level in New York in part because of the market 's uncertainty about Iranian policies following that country 's presidential election .
-Crude oil closed at $ 60.45 a barrel Monday on the New York Mercantile Exchange after hitting a high of $ 60.95 earlier in the day .
-New York prices hit a record of 59.85 dollars last Thursday .
-Market analysts cited investor concerns about a possible worsening of U.S.-Iranian tensions following the election of conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president last Friday .
-Market watchers also speculate that oil prices keep climbing because of worries that refineries will struggle to meet a likely increase in demand .
-Lebanon has asked foreign experts to help in the investigation of the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri .
-Judiciary officials say Swiss DNA and explosives experts will be helping with the probe into Monday 's car bombing in Beirut that killed Mr. Hariri and at least 14 others .
-Mr. Hariri was laid to rest at a Beirut mosque Wednesday after an emotional and politically charged funeral .
-Hundreds of thousands of mourners jammed the city for the funeral .
-Many mourners chanted anti-Syrian slogans .
-Lebanese opposition politicians blamed the killing on Syria , the main power broker in Lebanon .
-Damascus insists it had no role in the murder .
-U.S. Assistant Secretary of State William Burns has called for the withdrawal of Syria 's 14,000 troops from Lebanon .
-Washington recalled its ambassador to Syria earlier this week .
-A new poll indicates a majority of both Republicans and Democrats think President Bush should disclose contacts between his staff and disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff .
-A Washington Post / ABC poll released Saturday says 76 percent of the 1,000 people surveyed say President Bush should release lists of all meetings between Abramoff and his staff .
-Broken down by party lines , two-thirds of Republicans favored disclosure , as well as eighty percent of Democrats and independents .
-At a news conference Thursday , President Bush said federal prosecutors are welcome to look into those meetings , but he denied knowing Abramoff .
-Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty to fraud charges earlier this month and agreed to cooperate with a federal corruption probe .
-The poll also found that 56 percent of respondents disapprove of the way President Bush is handling ethics in government .
-U.S. military officials say three U.S. service members have been killed by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan .
-Officials made the announcement Wednesday but have not provided any more information .
-The bombing comes amid a wave of attacks by Afghan insurgents against U.S. and NATO forces .
-Last month was the deadliest for U.S. forces in Afghanistan since the Taliban-led government was ousted in 2001 .
-Violence has risen steadily in Afghanistan in recent years as the Taliban has fought to extend control across wide swaths of the countryside .
-The U.S. military and NATO have deployed a record number of troops to try to help Afghan forces crush the insurgency .
-Officials in Afghanistan say a suicide car bomb attack in the southern city of Kandahar has killed at least eight civilians and wounded at least 25 other people .
-Police say the car bomber targeted a NATO convoy passing through Kandahar .
-Three coalition soldiers and two Afghan policemen were among the wounded in Thursday 's blast .
-A NATO spokesman declined to give the nationalities of the soldiers .
-Afghan , NATO and U.S. troops are fighting a resurgent Taliban and other rebels who have strongholds in the southern and eastern parts of the country .
-British newspapers say Britain 's terrorist attack threat level has been secretly lowered for the first time since the July 7 bombings in London .
-The Sunday Telegraph and Sunday Times say the decision to lower the security threat level was made Thursday because intelligence agencies had no specific information on possible attacks .
-Meanwhile , London police chief Ian Blair says he did not know his officers had killed an innocent Brazilian man at a subway station last month until a full day after the shooting incident .
-British authorities have come under increasing criticism for the July 22 killing as conflicting reports emerge about circumstances leading up to the shooting of 27-year-old Jean-Charles de Menezes .
-Police wrongly suspected the man was a suicide bomber .
-Britain 's Home Secretary Charles Clarke has expressed confidence in the way police are handling the investigation .
-Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper says the country will not pull its troops out of Afghanistan , despite opposition calls for debate on the issue .
-Mr. Harper said Tuesday , that debating the deployment could weaken the troops and put them in danger .
-Canada has 2,300 troops in Kandahar as part of a NATO mission and was originally scheduled to pull them out after a short time .
-But military officials say the troops ' return likely will be delayed .
-Over the past week , two Canadian soldiers have died in traffic accidents and another was attacked with an axe .
-Ten Canadian troops and one diplomat have died in Afghanistan since 2001 .
-Thousands of Afghan students have held another protest against the reprinting of a Danish cartoon showing the Prophet Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban .
-The latest demonstration came Sunday in the eastern city of Jalalabad .
-The protesters shouted slogans against Denmark and the Netherlands and denounced an upcoming Dutch film that reportedly criticizes the Koran .
-They also called for Danish and Dutch troops to be expelled from the NATO-led force in Afghanistan .
-On Saturday , thousands of people marched through the western city of Herat .
-Muslims consider any depiction of the Prophet Muhammad as blasphemous .
-The cartoon published in Denmark was one of 12 that led to deadly riots across the Muslim world when they were first published in 2006 .
-Several Danish newspapers reprinted the cartoon last month in a show of support for the cartoonist , after police said they had uncovered a plot to kill him .
-The leader of the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan , Islam Karimov , is warning the West not to try to foment revolution in his country .
-In an address to parliament in Tashkent on Friday , Mr. Karimov said he has enough power to crush any groups who violate Uzbek law .
-Mr. Karimov specifically warned against using the political upheavals in Georgia and Ukraine as a model for Uzbekistan and neighboring Kyrgyzstan .
-The revolutions in Georgia and Ukraine brought pro-Western leaders to power .
-Uzbekistan has long drawn international criticism for its lack of democratic reforms and a poor human rights record .
-European markets opened mixed Wednesday , following gains in Tokyo and Hong Kong .
-Markets in London and Paris are up 5 and 6 percent , while Frankfurt is down nearly 2 percent .
-Tokyo 's Nikkei index rallied late in the day to close up nearly 7.75 percent , following speculation that Japan 's central bank might cut interest rates .
-The Hang Seng in Hong Kong finished about one percent higher .
-An announcement by the U.S. central bank on interest rates is expected later Wednesday .
-Rate cuts reduce the cost of borrowing and can boost economic activity .
-On Tuesday in New York , the benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped nearly 11 percent and other U.S. indexes also gained .
-The gains recovered some of the losses of previous trading sessions , and follow a series of government efforts to bolster the battered global economy .
-A spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force says NATO and Afghan forces have killed about 50 Taleban insurgents in an operation in southern Afghanistan .
-The NATO spokesman said there were no casualties among NATO and Afghan troops .
-The operation began last week in two districts ( Panjwayi and Zhari ) of Kandahar province .
-The spokesman said so far , alliance forces have cleared three villages of Taleban insurgents .
-In mid-September , NATO forces carried out another operation in the same area , during which a large number of Taleban were reported killed .
-The Taleban are mostly active in southern and eastern parts of Afghanistan , close to the border with Pakistan .
-Violence tied to the insurgency has killed at least 4,000 people in 2006 .
-Afghan President Hamid Karzai says Afghanistan is not a hideout for terrorism , but a victim of it .
-During an address Wednesday marking the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha , Mr. Karzai urged the U.S. and its allies to target terrorists outside of Afghanistan .
-The Afghan leader says militants are being trained in sanctuaries and centers outside the country .
-He did not name any location , but such comments from Afghan officials usually refer to Pakistan .
-Mr. Karzai 's comments come as the United States launches a review of its mission and goals in Afghanistan .
-More than 6,000 people have died so far this year , in violence related to a growing Taliban insurgency .
-Mr. Karzai has reached out to Taliban leaders , asking those not involved with al-Qaida to lay down their weapons and join the government .
-A basketball game between China and visiting Puerto Rico deteriorated into a brawl Friday night in an incident state media termed a bad example by the future Olympic hosts .
-The fighting erupted at Beijing Capital Gymnasium when two Chinese players charged off the bench after seeing teammate Yi Jianlian fouled hard by Puerto Rican center Manuel Narvaez .
-The bad feelings spilled into the stands , where 3,000 home fans hurled insults and missiles .
-Officials ended the game as the visitors fled to the locker room , one shielding his head with a plastic chair .
-China 's basketball association deplored the violence as setting a poor example three years before Beijing hosts the summer Olympics .
-The association says it will adopt measures to prevent such violence in the future .
-Hundreds of thousands of Cubans have attended a May Day rally in Havana , where a local labor leader encouraged Cubans to stay on the path set out by former President Fidel Castro .
-Many of the marchers wore red T-shirts and waved Cuban flags Thursday as they marched through Revolution Square .
-During the rally , President Raul Castro made his first May Day appearance as Cuban leader , but did not speak .
-Since succeeding his older brother in February , Raul Castro has lifted several restrictions on Cubans , including the purchase of cell phones , DVD's and computers .
-Cubans are also now able to stay in hotels if they can afford it .
-The average salary is about $ 17 per month .
-May Day celebrations are being held around the world .
-The annual event marks International Workers Day .
-Condoleezza Rice U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has arrived in Chile , the third stop of her five-day Latin American tour .
-Secretary Rice is due to hold separate meetings Thursday with Chilean President Ricardo Lagos and Foreign Minister Ignacio Walker .
-She will later join officials from some 140 countries for a two-day meeting in Santiago of the informal Community of Democracies .
-In Colombia on Wednesday , Secretary Rice pledged continued U.S. support for the country 's war against armed insurgents and drug traffickers .
-She said the Bush administration is asking Congress for more than $ 600 million in security aid for Colombia .
-Ms. Rice will stop in El Salvador on the final leg of her trip , before flying back to Washington .
-U.S. weather forecasters say Hurricane Stan has slammed into Mexico 's Gulf Coast , hitting the eastern state of Veracruz with high winds and heavy rain .
-The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Tuesday the storm is now moving southwest with maximum sustained winds of 130 kilometers an hour .
-Forecasters said the storm is centered about 140 minutes southeast of the port city of Veracruz .
-The Mexican government had earlier issued a hurricane warning from Palma Sola in the south to Chilitepic in the east .
-Mexico 's state oil monopoly Pemex - a major oil supplier to the United States - says it has evacuated 270 workers from five oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico .
-Stan dumped heavy rains over Central America last week , causing flooding and mudslides that killed at least 31 people in El Salvador and four others in neighboring Guatemala .
-Indonesian health officials say seven people from a village in northern Sumatra are being treated for what doctors suspect may be bird flu .
-The villagers come from the same district where bird flu killed seven members of an extended family in May .
-Officials say the suspected new cases include two young siblings and a neighbor 's baby .
-They have been admitted to a hospital in the city of Medan .
-Local authorities are carrying out tests on the seven villagers to determine whether they have the dangerous H5N1 strain of the virus .
-The previous cluster of bird flu deaths in northern Sumatra was the largest of its kind since the global outbreak began , and raised concerns about human-to-human transmission of the virus .
-Indonesia has confirmed 42 deaths from bird flu , tying Vietnam for the world 's highest number of fatalities .
-Oil prices rose above $ 50 a barrel Friday , rebounding from a 3.5 year low as dealers sought to stock up on cheaper oil .
-Oil prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose to $ 50.65 , up from about $ 49 on Thursday .
-Brent Crude , which trades in London and prices two-thirds of the world 's crude , rose to $ 49.7 .
-Key benchmarks for crude oil are down almost two-thirds since a July high of more than $ 147 .
-Bloomberg financial news service says sales also increased on speculation that oil-producing OPEC countries will cut production levels when they meet later this month in Cairo .
-Last month , the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries slashed its official oil output quota by about 1.5 million barrels a day .
-Some analysts say prices will continue to decline in 2009 as the economic slowdown continues .
-Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi says he will more than double the size of Iraq 's army to 1,50,000 troops , in the face of a deadly insurgency that has killed more than 100 Iraqis over the past week alone .
-In Baghdad , Mr. Allawi said Tuesday he has allocated $ 2.2 billion in this year 's budget to expand the army and upgrade its weaponry .
-Meanwhile , violence across Iraq continues .
-Abu Musab al-Zarqawi 's terrorist network claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack in Tikrit that killed six policemen and wounded several others .
-In an area known as the " triangle of death " south of Baghdad , a roadside bomb exploded , killing at least seven people in a passing minibus .
-And following an explosion , firefighters battled a pipeline fire north of the capital .
-U.S. military officials say the United States will dispatch up to 1,500 Marines and a ship carrying 20 helicopters to Sri Lanka to help relief efforts in areas devastated by last Sunday 's tsunami .
-A U.S. spokesman in Colombo said the first contingent of 200 Marines will arrive in Sri Lanka shortly from a base in Okinawa , Japan .
-He said the Marines will operate from an offshore platform south of the port city of Galle .
-Meanwhile , flash floods in eastern Sri Lanka are hampering relief efforts .
-Local officials say heavy rains forced the evacuation of thousands of people already affected by the tsunami .
-Aid convoys continue to have difficulty reaching some of the hardest-hit areas .
-Nearly one million Sri Lankans have been displaced and are living in temporary camps .
-The nationwide death toll is approaching 29,000 .
-The husband of Iraqi aid worker Margaret Hassan has asked Islamic militants to return his wife 's body to him so that she can , in his words , rest in peace .
-Tahseen Hassan spoke Wednesday after the al-Jazeera television network obtained a video that appears to show the murder of Mrs. Hassan .
-Britain 's Prime Minister Tony Blair called the apparent killing of the British-born humanitarian an abhorrent act .
-Poul Nielsen , A top European Union Development official , said her abduction and killing make it almost impossible for relief agencies to continue working in Iraq .
-Mrs. Hassan spent 30 years caring for Iraq 's poorest citizens , particularly children .
-She was the head of the CARE International humanitarian group in Iraq , and a vocal opponent of the U.S.-led invasion .
-Her abduction last month was widely condemned by Iraqi civilians and Islamic groups .
-Iraqi President Jalal Talabani says Baghdad has ordered light military equipment from China because the United States is unable to provide them and is too slow to deliver arms shipments .
-Mr. Talabani told the Washington Post Wednesday that the weapons , worth $ 100 million , are intended for Iraq 's police force .
-He said U.S. factories do not have the capacity to meet Baghdad 's requirements .
-Mr. Talabani , who was in Washington for talks with President Bush , also called for faster deliveries of U.S. weapons to strengthen the Iraqi army .
-U.S. officials have acknowledged that Washington faced problems delivering everything Iraq needed .
-But they also point out that Iraqi security forces have been unable to account for nearly 2,00,000 U.S. supplied weapons .
-It is feared that many of those weapons might have gone to various insurgent and militia groups seeking to destabilize Iraq and target U.S. troops .
-A new poll in Kenya indicates more than 60 percent of Kenyans will vote in favor of a new constitution next month .
-The poll shows 62 percent of voters want a new constitution , with 20 percent opposed .
-Of those in favor of the new constitution , most said it needs some amendments .
-The random survey of 3,000 Kenyans ( by Strategic Research ) also found 18 percent of voters are still undecided .
-The proposed constitution grew out of the 2008 power-sharing deal between President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga after a disputed election triggered riots and ethnic violence across Kenya .
-Some 1,300 people were killed before the violence was brought under control .
-The city of Fort Wayne in the midwestern state of Indiana is home to one of the largest Burmese immigrant and refugee communities in the United States .
-Now , the community is struggling to deal with the aftermath of a devastating cyclone that has affected most of their families in Burma .
-VOA 's Kane Farabaugh traveled to Fort Wayne .
-He reports that the biggest challenge for many Burmese in the United States is learning the fate of their loved ones .
-President Bush met at the White House Monday with Burmese human rights activist Charm Tong .
-In an interview with Voice of America 's Burmese service , Charm Tong said she expressed her concerns to President Bush about what she called the desperate human rights situation in Burma -- including forced labor and extra judicial killings .
-Charm Tong said the president was very concerned and asked what the United States could do to help .
-Charm Tong , a 23-year-old ethnic Shan , fled to Thailand as a small child to escape ethnic persecution in Burma .
-She has co-founded a network of human rights monitors on the Thai-Burmese border and established a school for other Shan refugees .
-Charm Tong was among four Burmese women nominated this year for the Nobel Peace Prize and was awarded the Reebok Human Rights Award given to young people who risk personal safety to fight injustice .
-The U.S. military says two American pilots were killed in a military helicopter crash in northern Iraq , which was likely caused by hostile fire .
-A U.S. commander in Iraq , Lieutenant General John Vines , said the aircraft was lost near Mosul , and indicators point to hostile fire as the cause of the crash .
-Thursday , the U.S. military predicted an increase in insurgent attacks as the newly elected Iraqi government forms , and final results from last month 's general elections are released .
-Brigadier-General Don Alston said insurgents may use Iraq 's transition to a new government as an opportunity to try to derail the democratic process .
-Ivorian opposition leader Alassane Ouattara says he will return to Ivory Coast from exile in France to run for president of the west African nation .
-In an interview published Sunday by a French newspaper , Nord Eclair , the former prime minister said he would stand for office as head of the " Rally for Republicans " party .
-Ouattara was prevented from running for president in 2000 because of questions about his citizenship .
-He left Ivory Coast in 2002 for self-imposed exile in France .
-The government of Ivory Coast accuses Ouattara of backing rebels who control the northern half of the country .
-No date has been set for the presidential election , but it is expected to be held before the end of October .
-The body of a young Brazilian man has arrived in Brazil six days after he was gunned down by London police who mistook him for a terror suspect .
-The remains of Jean Charles de Menezes arrived Thursday at an airport in his home state of Minas Gerais .
-The Brazilian Air Force then flew his casket to Gobernador Valadares , where mourners gathered to pay their respects .
-The 27-year-old electrician 's funeral is to be held on Friday .
-Earlier this week , a group of people mostly linked to leftist parties and movements gathered outside the British embassy in Brazil to protest the killing .
-British Prime Minister Tony Blair has publicly apologized and pledged to investigate the shooting incident .
-The top human rights court in Latin America has upheld the conviction of Lori Berenson , a U.S. woman who has been imprisoned in Peru for terrorist collaboration .
-President Alejandro Toledo Thursday welcomed the decision of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights .
-Berenson had appealed to the court after the Peruvian Supreme Court upheld her conviction .
-Her family and lawyers argued that she had not been given a fair trial .
-Berenson was arrested in 1995 and accused of involvement in a failed attempt by the rebel Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement to seize Peru 's Congress .
-She has maintained her innocence .
-The U.S. Air Force says it will send 300 airmen home from Iraq and Afghanistan to help their families cope with emergencies from devastating Hurricane Katrina .
-A military spokesman said Saturday the airmen - all based at Keesler Air Base in Biloxi , Mississippi - would begin flying home over the next two weeks .
-The group includes personnel who were scheduled to rotate home in September and others whose deployments would be cut short .
-Hurricane Katrina did serious damage to Keesler Air Base , wiping out much of its housing and infrastructure .
-An open microphone at Monday 's lunch of Group of Eight leaders recorded President Bush speaking bluntly about the situation in the Middle East .
-While he thought he was talking privately with British Prime Minister Tony Blair , the microphone picked up Mr. Bush using an expletive to describe Hezbollah 's attacks on Israel .
-Mr. Blair realized the microphone was on and quickly turned it off .
-White House spokesman Tony Snow says Mr. Bush rolled his eyes and laughed when he was told his private comments were recorded .
-A court in central Russia has convicted a scientist on charges of illegally selling technology abroad that authorities say could be used in weapons .
-The Bashkortostan Supreme Court sentenced academic Oskar Kaibyshev Tuesday to a six-year suspended prison term .
-It also fined him $ 1,30,000 and barred him from heading research teams for the next three years .
-The 67-year-old Kaibyshev has steadfastly maintained his innocence .
-He claimed the technology developed at a research institute that he headed had already been patented in the United States and other countries .
-Defense lawyers say they will appeal .
-Russia 's Interfax news agency quotes veteran human rights activist Lyudmila Alekseyeva as saying she is grateful for Kaibyshev 's suspended sentence .
-However , she called the verdict " outrageous . "
-She said she believes that Russian security officials framed the scientist .
-Police in northwestern Pakistan say a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden vehicle near a checkpoint Wednesday , wounding four soldiers .
-Only the attacker was killed in this blast in the town of Bannu , in volatile North West Frontier province .
-The assembly rewriting Ecuador 's constitution is meeting Thursday to debate the new charter that would grant President Rafael Correa broad powers .
-The assembly has been working on the changes since November .
-If the new constitution is approved , voters will decide in September whether to adopt it .
-President Correa has said the constitution should be changed to limit the power of Ecuador 's major political parties .
-The proposed constitution also would allow Mr. Correa to seek re-election to a new four-year term .
-Separately , it would transfer to the president functions currently performed by the Central Bank .
-Earlier this week , the Constitutional Assembly announced that the Central Bank president , Robert Andrade , resigned but gave no reason for his decision .
-United Nations monitors say the Sudanese military is indiscriminately bombing villages in the north Darfur region , killing and injuring scores of civilians .
-A spokesman , Jose Diaz , for the U.N. High Commissioner on Human Rights says Friday government bombing raids have forced hundreds of civilians in north Darfur to flee their homes .
-He says a new report shows the government is waging a campaign against rebel groups who have not signed a peace agreement .
-U.N. monitors also report ongoing sexual violence and rape of women who venture outside their villages to seek food or firewood in south Darfur , particularly near the village of Gereida .
-The U.N. report says the alleged incidents took place earlier this month in the troubled region .
-Some 2,00,000 people have been killed in Darfur since the start of fighting three years ago .
-U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan met in Washington Thursday , for talks that focused mainly on Iraq .
-Speaking to reporters after the meeting , Mr. Annan said U.N. efforts to help Iraq prepare for upcoming elections are " on track . "
-Mr. Annan has said he will boost the number of U.N. staffers in Iraq , most of whom he withdrew last year after the bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad .
-Mr. Powell said the United States " has confidence " in the secretary-general , who has come under fire for scandals that plagued the U.N. oil-for-food program for Iraq .
-The two men said their talks also covered Afghanistan , Sudan and Haiti .
-Mr. Annan meets next with Condoleezza Rice , who President Bush has nominated to be Mr. Powell 's successor .
-Later , he speaks to an independent group , the Council on Foreign Relations .
-Tropical Storm Katrina has been upgraded to a hurricane as it bears down on the southeastern U.S. state of Florida , on a path toward cities along the Atlantic coast .
-At last report , the 11th named storm of this year 's Atlantic hurricane season was 40 kilometers east-northeast of Fort Lauderdale , a popular destination for tourists .
-Katrina had winds of 120 kilometers per hour .
-Many Florida residents are stocking up on gasoline , water and other supplies in preparation for the storm , which formed Wednesday over the Bahamas .
-Katrina is expected to make landfall late Thursday or early Friday .
-Forecasters warn the storm could dump several centimeters of rain in spots as it moves over the state toward the Gulf of Mexico .
-Egypt is holding talks in Cairo with Palestinian militant leaders , as part of a push to strengthen Palestinian support for a de~facto ceasefire with Israel .
-The talks are taking place as Egypt prepares to host an Israeli-Palestinian summit aimed at formalizing the truce and re-starting talks on the internationally brokered road map peace plan .
-Militant sources say Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal and Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Shallah were both meeting Wednesday with Egyptian negotiators .
-Egypt has not commented on the talks .
-Venezuela 's President Hugo Chavez has defended his plan to pass legislation by decree , calling U.S. reservations about his actions unacceptable meddling in Venezuela 's affairs .
-Mr. Chavez cursed at U.S. officials in a Sunday broadcast saying Venezuela is exercising the legal authority of a free nation .
-On Friday , U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said Mr. Chavez 's plan to rule by decree is an odd proposal in a democratic system .
-Venezuela 's legislature is expected this week to give Mr. Chavez the power to rule by decree for 18 months .
-During his inauguration address earlier this month , Mr. Chavez said he will seek to amend the constitution to allow unlimited consecutive presidential terms .
-Opposition lawmakers accuse the president of moving Venezuela toward a totalitarian form of government that resembles Cuba .
-Chinese officials say the world 's oldest panda in captivity has died at the age of 36 .
-Mei Mei passed away Tuesday at the zoo in the southwestern city of Guilin , where she had lived for the last 20 years .
-Experts say Mei Mei 's age made her the equivalent of more than 100 in human years .
-Mei Mei 's death came on the same day that Chinese media reported the birth of a second set of rare twin panda cubs at the Wolong panda reserve in the southwest province of Sichuan .
-Russia says a third round of talks with the United States on reducing their nuclear arsenals will take place in Geneva on June 23 and 24 .
-Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said Thursday that President Dmitri Medvedev and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama are hoping to announce the talks ' progress when Mr. Obama visits Moscow in early July .
-The goal of the talks is to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty ( START I ) before it expires on December 5 .
-Nestrenko told reporters the negotiations were proceeding in a " constructive " manner .
-START I led to major reductions in the U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenal at the end of the Cold War .
-Talks of finding a new agreement had made little progress under the administration of former U.S. President George W. Bush .
-Iranian state media say Iran has arrested seven people linked to U.S.-funded Radio Farda and has accused some of working for U.S. spy agencies .
-The official new agency IRNA says the seven are suspected of provoking protesters during the violent anti-government demonstration last December .
-At least eight people died on Ashura , the day of ritual Shi'ite Muslim mourning , after clashes broke out between security forces and opposition supporters .
-IRNA did not identify those arrested .
-Radio Farda is a Farsi-language broadcast service based in Prague , Czech Republic , and funded by the U.S. government .
-The arrests come as Iran is beginning to mark the 31st anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled the U.S.-backed shah .
-Opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi have urged their supporters to make their voices heard when Iranians march on February 11 .
-Iran 's government has threatened severe reprisals if the protests take place .
-Mexican authorities say they have found the second flight data recorder from the airplane crash that killed Interior Minister Juan Camilo Mourino .
-Transportation Minister Luis Tellez says Thursday that investigators found the " black box " containing voice recordings of the crew .
-The data recorder with navigation information was recovered on Wednesday .
-Tellez says both boxes will be examined in the United States .
-The small government plane crashed Tuesday during evening rush hour near Mexico 's City 's main avenue , Paseo de la Reforma .
-Among those killed was the former prosecutor for drug crimes , Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos , and at least a dozen other people in the aircraft and on the ground .
-Interior Minister Mourino had led a government campaign against mounting violence by drug cartels .
-The violence has killed about 4,000 people this year , including several top officials .
-A man says he was paid to throw a grenade at a mosque during Friday prayers in Indian Kashmir , an attack that killed five people , including two young girls .
-Local residents captured Ghulam Nadi Mir immediately after the attack in the village of Tahab and turned him over to police .
-He told reporters Saturday he was paid $ 20 to throw the grenade .
-Police suspect the incident involved the militant group Hizb-ul-Mujahedeen , but the group denied any involvement .
-The region has been rocked by a series of grenade attacks by separatist militants in recent months .
-Protesters in Venezuela have clashed with police as thousands demonstrated against constitutional reforms that some critics say will turn the country into an authoritarian state .
-Venezuelan police fired tear gas Tuesday at the student-led demonstrators after clashes broke out in Caracas .
-The proposed amendments include eliminating presidential term limits , detaining citizens without charge during national emergencies , and restricting the public 's access to information during an emergency .
-Leaders of Venezuela 's Roman Catholic Church are opposed to the changes , saying they amount to the concentration of power in the president 's hands .
-Human rights groups , including Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders , have also condemned the proposed constitutional amendments .
-Venezuela 's legislature plans to finalize the language for the 58 amendments by the end of this month , and a national vote on the changes is expected in December .
-China says Beijing 's already snarled traffic situation is likely to get worse in the run up to the 2008 Olympics .
-The official Xinhua news agency said Monday that Beijing registered more than 22,000 new vehicles in the first 18 days of this year .
-Xinhua said the capital city already has more than 20,00,000 registered vehicles and more than 40,00,000 people have a drivers license .
-The paper said officials predict the number of cars is expected to reach over 30,00,000 by the 2008 Olympic Games .
-Cars contribute to choking air pollution in major Chinese cities .
-The government has urged people to use public transportation , but officials say it probably will not do much to help chronic traffic congestion .
-The Pentagon says it has a well planned schedule to improve the armor of military vehicles in Iraq .
-In a briefing Thursday , Lieutenant General Steven Whitcomb said the military had enough resources and was installing additional armor on military vehicles already in Iraq and Kuwait .
-He acknowledged , however , the increased armor would not protect troops from improvised explosive devices detonated from underneath the vehicles .
-General Whitcomb stressed that increasing the armor on vehicles is just one part of the Army 's strategy to protect troops .
-He said a high priority is finding and stopping the insurgents from building the explosive devices .
-The briefing comes one day after Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld , visiting troops in Kuwait , was asked by servicemembers why their vehicles were not adequately protected .
-China 's Agriculture Ministry has reported two new outbreaks of bird flu among poultry in the northwestern Xinjiang region and the central province of Hunan .
-The ministry said Tuesday , that tens of thousands of birds were culled in both infected areas .
-China has confirmed three cases of bird flu in humans .
-Elsewhere , the Asian Development Bank has announced a $ 30 million grant for Vietnam , Cambodia and Laos to help contain the spread of bird flu and other diseases .
-The Manila-based bank says the grant will be funded in conjunction with the World Health Organization .
-And in several Australian cities Tuesday , emergency workers began an exercise to test the government 's response to a simulated outbreak of bird flu .
-About 1,000 people are expected to participate in the three-day drill .
-Afghan officials say a suicide blast has killed at least 10 people in a city in central Uruzgan province during a visit by the U.S. ambassador .
-Police say the attacker detonated explosives strapped to his body near the governor 's headquarters in the city of Tarin Kot .
-Some 50 people were wounded in the attack , but the ambassador , Ronald Neumann and other U.S. officials were unhurt .
-Shortly after the blast , local news agencies said a Taleban spokesman phoned claiming responsibility for the attack .
-Earlier this week , a suicide car bomber wounded an American soldier and two other people in southern Afghanistan .
-This week 's attacks are the latest in an upsurge in attacks by suspected Taleban supporters in southern and central Afghanistan , where more than 1,500 people were killed in insurgent-related violence last year .
-The Israeli military is imposing a three-day closure on the West Bank , banning Palestinians from entering Israel during a Jewish festival .
-The military says it began the closure early Monday and will maintain it throughout the holiday of Purim , which ends at midnight Wednesday .
-Israel considers Jewish festivals likely times for Palestinian attacks .
-The military regularly imposes closures during such holidays .
-Meanwhile , a British relief convoy carrying aid for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip arrived Sunday at the Rafah border crossing in Egypt .
-The convoy led by British Parliamentarian George Galloway has traveled more than 14,000 kilometers from London over the past three weeks to reach the Palestinian territory .
-It is unclear whether Egyptian authorities will allow the food and medical aid to pass into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip , which was crippled by Israel 's recent military offensive .
-As Americans remember Martin Luther King , Junior Monday , his family remains divided over the future of his memorial center in Atlanta .
-Two of Reverend King 's four children favor selling the King Center to the U.S. National Park Service .
-But another son and daughter want the center to remain in control of the King family .
-King 's widow , Coretta Scott King , who is recovering from a stroke , relinquished control of the center years ago .
-Son Martin Luther King said selling the center would sell his father 's legacy and barter his mother 's vision .
-The center features programs and services on Reverend King 's legacy and racial equality , but has fallen into debt and disrepair over the years .
-The work of Cuban artists is finding an outlet in Miami , despite objections from some Cuban Americans who believe some of the artwork portrays the communist nation in a positive light .
-A small number of fledgling galleries showcasing art from the island have appeared in the city 's Little Havana district - a hotbed of anti-Castro sentiment .
-The owner of one of the galleries says she has faced criticism but continues traveling to the island to buy paintings , photographs and sculptures to showcase in her gallery .
-Steve Mort reports from Miami .
-Several members of Iran 's parliament have told President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to pick experienced members for his Cabinet .
-Mr. Ahmadinejad will submit his new cabinet line-up next week , and he has vowed to appoint more young people .
-Iranian state media report that lawmakers are urging Mr. Ahmadinejad to make wise selections of experienced ministers if he is to win a vote of confidence in parliament .
-The president 's reelection on June 12 set off a political crisis in Iran .
-Iranian authorities have arrested thousands of demonstrators who say the presidential vote was rigged .
-Influential cleric and former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani this week canceled his turn to lead Friday prayers in an effort to avoid further unrest .
-Opposition supporters staged demonstrations during Rafsanjani 's most recent sermon .
-Rafsanjani 's office released a statement saying the cleric wanted to avoid any possible clashes resulting from the post-election fall out .
-An Indonesian court has sentenced two Australian men to death by firing squad for leading a drug smuggling ring on the Indonesian island of Bali .
-The district court in Bali 's provincial capital , Denpasar , said Tuesday that Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were the masterminds of the so-called Bali Nine .
-The same court also sentenced Michael Czugaj and Martin Stephens to life in prison Tuesday for their part in the drug smuggling operation .
-Two others , Renae Lawrence and Scott Rush , were handed the same sentence on Monday .
-The nine Australians were arrested in April of last year for allegedly trying to smuggle more than eight kilograms of heroin from Bali to Australia .
-The cases are among a series of arrests in Indonesia involving Australians accused of smuggling illegal drugs .
-The Vatican says Pope John Paul 's body will lie in state at St. Peter 's Basilica beginning Monday afternoon at the earliest .
-Nine days of official mourning began Sunday at the Vatican .
-The pope 's body is to be transferred from the papal apartment , where he died , to prepare it to lie in state .
-A number of world leaders are expected to attend the pope 's funeral later this week .
-Roman Catholic tradition says the funeral and burial must be held between the fourth and sixth day after death .
-Traditionally a pope 's body is buried in a crypt beneath St. Peter 's Basilica .
-However , news media reports have mentioned that John Paul might have chosen to be buried in his native Poland .
-The Kenyan government is lambasting U.S. Senator Barack Obama , one day after the lawmaker concluded a visit to his late father 's homeland .
-A government spokesman in Nairobi Thursday said Obama 's criticisms of Kenyan politics show the lawmaker is " very poorly informed . "
-In speeches to adoring crowds , Obama harshly criticized Kenyan officials for engaging in graft and political divisiveness based on ethnicity .
-He said transparent government is needed to encourage Kenya 's economic growth .
-Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki pledged to end rampant corruption when he came to power in 2002 , but allegations of graft continue to plague the government .
-Obama is a Democratic Party lawmaker representing the midwestern U.S. state of Illinois .
-He visited the east African nation during a two-week tour of Africa , and was embraced by many Kenyans as a native son .
-Obama 's father was born and worked as an economist in Kenya .
-The United States has asked Israel to investigate an incident in which a U.S. student lost an eye during a pro-Palestinian protest in Jerusalem .
-A U.S. embassy spokesman in Tel Aviv Monday said officials there have passed the investigation request to the Israeli Foreign Ministry .
-Twenty-one-year-old Emily Henochowicz lost her eye after being struck by an Israeli tear-gas canister during a protest at a Jerusalem checkpoint last week .
-Henochowicz was demonstrating with a pro-Palestinian group against Israel 's raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla that killed nine Turkish activists .
-Witnesses say Israeli border guards deliberately fired tear-gas canisters at the protesters .
-The military says the injured American was not targeted .
-A growing number of Americans are finding the best way to stretch a dollar is to use it sparingly .
-Many are turning to the practice of bartering - or trading goods and services without exchanging money .
-It 's a practice that 's quickly catching on during these tough economic times .
-VOA 's Mil Arcega reports .
-Police in Belgium raided homes and made at least one arrest early Wednesday in connection with a suicide bombing in Iraq several weeks ago .
-Belgian news reports say a Belgian woman blew herself up on November 9 in an attack on an American patrol in Baghdad .
-No one besides the bomber was killed in the attack .
-A police spokeswoman confirmed that Wednesday 's raids were carried out to find the woman 's co-conspirators .
-Thirteen people of Belgian and Moroccan origin accused of belonging to an Islamic militant group are currently on trial in Brussels .
-Their group is suspected of bomb attacks in Spain and Morocco that killed a total of 236 people .
-That trial is the first under a new anti-terror law in Belgium that makes it a crime to associate with terrorists .
-A powerful bomb has ripped through a section of the Philippine House of Representatives in Manila , killing at least two people and injuring at least nine others .
-The blast occurred in the south wing of the building Tuesday evening local time , as the House was ending its session .
-Emergency crews rushed to the scene , and police have sealed off streets around the building , in the Quezon City area .
-One of those killed was a Philippine lawmaker .
-There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing .
-Members of the U.S. Senate are demanding that oil companies take steps to bring down high gasoline and heating oil prices being paid by U.S. consumers .
-The demands came Wednesday as a Senate committee questioned top executives from five major oil companies .
-The companies recently reported record profits as the price of crude oil hit $ 70 a barrel and gasoline prices soared after supply disruptions caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita .
-Republican Senator Pete Domenici said many Americans believe the companies are exploiting current conditions to reap excess profits .
-The executives defended their profits , saying most of the money is re-invested into energy exploration projects .
-They cautioned senators against imposing government measures to lower prices , saying market forces will lead to reasonable prices .
-The Indian government 's key communist allies have rejected a landmark U.S.-India nuclear deal , criticizing it for promoting U.S. influence .
-In a statement Tuesday , India 's four-party communist alliance said it can not accept the civilian nuclear agreement between India and the United States and called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh not to pursue it .
-Hindu nationalists have also rejected the terms of the accord .
-Reversing 30 years of U.S. non-proliferation nuclear policy with India , the controversial agreement would give India access to U.S. nuclear fuel and equipment in exchange for inspections of its civilian nuclear reactors .
-The U.S. Congress must approve the deal before it can take effect , but it does not require approval by the Indian parliament .
-India 's prime minister and Cabinet are empowered to sign treaties without parliamentary backing .
-But some Indian lawmakers are trying to make international agreements subject to parliamentary approval .
-Indian police say 11 people , including nine soldiers , have been killed in a landmine explosion in India-controlled Kashmir .
-Authorities said Sunday a jeep carrying the soldiers was blown apart when it ran over the landmine late Saturday in Pulwama , south of Kashmir 's summer capital , Srinagar .
-Kashmir 's pro-Pakistan rebel group Hizbul Mujahedin claimed responsibility for the attack .
-In a separate incident early Sunday in the disputed Himalayan region , an army spokesman says Indian troops shot dead three militants who had taken shelter in a mosque .
-Guerrilla violence has increased in Kashmir in recent weeks .
-Violence in the region has claimed at least 30,000 lives since the start of a revolt against India in 1989 .
-India blames neighboring Pakistan for supporting the militants - a claim Islamabad denies .
-Lebanon 's parliament has postponed the vote for a new president for the eighth time .
-Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri issued a statement Monday , saying the election scheduled for Tuesday has been postponed until December 17 .
-The delay gives rival political leaders more time to reach a consensus .
-The ruling coalition and opposition lawmakers are divided on several issues , including how to amend the constitution to enable army chief General Michel Suleiman to be elected .
-Lebanon has been without a president since November 23 , when pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud 's term ended .
-General Suleiman is seen as a neutral figure who could resolve the conflict between the Western-backed majority and the pro-Syrian opposition .
-Israeli President Moshe Katsav has shaken hands with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as both attended the funeral of Pope John Paul II in Rome .
-Israel Radio reports Iranian-born President Katsav also spoke in his native Farsi with Iranian President Mohammad Khatami .
-The radio says the two spoke about the Iranian town where they were both born .
-Syria is officially at war with Israel and Iran does not recognize the Jewish state .
-Israel Radio says after the funeral , the Syrian leader approached the Israeli president for a second time and again shook his hand .
-Syria has recently made peace overtures to Israel , but Israeli officials have demanded that Syria first pull out of Lebanon and stop its support of radical Palestinian groups .
-The Turkish parliament has overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment to allow the direct election of the president instead of election by parliament .
-Thursday 's vote is the second time lawmakers approved the article , which is part of a package of reforms .
-If lawmakers approve the entire package , Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer , who has vetoed it once already , must either approve the reforms or call for a referendum .
-Turkey 's ruling Islamist-rooted AK Party proposed the reform package after parliament failed to elect its candidate for president , Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul .
-Secularists opposed Gul 's candidacy for president , and they have accused the AK Party of attempting to undermine Turkey 's secular order .
-Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he is committed to Turkey 's secular system .
-Mr. Erdogan also called for early parliamentary elections over the political deadlock .
-Dow Jones & Co. said it extended its $ 18-a-share offer for Telerate Inc. common stock until 5 p.m. EST Nov. 9 .
-The offer , valued at about $ 576 million for the 33 % of Telerate that Dow Jones does n't already own , had been set to expire Nov. 6 .
-Dow Jones , which owns about 64 million of Telerate 's 95 million common shares outstanding , said that about 24,000 shares have been tendered under its offer .
-Telerate 's two independent directors have rejected the offer as inadequate .
-In composite trading on the New York Stock Exchange , Telerate shares closed at $ 19.5 , up 12.5 cents .
-Telerate provides an electronic financial information network .
-Dow Jones publishes The Wall Street Journal , Barron 's magazine , and community newspapers and operates financial news services and computer data bases .
-The economy is heavily dependent on the extraction and processing of minerals for export .
-Mining accounts for 8 % of GDP , but provides more than 50 % of foreign exchange earnings .
-Rich alluvial diamond deposits make Namibia a primary source for gem-quality diamonds .
-Namibia is the world 's fourth-largest producer of uranium .
-It also produces large quantities of zinc and is a small producer of gold and other minerals .
-The mining sector employs only about 3 % of the population while about 35-40 % of the population depends on subsistence agriculture for its livelihood .
-Namibia normally imports about 50 % of its cereal requirements ; in drought years food shortages are a major problem in rural areas .
-A high per capita GDP , relative to the region , hides one of the world 's most unequal income distributions , as shown by Namibia 's 70.7 GINI coefficient .
-The Namibian economy is closely linked to South Africa with the Namibian dollar pegged one-to-one to the South African rand .
-Until 2010 , Namibia drew 40 % of its budget revenues from the Southern African Customs Union ( SACU ) .
-Increased payments from SACU put Namibia 's budget into surplus in 2007 for the first time since independence .
-SACU allotments to Namibia increased in 2009 , but will drop for 2010 and 2011 because South Africa went into recession during the global economic crisis , reducing overall SACU income .
-Increased fish production and mining of zinc , copper , and uranium spurred growth in 2003 - 8 , but growth in recent years was undercut by poor fish catches , a dramatic decline in demand for diamonds , higher costs of producing metals , and the global recession .
-A rebound in diamond and uranium prices in 2010 provided a significant boost to Namibia 's mining sector .
-Copper mines , which closed in 2008 , are slated to reopen in 2011 .
-The Principality of Liechtenstein was established within the Holy Roman Empire in 1719 .
-Occupied by both French and Russian troops during the Napoleonic wars , it became a sovereign state in 1806 and joined the Germanic Confederation in 1815 .
-Liechtenstein became fully independent in 1866 when the Confederation dissolved .
-Until the end of World War I , it was closely tied to Austria , but the economic devastation caused by that conflict forced Liechtenstein to enter into a customs and monetary union with Switzerland .
-Since World War II ( in which Liechtenstein remained neutral ) , the country 's low taxes have spurred outstanding economic growth .
-In 2000 , shortcomings in banking regulatory oversight resulted in concerns about the use of financial institutions for money laundering .
-However , Liechtenstein implemented anti-money-laundering legislation and a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty with the US that went into effect in 2003 .
-Colonized by the Portuguese in the 16th century , Macau was the first European settlement in the Far East .
-Pursuant to an agreement signed by China and Portugal on 13 April 1987 , Macau became the Macau Special Administrative Region ( SAR ) of the People 's Republic of China on 20 December 1999 .
-In this agreement , China promised that , under its " one country , two systems " formula , China 's socialist economic system would not be practiced in Macau , and that Macau would enjoy a high degree of autonomy in all matters except foreign and defense affairs for the next 50 years .
-The evolution of what is today the European Union ( EU ) from a regional economic agreement among six neighboring states in 1951 to today 's hybrid intergovernmental and supranational organization of 27 countries across the European continent stands as an unprecedented phenomenon in the annals of history .
-Dynastic unions for territorial consolidation were long the norm in Europe ; on a few occasions even country-level unions were arranged - the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Austro-Hungarian Empire were examples .
-But for such a large number of nation-states to cede some of their sovereignty to an overarching entity is unique .
-North Yemen became independent of the Ottoman Empire in 1918 .
-The British , who had set up a protectorate area around the southern port of Aden in the 19th century , withdrew in 1967 from what became South Yemen .
-Three years later , the southern government adopted a Marxist orientation .
-The massive exodus of hundreds of thousands of Yemenis from the south to the north contributed to two decades of hostility between the states .
-The two countries were formally unified as the Republic of Yemen in 1990 .
-A southern secessionist movement in 1994 was quickly subdued .
-In 2000 , Saudi Arabia and Yemen agreed to a delimitation of their border .
-Fighting in the northwest between the government and Huthi rebels , a group seeking a return to traditional Zaydi Islam , began in 2004 and has since resulted in seven rounds of fighting - the last ended in early 2010 with a tentative ceasefire .
-The southern secessionist movement was revitalized in 2008 when a popular socioeconomic protest movement initiated the prior year took on political goals including secession .
-Public rallies in Sana'a against President SALIH - inspired by similar demonstrations in Tunisia and Egypt - slowly built momentum starting in late January 2011 fueled by complaints over high unemployment , poor economic conditions , and corruption .
-By the following month , some protests had resulted in violence , and the demonstrations had spread to other major cities .
-By March the opposition had hardened its demands and was unifying behind calls for SALIH 's immediate ouster .
-Media reports indicated that as many as 100 protesters had been killed and many more injured amid the protests .
-Domestic and international efforts to mediate a resolution to the political crisis had not yielded a deal as of mid April .
-A SERPENT and an Eagle were struggling with each other in deadly conflict .
-The Serpent had the advantage , and was about to strangle the bird .
-A countryman saw them , and running up , loosed the coil of the Serpent and let the Eagle go free .
-The Serpent , irritated at the escape of his prey , injected his poison into the drinking horn of the countryman .
-The rustic , ignorant of his danger , was about to drink , when the Eagle struck his hand with his wing , and , seizing the drinking horn in his talons , carried it aloft .
-A CERTAIN rich man reared a Goose and a Swan , the one for his table , the other because she was reputed a good singer .
-One night when the Cook went to kill the Goose he got hold of the Swan instead .
-Thereupon the Swan , to induce him to spare her life , began to sing ; but she saved him nothing but the trouble of killing her , for she died of the song .
-At one Army base , the annual trip to the rifle range had been canceled for the second year in a row , but the semi-annual physical fitness test was still on as planned .
-One soldier mused , " Does it bother anyone else that the Army does n't seem to care how well we can shoot , but they are extremely interested in how fast we can run ? "
-I accidentally knocked my television over the other day .
-When I turned it on I noticed the screen was cracked , but I put it back together with video tape and now it works fine .
-A top South Korean official says he hopes there will be a break this year in the impasse over North Korea 's nuclear weapons program .
-Unification Minister Chung Dong-Young told the World Economic Forum in Davos , Switzerland , Sunday that South Korea is ready to provide large-scale economic aid if the North gives up its nuclear weapons program .
-Mr. Chung said he hopes for a breakthrough by November , when South Korea hosts an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit .
-Mr. Chung said if there is a resolution of the dispute , North Korea could attend the summit .
-Sunday was the final day of the World Economic Forum - an annual gathering of international political and business leaders in the Swiss resort town of Davos .
-Venezuela has signed a deal with Russia for the purchase of 98 Ilyushin aircraft , which can be used for passengers and cargo .
-Russian newspapers reported Friday that the state arms exporter , Rosoboronexport , signed the agreement during an air show near Moscow .
-The value of the contract has not been disclosed .
-The Izvestia newspaper quoted experts as saying the deal could be worth several billion dollars .
-Russia has already sold 24 Sukhoi jets and 53 helicopters to Venezuela .
-Last year during a visit to Moscow , Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez signed a long-term deal with Russia to purchase $ 3 billion worth of helicopters , fighter jets and arms .
-The United States bans sales of arms to Venezuela .
-NATO officials say British troops are pulling out of a troubled district in southern Afghanistan after reaching an agreement with local elders and Afghan officials .
-NATO said Tuesday , that the withdrawal from the Musa Qala district of Helmand province was made at the demand of tribal leaders , and that the Taleban had no part in the agreement .
-The move was made on the same day that NATO officials said coalition warplanes killed a mid-level Taleban commander and up to 15 other militants in an airstrike in southern Afghanistan .
-A NATO statement said aircraft bombed an insurgent compound in the southern province of Uruzgan .
-NATO did not identify the Taleban commander .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says he has evidence of a U.S. plan to invade his country .
-In a Nightline , ABC News television interview Friday in New York , Mr. Chavez said he has documentation of a U.S. military plan called " Balboa " detailing a U.S. invasion , which he said involves planes and aircraft carriers .
-He was quoted as saying that if the United States attempts to invade his country , " it would be embarking on a 100-year war . "
-Mr. Chavez has repeatedly accused Washington of trying to topple his government , an accusation the United States denies .
-Mr. Chavez has been attending the United Nations General Assembly summit in New York .
-On Thursday , he lashed out at the United States , characterizing the country as a " terrorist state . "
-U.S. President George Bush used his weekly radio address Saturday to mark the nation 's Independence Day by celebrating new U.S. citizens and honoring the armed forces .
-On Friday , the 232nd anniversary of the birth of the U.S. as an independent nation , Mr. Bush watched more than 70 people take an oath of citizenship .
-In his address Saturday , the president said these new citizens reminded everyone at the ceremony that " the promise of America is open to all . "
-Mr. Bush noted that the new citizens came from many countries , including Iraq and Afghanistan .
-He also praised the men and women of the U.S. armed forces who are risking their lives fighting in those countries .
-The president said Americans should be proud to live in a nation that he says has done " more than any other to spread the light of liberty throughout the world . "
-Afghan officials say at least eight police have been killed following an ambush by suspected Taleban rebels in southeastern Afghanistan .
-Security officials say four Taleban insurgents were also killed in the attack Friday in Helmand province .
-No other details were immediately available .
-An interior ministry spokesman said captured Taleban insurgents led police there to look for a large Taleban hideout .
-A group of journalists marched through Port-au-Prince Thursday , demanding tougher action against rising violence as mourners attended the funeral of slain Haitian journalist Jacques Roche .
-During the religious ceremony , a priest close to ex-president Jean Bertrand Aristide , Gerard Jean Juste was attacked by an angry crowd .
-He was taken away to a police station for protection .
-Mr. Aristide 's supporters have been accused by some government officials of Mr. Roche 's murder .
-Haitian authorities found the body of Mr. Roche last week , days after gunmen abducted him .
-They said he was burned and tortured before being shot several times .
-Haiti has seen a mounting wave of violence as it prepares for elections later this year .
-The next U.S. president is likely to have an impact that extends far beyond a four-year term .
-As president , Republican John McCain or Democrat Barack Obama would have the chance to appoint at least one new justice to the U.S. Supreme Court .
-Alex Moradi has this report , narrated by Leta Hong Fincher .
-A prosecutor at the war crimes trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in The Hague has accused the defendant of trying to prolong the proceedings for self-promotion .
-Prosecutor Geoffrey Nice made the comment Thursday , as Mr. Milosevic sought additional time beyond the 150 days the court has allotted for his defense .
-The former Yugoslav president wants to call hundreds of witnesses , including British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former U.S. President Bill Clinton .
-Mr. Milosevic 's trial began in 2002 and has been repeatedly delayed because of concerns over his health .
-Mr. Milosevic is charged with war crimes and genocide from conflicts in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s .
-He has refused to recognize the tribunal and is conducting his own defense .
-Japan says it will withdraw its air defense forces from Iraq by the end of the year .
-Defense Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi announced the plan Thursday in Tokyo .
-Japan 's Air Self-Defense Force has been airlifting materials and troops between Kuwait and locations in Iraq since 2006 .
-White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe issued a statement praising Japan 's contributions in Iraq .
-He said Japan will continue to be a " significant partner in the war on terrorism . "
-Japan initially deployed ground forces to Iraq in 2003 , in support of the U.S. led-invasion .
-The troops conducted a humanitarian mission in the south , building schools and roads , and providing clean water .
-It was the first overseas deployment of Japanese troops since World War II .
-Many Japanese opposed the mission because they were against the war or believed it violated Japan 's pacifist constitution .
-US President Barack Obama returned to Washington Saturday , following a surprise visit to Afghanistan , where he visited troops and spoke with Afghan leaders .
-Mr. Obama told U.S troops Friday at Bagram air base outside Kabul that the United States will not let Afghanistan be a safe haven for terrorists to attack America .
-He said the troops are making progress against the Taliban and will succeed in their mission .
-The president landed unannounced in Afghanistan Friday for an almost four hour visit , days before the White House is set to release a much anticipated review of the increasingly unpopular war .
-Bad weather forced the White House to cancel plans for the president to meet face-to-face with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul .
-He instead held a phone conversation with Mr. Karzai from the air base .
-U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has arrived in China for a four-day visit expected to include an appeal for China to speed up reforms to its economy .
-Officials say Paulson arrived late Tuesday in the eastern city of Hangzhou in Zhejiang province .
-There he met with provincial Communist Party leader Xi Jinping .
-The two met previously when Paulson was chief of the investment bank Goldman Sachs .
-The U.S. treasury secretary flew into Hangzhou from meetings in Singapore .
-Before leaving for China , Paulson warned U.S. critics of Chinese economic policies not to expect a " quick fix " to the issues that divide the two nations .
-U.S. lawmakers are considering measures to punish Beijing for its growing trade gap with the United States .
-U.S. and European officials say China 's currency , the yuan , is undervalued , giving Chinese-made products an unfair advantage over foreign competitors .
-A coalition of Iraq 's majority Shi'ite Muslims has won nearly half the votes in last month 's landmark elections for a transitional national assembly .
-A slate of Kurdish parties finished second with about 25 percent of the nearly 8.5 million votes cast January 30 .
-A slate led by interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi finished third with 14 percent .
-Speaking Sunday in Baghdad , an elections commission spokesman hailed the poll results as " a new birth for Iraq . "
-The 275-seat assembly will pick a new government to succeed the interim administration now in power .
-The assembly is to be dissolved and a new parliament elected by the end of this year .
-The tally shows only two percent of eligible voters in Sunni-dominated al-Anbar province went to the polls , while 17 percent voted in Ninevah province .
-Parties have three days to file protests against to the vote tally , before results become official .
-For more a year , the U.S. military in Iraq , with its reinforcements , has been on the offensive in an effort to wipe out insurgents from their strongholds .
-The Bush administration claims " the surge , " as the reinforcement was called , has helped reduce violence around the country .
-One key area of focus , just south of Baghdad , was once known as the " Triangle of Death . "
-VOA 's Deborah Block went to a village there with the U.S. Army 's 2nd Battalion , 502nd Infantry , 101st Airborne , on a mission to find suspected al-Qaida militants .
-Belarusian opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich says the democratic movement in Belarus will eventually achieve success despite the repressive policies of President Alexander Lukashenko .
-Mr. Milinkevich told reporters in Warsaw the persistent protests of opposition activists against what they saw as Mr. Lukashenko 's fraudulent victory in elections earlier this month had surprised and shocked the Belarusian leader .
-Security police last week broke up five days of protests by pro-democracy activists in Minsk , arresting hundreds .
-In comments after meeting with Polish President Lech Kaczynski , Mr. Milinkevich thanked Poland and other European Union countries for their support for democracy in Belarus .
-The meeting came ahead of the signing of a document under which Poland agreed to provide scholarships for at least 300 Belarusian youths dismissed from universities in Belarus for supporting the opposition .
-Gunmen from the Palestinian Fatah movement have announced formation of a two thousand member militia , in an apparent move to counter a new security force unveiled by the rival group Hamas .
-Last week , Hamas , which swept to power in parliamentary elections in January , said it was forming a four thousand-strong paramilitary force to maintain order in the Palestinian territories .
-The specter of competing Palestinian security forces has raised concern for potential violence between the factions .
-Fatah sources Wednesday told a VOA reporter their new force is not designed to compete with Hamas .
-Those comments contradicted those of a Fatah spokesman who told Reuters news agency the force is being organized in a challenge to the Hamas militia .
-Several dozen people were wounded last month in factional clashes after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas rejected Hamas ' appointment of a leading Gaza militant to head the Hamas-dominated security unit .
-Lebanon 's pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud has rejected a proposal for a United Nations-backed court probe into the murder of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri .
-Lahoud said Saturday he is returning the draft for review by the Cabinet , which approved the planned court last month .
-He said the Cabinet 's decision was not valid because it came after six ministers from the pro-Syrian opposition resigned .
-Hezbollah leaders have called mass demonstrations on Sunday to press for more participation by opposition parties in the government .
-Prime Minister Fuad Siniora has accused the militant group of threatening a coup against his U.S.-backed government .
-On Friday , U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed concern that extremist forces and Syria and Iran are trying to destabilize Lebanon .
-She said such pressure on Mr. Siniora 's government can not be tolerated .
-Authorities in Malawi say two youths were shot and wounded when a guard fired on a crowd fighting to get government-subsidized maize .
-The incident occurred earlier this week in Malawi 's drought-stricken southern district of Nsanje .
-Police say the guard fired while trying to control a crush of people attempting to force their way into a government depot .
-Malawi is facing a general food crisis brought on by poor rainfall , inadequate planting supplies , and the impact of the AIDS pandemic .
-In October , the government declared a national disaster and appealed for help .
-Aid agencies say five million of Malawi 's 12 million people are in need of food aid .
-The kidnappers of an Italian photojournalist in Afghanistan say he is in good health after the deadline for their demands expired Sunday night .
-The Italian aid group Emergency said Monday the kidnappers contacted its staff in an Italian-run hospital in southern Helmand province .
-Italian photographer Gabriele Torsello and his interpreter disappeared between October 12 and 14 .
-They were traveling from the Helmand provincial capital , Lashkar Gah , to neighboring Kandahar .
-The abductors demanded a withdrawal of Italian forces from Afghanistan by the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan , which ended Sunday evening in that country .
-Torsello 's abductors have been in contact with the Emergency group since the abduction .
-They said earlier they would kill him if their demands were not met .
-A U.S. immigration official says several nations have refused to accept a 78-year-old Cuban militant awaiting deportation from the United States .
-The official , Donald George , testified at a U.S. hearing on Monday for Luis Posada Carriles who was detained on immigration charges more than a year ago .
-Lawyers for Posada Carriles say the nations that have refused to take him are Canada , Mexico , Costa Rica , Honduras , Guatemala and El Salvador .
-The militant has asked to be released from custody to live with relatives in Florida while U.S. officials process the deportation order .
-But U.S. officials say he is a threat and should remain in jail .
-Venezuela 's government has accused Posada Carriles in the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people .
-U.S. officials have refused to send him to Venezuela or to Cuba , saying he could be tortured or killed .
-The White House says President Bush will welcome Rwandan President Paul Kagame next Wednesday for talks on a range of issues , including development , AIDS and the conflict in Sudan .
-A White House spokesman says President Bush looks forward to discussing Rwanda 's successful participation in the president 's emergency plan for AIDS relief ( PEPFAR ) , as well as U.S. development assistance for the continent ( the African Growth and Opportunity Act ) .
-He said the two will also talk about Rwanda 's strides toward democracy and reconciliation and the important role of women in advancing these issues .
-The spokesman said President Bush will recognize Rwanda 's contributions to stability in the Great Lakes region and its peacekeeping contributions to Sudan .
-Indonesian health officials say local tests show an eight-year-old boy in Jakarta has died of bird flu .
-The child died last week .
-A World Health Organization ( WHO ) laboratory in Hong Kong is testing samples from the boy as well as from a 39-year-old man who was earlier reported to have contracted the disease .
-Indonesian health officials announced Friday that local tests showed the man had died earlier in the week of bird flu .
-Results from the WHO testing are expected in several days .
-If the deaths are confirmed to be caused by the bird flu virus , they will bring Indonesia 's human toll from the disease to eleven .
-So far , avian flu is known to have killed nine people in Indonesia , and more than 70 in Asia since 2003 .
-Cameroon has become the fourth African country to report a case of the deadly bird flu virus .
-A government statement released Sunday said the H5N1 strain was detected at a duck farm in the northern town of Maroua .
-Cameroon had already implemented a ban on importing birds after the H5N1 virus was reported in neighboring Nigeria .
-Health officials are concerned that Africa is not prepared to combat the avian flu because of a lack of money and other resources .
-Avian flu has also been found in Asia , Europe and the Middle East .
-The World Health Organization reports the virus has killed 97 people since 2003 , mostly in Asia .
-Palestinian witnesses say an Israeli aircraft has fired missiles at suspected Hamas militants preparing to fire rockets at Israeli targets in the Gaza Strip .
-There were no immediate reports of casualties near the Khan Younis refugee camp , where the suspected militants were located .
-Witnesses said that several men apparently targeted by the aircraft escaped unharmed .
-On Tuesday , four Palestinians and a Chinese laborer were killed in the Palestinian territories , in the deadliest day of violence since Israel and the Palestinians began observing a ceasefire four months ago .
-Three of the dead were killed by Hamas rocket fire in Gaza .
-In related developments , Israeli media say some top security officials are lobbying the government to deliver a " crushing blow " to Hamas , ahead of Israel 's planned evacuation of the Gaza Strip in August .
-Ecuador 's constituent assembly has approved a new draft constitution that will be put to a referendum in September .
-The new charter approved late Thursday would grant President Rafael Correa broad powers , including functions currently held by the Central Bank .
-It would also modify term limits , allowing him to seek re-election .
-President Correa has said the constitution should be changed to limit the power of Ecuador 's major political parties .
-However opposition members say the real reason for the change of constitution is to keep the leftist president in power and increase his control of the country .
-Pakistan says it will postpone the purchase of F-16 fighter jets from the United States in order to provide more relief to victims of the devastating October eighth earthquake .
-President Pervez Musharraf made the announcement during a tour of quake-hit areas Friday .
-He said the government wants to provide maximum relief and reconstruction efforts .
-General Musharraf had earlier said his country did not plan to cut into its defense budget to increase funds for relief efforts .
-On Thursday , Jordan 's Queen Rania , speaking on behalf of the United Nations children 's fund , called for help to immunize Pakistani children against disease .
-Quake survivors marked a normally joyous Muslim festival of Eid-al-Fitr today with somber prayers amid ruins and debris , and visits to the graves of their relatives who died in the catastrophe .
-Pakistan this week raised its death toll from the quake to more than 73,000 .
-A shootout between gunmen and security forces has killed nine people at the offices of an Italian oil company in southern Nigeria .
-The company , Eni , says it has temporarily evacuated staff and contractors from its base in the city of Port Harcourt .
-Witnesses say the dead include eight policemen and one civilian .
-The company says a number of people were also wounded in Tuesday 's attack .
-According to several accounts , the gunmen raided the offices , exchanged fire with police , and robbed a bank on the premises before making their escape .
-It was unclear if the gunmen are linked to militants who have staged a recent series of attacks on Nigerian oil facilities .
-The attacks have led to an estimated 10-percent drop in Nigerian oil production , putting pressure on world prices .
-A major winter storm has hit both the U.S. midwest and northeastern part of the country , as well as eastern Canada .
-Sunday 's wintry blast caused hazardous driving conditions and resulted in hundreds of flight cancellations at local airports .
-Officials say both Chicago and Boston have received up more than 25 centimeters of snow .
-In addition , authorities say at least 40 centimeters is expected in Canada .
-The storm follows last week 's ice storm in the U.S. Midwest which contributed to the death of at least 13 people and left thousands of homes and businesses without power .
-Canadian meteorologists call the storm a dangerous one .
-Pakistani authorities confirm that a deadly strain of the bird flu virus has been detected near the southern city of Karachi .
-Authorities say the H5N1 virus has been found at a poultry farm on the outskirts of Pakistan 's largest city .
-The farm has been quarantined to prevent further spread of the virus .
-Health officials say they are monitoring farm workers , but so far there is no sign of human infection .
-Pakistan recorded its first human death from bird flu in December .
-A man who worked on a poultry farm in North West Frontier Province died .
-His brother had recently died as well , but was not tested for the virus .
-Kyrgyzstan 's provisional leader Roza Otunbayeva was sworn in as president Saturday , making her the first female president in the history of ex-Soviet Central Asia .
-Her inauguration in a concert hall in Bishkek comes just days after the country overwhelmingly approved a new constitution .
-Over the course of her tenure as caretaker president , which lasts to the end of 2011 , Ms. Otunbayeva will oversee the implementation of the new constitution and the establishment of the region 's first parliamentary democracy .
-Parliamentary elections are set for October 10 .
-Kyrgyzstan 's interim government has struggled to impose order since it took power following the April 7 deadly uprising that ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiyev .
-An estimated 2,000 people were killed during ethnic clashes between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks that began June 10 in the southern cities of Osh and Jalalabad .
-Russian news reports say the military has deployed another batch of intercontinental ballistic missiles .
-The announcement Sunday says three new Topol-M truck-mounted missile units have been positioned about 250 kilometers northeast of Moscow , in the Ivanovo region near Teikovo .
-A first batch of the mobile missiles were deployed in the area last year .
-Analysts say the missile has an effective range of 10,000 kilometers and can carry a more than one-ton payload .
-Russian military chiefs have been quoted as saying the mobile Topol missiles are aimed at countering U.S. missile shield plans in central Europe .
-Russia opposes U.S. plans for 10 missile interceptors in Poland and guidance radar in the Czech Republic .
-Washington says the missile shield will protect the United States and its European allies from potential missile attacks from Iran .
-But Moscow insists the U.S. deployment will destabilize central and eastern Europe and lead to a new arms race .
-Representatives from hundreds of oil companies around the world are bidding for new oil exploration contracts in Nigeria .
-Nigeria is offering the rights to over 70 parcels of land Friday in the largest open bidding in the country 's history .
-The land stretches from Lake Chad in the northeast to the Gulf of Guinea in the south , where huge oil discoveries have already been made .
-Also Friday , the Nigerian government raised domestic oil prices by about 40 percent .
-Although Nigeria is the continent 's top crude oil exporter , it has to import refined oil and has been affected by record high oil prices .
-Nigerian labor unions say they will fight the price hike .
-Belarus has set December 19 as the date for the next presidential election .
-Incumbent Alexander Lukashenko , who has been in power since 1994 , is likely to run for another term .
-The political opposition in Belarus is fragmented and Mr. Lukashenko 's government maintains tight control over the media .
-The autocratic Mr. Lukashenko has done away with presidential term limits and international observers have declared past elections as undemocratic .
-Former U.S. President George W. Bush dubbed Mr. Lukashenko as " Europe 's last dictator . "
-Egypt says it plans to deport some 650 Sudanese asylum-seekers dispersed by police from a make-shift camp in downtown Cairo last week .
-A foreign ministry spokeswoman , Fatma el-Zahraa Etman , said that those set for deportation on Thursday were found to be illegal immigrants or had broken Egyptian law .
-The Sudanese migrants were among a group of about 1,000 who clashed with police last week .
-Twenty-seven people were killed in the violence .
-Egyptian officials said the deaths were caused by a stampede , but witnesses said police beat the Sudanese .
-The migrants had been camped out for three months near the offices of the U.N. refugee agency , demanding to be resettled in a third country .
-Officials for the U.N. agency expressed shock at the last week 's clashes , saying they had been trying to negotiate a peaceful resolution .
-Iran has warned the European Union that Tehran will never surrender its right to nuclear fuel .
-A spokesman for Iran 's Supreme National Security Council said Saturday EU negotiators can offer no incentive that would compel the Islamic republic to abandon its nuclear program .
-Britain , France and Germany have asked Tehran to surrender its fuel-making program in return for economic incentives .
-Tehran insists it has every right to enrich uranium for reactors to make electricity .
-The United States accuses Iran of secretly developing nuclear weapons .
-Tehran says its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes .
-Award-winning choreographer Michael Kidd has died at his home in Los Angeles .
-A family member says Kidd was 92-years-old , and died of cancer Sunday night .
-The choreographer was best known for producing exuberant dance numbers for Broadway shows such as Guys and Dolls and Can-Can .
-He also worked on movies , including the 1954 film , Seven Brides for Seven Brothers .
-During his long career , Kidd won five Tony Awards for his theater work .
-He also earned a special Academy Award in 1997 in recognition of his choreography for movies .
-Authorities in Laos say they have detected the country 's first outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu virus in almost seven months .
-Government spokesman Yong Chanthalangsy said Tuesday at least 17 birds have died of the virus in Non-Sawang , a village just outside the capital , Vientiane .
-He said at least 1,000 birds have been killed in an effort to stop the virus from spreading .
-The H5N1 virus usually affects poultry , but it has spread to humans in some cases .
-167 people have died from the virus worldwide since 2003 .
-Syria 's official news agency says President Bashar al-Assad has pardoned and released 112 political prisoners .
-SANA reports that the mass release is part of what it calls the president 's open and tolerant approach in dealing with the issue of political detainees .
-Last month , Damascus freed 20 political prisoners , but Tuesday 's was said to be the largest release in three years .
-President Assad succeeded his late father , Hafez al-Assad , in July 2000 , committing to political reform .
-However , rights groups have been critical of his administration , accusing him of cracking down on pro-democracy groups .
-Ukraine 's Prime Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov says the signing of a controversial natural gas deal with Russia has been postponed again .
-The signing had already been delayed from Saturday to Wednesday .
-But Yekhanurov says experts continue to work on documents .
-A draft agreement , reached January 4 , calls for Ukraine to pay Russia $ 95 per 1,000 cubic meters of natural gas , nearly twice as much as the previous rate .
-The agreement triggered a political crisis in Ukraine , and parliament voted to dismiss the government .
-Meanwhile , the prime minister urged Ukrainian industry to sharply cut the use of natural gas , warning that otherwise authorities will have to cut off supplies .
-Earlier , Russian officials again accused Ukraine of siphoning off supplies Russia is sending through Ukrainian pipelines to other European countries .
-Some had complained of reduced flows as they sought to deal with frigid temperatures .
-A bomb exploded in an industrial zone of a predominantly Christian neighborhood of Beirut Saturday night , injuring at least eight .
-Police say the bomb was placed at the site in the Dikweneh neighborhood - in an area of factories , warehouses and car repair shops .
-The blast shattered windows and set several building ablaze .
-Police and soldiers were at the scene to cordon off the area and ambulances and fire trucks were rushed in .
-The blast is making residents increasingly nervous .
-This is the third bombing in a week - all have occurred in predominantly Christian areas of the city .
-Lebanese opposition leaders have blamed Syria and pro-Syrian Lebanese authorities of being behind the attacks in an effort to instill fear in the community .
-Lebanon has been in political turmoil since former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was killed in a massive bomb blast in Beirut last month .
-French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier says negotiations that could lead to European Union membership for Turkey will likely not begin before late 2005 or early 2006 .
-Mr. Barnier made the comments in an interview published Wednesday by the Parisian newspaper Le Figaro .
-EU leaders are expected to agree to membership negotiations with Turkey at a summit next month .
-Opinion surveys show that public opinion in many EU countries is sharply divided on the question of Turkish membership .
-French President Jacques Chirac says he supports Turkish membership , but has promised to put the question to a referendum in his country .
-British police have detained three people at Heathrow Airport under the nation 's anti-terrorism act , but officials did not connect the arrests to the London bombings .
-At a news conference Sunday , a senior police official , Commander Brian Paddick , called the arrests routine and said it would be inappropriate to draw any direct link with last week 's terror attacks .
-The official said police have so far received 1,700 calls to a special anti-terrorist tip line .
-Authorities have asked people to send in cell-phone camera images or other information that might help identify the bombers .
-Meanwhile , crime scene and recovery crews continued working in a narrow , dark subway tunnel near Russell Square Sunday .
-The official count of fatalities remained at 49 but is expected to rise as workers search through the debris .
-Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik has abruptly withdrawn his name from consideration to be U.S. Homeland Security Secretary , prompting the search for a new candidate .
-In a letter to the White House , Mr. Kerik says he has uncovered information which has caused him to question the immigration status of a nanny he had employed .
-He said that it had also come to his attention that he had not paid the required taxes for her employment with his family .
-Mr. Kerik informed the president of his decision late Friday .
-The White House said President Bush accepted Mr. Kerik 's decision .
-Mr. Bush nominated Mr. Kerik last week to succeed Tom Ridge as head of the 1,80,000 employee department .
-British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan .
-Mr. Brown arrived Saturday and spoke to British troops at camps in the southern Helmand province .
-He thanked them for their role in a February assault in Marjah , a former Taliban stronghold in the province .
-And he promised additional equipment and resources .
-On Friday in London , Mr. Brown defended Britain 's decision to help invade Iraq .
-He served as treasury chief when his country entered the war in 2003 , and he made decisions about defense spending .
-In Afghanistan , the prime minister rejected criticism from conservatives who said he made the trip to divert attention away from the Iraq inquiry .
-Mr. Brown said he had planned the trip to Afghanistan for some time .
-British troops were withdrawn from Iraq , but about 10,000 are now serving in Afghanistan alongside U.S. and NATO forces .
-Iraqi officials say at least $ 1 billion disappeared from Iraq 's defense ministry during the interim government of Iyad Allawi .
-The officials call the situation one of the largest thefts in history .
-They say it left the Defense Ministry with almost no money to buy arms , further complicating its fight against insurgents .
-The money was supposed to be spent on weapons , but current Iraqi officials say contracts for the arms were awarded without bidding , signed with intermediaries instead of directly with the suppliers , and prices were inflated .
-Among the items purchased during the period in question were 28-year-old Polish helicopters .
-Mr. Allawi 's defense minister , Hazem Shaalan , denied allegations of irregularities , saying government committees oversaw all the deals .
-A Kuwaiti activist says the first of 12 Kuwaitis captured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan and held at a U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay , Cuba , has returned home after three years in captivity .
-The head of a committee seeking the release of the detainees said the man , Nasser al-Mutairi , arrived in Kuwait City early Sunday aboard a plane sent by the Kuwaiti government .
-The United States designated more than 600 people captured in Afghanistan as enemy combatants .
-Most have been held without charges , legal representation or trials .
-About 200 have been released .
-Families of the Kuwaiti detainees said the men were doing charity work in Afghanistan when they were captured in the U.S.-led war against the Taleban and al-Qaida after the 2001 terror attacks in the United States .
-Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf says the search for Osama bin Laden has gone completely cold , and his nation 's intelligence and security forces have no recent information about the whereabouts of the leader of the al-Qaida terrorist network .
-General Musharraf , who has been meeting with President Bush and other U.S. officials in Washington , says in an interview published Sunday that Pakistani forces are aggressively pursuing Osama bin Laden , but have only been able to determine that he is still alive .
-Mr. Musharraf says the United States must share responsibility for the failure to track down the al-Qaida leader , because the U.S.-led coalition does not have enough troops in neighboring Afghanistan .
-After their meetings at the White House Saturday , Mr. Bush said " there is nobody more dedicated " to tracking down Osama bin Laden than Mr. Musharraf , who has twice survived assassination attempts that reportedly were traced to al-Qaida extremists .
-A South African court has ordered four white South African men to pay fines for making a video degrading black university workers three years ago .
-The Bloemfontein court Friday instructed each of the former University of Free State students to pay $ 2,720 in lieu of a one year jail sentence , provided they stay out of trouble .
-The men pleaded guilty Wednesday to deliberately harming the integrity of the workers .
-The 2007 video includes scenes in which the black employees are fed soup apparently drenched in urine .
-The men , who no longer attend the university , have not identified what liquid was put in the soup and only described the liquid as harmless .
-They say the video was made as a protest to racial integration .
-The case conjured up bitter feelings of when South Africa 's apartheid dominance prevailed .
-Russian President Vladimir Putin says he will press for expanding trade and economic ties with Slovakia during his visit to the former communist region .
-Following Thursday 's meeting with President Bush in Bratislava , Mr. Putin will hold talks with Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic and other officials during his two-day visit .
-Mr. Putin told Slovak media Tuesday relations between the two countries were improving and in keeping with Moscow 's strategy of increasing ties with countries throughout Central Europe .
-He said Moscow valued cooperation in the gas and oil sectors , adding that Russian companies were interested in helping Slovakia further develop its nuclear power industry .
-Mr. Putin 's visit is the first by a Russian president to the country since Slovakia and the Czech Republic were formed in 1993 with the peaceful split of Czechoslovakia .
-Companies in the United States slashed their stockpiles of goods and supplies in December , a sign the U.S. economy may be forced to shed more jobs .
-Wholesale inventories have now fallen for four consecutive months as companies try to reduce their inventories to match the drop in consumer spending .
-But the data suggests they are not slashing stockpiles fast enough .
-The Commerce Department report says wholesale inventories fell 1.4 percent last month , while sales at the wholesale level fell at a faster 3.6 percent pace .
-The data mean that wholesalers are ordering fewer goods , which could force factories to lower production and eliminate jobs .
-Hundreds of Iraqi Shi'ites have gathered on the streets of Baghdad 's Sadr City district to celebrate the death sentence handed down to deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein .
-Residents of the Shi'ite suburb danced , waved flags and set fire to pictures of Saddam .
-The district is controlled by the Shi'ite Mahdi militia , which largely ignored a strict curfew imposed on the rest of the Iraqi capital .
-Other parts of the Iraqi capital were largely quiet as the curfew remains in place .
-It is aimed at preventing outbreaks of sectarian fighting over the Saddam verdict .
-However , officials say gunmen fought with police in northern Baghdad 's Azamiyah district , which is dominated by Sunni Muslims .
-Several Iraqi Sunni politicians have criticized the death sentence on Saddam - a Sunni - and warned it could spark greater bloodshed between Sunnis and Shi'ites .
-A list of victims of accused swindler Bernard Madoff has been made public .
-The 162-page document names several thousand clients who invested with Madoff , including charitable foundations , celebrities , Madoff 's relatives and even his attorney .
-The document was filed late Wednesday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan .
-Among the names are legendary baseball pitcher Sandy Koufax , New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon , Columbia University , and finance institutions Bank of America Corporation and Citigroup .
-Prosecutors accuse the 70-year-old Madoff of operating a years-long massive pyramid scheme that illegally used money from new investors to pay previous ones .
-Officials say the fraud may have cost investors $ 50 billion .
-Madoff has not been indicted and is currently under house arrest at his multi-million dollar apartment in New York .
-Dozens of Egyptians protested in front of the country 's high court Tuesday calling for the release of an opposition leader who was jailed four weeks ago on what his supporters say are FALSE charges .
-Riot police stood nearby , as supporters of al-Ghad party leader Ayman Nour peacefully protested , chanting slogans and waving photos of the imprisoned legislator .
-Mr. Nour has been held on charges of forging signatures to secure a license to establish his al-Ghad party last year .
-He denies the accusations .
-His supporters say his arrest was politically motivated , because he has been a vocal advocate of constitutional reform .
-The United States voiced its concern over Mr. Nour 's detention during a meeting in Washington two weeks ago between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit .
-Iraqi police say gunmen have killed two police officers , one soldier , a grandmother and her grandchild , in a series of attacks in the restive northern city of Mosul .
-Police say the three security officers died as assailants carried out drive-by shootings on multiple checkpoints in the city .
-In a separate incident , unknown gunmen stormed a house in western Mosul , killing a woman and her young grandchild , who was about 2 or 3 years old .
-Police did not provide further details about that attack .
-Elsewhere in Iraq , authorities say at least six people were wounded in a car bombing in the capital Sunday .
-They say the bomb blast occurred in eastern Baghdad 's Shi'ite Baladiyat district .
-Israeli doctors say Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has moved his right arm and leg in response to pain tests as they gradually bring him out of a medically-induced coma .
-Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef told reporters at Jerusalem 's Hadassah Hospital that Mr. Sharon 's movements became increasingly significant as doctors reduced his anesthesia dosage Monday .
-But he added that Mr. Sharon remains sedated and in serious condition .
-Doctors had kept Mr. Sharon , 77 , in a deep state of unconsciousness since he suffered a brain hemorrhage last Wednesday .
-Doctors say they are monitoring Mr. Sharon 's condition and that it is too early to discuss his brain function .
-The doctors have said the Israeli leader 's chances of survival are good , but that he will probably not be able to continue as prime minister .
-The United States has announced a $ 481- million aid package aimed at reducing poverty in Burkina Faso .
-A statement from the U.S. government 's Millennium Challenge Corporation says the five-year agreement will help the west African nation improve roads , agricultural productivity , and primary education for girls .
-The grant was announced Monday in Washington after a signing ceremony attended by Burkina Faso 's President Blaise Compaore and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice .
-The Millennium Challenge Corporation gives grants to countries that show a commitment to good governance , economic freedom and the elimination of extreme poverty .
-The Bush administration launched the fund in 2004 .
-Egypt 's culture minister says police have recovered the Vincent van Gogh painting that was stolen from a Cairo museum earlier Saturday .
-Farouk Hosni said security officials at the Cairo airport have arrested two Italian nationals who were trying to leave the country with the painting .
-The painting by the Dutch artist is valued at about $ 50 million .
-It goes by two titles , Poppy Flowers and Vase with Flowers .
-Crude oil prices are climbing with news of a potential hurricane along the southern gulf coast of the United States and Iran 's ongoing nuclear dispute with western nations .
-Oil prices rose more than $ 1 Friday to $ 73 a barrel .
-Financial analysts say they are closely watching a tropical depression that weather forecasters are tracking as it makes its way to the U.S. gulf coast .
-Last year 's storms , particularly Hurricane Katrina , damaged off shore oil refineries , disrupting U.S. oil supplies and driving oil prices to record highs .
-An August 31 U.N. Security Council deadline for Iran to halt its nuclear activities is also weighing heavily on oil prices .
-Traders are concerned that Iran may block oil exports if the security council imposes sanctions against it .
-Iran is the world 's fourth largest oil producer .
-The Asian Development Bank has issued a $ 2.7-million grant to Afghanistan to improve the country 's road system in rural areas .
-The grant will go to training highway engineers at Kabul Polytechnic University as well as to the Ministry of Public Works .
-The ADB said on Tuesday that the purpose of the grants is to help people in Afghanistan 's backcountry gain better access to the center of the country .
-The grants will be applied to a road master plan that was earlier developed with ADB assistance .
-India has boosted security in the northern town of Ayodhya , one day before the 12th anniversary of a mosque demolition that sparked bloody riots between Hindus and Muslims .
-Hundreds of soldiers are standing guard at the disputed site where Hindu extremists destroyed the 16th century Babri mosque , saying it was built by destroying a temple at the birthplace of their god-king Rama .
-They say want to rebuild the temple .
-The demolition triggered nationwide riots that left about 2,000 people dead , the bloodiest in India since the 1947 partition with Pakistan .
-Two Hindu extremist groups , the World Hindu Council and Shiv Sena , have called for a rally near the temple town on Monday to mark the anniversary .
-The dispute is now before the Indian courts .
-Delegates from most African countries are attending a U.N.-sponsored conference in Zimbabwe on improving food safety on the continent .
-During Monday 's session , the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization warned that food-borne diseases are a serious threat in Africa .
-Both U.N. agencies said improved food safety would help reduce an estimated 2,000 deaths per day in Africa from food and waterborne diseases .
-Experts at the four-day conference will try to strengthen existing systems to ensure safer food to improve health and agricultural trade opportunities .
-Host Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe opened the conference in Harare .
-The French news agency reports Mr. Mugabe defended his seizure of white-owned farms to be given to landless blacks as a way of bringing food to the people .
-Relief agencies blame the policy for disrupting Zimbabwe 's agricultural output and creating serious food shortages .
-Controversial British historian David Irving is to go on trial in Austria Monday on charges of denying the Nazi Holocaust during World War II .
-Irving has been in custody since November when he was arrested for allegedly denying the Holocaust at meetings in Austria in 1989 .
-He faces up to 10 years in prison for his public denial , which is illegal in Austria .
-The 67-year-old Irving has written a number of controversial books including Hitler 's War , in which he challenges the extent of the Holocaust .
-He says Hitler knew nothing about the extermination of some six million Jews and actually tried to protect them .
-Over the years , Irving has lost several legal battles over his views .
-The World Health Organization says that despite a global effort to eradicate polio by the end of 2005 , the number of cases rose by almost 30 percent last year .
-Organization officials say more than 1,170 cases were reported last year compared to 784 in 2003 .
-Ninety percent of the incidents occurred in Nigeria , India and Pakistan .
-Nigeria , Africa 's most populous country , accounts for 65 percent of the 2004 total .
-Eradication efforts have been hampered by a months-long vaccine boycott in that country 's northern region .
-Opponents there had said the polio vaccine was contaminated with infertility agents .
-That boycott led to the spread of the virus to neighboring countries , including Ghana , Benin , Chad and Togo .
-Conflicts in Ivory Coast and Sudan also have hindered eradication efforts .
-Polio is a disease that attacks the nervous system , causing paralysis , muscle atrophy and sometimes death .
-China 's official news agency says a 31-year-old poultry farmer is the country 's fifth confirmed human case of bird flu , but the woman has since been released from the hospital after her condition improved .
-The Xinhua news agency says the woman from Heishan County , Liaoning province in China 's northeast became sick with pneumonia-like symptoms on October 30 and was hospitalized .
-Her condition improved and she was discharged on November 29 .
-Tests later showed the woman had contracted the deadly H5N1 strain of avian flu .
-Health officials are now monitoring people who had contact with her .
-Wednesday , China announced its fourth human victim of bird flu , a 10-year-old girl in southern Guangxi region .
-She remains hospitalized .
-Since 2003 , the H5N1 virus has killed nearly 70 people , mostly in southeast Asia .
-Pakistani officials say a man accused of being an al-Qaida computer expert has been released without charge following three years in custody .
-Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan was arrested in Lahore in July 2004 .
-Pakistani officials said investigations of his computer led to information on active al-Qaida networks .
-Khan 's lawyer Babar Awan told reporters Monday that he has returned to his home in the southern port city of Karachi .
-Officials alleged that Khan acted as a link between top al-Qaida leaders and the organizations ' operational cells .
-Pakistani intelligence officials say information from his computer led them to a Tanzanian wanted for the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa , as well as terror plots in both the United States and Britain .
-Khan was never charged with a crime or brought before a court .
-Haiti 's interim leader , Gerard Latortue , has called on donor nations to help rebuild his country .
-Diplomats attending a one-day conference in Cayenne , French Guiana , Friday are discussing ways to jumpstart desperately needed donations to Haiti .
-They are trying to set infrastructure and development goals needed for the Caribbean nation to overcome last February 's armed rebellion that ousted former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide .
-In the months following last year 's political crisis , donor nations and organizations pledged $ 1.3 million for reconstruction efforts in Haiti , the Western Hemisphere 's poorest nation .
-But officials say the actual amount provided , so far , is far less than donor nations promised .
-Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has ordered officials in southern China to brace for Typhoon Damrey .
-He says authorities must make preparations for the typhoon , which is expected to make landfall late Sunday or early Monday and pound the region with heavy rains and strong winds .
-Earlier this month , Typhoon Khanun killed at least 14 people in coastal provinces of eastern China .
-And Typhoon Talim killed at least 42 people when it hit Zhejiang province .
-Ukraine 's security service has denied any involvement in the poisoning of opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko .
-In a statement Thursday , the State Security Service said it had nothing to do with what it called Mr. Yushchenko 's worsening health .
-The pro-Western opposition leader fell ill in September during a heated presidential campaign and his face became disfigured .
-Doctors say he was poisoned with dioxin .
-Mr. Yushchenko told the Associated Press last week that he was probably poisoned at a September dinner with Ukrainian security agents .
-Mr. Yushchenko faces pro-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych Sunday in a court-ordered re-vote to replace last month 's fraudulent balloting .
-Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters today he is willing to work with whoever wins .
-An Iraqi commander involved in a daring rescue by Iraqi and U.S. troops says accounts of the incident by some Shi'ite officials are not TRUE .
-At least 16 people were killed in the operation Sunday .
-The Iraqi special forces commander , whose identity was not disclosed , spoke Wednesday to Western reporters from Time magazine and CBS News .
-He disputed accusations from some Shi'ite officials that U.S. forces raided a Baghdad mosque and killed innocent civilians .
-He insisted his troops had to fight their way into the target building and kill gunmen guarding a hostage .
-He said his men did not find prayer mats or books , which are usually found in a mosque .
-He said they found weapons and instruments of torture .
-The hostage freed in the operation confirms the commander 's version .
-Palestinians formally opened the campaign to replace their late leader Yasser Arafat Saturday , as the registration period began for potential candidates for the January 9 ballot .
-Former Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas , Mr. Arafat 's successor as head of the powerful Palestine Liberation Organization , is expected to be the leading contender if his Fatah faction chooses him as its candidate .
-Candidates not put forward by a party must submit 5,000 signatures of support and $ 3,000 .
-Among those planning to make bids are former Hamas leader Sheikh Talal Sidr and university professor Abdel Sattar Qassem .
-On Friday , French officials released Mr. Arafat 's medical records to his wife Suha .
-They said they will also give them to Mr. Arafat 's nephew , Palestinian envoy Nasser al-Kidwa , if he asks for them .
-Palestinian officials say they want to get the records to know Mr. Arafat 's cause of death .
-European government ministers have pledged nearly $ 13 billion to fund an ambitious plan for space exploration , including a mission to place a robotic exploration vehicle on Mars .
-European Space Agency director Jean-Jacques Dordain said the projects agreed on Wednesday by the agency 's 18 member states include satellites to monitor climate change and a long list of experiments for the International Space Station .
-The money will also fund updates to the Ariane rocket , which carries European payloads into space .
-The so-called ExoMars project is set to blast off in 2016 , carrying a landing rover to Mars which will drill two meters into the planet 's surface to take soil samples .
-Ministers capped ExoMars at nearly $ 1.3 billion , a sum that falls short of its target .
-The remaining $ 260 million is expected to be raised with funding from the United States or Russia .
-A huge slick of toxic chemicals has entered Russian territory from China after flowing downstream from a chemical-plant explosion last month .
-Russia 's Emergency Situations Minister , Sergei Shoigu , says the slick crossed the border Friday , but initial tests show pollution levels in the Amur River lower than feared .
-The blast on November 13 poured 100 tons of benzene and other poisons into the Songhua River , which flowed past the Chinese city of Harbin into Russia .
-Harbin residents were without running water as the toxic slick passed .
-Russia 's Far East Meteorological Service says foul water will begin flowing past Khabarovsk , a city of more than 5,00,000 people , within a week .
-Environmental officials say the benzene in the river should be so diluted that no interruption of municipal water service in Khabarovsk will be necessary .
-The husband of outed CIA operative Valerie Plame , Ambassador Joseph Wilson , says the indictment of vice presidential aide , Lewis Libby , is a sad day for America .
-In a statement read Friday by Mr. Wilson 's attorney , the diplomat said the leaked revelation of his wife 's identity in 2003 was harmful to the nation .
-Mr. Wilson said he feels his family was attacked because he , in his words , spoke the truth about the events that led the United States to war .
-Mr. Wilson underscored that the day is not a day to celebrate , because when indictments are delivered to the front door of the White House , the Office of the President is defiled .
-The former ambassador said he is confident justice will be served .
-He commended Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald for his professionalism , diligence and courage .
-China 's government-run media say the country 's top advisory body ended its annual session Monday after adopting a resolution to strongly oppose Taiwan independence efforts .
-The Xinhua news agency reports the resolution noted that Taiwan 's leaders have accelerated what it termed " dangerous " steps toward independence .
-The agency urged all Chinese to resolutely oppose and check independence forces and activities .
-The resolution wrapped up the National Committee of the Chinese People 's Political Consultative Conference that opened March 3 in Beijing .
-Xinhua says the purpose of the body is to conduct political consultation and debate issues of state .
-This year 's session was attended by more than two thousand advisors from across the country .
-Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian recently raised cross-strait tensions by scrapping guidelines and a group dedicated to Taiwan 's eventual unification with mainland China .
-Colombian rebels have released all 29 police officers taken hostage during a recent attack on the remote western village of San Marino .
-Officials in Bogota say army troops found the officers walking in the jungle in Choco state Tuesday .
-They were taken hostage last Saturday in a raid by rebels that left eight other police officers dead .
-One of the released officers said his captors included rebels from Colombia 's two main guerrilla groups - the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia , known as FARC , and the smaller National Liberation Army , or ELN .
-Meanwhile , in Havana , exploratory peace talks between Colombian President Alvaro Uribe 's government and the ELN rebels are nearing completion .
-Officials say details on an agenda for formal talks should be available Wednesday .
-The ELN and the FARC have been battling to topple the government in 41 years of civil war .
-The conflict leaves thousands dead each year .
-The Ford Motor Company announced multi-billion dollar losses for the second quarter of 2008 , as well as major changes in its American auto plants .
-High oil prices continue to take a toll on the U.S. automobile industry .
-VOA 's Carolyn Presutti drives our story .
-The U.S. dollar dropped to another record low compared to the euro on Tuesday .
-At one point , it took more than $ 1.31 to buy each euro .
-The latest record-low for the dollar follows speculation that Russia may increase the number of euros it holds in foreign currency reserves .
-Analysts say the American currency is declining largely because of concern over the huge U.S. trade deficit .
-The weak dollar makes U.S.-made exports more competitive on world markets .
-It also makes French wines , German cars and other goods imported to the U.S. market more expensive for U.S. consumers .
-Economists say the dollar 's decline will help close the gap between what U.S. companies sell abroad and what U.S. consumers buy from foreign companies .
-Israeli forces hunting for militants in northern Gaza shot and killed a 16-year-old Palestinian Sunday .
-Witnesses in the town of Beit Lahiya say it appeared Israeli fire was aimed at the teenager because he had been standing near a rocket launcher used by militants a short time earlier .
-Palestinian security officials ( who asked not to be identified ) say the teenager may have been in the area by accident , and that he had no connection with the rocket fired into Israel .
-Israeli military officials gave a roughly similar account of the incident , but said they believed they were firing at a member of a militant group .
-Israel 's military has been trying to suppress Palestinian rocket fire from Gaza for months .
-Fighting intensified recently when Israeli troops staged major incursions into northern Gaza .
-Indian and U.S. officials are holding more talks in New Delhi Friday to try to reach an agreement on nuclear energy cooperation before President Bush visits India next week .
-Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran and U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns are leading the negotiations .
-Washington has offered to provide India with civilian nuclear technology , but wants to ensure New Delhi does not use the equipment for military purposes .
-Burns said Thursday that differences remain between the two sides , and he is not sure an agreement will be ready by next week .
-President Bush said Wednesday he wants to come home from India with a deal on the nuclear issue so he can start promoting it to Congress , which must give its approval .
-Some U.S. lawmakers oppose transferring nuclear technology to India , arguing that would undermine the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty , which India has not signed .
-Japan Airlines says it will purchase 30 Boeing 7.00E+07 Dreamliner aircraft , with an option to buy 20 more .
-The price of the deal was not disclosed , but could be around $ 4 billion .
-Japan Airlines is expected to receive its first Boeing Dreamliner in 2008 .
-Boeing and European rival Airbus were competing for the Japan Airlines deal .
-Boeing and Airbus have been battling in recent months to win contracts with Asian airliners .
-Boeing recently reached a deal with Japan 's All Nippon Airways , while Airbus inked a contract with Malaysia 's AirAsia .
-Witnesses say three British citizens have been kidnapped by gunmen in the southern Gaza Strip , after crossing into the territory from Egypt .
-Security officials in Gaza say one of the victims is a human rights worker .
-There was no claim of responsibility , and Palestinian authorities say they have begun a search .
-Recent kidnappings in Gaza have ended peacefully with the hostages released unharmed .
-In several cases , the kidnappers were either seeking jobs with the Palestinian Authority , or the release of imprisoned relatives .
-The U.S. military has filed charges against six Marines accused of assaulting Iraqi civilians in the Iraqi town Hamdania .
-The men , charged Thursday , are being held in a military jail at Camp Pendleton , a Marine base in southern California .
-The alleged assaults occurred April 10 .
-Three of the Marines charged are also accused of involvement in a separate case , the killing of an Iraqi civilian April 26 , also in Hamdania .
-Five other Marines are also charged with that crime .
-Thursday 's assault case is the latest in charges of violence by U.S. servicemen against Iraqi civilians .
-The military is investigating allegations that U.S. Marines killed 24 Iraqis in the town of Haditha , while four U.S. Army soldiers have been charged in the rape and murder of an Iraqi girl .
-Those soldiers are also charged with killing three members of her family .
-Egypt 's President Hosni Mubarak says he advised the United States not to launch military action against Iran , saying it could trigger violence across the Middle East .
-A state-run newspaper , al-Gomhouria , Wednesday quoted Mr. Mubarak as saying he discussed the issue with Vice President Dick Cheney , who visited Egypt in January .
-President Bush has said he is open to all possible options for dealing with Iran , including military intervention .
-But he said that would be the last option .
-Washington accuses Iran of sponsoring terrorists and secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons .
-In Wednesday 's published comments , Mr. Mubarak said he warned that a possible attack on Iran would anger Shi'ites in Iraq and other Middle Eastern nations .
-He said military action would spark revenge attacks from Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and insurgents in Iraq .
-Kenya 's President Mwai Kibaki has denied ever making a pledge to stay in office for just one term .
-A former ally of the president , Ralia Odinga , has said that Mr. Kibaki made the pledge in 2002 , during negotiations to form the alliance that won that year 's Kenyan elections .
-But Thursday , Mr. Kibaki said he had no intention of giving up the chance to run for a second term .
-He said he has never indicated to anyone that he had any other intention .
-President Kibaki has yet to formally announce that he will run for re-election in polls expected later this year .
-The Kenyan economy has thrived under Mr. Kibaki but the administration has lost support at home and abroad because of a series of corruption scandals .
-The U.S. military is delivering 50,000 hand-held radios to Haiti for survivors of the recent earthquakes .
-The U.S. Department of Defense said Wednesday it expects the radios to arrive later this week .
-It said the joint task force will then distribute the radios to the public .
-The military said survivors can use the radios to receive news and important information concerning international relief efforts .
-It also says its forces are working closely with the Haitian government to broadcast public safety messages for survivors on FM frequencies of 92.4 mhz and 104.1 mhz and the AM radio frequency of 1030 khz .
-The radios are powered by solar energy and hand cranks instead of batteries , a potentially helpful asset in a nation short on basic supplies .
-Iraqi security forces say they have captured the alleged leader of a Sunni Arab militant group suspected of several bombings and assassinations .
-A military spokesman Sunday said officials have linked Thayer Kadhim Abid al-Suraiwi to some Iraqi politicians and neighboring countries , but he did not elaborate .
-Authorities arrested Suraiwi last month in Baghdad .
-They accuse him of being the commander of Ansar al-Sunna .
-They say the group was responsible for a June car bombing that killed dozens of people in Baghdad 's Shi'ite neighborhood of Hurriyah .
-Meanwhile , Iraqi police say unknown gunmen killed three policemen today in Mosul .
-There are fresh allegations that prisoners under U.S. custody in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay , Cuba , suffered serious physical abuse from their interrogators .
-Agents from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation describe the abuse in newly-released e-mails obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union .
-In one e-mail , an FBI agent says he saw Guantanamo prisoners chained to the floor for up to 24 hours and left to defacate on themselves .
-In another , the FBI reports that an unnamed individual saw Iraqi civilian detainees being beaten and strangled .
-The e-mails also allege that Guantanamo military interrogators posed as FBI agents to avoid accountability for their deeds .
-The White House has denied one allegation in the e-mail that President Bush signed an executive order approving certain interrogation techniques .
-A U.S.-launched spacecraft orbiting the planet Mars has begun sending back some of the most finely detailed pictures ever of the surface of the so-called red planet .
-The U.S. space agency , NASA , announced Friday that images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have begun arriving .
-They show rocks and features as small as armchairs on the planet 's surface .
-The craft is particularly close to the planet 's surface during this point in its orbit , giving scientists extra help in their hunt for surface details that may indicate the presence of water sometime in the past .
-Scientists theorize that water may have made it possible for Mars to sustain life .
-This spacecraft began orbiting Mars in March .
-Scientists say it will return more data about the planet than all past Mars missions combined .
-Opposition parties in Ethiopia say they will boycott parliamentary elections scheduled for Sunday in a remote eastern part of the country .
-The main opposition parties in the Somali region accused the ruling party Tuesday of harassing their supporters and illegally distributing ballots .
-Voters in Somali are electing members of parliament more than three months after the rest of the country went to the polls because of heavy rains in the region .
-Ethiopia 's election board has already announced the ruling Ethiopian People 's Revolutionary Democratic Front party has won a majority of seats in parliament .
-The opposition has rejected those results and said it may challenge the ruling in court .
-Both the opposition and ruling parties have accused the other of fraud in the May 15 poll .
-Shortly after the vote , security forces fired on anti-government protesters , killing 36 people .
-President Viktor Yushchenko says he will dismiss Ukraine 's chief veterinary official , Petro Verbytsky , for his handling of the bird flu crisis .
-President Yushchenko made the announcement Monday as he was visiting an area of the Crimea suddenly hit by the deadly virus .
-He said the veterinary service had not been prepared for the health crisis .
-The president also urged local authorities to consider firing Crimean veterinary service leaders .
-Experts are investigating the recent deaths of hundreds of birds .
-It is not yet known whether they succumbed to the H5N1 strain of the flu , which can be spread to humans .
-Also Monday , Russia banned poultry imports from Ukraine .
-The swollen waters of the Mississippi River in the central U.S. have broken through another embankment , threatening to flood more houses and farmland .
-The sandbag-reinforced levee broke early this Friday morning near the city of Winfield , in the state of Missouri , about 70 kilometers northeast of St. Louis .
-Officials say it will " ultimately inundate " the town .
-It is the latest of dozens of embankments to fail to contain the rain-flooded Mississippi over the past 10 days , ruining buildings and huge areas of farmland .
-Authorities say the worst of the flooding is over .
-But the effects are likely to continue .
-The farms are major producers of corn , wheat and soybeans , prompting fears that crop losses will result in higher worldwide food prices .
-Citizens of Nepal 's capital , Kathmandu , have begun to suffer shortages of food and fuel as pro-democracy protests and strikes entered their 11th day .
-On Sunday , police used teargas and rubber bullets against demonstrators , while an alliance of seven political parties urged people to stop paying taxes to put pressure on King Gyanendra to restore democracy .
-The political parties also called on international donors to halt aid to the royalist government .
-Gasoline has become hard to find , and the price of vegetables has skyrocketed since strikes interrupted deliveries of food and gasoline to the capital .
-The street campaign has intensified since the king dismissed the elected government and seized absolute power 14 months ago .
-The king said he took the action because the politicians failed to control a Maoist rebellion .
-Anti-royalists have called for a mass protest on Thursday .
-Iraq has welcomed Iran 's foreign minister to Baghdad , as the two former warring nations continue to improve relations .
-Kamal Kharrazi is the highest-ranking Iranian official to visit Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein more than two years ago .
-Mr. Kharrazi is due to hold talks with Iraq 's Shi'ite prime minister , Ibrahim al-Jaafari .
-He also will meet with his Iraqi counterpart , Hoshyar Zebari .
-Iraq 's new prime minister and several members of his Shi'ite-dominated government have close ties with the Islamic regime in mainly Shi'ite Iran .
-Under Saddam Hussein , Iraq fought a devastating eight-year war with Iran , and more than a million people were killed .
-Afghan authorities say two suicide bombers have killed three people and wounded eight in the southern city of Kandahar .
-One of the attackers killed a former factional commander , Agha Shah , and two bystanders outside Agha Shah 's house .
-Later , a second bomber blew himself up , but caused no other casualties , when police ordered him to stop near the main U.S. military base in Kandahar .
-There have been two other suicide bombings in the Afghan city in less than a week , one against British officials and the other targeting Canadian troops .
-Meanwhile , the U.S. military says an American soldier was killed and another wounded Sunday during fighting with insurgents in Zabul province .
-Separately , a U.S. military helicopter made a hard landing and caught fire during an anti-militant operation in eastern Afghanistan .
-The helicopter was destroyed , but all onboard escaped unhurt .
-The U.S. government is expressing doubts about a threat posted on the Internet which warns officials in seven U.S. cities about a dirty bomb attack on professional football stadiums in the coming days .
-The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday the threat was being viewed " with strong skepticism , " but that an alert was being issued " out of an abundance of caution . "
-Authorities say the threat was posted on an Internet web site and mentions National Football League , or NFL , stadiums in New York , Miami , Atlanta , Seattle , Houston , Oakland and Cleveland .
-Officials , however , say people are strongly encouraged to continue to go about their plans , including attending events that involve large public gatherings such as football games .
-Tony Lama Co. said that Equus Investment II Limited Partnership has proposed changing the offer for the company to $ 13.65 in cash and stock from an all-cash transaction .
-Under terms of the new proposal , Equus , managed by Equus Capital Corp. , Houston , would pay $ 12 cash and one new preferred share with a liquidation preference of $ 1.65 a share for each of Tony Lama 's 2.1 million shares outstanding .
-Previously , it offered $ 13.65 a share in cash , or $ 29 million .
-The El~Paso , Texas , maker of Western boots and leather accessories said the preferred stock would accrue dividends at a 12 % rate , but would n't be paid for the first two years .
-The stock would be redeemed in five years , subject to terms of the surviving company 's debt .
-Neither Equus nor Tony Lama gave a reason for the changed offer and Tony Lama could n't be reached for comment .
-However , Tony Lama said it would promptly submit the offer to a special committee of the company 's board .
-Dutch traders landed at the southern tip of modern day South Africa in 1652 and established a stopover point on the spice route between the Netherlands and the Far East , founding the city of Cape Town .
-After the British seized the Cape of Good Hope area in 1806 , many of the Dutch settlers ( the Boers ) trekked north to found their own republics .
-The discovery of diamonds ( 1867 ) and gold ( 1886 ) spurred wealth and immigration and intensified the subjugation of the native inhabitants .
-The Boers resisted British encroachments but were defeated in the Boer War ( 1899 - 1902 ) ; however , the British and the Afrikaners , as the Boers became known , ruled together beginning in 1910 under the Union of South Africa , which became a republic in 1961 after a whites-only referendum .
-In 1948 , the National Party was voted into power and instituted a policy of apartheid - the separate development of the races - which favored the white minority at the expense of the black majority .
-The African National Congress ( ANC ) led the opposition to apartheid and many top ANC leaders , such as Nelson MANDELA , spent decades in South Africa 's prisons .
-Internal protests and insurgency , as well as boycotts by some Western nations and institutions , led to the regime 's eventual willingness to negotiate a peaceful transition to majority rule .
-The first multi-racial elections in 1994 brought an end to apartheid and ushered in majority rule under an ANC-led government .
-South Africa since then has struggled to address apartheid-era imbalances in decent housing , education , and health care .
-ANC infighting , which has grown in recent years , came to a head in September 2008 when President Thabo MBEKI resigned , and Kgalema MOTLANTHE , the party 's General-Secretary , succeeded him as interim president .
-Jacob ZUMA became president after the ANC won general elections in April 2009 .
-In January 2011 , South Africa assumed a nonpermanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2011 - 12 term .
-The SANTOS administration has highlighted five " locomotives " to stimulate economic growth : extractive industries ; agriculture ; infrastructure ; housing ; and innovation .
-Colombia is third largest exporter of oil to the United States .
-President SANTOS , inaugurated in August 2010 , introduced unprecedented legislation to better distribute extractive industry royalties and compensate Colombians who lost their land due to decades of violence .
-He also seeks to build on improvements in domestic security and on President URIBE 's promarket economic policies .
-Foreign direct investment reached a record $ 10 billion in 2008 , but dropped to $ 7.2 billion in 2009 , before beginning to recover in 2010 , notably in the oil sector .
-Pro-business reforms in the oil and gas sectors and export-led growth , fueled mainly by the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act , have enhanced Colombia 's investment climate .
-Inequality , underemployment , and narcotrafficking remain significant challenges , and Colombia 's infrastructure requires major improvements to sustain economic expansion .
-Because of the global financial crisis and weakening demand for Colombia 's exports , Colombia 's economy grew only 2.7 % in 2008 , and 0.8 % in 2009 but rebounded to around 4.4 % in 2010 .
-In late 2010 , Colombia experienced its most severe flooding in decades , with damages estimated to exceed $ 6 billion .
-The government has encouraged exporters to diversify their customer base beyond the United States and Venezuela , traditionally Colombia 's largest trading partners ; the SANTOS administration continues to pursue free trade agreements with Asian and South American partners and a trade accord with Canada is expected to go into effect in 2011 , while a negotiated trade agreement with the EU has yet to be approved by the EU parliament .
-Improved relations with Venezuela have eased worries about restrictions on bilateral trade , but the business sector remains concerned about the pending US Congressional approval of the US-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement .
-The Arctic Ocean is the smallest of the world 's five oceans ( after the Pacific Ocean , Atlantic Ocean , Indian Ocean , and the recently delimited Southern Ocean ) .
-The Northwest Passage ( US and Canada ) and Northern Sea Route ( Norway and Russia ) are two important seasonal waterways .
-In recent years the polar ice pack has thinned allowing for increased navigation and raising the possibility of future sovereignty and shipping disputes among countries bordering the Arctic Ocean .
-Jersey and the other Channel Islands represent the last remnants of the medieval Dukedom of Normandy that held sway in both France and England .
-These islands were the only British soil occupied by German troops in World War II . Jersey is a British crown dependency but is not part of the UK or of the European Union .
-However , the UK Government is constitutionally responsible for its defense and international representation .
-In 1603 , after decades of civil warfare , the Tokugawa shogunate ( a military-led , dynastic government ) ushered in a long period of relative political stability and isolation from foreign influence .
-For more than two centuries this policy enabled Japan to enjoy a flowering of its indigenous culture .
-Japan opened its ports after signing the Treaty of Kanagawa with the US in 1854 and began to intensively modernize and industrialize .
-During the late 19th and early 20th centuries , Japan became a regional power that was able to defeat the forces of both China and Russia .
-It occupied Korea , Formosa ( Taiwan ) , and southern Sakhalin Island .
-In 1931 - 32 Japan occupied Manchuria , and in 1937 it launched a full-scale invasion of China .
-Japan attacked US forces in 1941 - triggering America 's entry into World War II - and soon occupied much of East and Southeast Asia .
-After its defeat in World War II , Japan recovered to become an economic power and an ally of the US .
-While the emperor retains his throne as a symbol of national unity , elected politicians hold actual decision-making power .
-Following three decades of unprecedented growth , Japan 's economy experienced a major slowdown starting in the 1990s , but the country remains a major economic power .
-In March 2011 , Japan 's strongest-ever earthquake , and an accompanying tsunami , devastated the northeast part of Honshu island , killing thousands and damaging several nuclear power plants .
-The catastrophe hobbled the country 's economy and its energy infrastructure , and severely strained its capacity to deal with the humanitarian disaster .
-Niger became independent from France in 1960 and experienced single-party and military rule until 1991 , when Gen. Ali SAIBOU was forced by public pressure to allow multiparty elections , which resulted in a democratic government in 1993 .
-Political infighting brought the government to a standstill and in 1996 led to a coup by Col. Ibrahim BARE .
-In 1999 , BARE was killed in a counter coup by military officers who restored democratic rule and held elections that brought Mamadou TANDJA to power in December of that year .
-TANDJA was reelected in 2004 and in 2009 spearheaded a constitutional amendment that would allow him to extend his term as president .
-In February 2010 , a military coup deposed TANDJA , immediately suspended the constitution and dissolved the Cabinet , and promised that elections would be held following a transitional period of unspecified duration .
-Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world with minimal government services and insufficient funds to develop its resource base .
-The largely agrarian and subsistence-based economy is frequently disrupted by extended droughts common to the Sahel region of Africa .
-A predominately Tuareg ethnic group emerged in February 2007 , the Nigerien Movement for Justice , and attacked several military targets in Niger 's northern region throughout 2007 and 2008 .
-Successful government offensives in 2009 limited the rebels ' operational capabilities .
-A DOG lay in a manger , and by his growling and snapping prevented the oxen from eating the hay which had been placed for them .
-" What a selfish Dog ! " said one of them to his companions ; " he can not eat the hay himself , and yet refuses to allow those to eat who can . "
-THE BEASTS of the field and forest had a Lion as their king .
-He was neither wrathful , cruel , nor tyrannical , but just and gentle as a king could be .
-During his reign he made a royal proclamation for a general assembly of all the birds and beasts , and drew up conditions for a universal league , in which the Wolf and the Lamb , the Panther and the Kid , the Tiger and the Stag , the Dog and the Hare , should live together in perfect peace and amity .
-The Hare said , " Oh , how I have longed to see this day , in which the weak shall take their place with impunity by the side of the strong . "
-And after the Hare said this , he ran for his life .
-An Eagle swooped down upon a Serpent and seized it in his talons with the intention of carrying it off and devouring it .
-But the Serpent was too quick for him and had its coils round him in a moment ; and then there ensued a life-and-death struggle between the two .
-A countryman , who was a witness of the encounter , came to the assistance of the eagle , and succeeded in freeing him from the Serpent and enabling him to escape .
-In revenge , the Serpent spat some of his poison into the man 's drinking-horn .
-Heated with his exertions , the man was about to slake his thirst with a draught from the horn , when the Eagle knocked it out of his hand , and spilled its contents upon the ground .
-" One good turn deserves another . "
-HAVING been summoned to serve as a juror , a Prominent Citizen sent a physician 's certificate stating that he was afflicted with softening of the brain .
-" The gentleman is excused , " said the Judge , handing back the certificate to the person who had brought it , " he has a brain . "
-My housecat went down to the local military recruiting depot to sign up for the service .
-He came back about two hours later and sadly explained that he could n't enlist because he would have to be " de-furred " .
-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for talks on democracy in Egypt and regional issues .
-The two met in the southern Egyptian city of Aswan Sunday .
-Following their talks , Rice voiced concern about Monday 's referendum to include tough anti-terrorism laws in Egypt 's constitution .
-Opposition groups say the amendments would be a setback for basic freedoms in Egypt and strengthen the ruling party 's grip on power .
-Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit , who also met with Rice , defended the proposed laws , saying Egypt 's security is its own responsibility .
-Rice also discussed regional issues with the Egyptian officials and said she appreciates Egypt 's support in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process .
-North Korea 's defense minister is promising retaliation against tough new U.N. sanctions put in place following its missile and nuclear tests .
-North Korean state media reported Sunday that Kim Yong-Chun said Pyongyang would deal " unimaginably deadly blows " at the United States and South Korea if they attack the communist nation .
-Kim was speaking at a public meeting held on the eve of the anniversary of the armistice that ended the Korean War on July 27 , 1953 .
-In a separate announcement , North Korea repeated its routine denunciations of an upcoming U.S. and South Korean military exercise , saying the maneuvers " lay bare the black-hearted aim " lurking behind the " talk of dialogue . "
-Washington and Seoul say they are not planning to invade North Korea .
-North Korea regularly issues aggressive statements and rhetoric against its neighbors and the U.S.
-Israeli police are investigating the desecration of the graves of slain Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and his wife , Leah .
-Police said Monday the words " murderous dog " were written with black paint on the tomb of Mr. Rabin , who was assassinated in 1995 by a Jewish extremist for his land-for-peace deals with the Palestinians .
-Last week , the grave of Theodore Herzl , the founder of the Zionist movement , was defaced with the words " Neo Nazi Hail Beilin . "
-Israel 's founding father David Ben Gurion 's grave was also desecrated .
-Police say they suspect right-wing extremists opposed to Israel 's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements were responsible for the graveyard vandalism .
-The U.S. military has launched a new operation in western Iraq aimed at rooting-out foreign fighters and insurgents in a bid to boost security ahead of the October 15 referendum on the country 's new constitution .
-The U.S. military says about 1,000 marines , soldiers and sailors launched the offensive early Saturday in the town of Sadah , near Qaim , about 12 kilometers from the Syrian border .
-Meanwhile , in the northern city of Kirkuk , police say a roadside bomb exploded near one of their patrols , killing at least three officers .
-Also Saturday , the U.S. military reports that two American soldiers were killed in separate incidents in Baghdad and Bayji .
-Also a Danish soldier was killed and two were wounded in the southern city of Basra , where about 500 Danish soldiers are based .
-The West Indies ' cricket team has scored 240-8 on the first day of its second test match against South Africa at Newlands in Cape Town , South Africa .
-Shivnarine Chanderpaul of the West Indies led the visitors with 64 runs while Marlon Samuels added another 51 for the Caribbean squad .
-Chanderpaul was at the crease for 297 minutes and faced 214 deliveries .
-South African bowlers Makhaya Ntini and Dale Steyn led the home team with Steyn taking four wickets while allowing 60 runs while Ntini finished at Feb-63 .
-The West Indies won the first test of the three-match series by 128 runs in Port Elizabeth .
-The third test starts January 10th in Durban .
-The two sides will also play five one-day international matches .
-North Korea has marked the 60th anniversary of the founding of its ruling party with a mass gathering in the capital .
-Supreme leader Kim Jong-il presided over the festivities Sunday night at Pyongyang 's May Day Stadium .
-The ruling Workers ' Party was founded in 1945 by Kim Jong-il 's father the late President Kim il-Sung , shortly after the Korean Peninsula was divided at the end of World War II .
-There was no mention of the country 's nuclear ambitions in speeches during Monday 's celebrations .
-North Korea agreed last month during six-nation talks in Beijing to abandon its nuclear weapons program in return for economic aid , energy assistance and security assurances .
-The fifth round of six-nation talks is scheduled for early next month in Beijing .
-U.S. military authorities have released 260 people from two detention facilities in Iraq after a security review board determined the detainees no longer pose a threat .
-A military spokesman Saturday said the release brings to 9,000 the number of detainees in Iraq who were freed in 2004 .
-He said about 7,000 prisoners are still being held at Baghdad 's Abu Ghraib prison and Camp Bucca in southern Iraq .
-Meanwhile , the U.S. military says a Marine was killed in Iraq 's western province of al-Anbar .
-The latest death marked an end to the U.S. military 's deadliest six-month period since the April 2003 invasion - with more than 500 U.S. soldiers killed in the last six months of 2004 .
-Also Saturday , a Lebanese man was killed and another wounded by sniper fire in the U.S. controlled Green Zone .
-World oil prices have fallen about eight percent from last week 's $ 70 high .
-The markets are reacting to Friday 's announcement that industrialized nations were releasing emergency reserves to make up for interruptions caused by Hurricane Katrina .
-In London Monday , the price of a barrel of crude oil for October delivery dropped to $ 64.7 , falling nearly $ 1.5 from Friday 's close .
-New York markets are closed for the Labor Day holiday .
-Analysts say the release of two million barrels of oil per day from International Energy Agency strategic stockpiles will ease the oil crisis in the United States caused by Katrina .
-The devastating hurricane shut down refineries , offshore production , oil imports and shipping throughout the entire U.S. Gulf Coast region .
-World oil prices rebounded in Wednesday 's trading .
-The price of a barrel of crude oil for future delivery gained nearly $ 4 to go as high as $ 95 a barrel in New York .
-Oil prices had fallen earlier in the week as investors worried that problems in the U.S. financial sector could hurt the economy and slow demand for energy .
-Oil buyers were apparently reassured when Washington helped insurance giant AIG and took other actions to calm the markets .
-Oil prices have fallen more than one-third since hitting an all-time high price above $ 147 a barrel in July .
-United Nations officials in Somalia say a cargo ship held for nearly 100 days at sea by pirates has finally arrived in port .
-The MV Semlow and its 10-man crew arrived Monday in the Somali port of El-Maan , one day after the pirates left .
-It was towed into port by another cargo ship that had been hijacked several days earlier .
-Pirates seized the U.N.-chartered ship on June 27 .
-It carried 850 metric tons of rice donated by Japan and Germany for Somali victims of last year 's tsunami .
-The pirates frequently changed their demands and reneged on agreements with the World Food Program to free the ship .
-The vessel will spend the next few days at El-Maan being offloaded before heading back to its home port in Mombasa , Kenya .
-The International Monetary Fund has sharply lowered its economic forecast and now says the world economy will shrink for the first time in 60 years during 2009 .
-As the report was published Thursday , IMF officials urged governments to do more to fight the downturn .
-The global lender said the world economy could shrink as much as one percent .
-The IMF study says advanced economies will suffer a " deep recession , " with the United States economy declining at a 2.6 percent rate , and Japan falling at a sharp 5.8 percent .
-The IMF cut growth projections for emerging and developing countries in half , saying they will expand 2.5 percent or less this year .
-The report predicts a modest economic recovery in 2010 for most nations .
-This global economic forecast is sharply lower than the IMF 's projections issued in January , which predicted slow growth .
-Australia 's foreign minister says Japan has agreed to free two anti-whaling activists being held aboard a Japanese whaling vessel in Antarctic waters .
-Foreign Minister Stephen Smith told Australia 's national radio early Wednesday that Japan has not yet handed the men back to their own ship .
-Smith added that Australian police are investigating whether there had been any unlawful activity .
-Japanese crewmembers seized the men - an Australian and a Briton - Tuesday when they boarded a vessel belonging to Japan 's Institute for Cetacean Research .
-The Japanese research institute says the men attacked their vessel with bottles of acid after illegally boarding it .
-An Australian court issued a ruling earlier Tuesday that bans Japanese whaling in an area near Antarctica that Australia has designated a whale sanctuary .
-Japan does not recognize the sanctuary and has said it will ignore any such injunction .
-The United States and China have reportedly reached a tentative agreement on imported Chinese textiles .
-News reports in the Washington Post and by Bloomberg Business News cite unnamed sources who say negotiators have agreed to allow U.S. imports of Chinese textile and apparel products to increase up to 10 percent in 2006 and 16 percent in 2007 .
-While the accord is not yet complete , the sources say the agreement could be signed as soon as next week .
-Washington and Beijing have been trying for a comprehensive agreement on Chinese exports that compete with U.S. made clothing and textiles .
-The issue flared because of a surge in Chinese exports to the United States after textile quotas were lifted at the start of the year .
-The United States and Mexico have announced a plan to coordinate law enforcement efforts to stop drug trafficking and related violence along the border between the two countries .
-U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and his Mexican counterpart Daniel Cabeza de Vaca spoke to reporters about the new plan Thursday in San Antonio , Texas .
-They said the plan includes improved communication , including regular meetings , between law enforcement officials in Mexico and the United States .
-It also calls for the United States to provide training and technical assistance to Mexico .
-The two men also pledged to work together to provide prompt responses to threats from violent criminal organizations against officials , victims and witnesses .
-The US-Mexican border region has seen escalating drug-related violence in recent years .
-An international media rights group says Burma 's military government has been harassing journalists since anti-government demonstrations in September .
-Reporters Without Borders said Wednesday police continue to search for journalists and activists who photographed and filmed the crackdown on the demonstrations led by Buddhist monks .
-It says at least nine journalists have fled to Thailand , and at least three others have been arrested and are still being held .
-The group said that while privately-owned media in Burma has resumed publishing , the country 's Censorship Board has stepped up its controls .
-It also says the government is strictly controlling the sales of foreign publications and that surveillance at Internet cafes has increased .
-The Burmese government detained thousands of protesters during the September pro-democracy demonstrations .
-Burma says 15 people died in the protests but the United Nations puts the figure at 31 .
-Zambian officials have discovered more than 40 dead wild birds in the southern city of Livingstone , and have asked residents who ate any meat from the birds to report for medical examinations .
-The chief veterinary officer in the southern tourist town , Jack Shoko , said he sent samples of the dead birds to the capital of Lusaka to be tested for bird flu .
-Zambia has not yet reported any cases of bird flu in animals or humans .
-In March , the government banned poultry imports .
-The World Health Organization says the bird flu virus can not be contracted by eating cooked poultry .
-But it warns people should not eat improperly cooked meat in areas where there are outbreaks of the virus .
-Two African countries , Egypt and Djibouti , have confirmed cases of bird flu in humans this year .
-Iran says Israel should return the disputed Golan Heights to Syria unconditionally .
-Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki says Israel is in no position to set conditions on the return of the Golan Heights .
-Israel captured the strategic plateau from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day war .
-Mottaki also called for Israel to pull out of the Palestinian territories .
-Israel and Syria recently confirmed they are holding indirect peace talks mediated by Turkey , eight years after U.S.-mediated peace negotiations between Syria and Israel collapsed over the fate of the Golan Heights .
-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said his government is prepared to make substantial concessions for peace with Syria .
-He has not specified the nature of those concessions .
-Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said Wednesday that Israel has expressed a willingness to return the Golan Heights .
-The United States has expressed concern over an escalation in violence in Sudan 's troubled Darfur region , after rebels captured a southern village .
-A State Department spokesman said Wednesday both rebels and the government-backed militia have contributed to the increase in violence in Darfur .
-He said African Union cease-fire monitors are critical to bringing the situation under control .
-Monday , the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement violated a cease-fire and launched a surprise attack on the town of Sheiria .
-The Sudanese government has threatened to retake the town .
-Rebels have also recently accused the government-backed militia of incursions into rebel-held territory .
-The violence comes during a sixth round of African Union-sponsored peace talks between Darfur rebel groups and the Sudanese government .
-AU officials said the renewed fighting could mar the talks and urged both sides to exercise restraint .
-Iraqi police say eight people were killed and 10 others wounded Thursday in a bomb attack on a Sunni political party 's office in Baquba , north of Baghdad .
-Police say the bomb exploded inside the headquarters of the Reform and Development Party in Diyala province around the time that some party members were holding a meeting .
-In western Iraq , police say a suicide bomber blew up his vehicle , killing at least five people and wounding 15 others .
-Authorities say the attack happened close to a police station in al-Qaim near the Iraq-Syria border .
-A police official said multiple houses collapsed after the bomb exploded , and several civilians are trapped under the rubble .
-Violence in Iraq has dropped sharply during the past year , but attacks increased in the weeks leading up to and following the June 30 withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraqi cities .
-Hundreds of supporters of former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif are protesting a court ruling that bans him from running for parliament in this week 's by-election .
-The protesters , who burned effigies , gathered outside parliament in Islamabad Tuesday .
-They blame President Pervez Musharraf for the court 's decision .
-Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani says the government will challenge the court 's decision .
-The Lahore High Court ruled Monday that Mr. Sharif is not qualified to run in Thursday 's election because of convictions related to his overthrow in a 1999 military coup .
-The decision prevents him from running for prime minister .
-In 1999 , Mr. Sharif allegedly ordered the hijacking of a commercial plane carrying Mr. Musharraf , who was then the army chief .
-The former prime minister faced charges related to the incident .
-He has denied the allegations .
-Haitian President-elect Rene Preval is in Cuba Thursday , for a visit that will include talks with Cuban President Fidel Castro .
-The president-elect is traveling with a delegation that includes several members of his future government .
-Mr. Preval was elected in February and is due to take office next month .
-The Associated Press quotes a Haitian government spokesman as saying that the two leaders are expected to discuss Cuban aid for Haiti .
-Mr. Preval was president of Haiti from 1996 to 2001 .
-During that time , ties between Cuba and Haiti were warmer .
-But relations have suffered since a U.S.-backed interim government was appointed to replace former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide , who was ousted by a revolt in 2004 .
-At least five people have died in grass fires tearing across the southern U.S. states of Oklahoma and Texas .
-Drought , high winds , and low humidity have helped spread the flames .
-Officials in Texas say the fires have destroyed more than 100 buildings in their state , some three-quarters of them private homes .
-At least two of the deaths were women who could not escape as flames overcame their houses .
-Authorities said Wednesday that decreased winds and slightly cooler temperatures helped firefighters check the spread of the flames .
-But weather forecasts for the next few days show more low humidity and little chance of rain .
-Texas governor Rick Perry has declared the fires a disaster and dispatched National Guard troops to help battle the blazes .
-Venezuela 's Supreme Court has ruled that an opposition-aligned television station can keep operating through cable systems for now .
-The court Wednesday suspended an order by the telecommunications commission that would have forced RCTV International to stop transmitting its programs if it did not register with the government , and follow regulations that would require it to interrupt regular programming for speeches by President Hugo Chavez .
-RCTV began showing its programs via cable and satellite last month .
-It was forced to stop regular over-the - air broadcasting by President Chavez in May .
-Mr. Chavez refused to renew RCTV 's license to broadcast on a public frequency for allegedly backing a failed coup against him in 2002 .
-RCTV denies the accusations .
-Other national private networks also opposed Mr. Chavez , but their criticism of the government is now softer and they have kept their licenses .
-The United States has condemned the jailing of a former member of Syria 's parliament and has demanded his immediate release .
-Tom Casey , a U.S. State Department spokesman , expressed concern Tuesday about Riad Seif , who was arrested Monday as part of a crackdown against opposition activists .
-In August , the State Department urged Syria to allow Seif to travel outside the country to receive urgent medical treatment .
-A spokesman said Syria denies freedom of movement to hundreds of its citizens who peacefully question the political system under which they live .
-President Bush issued a statement in December calling on Syria to release hundreds of opposition activists jailed for their political beliefs .
-Since December , at least 10 opposition activists have been detained by Syrian authorities .
-President Bush has again defended Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld from critics who are calling for his resignation .
-Mr. Bush said at the White House Tuesday , that Rumsfeld is doing a " fine " job .
-Several retired generals have recently called for Rumsfeld 's resignation , faulting his leadership and accusing him of making a series of major errors in the Iraq war .
-On Friday , President Bush said in a statement that Rumsfeld 's energetic and steady leadership is what the country needs at this critical period .
-In a radio interview Monday , Rumsfeld dismissed the generals ' criticism .
-He also said he was pleased that two retired generals have come to his defense - former Army General Tommy Franks , who executed the 2003 Iraq invasion , and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Myers .
-Former Argentine President Carlos Menem has been charged with fraud in connection with a contract awarded to a local subsidiary of a French defense company .
-Mr. Menem 's government awarded a concession to electronics firm Thales Spectrum in the 1990s to oversee the South American country 's broadcast frequencies .
-But the contract was canceled by Mr. Menem 's successor , Nestor Kirchner , after allegations of irregularities surfaced .
-A document released Monday by a federal judge accuses Mr. Menem of actions that undermined the interests of the state .
-Prosecutors also are investigating whether officials in Mr. Menem 's government received bribes from Thales Spectrum .
-Menem 's lawyer denounced the charges as politically motivated .
-The 78-year-old former president , now a senator , is already on trial for allegedly being involved in the illegal sale of weapons to Ecuador and Croatia between 1991 and 1995 .
-He faces up to 12 years in prison if convicted .
-Officials in Benin say tests have confirmed the presence of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus on two poultry farms .
-Agriculture Minister Roger Dovonou says tests from a laboratory in Italy confirmed the virus has struck one farm in the city of Cotonou and another in the town of Adjarra , outside the capital Porto Novo .
-Benin reported its first suspected cases of bird flu on December 7th .
-Workers slaughtered several hundred chickens at the two farms as a precautionary measure , and also disinfected the sites .
-H5N1 mainly affects birds but is capable of infecting humans .
-The virus has killed more than 200 people around the world , mostly in Asia , since 2003 .
-Several west African countries have reported cases of the virus .
-Benin 's neighbor Nigeria reported the area 's first human fatality from H5N1 early this year .
-Hundreds of mourners have gathered in Vienna to say good-bye to Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal , who died Tuesday at the age of 96 .
-Diplomats and political leaders , including Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Scheussel , packed into a hall at the city 's Central Cemetery for the ceremony .
-Mr. Wiesenthal will be buried Friday in Israel .
-Tributes to the Holocaust survivor have poured in from leaders around the world .
-President Bush called him a tireless advocate for justice .
-United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Mr. Wiesenthal proved there can be no immunity from prosecution for genocide .
-Mr. Wiesenthal was born in present-day Ukraine and was an architect before he was sent to a Nazi concentration camp .
-After U.S. forces freed him in 1945 , he spent the rest of his life pursuing escaped Nazi war criminals , including the mastermind of the Holocaust , Adolf Eichmann .
-Protests have erupted around the world against Israel 's bombardment of Lebanon and military action in the Gaza Strip .
-Thousands of Egyptians gathered at Cairo 's al-Azhar Mosque , waving Lebanese and Palestinian flags and chanting support to Hezbollah - the militant group that is the focus of Israel 's attacks .
-Two thousand protesters also marched through the Jordanian capital of Amman and called on Hezbollah to destroy the Israeli city of Haifa .
-Thousands of people also took to the streets of Yemen to support the Lebanese and Palestinian people .
-Several other protests were held across South Asia , in India Kashmir , cities across Pakistan and the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka .
-Demonstrators also have taken to the streets in Venezuela and El Salvador .
-And in Moscow , Russians gathered outside the Israeli embassy to protest the escalating violence .
-A new report says U.S. home prices continued to fall in August , declining five percent over the past year .
-Tuesday 's report from Standard & Poors and Case-Shiller tracks home prices in cities across the United States .
-The housing sector 's problems have been made worse by defaults among subprime borrowers .
-That has prompted investors to avoid lending even to well-qualified borrowers .
-Economists tell journalists that they are worried falling home prices will make homeowners curb spending .
-Consumer demand drives about two-thirds of U.S. economic activity , so declining consumer spending raises the risk of recession .
-The risk of a shrinking economy is one of many things that top officials from the U.S. central bank , known as the Federal Reserve , are considering as they decide whether to cut interest rates to boost the economy .
-They are scheduled to announce a decision on Wednesday .
-Nobel laureate and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore has endorsed fellow Democrat , Senator Barack Obama , for president .
-Gore told supporters Monday at a rally in Detroit , Michigan , that Obama is the candidate to lead the country toward a better future .
-Gore said that over the next four years , the United States will face many challenges such as bringing American troops home from Iraq , fixing the economy and solving the climate crisis .
-He said Obama is the candidate best able to solve these problems and bring change to America .
-Gore won the Nobel Peace prize last year for his campaign against global warming .
-People across southern Asia have paused to remember the powerful Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami that occurred one month ago Wednesday .
-Thousands of Sri Lankans observed a minute of silence , and the Tamil Tiger rebels declared a day of mourning .
-In Indonesia 's hard-hit Banda Aceh province , teachers and students opened their first day of classes since the tragedy with prayers for missing friends .
-A senior USAID official tells VOA that aid workers continue to focus on survivors ' emergency needs , but says there are signs that relief efforts have begun moving into a rehabilitation phase .
-The Oxfam international charity says the response to the disaster has been so overwhelming that some aid groups are conducting relief work without the necessary experience or skills .
-Israel has suspended its offensive into the Gaza Strip following a lull in rocket attacks by Palestinian militants .
-Israeli security officials said Sunday the operation , which included a series of airstrikes on weapons factories , storage facilities and launching areas , achieved its goal of weakening militants ' ability to attack Israel from Gaza .
-But the officials say the military is ready to restart the operation if the rocket fire resumes .
-The fighting erupted after an explosion at a Gaza rally by the Islamic group Hamas killed 21 people on September 23rd .
-Hamas blames Israel for the blast , even though Palestinian officials say the explosion was caused by the mishandling of explosives .
-Hamas fired dozens of rockets into southern Israeli towns after the blast .
-French officials say rioters burned cars and shot at police while protesting the police shooting of a man accused of robbing a casino .
-The riot erupted late Friday night in the southeastern city of Grenoble .
-Officials said the rioters also torched shops and attacked a streetcar ( tramway ) line .
-Police said some rioters also shot at officers and that they returned fire .
-The French newspaper Le Monde says the youths started their rampage after hearing a Muslim imam give a ceremony for an alleged robber , who died Thursday night after being chased by police and exchanging gunfire .
-Typhoon Longwang is swirling toward mainland China after pounding Taiwan Sunday , leaving one person dead , one missing , and 46 injured while disrupting flights and downing power lines .
-Officials say a 60-year-old man died after he was hit by flying debris .
-A woman is missing and feared dead after being washed away by flash floods in the central town of Hoping .
-Authorities say most of the injuries were caused by flying debris .
-Taiwan 's Central Weather Bureau said the typhoon made landfall early Sunday and left in the afternoon .
-The foreign ministry says the storm interrupted Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian 's flight home from a two-week trip abroad .
-Officials said he landed on the Indonesian island of Bali Sunday rather than fly to Taiwan .
-The ministry says the president will stay in Bali until the weather clears in Taiwan .
-A top U.S. State Department official is traveling to Ecuador , Colombia and Peru to discuss security cooperation , governance and human rights .
-The State Department says Arturo Valenzuela , the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs , departs Sunday on the week-long trip .
-It says Valenzuela will meet with students at a university in Ecuador , the University Tecnica Particular de Loja , and deliver a speech on U.S. foreign policy at the Latin American Faculty for Social Sciences .
-While in Colombia , he is to give a speech in Bogota at the Universidad de los Andes , and participate in the World Economic Forum in Cartagena .
-In Peru , the last stop of the trip , he is to meet with government officials and political and economic analysts , and visit alternative development projects .
-Triple Olympic champion Janica Kostelic of Croatia has won her first ever World Cup downhill title in Bad Kleinkirchheim , Austria .
-Kostelic finished the 2,633-meter Franz Klammer course in 0.068472222 minutes , 0.17 seconds ahead of Sweden 's Nike Bent .
-Michaela Dorfmeister of Austria was third ( 1.38.53 ) .
-Before Saturday , Kostelic had never done better in World Cup downhills than two second-place finishes last year .
-The victory strengthened the 24-year-old Croatian 's hold on the World Cup overall lead .
-Kostelic has 882 points after 17 events , 197 points ahead of Sweden 's Anja Paerson .
-Dorfmeister is third with 650 points .
-The U.S. Senate has approved more than $ 81 billion to sustain combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan .
-This would push the total cost of combat and reconstruction beyond $ 300 billion .
-The U.S. House of Representatives passed a similar bill last month .
-The two bills differ mainly on two issues - immigration reforms and plans of construction of a new embassy in Baghdad .
-The Senate has included $ 592 million for the embassy , but the House has not .
-Once the differences between the two versions are worked out , it will go to President Bush for his signature .
-Both versions of the measure would give President Bush much of the money he requested .
-U.S. Democratic Party officials say President-elect Barack Obama has chosen a former congressman and Clinton White House chief of staff to lead the Central Intelligence Agency .
-Officials say Leon Panetta will be nominated as director of the CIA in the new Obama administration .
-Mr. Obama takes office in two weeks , but the nomination must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate .
-Panetta served as White House chief of staff for former President Bill Clinton .
-The former congressman from California was also a member of the Iraq Study Group , a bipartisan commission charged with assessing the situation in Iraq and advising how the United States should proceed there .
-Democratic Party officials say Mr. Obama is also expected to name retired U.S. Admiral Dennis Blair as his choice for director of national intelligence .
-Admiral Blair is the former commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific .
-Iraqi officials say suicide bombing in the north killed 2 people , including a district council chief .
-Police say the attacker targeted the local politician 's car Monday in the city of Tal Afar .
-One of the politician 's bodyguards also was killed .
-In another development , Iraqi authorities say a court has sentenced a deputy minister of transport to eight years in prison for corruption .
-Adnan al-Obeidi was arrested in September on suspicion of trying to extort half a million dollars from a foreign security company in return for granting it a contract .
-Iraqi officials say the company informed anti-corruption officials about the extortion attempt and worked with authorities to catch al-Obeidi in the act of taking a bribe .
-Police later filmed him demanding $ 1,00,000 as a first installment of the bribe .
-Governments across the world are evacuating more of their citizens trapped by Israel 's bombardment of Lebanon .
-Many of the evacuees are passing through Cyprus , which has appealed for help in dealing with the thousands of people arriving on the island daily .
-Officials say more than 25,000 people have so far come to Cyprus .
-The United States , France , Britain , Canada , Germany , Australia and India are among the countries organizing evacuations .
-Meanwhile , the Geneva-based International Organization for Migration says tens of thousands of migrants from developing countries are stranded in Lebanon .
-It says Sri Lanka , the Philippines and Ethiopia are asking for help to get their nationals to Syria and Jordan .
-And thousands more Lebanese are heading north from southern Lebanon as Israel presses on with its military action .
-Israeli medical officials say a Lebanese woman wounded in Saturday 's fighting is receiving treatment in a northern Israeli hospital .
-Thousands of women marched in the Democratic Republic of Congo Sunday to demand an end to mass rapes and sexual violence .
-Congo 's first lady Lembe Kabila led the march through the eastern town of Bukavu .
-The United Nations has paid increased attention to the problem of sexual violence in Congo since rebels raped at least 300 people , including some men , during an attack on an eastern village in August .
-A later U.N. report acknowledged that U.N. peacekeepers in the area did nothing to stop the rapes .
-The U.N. says about 15,000 rapes are reported in Congo each year .
-Both rebel groups and government forces are accused of committing the rapes , as well as killings and other crimes .
-Iraqi political leaders are meeting Tuesday for a second round of talks aimed at resolving differences over key points in the Iraqi constitution .
-A draft of the constitution is due Monday , but issues such as federalism , women 's rights , the role of Islam and the country 's official language still need to be agreed upon , raising concerns that the deadline might not be met .
-Speaking at the Pentagon , U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld urged the Iraqis to meet that deadline , saying the constitution could turn out to be a powerful weapon against insurgents .
-Meanwhile , a wave of shooting attacks across Baghdad killed 10 police officers , and a suicide car bomber killed at least three civilians and an American soldier .
-Also , the U.S. military announced Tuesday that a Marine was shot and killed Monday in Ramadi .
-An American company helping to repatriate the bodies of foreign tsunami victims in Thailand says efforts are being hampered by a lack of coordination .
-Kenyon International Emergency Services of Houston , Texas is calling on the governments involved to set up a single coordinated DNA lab to speed up the identification process .
-Kenyon president Robert Jensen said Sunday that more than 20 countries are taking part in the identification process , with each using its own DNA methods to process bodies .
-He added that DNA laboratories currently being used in Phuket are unable to deal with the overwhelming number of samples being taken .
-Hundreds of bodies have been sent back to their home countries since the December 26 disaster , but thousands more remain unidentified .
-Tornadoes ripped through the southern U.S. Saturday , killing at least 10 people , including three children .
-Dozens of other people were injured .
-A tornado more than a kilometer wide tore through central Mississippi , killing residents , destroying homes , blocking highways and knocking out power .
-Yazoo City was hit the hardest .
-Mississippi 's governor , Haley Barbour , declared a state of emergency in the affected counties .
-He directed National Guard troops to help local officials responding to the storms .
-Tornadoes also struck other southern states .
-Bosnian authorities say forensic experts have exhumed more than 120 bodies from a mass grave near the town of Zvornik .
-Officials said Friday that 16 complete and 113 incomplete skeletons were found in a village in eastern Bosnia-Herzegovina .
-The remains are believed to be those of people killed in the Srebrenica massacre .
-Serb forces killed an estimated 8,000 Muslim men and boys after capturing Srebrenica , an enclave the United Nations had declared a Muslim safe area .
-The burial site is one of several so-called secondary graves were Bosnian Serbs reburied victims in order to cover up the mass killing .
-The massacre is considered an act of genocide and the worst atrocity in Europe since World War II .
-About 3,000 remains have been identified and reburied .
-The partial remains of 5,000 more victims are still waiting to be identified .
-Pakistani authorities say an unknown gunman has killed three foreign militants in a semi-autonomous tribal region bordering Afghanistan .
-Security officials say the incident occurred Thursday in North Waziristan .
-They say one of the dead is believed to be an Arab and the other two are Uzbeks .
-The attacker managed to flee the scene .
-It was not immediately clear who the gunman was or what was his motive .
-But local government officials say a dispute among the militants could have triggered the shooting .
-Pakistan 's military has been trying to flush out foreign militants from the region since last March .
-The area is also considered a possible hideout for al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden .
-A prominent Somali peace activist has been killed by unknown gunmen at his home in the capital , Mogadishu .
-The victim , Abdulkadir Yahya Ali , was a co-founder of a think tank , the Center for Research and Dialogue , considered one of the most effective NGOs in Somalia .
-The co-director of the center , Jabril Ibrahim Abdulle , told Voice of America reporter William Eagle that the assailants raided Mr. Abdulkadir 's home , tied up the security guards , and cut telephone lines .
-He says Mr. Abdulkadir was bound and shot in front of his wife .
-Kidnappings and killings are common in Somalia , where a new government is trying to establish security after 14 years without a central administration .
-Scores of people have died in tidal waves that hit Africa 's eastern coast after Sunday 's massive earthquake in southern Asia .
-Aid workers and one Somali official say around 50 people are reported dead in northeastern Somalia .
-But some reports put the death toll at more than 100 .
-A Somali government spokesman says some coastal towns are submerged , and dozens of fishermen are missing .
-In Tanzania , officials say at least 10 swimmers died when they were swept out to sea Sunday near the beach at Dar es Salaam .
-Police say most of the dead are children .
-And further east , at least two people were killed in the island nation of Seychelles .
-Several others are reported missing .
-One tourist was killed in the Kenyan coastal town of Malindi .
-Sunday 's massive waves also left parts of the Mauritian island of Rodrigues under water .
-Taiwan authorities say they have found a cancer causing chemical in fresh fish from farms on the island , following recent scares in Hong Kong about tainted fish .
-Health officials in Taiwan Thursday said tests at Taipei markets of grouper fish from farms in the south of the island turned up traces of the chemical , called malachite green .
-The officials did not identify the farms , saying the investigation was continuing .
-Malachite green is used to treat certain kinds of infections in fish .
-The development comes after Hong Kong health officials found the chemical in eels and other fish shipped from the mainland .
-Hong Kong said traces of the chemical had also turned up in some fish from Taiwan .
-The Dutch military chief says his forces in Afghanistan have killed 18 suspected militants during a special operation in the southern province of Uruzgan .
-He said there were no Dutch casualties in the fighting which occurred after militants set up positions in the hills overlooking a Dutch camp .
-Separately , the U.S. military said a coalition soldier was killed following a rocket and mortar attack late Thursday by militants on a coalition compound in southeastern Afghanistan .
-The soldier , whose nationality was not released , died before he could be medically evacuated from the base in Paktika province .
-Meanwhile , NATO chiefs who are visiting Afghanistan toured volatile areas of southern Afghanistan Friday and vowed they are ready to take on resurgent Taleban .
-NATO peacekeeping troops will take over security command from the U.S.-led coalition in the southern provinces at the end of July .
-Venezuela is offering some poor families in the eastern U.S. city of Philadelphia discounted heating oil , following up on its offer to people in several other communities .
-U.S. Congresswoman , Chaka Fattah who brokered the deal said Friday it fills a real need among poor families who have used up their state and federal aid .
-The agreement with U.S.-based Citgo , which is owned by Venezuela 's national oil company , allows more than 7,000 Philadelphia families to buy their heating oil at a 40 percent discount .
-Venezuela previously made such deals with communities in the U.S. states of New York , Rhode Island , Vermont , Massachusetts and Maine .
-Critics say it is a political ploy by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to make President Bush look bad .
-But supporters say it is purely a humanitarian gesture .
-U.S. heating oil prices have increased substantially this year because of rising oil prices worldwide .
-News reports from Brazil say police and suspected armed gang members have clashed again Sunday in Rio de Janeiro , but city officials are boosting security and moving forward with plans for traditionally massive New Year 's eve celebrations .
-Early Sunday , gangs fired on police stations , but there were no reports of casualties .
-Since Thursday , gunfights and arson attacks by gang members have killed at least 18 people .
-The attacks started Thursday when gang members set fire to several city buses , burning some passengers alive .
-Some 20,000 police are now patrolling streets and mass transit routes throughout the city .
-Some two million people are expected to gather on Brazil 's famous Copacabana and Ipanema beaches for New Year 's celebrations .
-Costa Rica 's constitutional court has blocked a referendum that would have let voters decide if same-sex civil unions should be allowed in the Central American country .
-The court said Tuesday a referendum would put a minority at a disadvantage in the predominantly Roman Catholic country .
-The court said the rights of minorities should be decided by the Costa Rica 's lawmakers , not by a popular vote .
-The referendum was originally scheduled for December 5 .
-Last month , Argentina became the first country in Latin America to legalize same-sex marriage .
-Mexico 's Supreme Court ruled last week that same-sex weddings are constitutional in the capital , Mexico City .
-In Uruguay and Colombia , civil unions are approved nationwide .
-The U.S. Justice Department says a Taiwanese-American man has pleaded guilty to spying for the Chinese government .
-The department says Tai Shen Kuo , 58 , admitted in a Virginia court near Washington to a charge of conspiracy to deliver national defense information .
-The New Orleans businessman , who faces up to life in prison , will be sentenced on August 8 .
-According to court documents , the alleged offenses took place from March 2007 to February 2008 .
-Kuo is accused of obtaining secret information from Gregg Bergersen , who was a U.S. Defense Department analyst , and then passing it on to a Chinese official .
-He allegedly provided Bergersen with gifts , cash and trips .
-The Justice Department says the Chinese official paid Kuo approximately $ 50,000 .
-Bergersen had previously pleaded guilty in the case and faces up to 10 years in jail .
-Chinese officials say they are training more than 40,000 police officers to provide security and prevent terrorism during the 2008 Olympics .
-The official news agency Xinhua reports that party officials launched the training program Thursday with a hostage rescue demonstration at Beijing 's People 's Police College .
-The report quotes Beijing Olympic Security chief Qiang Wei as saying the city will need a strong force to handle or prevent any unexpected incidents .
-A spokesman for the Beijing Public Security Bureau says the officers will receive a three-phased program over the next 18 months or so , including language training and basic skills , including strength training .
-German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac have met in Berlin to discuss the crisis surrounding the European Union 's constitution .
-Both leaders have called for the ratification process to continue , despite votes in France and the Netherlands earlier this week rejecting the constitution .
-The two met Saturday as EU leaders prepare to meet in Brussels on June 16 and 17 .
-Mr. Chirac and Mr. Schroeder have been close allies in the European Union , but both have been weakened in recent weeks .
-Sunday 's referendum defeat prompted Mr. Chirac to reshuffle his government .
-Germany 's upper house of parliament ratified the EU constitution last week , but Mr. Schroeder 's ruling party suffered a critical state election loss , prompting him to call national elections for this fall , one year early .
-NATO ministers are meeting in Brussels Thursday to discuss a wide range of issues - from expanding the alliance 's role in Afghanistan and Iraq to the situation in Ukraine .
-U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell reached out to European nations ahead of the meeting .
-He acknowledged that tensions over the Iraq war had affected relations with Europe , but said the United States is making new efforts to mend ties .
-President Bush is expected in Brussels in February .
-High on Thursday 's NATO agenda will be expansion of the alliance 's peacekeeping operations in Afghanistan and a training mission for Iraqi officers being set in Baghdad .
-The ministers will also discuss the crisis in Ukraine with their Russian counterpart , Sergei Lavrov .
-There are growing tensions between the West and Russia over Ukraine .
-Russia has warned against foreign interference in Ukraine 's political crisis .
-Zimbabwe 's Information Minister , Tichaona Jokonya , has been found dead in a hotel room in the capital , Harare .
-There was no information on the cause of death .
-Local media reported the 68-year-old Jokonya had been ill earlier this year .
-Jokonya was appointed to the post last year after President Robert Mugabe fired the previous information minister , Jonathan Moyo .
-In a recent press conference , Jokonya threatened Zimbabwe 's journalists , telling them traitors would die .
-Jokonya was a career diplomat , and served as Zimbabwe 's ambassador to the United Nations for ten years .
-A South African editor says the press , which predicted a low turnout and great violence in Iraq on election day , has been proved wrong .
-But the foreign editor of Business Day newspaper in Johannesburg , Jonathan Katzenellenbogen , told English to Africa reporter William Eagle that observers are looking to see how Iraq 's Sunni -- many of whom boycotted the polls -- can be included in the writing of the country 's constitution .
-As for Iraq 's insurgency , Mr. Katzenellenbogen notes that groups who turned to violence during his own country 's first all-race elections in 1994 were left out of the political process , and have for the most part withered away .
-He also says South Africans are also looking to see if the Iraqi elections will bring about the announcement of an American exit strategy .
-China has acknowledged for the first time that a clash between demonstrators and police in a southern village this week turned deadly .
-The official Xinhua news agency Saturday said demonstrators at a power plant in the Guangdong provincial village of Dongzhou attacked police and threw explosives , forcing officers to open fire .
-Xinhua said at least three villagers were killed and several others were injured .
-Witnesses to the Tuesday incident put the death toll as high as 20 .
-They say at least 1,000 people had gathered at the power plant to protest inadequate compensation for land that the government seized for the plant 's construction .
-Authorities have sealed the village off , with police patrolling the streets and blocking roads leading in .
-If the casualty figure of 20 is confirmed , the incident would be the largest known use of force by Chinese security personnel since the killing of hundreds around Tiananmen Square in 1989 .
-U.S. President Barack Obama is hailing progress made on financial reform and unemployment benefits , but he says more needs to be done to boost the country 's economy .
-Mr. Obama spoke Friday after signing into law this week the most sweeping set of financial regulatory reforms since the Great Depression of the 1930s .
-He said the new law will protect Americans from the reckless behavior that sparked the financial crisis .
-He also praised Congress for voting this week to restore unemployment insurance to about 2.5 million Americans .
-The president said his ultimate goal is to make sure that all Americans looking for work can get jobs .
-He also called on lawmakers to pass legislation designed to helpe small businesses , adding that the success of those businesses is crucial to the health of the U.S. economy .
-A bill emerging in the U.S. Senate would create a $ 30 billion government lending fund for small businesses .
-Haitian soldiers who helped the United States fight for independence from Britain in the Revolutionary War may soon get a monument in their honor in the southeastern U.S. state of Georgia .
-Officials in the city of Savannah are considering a proposal by the non-profit Haitian American Historical Society to erect a bronze monument in the city .
-The Society says the monument will represent the Chasseurs-Volontaires de Saint-Domingue , a regiment of soldiers who were free men of color from Haiti .
-The group says the men were part of the American army unit that fought to drive the British from the coastal city in 1779 .
-Interim Haitian Prime Minister Gerard Latortue is scheduled to meet with potential monument donors in Savannah Saturday when he returns from Rome , where he attended Pope John Paul the Second 's funeral .
-Superstar Will Smith is enjoying his latest success with the new film Hitch .
-Since the movie opened over four weeks ago it has earned almost $ 200 million ( US ) .
-Will plays a Date Doctor attempting to help a client through the problems and challenges that come along with dating .
-Will has a new album coming out on March 29 called Lost And Found .
-Will Smith has enjoyed tremendous success as an actor and singer since his musical debut in 1991 .
-Ukraine 's opposition has ended a blockade of government buildings , hours after parliament adopted a series of electoral reforms and outgoing President Leonid Kuchma signed them into law .
-The move allows many government employees to return to work for the first time in weeks .
-Opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko Wednesday thanked his supporters for their continuous protests following last month 's fraudulent runoff vote .
-He told the cheering crowd their 17 days of peaceful protests helped bring about the new laws .
-The measures , proposed by the opposition , are aimed at preventing fraud in the December 26 repeat of the flawed election .
-Also included are constitutional changes that transfer some presidential powers to parliament .
-But presidential rival , pro-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych , called the parliamentary vote illegal .
-He said the new laws will do nothing to stop election fraud .
-U.S. forecasters say Tropical Storm Beta is strengthening as it churns off the coast of Central America and is likely to become a hurricane later Friday .
-The National Weather Service says hurricane warnings are in effect for the Colombian islands of San Andres and Providencia , as the slow-moving storm churns 60 kilometers east of San Andres .
-Beta is the record 23rd named storm of this year 's Atlantic hurricane season .
-It is moving toward the north at six kilometers per hour .
-Forecasters say the center of the storm could reach mainland Nicaragua by Sunday .
-The storm 's maximum sustained winds are near 100 kilometers per hour and are expected to strengthen Friday .
-Beta is expected to dump as much as 38 centimeters of rain across Honduras , Nicaragua , San Andres and Providencia .
-Europe 's top security organization is meeting in the Bulgarian capital Sofia Monday to discuss Ukraine 's turb ulent politics and efforts to combat international terrorism .
-U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell is attending the two-day meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe , along with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and senior officials of OSCE 's 55 member states .
-Solomon Passy , the foreign minister of Bulgaria , is expected to propose reforms within the organization that would expand its focus from human rights to security and economic issues .
-The meeting is taking place under unprecedented security measures .
-A new study says China 's economy will surpass the United States by 2035 , and double by mid-century .
-The study released Tuesday by a Washington-based research institute predicts that China 's economic growth is driven by domestic demand , and not exports .
-For that reason , the report 's author Albert Keidel says strong growth will continue into the 21st century regardless of a downturn in the world market .
-China 's economy has grown at an average annual rate of more than 10 percent over the last decade .
-The country 's Gross Domestic Product currently ranks fourth behind the United States , Japan and Germany based on 2007 figures .
-Keidel is an expert on China 's economy at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace .
-He formerly held positions at the U.S. Treasury Department and the World Bank .
-Liberian President-elect Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has arrived in Ivory Coast Tuesday for her first foreign trip since her election earlier this month .
-Few details of the trip have been released .
-However , the Reuters news agency quotes her as saying she will be discussing how Liberia and the Ivory Coast can work together for regional peace and stability .
-Ms. Johnson-Sirleaf was confirmed last week as winner of Liberia 's first post-war election after a fiercely contested run-off vote against former soccer George Weah .
-Mr. Weah 's party - the Congress for Democratic Change - has claimed the vote was fraudulent .
-International observers say there was no evidence of widespread fraud .
-Iraqi police say a suicide car bomber has killed at least 26 people and wounded about 70 others in the southern town of Hillah .
-Authorities say the blast Tuesday went off near a hospital in a commercial district .
-Many of the dead are said to be women and children .
-Hillah is 100 kilometers south of Baghdad .
-In other news , the U.S. military said coalition forces detained 20 suspected terrorists Tuesday in raids targeting al-Qaida in Iraq operations north of Baghdad .
-The military said one of those detained is a foreign terrorist suspected of involvement in a suicide truck bomb attack in May in the town of Samarra .
-The statement did not say where the suspect is from .
-Moroccan authorities say they have dismantled two terrorist cells with al-Qaida links and detained the groups ' members .
-The Interior Ministry says one cell , called Sahrawi Jihad Front , had four members .
-In a Friday statement , the ministry said the cell was being led by a so-called " extremist " who formerly lived in Italy .
-The ministry says a second , five-member cell had been recruiting volunteers for " jihad " in Iraq .
-It says the group had been coordinating efforts with al-Qaida networks .
-The government also says one of the detainees is a Yemeni national who is wanted in his country for al-Qaida links .
-A ministry statement does not say when the arrests took place .
-Morocco has announced a series of arrests of suspected militants since a 2003 bombing in Casablanca killed 45 people .
-In April , the country announced the arrests of 24 people with suspected al-Qaida links .
-A Democratic Party lawmaker has called for the Republican-led Congress to repeal tax breaks for big oil companies .
-In the Democrats ' weekly radio address , Representative Bart Stupak of Michigan accused Republicans of ignoring alleged price gauging by oil companies .
-He noted the rising gasoline prices in the United States come as big oil companies are making huge profits .
-He called for the development of alternative types of fuel , and for aggressive policies to prevent price gauging .
-President Bush on Friday expressed concern about rising gas prices , but he said there was no evidence of over-pricing .
-He called for investment in renewable sources of energy and the development of alternative sources of energy .
-The Mexican music group Camila and Dominican singer Juan Luis Guerra were the big winners at the 11th Latin Grammyawards , picking up three awards each at the event Thursday in Las Vegas .
-Trio Camila , comprised of Mario Domm , Pablo Hurtado and Samuel " Samo " Parra won for recording of the year and song of the year for " Mientes , " and also picked up best group pop album for " Dejarte de Amar . "
-Singer-songwriter Guerra won Grammys for best album of the year , best contemporary tropical album for A Son de Guerraas well as best tropical song for " Bachata en Fukuoko . "
-He has now won 15 Latin Grammys in his career .
-The awards were broadcast live in the United States and Latin America on the Univision Spanish-language television network .
-The Latin Grammys are awarded each year by the Latin Recording Academy to recognize recordings released in Spanish or Portuguese .
-Hilary Duff says she feels pressure to be thin .
-Speaking to People Magazine , the 19-year-old actress-singer says the media can be " judgmental and mean " in their incessant attention to her weight .
-The starlet says while she has never had a weight problem , she realizes critics will never be happy with her appearance .
-Hilary Duff , who has sold more than 13 albums worldwide , releases her latest effort Dignity on April 3 in the U.S. While several songs deal with her ex-boyfriend Joel Madden of the rock band Good Charlotte , Hilary denies criticizing his present girlfriend Nicole Richie on the song " Gypsy Woman . "
-A report in The New York Times Sunday says the United States is working on a plan that expands government access to international banking records in an effort to deter terrorist transactions .
-The newspaper reports a U.S. Treasury Department working group is examining ways the government can gain access to logs of international wire transfers into and out of U.S. banks .
-The Times quotes unnamed government officials who say they are mindful of concerns about privacy and potential misuse of the system .
-It says the plan is still in its preliminary stages .
-A recent U.S. law authorizes the Treasury Department to develop regulations requiring U.S. banks to turn over suspected " cross-border " electronic transactions .
-U.S. stocks surged more than three percent higher in Tuesday 's trading as some investors expressed confidence that the worst of the credit crisis is over .
-Shares of Lehman Brothers Holdings and Swiss bank UBS rose after the two raised a combined $ 19 billion in capital by issuing new stocks .
-The successful effort by the banks eased fears that they might need government help like that given to the investment bank Bear Stearns recently .
-Investors were also encouraged by the news from the manufacturing sector .
-The Institute for Supply Management 's March index rose slightly , beating the expectations of some economists .
-New data also showed U.S. construction spending fell less than some economists predicted .
-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is returning to Washington after talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and a visit to the Middle East this week .
-Saturday 's meeting at Mr. Blair 's country residence was private .
-A spokesman for the British leader said the talks focused on Middle East issues , including Iran 's nuclear program , and the U.S. secretary of state 's efforts to promote peace in the region .
-Neither official issued a statement after the talks .
-Rice visited Saudi Arabia , Egypt , Israel , the Palestinian territories and Iraq .
-During her tour , she called on world powers to take a tougher stance toward Iran .
-Iran continues to refuse to meet an August 31 Security Council deadline to stop enriching uranium , which can be used to make nuclear weapons .
-Tehran says it needs the fuel to produce electricity .
-One of Africa 's most renowed musicians , Ali Farka Toure , has died in his home country of Mali .
-Mali 's Culture Ministry announced Tuesday that Toure passed away after a long illness .
-He was about 66 years old .
-Toure was a singer and accomplished guitar player , and helped create a genre known as Mali Blues , which combined traditional African sounds with black American music .
-He cited many Western musicians as a source of inspiration , with special praise for the American blues legend John Lee Hooker .
-Toure was best known overseas for his mid-1990s collaboration with American guitarist Ry Cooder .
-Their Talking Timbuktu album netted Toure his first Grammy Award He won a second Grammy this year for his In the Heart of the Moon album .
-Toure was beloved in Mali , and radio stations suspended their normal programming Tuesday to play his songs .
-Officials in Somalia say at least 16 people have been killed in factional fighting that began Monday and continued into Tuesday .
-Witnesses say the fighting took place in and around the town of Belet Weyn , some 300 kilometers north of the capital .
-Officials say the clash was the result of an on-going dispute between rival factions over the use of pasture land .
-Somalia has been without a central government since 1991 when clan-based warlords over-threw dictator Said Barre .
-Since then , in-fighting between the clans has plunged the nation into anarchy .
-A new government was formed last year in Kenya but it is opposed by Islamic extremists and other factions .
-The government has not relocated to Mogadishu because of lack of security .
-Afghan officials say insurgents in western Afghanistan have attacked a police patrol , sparking a clash that left four policemen and four insurgents dead .
-Officials say at least four police were wounded in Wednesday 's clash in western Farah province .
-The attack took place close to where gunmen killed a United Nations aid worker in the provincial capital , Farah city .
-Police say militants fired on the car of the Afghan employee of U.N. Habitat , the organization 's human settlements program .
-In the southern city of Kandahar , Afghan police say a suspected suicide bomber is the sole victim of an attack on a mosque .
-Police say the bomber detonated explosives inside an empty mud-brick mosque Wednesday .
-The blast destroyed several rooms and walls in the building , but police say there were no other casualties .
-Astronauts at the International Space Station have put in place a new Canadian robotic device designed to assist future astronauts with delicate maintenance tasks at the orbiting facility .
-The astronauts attached the robot , called Dextre , to the U.S. laboratory Destiny , at the space station Tuesday .
-Two crew members of the U.S. shuttle Endeavour assembled Dextre during a seven-hour spacewalk earlier this week .
-The astronauts are to begin the mission 's fourth spacewalk Thursday to test a new procedure for repairing damaged heat-shielding tiles .
-On an earlier spacewalk , astronauts attached a storage compartment for a Japanese laboratory scheduled to be delivered by another space shuttle in May .
-Astronauts have set up scientific experiments for various nations , though difficulties with one project saw it returned to the loading bay instead of being installed on the outside of the station .
-Iraqi authorities say insurgents have shot dead at least three policemen , including the chief of a central Baghdad police station .
-Police say the gunmen fired on a vehicle in which police officers were traveling to work Thursday morning .
-The attack came a day after a suicide truck bombing claimed by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi 's terror group killed three people near the Agriculture Ministry and a Baghdad hotel used by Westerners .
-Also Wednesday , Iraqi officials said they discovered the bodies of 41 people killed execution-style in two separate locations , in Qaim , near the Syrian border , and near Latifiya , south of Baghdad .
-In other incidents in Baghdad , Iraq 's planning minister Mahdi al-Hafidh escaped an assassination attempt when gunmen fired on his car , killing two of his bodyguards .
-And , an American soldier was killed in a roadside bomb blast .
-At least seven people have been killed in separate insurgent bomb attacks across Iraq , Saturday .
-Iraqi authorities say five people were killed when a roadside bomb exploded near the headquarters of one of Iraq 's main Sunni Arab political parties in al-Khalis , 60 kilometers north of Baghdad .
-At least two policemen were killed in a bomb attack in Baghdad .
-The latest violence comes as Sudan announced plans to close its Baghdad embassy in an effort to win the release of five Sudanese hostages , including one of its top diplomats in Iraq .
-Al-Qaida in Iraq said the Sudanese , who were kidnapped in Baghdad last week , will be killed Saturday unless Khartoum closes the diplomatic mission .
-Salvadoran lawmakers have approved the extension of their country 's military mission in Iraq .
-They voted late Thursday to keep soldiers in the war-torn country for humanitarian and reconstruction work for another year .
-El Salvador is the last Latin American country with military forces in Iraq .
-Honduras , Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic have withdrawn their troops .
-El Salvador sent its first group of more than 350 soldiers to Iraq in August 2003 .
-Kyrgyzstan 's old parliament has formally agreed to step down , deferring to newly elected deputies in an effort to reduce political tensions in the central Asian country .
-The move to disband came after the new parliament confirmed opposition leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev as prime minister and appointed him acting president .
-The development Monday angered opposition protesters who said the new parliament was chosen in rigged elections .
-Mass protests over the disputed balloting brought down the previous government and led to the ouster of President Askar Akayev .
-Kyrgyz lawmakers have set June 26 for new presidential elections .
-A maritime official says Somali pirates have hijacked a Yemeni cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden .
-Andrew Mwangura , of the East African Seafarers Assistance Program , identified the vessel Tuesday as the MV Amani .
-It was not immediately clear when the ship was hijacked .
-Somali pirates have hijacked nearly 40 ships this year .
-In Malaysia Monday , an international association of tanker owners called for a military blockade along the coast of Somalia .
-NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the alliance is not considering such a move .
-NATO is among the world powers that have sent ships to patrol the waters off Somalia .
-Somali pirates are wreaking havoc in shipping lanes near the country .
-The Somali government , which is threatened by an Islamist insurgency , lacks the power to stop the attacks .
-Lebanon has a free-market economy and a strong laissez-faire commercial tradition .
-The government does not restrict foreign investment ; however , the investment climate suffers from red tape , corruption , arbitrary licensing decisions , high taxes , tariffs , and fees , archaic legislation , and weak intellectual property rights .
-The Lebanese economy is service-oriented ; main growth sectors include banking and tourism .
-The 1975 - 90 civil war seriously damaged Lebanon 's economic infrastructure , cut national output by half , and all but ended Lebanon 's position as a Middle Eastern entrepot and banking hub .
-In the years since , Lebanon has rebuilt much of its war-torn physical and financial infrastructure by borrowing heavily - mostly from domestic banks .
-In an attempt to reduce the ballooning national debt , the Rafiq HARIRI government in 2000 began an austerity program , reining in government expenditures , increasing revenue collection , and passing legislation to privatize state enterprises , but economic and financial reform initiatives stalled and public debt continued to grow despite receipt of more than $ 2 billion in bilateral assistance at the 2002 Paris II Donors Conference .
-The Israeli-Hizballah conflict in July-August 2006 caused an estimated $ 3.6 billion in infrastructure damage , and prompted international donors to pledge nearly $ 1 billion in recovery and reconstruction assistance .
-Donors met again in January 2007 at the Paris III Donor Conference and pledged more than $ 7.5 billion to Lebanon for development projects and budget support , conditioned on progress on Beirut 's fiscal reform and privatization program .
-An 18-month political stalemate and sporadic sectarian and political violence hampered economic activity , particularly tourism , retail sales , and investment , until the new government was formed in July 2008 .
-Political stability following the Doha Accord of May 2008 helped boost tourism and , together with a strong banking sector , enabled real GDP growth of 7 % per year in 2009 - 10 despite a slowdown in the region .
-Jan Mayen is a volcanic island with no exploitable natural resources , although surrounding waters contain substantial fish stocks and potential untapped petroleum resources .
-Economic activity is limited to providing services for employees of Norway 's radio and meteorological stations on the island .
-Angola 's high growth rate in recent years was driven by high international prices for its oil .
-Angola became a member of OPEC in late 2006 and in late 2007 was assigned a production quota of 1.9 million barrels a day ( bbl/day ) , somewhat less than the 2-2.5 million bbl/day Angola 's government had wanted .
-Oil production and its supporting activities contribute about 85 % of GDP .
-Diamond exports contribute an additional 5 % .
-Subsistence agriculture provides the main livelihood for most of the people , but half of the country 's food is still imported .
-Increased oil production supported growth averaging more than 15 % per year from 2004 to 2008 .
-A postwar reconstruction boom and resettlement of displaced persons has led to high rates of growth in construction and agriculture as well .
-Much of the country 's infrastructure is still damaged or undeveloped from the 27-year-long civil war .
-Land mines left from the war still mar the countryside , even though peace was established after the death of rebel leader Jonas SAVIMBI in February 2002 .
-Since 2005 , the government has used billions of dollars in credit lines from China , Brazil , Portugal , Germany , Spain , and the EU to rebuild Angola 's public infrastructure .
-The global recession temporarily stalled economic growth .
-Lower prices for oil and diamonds during the global recession led to a contraction in GDP in 2009 , and many construction projects stopped because Luanda accrued $ 9 billion in arrears to foreign construction companies when government revenue fell in 2008 and 2009 .
-Angola abandoned its currency peg in 2009 , and in November 2009 signed onto an IMF Stand-By Arrangement loan of $ 1.4 billion to rebuild international reserves .
-Although consumer inflation declined from 325 % in 2000 to under 14 % in 2010 , Luanda has been unable to reduce inflation below 10 % .
-The Angolan kwanza depreciated again in mid 2010 , which , along with higher oil prices , should boost economic growth in all sectors .
-Corruption , especially in the extractive sectors , also is a major challenge .
-Sierra Leone is an extremely poor nation with tremendous inequality in income distribution .
-While it possesses substantial mineral , agricultural , and fishery resources , its physical and social infrastructure has yet to recover from the civil war , and serious social disorders continue to hamper economic development .
-Nearly half of the working-age population engages in subsistence agriculture .
-Manufacturing consists mainly of the processing of raw materials and of light manufacturing for the domestic market .
-Alluvial diamond mining remains the major source of hard currency earnings , accounting for nearly half of Sierra Leone 's exports .
-The fate of the economy depends upon the maintenance of domestic peace and the continued receipt of substantial aid from abroad , which is essential to offset the severe trade imbalance and supplement government revenues .
-The IMF has completed a Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility program that helped stabilize economic growth and reduce inflation and in 2010 approved a new program worth $ 45 million over three years .
-Political stability has led to a revival of economic activity such as the rehabilitation of bauxite and rutile mining , which are set to benefit from planned tax incentives .
-A number of offshore oil discoveries were announced in 2009 and 2010 .
-The development on these reserves , which could be significant , is still several years away .
-During the late 18th and 19th centuries , Great Britain established colonies and protectorates in the area of current Malaysia ; these were occupied by Japan from 1942 to 1945 .
-In 1948 , the British-ruled territories on the Malay Peninsula formed the Federation of Malaya , which became independent in 1957 .
-Malaysia was formed in 1963 when the former British colonies of Singapore and the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak on the northern coast of Borneo joined the Federation .
-The first several years of the country 's history were marred by a Communist insurgency , Indonesian confrontation with Malaysia , Philippine claims to Sabah , and Singapore 's secession from the Federation in 1965 .
-During the 22-year term of Prime Minister MAHATHIR bin Mohamad ( 1981 - 2003 ) , Malaysia was successful in diversifying its economy from dependence on exports of raw materials to expansion in manufacturing , services , and tourism .
-Current Prime Minister Mohamed NAJIB bin Abdul Razak ( in office since April 2009 ) has continued these pro-business policies .
-A Serpent in the course of its wanderings came into an armourer 's shop .
-As he glided over the floor he felt his skin pricked by a file lying there .
-In a rage he turned round upon it and tried to dart his fangs into it ; but he could do no harm to heavy iron and had soon to give over his wrath .
-It is useless attacking the insensible .
-Politicians are an honest , moral , ethical and outstanding group of people .
-I say this because I 've just spent a week dealing with car salesmen .
-Lindsay Lohan 's father Michael flew to Utah September 5 , and is currently visiting the actress at the Cirque Lodge treatment center .
-Sources close to the pair confirmed the visit to Access Hollywood .
-Michael Lohan , who served nearly two years in a New York prison for driving while intoxicated and other charges , has publicly expressed his desire to reunite with his daughter since his release in March .
-Sources told Access that Lindsay Lohan has not seen her father since before he went to prison .
-The 21-year-old actress checked into Cirque Lodge on August 3 .
-She has been visited by her mother Dina and siblings Cody and Ali , but this marks the first visit from her father .
-The U.S. military says American troops in northern Iraq have killed 14 insurgents in two attacks initiated by U.S. forces late Sunday and early Monday .
-A U.S. statement says the fighting took place in the northern town of Tal Afar , and says there were no U.S. casualties .
-In separate fighting near Baquba , insurgents stormed an Iraqi army checkpoint at daybreak , killing nine Iraqi soldiers .
-A short while later , a car bomb explosion in the area killed at least two people and wounded several others .
-Two U.S. Marines were killed in combat on Sunday in the town of Hit near Iraq 's border with Syria .
-A burst of insurgent violence on Sunday killed at least 43 other people - most of them Iraqi army recruits and police .
-Russia 's industrial output plunged nearly 20 percent in January from December , as the country experienced its worst economic slump in a decade .
-Figures released Monday by the federal statistics service indicated a month-to-month drop in industrial output of 19.9 percent .
-The largest slumps were recorded in steel , cement and automobile production as worldwide demand eroded for cars , trucks and construction material .
-Russia 's economy has also been hit by the fall in the price of oil .
-Economists are also worried by massive capital amounts of investment leaving the country .
-The government has pledged more than $ 200 billion to shore up Russia 's economy since the world financial turmoil spread in September .
-An apparent suicide car bomb attack has killed at least six people outside the Somali government 's seat of Baidoa .
-Witnesses say between one and three suicide car bombers drove up to a checkpoint and exploded their vehicles Thursday .
-They say the drivers were killed along with some passengers in the vehicles .
-Local officials say several civilians were hurt in the blasts , and that authorities have taken at least one survivor into custody .
-There was no immediate claim of responsibility .
-Baidoa is the sole outpost held by Somalia 's weak transitional government , which is being challenged by Islamists who control the capital , Mogadishu , and much of the country 's south .
-Islamist forces are positioned nearby but have not mounted any attacks on the town .
-African leaders and French President Jacques Chirac have opened a two-day summit focusing on problems faced by African youth and on the continent 's political troubles .
-Heads of state and government officials from at least 35 African countries attended the opening of the summit Saturday in Mali 's capital , Bamako .
-Participants were expected to address the high unemployment rates among Africans under age 30 .
-The conflict in Sudan 's western Darfur region and the faltering peace process in Ivory Coast were also likely to top the agenda .
-France has 4,000 soldiers in Ivory Coast , alongside a 7,000-member United Nations peacekeeping force .
-Observers say a number of other issues sensitive to Africans are likely to be discussed on the sidelines of the summit .
-Among them are French plans to tighten immigration legislation .
-A U.S. delegation crossed the heavily-guarded border from South Korea into North Korea Tuesday , for talks on Pyongyang 's overdue declaration of its nuclear activities .
-The team , led by Sung Kim - the top U.S. State Department expert on the Koreas - will stay in North Korea for three days to discuss the North 's nuclear declaration and how to verify it .
-Six-country talks on ending the North 's nuclear activities have been stalled for months , after Pyongyang missed a December 31 deadline to give a declaration of its nuclear programs in return for diplomatic concessions and energy aid .
-The six-party agreement was hammered out among the two Koreas , the United States , Japan , Russia and China .
-Diplomats from the United States , Japan and South Korea will meet in Seoul later this week to discuss restarting six-party talks on ending North Korea 's nuclear program .
-South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-soon will meet Saturday with Christopher Hill , the U.S. Ambassador to Seoul , and Kenichiro Sasae , the head of the Japanese Foreign Ministry 's Asia-Oceania bureau .
-North Korea announced on February 10 that it had produced nuclear weapons and was withdrawing from negotiations with the three nations , plus China and Russia , to end its nuclear program .
-But North Korean leader Kim Jong-il told a visiting Chinese diplomat this week that it will resume talks if conditions are right .
-South Korea 's foreign minister said Wednesday that Pyongyang should return to the talks without setting any conditions .
-State media in Sudan say a leader of the Darfur rebel group that attacked the capital earlier this month has been arrested .
-The reports Thursday say authorities have captured Abdel Aziz Ashr of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement , JEM .
-A state radio report says Ashr is the half-brother of top JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim .
-There were no immediate details on where or when the arrest took place .
-The rebel group launched an attack on Khartoum and the neighboring city of Omdurman on May 10 after traveling across hundreds of kilometers of desert .
-Soldiers pushed back the rebels in fighting that killed more than 200 people .
-The attack marked the first time rebels from Sudan 's western Darfur region reached the capital .
-The government has offered a reward of $ 2,50,000 for information leading to the capture of JEM leader Ibrahim .
-Pakistani officials say at least 16 people killed by Afghan forces this week were Pakistani civilians and not Taleban fighters as previously claimed .
-Officials said some of the victims ' bodies have been returned to the Pakistani border town of Chaman for funerals .
-Residents of Chaman said the victims were local villagers on their way to a festival when they were killed .
-The governor of Afghanistan 's Kandahar province , where the incident took place late Tuesday , said a team of investigators was sent to the area .
-Earlier , an Afghan commander had said his soldiers killed at least 16 suspected Taleban militants after they crossed the border from neighboring Pakistan , near Spin Boldak .
-He said that among the dead were two Taleban commanders believed to have organized several attacks .
-The international police organization , Interpol , has issued wanted notices for 16 more suspects in connection with the killing of a Hamas leader in Dubai .
-Monday 's announcement brought to 27 the total number of suspects named in the January assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh .
-Interpol says the notices were made at the request of Dubai authorities .
-It says Dubai authorities have identified two teams of individuals linked to the murder .
-The Interpol red notice allows Dubai to circulate its arrest warrant worldwide with the request that the wanted individuals be arrested and extradited for prosecution .
-The suspects in the case carried FALSE passports from Britain , Ireland , France , Germany and Australia .
-Dubai authorities suspect Israel 's Mossad spy agency was responsible for the killing .
-Israel has neither confirmed nor denied having a role .
-A well-known journalist in Gambia has been shot and killed in the capital , Banjul .
-Colleagues and family members say newspaper editor and news-agency correspondent Deyda Hydara died at the spot where he was gunned down after leaving work late Thursday .
-No attacker was identified .
-Mr. Hydara was an editor for the newspaper The Point and a correspondent for the French news agency , AFP .
-Russian President Vladimir Putin indirectly has criticized Britain for its refusal to extradite people who Russia considers terrorist suspects .
-Mr. Putin spoke Wednesday in Moscow at a conference of European prosecutors .
-He said that he does not understand why people who are accused of terrorism are not extradited , and instead are granted political asylum .
-He did not specifically name Britain .
-He referred only to what he called certain countries that grant asylum to people accused of terrorism .
-Mr. Putin also warned European officials against using human rights issues to promote their own political interests .
-Last month , Russia 's new prosecutor general said he is sending a team of specialists to Britain to deal with cases in which British courts have refused Russian extradition requests .
-Russia for years has sought the extradition of business tycoon Boris Berezovsky and Chechen separatist envoy Akhmed Zakayev .
-British authorities have granted both men political asylum .
-Hong Kong health officials say a nine-month old girl has tested positive for a mild strain of the bird flu virus .
-Officials said Tuesday that it was most likely the baby was infected when she was taken to a food market that sold live poultry .
-Doctors have isolated the baby at a local hospital , but say her condition is not that serious .
-The head of Hong Kong 's Center for Health Protection , Thomas Tsang , says the baby 's case is the third time that the H9N2 strain of bird flu has been detected in humans .
-Bird flu has many subtypes .
-The more dangerous H5N1 strain of the virus has killed more than 160 people since 2003 .
-Bird flu first appeared in Hong Kong in 1997 .
-The virus killed six people and led to the slaughter of more than a million birds .
-U.S. federal authorities have charged a young man with making a FALSE threat against professional football stadiums in seven U.S. cities .
-Officials say the 20-year-old suspect will appear in court later Friday .
-He is alleged to be connected to an Internet hoax threatening " dirty bomb " attacks on those stadiums .
-A " dirty bomb " is an explosive device combined with radioactive material .
-On Wednesday , the Department of Homeland Security warned National Football League officials in the seven cities about the threat , but also expressed doubts about its credibility .
-Thursday , federal investigators announced the threat turned out to be a hoax .
-A message posted recently on a web site mentioned stadiums in New York , Miami , Atlanta , Seattle , Houston , Oakland and Cleveland .
-NATO says a heavily armed Taliban commander has been killed in a shootout at a mosque in eastern Afghanistan .
-NATO officials say international and Afghan forces went Saturday to a compound in Wardak province to look for the commander , who fled to a nearby mosque as troops approached .
-Security forces surrounded the mosque and ordered him to surrender .
-But he refused to do so and opened fire as the shootout started .
-Officials say the Taliban commander was armed with grenades and rounds of ammunition .
-He was wanted for buying weapons and components for explosive devices , and for helping plan attacks .
-NATO also says a U.S. soldier died Friday from a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan .
-In the Afghan capital , Kabul , a rocket landed Saturday near the Afghan Defense ministry .
-It was unclear if there were casualties .
-Afghan officials say at least 12 civilian construction workers have been killed in airstrikes by U.S.-led coalition forces in eastern Afghanistan ..
-The governor of eastern Nuristan province , Tamin Nuristani , says the workers were sleeping in tents when the attack happened earlier this week .
-He says U.S. military officials launched the airstrikes after receiving information that Taliban insurgents were in the the area .
-Coalition officials have not confirmed that any airstrikes took place , but say they are looking into the incident .
-The construction workers were building a road in the remote region .
-Afghan President Hamid Karzai has repeatedly pleaded with NATO and coalition troops to use more caution before conducting airstrikes , which have killed a number of civilians .
-The U.N. 's International Atomic Energy Agency has approved the formation of a $ 150 million nuclear fuel " bank " aimed at reducing the number countries seeking to produce nuclear fuel .
-The IAEA 's action Friday was motivated by a $ 50 million pledge by U.S. billionaire investor Warren Buffett , who says the bank is an investment in a safer world .
-The United States is among countries contributing to the fund .
-The intent of the fuel bank is to reduce the proliferation of nuclear weapons by providing an alternative to countries producing their own nuclear fuel or buying it from other countries .
-The nuclear fuel bank system is limited to countries in good standing with the energy watchdog agency .
-Buffett told The New York Times the spread of nuclear weaponry is the number one problem facing society , and that the fuel bank helps lower the risks .
-Authorities in northwestern Pakistan say a minibus - hit by falling rock - has plunged into a ravine , killing 15 people .
-Four others survived with injuries .
-The authorities say the driver to lost control of the bus Sunday on the road to Mansehra from Balakot , a town devastated by last year 's earthquake .
-Landslides are common in the mountainous region , where the October 8 quake last year killed more than 73,000 people .
-Detained Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has requested a meeting with the chief of the country 's ruling military .
-The Nobel peace laureate wrote a letter to the military government on November 11 asking to meet reclusive Senior General Than Shwe .
-On Sunday , U.S. President Barack Obama offered Burma the prospect of better ties with Washington if it pursues democratic reform and frees political prisoners , including Aung San Suu Kyi .
-Last month the opposition leader met with a minister from the ruling regime , and in September she made a formal offer to the government to help negotiate with Western countries to lift sanctions .
-Aung San Suu Kyi has been under some sort of detention for 14 of the last 20 years .
-The United States says it looks forward to working with a new Pakistani government and President Pervez Musharraf .
-State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Thursday that the Bush administration will work with whoever emerges as Pakistan 's prime minister , as well as Mr. Musharraf , who now serves as Pakistan 's civilian president .
-The administration also confirmed Thursday that President Bush phoned Mr. Musharraf on Tuesday , a day after his party 's sweeping defeat in parliamentary elections .
-A spokeswoman for Mr. Bush declined to say what the two leaders discussed .
-President Musharraf is considered a key ally in the U.S.-led global war on terror .
-With Mr. Musharraf 's political future in question , the U.S. has expressed hope this week that Pakistan 's emerging government will continue to be a partner in the fight against violent extremists .
-Burma 's military rulers announced plans Thursday to hold a gem auction in October , despite international calls to boycott the sale .
-Officials say jade , pearls , and precious gems will be among the lots on sale at the auction .
-Burma 's last gem auction was held in June , just one month after Cyclone Nargis swept across the country 's south , leaving more than 1,30,000 people dead or missing .
-Burma is one of the main producers of jade and other gems , as well as the source of up to 90 percent of the world 's rubies .
-Gem auctions are a major revenue earner for Burma 's military government .
-Jewelry companies and human rights groups have urged buyers to boycott Burmese gems to protest rights violations in the country .
-In July , the United States passed legislation banning the import of gems from Burma through third-party countries .
-Brazilian police say at least 16 people have been killed in a series of attacks on police stations and public buses in Rio de Janeiro .
-Officials said gunmen stopped one bus on a highway in the city , robbed the passengers and then torched the vehicle .
-They said at least six bodies were found on the charred bus .
-Gunmen also opened fire on several police posts and buildings , killing two policemen .
-Police said the motive for the apparently coordinated overnight attacks was not immediately clear .
-Some officials said it may be linked to anti-drug efforts in the city .
-Some 200 people in Sao Paulo died earlier this year in a series of attacks by criminal gangs .
-Former president Bill Clinton has criticized the U.S.-led war in Iraq as a " big mistake , " saying officials failed to plan for what would follow the ouster of Saddam Hussein .
-Speaking to students at the American University in Dubai , Mr. Clinton said it is a good thing that Saddam is gone , but he does n't agree with what was done .
-He said U.S. officials made several errors , such as not sending enough troops and dismantling Iraq 's authority structure .
-Mr. Clinton added that U.S.-led forces failed to secure the country 's borders , allowing foreign terrorists to enter Iraq .
-The Bush administration in recent days has defended the war , noting that many current critics had warned that Saddam was a threat before the war started .
-Tuesday , Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said , Mr. Clinton , as president , had warned that Saddam was planning to use weapons of mass destruction .
-Iraqi police say at least 13 people were killed when gunmen attacked a bus carrying workers to a U.S. base in Baquba Tuesday .
-Police say the assailants riding in two cars blocked the bus and opened fire , killing the driver and nine workers .
-Three other civilians were killed when the bus rammed their car .
-Some 170 people have been killed in violence across Iraq in the past week , including at least 14 in a string of attacks Monday
-The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff , General Richard Myers , said Monday the recent wave attacks will not derail the drafting of an Iraqi constitution and the election of a new government later this year .
-Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said today the committee working to draft the constitution is making " good progress , " and that the document could be ready ahead of the August 15 deadline .
-Hundreds of Afghan security troops backed by U.S. forces have killed at least 32 suspected Taleban rebels in a district capital of Kandahar province .
-Rebels overran the Mian Nishin district last week , taking 31 police hostage and later killing eight of them .
-Militants say they have released the remaining 23 hostages .
-Before dawn Tuesday , some 400 Afghan troops entered the area , capturing 15 suspected militants and killing at least 11 others .
-U.S. airstrikes in the area killed some 21 other suspected militants .
-Elsewhere in Kandahar province , United Nations and Afghan officials say militants killed an Afghan election worker in an ambush .
-It was the second killing of an election worker ahead of the September parliamentary election .
-Taiwan 's ruling party is hoping to win a huge upset in presidential elections on Saturday just weeks after the opposition candidate seemed poised to easily win .
-The wide lead by opposition candidate Ma Ying-jeou over ruling party challenger Frank Hsieh has narrowed since China 's crackdown on Tibet .
-Ma , who heads the Nationalist Party , has promised to improve relations with China and establish a common market with Taiwan 's communist neighbor .
-Hsieh , of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party , says China views Taiwan as it does Tibet and has warned that the island 's democracy could be in jeopardy if Ma is elected .
-Taiwan and China split amid a civil war in 1949 , but Beijing still considers the island part of its territory and has threatened military force to reclaim it .
-Ma has accused Hsieh of exploiting the Tibet issue for political gain .
-Malawi 's constitutional court has stopped impeachment proceedings against President Bingu wa Mutharika , pending a review of the parliamentary guidelines on how to remove him .
-The court 's ruling Wednesday comes after a private lawyer challenged the legality of the impeachment motion against the president .
-He said Mr. Mutharika is arguing that the procedures , which were to begin Thursday , are unconstitutional and are not in accordance with the rules of natural justice .
-Malawi 's parliament last week introduced the impeachment motion against Mr. Mutharika , charging him with misuse of public funds in setting up his own party .
-Mr. Mutharika - a former economist - has won praise from donor nations and aid agencies for his efforts to adopt economic reforms and stamp out corruption .
-A Hungarian government spokesman says the deadly strain of bird flu virus has been found in southern Hungary .
-The spokesman , Andras Batiz , said Tuesday three wild swans found last week have tested positive for the H5N1 virus .
-A British laboratory confirmed the test results .
-German veterinary officials Tuesday confirmed 22 new cases of flu in birds on the island of Ruegen .
-The German government announced Monday the virus had spread to the mainland .
-103 cases have now been found in wild birds in Germany .
-Troops have been deployed to control the outbreak .
-In Malaysia Tuesday , officials began culling birds and launched house-to-house inspections for sick people a day after the nation 's first outbreak in more than a year .
-No human infections have been reported .
-And in India , officials wrapped up the culling of thousands of birds to control the latest outbreak in Maharastra state .
-Senegal says its security forces have conducted " minimal " acts of torture , but says the country is and always has been committed to investigating and prosecuting such acts .
-Responding to a report by Amnesty International , government spokesman Moustapha Guirassy said Thursday that Senegal respects the rule of law and works to preserve and defend human rights .
-In its report , the rights group said 12 years of research showed that Senegal 's security forces have electrocuted , burned , beaten , and asphyxiated prisoners .
-Researcher Salvatore Sagues said at least six prisoners have died in Senegalese custody in the last three years .
-He said that due to a requirement for government permission , cases against police and soldiers are rarely prosecuted .
-Guirassy Thursday denied there is impunity for officers .
-He said prosecutions must proceed slowly while a thorough investigation is made .
-A strong earthquake that rattled southeastern Turkey Monday has injured at least 37 people while causing minor damage to buildings .
-The Kandill Observatory in Istanbul says a preliminary estimate of the quake 's magnitude was 5.7 .
-It was centered near the town of Karliova in Bingol province .
-Turkish officials have sent rescue teams , tents and blankets to the area .
-Earthquakes are frequent in Turkey , which sits atop a major tectonic faultline .
-A powerful quake that hit northwestern Turkey in 1999 killed more than 17,000 people .
-Zimbabwe 's High Court has ruled that 64 suspected mercenaries may appeal their jail terms on convictions related to a coup plot in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea .
-A court judge , Chenembiri Bhunu , granted their petition to appeal to Zimbabwe 's Supreme Court .
-No date has been set .
-The 64 men , mostly South Africans , were convicted in September on minor immigration and aviation charges .
-Sentences ranged from 12 to 16 months in prison .
-They were among 70 men arrested last March when their plane landed in Harare .
-Zimbabwe accused the group of involvement in a plot to oust the president of Equatorial Guinea , Teodoro Obiang Nguema .
-The defendants denied the charges , insisting they were headed to Congo to guard mining installations .
-Last month , a court in Equatorial Guinea handed down stiff prison sentences to some 24 suspects convicted of involvement in the foiled plot .
-Poland says it will re-route plans for a major highway away from one of Europe 's last unspoiled wetlands .
-Environment Minister Maciej Nowicki said Tuesday the new route is cheaper than the original plans and makes the highway just two kilometers longer .
-He says he will ask the European Union to stop its lawsuit aimed at forcing Poland to cancel the highway .
-Poland had originally planned to build its section of the Via Baltica on pillars through the Rospuda Valley - a pristine peat bog home to rare plants and eagles , wolves , and lynx .
-The plans outraged environmentalists and brought legal action from the EU .
-Residents of the northern town of Augustow are demanding a highway , saying heavy truck traffic is destroying their city .
-The Via Baltica will link Poland with Finland .
-A 37-year-old woman has become the 13th person in Egypt to die of the H5N1 strain of bird flu .
-Nadia Mohammed Abdel Hafez died in a hospital in Cairo early Friday .
-Health officials initially reported that her condition was stable and that she was being treated with the drug Tamiflu .
-The woman raised poultry in her home in the province of Fayoum , south of Cairo , where a teenage girl died of bird flu earlier this month .
-Health officials announced separately Friday that a five-year-old boy has tested positive for bird flu .
-He is the 22nd confirmed human case of bird flu in Egypt .
-Egypt has become the largest cluster of human cases of bird flu outside of Asia , where the disease originated .
-Cases have been discovered in 19 of Egypt 's 26 provinces .
-Vietnam and the United States have signed an agreement that will allow U.S. companies to work in Vietnam to develop atomic power for energy .
-US Ambassador Michael Michalak described Tuesday 's agreement as an important moment in bilateral relations between the two nations , adding that it is a key step in advancing non-proliferation goals .
-In November , Vietnam approved plans to build the country 's first two nuclear power plants in the south central province of Ninh Thuan .
-Media reports say Vietnam signed a deal with a Russian firm to build the first plant .
-This year marks the 15th anniversary of the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the United States and Vietnam , following the Vietnam War .
-A U.S. Congressional report says it finds no overall improvement in human rights conditions in China during the past year , and that citizens who challenge state controls continue to face severe repression .
-In its annual report released Tuesday , the Congressional-Executive Commission on China says Beijing continues to pursue certain judicial and criminal justice reforms that have potential to improve human rights .
-But it says these steps are " clouded by new detentions and government policies designed to protect the Communist Party 's rule . "
-The commission says China continues to harass , abuse and detain religious believers who practice their faith outside state-controlled religious venues , in particular the Muslim Uighur minority .
-The report calls on President Bush and Congress to urge Chinese officials not to use the global war against terrorism as a pretext to suppress minorities ' rights .
-Prosecutors in the Netherlands have filed new charges against a Dutch-born Islamic extremist who was convicted of killing filmmaker Theo van Gogh .
-Mohammed Bouyeri , 27 , and 12 other defendants appeared in a Dutch court Tuesday to face charges of membership in a terrorist movement authorities have called the " Hofstad Group . "
-The 12 defendants were arrested shortly after Van Gogh 's killing .
-Lawyers for Bouyeri say the prosecution wants to punish their client further , adding that he has already received the maximum sentence of life in prison .
-The new charges carry a maximum 15-year prison term .
-Dutch authorities believe Van Gogh 's murder was a response to his criticism of Islam and its treatment of women in his film " Submission . "
-Fresh fighting broke out early Saturday in northeastern Burma after days of clashes between government troops and ethnic rebels .
-Thousands of people have fled to the border town of Nansan in China 's Yunnan province this month to escape clashes in Kokang in Burma 's Shan state , following the deployment of government troops in the area .
-The UN High Commissioner for Refugees says up to 30,000 people have fled into China .
-The Chinese Red Cross told the Chinese Daily newspaper that one person was killed and several were injured Friday when someone threw a bomb across the Chinese border .
-China has called on Burma to maintain stability in the border region and urged more measures to protect the security and legal rights of Chinese citizens there .
-The Afghan defense ministry says a top Taleban commander and several of his fighters have been killed in clashes with U.S.-led coalition forces in southern Afghanistan .
-The ministry says the fighting , which also involved air support , took place early Thursday in Helmand province - a known Taleban stronghold .
-It identified the dead commander , Mullah Brader , as a relative and close associate of Taleban chief Mullah Omar .
-The U.S. military in Afghanistan has not commented .
-Elsewhere in southern Afghanistan , one NATO soldier and an Afghan interpreter were killed while on patrol in the insurgency-hit southern part of the country
-Thursday .
-A NATO statement said two other soldiers were wounded .
-It did not give details of the incident .
-Two U.S. senators are calling for an investigation into a suspected terrorist 's claims that he was physically abused while he was held in secret CIA prisons .
-Democrat Carl Levin and Republican Lindsey Graham observed the March 10 military hearing at Guantanamo Bay , Cuba for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed .
-The suspected al-Qaida operative confessed to planning the September 11 , 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States , and several other terrorist plots .
-During the hearing , Mohammed issued a written statement alleging he had been mistreated before he was transferred to Guantanamo .
-In a joint statement issued Friday , Levin and Graham said it " would reflect poorly " on the United States if Mohammed 's allegations were not investigated .
-Military officials in charge of the hearing say the allegations were being submitted to the appropriate authorities .
-Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has said in an interview with the Financial Times that he will go ahead with plans to build a natural gas pipeline to Iran , despite U.S. pressure to scrap the project .
-In an article published Thursday , Mr. Musharraf tells the newspaper that Pakistan needs the pipeline to provide sufficient energy for industrial growth and foreign investment .
-He says no country can order Pakistan to abandon the pipeline .
-But Mr. Musharraf also says that anyone who wants the Iran pipeline stopped should pay compensation , leaving open the possibility Washington could compensate Pakistan for giving up the plan .
-Earlier this month , the United Sates said it opposes the building of a natural gas pipeline linking Iran with Pakistan and India .
-Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian says he will make an important policy statement in his National Day address on Oct. 10 , aimed at soothing tensions with China .
-Mr. Chen told a visiting Japanese delegation Monday that his address would be positive and constructive .
-He gave no further details , but said he hoped the message would help narrow the gap between Beijing and Taipei .
-Mr. Chen has said he wants to revise Taiwan 's constitution , a move China has criticized as a dangerous step towards formal independence .
-The mainland has threatened to use force to crush any moves towards separatism .
-Normalization talks between the two sides have been frozen since 1999 , when Mr. Chen 's predecessor , President Lee Teng-hui , defined bilateral relations as being between two states .
-The United Nations mission in Congo says it has spotted fresh camps and well-equipped soldiers it believes are from Rwanda 's armed forces .
-A mission spokesman says the fighters were sighted in new aerial photographs taken in eastern Congo .
-Wednesday , U.N. officials in Congo reported sighting 100 fighters believed to be Rwandan troops .
-Rwanda 's government has refused to confirm or deny sending its troops into Democratic Republic of Congo .
-Rwandan President Paul Kagame has said any invasion into Congo would target Rwandan Hutu rebels and not Congolese forces .
-He has blamed the Congolese government and the United Nations for failing to disarm Hutu militiamen who fled across the border after perpetrating Rwanda 's 1994 genocide .
-The U.N. Security Council is due to hold an emergency session Thursday to discuss the crisis .
-The United States and the European Union are calling on Congo and Rwanda to resolve the situation diplomatically .
-The European Union and several of its member states have congratulated Viktor Yushchenko on his victory in the Ukrainian presidential election .
-In a letter to Mr. Yushchenko Tuesday , German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder expressed optimism that Ukraine will continue what he called its transition toward the rule of law and a market economy .
-Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus congratulated Mr. Yushchenko in a telephone conversation .
-In Paris , the foreign ministry said France and its European Union partners are determined to support democracy and modernization in Ukraine .
-The EU 's Dutch presidency , meanwhile , urged Ukrainians to work to maintain the country 's internal cohesion .
-Meanwhile , Russia has questioned the objectivity of monitors for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe .
-That organization characterized last month 's presidential election re-run as flawed , while saying that Sunday 's poll vastly improved upon the last vote .
-Russia backed Mr. Yushchenko 's opponent
-Authorities in India say at least 17 policemen were killed Saturday when Maoist rebels blew up their bus in northern India .
-Police officials say rebels detonated a landmine as the police bus approached a bridge in India 's northern state of Uttar Pradesh .
-Maoist rebels , who claim to be fighting for the rights of landless peasants , operate in southern and eastern India .
-They often attack the police through ambushes and landmines .
-They are also active in Nepal , which borders both Uttar Pradesh and neighboring Bihar state .
-European Union foreign ministers are meeting in Brussels to discuss support for an emerging Palestinian unity government that could replace the current Hamas-led one .
-The ministers Friday are to debate whether to support a Palestinian plan to form a new government with the ruling Hamas movement and President Mahmoud Abbas ' Fatah party .
-Finland 's foreign minister , Erkki Tuomioja , says the EU should view the new Palestinian government as an opportunity to renew the Middle East peace process .
-Finland holds the rotating EU presidency .
-The European Union and the United States cut off aid to the Hamas-led government because it refuses to recognize Israel , renounce violence and accept past peace accords .
-Washington has cautioned against lifting those restrictions in the absence of details on the policies of the new unity government .
-Kyrgyzstan 's interim government has announced the country will hold parliamentary elections on October 10 .
-President Roza Otunbayeva signed a decree Tuesday , ordering the interim government to take measures to uphold law and order and provide security ahead of the vote .
-Voters overwhelmingly endorsed a new constitution in a June referendum , clearing the way for the October elections .
-Officials said more than 90 percent of voters backed the measure that gives greater power to the parliament .
-The interim government has struggled to maintain stability since former president Kurmanbek Bakiyev was deposed in a deadly April uprising .
-A wave of ethnic clashes in June killed more than 350 people in the country 's south .
-Interim leader Roza Otunbayeva is set to serve as president until the end of 2011 .
-A roadside bomb has killed five people in southern Afghanistan , including four children .
-The other victim was a woman .
-Local officials in Kandahar province say the blast occurred in the Spin Boldak district Friday as the five were on their way home from a shrine .
-Afghan civilians have increasingly been caught in the middle as violence rises amid an influx of U.S. and other foreign forces fighting the Taliban .
-A United Nations report this week said the number of civilians killed in war-related violence reached its highest level last year since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 .
-In a separate development , a rocket hit the central part of the capital Kabul Friday , near Western embassies .
-Police rushed to the scene , but no other information was immediately available .
-The Organization of American States is trying to elect a new secretary general .
-Several rounds of voting have ended in a tie between candidates from Chile and Mexico .
-Panama 's foreign minister says Chilean Interior Minister Jose Miguel Insulza and Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez received 17 votes each during five rounds of voting .
-Eighteen votes are needed for a win .
-OAS diplomats recessed for consultations earlier Monday after the first three rounds of voting at the organization 's Washington headquarters .
-They are again taking a short break .
-The two men are running to succeed Miguel Angel Rodriguez , who abruptly resigned in October after only two weeks on the job because of corruption charges in his native Costa Rica .
-A third candidate with strong U.S. backing , former El Salvador president Francisco Flores , dropped out of the race last Friday .
-New data shows the recession has eased in Europe , where the two largest economies , Germany and France , returned to growth after a period of decline .
-Some analysts say the new figures may show the worst of the recession has passed .
-For the 16 nations that use the euro , the sum of all the goods and services produced shrank by 0.1 percent in April , May and June .
-Those gross domestic product figures are a significant improvement over the previous quarter , and better than most economists had predicted .
-The GDP in Germany and France grew 0.3 percent in the second quarter , a sharp improvement over the declines registered in the early months of the year .
-Pakistani officials say an accidental blast has killed five militants near the Afghan border , but residents dispute their account .
-Officials said three foreign militants - possibly from Uzbekistan - and two local Pakistanis were killed when they accidentally detonated explosives stored in a home .
-But local residents in Pakistan 's restive northwest tribal region blamed the military , saying assailants fired missiles into the house , in Haisori village .
-They also said the two Pakistanis killed were children .
-Several hundred people later gathered at the nearby village of Mir Ali to denounce the alleged attack .
-Tens of thousands of Pakistani forces are deployed in the rugged , semi-autonomous North Waziristan region , searching for foreign militants .
-The Rwandan army says it has arrested the brother of the former army chief of staff on charges of " destabilization . "
-Lieutenant Colonel Rugigana Ngabo is the brother of General Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa , who was chief of staff until 2001 and went into exile in South Africa in February .
-The army said Ngabo was arrested Friday arrest had nothing to do with his relationship to Nyamwasa .
-Military officials said they are still investigating Ngabo 's activities .
-Nyamwasa is a leading critic of Rwandan President Paul Kagame .
-The country 's chief prosecutor accused Nyamwasa and the other officer of being involved in three grenade attacks in the capital , Kigali , in February .
-Two people were killed and 30 others were wounded .
-He denies any involvement .
-The Canadian government and U.S. philanthropist Bill Gates have announced a multimillion-dollar initiative to combat the AIDS virus .
-Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Gates announced the Canadian HIV Vaccine Initiative in Ottawa , Canada 's capital , Tuesday .
-Mr. Harper says the Canadian government will contribute about $ 95 million and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is expected to contribute about $ 24 million .
-The money will be used to build a new research facility in Canada that will focus on producing a vaccine to help fight HIV , the virus that causes AIDS .
-The United Nations estimates close to three million people died from AIDS in 2006 .
-Forbes magazine says Bill Gates , the chairman of Microsoft , is the world 's richest man , with a fortune estimated at $ 53 billion .
-Britain has suspended a planned increase in aid to Ethiopia over post-election violence that has left at least 36 people dead .
-Britain 's International Development Minister Hilary Benn says $ 35 million in aid has been put on hold while Britain waits to see how the situation in Ethiopia develops .
-Mr. Benn , who is visiting Ethiopia , says he expressed Britain 's concern about the violence to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi .
-Last week , Ethiopian security forces opened fire on protesters who said the ruling party fixed parliamentary elections last month .
-Human Rights Watch said Wednesday that police have arrested thousands of people across the country in response to the protests .
-Preliminary election results show the ruling party has won a majority of seats , but the opposition also has claimed victory .
-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in Bahrain to meet with regional officials , after taking an unannounced one-day trip to Iraq Friday .
-During her visit to Baghdad and Mosul , Ms. Rice urged Iraqi citizens to put sectarian differences aside ahead of the December 15 parliamentary election .
-Ms. Rice also held talks with Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari and Sunni leaders .
-She called for greater participation in the election , saying the future of Iraq is in many ways key to the future of the Middle East .
-Elsewhere in Baghdad , gunmen fired on the compound of the Embassy of Oman , killing two people .
-Meanwhile , a statement from ousted dictator Saddam Hussein 's Baath party says top military aide , Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri , is dead .
-There has been no independent confirmation .
-Bangladesh has raised the minimum wage for its garment industry workers following months of violent protests over low salaries and poor working conditions .
-The 80-percent pay hike was announced Tuesday following an emergency meeting of the country 's wage board committee .
-The increase raised the minimum monthly wage for garment workers from $ 25 to $ 43 .
-Bangladesh has been the scene of massive protests by textile workers calling for higher pay .
-Workers were demanding that the minimum salary be increased to $ 72 a month .
-Textile factories accounted for 80 percent of Bangladesh 's annual export earnings last year , with many producing clothes for several global brands .
-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had criticized the country 's clothing manufacturers saying the wages were not only insufficient but " inhuman . "
-A Russian spaceship is set to dock at the International Space Station Saturday to deliver badly needed food to the two-man crew .
-The crew members have been forced to ration their food , after U.S. and Russian space officials discovered their supplies were quickly running out .
-The Russian cargo vessel is carrying more than two tons of food , water and equipment .
-It is scheduled to arrive at the space station at around 23.30 UTC .
-NASA officials say Russian cosmonaut Salizhan Sharipov and U.S. astronaut Leroy Chiao will be forced to return to Earth if the cargo vessel does not successfully dock at the station .
-In addition to food , the vessel will be bringing the men Christmas presents from their family and friends .
-Police in Nepal have detained more than 20 demonstrators who were demanding the restoration of democracy in the Himalayan nation .
-Some 200 human rights activists , lawyers , journalists and professors rallied in the capital , Kathmandu , Monday chanting slogans against King Gyanendra , who seized absolute power on February 1 .
-Witnesses say a line of police officers blocked the protesters from entering a restricted zone , and when they tried to force their way through , police arrested about two dozen of them .
-Student groups and political parties are among a number of organizations that have held protests against the king 's move .
-The king says he needed to seize full political power to curb corruption and quell a communist insurgency that has claimed more than 11,500 lives .
-Prosecutors at the war crimes trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic have shown a videotape of the 1995 execution of six Bosnian Muslims allegedly by Serbian forces .
-Prosecutor Geoffrey Nice said Wednesday a paramilitary unit of the Serbian Interior Minister called the " Scorpions " unit carried out the shootings .
-The tape was shot during the massacre of more than 7,000 Muslim males at Srebrenica .
-Mr. Milosevic is on trial at the Hague War Crimes Tribunal in connection with the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the 1990s .
-Also Wednesday , a former mayor of the Bosnian town of Zvornik turned himself in to a war crimes court in Serbia .
-Branko Grujic has been charged with helping deport more than 1,800 Muslims to Hungary and the killings of 15 Muslims in 1992 .
-Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has criticized Paul the octopus , who gained fame by correctly predicting the outcome of eight World Cup matches .
-The Iranian leader called Paul a symbol of decadence and decay in the Western world .
-Mr. Ahmadinejad also said those who believe in a psychic octopus can not be leaders of nations like Iran " that aspire to human perfection . "
-Iran 's state-run media said the president discussed the octopus during a speech to a youth festival in Tehran on Friday .
-Paul lives at the Oberhausen Sea Life Center in Germany .
-The eight-legged sea creature picked the outcome of this year 's World Cup matches in South Africa by choosing to eat from a box of mussels labeled with the flag of the winning team .
-Paul correctly predicted the winner of all seven of Germany 's matches .
-He also picked Spain to defeat the Netherlands in the final .
-Foreigners have again become the targets of kidnappers in Iraq .
-Iraqi officials in Balad , north of Baghdad , say six Iranian pilgrims were abducted Monday .
-They say two women were released Tuesday , but the fate of the remaining four pilgrims is still not clear .
-They were the second group of Shi'ite pilgrims targeted Monday .
-Three British pilgrims were killed during a bus ambush south of the capital .
-Meanwhile , Germany has called for the immediate release of one of its missing nationals .
-Archaeologist Susanne Osthoff and her driver disappeared Friday .
-The aid group , Christian Peacemaker Teams , confirms that four of its employees - said to be an American , a Briton and two Canadians - were kidnapped in Baghdad Saturday .
-Elsewhere , the U.S. military reports that a roadside bomb blast killed two American soldiers north of Baghdad today .
-A wave of insurgent attacks across Iraq killed at least 12 people , mostly Iraqi policemen Monday .
-In Baghdad , five bombs killed six Iraqis , including three policemen .
-North of the city , in Diyala province , gunmen killed five policemen at a checkpoint near Baquba .
-Six of the attackers were killed .
-Separately , the province 's governor survived a bomb attack that killed his bodyguard .
-Meanwhile , Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko traveled to Iraq Monday to visit Ukrainian troops before they withdraw from the country .
-Officials say he plans to attend a ceremony where Ukrainian troops will hand over equipment to Iraqi forces .
-And The New York Times reports that a Shi'ite alliance has refused to give 10 of its parliament seats to Sunni Arabs .
-Sunni Arabs complained of fraud in the December 15 election and asked for the seats to defuse tensions .
-New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has unveiled a plan to rebuild following last year 's devastation by Hurricane Katrina , saying residents will be allowed to reconstruct their homes in all parts of the city .
-Nagin 's announcement followed public consultations on rebuilding proposals made by an advisory commission in January .
-The commission had suggested converting parts of ruined neighborhoods into parks and imposing a ban on building permits in some areas .
-Nagin says he rejected such ideas , which were criticized by many residents .
-The mayor says residents can now make their own decisions about reconstructing their homes .
-But Nagin warned that some New Orleans neighborhoods will remain prone to flooding , and people who rebuild there will do so at their own risk .
-Nagin 's revival plan also calls for restructuring New Orleans ' government for greater efficiency and improving public transportation .
-He is using the plans as part of his campaign for re-election .
-Chinese officials say at least 27 workers are confirmed dead after a gas explosion tore through a coal mine in China 's northwest Shaanxi province .
-China 's official Xinhua news agency says 39 miners were working at the Wayaobao mine in Zichang county when the blast happened Saturday .
-Five workers remain missing .
-Seven miners escaped with minor injuries .
-China 's mines are the world 's deadliest .
-Thousands of workers are killed each year in fires , explosions , floods and cave-ins , despite government efforts to improve safety .
-Americans are celebrating Columbus Day Monday .
-Columbus Day is a federal holiday observed on the second Monday in October , marking the anniversary of arrival of Christopher Columbus to the Americas .
-Columbus , an Italian explorer sailing under the Spanish flag , led four expeditions to the New World , but never accomplished his original goal -- to find a western ocean route to Asia .
-Instead , Columbus ushered in a new era in world history by opening up the Americas to exploration .
-Columbus Day became a U.S. holiday in 1971 .
-It is generally observed by banks , the bond market , the Postal Service and other federal agencies , along with most state government offices and some school districts .
-However , many businesses and stock exchanges remain open .
-There is a trend among some states away from observing the holiday .
-Afghanistan 's interior ministry says suspected Taleban insurgents have ambushed a police convoy in southern Helmand province , killing 19 policemen .
-A ministry spokesman said a senior provincial police official , Amanullah Khan , was among the dead .
-He said four officers were wounded in the attack late Monday and at least five others are missing .
-The convoy was traveling along a remote mountain road when dozens of militants ambushed it , triggering a gunbattle that lasted for several hours .
-The spokesman blamed the attack on " enemies of peace , " a term frequently used by Afghan officials to refer to Taleban rebels .
-Earlier Monday , insurgents carried out two suicide bombings in the nearby southern city of Kandahar .
-Three people , including a former factional commander , Agha Shah , were killed in one of the attacks .
-The number of Chinese using the Internet has risen sharply to include almost a third of the population .
-A government-backed agency , the China Internet Network Information Center , reported Thursday that the number of Internet users has grown by 36 million since it last reported the official tally in late 2009 .
-It said about 277 million people go online using mobile devices such as cell phones .
-China 's government , which keeps tight control on traditional media , has tried to control online information as well , through censorship and Web monitoring .
-Beijing 's attempt to control what people read and say on the Internet was highlighted by its recent dispute with the Google company , which provides a popular search engine .
-The American company was told its license to operate in China would not be renewed unless it stopped its practice of automatically transferring Chinese users to an uncensored website in Hong Kong .
-Burma says it is not interested in discussing possible democratic reforms at this week 's meeting of Asian and African leaders in Indonesia .
-Speaking in Jakarta Thursday , after meetings with Indonesian officials , Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win said his delegation came to discuss the summit , not Burma 's internal affairs .
-He said Rangoon would also not be pressured into giving up its turn at leading the southeast Asian regional bloc , ASEAN .
-Rangoon has faced growing international demands to step aside from ASEAN 's rotating leadership because of Burma 's human rights record .
-Thailand 's foreign minister Kantathi Supamongkhon told reporters Thursday , Burmese officials have assured him they are aware of the world 's concerns and that Burma will not be an obstacle to ASEAN unity .
-The Thai official says he is convinced the chairmanship situation will be resolved in a very good way .
-South Koreans are now counting the days to their country 's historic first astronaut in space , set to launch aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket on 8 April .
-The mission is full of landmarks : it will be the first time a South Korean woman has headed into orbit , and it will also be the first time that " kimchi " - that spicy , garlicky cabbage dish that epitomizes South Korea - will be served at the zero-gravity dinner table .
-VOA Seoul Correspondent Kurt Achin headed to the high-tech kitchen where kimchi was getting a pre-launch makeover .
-The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency says he hopes to be able to go to North Korea to discuss resuming inspections of its nuclear facilities .
-Mohamed ElBaradei made the comment after giving a speech Saturday in Germany .
-He said North Korea has not invited him to visit , but that he still hopes to go .
-Last year , Pyongyang indicated it might be willing to invite officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency , possibly including ElBaradei , under certain conditions .
-Six-party talks to discuss North Korea 's nuclear intentions have been deadlocked for months .
-North Korea blames the United States for the impasse .
-Earlier Saturday , Pyongyang said again it would be willing to return to the talks if the United States drops its economic sanctions against the North .
-Washington has called on North Korea to return to the talks without preconditions .
-Asian and Pacific nations have begun a disaster exercise to test preparations for a possible bird-flu pandemic .
-Australia is coordinating Wednesday 's exercise with 21 members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation group , testing how authorities would respond to a hypothetical outbreak in which a new form of bird-flu virus becomes a major threat to human life .
-During the 24-hour exercise , governments are practicing how to coordinate information about managing a virus outbreak .
-Indonesia and Vietnam already have suffered significant human losses from bird flu .
-The World Health Organization is investigating the bird-flu deaths of seven members of one family in Indonesia , a " cluster " of infections that sounded an alarm about possible human-to-human transmission of the virus .
-More than 120 people , most of them in Asia , have died of bird flu since late 2003 .
-Health experts say tests have confirmed a new outbreak of deadly Ebola virus in the Republic of Congo , killing nine people .
-World Health Organization representative Doctor Alzouma Yada Adamou said Wednesday two others have been diagnosed with Ebola in the northwestern Cuvette region of Congo , near the border with Gabon .
-He said a total of 11 cases have been reported this month .
-In 2003 , more than 120 people died of the highly contagious disease in the same area .
-Ebola , a hemorrhagic fever , causes rapid death through internal and external bleeding .
-The World Heath Organization says the disease kills between 50 and 90 percent of victims , depending on the strain .
-Scientists believe outbreaks are caused by people eating infected bush meat .
-Sri Lanka 's President Chandrika Kumaratunga has appointed her brother as the country 's new foreign minister , to replace Lakshman Kadirgamar , who was assassinated earlier this month by suspected Tamil Tiger rebels .
-A presidential statement says Anura Bandaranaike will retain his current post as tourist minister , but that Finance Minister Sarath Amunugama will take over his Industry and Investment portfolios .
-Also Monday , Sri Lanka 's chief justice said the country 's Supreme Court will rule Friday when the next presidential election should be held .
-The opposition says Mrs. Kumaratunga 's second and final six-year term ends in December .
-But the ruling Freedom Party insists she is entitled to be in office until the end of next year , because she ended her first term one year ahead of schedule by calling snap polls .
-A newspaper quotes a U.S. Army official as saying the military has made a " mediocre " effort in Iraq , and remains in peril of losing the war .
-The Washington Post Saturday printed excerpts from an essay by Major Isaiah Wilson , who served as an Army historian of the campaign and war planner in Iraq .
-It quotes Major Wilson as saying the U.S. military did not have a formal plan for stabilizing the country after toppling Saddam Hussein .
-The major says U.S. forces lost their dominance in Iraq a few months after Saddam 's overthrow , and that the Army still does not recognize that it is fighting what he calls a " war of rebellion . "
-The Wilson essay has been delivered at several academic conferences but remains unpublished .
-In his recent memoir , Retired Army General Tommy Franks said a post-war plan for Iraq did exist , and expressed confidence in the plan .
-The United Nations nuclear watchdog agency is preparing to decide on a resolution Saturday calling for Iran to be reported to the United Nations Security Council over its suspect nuclear program .
-A vote in Vienna by the 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency was postponed from Friday .
-The delay came after the United States opposed a last-minute move by Egypt to declare the entire Middle East a nuclear-free zone .
-The move appeared aimed at pressuring Israel to give up its suspected nuclear arsenal .
-Envoys familiar with the situation say France , Britain and Germany , the three nations that authored the resolution on Iran , were working overnight to resolve the dispute between Cairo and Washington .
-Diplomats say a majority on the IAEA board appear ready to back the measure .
-Western governments accuse Iran of seeking nuclear weapons .
-Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only .
-The euro has hit an all-time high against the U.S. dollar , climbing to 1.294 in late trading Friday .
-The rise of the 12-nation currency surpasses the previous record of 1.2927 in February of this year .
-Traders say they were struck by the dollar 's inability to sustain a rally earlier Friday following the release of a strong U.S. employment report .
-Analysts say the euro 's increase was due to concerns over the U.S. trade and federal budget deficits , as well the high price of oil .
-French President Jacques Chirac said he was concerned with the downward trend of the dollar and called for action by the European Central Bank .
-A stronger euro makes European exports more expensive .
-Sunni Arab groups in Iraq are blaming Shi'ite-led security forces for the killing of 14 Sunni Arab men whose bodies were found Friday in Baghdad .
-The Sunni Arab groups say Interior Ministry forces picked up the 14 men at a Baghdad mosque last month .
-Major-General Hussein Ali Kamal of the Interior Ministry told the Associated Press that officials are investigating reports that the men were detained by government forces .
-The discovery of the bodies threatens to further polarize Iraq 's Sunni Arab , Kurdish and majority Shi'ite communities .
-Politicians from the three groups are holding talks on forming a national unity government following the elections in December .
-The United States is hoping the formation of a unity government will help curb the insurgency in Iraq .
-The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries says it will make another two million barrels of crude oil available to refiners each day .
-The decision was expected , and was formally announced Tuesday in Vienna , where top OPEC officials have been discussing oil production and prices .
-Some analysts say the gesture is largely symbolic because most OPEC member nations have been producing all the oil they can as demand and prices have hit new highs .
-Only Saudi Arabia is thought to have significant unused capacity .
-Some experts say high gasoline prices that have sparked protests in some European countries grow out of a shortage of refining capacity , rather than a lack of crude oil .
-Champion points leader Fernando Alonso has driven his Renault for the third fastest time in Friday 's first practice session for the Brazilian Grand Prix in Sao Paulo .
-The Spaniard drove the Interlagos circuit at a time of 0.060092593 .
-The fastest time of the session was clocked by McLaren-Mercedes test driver Alexander Wurz of Austria .
-Wurz completed the circuit with a time of 0.050474537 .
-McLaren-Mercedes driver Kimi Raikkonen of Finland posted the fifth best time of the session , 0.193 seconds slower than Alonso .
-Raikkonen is second in the championship point standings .
-He trails Alonso 85 to 111 .
-Realistically , the series championship is out of his reach .
-With only two races remaining in the season after Sunday , Alonso needs just one third-place finish to become the first champion other than Ferrari 's Michael Schumacher of Germany since 1999 .
-At 21 years old , Alonso would become the youngest series champion ever .
-Indonesian health officials say local tests confirm that a one-year-old girl who died recently was infected with the H5N1 strain of bird flu .
-If confirmed by the World Health Organization , her death would bring to 23 the number of people in Indonesia who have died from the virus .
-Meanwhile , in Hong Kong , authorities say a dead falcon has tested positive for the H5N1 strain .
-Officials there have confirmed several cases of H5N1 in birds this year .
-In Burma , state-run media say authorities have slaughtered more than 76,000 chickens and quails since the country 's first outbreak was reported this month .
-Elsewhere , China confirmed that a 29-year-old woman in Shanghai died of bird flu .
-The deadly form of bird flu has killed more than 100 people since 2003 , mostly in East Asia .
-Colombia has apologized to Ecuador for its warplanes ' violating Ecuador 's airspace Saturday .
-President Alvaro Uribe sent a letter to officials in Ecuador Thursday , saying the intrusion had been an accident .
-An Ecuadorian government spokesman said the incident prompted Quito to put its own war planes on a alert .
-The government had also threatened to withdraw its ambassador to Colombia .
-Ecuador said the Colombian war planes also fired on targets in Ecuadorian territory .
-Ecuador has long expressed concern that violence from Colombia 's four-decade war against leftist rebels could spill across their lengthy border .
-The government has said its policy is to avoid involvement in Colombia 's civil conflict .
-Tropical Storm Alpha , following on the heels of brutal Hurricane Wilma , has caused at least 12 deaths in Haiti .
-Officials announced the deaths Tuesday , as Alpha weakened into a tropical depression and drifted out to sea .
-Alpha 's rains caused floods and mudslides in Haiti that cut off roads and swept houses and people away .
-In addition to the 12 deaths , officials say an uncertain number of people are missing .
-They also predict the death toll could rise as emergency workers search remote areas .
-Alpha became the 22nd named storm of 2005 , which is now the most prolific hurricane season on record .
-Earlier this month , the island of Hispaniola bore the assault from Hurricane Wilma .
-The leaders of Japan and South Korea have agreed to meet soon to try to repair the two countries ' frayed relations .
-Japan 's new prime minister , Shinzo Abe , and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun agreed to the meeting during a telephone conversation Thursday .
-No specific date was set for their talks .
-South Korea and China have shunned summits with Japan since last year , due to Beijing and Seoul 's anger over former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi 's repeated visits to a controversial wartime shrine in Tokyo .
-The Yasukuni shrine honors all of Japan 's war dead , including convicted World War Two criminals .
-Mr. Abe 's foreign minister , Taro Aso , has said the new prime minister may visit China for a summit as early as October .
-Japan 's parliament elected Mr. Abe prime minister on Tuesday .
-A spokesman for Iraq 's interim government has rejected calls , mainly by Sunni and Kurdish groups , to postpone the country 's first national elections .
-The political groups have demanded that the government delay the scheduled January 30 poll by at least six months because of ongoing violence .
-Iraq 's majority Shi'ites have consistently rejected those demands .
-Several political factions have called for a boycott of the elections , and various groups have expressed concern that fear of violence would discourage Iraqis from voting .
-But a spokesman for Prime Minister Iyad Allawi says the Iraqi leader is not convinced that delaying the elections would increase participation .
-Meanwhile , insurgent attacks continue in Iraq .
-U.S. military officials say two soldiers were wounded Sunday when a car bomb blew up next to their convoy on a road leading to the Baghdad airport .
-President Bush says U.S. and Iraqi forces have delivered justice to the most wanted terrorist in Iraq - Abu Musab al-Zarqawi .
-Mr. Bush said at the White House that Zarqawi will never murder again , and that his death is a severe blow to al-Qaida .
-The president said Zarqawi personally led a campaign of beheadings , killings , and suicide attacks .
-However , Mr. Bush warned that the terrorists will try to continue without Zarqawi , and vowed that the U.S. mission in Iraq will continue .
-The African Union is set to hold a meeting Thursday in Addis Ababa , Ethiopia , to consider sanctions against Togo .
-International criticism against Togolese authorities has increased since the military installed Faure Gnassingbe as president to succeed his father , who died earlier this month .
-Last week , the West African Economic Community imposed sanctions on Togo demanding the country restore constitutional rule .
-Togo 's constitution had called for the speaker of parliament to succeed the late president and call a new election in two months .
-On Monday , the Togolese parliament restored the original provision calling for elections within 60 days when a president dies - but decided to keep Mr. Gnassingbe as interim president .
-However , the African Union , the European Union and the United States have called on Mr. Gnassingbe to step down immediately .
-The President of Bosnia and Herzegovina says the Bosnian people are committed to taking back ownership of the country from the United Nations .
-Addressing the U.N. General Assembly Thursday , Ivo Jovic described Bosnia as a non-functional structure left to the Bosnian people by the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords .
-He said Bosnian Serbs , Muslims , and Croats are committed to the highest standards of human and civil rights .
-President Jovic said Bosnia belongs to the European family of nations and can be a factor of stability in the Balkans .
-The 1995 peace accords , which ended the war in the former Yugoslavia , split Bosnia into a Serb Republic and a Muslim-Croat Federation .
-It is administered by a U.N. representative appointed by the Security Council .
-Billboard magazine lists the band Chicago as the leading singles chart group of the 1970s .
-With more than 21 million-selling albums , Chicago has secured a place in music history .
-With its legendary horn section and distinctive vocals , Chicago remains one of the longest-running and most-successful pop / rock groups .
-VOA 's Larry London had the opportunity to talk with founder and lead singer Robert Lamm , and trumpet player Lee Loughnane at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Vienna , Virginia .
-Sri Lanka 's top defense officials say the military is ready for renewed conflict with Tamil Tiger rebels , but will not break a three-year cease-fire .
-Sri Lankan Defense chief Admiral Daya Sandagiri told reporters Friday the military was ready to meet any rebel challenge .
-He added however that the military did not expect the country to slip back to full-scale war .
-At least 14 soldiers were killed earlier this week in two separate attacks in the minority Tamil-dominated north , the biggest breaches , so far , of a 2002 cease-fire .
-The rebels have denied any involvement in the attacks .
-The 2002 cease-fire halted two decades of civil war in the island nation , but it has come under increasing strain in recent days .
-Indonesia 's health ministry says a three-year-old boy with symptoms of bird flu has died , days after the virus killed his sister .
-A health ministry official says the boy died Tuesday at a hospital in the West Java city of Bandung .
-Medical tests are being carried out to see if the boy was infected with the H5N1 strain of bird flu .
-Samples from the two dead siblings have been sent to a World Health Organization laboratory in Hong Kong for more testing .
-The toddler 's 13-year-old sister died Saturday , and a 15-year-old sister is being tested for the virus .
-The official says the three siblings may have contracted avian flu through contact with dead chickens .
-If they are confirmed to have died of bird flu , Indonesia 's death toll from the disease will rise to 14 .
-China says the death toll from an earthquake that hit a Tibetan region in the country 's west last month has risen to 2,698 .
-China 's official Xinhua news agency says another 270 people remain missing after the April 14 quake in Qinghai province .
-The new death toll is a significant increase from the previous figure of around 2,200 fatalities reported by Chinese authorities in late April .
-The 6.9 magnitude quake flattened thousands of homes in Qinghai 's ethnically-Tibetan Yushu county .
-The remote location posed logistical difficulties for rescuers .
-Xinhua quotes Qinghai Vice Governor Zhang Guangrong as saying the dead include 199 students .
-The U.S. State Department and the United Nations say they are seriously concerned about reports that Burma 's military junta has ordered the removal of a security detail at the home of detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi .
-American officials say they are worried about the welfare of the Nobel laureate , who is under house arrest at her home in Rangoon .
-U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed similar thoughts and called on Burmese authorities to remember their responsibility to ensure Aung San Suu Kyi 's well being .
-Members of Aung San Suu Kyi 's National League for Democracy reported Thursday that the government has ordered the removal of NLD members who had been providing security and other assistance to the pro-democracy leader .
-The junta also reportedly has said she will have reduced access to her personal physician .
-Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has ordered an inquiry into a major security breach at his country 's main airport .
-Mr. Kibaki ordered the investigation Tuesday , one day after suspending the country 's chief police investigator , Joseph Kamau , and 10 other officials .
-The breach involved two Armenian men who drew pistols on customs officials when asked to open their luggage at the airport last Thursday .
-The men , known as the Artur brothers , were deported without being charged , prompting accusations that they had government protection .
-Opposition lawmakers say the Armenians led a controversial police raid on Kenya 's Standard Media Group in March .
-The British government has issued a protest note demanding an explanation for the airport incident .
-Britain says it has concerns about the airport 's security .
-The United States government has frozen the assets of four people and two companies that allegedly have ties to a suspected Colombian drug kingpin .
-The U.S. Treasury announced Tuesday it has taken financial sanctions against the parents of accused drug trafficker Juan Carlos Ramirez , two of his business associates and two companies he founded .
-A Treasury news release says Ramirez 's parents , along with Jorge Rodrigo Salinas and Edgar Marina Otalora , operated a Colombian pharmaceutical distribution company Ramirez built with his alleged narcotics proceeds .
-The Treasury also accused Ramirez of using a Colombian holding company for keeping real estate and other assets while the U.S. investigated his finances .
-Ramirez faces federal indictments on drug trafficking charges in the United States .
-He is allegedly one of the leaders of Colombia 's Norte del Valle drug cartel .
-Authorities say the cartel has exported about 500 metric tons of cocaine to the U.S. since 1990 .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says his nation wants to continue doing business with the United States , and would like to see more positive relations between the two countries .
-Speaking to reporters in Caracas Thursday , Mr. Chavez said Venezuela wants to continue its oil sales to the United States - 1.5 million barrels per day - at the present level .
-The Venezuelan president 's latest comments contrasted sharply with his recent accusations that the United States is backing a plot to assassinate him .
-Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice has dismissed Mr. Chavez 's allegations are " ludicrous . "
-She says the United States does not want bad relations with Venezuela , but does want assurances that Mr. Chavez is committed to democracy .
-President Bush 's administration is concerned about the treatment of opposition groups and independent news media in Venezuela .
-Heavy rains in Brazil have caused deadly mudslides that have killed at least seven people , mostly children .
-Authorities say the victims lived in a shantytown in the industrial suburb of Sao Bernardo do Campo , near the city of Sao Paulo .
-Torrential rains have lashed the Sao Paulo region since Tuesday .
-The U.S. military in Afghanistan says 15 militants along with an Afghan woman and two children were killed during a battle with insurgents in the south .
-In a statement , the U.S.-led coalition said U.S.-led troops were raiding compounds suspected of housing bomb makers in Helmand province on Sunday when militants attacked them with heavy fire .
-The statement said several militant fighters barricaded themselves inside a house on the compound and fired at coalition forces .
-Coalition forces threw a grenade at the house , which collapsed .
-Troops later recovered the bodies of an Afghan woman and two children , along with several militants and their weapons .
-In eastern Afghanistan , NATO said two of its troops were killed and another wounded Monday , after a roadside bomb exploded .
-No other details were available .
-Police say suspected Taliban militants have killed a pro-government tribal leader in Pakistan 's northwest .
-The tribal leader was shot and killed Wednesday in Shangla district near Swat Valley .
-The Pakistani military launched an offensive in the region against the Taliban about three months ago , after the collapse of a peace deal to impose strict Islamic law ( Sharia ) in Swat Valley .
-Militants have retaliated by stepping up attacks , including a suicide bombing last month in Lahore that killed a prominent Islamic cleric , Sarfraz Naeemi , who supported the military crackdown on the Taliban .
-Elsewhere in the northwest , police say a Shi'ite Muslim lawyer was wounded and his guard killed when a bomb ripped through the parking area of a court in the city of Dera Ismail Khan , in North West Frontier Province , Wednesday .
-DD Acquisition Corp. , a partnership of Unicorp Canada Corp. 's Kingsbridge Capital Group and Cara Operations Ltd. , extended to Nov. 20 its $ 45-a-share offer for all Dunkin' Donuts Inc. shares outstanding .
-The offer , which was due to expire yesterday , is conditional on 50.1 % of Dunkin' common shares , on a fully diluted basis , being tendered and on the withdrawal of the company 's poison pill rights plan .
-DD Acquisition has launched a suit in a Delaware court seeking the withdrawal of Dunkin 's poison pill rights and employee stock ownership plans , which it claims were put in place to deter bidders .
-DD Acquisition said 2.2 million shares , or about 38.5 % of the shares outstanding , have been tendered under its offer .
-The partners said they already hold 15 % of all shares outstanding .
-Dunkin' has set Nov. 10 as the deadline for the receipt of any competing bids .
-DD Acquisition said the extension is to allow this process to be completed .
-Dunkin' is based in Randolph , Mass.
-Cara , a food services chain operator and Unicorp , a holding company , are based in Toronto .
-Macau 's economy slowed dramatically in 2009 as a result of the global economic slowdown , but strong growth resumed in 2010 , largely on the back of strong tourism and gaming sectors .
-After opening up its locally-controlled casino industry to foreign competition in 2001 , the territory attracted tens of billions of dollars in foreign investment , transforming Macau into one of the world 's largest gaming center .
-Macau 's gaming and tourism businesses were fueled by China 's decision to relax travel restrictions on Chinese citizens wishing to visit Macau .
-By 2006 , Macau 's gaming revenue surpassed that of the Las Vegas strip , and gaming-related taxes accounted for more than 70 % of total government revenue .
-In 2008 , Macau introduced measures to cool the rapidly developing sector .
-This city of nearly 5,52,300 hosted nearly 25 million visitors in 2010 .
-Almost 53 % came from mainland China .
-Macau 's traditional manufacturing industry has virtually disappeared since the termination of the Multi-Fiber Agreement in 2005 .
-In 2010 , total exports were less than US $ 900 million , while gaming receipts were almost US $ 24 billion , a 58 % increase over 2009 .
-The Macau government plans to tighten control over the opening of new casinos and strengthen supervision of local casino operations in 2011 and has introduced measures to diversify the economy .
-The Closer Economic Partnership Agreement ( CEPA ) between Macau and mainland China that came into effect on 1 January 2004 offers Macau-made products tariff-free access to the mainland ; nevertheless , China is Macau 's second largest goods export market , behind Hong Kong , and followed by the United States .
-Macau 's currency , the pataca , is closely tied to the Hong Kong dollar , which is also freely accepted in the territory .
-Malaysia , a middle-income country , has transformed itself since the 1970s from a producer of raw materials into an emerging multi-sector economy .
-Under current Prime Minister NAJIB , Malaysia is attempting to achieve high-income status by 2020 and to move farther up the value-added production chain by attracting investments in Islamic finance , high technology industries , biotechnology , and services .
-The NAJIB administration also is continuing efforts to boost domestic demand and reduce the economy 's dependence on exports .
-Nevertheless , exports - particularly of electronics , oil and gas , palm oil and rubber - remain a significant driver of the economy .
-As an oil and gas exporter , Malaysia has profited from higher world energy prices , although the rising cost of domestic gasoline and diesel fuel , combined with strained government finances , has forced Kuala Lumpur begin to reduce government subsidies .
-The government is also trying to lessen its dependence on state oil producer Petronas , which supplies more than 40 % of government revenue .
-The central bank maintains healthy foreign exchange reserves and its well-developed regulatory regime has limited Malaysia 's exposure to riskier financial instruments and the global financial crisis .
-Nevertheless , decreasing worldwide demand for consumer goods hurt Malaysia 's exports and economic growth in 2009 , although both showed signs of recovery in 2010 .
-In order to attract increased investment , NAJIB has raised possible revisions to the special economic and social preferences accorded to ethnic Malays under the New Economic Policy of 1970 , but he has encountered significant opposition , especially from Malay nationalists and other vested interests .
-Originally settled by Polynesian emigrants from surrounding island groups , the Tokelau Islands were made a British protectorate in 1889 .
-They were transferred to New Zealand administration in 1925 .
-Referenda held in 2006 and 2007 to change the status of the islands from that of a New Zealand territory to one of free association with New Zealand did not meet the needed threshold for approval .
-Fisheries in 2006 - 7 landed 1,26,976 metric tons , of which 82 % ( 1,04,586 tons ) was krill ( Euphausia superba ) and 9.5 % ( 12,027 tons ) Patagonian toothfish ( Dissostichus eleginoides - also known as Chilean sea bass ) , compared to 1,27,910 tons in 2005 - 6 of which 83 % ( 1,06,591 tons ) was krill and 9.7 % ( 12,396 tons ) Patagonian toothfish ( estimated fishing from the area covered by the Convention of the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources ( CCAMLR ) , which extends slightly beyond the Southern Ocean area ) .
-International agreements were adopted in late 1999 to reduce illegal , unreported , and unregulated fishing , which in the 2000 - 1 season landed , by one estimate , 8,376 metric tons of Patagonian and Antarctic toothfish .
-In the 2007 - 8 Antarctic summer , 45,213 tourists visited the Southern Ocean , compared to 35,552 in 2006 - 7 , and 29,799 in 2005 - 6 ( estimates provided to the Antarctic Treaty by the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators ( IAATO ) , and does not include passengers on overflights and those flying directly in and out of Antarctica ) .
-Democracy is slowly being reestablished after the civil war from 1991 to 2002 that resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and the displacement of more than 2 million people ( about a third of the population ) .
-The military , which took over full responsibility for security following the departure of UN peacekeepers at the end of 2005 , is increasingly developing as a guarantor of the country 's stability .
-The armed forces remained on the sideline during the 2007 presidential election , but still look to the UN Integrated Office in Sierra Leone ( UNIOSIL ) - a civilian UN mission - to support efforts to consolidate peace .
-The new government 's priorities include furthering development , creating jobs , and stamping out endemic corruption .
-Spain 's powerful world empire of the 16th and 17th centuries ultimately yielded command of the seas to England .
-Subsequent failure to embrace the mercantile and industrial revolutions caused the country to fall behind Britain , France , and Germany in economic and political power .
-Spain remained neutral in World Wars I and II but suffered through a devastating civil war ( 1936 - 39 ) .
-A peaceful transition to democracy following the death of dictator Francisco FRANCO in 1975 , and rapid economic modernization ( Spain joined the EU in 1986 ) gave Spain a dynamic and rapidly growing economy and made it a global champion of freedom and human rights .
-The government continues to battle the Basque Fatherland and Liberty ( ETA ) terrorist organization , but its major focus for the immediate future will be on measures to reverse the severe economic recession that started in mid-2008 .
-IN THE WINTERTIME , a Dog curled up in as small a space as possible on account of the cold , determined to make himself a house .
-However when the summer returned again , he lay asleep stretched at his full length and appeared to himself to be of a great size .
-Now he considered that it would be neither an easy nor a necessary work to make himself such a house as would accommodate him .
-TEE KITES of olden times , as well as the Swans , had the privilege of song .
-But having heard the neigh of the horse , they were so enchanted with the sound , that they tried to imitate it ; and , in trying to neigh , they forgot how to sing .
-The desire for imaginary benefits often involves the loss of present blessings .
-OF two Writers one was brilliant but indolent ; the other though dull , industrious .
-They set out for the goal of fame with equal opportunities .
-Before they died the brilliant one was detected in seventy languages as the author of but two or three books of fiction and poetry , while the other was honoured in the Bureau of Statistics of his native land as the compiler of sixteen volumes of tabulated information relating to the domestic hog .
-TWO Game Cocks , having fought a battle , the defeated one skulked away and hid , but the victor mounted a wall and crowed lustily .
-This attracted the attention of a hawk , who said :
-" Behold ! how pride goeth before a fall . "
-So he swooped down upon the boasting bird and was about to destroy him , when the vanquished Cock came out of his hiding-place , and between the two the Hawk was calamitously defeated .
-A Lion used to prowl about a field in which Four Oxen used to dwell .
-Many a time he tried to attack them ; but whenever he came near they turned their tails to one another , so that whichever way he approached them he was met by the horns of one of them .
-At last , however , they fell a-quarrelling among themselves , and each went off to pasture alone in a separate corner of the field .
-Then the Lion attacked them one by one and soon made an end of all four .
-United we stand , divided we fall .
-The sales manager was wrapping up her pep talk to new staff members .
-" Just remember this , " she said .
-" Always be sincere , whether you mean it or not . "
-Israeli officials say despite heavy fighting in southern Lebanon they have not committed the bulk of their force to the battle - to give time for diplomatic efforts to bring about a cease-fire .
-Some of the heaviest fighting of the month-long conflict is now underway .
-Israeli ground troops on Thursday say they have largely gained control of the town of Marjayoun , a strategic hilltop location near the Litani river .
-Large numbers of Israeli troops are battling Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon .
-Hezbollah says it has destroyed a number of Israeli tanks so far .
-On Wednesday , Israel 's Cabinet authorized the army to push north to the Litani , about 20 kilometers from the border .
-However Israeli officials like Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni say the bulk of their invasion force has not yet entered Lebanon , saying Israel will give U.N. diplomats a little more time to reach a cease-fire .
-Livni says it is important to allow diplomatic efforts to continue as part of the effort to get Hezbollah militants out of southern Lebanon .
-Afghanistan 's president wants international donors to redirect their financial contributions away from non-governmental organizations in his country , saying a lack of funding for the government is undermining reconstruction efforts .
-President Hamid Karzai told Britain 's Financial Times Saturday that he will ask for another $ 4 billion to boost reconstruction efforts , when he addresses representatives at a donor conference in London Tuesday .
-He said the Afghan people want a stronger government and civil service , and that goal can be met if donors give directly to the government .
-The Afghan president acknowledged in the interview that the country is still struggling with problems including narcotics trafficking and corruption .
-Mr. Karzai also addressed the insurgent violence plaguing his country , saying the acts are a sign of desperation .
-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak 's son , Gamal , says he will not run for president in elections set for September .
-Speaking Wednesday in Cairo , 41-year-old Gamal Mubarak said recent moves to amend Egypt 's constitution to allow for a multi-candidate election has not changed his mind .
-He also denied his father ordered the amendments so that his son could run .
-President Mubarak , age 76 and in power since 1981 , has not said whether he will seek a fifth six-year term , although he is widely expected to do so .
-Gamal Mubarak 's rapid rise in Egyptian politics has fueled speculation he was being groomed to succeed his father .
-He currently serves as policy secretary for the ruling National Democratic Party
-New mobile phone buyers in China must register their personal data under a new rule that many see as an invasion of privacy .
-As of Wednesday , customers buying numbers for mobile phones must show their identity cards and foreigners must produce passports .
-The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology says the measure is aimed at curbing spam and telecommunication fraud .
-But critics say they think the government is trying to increase its control over new communications technologies .
-The official Xinhua news agency says services will not be affected for those who already have pre-paid SIM cards in their mobile phones .
-Xinhua says China has more than 800 million mobile phone users compared to 300 million fixed-line users .
-Leading operators China Mobile , China Unicom and China Telecom all say they will implement the new rules .
-The U.S. Gulf Coast states of Mississippi and Louisiana have declared states of emergency , in preparation for Hurricane Katrina , which is forecast to make landfall somewhere along the coast on Monday .
-Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour and Louisiana 's Kathleen Blanco issued the declarations as the dangerous hurricane strengthened over the warm Gulf waters Saturday and evacuations of low-lying areas began .
-At last report , the 11th named storm of this year 's Atlantic hurricane season was 628 kilometers southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River .
-The slow-moving system had 185 kilometer-per-hour winds as it moved in a westerly direction .
-Hurricane Katrina slammed into southeast Florida Thursday , leaving at least seven people dead .
-The storm caused widespread flooding , toppled trees and left about a million people without electricity .
-Insured losses from Katrina 's first strike are now estimated at $ 1 billion .
-Australian striker Harry Kewell has been cleared to play in his team 's crucial World Cup match against Croatia , following an animated argument with the referee after the Aussies ' 2-0 loss to Brazil in Munich on Sunday .
-FIFA head of communications Markus Siegler said Tuesday , the disciplinary committee for football 's world governing body cleared the Liverpool striker because of inconsistent reports from the referee .
-Match referee Markus Merk of Germany had complained that Kewell insulted him during a confrontation that lasted several minutes .
-Merk called 25 fouls against Australia but just nine on defending champion Brazil .
-Kewell characterized his exchange with Merk as " heat of the moment stuff . "
-Australia is making its first World Cup appearance in 32 years and needs at least a draw against Croatia Thursday in Stuttgart to advance to the second round .
-Sri Lanka 's president has acknowledged she had asked United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan not to visit a tsunami-hit area controlled by Tamil rebels .
-President Chandrika Kumaratunga said in Colombo Monday she advised Mr. Annan not go to the northern town of Jaffna held by Tamil Tiger rebels because of concerns over security .
-Rebel officials expressed anger , and hundreds of Tamils demonstrated Sunday outside the U.N. offices in Jaffna to protest the cancellation of Mr. Annan 's planned visit .
-Mr. Annan said although he was the guest of the Sri Lankan government , he was concerned about everyone who needs humanitarian aid .
-He also urged the government and the Tamil rebels to put aside their differences as the region struggles to rebuild .
-Iran is denying an opposition group 's claim that it is building a clandestine underground nuclear enrichment facility west of Tehran .
-On Thursday , the People 's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran claimed that it had discovered evidence of the site 120 kilometers west of the capital .
-A group spokesman said the project was about 85 percent complete .
-But Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi said Friday Tehran does not have such a facility .
-Salehi said if the opposition group had any details of a secret nuclear facility it should inform Iran " so that we can thank them . "
-A U.S. government official also disputed the claim , telling the Associated Press that the U.S. has known about the facility for years and that it does not appear to have a nuclear role .
-Authorities in southern India say a shootout between security forces and suspected Maoist rebels has killed eight rebels , including four women .
-Officials in Andhra Pradesh say police commandos led a raid against a group of rebels meeting in a densely forested area Sunday .
-The officials say a senior Maoist leader was among those killed in the clash , some 400 kilometers south of the state capital , Hyderabad .
-Andhra Pradesh is one of several Indian states where the Maoists are active .
-Thousands of people have been killed in the violence over the past two decades .
-The rebels claim to be inspired by the teachings of Chinese revolutionary Mao Zedong .
-They say they are fighting for the rights of India 's poor and landless farmers .
-Japan 's Emperor Akihito , together with Empress Michiko , lays a wreath for U.S. soldiers killed in World War II
-China says the Japanese emperor 's surprise visit to a memorial honoring Koreans who died on the island of Saipan during World War II is a positive sign .
-Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko traveled to the U.S. territory Monday to pay tribute to the tens of thousands of people killed in fighting between U.S. and Japanese forces on the island in June of 1944 .
-Japan occupied much of Asia , including China and the Korean peninsula , in the years before and during the war and sent some 1,000 Korean forced laborers to Saipan .
-The official Xinhua news agency quotes a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry says the royal couple 's visit to the Korean war memorial shows that Japan correctly understands its history of wartime aggression .
-Chinese state media say the number of people who died in a mudslide at an illegal mine in northern China has risen to 128 .
-China Central Television says rescue workers continue their search for possible survivors , but hope was fading two days after the slide occurred .
-On Monday , heavy rains triggered the collapse of a reservoir of iron-ore waste at the mine in Shanxi province .
-The torrent of mud and mining waste plowed into buildings .
-State media say 35 people were injured by the massive torrent of mud and debris .
-An unknown number of others are still believed to be trapped beneath the rubble .
-Chinese work safety officials are blaming the illegal mine for the disaster .
-Police have already detained nine of its employees , including the boss of the mine .
-Cuban bassist Orlando " Cachaito " Lopez , a member of the island nation 's legendary Buena Vista Social Club , has died at the age of 76 .
-Lopez 's fellow musicians say the bassist died of complications associated with prostate surgery .
-Lopez was one of several veteran Cuban musicians brought together in 1996 by U.S. guitarist and music producer Ry Cooder as part of a film documentary and music album .
-The musicians had all been a part of the glory days of the Cuban nightclub scene before the rise of former Cuban leader Fidel Castro in 1959 .
-The band , which has gained international acclaim since the release of the film and album , has lost many of its key members in recent years , including singers Compay Segundo and Ibrahim Ferrer , and pianist Ruben Gonzalez .
-A new report from a private research group says the U.S. economy was declining even before the most recent financial market turmoil .
-The Conference Board 's index of leading indicators for August shows the index falling five-tenths of one percentage point to a reading of 100.8 .
-The index was published Thursday and is intended to forecast trends three to six months in advance .
-A separate government report pointed to one bright spot in the economy , as exports are boosting the manufacturing sector .
-A report on Philadelphia area factories shows their activity increasing this month .
-Economists watch this area report for clues about the health of the factory sector nationwide .
-Suspected Taleban insurgents have killed an Afghan intelligence officer in southeastern Zabul province and wounded a Muslim cleric in southern Helmand province .
-Afghan officials say the intelligence officer was shot dead early Thursday in Zabul 's Dai Chopan district .
-They say the attackers managed to flee the scene and that despite a massive manhunt no suspects have been arrested .
-Meanwhile , in Helmand 's Nurja district , a Muslim cleric was wounded by unidentified gunmen riding a motorcycle .
-He was taken to a local hospital for treatment .
-A purported Taleban spokesman claimed responsibility for both incidents .
-Taleban militants and their supporters have stepped up their violent campaign aimed at disrupting Afghanistan 's parliamentary elections scheduled for September 18 .
-A series of five stamps issued by Mexican government depicting an exaggerated black cartoon character known as Memin Pinguin A newly issued Mexican postage stamp of a once-popular black comic book character has sparked controversy .
-Local and U.S. activists have called for the withdrawal of the stamp , which depicts a 1940 's comic character called Memin Pinguin who has exaggerated thick lips and wide-opened eyes .
-American civil rights activist Jesse Jackson has called the stamp racist .
-But a presidential spokesman says the stamp is a celebration of Mexico 's pop culture .
-The release of the stamp comes just weeks after Mexican President Vicente Fox angered many African-Americans by saying illegal Mexican immigrants are willing to do jobs in the United States not even blacks want to do .
-Mr. Fox apologized for any misunderstanding , saying he was only trying to highlight the important contribution of Mexican workers in the United States .
-Venezuela 's state-run oil company has cut the time for foreign companies to pay for oil purchases from 30 days to eight days .
-Petroleos de Venezuela SA ( PDVSA ) said in a statement Tuesday that the decision was made , in part , because of the falling value of the U.S. dollar .
-PDVSA also said having the payments sooner will allow it to re-invest its income quickly and remain competitive in the world oil market .
-Last year , the Venezuelan government took majority control of large oil projects from foreign companies .
-Oil companies like ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips refused to accept new terms as junior partners .
-The U.S. State Department has said Venezuela has the right to nationalize its assets but should provide fair compensation .
-Venezuela said it would not pay cash for the oil assets it takes over .
-Every year millions of unwanted dogs and cats in the U.S. are brought to animal shelters , where the hope is that they will be adopted .
-The reality is that about half of them will be euthanized , because there are simply not enough homes for them .
-Dealing with abandoned , abused and unwanted pets is a public health and safety issue that concerns most local governments in the U.S.
-But the task would be immensely more difficult if it were not for the support and expertise of privately funded animal rescue clinics .
-VOA 's George Dwyer reports on how one American animal shelter is working to help control the local pet population .
-Ruth Reader narrates .
-U.S. President George Bush has approved an extension of a trade agreement with four South American nations .
-Mr. Bush Thursday said the Andean Trade Preference Act shows the U.S. commitment to economic growth in the region .
-The measure , first enacted in 1991 , lifts trade barriers with Bolivia , Colombia , Ecuador and Peru .
-But , the president said he has proposed suspending Bolivia 's trade preferences because the country has failed to cooperate with the United Sates on efforts to fight drug trafficking .
-Mr. Bush also reiterated his call for Congress to approve free trade agreements with Colombia , Panama and South Korea .
-Citing the current financial crisis , Mr. Bush said keeping markets open to trade and investment is one of the best ways to restore global economic confidence .
-Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has met with a leading pro-Kurdish politician after the government expressed interest in granting more rights to minority Kurds .
-Mr. Erdogan held talks Wednesday with Ahmet Turk , the head of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party .
-The meeting is linked to an effort to end the 25-year insurgency by Kurdish rebels .
-Officials did not give details about topics under discussion .
-Mr. Erdogan has criticized the pro-Kurdish party for not denouncing members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers ' Party as terrorists .
-The PKK is listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community .
-Separatist rebels have been fighting for Kurdish rule in southeastern Turkey for a quarter-century .
-Tens of thousands of people have died in the conflict .
-A brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai says he survived an attack Monday on his motorcade that killed one of his bodyguards .
-Ahmad Wali Karzai said he was traveling from eastern Afghanistan to the capital of Kabul at the time of the attack .
-It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack , but the country is in the middle of a growing Taliban insurgency .
-Afghan authorities said militants attacked a police post and killed six officers Sunday in southern Helmand province .
-The Afghan Defense Ministry also said a roadside bomb in neighboring Zabul province killed an Afghan army soldier and wounded three others Sunday .
-Afghan and international forces have been fighting Taliban militants since 2001 .
-U.S. President Barack Obama is sending an extra 21,000 troops to Afghanistan to try to crush the insurgency .
-President Bush has again defended his defense secretary , Donald Rumsfeld , saying the secretary cares deeply about U.S. troops and the grief war causes .
-Asked at a news conference if he was offended that Mr. Rumsfeld has not been personally signing condolence letters to families of troops killed in Iraq , Mr. Bush said he " knows Mr. Rumsfeld 's heart . "
-He said the secretary 's demeanor may be rough , but underneath he is a good , decent man .
-The defense secretary is under criticism from a number of Republican and Democratic senators over his handling of operations in Iraq .
-Mr. Rumsfeld said in a statement Sunday that from now on , he will sign condolence letters in his own hand , instead of using a machine .
-Two leading Republican senators said Sunday it would be disruptive to have Mr. Rumsfeld leave office now .
-Electoral officials in Iraq say they do not have the authority to postpone the nation 's January elections , as demanded by leading Iraqi political groups .
-At least 15 mostly Sunni and Kurdish political groups asked the electoral commission Friday to delay the January 30 poll by up to six months because of ongoing violence in the country .
-But the commission 's chairman , Abdel Hussein al-Hindawi , said Saturday , that any delay would have to be discussed among various groups , including the Iraqi interim government , parliament and the United Nations .
-Meanwhile , a U.S. soldier was killed Saturday , by a roadside bomb near the town of Duluiya , 90 kilometers north of Baghdad .
-The U.S. military also says several Iraqi insurgents were killed while attacking a police station and other targets in the town of Khalis , north of Baghdad .
-Haitian president-elect Rene Preval says Haiti 's constitution permits former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide to return from exile in South Africa .
-In a news conference Wednesday , Mr. Preval said his position on Mr. Aristide is simple : the constitution says no Haitian citizen needs a visa to enter or leave the country .
-Earlier Wednesday , Mr. Aristide told reporters in Pretoria , South Africa , that the date of his return to Haiti depends upon negotiations between Mr. Preval , the United Nations and other interested parties .
-He said when he returns he will not be involved in politics , but instead would like to teach .
-Mr. Aristide has been living in exile since he was forced out of office in February 2004 after an armed uprising .
-Mr. Preval was once a close political ally to Mr. Aristide , but has distanced himself in recent years .
-NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has called on Pakistan and NATO countries to step up their fight against Islamist militants along the Pakistani-Afghan border .
-He said that a planned troop increase in Afghanistan will help foreign forces control some areas of the country , but that the international community must help with development and reconstruction to bring peace and stability to the nation .
-The NATO chief spoke in Islamabad Thursday after talks with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi , President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani .
-Their talks centered on security in the border region and Pakistan 's growing relationship with the alliance .
-Also Thursday , Pakistani security officials said government forces backed by helicopter gunships killed 11 militants in the country 's restive Swat Valley .
-U.S. and NATO officials say Pakistan 's northwest tribal regions have become a safe haven for militants linked to the Taliban and al-Qaida .
-The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean says the percentage of people living in poverty in the region has declined for the second straight year .
-In a report released Friday , the U.N. panel said 13 million people have climbed out of poverty since 2003 .
-It says better economic conditions and remittances sent home by emigrants working abroad have contributed to the decline .
-The organization 's executive director , Jose Luis Machinea , said projected figures for this year show the lowest poverty rates since the early 1980s , but he cautioned that two years of growth will not solve the region 's problems .
-The U.N. report says 213 million people , or nearly 41 percent of Latin Americans , live in poverty .
-European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana says he has no information to confirm that the Central Intelligence Agency operated secret flights carrying terrorism suspects over Europe .
-Mr. Solana made the comment Tuesday in testimony to a European Parliament committee investigating the claims .
-He also told the panel that he had no authority to demand that EU member states hand over information about probes into the reported flights .
-Last week , aviation data was presented to the committee showing the CIA conducted more than one thousand secret flights in Europe over the past five years .
-The panel is also studying claims that the CIA used secret prisons in some eastern European countries .
-The probe was sparked by news reports that said CIA agents had interrogated al-Qaida suspects at the prisons .
-Aid workers and government officials in southern Ethiopia say continued clan violence has displaced nearly 90,000 people .
-United Nations officials say fighting between the Guji and Borena clans has forced residents to flee homes in and around the towns of Shakiso , Arero and Yabello - all south of Addis Ababa .
-A regional administrator , Jaatanni Taadhii , says up to 29,000 have fled their homes in Arero , while an aid worker in Yabello says the number of displaced there may be as high as 39,000 .
-The aid group Oxfam says more than 20,000 people have fled Shakiso since mid-June .
-This fighting began early last month after the government sided with the Guji community in a land dispute against its Borena neighbors .
-Aid groups say more than 100 people have died in the violence .
-President Bush has surprised his close ally Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi by giving him an electric scooter called a Segway .
-Mr. Bush rode the upright two-wheeled vehicle around the State Guest House compound in Kyoto , Japan , before handing it over to Mr. Koizumi and urging him to try it out .
-The Japanese prime minister took a one-meter-long journey before saying , " Oh , very good , " and stepping off .
-The $ 4,000 scooter uses gyroscopes , computers and motors to travel up to 19 kilometers an hour .
-It can be tricky to ride - Mr. Bush was photographed falling off of a Segway in 2003 .
-Unfortunately for Mr. Koizumi , Japan has banned the scooters on public streets .
-U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney has defended eavesdropping on Americans without court approval , saying the practice is critical to national security .
-Speaking to a conservative policy institute , the Manhattan Institute , in New York , Cheney said the practice is a wartime measure , limited in scope and fully consistent with both the president 's legal powers and Americans ' civil liberties .
-Warrantless wiretaps on e-mails and telephone calls that cross U.S. boundaries was revealed by the New York Times last month .
-Administration critics describe the policy as an unprecedented expansion of presidential powers and violation of civil liberties .
-Senators have promised to hold hearings on the legality of the program .
-Cheney said Thursday that the policy was approved by Congress , although the leader of the Senate at the time denies this .
-Iran will call for a cut in OPEC 's , the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries , oil output during the cartel 's meeting next week in Algeria .
-Iran 's oil minster said Sunday that Tehran will push for a production cut of 1.5 million to two million barrels of oil per day , in an attempt to raise prices .
-After reaching a record high in July , oil prices have been falling fast as the faltering global economy lowers demand for energy .
-But last month members of OPEC decided to delay possible supply cuts despite the steep drop in crude oil prices .
-OPEC nations produce 40 percent of the world 's oil .
-Russia , a major non-OPEC oil producer , has said it may coordinate a production cut to bolster prices .
-U.N. officials say peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo have killed more than 50 militiamen in a gun battle in the troubled northeastern Ituri province .
-A U.N. spokesman said Wednesday that the clash occurred Tuesday , some 30 kilometers from the town of Bunia .
-The spokesman said the U.N. forces responded using an attack helicopter .
-The clash comes one week after nine peacekeepers from Bangladesh were killed by militiamen in the same area .
-Congolese security forces announced Tuesday that they arrested militia leader Floribert Ndjabu in the capital , Kinshasa and are questioning two other suspects in connection with the killings Mr. Ndjabu is the leader of the ethnic Lendu militia known as the Nationalist and Integrationist Front .
-It is one of several militias operating in eastern Congo .
-Spain 's Constitutional Court has ruled that the nation 's courts may investigate allegations of human rights abuses even if no Spanish citizens are involved .
-The court said in its decision Wednesday that the principle of universal jurisdiction takes precedence over the existence , or not , of national interests .
-The decision came from a case brought by Guatemalan Nobel peace laureate Rigoberta Menchu .
-She sought a probe of alleged genocide , murder , torture , and illegal detention of ethnic Indians in Guatemala between 1978 and 1986 , while the country was under military rule .
-Events covered in the lawsuit include a 1980 attack on the Spanish Embassy in Guatemala City , in which more than 35 people died .
-Wednesday 's decision reversed earlier rulings that Spain could only investigate cases in which the victims were Spanish .
-Bosnian Croat war crimes suspect Miroslav Bralo has pleaded not guilty to 21 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity during the 1993 Muslim-Croat fighting in Bosnia-Herzegovina .
-Mr. Bralo appeared before United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague to answer such charges as murder , rape , torture , and illegal detention of civilians .
-The indictment says Mr. Bralo committed the crimes as a member of a Bosnian Croat special unit called " The Jokers " that operated against Muslim forcers in central Bosnia .
-He voluntarily surrendered to authorities last month .
-Romanian voters go to the polls Sunday in presidential and parliamentary elections .
-Opinion polls indicate Socialist Democrat Prime Minister Adrian Nastase and Bucharest mayor Traian Basescu - the nominee of the Justice and Truth alliance-head the list of 12 presidential candidates .
-If no candidate wins a majority a runoff is scheduled for December 12 .
-Candidates of the Socialist Democrats and Justice and Truth alliance are also in tight races for seats in the country 's parliament .
-Sunday 's balloting comes as the Socialist Democrats fight new charges of corruption against the governing party .
-Documents said to be transcripts of top-level meetings are reported to highlight abuses of power .
-Prime Minister Nastase calls the documents fake .
-Corruption is a major problem in Romania .
-The government has been seeking to implement reforms in hopes of moving the country towards European Union membership in 2007 .
-The judge hearing British 100-meter sprint champion Dwain Chambers ' appeal of a lifetime Olympic ban has delayed his decision until Thursday .
-Chambers served a two-year doping ban between 2003 and 2005 and appealed to London 's High Court for an injunction against the British Olympic Association 's ban for drug cheats .
-The 30-year-old Chambers earned an Olympic qualifying time Saturday when he won the 100 meters in 10 seconds flat at the British Olympic trials .
-The one-day delay leaves selection of Britain 's team up in the air and leaves even less time for either Chambers or the British Olympic Association to appeal the judge 's verdict .
-Sunday is the deadline to submit the squad to the International Olympic Committee .
-Three of Russia 's smaller political parties are set to merge .
-The leader of the Party of Life , Sergei Mironov , said Tuesday that the move will unite his party with the Rodina Party and the Party of Pensioners .
-Mironov chairs Russia 's upper chamber of parliament .
-The Itar-Tass news agency says he suggested " Rodina , Pensioners and Life - Union of Trust " as the working title for the new group .
-Some politicians called the merger an attempt to isolate opponents of Russian President Vladimir Putin , whose supporters hold a majority in the lower house of parliament , the State Duma .
-But Mironov , who is said to have close ties to Mr. Putin , dismissed claims that the maneuver is being orchestrated by the Kremlin .
-Russia will hold parliamentary elections next year and presidential elections in 2008 .
-Assimilating the visually impaired has always been difficult , with the United States often cited as an example of what can be done with the help of modern technology .
-Now call centers in India are trying to do the same by using technology to employ the blind .
-VOA 's Ravi Khanna has the story .
-In a key warm-up for the Wimbledon Championships , Croatian tennis player Mario Ancic has defeated Czech player Jan Hernych , 06-Apr , 06-Apr to reach the finals of the Ordina Open in Den Bosch , the Netherlands .
-The Croatian next takes on Frenchman Michael Llodra , who scored a three-set win over Australian Mark Philippoussis ( 07-Jun , 06-Jul , 06-Mar ) .
-Llodra and Ancic have met once before , in Bratislava in 2002 with the Croatian winning in straight sets ( 06-Apr , 07-Jun ) .
-In women 's play , Czech player Klara Koukalova overcame a first-set loss to beat countrywoman Lucie Safarova in three sets , 03-Jun , 06-Feb , 06-Feb .
-The victory was Koukalova 's first WTA tournament title .
-The tournament is one of several grass-court events players are using to prepare for Wimbledon , which starts Monday in London .
-Macedonian government officials say the U.N. war crimes tribunal has indicted former Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski on war crime charges .
-Details of the indictment are not yet clear , but media reports say Mr. Boskovski was arrested for his role in the killings of 10 ethnic Albanians during a 2001 clash with Macedonian security forces in the village of Ljubotno , near the capital of Skopje .
-Officials say Mr. Boskovski was indicted with another Macedonian officer , Johan Tarulovski .
-It is not clear whether Mr. Tarulovski has been connected to the same incident .
-The charges mark Macedonia 's first indictments by the tribunal .
-Mr. Boskovski is currently in jail in Croatia , where he was charged last month with trying to disguise the killing of seven economic immigrants three years ago as an anti-terrorist raid .
-He has denied all allegations .
-A United Nations report issued last month said global food prices will ease from recent record highs because of good grain harvests .
-But it predicted prices are unlikely to go back to pre-2007 levels , which is grim news for those who can not afford to eat and others who seek to feed the hungry .
-While the world food crisis is most acute in the world 's least developed nations , the elevated costs of staple foodstuffs and fuel are also hitting America 's poor .
-The evidence can be seen on the shelves of a large warehouse , used to feed those who need assistance in the eastern U.S. state of Maryland .
-That is where VOA 's Malcolm Brown reports .
-Jordan 's government says it has arrested an Iraqi woman who planned to blow herself up during Wednesday 's suicide bombings at hotels in Amman .
-Officials say the woman is the wife of one of the three Iraqi suicide bombers who killed 57 people at three hotels .
-They say her bomb failed to go off at a wedding reception at the Radisson Hotel and that her husband made her leave before blowing himself up .
-Jordanian authorities say the woman also had a brother who was a key aide to al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and who was killed in the Iraqi city of Fallujah .
-The group claimed responsibility for the hotel bombings .
-They say the woman will appear on Jordanian television later Sunday to identify herself and make a confession .
-Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa met Saturday with Chinese President Hu Jintao , amid expectations the territory 's unpopular leader will resign .
-Mr. Tung is in Beijing to attend a meeting of China 's nominal lower house , the Chinese People 's Political Consultative Conference ( CPPCC ) .
-President Hu congratulated the Hong Kong leader on becoming a CPPCC member .
-He told Mr. Tung that his experience in ruling Hong Kong would be useful for his work in the body .
-Expectations that Mr. Tung would retire as Hong Kong 's leader more than two years from the end of his term have intensified since it was announced last week he was joining the CPPCC .
-However , Mr. Tung has yet to indicate he will quit .
-Iran 's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has repeated that his country has no interest in building nuclear bombs , but that possessing nuclear technology is its legal right .
-Ayatollah Khamenei told thousands of worshippers at Friday prayers in Tehran that Western nations are trying to mislead public opinion with accusations that Tehran is seeking to build nuclear weapons .
-He said Iran only seeks to generate nuclear power for electricity .
-The Europeans have offered to sell Iran nuclear fuel , but Ayatollah Khamenei rejected that , saying it would mean Iranian dependence on foreign powers .
-The Europeans have been conducting negotiations with Iran in hopes of persuading Tehran to permanently halt their uranium enrichment activities in exchange for a package of political and economic incentives .
-North Korea announced Saturday it will close two aviation routes through its air space from April 4 through April 8 during a planned rocket launch .
-The North says it will launch a communication satellite .
-The United States , Japan and South Korea say Pyongyang intends to test a long-range ballistic missile .
-They say the launch would violate a U.N. Security Council resolution imposed in 2006 after North Korea tested long range missiles and a nuclear weapon .
-Japan and South Korea have warned North Korea it will face a strong international response if it goes ahead with the launch .
-Japan has said it will attempt to shoot down missiles headed toward its territory .
-Top U.S. military commanders told members of Congress this week the American military is probably capable of shooting down a long-range North Korean missile if it threatens U.S. territory .
-Arab broadcaster Al Jazeera has telecast a videotape that shows an Afghan warlord wanted by the United States as saying that he and his followers want to support Osama bin Laden .
-On the tape , Gulbuddin Hekmatyar says he hopes to participate and support bin Laden 's battle .
-Hekmatyar 's Hizb-e-Islami faction helped end the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan .
-After that , he was Afghanistan 's prime minister from June 1993 to June 1994 .
-The Taleban chased him out of Kabul in 1996 .
-His group has been blamed for several recent attacks against U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan .
-Hekmatyar 's videotape comes less than two weeks after bin Laden and his number two Ayman al-Zawahiri issued messages on the so-called war on Islam and the political and security situations in Iraq .
-Al Jazeera did not say how it received the tape and it was not clear when it was made .
-Egypt 's former foreign minister Ahmed Maher has died at the age of 75 .
-Egypt 's MENA news agency says Maher died in a hospital Monday due to unspecified health problems .
-Maher served as Egypt 's top diplomat from 2001 until 2004 .
-A career diplomat , he participated in the Camp David peace talks between Israel and Egypt in 1978 .
-Maher was attacked by Palestinian activists in 2003 while visiting al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem .
-The activists threw shoes at him , a deep insult in the Arab world .
-The incident did not seriously injure Maher , but it underscored tensions surrounding efforts at the time to restart peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians .
-Suspected Islamic militants fired a barrage of rockets into a town in northwest Pakistan Wednesday , killing at least nine civilians .
-Homes were destroyed and around 40 people were wounded during the attack in Bannu , a town in Pakistan 's troubled Northwest Frontier Province .
-That area is where the United States says Osama bin Laden 's al-Qaida network has set up safe havens .
-Pakistan has seen a wave of militant attacks and suicide bombings since security forces raided a radical mosque in Islamabad .
-More than 100 people were killed in the operation , including a top cleric .
-On Tuesday , a top Taleban militant blew himself up to avoid arrest by Pakistani forces who had surrounded his hideout in the southwestern Baluchistan province .
-Pakistani officials called Abdullah Mehsud 's death a major achievement for the government as it faces U.S. pressure to crack down on extremists .
-NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer says the door is open for the former Soviet republic of Georgia to join the alliance .
-De Hoop Scheffer said Thursday he is encouraged by Georgia 's improvements in recent years .
-But he added Tbilisi still needs to implement judicial and other democratic reforms before Georgia can gain NATO entry .
-The NATO chief made his comments at a news conference after conferring with Georgia 's president , Mikhail Saakashvili , in the town of Singnaghi .
-Earlier in the day , de Hoop Scheffer also met with other senior Georgian officials
-Georgia has been striving to build closer ties with the United States and other Western countries as it actively seeks NATO entry .
-Neighboring Russia opposes Georgia 's NATO membership aspirations .
-Israel allowed three Turkish ships from the fatal Gaza-bound flotilla to leave on Thursday and head back to Turkey .
-Turkish tugboats at the port of Haifa Thursday morning towed the Mavi Marmaraout to sea .
-The passenger ship was at the center of a high seas Israeli raid on May 31 that left nine people dead .
-Israel says it was acting in self-defense but the action raised international outrage .
-Two other boats also commandeered by Israel were due to be towed out of the southern port of Ashdod .
-Israel says it complied with Turkey 's demands to return the ships .
-Earlier this week , Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel will be cooperating with a probe into the flotilla incident ordered by United Nations Chief Ban Ki-moon .
-Leading opposition candidate Emmanuel Akitani-Bob Togo 's opposition says its main candidate who lost disputed presidential elections has suffered a stroke and was flown to France .
-Opposition officials say Emmanuel Akitani-Bob , 74 , is being treated at the American Hospital in Neuilly , outside Paris .
-Medical staff say Mr. Akitani-Bob has suffered partial paralysis to the left side of his body .
-He lost presidential elections in April to Faure Gnassingbe , the son of Togo 's late ruler Gnassingbe Eyadema .
-But the opposition says the poll was rigged , and Mr. Akitani-Bob proclaimed himself president .
-He is widely seen as a stand-in candidate for Gilchrist Olympio , an opposition leader who was barred from running in the poll because he has lived outside Togo since the 1990s .
-Afghan police say a suicide bomber has killed two soldiers and a child in southern Afghanistan .
-Provincial police chief Mohammad Hussein Andiwal says the bomber was on foot when he blew himself up near an Afghan military convoy Saturday in Marja district of Helmand province .
-At least four other people were wounded in the blast .
-Elsewhere in southern Afghanistan , provincial police chief Jalani Khan says four Afghan police officers were killed Saturday when a roadside bomb exploded in Zabul province .
-There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either of the blasts .
-Taliban militants have stepped up attacks on Afghan and foreign troops in recent months .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says he is prepared to meet with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to defuse tensions over the seizure of a top Colombian rebel leader in Venezuela last month .
-Mr. Chavez spoke Sunday , a day after Mr. Uribe offered to discuss the issue with him .
-There has been no announcement from either side about whether such a meeting will take place .
-Mr. Chavez accuses neighboring Colombia of paying bounty hunters to catch Rodrigo Granda , a member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia ( FARC ) .
-Venezuela froze trade relations with Colombia Friday , and Mr. Chavez said they would remain suspended until Colombia apologizes .
-Mr. Chavez also said Sunday the United States is trying to divide South America by supporting Colombia in the dispute .
-The family of a former U.S. federal agent missing in Iran since March says Iranian authorities have blocked a U.S. request for Swiss diplomats to visit his last known location .
-Former Federal Bureau of Investigation agent Bob Levinson was last seen in the Iranian resort of Kish Island while on a business trip .
-His wife , Christine Levinson , told the Washington Post that she is particularly interested in locating her husband 's missing duffle bag .
-She did not provide further details .
-The Iranian government has denied any knowledge of the missing man , but the U.S. State Department says it finds that claim hard to believe .
-South Africa 's cricket team has scored 218-5 in its first innings in response to the West Indies ' total of 243 on the second day of their second test match at Newlands in Cape Town .
-Ashwell Prince and Mark Boucher had an 87-run partnership for South Africa after the home side fell to 131-5 .
-Prince and Boucher scored 52 runs in the last 10 overs .
-West Indian bowler Dwayne Bravo was Mar-46 and Jerome Taylor was Feb-45 .
-The West Indies leads the three-match series , 1-0 , after taking the first test by 128 runs .
-The win was the Caribbean squad 's first in South Africa and its first significant road win since 2000 .
-The third test begins January 10th in Durban .
-The two sides also will play five one-day international matches beginning January 20th in Centurion .
-The U.S. military has released some high-level detainees from Saddam Hussein 's former regime , including two scientists known as " Dr. Germ " and " Mrs. Anthrax . "
-An Iraqi lawyer said Monday Rihab Taha and Huda Saleh Mahdi Amash were among 24 people freed .
-The U.S. military put the number of high-value detainees released at eight .
-Officials say the detainees were freed after a board found they were no longer a security threat .
-Meanwhile , at least five people were killed in two insurgent attacks aimed at senior police and government officials in Baghdad Monday .
-And the US military says a Marine was killed in action in Ramadi Sunday .
-And an Iraqi militant group posted a video on the Internet it says shows the killing of American hostage Ronald Allen Schultz , who was abducted this month .
-But the video does not show the victim 's face .
-A group of 50 foreign policy experts and former government officials from Europe and the United States have drafted a partnership agreement - a move aimed at restoring transatlantic ties ahead of President Bush 's trip to Europe next week .
-The group released the pact Thursday , saying it demonstrates that a common strategy between the United States and Europe can be forged to deal with international challenges .
-The agreement covers a host of key foreign policy concerns , including Iraq , Afghanistan , the Geneva Conventions , climate change , peace in the Middle East , China and Iran 's nuclear activities .
-On Iraq , the pact calls on the United States to start a " strategic dialogue " with European allies .
-The European Union would commit to training 5,000 civil servants and 25,000 Iraqi security and police forces per year .
-The agreement was hammered out during meetings at a Washington think tank , the Brookings Institution .
-Numerous health studies have found exercise directly impacts people 's well being .
-An organization in Washington is taking this a step further : promoting good health while also building camaraderie among women .
-Washington Women Outdoors is an organization that is helping women develop their leadership skills through outdoor sports and activities .
-VOA 's Monaliza Noormohammadi has more .
-Sunni Arab leaders in western Iraq have condemned a joint U.S.-Iraqi offensive in the region , saying it endangers civilians .
-The U.S. military launched Operation Steel Curtain early Saturday to restore security along the porous Iraqi-Syrian border and destroy the al-Qaida in Iraq network operating in the area .
-Some Sunni Arab politicians and tribal leaders complained that the operation endangers civilians and could lead to greater instability in Sunni sections of the country .
-Residents of the town of Husaybah , 320 kilometers northwest of Baghdad , say thunderous explosions shook the town as some 2,500 U.S. troops and 1,000 Iraqi soldiers fought their way through the town .
-Elsewhere , at least 11 people were killed when gunmen ambushed a minibus in Balad Ruz , 60 kilometers northeast of Baghdad .
-Also , the U.S. military said at least three more soldiers have been killed in separate incidents across Iraq .
-The United Nations says funding problems may force it to ground the helicopters that are delivering relief to Pakistani earthquake survivors in remote mountainous regions .
-U.N. agencies say they have only received one quarter of the money countries pledged for earthquake aid .
-They say the funding shortfall is delaying their work to help survivors before the Himalayan winter .
-But U.S. military officials promised Tuesday they will continue flying their helicopter missions to help survivors .
-Hours later , the U.S. military says a rocket-propelled grenade was fired at a helicopter delivering aid .
-It says the helicopter was not hit and no one was injured .
-Pakistani officials say there was no attack and that the helicopter crew heard dynamite being used to clear mudslides triggered by the quake .
-The October 8 earthquake killed more than 58,000 people , most of them in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir .
-The Israeli military says Israeli warplanes have destroyed offices of an armed wing of the Fatah Movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas .
-Military officials say helicopters fired missiles at two offices Friday of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Gaza City .
-Palestinian sources say there were no casualties .
-Israel blamed Al-Aqsa for firing rockets at its towns and cities on Thursday .
-The Israeli army says one of the rockets fired from Gaza struck an Israeli factory near the town of Ashkelon and set it ablaze , injuring one Israeli .
-The army says another rocket hit in the town of Sderot but caused no injuries or damage .
-Yemeni authorities said Sunday that an unidentified gunman has killed a senior security official in the southern part of the country , where separatist tensions are mounting .
-A provincial official said Jalal al-Uthmani , a high-ranking intelligence officer , was killed late Saturday in a hail of gunfire outside his home in restive Abyan Province .
-Also Saturday , tribesmen in eastern Maarib Province blew up an oil pipeline in retaliation for raids targeting al-Qaida sympathizers .
-North and South Yemen formally united in 1990 but many in the south say the northern-based government has used unification to funnel resources out of their territories , while denying southerners political rights .
-Most of Yemen 's oil facilities are located in the south , which lost a brief 1994 civil war that ended with the region overrun by northern troops .
-Italian opera star Luciano Pavarotti has been hospitalized for medical tests in his hometown in northern Italy .
-A spokesman for the Modena Polyclinic says Pavarotti was admitted earlier this week .
-The hospital is to issue a statement later Thursday .
-The 71-year-old underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer last year .
-The illness forced him to cancel his 2006 farewell opera tour .
-The beloved classical singer has impressed opera aficionados with his tenor voice , performing challenging works in nearly every major opera and concert hall around the world .
-He has also won fans with his warm personality off the stage .
-Throughout his career , Pavarotti has used his celebrity to raise millions of dollars for the U.N. refugee agency and other charitable causes .
-The Chinese city of Harbin has restored running water for nearly four-million people , after a five-day cutoff forced by toxic pollution in the river that supplies the city .
-State television showed the local governor drinking a glass of boiled water and reassuring locals it was safe to drink .
-But the Associated Press quotes the deputy general of the Harbin water department saying residents should not immediately drink the water - even if it is boiled .
-Wang Minghe said the water is still dangerous because it has been sitting in pipes and may be contaminated from the benzene spill .
-Officials say the 80-kilometer-long chemical slick in the Songhua River has passed Harbin .
-It is expected to reach Russia within days .
-A November 13 factory explosion caused 100 tons of potentially cancer-causing benzene to spill into the river upstream from the city .
-Four more ministers in Somalia 's transitional government have resigned , citing criticism of Prime Minister Mohammed Ali Gedi .
-Water and Mineral Resources minister , Mohamud Salad Nur , and three deputy ministers announced their decision Tuesday , accusing Mr. Ali Gedi of failing to restore stability in Somalia .
-Last week , 18 ministers quit the government and another minister was killed by gunmen .
-The interim government based in Baidoa has been struggling to launch peace talks with Islamists who oppose the prime minister 's decision to allow Ethiopian troops into the country .
-Meanwhile , regional officials met Tuesday in neighboring Kenya to discuss the situation in Somalia and plans to deploy an international peacekeeping mission .
-And one Islamic group - the Supreme Islamic Council of Somalia - based in the capital , Mogadishu , said it was opening a sharia court in the central town of Adaado .
-The U.S. military in Iraq says coalition forces have rounded up 32 suspected militants and uncovered a stockpile of more than 500 artillery rounds in a region south of Baghdad .
-The military issued the statement Monday .
-Thousands of American , British and Iraqi troops are continuing operations to root out insurgents across Iraq ahead of the January elections in the country .
-Sunday , Abu Musab al-Zarqawi 's terror group claimed responsibility for killing at least 17 Iraqi troops in the northern city of Mosul .
-Al-Qaida in Iraq made the claim in an Internet posting that could not be independently verified .
-In recent days , U.S. forces in Mosul have found the bodies of more than 50 people -- most of them Iraqi security personnel , who were killed execution-style .
-India has suspended railway service to and from Pakistan in the wake of the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto .
-Officials in New Delhi did not say when the service would be restored .
-Authorities are concerned that violence by angry Bhutto supporters in Pakistan will spill across the border into India .
-Militants have targeted trains in the past , including the fatal firebombing of a Pakistan-bound train in India earlier this year .
-Sixty-eight people were killed in that February attack .
-Tony Bennett thinks American Idol is too cruel - and said so to celebrity judge Simon Cowell .
-Speaking to the British edition of Time Out Magazine , the 80-year-old crooner says his recent appearance on the popular TV talent contest left him dismayed at its treatment of contestants .
-" I had it out with Simon [ Cowell ] when I met him and suggested that he should open up tiny clubs across the countries so the kids could break in and learn properly , " he said .
-Bennett says Cowell shrugged off his suggestion , saying he was too busy making money .
-China 's state media report a sixth person in the country has been diagnosed with bird flu , while a new outbreak of the disease has been spotted in a flock of ducks .
-The Xinhua news agency says the Health Ministry has identified the latest human victim as a 35-year-old man in Suichuan County in the eastern province of Jiangxi .
-There were no further details .
-Earlier , the Agriculture Ministry reported an outbreak in a flock of ducks , also in Jiangxi province .
-It is not clear if the two incidents are linked .
-The H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed more than 70 people in East Asia since 2003 .
-Scientists fear it could mutate and be passed from human to human .
-Crude oil prices fell below $ 70 a barrel Thursday after coalition forces in Iraq killed a key terrorist leader .
-The price of oil for future delivery fell more than one dollar in electronic trading in New York to $ 69.54 a barrel .
-Oil prices also declined for London 's benchmark Brent crude oil .
-Some investors speculate that the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi will ease the attacks and sabotage that have slowed Iraqi oil exports for the past three years .
-Iraq has the world 's third largest oil reserves , but it exports less oil now than it did before the U.S.-led invasion .
-But analysts point out that prices were declining even before Zarqawi death , as investors reacted to rising oil inventories in the United States and easing tensions over Iran 's nuclear program .
-Turkish authorities say two earthquakes have shaken the country 's third largest city , Izmir .
-They say the earthquakes , measuring 5.7 and 5.9 on the Richter scale , were centered beneath the Aegean Sea near the Turkish coast .
-Several other Turkish cities and Greek islands were rattled by the quakes .
-At least 30 people were injured .
-No severe building damage was reported , but several house chimneys collapsed , and cracks opened in building walls .
-Turkey lies on several geological fault lines and is often hit by earthquakes .
-A major quake in 1999 killed more than 17,000 people in the northwestern part of the country .
-Still embarrased by the last Super Bowl halftime show , the National Football League has announced Paul McCartney will be the featured performer at the championship game on February 6 in Jacksonville , Florida .
-Janet Jackson 's breast was bared last February during a duet with pop star Justin Timberlake , which spurred hundreds of thousands of complaints to federal broadcast regulators .
-NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy says all facets of the upcoming 12-minute show have been reviewed , including talent selection , song selection and costume selection .
-Watched by more than 144 million viewers in the United States last year , the Super Bowl is the nation 's highest-rated TV program and the most-watched single-day sporting event .
-The game will be broadcast in more than 200 countries worldwide .
-Iraq 's electoral commission says partial results from Sunday 's elections show the main Shi'ite coalition is leading in six mainly Shi'ite provinces where most of the votes have been counted .
-The United Iraqi Alliance , which has the support of influential Shi'ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani , is ahead with about 75 percent of the 1.6 million ballots counted .
-The candidate list led by interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi , who is also a Shi'ite , has about 20 percent of the vote in those provinces .
-Final results from all 18 provinces are not expected for another week .
-In another development , the head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan , Jalal Talabani , said he would seek the post of either prime minister or president in the new government .
-Meanwhile , at least 10 Iraqis have been killed in attacks Thursday .
-Iraqi police say a suicide car bombing in the northern city of Arbil has killed at least 11 people and wounded dozens more - mostly new police recruits .
-Officials say the death toll could rise as many of the wounded were in serious condition .
-Witness say security forces fired on the car in an effort to stop the suicide bomber , but he raced his vehicle into a field where some 200 new recruits had gathered for training early Monday .
-Hours earlier , at least five Iraqi policemen were killed and nearly 20 others wounded in a car bomb explosion near a police station in Baghdad .
-The U.S. military said the explosion occurred as police responded to an insurgent attack on the Baya police station .
-Iraqi and U.S. officials say an Iraqi military helicopter has crashed in northern Iraq , killing all eight people aboard , including a U.S. soldier .
-Officials say the Russian-made helicopter was found Tuesday near the town of Beiji .
-The aircraft had disappeared in bad weather south of the main northern city of Mosul .
-Separately , Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki Tuesday ordered Iraqi security forces to work hard to find a kidnapped Chaldean Catholic archbishop .
-Paulos Faraj Rahho was kidnapped last Friday in Mosul after three of his companions were killed in a shootout .
-The prime minister 's office said Mr. Maliki has ordered the interior minister and security officials in Nineveh province to closely follow the case and make every effort to free the archbishop .
-The U.S. military in Iraq says two American soldiers were killed in separate incidents in the country 's north .
-A statement issued Saturday said one soldier died Friday near Mosul , about 370 kilometers north of Baghdad .
-The statement gave no other details about how the soldier died .
-A second statement said a U.S. soldier died Thursday of injuries sustained in a non-combat related incident .
-The military says it is investigating both deaths .
-Meanwhile , a spokesman for the Kurdistan Workers ' Party , also known as the PKK , said Turkish air strikes on Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq killed four rebels earlier this week .
-The spokesman Saturday said the air strikes also wounded five others .
-German Chancellor Angela Merkel has vowed that her government will not be " blackmailed " by insurgents who have kidnapped a German archaeologist in Iraq .
-In her first major speech to parliament , Ms. Merkel said Germany is doing everything in its power to return the archeologist , Susanne Osthoff and her driver to safety .
-On the domestic front , Ms. Merkel vowed to re-energize Germany 's sluggish economy .
-She said that her coalition wants to create the conditions that will make Germany again one of the three fastest growing economies in Europe in 10 years ' time .
-Ms. Merkel was sworn in as Germany 's first ever woman Chancellor on November 22 .
-She heads a government made up of her conservative Christian Democratic Union party and her predecessor Gerhard Schroeder 's more liberal Social Democrats .
-Amnesty International is calling on the U.N. Security Council to impose an immediate arms embargo on Burma for its violent crackdown on peaceful pro-democracy demonstrators .
-The London-based human rights group says a comprehensive and mandatory embargo should remain in place until Burma 's military rulers verifiably improve human rights , including the release of all political prisoners .
-Amnesty International 's deputy program director for the Asia / Pacific region , Catherine Baber , spoke to VOA 's Mandy Clark about the treatment of protesters in Burma .
-Louisiana state officials say the flooding of New Orleans has created environmental problems that may take years to correct .
-The state 's top environmental official , Mike McDaniel , told reporters on Tuesday that Hurricane Katrina has left the city with " almost unimaginable " problems .
-Concern is centered on the floodwaters contaminated from raw sewage , debris , and other hazardous substances .
-The water has been further tainted by two oil spills from local storage facilities .
-The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has warned people to limit contact with the water due to the risk of illness .
-Some experts have expressed concern that the water may kill fish and destroy ecosystems as engineers pump it back into Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River .
-But Mr. McDaniel remains hopeful for the long-term , saying nature is resilient and is likely to recover .
-North Korea has asked Japan to return remains Pyongyang claims belong to a Japanese woman kidnapped decades ago .
-The demand , published by North Korean state-run media , comes after Japanese forensic experts said the remains were not those of Megumi Yokota , who was kidnapped in 1977 .
-North Korea says Ms. Yokota committed suicide in 1994 , and accused certain forces in Japan of faking the test results to promote anti-Pyongyang sentiment .
-Japanese media reported Wednesday that Tokyo will ask North Korea conduct another investigation into the fate of eight kidnap victims from the 1970s and 1980s that Pyongyang says have died , as well as two more whose status is unclear .
-U.S. intelligence officials have concluded with what they call " high confidence " that an audiotape posted on an Islamist website contains the voice of terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden .
-Officials say the tape , which surfaced Thursday , is consistent in tone and message with previous ones .
-The message , which runs more than one hour in length , criticizes the Saudi monarchy for unrest in the country , and mocks its attempts at reform , saying change will only come when the monarchy is removed .
-The speaker on the tape also encourages attacks against oil installations in Iraq and the Persian Gulf , and praises the militants who attacked the U.S. consulate in the Saudi city of Jeddah earlier this month , killing five non-American staff members .
-This was the latest in a wave of attacks against Saudi and Western interests in the kingdom , which has been battling suspected al-Qaida-linked militants since May 2003 .
-Sudan 's government and two rebel groups have pledged to continue seeking an end to more than two years of fighting in the western Darfur region .
-Representatives meeting in Nigeria Tuesday signed a " declaration of principles " intended to guide future peace talks sponsored by the African Union .
-AU officials say the next round of talks will begin August 24 .
-The latest deal calls for a solution to refugee and security problems , but does not include detailed proposals .
-Meantime , a top U.S. official has expressed concern at humanitarian conditions in Darfur , despite an apparent decline in violence there .
-Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick says health conditions remain serious in Darfur , where fighting has displaced more than 2 million people .
-He is to travel to Darfur and Khartoum later this week .
-Mexican security forces have seized 105 tons of marijuana in the border city of Tijuana , the largest drug bust in the Latin American nation in recent years .
-Authorities say the drugs were seized Monday during a series of raids conducted by soldiers and police in three neighborhoods that led to the arrest of 11 people .
-Army General Alfonso Duarte said the marijuana carried a street value of more than $ 340 million .
-Duarte said the marijuana was wrapped in 10,000 separate packages , and labeled with various signs and logos .
-He said the drugs were being prepared for shipment and distribution to the United States .
-Mexican military forces have been engaged in a brutal struggle against the country 's violent drug cartels .
-Nearly 30,000 people have been killed in Mexico 's drug war since President Felipe Calderon took office in late 2006 and began cracking down on the cartels .
-At least 223 people in Latin America have been killed in several days of severe weather triggered by Hurricane Stan .
-The region has been pounded with heavy rains , mudslides and flooding from the storm , which came ashore Tuesday on Mexico 's eastern Gulf Coast .
-Rescuers in Guatemala Thursday pulled 40 bodies from a mudslide about 100 kilometers west of Guatemala City .
-Dozens of other people were killed elsewhere in Central America and Mexico after the storm ripped through the region , triggering the floods and mudslides and knocking down power lines and ripping apart houses .
-Tens of thousands of people fled their homes , and many remain homeless .
-The United Nations says it is rushing assistance to El Salvador and Costa Rica , and remains ready to mobilize international support for emergency relief and recovery efforts .
-Former Sudanese rebels say government forces entered rebel territory in eastern Sudan and threatened to evict them .
-The former southern rebels from the Sudan People 's Liberation Movement say about three-thousand soldiers entered the eastern town of Hamesh Koreb Wednesday and ordered them to leave .
-A spokesman for the former rebels called the move a violation of the peace deal signed one year ago between the southern rebels and the government .
-The former rebels had agreed to leave the town by January 9 .
-But the rebel spokesman said that deadline could not be met due to logistical problems - and that the rebels had informed Khartoum of the delay .
-Earlier Wednesday , eastern rebels said they had been attacked in the area by Sudanese armed forces .
-During the southern civil war , southern rebels fought alongside eastern rebels .
-The southern rebels have joined in a power-sharing government , while the eastern rebels have not .
-Burma is reporting new cases of bird flu among poultry at a farm north of Rangoon , the fifth such outbreak in the country in recent weeks .
-Burmese state media say 1,600 chickens died from the H5N1 strain of the virus on a farm in Hmawbi township ( 40 kilometers north of Rangoon ) over the past week .
-The farm 's remaining 20,000 poultry were culled as a precautionary measure .
-The state-controlled New Light of Myanmar newspaper says the new outbreak may have been caused by the movement of people and birds in the area .
-It says authorities have banned the sale and transport of poultry within six-kilometers of the farm .
-The latest series of bird flu outbreaks in and around Rangoon began last month .
-They are the first reported in Burma since March 2006 .
-A group of leading Muslim scholars has sent holiday greetings to Christians worldwide .
-In wishing a joyful and peaceful Christmas , the group also gave thanks for what it calls the " beautiful and gracious " response to its call for more openness between the faiths .
-The group said it hopes the coming year will be one of forgiveness and where the dignity of human life is upheld .
-Pope Benedict last month accepted an invitation by the 138 Muslim scholars to meet and talk about more cooperation between Muslims and Christians .
-Authorities in Indian Kashmir say two suspected Islamic militants have been killed and 15 people wounded in two separate incidents .
-Indian army officials say the militants were shot and killed after they crossed into Indian Kashmir from the Pakistani side of the disputed region .
-They say one Indian security officer was wounded in the fighting .
-In the town of Bijbehera , south of Srinagar , suspected militants hurled a grenade at a police patrol , wounding 15 people .
-Militant separatist groups in Indian Kashmir continue their attacks against government targets , saying they oppose the ongoing peace process between India and Pakistan .
-Kashmiri militants have been fighting since 1989 for Kashmir 's independence or its merger with Pakistan .
-The insurgency has claimed tens of thousand of lives .
-Three contractors working for the U.N. World Food Program have been kidnapped in Sudan 's Darfur region .
-A WFP spokeswoman Amor Almagro said the three are members of a helicopter crew managed by the agency .
-She said they were abducted Thursday at an airstrip southeast of Geneina , the capital of West Darfur state .
-Bulgaria 's foreign ministry says all three men are Bulgarian nationals .
-Bandits and armed groups frequently kidnap U.N. and international aid workers in Darfur .
-The kidnappings have increased since March 2009 , when the International Criminal Court indicted Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for alleged war crimes in the region .
-Most of the hostages have been released unharmed .
-Darfur has experienced more than seven years of conflict since rebels took up arms against Mr. Bashir 's government in 2003 .
-The United Nations says some 3,00,000 people have died in the conflict , with another 2.7 million displaced from their homes .
-The Indonesian government has sued Newmont Mining Corporation for $ 133 million over alleged pollution near one of its gold mines .
-The Indonesian subsidiary of the American mining giant faces charges that it released waste and heavy metals into the air and water at Buyat Bay in northern Sulawesi province .
-Newmont 's American president also faces charges in the suit .
-A lawyer for the mining company says Jakarta 's case is baseless .
-Tests on the bay 's water have produced conflicting results .
-Two studies indicated no pollution in the bay .
-However a subsequent government probe reported elevated arsenic levels .
-Newmont has admitted releasing mercury into the environment at the gold mine , but denies that it sickened local people .
-Lebanon has again rejected calls from the United Nations to disarm Shi'ite Hezbollah militants , saying it regards the group as a legitimate organization opposing the Israeli occupation of Arab lands .
-In Beirut Thursday , Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said any differences between the government and Hezbollah would be settled through internal dialogue .
-He spoke one day after the U.N. Security Council received a report saying Lebanon has not done enough to disarm militias in the country .
-The report singled out the Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah , which the United States has labeled a terrorist organization .
-It cited Hezbollah for a series of attacks on Israeli forces occupying a disputed area near the borders of Syria , Israel and Lebanon .
-Meanwhile , Lebanese troops near the Syrian border remained deployed Thursday near Syrian-backed Palestinian militant bases , where gunmen shot and killed a civilian contractor on Tuesday .
-A bomb blast at a police station in central Bosnia-Herzegovina has killed one police officer and injured six others .
-It is unclear whether someone threw the bomb in the town of Bugojno or it was planted in the building .
-Witnesses say the blast seriously damaged nearby buildings and destroyed parked cars .
-Police have arrested at least three suspects , but no one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack .
-Germany has freed a Lebanese man who was sentenced to life in prison for hijacking an American airliner and killing a U.S. Navy diver 20 years ago .
-German justice officials confirmed Tuesday that Mohammed Ali Hamadi was released on parole after a routine review of his case , and they say he already has left Germany .
-Sources in Lebanon say Hamadi , a member of the Hezbollah militant group , has returned to Beirut , the focal point of the 1985 hijacking .
-Hamadi was convicted in the hijacking of a TWA airliner that took off from Athens in 1985 .
-U.S. Navy diver Robert Stethem , a passenger on the plane , was killed while the commandeered jet was on the ground in Beirut .
-The German Foreign Ministry has denied any link between Hamadi 's parole and the recent release of a German hostage in Iraq .
-Chocolate lovers around the world are invited to Armenia to take a bite of the world 's largest chocolate bar .
-The 4,410-kilogram dark chocolate treat will be offered up to the public on October 16 .
-The Guinness Book of World Records certified the giant bar as the world 's largest in a ceremony in Yerevan over the weekend .
-Made by the Grand Candy factory , the massive chocolate is 70 percent cocoa mass and was made from all natural ingredients using cocoa beans from Ghana .
-It is more than 5.5 meters long , 2.7 meters wide and 25 centimeters thick .
-The previous record was for a 3,587-kilogram chocolate bar made by Elah Dufour-Novi in Alessandria , Piemonte , Italy , in October 2007 .
-The mayor of Mexico City has resigned in order to pursue the presidency in next year 's national elections .
-Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador , who is seen as a champion of the poor , announced Friday to thousands of cheering supporters in the Mexican capital that he would fight to transform Mexico .
-He listed his numerous achievements as mayor , although some residents say he has not done enough to tackle crime in a city where kidnapping is rampant .
-Mr. Lopez Obrador is known for social policies that include construction projects and government funding for single mothers , the elderly and the disabled .
-The popular 51-year-old mayor leads public opinion polls ahead of the 2006 presidential race .
-The election of Mr. Lopez Obrador would mark a clear change in direction from the free-market reforms supported by incumbent President Vicente Fox , who is limited to one term in office .
-Savin Corp. reported a third-quarter net loss of $ 35.2 million , or 31 cents a share , compared with year-earlier profit of $ 3.8 million , or one cent a share .
-A spokesman for the Stamford , Conn. based company said operations had a loss of $ 5.5 million for the quarter ; in addition , the loss was magnified by nonrecurring charges totaling $ 23.5 million and $ 8.2 million in asset-valuation adjustments that he described as " unusual . "
-The charges were partly offset by a $ 2 million gain on the sale of investments of two joint ventures , he said .
-Revenue declined 8 % to $ 85.7 million , from $ 93.3 million a year earlier .
-Savin cited " a general softening in the demand for office products in the market segments in which Savin competes . "
-Finland has a highly industrialized , largely free-market economy with per capita output roughly that of Austria , Belgium , the Netherlands , and Sweden .
-Trade is important with exports accounting for over one third of GDP in recent years .
-Finland is strongly competitive in manufacturing - principally the wood , metals , engineering , telecommunications , and electronics industries .
-Finland excels in high-tech exports such as mobile phones .
-Except for timber and several minerals , Finland depends on imports of raw materials , energy , and some components for manufactured goods .
-Because of the climate , agricultural development is limited to maintaining self-sufficiency in basic products .
-Forestry , an important export earner , provides a secondary occupation for the rural population .
-Finland had been one of the best performing economies within the EU in recent years and its banks and financial markets avoided the worst of global financial crisis .
-However , the world slowdown hit exports and domestic demand hard in 2009 , with Finland experiencing one of the deepest contractions in the euro zone .
-A recovery of exports , domestic trade , and household consumption stimulated economic growth in 2010 .
-The recession left a deep mark on general government finances and the debt ratio , turning previously strong budget surpluses into deficits .
-Despite good growth prospects , general government finances will remain in deficit during the next few years .
-The great challenge of economic policy will be to implement a post-recession exit strategy in which measures supporting growth will be combined with general government adjustment measures .
-Longer-term , Finland must address a rapidly aging population and decreasing productivity that threaten competitiveness , fiscal sustainability , and economic growth .
-Most Cambodians consider themselves to be Khmers , descendants of the Angkor Empire that extended over much of Southeast Asia and reached its zenith between the 10th and 13th centuries .
-Attacks by the Thai and Cham ( from present-day Vietnam ) weakened the empire , ushering in a long period of decline .
-The king placed the country under French protection in 1863 and it became part of French Indochina in 1887 .
-Following Japanese occupation in World War II , Cambodia gained full independence from France in 1953 .
-In April 1975 , after a five-year struggle , Communist Khmer Rouge forces captured Phnom Penh and evacuated all cities and towns .
-At least 1.5 million Cambodians died from execution , forced hardships , or starvation during the Khmer Rouge regime under POL POT .
-A December 1978 Vietnamese invasion drove the Khmer Rouge into the countryside , began a 10-year Vietnamese occupation , and touched off almost 13 years of civil war .
-The 1991 Paris Peace Accords mandated democratic elections and a ceasefire , which was not fully respected by the Khmer Rouge .
-UN-sponsored elections in 1993 helped restore some semblance of normalcy under a coalition government .
-Factional fighting in 1997 ended the first coalition government , but a second round of national elections in 1998 led to the formation of another coalition government and renewed political stability .
-The remaining elements of the Khmer Rouge surrendered in early 1999 .
-Some of the surviving Khmer Rouge leaders have been tried or are awaiting trial for crimes against humanity by a hybrid UN-Cambodian tribunal supported by international assistance .
-Elections in July 2003 were relatively peaceful , but it took one year of negotiations between contending political parties before a coalition government was formed .
-In October 2004 , King Norodom SIHANOUK abdicated the throne and his son , Prince Norodom SIHAMONI , was selected to succeed him .
-Local elections were held in Cambodia in April 2007 , with little of the pre-election violence that preceded prior elections .
-National elections in July 2008 were relatively peaceful .
-Aboriginal settlers arrived on the continent from Southeast Asia about 40,000 years before the first Europeans began exploration in the 17th century .
-No formal territorial claims were made until 1770 , when Capt. James COOK took possession of the east coast in the name of Great Britain ( all of Australia was claimed as British territory in 1829 with the creation of the colony of Western Australia ) .
-Six colonies were created in the late 18th and 19th centuries ; they federated and became the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901 .
-The new country took advantage of its natural resources to rapidly develop agricultural and manufacturing industries and to make a major contribution to the British effort in World Wars I and II .
-In recent decades , Australia has transformed itself into an internationally competitive , advanced market economy .
-It boasted one of the OECD 's fastest growing economies during the 1990s , a performance due in large part to economic reforms adopted in the 1980s .
-Long-term concerns include ageing of the population , pressure on infrastructure , and environmental issues such as frequent droughts .
-The economy depends largely on financial assistance from the UK , which amounted to about $ 27 million in FY06/07 or more than twice the level of annual budgetary revenues .
-The local population earns income from fishing , raising livestock , and sales of handicrafts .
-Because there are few jobs , 25 % of the work force has left to seek employment on Ascension Island , on the Falklands , and in the UK .
-Economic activity is limited to providing services to the military and their families located in Dhekelia .
-All food and manufactured goods must be imported .
-A SHEPHERD penning his sheep in the fold for the night was about to shut up a wolf with them , when his Dog perceiving the wolf said , " Master , how can you expect the sheep to be safe if you admit a wolf into the fold ? '
-A HARE having ridiculed the slow movements of a Tortoise , was challenged by the latter to run a race , a Fox to go to the goal and be the judge .
-They got off well together , the hare at the top of her speed , the Tortoise , who had no other intention than making his antagonist exert herself , going very leisurely .
-After sauntering along for some time he discovered the Hare by the wayside , apparently asleep , and seeing a chance to win pushed on as fast as he could , arriving at the goal hours afterward , suffering from extreme fatigue and claiming the victory .
-" Not so , " said the Fox ; " the Hare was here long ago , and went back to cheer you on your way . "
-A FOX caught in a trap escaped , but in so doing lost his tail .
-Thereafter , feeling his life a burden from the shame and ridicule to which he was exposed , he schemed to convince all the other Foxes that being tailless was much more attractive , thus making up for his own deprivation .
-He assembled a good many Foxes and publicly advised them to cut off their tails , saying that they would not only look much better without them , but that they would get rid of the weight of the brush , which was a very great inconvenience .
-One of them interrupting him said , " If you had not yourself lost your tail , my friend , you would not thus counsel us . "
-Spider-Man 3 spun a solid gold web in Asia , setting box-office records in Japan , South Korea , and Hong Kong .
-The special effects-laden thriller took in an estimated $ 3.5 million in its first day of Japanese release , while grossing $ 3.4 million in South Korea .
-Both figures top opening day tallies for the first two entries in the series .
-It also enjoyed the largest opening-day performance for any film in Hong Kong and South Korean history .
-The U.S. envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency says he is " fairly confident " the IAEA board will report Iran to the United Nations Security Council next month .
-Ambassador Greg Schulte told VOA 's Persian service Tuesday that in recent talks about the Iranian nuclear standoff , U.S. , European , Russian and Chinese envoys have discussed gradually increasing diplomatic pressure on Tehran if it fails to suspend its uranium enrichment activities .
-Russia and China oppose U.N. sanctions on Iran , and they have urged Europe and the United States to first use diplomacy .
-But Mr. Schulte said Moscow and Beijing also are growing increasingly frustrated with Iran 's recent actions .
-Iran broke the seals on its uranium enrichment facilities earlier this month , effectively ending a two-year moratorium on its nuclear fuel research .
-Tehran insists its nuclear program is peaceful .
-A Vatican spokesman says Pope Benedict is willing to meet with victims of pedophile priests .
-Reverend Federico Lombardi made the statement to Vatican Radio on Friday .
-Lombardi said the church must also cooperate with police and judicial authorities because it is the only way to regain trust .
-The pope and the Vatican have been heavily criticized in Europe following newly revealed cases of sex abuse by priests .
-Church officials in Belgium , Germany and Ireland also have openly criticized the Vatican for failing to come to terms with the crisis and for failing to help its victims .
-Despite the criticism , a top cleric defended Pope Benedict 's handling of the scandal during Easter Sunday services .
-Cardinal Angelo Sodano said the church should not be influenced by what he called " petty gossip . "
-The president of Venezuela , Hugo Chavez , is visiting Honduras and Nicaragua to discuss regional cooperation and energy deals .
-Mr. Chavez was meeting Tuesday , with his Honduran counterpart , Manuel Zelaya , at the presidential residence in the capital , Tegucigalpa .
-Mr. Chavez was previously in Guatemala , where he attended the presidential inauguration Monday of Alvaro Colom .
-News reports say Mr. Chavez and his Honduran counterpart were to discuss a possible contract between Honduras and Petrocaribe , a Venezuelan initiative that allows the purchase of Venezuelan oil at preferential rates .
-Mr. Chavez travels on to Nicaragua , where he is to meet with President Daniel Ortega .
-Reports say the two will lay plans for the activities of the regional trade area called the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas , which includes Nicaragua , Bolivia , Venezuela and Cuba .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is introducing a series of measures aimed at fighting inflation and boosting the nation 's economy .
-In announcing an economic stimulus package , President Chavez said Wednesday that he will create a $ 1 billion fund to encourage joint public-private projects in sectors such as food and manufacturing .
-The president also said a 1.5 percent tax on financial transactions for businesses would be eliminated on the grounds it was causing inflation .
-Inflation has been accelerating while economic growth dropped to 4.8 percent in the first quarter of this year .
-The South American oil-exporting country 's inflation rate is the highest in the region , climbing to 31.4 percent last month .
-In April , Venezuela said it planned to sell $ 3 billion worth of government bonds on local markets , in a bid to slow inflation and strengthen the currency , known as the strong bolivar .
-Colombia has extradited 13 alleged drug traffickers to stand trial in U.S. courts in the states of Florida and New York .
-Officials say the Colombian suspects were flown Wednesday to the United States , where they have been charged with cocaine trafficking and money laundering .
-Colombian authorities say they have extradited at least 63 drug suspects to the United States this year .
-In 1997 , Colombia restored a law to extradite nationals charged with drug offenses , which had been suspended amid a campaign of violence by Colombian drug cartels .
-Leaders of the Iraq Study Group have called on President Bush to implement all their recommendations about changing U.S. policy in Iraq .
-The group 's co-chairman , former Congressman Lee Hamilton , told U.S. lawmakers Thursday that the proposals must be taken as a whole in order to be effective .
-The bipartisan panel issued the report Wednesday , saying the situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating .
-It called for enhanced diplomacy and the withdrawal of most U.S. combat troops in Iraq by early 2008 .
-President Bush has said he will consider the report , as well as separate studies by other government agencies before making a decision .
-Speaking to lawmakers Thursday , the group 's other co-chairman , former Secretary of State James Baker , called on both political parties and the American people to come together to support the proposals .
-Salma Hayek gave birth to a baby girl , Valentina Paloma Pinault , on September 21 .
-" Mother and child are doing well , " said publicist Carl Ross in a statement .
-No further details are released .
-It is the first child for the 41-year-old actress , who is engaged to French businessman Francois-Henri Pinault .
-Hayek , who has appeared in more than thirty films , is currently enjoying success as an executive producer of the hit U.S. TV series Ugly Betty .
-She is also chief executive of Ventanazul , a production company she formed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , Inc.
-Pinault , 45 , is the chief executive officer for luxury goods company PPR SA , which owns such high end labels as Gucci , Yves Saint Laurent , Balenciaga , and Puma .
-He has two children from a previous marriage which ended in divorce in 2004 .
-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says he will try to form a governing coalition with the opposition Labor Party .
-Mr. Sharon was speaking a day after dismissing his main coalition partner , the Shinui Party , over its opposition to the 2005 state budget .
-The move left Mr. Sharon in control of only 40 of the 120 seats in parliament .
-Mr. Sharon said he intends to press ahead with plans to withdraw from the Gaza Strip next year , a plan that could run into trouble if he is forced to call early national elections .
-He also said Palestinian militant Marwan Barghouti will remain in jail despite his plans to run in the Palestinian Authority presidential election on January 9 .
-Liberia 's government has announced that electricity will be restored to parts of the capital , Monrovia , by the end of July .
-The director of the Liberia Electricity Corporation , Harry Yuan , told VOA that his company will turn on the lights July 26 .
-The day marks Liberia 's 159th anniversary of independence .
-The public utility has not operated since the civil war broke out in the west African country 14 years ago .
-Yuan says Britain has supplied two generators to help power the system , and Ghana provided electric poles .
-He said two sections of the capital , either the Paynesville or Congotown neighborhoods and areas near the John F. Kennedy Hospital , will be the first to receive electricity .
-Liberia 's new electrical system will be compatible with 220 volt European systems .
-The country 's previous system was compatible with the 110 volt U.S. system .
-A reformist candidate in Iran 's upcoming presidential race is vowing to reverse current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad 's policies if elected .
-Moderate cleric Mahdi Karroubi said Tuesday that Mr. Ahmadinejad has pushed Iran into international isolation .
-He said he would favor more diplomatic policies that would engage with world powers .
-The former parliament speaker said Mr. Ahmadinejad needlessly antagonizes the West by claiming the Holocaust is a myth , calling the president 's comments " uncalculated " and " harmful " to Iran 's interests .
-Karroubi is one of four candidates running in Iran 's presidential elections on June 12 .
-Reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi is considered to be the leading challenger to Mr. Ahmadinejad .
-Turkish authorities say a large explosion in Ankara has killed four people .
-Ankara 's mayor , Melih Gokcek , says the blast wounded more than 50 others in a busy shopping area of the capital city .
-Police say they believe a bomb caused the explosion .
-In 1993 , 14 imprisoned Buddhist nuns secretly recorded protest songs and smuggled the tape out of Drapchi Prison in Tibet .
-When word of the recording got out , the nuns say Chinese authorities added five to nine years to their sentences .
-Seven nuns eventually were released , but remain in Tibet .
-One died in custody and six others now live in exile .
-Four are currently visiting London to help raise awareness of the Tibetan struggle for independence and religious freedom .
-Catherine Drew has more .
-U.S. Embassy officials in Ankara say two U.S. warplanes accidentally violated Turkish airspace last week near the Iraq border .
-U.S. and Turkish officials said they are investigating the incident .
-The Turkish military said on its Web site that two F-16s briefly crossed into Turkish airspace on May 24 .
-Officials said the incursion lasted about four minutes .
-The incursion happened in an area of southeast Turkey near where thousands of Turkish troops are reported to be gathering .
-The airspace violation comes as speculation grows over whether Turkish troops will launch a cross-border operation against Kurdish militants in Iraq .
-Last week , Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said no plans were underway for such a raid .
-Mexico City 's former mayor has officially registered as a candidate in next year 's presidential election .
-Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador signed up as a candidate for the Democratic Revolution Party 's nomination Saturday , making him the first person to register with the party .
-Mr. Lopez Obrador addressed hundreds of supporters outside party offices , just one day after he stepped down as the capital city 's mayor .
-The popular 51-year-old leads public opinion polls ahead of the 2006 presidential race .
-President Vicente Fox is not eligible to run for re-election because Mexican law allows just one six-year term .
-Costa Rican elections officials have formally declared Nobel Peace laureate Oscar Arias the country 's president-elect .
-Tuesday 's announcement came more than a month after the election .
-Arias won the original vote by a very narrow margin , and a dispute over the results forced a manual recount .
-After weeks of feuding , Arias ' main rival - Otton Solis of the Citizens ' Action Party - conceded defeat on Friday .
-Mr. Arias supports free trade with the United States .
-Costa Rica , however , is the only country within the Central American Free Trade Agreement , or CAFTA , that has not yet ratified the agreement .
-CAFTA also comprises El Salvador , Guatemala , Honduras , Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic .
-The International Court of Justice has dismissed a case filed by Serbia and Montenegro that accused eight NATO countries of genocide for the 1999 airstrike campaign against Yugoslavia .
-The court in the Hague , which is the top legal body of the United Nations , ruled Wednesday it has no jurisdiction in the case .
-It said that at the time of the airstrikes , the jurisdiction of Serbia and Montenegro was not a U.N. member and thus not a party to the court 's statute .
-The unanimous court decision involved Belgrade 's complaint against Belgium , Britain , Canada , France , Germany , Italy , the Netherlands and Portugal .
-NATO initiated the airstrike campaign in response to the Kosovo crisis , forcing Serbian and Yugoslav troops out of the Serbian province .
-The U.S. military said Thursday that four more American military personnel have been killed in Iraq .
-Three American soldiers were killed Wednesday night in a roadside bomb blast in Baghdad .
-A U.S. Marine was also killed Wednesday during combat operations in the volatile western city of Ramadi .
-The latest casualties came on the same day as the deaths of 14 U.S. Marines and their civilian translator in a bomb blast near the town of Haditha , northwest of Baghdad .
-In total , 25 American troops have been killed since Monday .
-Violence Thursday also claimed at least eight Iraqis in reported attacks across the country .
-Against this bloody backdrop , Iraq 's constitutional committee continued working to meet the August 15 deadline for drafting the country 's permanent constitution .
-Hundreds of Afghans have staged a protest in central Afghanistan denouncing a spate of suicide bombings that many demonstrators are blaming on Pakistan .
-Protesters gathered in the city of Ghazni Saturday , 120 kilometers southwest of the capital , Kabul .
-At least 13 suicide bombings have struck Afghanistan in the last several months , including last Monday when more than 20 people were killed in a town near the border with Pakistan .
-Afghan protesters accuse officials in neighboring Pakistan of aiding suspected terrorists behind such bombings .
-Afghan President Hamid Karzai has expressed concern over the increase of suicide bombings , saying Afghanistan and the international community are in a joint struggle against terrorism .
-He says if Western countries do not fight terrorism in Afghanistan , they will have to deal with it in their own capitals .
-A European Union adviser says the Palestinian Authority will ask international donors for $ 187 million in aid to support security in the Palestinian territories .
-The head of the EU police training mission in Palestinian territories , Colin Smith , says the aid will go towards police training as well as the construction of police stations , prisons , courts and a forensics laboratory .
-Smith says the bulk of the money will come from the more than $ 7 billion already pledged to the Palestinian Authority .
-The request will be presented next week at an international security conference in Berlin , Germany .
-Cambodia has criticized a report from a top U.N. official that the Southeast Asian country could become a breeding ground for terrorists .
-The chairman of the U.N. Security Council committee on al-Qaida , Heraldo Munoz , said Cambodia needed to tighten up its defense measures to protect itself from terrorist networks .
-He said Phnom Penh lacks the resources to do so .
-But Cambodian government officials dismissed the report , saying Phnom Penh is doing what it can to prevent terrorists from using the country as a base .
-Cambodia is currently holding an Egyptian and two Thai nationals on suspicion of having links to terror groups .
-A bomb blast late Tuesday in India 's northeastern state of Manipur killed at least 17 people and wounded more than 30 others .
-Local police say the bomb was concealed in a motorcycle outside a police training center in the city of Imphal , the state capital .
-Authorities say several people are in critical condition and the death toll is likely to rise .
-No one has claimed responsibility for the attack , but there are more than a dozen rebel groups operating in the region .
-On Sunday , a grenade exploded outside the fortified home of Manipur 's chief minister , Okram Ibobi Singh .
-No one was hurt .
-Separatist violence in northeastern India has killed some 20,000 people since 1979 .
-Iran 's official media are reporting that a high-ranking Iranian naval commander attended a meeting on regional piracy where U.S. Navy commanders were present .
-The dispatch Thursday in Iran is the first public word that navy officers of both countries were present in Sri Lanka earlier this month in discussions on fighting piracy in the Gulf of Aden .
-The report says representatives of 22 countries , including the U.S. , Britain , France and Russia , attended the meeting .
-Iran says the discussions were part of a multi-national celebration of the 60th anniversary of Sri Lanka 's navy .
-Iran opposes the presence of the U.S. Navy fleet in the Persian Gulf , and the two countries have had no diplomatic ties since 1979 .
-Australia 's cricket team has scored 282-4 - a lead of 213 runs - on a rain-interrupted fourth day of the second test against India in Sydney .
-Mike Hussey was on 87 and Andrew Symonds was on 14 at stumps after officials rejected Anil Kumble 's appeal for Symonds to be out lbw .
-Earlier , Kumble dismissed Matthew Hayden and Michael Clarke on consecutive balls .
-Hayden scored 123 runs in Australia 's second innings before he was caught out .
-Clarke was out for no runs .
-Australia is hoping to win a record-tying 16th test match in a row after taking the first test of this tour by 337 runs in Melbourne .
-A suspected suicide bomb attack in Southern Afghanistan has killed at least 17 people and injured more than 40 others .
-Officials say the bomb went off Monday in the middle of a crowded market area in Lashkar Gah , capital of Helmand province .
-Interior Ministry spokesman Yousef Stanizai blamed the attack on " enemies of the state , " a phrase typically used to refer to Taleban insurgents .
-" This is a terrorist act which has killed defenseless civilians and children , " he said .
-Afghanistan 's insurgents are increasingly borrowing tactics from their counterparts in Iraq .
-This was one of the bloodiest suicide attacks in Afghanistan to date , in what has already been the country 's deadliest year since U.S. forces ousted the Taleban regime in 2001 .
-More than two thousand people , mostly militants , have killed since January .
-Wrestler Luo Meng has become the second Chinese Olympic hopeful to be banned for life after testing positive for a banned substance .
-The state-run Xinhua news agency made the announcement Wednesday .
-Luo tested positive for a banned diuretic that can be used to purge by-products of performance-enhancing drugs .
-The wrestler 's coach , Zhang Hua , also received a permanent ban .
-First-time offenders usually receive a two-year ban .
-But Chinese officials have cracked down on doping ahead of the Beijing Games next month .
-In March , China 's sports ministry said any national athlete who tested positive would be banned for life with their coach .
-Luo followed top swimmer Ouyang Kunpeng , whose positive test for a banned steroid was confirmed last week with a lifetime ban .
-The West Indies cricket team has scored 281-4 by the close of play on the first day of its first test match against South Africa at St. George 's Park in Port Elizabeth .
-Marlon Samuels led the visitors with 94 runs while captain Chris Gayle scored 66 runs on the easy-paced pitch .
-Gayle , the opening batsman , had 13 fours and scored his runs off 49 balls in his first innings since injuring a right leg muscle against Zimbabwe nearly a month ago .
-Samuels scored his runs in 267 minutes , facing 195 balls with 12 fours .
-Bad light forced play to close six overs early .
-The two sides will play three tests and five one-day internationals during the Caribbean squad 's tour .
-The second test starts in Cape Town January second .
-The third test begins January 10th in Durban .
-Iraqi authorites say at least 10 people were killed in a suicide car bomb attack on a police academy south of Baghdad .
-The attack in the town of Hilla Wednesday occured as Iraq 's interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi insisted that the country 's January 30 elections would take place as scheduled .
-Mr. Allawi told reporters in Baghdad that " violence , terrorists and the outlaws will not be allowed to stop the political process and destroy the country . "
-Hours earlier , a car bomb explosion in Baghdad 's Amiriyah neighborhood killed two civilians and wounded four others .
-Tuesday , insurgents shot dead Ali al-Haidari , the Baghdad provincial governor , and also carried out a suicide truck bombing at a security checkpoint that killed 10 people .
-Two major U.S. airlines have won approval to merge .
-United Airlines is to purchase Continental Airlines to create the world 's largest air carrier .
-In order for the merger to overcome anti-trust concerns , rival Southwest Airlines had to be given take-off and landing rights at the international airport in Newark , New Jersey - just outside New York City .
-The airport is a key Continental Airlines hub .
-Shareholders are scheduled to meet September 17 to approve the deal .
-This is the first major airline merger in the United States since 2008 when Delta Airlines acquired Northwest .
-Government approval followed an antitrust review by the U.S. Justice Department .
-The merger is expected to be completed by October 1 .
-World Health Organization officials are meeting in Geneva to consider the possibility of a global human bird flu pandemic as the deadly H5N1 strain continues to spread rapidly in birds .
-Top influenza official Margaret Chan said the outbreak in poultry is historically unprecedented .
-She said the deadly virus presents a greater challenge to the world than any other emerging infectious disease .
-The meeting was called to plan a response in case the bird flu virus mutates into a widespread human flu virus .
-So far , the virus has killed 94 people , mostly in Asia .
-It has infected birds in 30 countries , and it has appeared in cats in Austria and Germany .
-French officials confirmed a new case in a dead swan .
-Russian news agencies reported Monday mass deaths of birds in the south in Stavropol Territory , and Serbia confirmed it in dead swans in several areas .
-Palestinian militant Marwan Barghouti , imprisoned in Israel , has reversed himself and decided to seek the presidency of the Palestinian Authority .
-Late last week , Barghouti , who is serving five life sentences for planning suicide attacks on Israeli civilians , said he would not run .
-But Wednesday his wife filed registration papers for the January 9 poll on behalf of her husband , a Fatah movement leader .
-Analysts have warned that Barghouti 's candidacy could split the Fatah organization and undermine its chosen candidate , interim leader Mahmoud Abbas .
-Mr. Abbas began his campaign for the presidency today , hours before the Barghouti announcement .
-Earlier Wednesday , the radical Palestinian group Hamas said it will boycott the polls .
-The group said it will not nominate a presidential candidate because it rejects the 1993 treaty with Israel that created the Palestinian Authority .
-International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge has rejected accusations that British Prime Minister Tony Blair broke the rules in his attempts to help London win the bid to host the 2012 Summer Games .
-Paris mayor Bertrand Delanoe said Blair and London bid chief Sebastian Coe " crossed over the line " by criticizing other bid candidates .
-Paris officials were also reportedly upset that the British prime minister met privately with IOC members in his hotel suite in Singapore in an effort to persuade them to vote for London .
-IOC president Jacques Rogge has already said none of the cities broke rules designed to stamp out corruption in the bidding process .
-In his words , " There is nothing wrong with having a conversation with a major politician from a bid city . "
-Rogge also made it clear that he sees no reason to move the Games from London in the wake of terrorist bombings there .
-Exact details for the lavish opening ceremonies at the Beijing Olympics this August are still secret , but some information on what audiences can expect to see has been released .
-Chinese state media reported Wednesday that the ceremony , designed by famous film director Zhang Yimou , will include a huge fireworks display , colorful ethnic dancing , dragons , pandas and a cast of thousands highlighting 5,000 years of Chinese history .
-The extravagant three-and-one-half hour opening ceremony will represent China 's culture from ancient to modern times under the theme of " Civilization and Harmony . "
-Organizers say the process for lighting the Olympic flame has been set .
-But the name of the torchbearer who will light the Olympic cauldron at the end of the ceremony has not yet been announced .
-A deadly explosion has hit a convoy escorting Somalia 's prime minister in the capital of Mogadishu , but he escaped unhurt and later appeared in public .
-At least five people were killed Sunday when the explosion ripped through a vehicle carrying bodyguards , just moments after the prime minister had passed by .
-News reports said the blast might have been from a land mine , remote-controlled bomb or rocket-launched grenade .
-Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi was visiting the capital , an opposition stronghold , from his base in the town of Jowhar .
-He later took part in a planned meeting .
-Mr. Gedi escaped unharmed from another deadly blast in Mogadishu when he visited in May .
-Somalia has had no effective central government since 1991 and has been ruled by warring factions .
-The Organization of American States has agreed to oversee Venezuela 's upcoming Congressional elections on December 4 .
-Ruben Perina , the OAS mission chief in Venezuela , said election authorities have agreed to give his organization free access to all necessary information and to the technology that will be used for voting .
-Several opposition groups had called for outside observers , arguing that the Venezuelan electoral commission is biased in favor of President Hugo Chavez 's ruling party .
-Several other opposition parties have called for a boycott of the vote .
-Mr. Chavez 's party hopes to expand its slim majority in the Congress to two-thirds of the seats .
-Such an increase would make it easier to pass constitutional reforms .
-European Union peacekeepers in Bosnia-Herzegovina have raided the homes of relatives of most wanted Balkan war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic .
-Soldiers and police simultaneously searched the homes of Karadzic 's wife , son and daughter in the former Bosnian Serb stronghold of Pale , 16 kilometers southeast of Sarajevo .
-EU troops conducted similar raids in Pale on Monday .
-Officials say the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague ordered the searches to find clues about Karadzic 's whereabouts .
-The former Bosnian Serb political leader has been in hiding for more than 12 years since the Hague-based court indicted him .
-Karadzic is charged with war crimes , genocide , crimes against humanity and severe breaches of the Geneva Conventions during the 1990s ethnic conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina .
-Karadzic 's military commander , General Ratko Mladic - the second most wanted Bosnian war crimes suspect - also remains in hiding .
-U.S. and Iraqi troops have carried out airstrikes in the Euphrates River Valley , killing 37 insurgents .
-The U.S. military says coalition air strikes hit five targets in a small western town near the Syrian border .
-Officials say 25 insurgents were captured .
-Monday 's airstrikes were part of Operation Steel Curtain , which began last week to stem the flow of insurgents and supplies from across the border , ahead of next month 's parliamentary elections .
-In central Baghdad , authorities say two South African security guards were killed in a car bomb explosion near the heavily fortified Green Zone , where the headquarters of the Iraqi government , U.S. forces and most foreign missions are located .
-Three others were wounded .
-Separately in the western town of Ramadi , police say a roadside bomb exploded shortly after a US convoy passed , killing five people and wounding at least 20 others .
-Iraqi officials say a double suicide bombing south of Baghdad has killed at least 27 people and wounded more than 100 others .
-Al-Qaida in Iraq has claimed responsibility for the attack , which occurred Monday in the town of Hillah .
-Officials say two suicide bombers blew themselves up in a crowd of former police commandos who were protesting a decision to disband their unit .
-Earlier , the terrorist group said it has launched an offensive to counter a joint U.S.-Iraqi operation aimed at rooting out insurgents from Baghdad .
-Iraqi officials have said 40,000 Iraqi troops will take part in the operation , dubbed Operation Lightning .
-The troops began setting up checkpoints and searching houses around Baghdad on Sunday .
-Meanwhile , U.S. forces have released the head of Iraq 's top Sunni political party after a brief detention today .
-The U.S.-led coalition says Mohsen Abdul-Hamid was detained by mistake .
-Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says he expects to withdraw his troops from Lebanon in a matter of months .
-In a Time magazine interview published Tuesday , Mr. Assad did not give a timetable for pulling out the 14,000 Syrian troops , but said it should be " very soon . "
-Meanwhile , in Beirut , thousands of protesters vowed to keep up demonstrations until Syria gets its troops out of Lebanon .
-Earlier this week , Lebanon 's pro-Syrian government resigned as the protesters packed Beirut streets over the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri .
-The killing has increased pressure on Syria to end its long involvement in its neighbor 's affairs .
-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice , in London for a Palestinian conference , issued a joint statement with French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier Tuesday , calling for an immediate Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon .
-Spain - which first brought tobacco back from America more than 500 years ago - has started off 2006 with new restrictions on smoking in public places .
-Starting New Year 's Day , smoking is banned in Spain in offices , bus and subway stations , and other public places such as stores .
-Bars and restaurants with more than 1,100 square meters must have separate non-smoking areas .
-Spain has Europe 's second highest rate of smoking after Greece .
-Government health officials say cigarettes kill 50,000 Spaniards a year , Despite complaints from some smokers and business owners , one poll says more than 70 percent of Spaniards approve of the new restrictions .
-New anti-smoking laws also took effect New Year 's Day in Belgium .
-Officials in Haiti say several days of heavy rains have killed at least 11 people , with nearly half the deaths occurring in the northern Artibonite area .
-Authorities said Thursday that hundreds of homes have been flooded or destroyed by the torrential rains pounding Haiti ahead of the Atlantic hurricane season , which starts June 1 .
-Last year , four storms devastated Haiti , killing hundreds of people and wiping out 15 percent of the country 's economic output .
-Haiti is the Western Hemisphere 's poorest country .
-It is vulnerable to floods in part because of massive deforestation and poorly constructed houses .
-In April , Haiti received $ 324 million in new aid commitments from international donors .
-Earlier this week , United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon named former U.S. President Bill Clinton as his special envoy to Haiti .
-Both men visited Haiti in March to refocus international attention on restoring economic security to the Caribbean country .
-Kyrgyzstan 's interim government says it has formally asked Belarus to extradite ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiyev .
-The deputy leader of the interim government , Azimbek Beknazarov , said Friday that the request has been sent to Belarus , where Mr. Bakiyev took refuge last month .
-Mr. Bakiyev fled Kyrgyzstan after he was toppled on April 7 during massive protests that killed 85 people .
-The opposition took power after the president was ousted amid allegations of corruption and nepotism .
-The interim government has charged Mr. Bakiyev with mass killing , accusing him of ordering security forces to open fire on anti-government protesters during the uprising .
-On Thursday , the international police agency Interpol said it has issued an arrest warrant for one of Mr. Bakiyev 's sons , Maksim , on fraud charges .
-The Kyrgyz interim government this week offered cash rewards for information leading to fugitive relatives and colleagues of the deposed leader , including Maksim Bakiyev .
-A Tony Award-winning musical " Spring Awakening " explores the stage in adolescence when the discovery of sexuality brings sudden changes .
-Based on a 19th century German play , the musical is set to a rock and roll score and examines the tortured inner lives of a group of adolescents .
-VOA 's Zhang Zheng and Joseph Mok have this report from Broadway , narrated by Elaine Lu .
-Venezuela has placed advertisements in U.S. newspapers highlighting its offer of low-cost fuel to America 's poor .
-Full-page ads in the New York Times and the Washington Post say that Venezuela 's state-owned oil company is giving the discounted fuel because the United States always helps others in times of disaster .
-Noting the high cost of fuel , Venezuela says it wants to reciprocate with a humanitarian gesture .
-The ad copy says the program " is n't about politics . "
-The low-cost oil comes as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is at odds with the White House over Iraq , Cuba and regional trade policies .
-The low-cost fuel program , aimed at low-income families , hospitals and schools in Massachusetts , is expected to expand to New York state and other cold-weather areas .
-The International Monetary Fund says the U.S. economy is poised for a gradual , if sluggish , recovery .
-The IMF issued its revised forecast Friday , predicting flat economic growth for the U.S. this year , and two percent growth in 2009 .
-In April , the Fund 's economists had predicted the U.S. economy would contract slightly and warned the U.S. credit crisis was threatening to cause a global recession .
-But Friday 's report said the U.S. slowdown had been " less than feared . "
-The IMF praised the Federal Reserve 's handling of the financial crisis and urged the U.S. central bank to keep interest rates low .
-However , the IMF also said the Federal Reserve may need to act quickly and raise interest rates to counter the threat of inflation .
-An IMF official , First Deputy Managing Director John Lipsky , also said the U.S. may face further fallout from rising fuel and commodity prices .
-Haiti 's top appeals court has ruled that a businessman with dual U.S. and Haitian citizenship should be allowed to run for president .
-In a ruling published Thursday , the court rejected a petition from Haiti 's Provisional Election Board , which argued against allowing businessman Dumarsais Simeus to run for president because he held U.S. citizenship .
-The board was appealing a court decision in October to allow Mr. Simeus to run .
-Last week , Prime Minister Gerard Latortue told VOA that after the elections , he would support a constitutional amendment allowing Haitians with dual citizenship to vote and run for all offices .
-The first presidential and legislative elections in Haiti since former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted in a revolt early last year are scheduled for January 8 with possible runoffs one week later .
-Afghan officials say suspected Taleban militants have killed five Afghan security men in separate attacks in the south of the country .
-In one incident , a roadside bomb killed three Afghan troops Thursday in Ghazni province .
-In the other attack , officials say Taleban rebels shot dead two Afghan policemen in Kandahar province late Wednesday .
-Another roadside bomb blast wounded four coalition troops Wednesday in the southern province of Zabul .
-A coalition official says the four soldiers were not seriously wounded and were likely to be released from a hospital .
-But , Afghan officials say they prevented a bomb attack Thursday in southern province of Zabul , where police caught a donkey laden with explosives .
-They say a man was detained after he walked the donkey into the town of Qalat from the surrounding countryside .
-Nine workers are still reported missing in a flooded railroad tunnel in central China .
-The official Xinhua news agency said 52 people were at work building the tunnel early Sunday when water began pouring in .
-43 of the workers were rescued .
-Officials are using pumps and boats to try to locate the missing workers .
-The 14-kilometer-long tunnel is part of a rail line linking Yichang City in Hubei Province with Wanzhou in southwest China .
-Heavy rains in recent weeks have triggered flooding and mudslides across central China .
-Xinhua says 78 people died and 18 are missing after three days of downpours set off flash floods last week in Henan province .
-Floods in China have killed more than 700 people this year .
-Millions of people face shortages of drinking water in other parts of the country because of high temperatures and record droughts .
-Georgian officials say an explosion killed the mayor of a small town and one other person Saturday near the breakaway region of Abkhazia .
-The Interior Ministry said it suspects the explosives were detonated by remote control , and blames the attack on Abkhaz separatists .
-The blast hit as officials in the town of Mujhava inspected a house that was damaged in an earlier grenade attack .
-Tensions have been high in Abkhazia and in another breakaway region , South Ossetia .
-Russian forces swept into Georgia in August after Georgian troops tried to regain control of South Ossetia .
-Russian soldiers withdrew from most of Georgia earlier this month , but remain in the breakaway regions .
-The United States ' director of national intelligence , John Negroponte , has created a new position to lead U.S. intelligence efforts regarding Cuba and Venezuela .
-Negroponte 's office announced the move on Friday .
-The United States also has special missions for intelligence on Iran and North Korea .
-The statement said intelligence officer Patrick Maher will serve as Cuba-Venezuela mission manager until a permanent manager is named .
-The manager will be responsible for overseeing data collection and analysis , filling intelligence gaps , and putting intelligence strategies into place .
-U.S. focus on Cuba policy has increased since last month , when leader Fidel Castro announced he was temporarily handing power to his brother and chosen successor while undergoing health care .
-Venezuela 's president Hugo Chavez is an outspoken critic of U.S. leadership .
-The U.S. military says Iraqi authorities have foiled a suicide chemical bomb attack in the western city of Ramadi .
-A statement issued Sunday says Iraqi police detained a suicide bomber Friday , before he could detonate two tons of explosives aboard his truck that was also loaded with nearly 20,000 liters of chlorine .
-U.S. officials say the truck was stopped near a police station about 150 meters from a water treatment plant in the predominantly Sunni city .
-Insurgents have carried out seven chlorine bomb attacks in Iraq this year .
-Meanwhile , Iraqi police said Sunday gunmen attacked a Sunni mosque south of Baghdad .
-Officials say at least two people were wounded .
-Mosques are frequent targets of attack in Iraq were sectarian violence between Sunni and Shi'ite muslims has become commonplace .
-On Saturday , a series of suicide bombings in Iraq killed at least 47 people , many of them Iraqi policemen .
-Israel 's opposition Labor Party is due to meet later Saturday to decide whether to join the ruling Likud Party in a coalition government .
-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon invited the Labor Party to join his government Friday , after his Likud party approved a move to reshape his ruling coalition .
-Two religious parties were also asked to join the government .
-Negotiations among the parties are expected to begin early next week .
-Political observers say broadening the government will ease pressure on Mr. Sharon to call new elections , and bolster his plans to evacuate all 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza and four in the West Bank by next year .
-Indian authorities Tuesday seized more than $ 2 million in cash from a Nigerian diplomat on his way out of the country .
-Investigators in New Delhi released the Nigerian diplomat , G.A .
-Ojedokun , Tuesday .
-He was detained at an airport in the capital on Monday after security screeners found $ 2.3 million in cash in his baggage .
-Authorities who interrogated the diplomat refused to allow him to board his flight to Lagos , Nigeria .
-They say he failed to adequately explain why he was traveling with so much cash .
-Officials released the man Tuesday after he demanded diplomatic immunity , but they refused to return the cash .
-They add they have informed Nigerian authorities about the incident .
-The diplomat has been stationed in New Delhi since early this year .
-There was no immediate comment from the Nigerian government .
-Sri Lankan officials say a bomb blast killed six soldiers and wounded several others Saturday in the northern Jaffna peninsula .
-The improvised device exploded as soldiers cleaned up the area after a failed attempt by Tamil Tiger rebels to capture the peninsula .
-In the capital of Colombo , police say they found a major weapons cache and arrested at least 17 people , including two women .
-Authorities say the suspects were planning a major attack .
-Police say they seized hand grenades and mines in the raid .
-Meanwhile , Tamil Tigers released a policeman Saturday , who had been held for nearly a year after he strayed into rebel territory while pursuing a pedophile .
-The release followed a request from Ulf Henricsson , the outgoing head of the team monitoring the 2002 ceasefire between the government and rebels .
-European Union lawmakers say they hope to question two U.S. senators and the CIA director about reports of the agency 's use of secret prisons in Europe to house accused terrorists .
-The head of a European Parliament committee , Italian lawmaker Giovanni Claudio Fava said the testimony would be part of a probe into the alleged prisons in eastern Europe .
-He said European lawmakes will ask Senators John Kerry and John McCain , as well as CIA director Porter Goss , and his predecessor , George Tenet , to speak to the panel .
-Officials say the interviews would be voluntary , because the panel has no legal authority to subpoena witnesses .
-Testimony would also be sought from human rights groups that may have information about the reports of prisons used for terrorism suspects .
-European lawmakers have raised concerns that the alleged action led to human rights violations .
-A committee of the U.S. congress has voted to create a new federal agency to regulate the financial industry .
-The House Financial Services Committee voted mostly along party lines ( 39-29 ) Thursday to establish the Consumer Financial Protection Agency .
-This is a step in congressional efforts to enact President Barack Obama 's plan to improve regulation in the wake of the economic crisis .
-Supporters say the agency would protect consumers from lenders who mislead customers , banks that charge large fees for overdrafts , or raise interest rates in unreasonable ways .
-Opponents say the agency would be unwarranted government intrusion in business .
-The next step for the bill would be a vote before the full House .
-The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross says his organization is in intense dialogue with U.S. authorities to gain access to all detainees held under the struggle against terrorism .
-Jakob Kallenberger told reporters in Geneva the Red Cross has visited many detainees at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba , in Afghanistan and in Iraq .
-He says his group has been pressing for two years to gain access to detainees in undisclosed locations .
-U.S. State Department legal advisor John Bellinger acknowledged to reporters Thursday that the United States has not granted the Red Cross access to all detainees .
-He did not elaborate .
-U.S news reports last month said the United States has held detainees at secret locations in Europe .
-A spokesman for the group Human Rights Watch told a Warsaw newspaper Poland was the main center for detaining such suspects .
-Colombian police have deactivated two explosive devices found on a highway in northern Bogota .
-Authorities discovered the devices Saturday , following a tip from someone who noticed a suspicious bag and suitcase lying by a street light .
-They say the devices each contained three kilograms of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil , known as anfo .
-Police secured the area in order to deactivate the devices , triggering traffic backups .
-An advisor to chief United Nations war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte says she will criticize Serbia 's lack of cooperation with the Hague war crimes tribunal when she reports to the Security Council Thursday .
-Anton Nikiforov made his comments in The Hague as Ms. del Ponte prepared to deliver her assessment to the council .
-Anxious to display cooperation , authorities in Serbia and Montenegro last week gave the prosecutors a secret file on top fugitive war crimes suspect General Ratko Mladic , including a number of pages they earlier had withheld .
-But Mr. Nikiforov said the file still lacked such important information as the general 's promotion record during the mid-1990s in the midst of the conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina .
-The Hague tribunal indicted the general in 1995 on charges involving his role in attacks on civilians during the Bosnian conflict .
-A joint force of U.N. and Congolese troops has attacked Ugandan rebels in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo .
-U.N. sources say the attacks in North Kivu province Sunday were against the Allied Democratic Forces , a Ugandan rebel group that maintains bases in the DRC .
-This is the second U.N.-Congolese offensive against militias in the region since the DRC 's constitutional referendum a week ago .
-The troops hope to assert government control in areas dominated for years by foreign-backed rebels or local militias .
-The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo says U.N. and Congolese troops captured the town of Nioka from ethnic Lendu rebels on Saturday .
-Partial returns from last week 's vote show DRC voters approving the new constitution 83 to 17 percent .
-The charter is designed to pave the way for national elections and help end decades of chaos and war .
-The South African government has increased its offer to more than one million public service workers who are threatening to strike .
-Following negotiations with union representatives Thursday , the government increased its monthly housing allowance offer to $ 95 from about $ 87 .
-But the government did not change its pay raise offer of 7 percent .
-The unions are demanding a pay raise of 8.6 percent , more than twice the rate of inflation , in addition to a higher housing allowance .
-On Tuesday , civil service workers staged a one-day strike and held marches in Cape Town and Pretoria .
-Officials say the strike affected schools and public offices , although essential services such as police and hospitals ran on reduced staffing .
-Three years ago , public workers staged a crippling strike that shut down many schools and forced some hospitals to operate with minimal staff for several weeks .
-European football 's governing body UEFA has barred Israel from hosting international matches until further notice because of the violence in the region .
-In a letter sent to the Israel Football Association Monday , UEFA said all games scheduled to be played in Israel " shall be played outside of Israeli territory . "
-The ban applies to international and club games .
-That means Israel 's Maccabi Haifa will need to find an alternate venue for its August 23 second leg of the Champions League third qualifying-round series against Liverpool of England .
-Also affected is the second-leg UEFA Cup game between Israeli club Betar Jerusalem and Dinamo Bucharest of Romania , which was scheduled to be held in Jerusalem on August 24 .
-The decision could also impact Israel 's home qualifying matches for the Euro 2008 tournament .
-Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has arrived in Kandahar , Afghanistan , for an unannounced visit to Canadian troops stationed there .
-Mr. Harper arrived at Kandahar air base Sunday in a Canadian military aircraft .
-Journalists traveling with him had to agree not to break news of the trip until his visit was underway .
-He said the trip is a way to show the Canadian troops their government and their country is behind them .
-Mr. Harper said Canada 's mission in Afghanistan is its most significant international undertaking in decades .
-He is expected to spend Monday visiting troops on the base and eating with them in the dining facilities .
-Canada has about 2,300 members of its military in Afghanistan .
-Ten Canadian soldiers and a diplomat have died there since early 2002 .
-French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin has postponed a planned visit to Canada , after rioting that began outside Paris last week spread through the city 's largely Muslim-inhabited suburbs .
-Mr. de Villepin told lawmakers Wednesday the government is fully mobilized and that he is indefinitely postponing his planned trip .
-Interior Minister Nikolas Sarkozy also canceled scheduled visits to Afghanistan and Pakistan next week .
-Earlier , President Jacques Chirac called for calm and measures to bring the riots under control .
-French police today said they detained 34 people in the sixth consecutive night of rioting .
-Rioters torched cars and clashed with police who fired rubber bullets to disperse the crowds .
-The violence began Thursday in the Parisian suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois , after two teenagers said to be of North African descent were electrocuted while hiding from police inside a power station .
-A top member of the Obama administration begins a visit to the Middle East Sunday to discuss global security .
-U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano will travel to Saudi Arabia to meet with top security officials about counter-terrorism , counter-radicalization and infrastructure protection .
-She will also talk to businesswomen about the importance of education and public service .
-Napolitano will travel on Monday to the United Arab Emirates .
-There she will discuss ways to bolster global aviation security with her Middle Eastern counterparts and officials of the International Civil Aviation Organization .
-U.S. intelligence analysts say the voice on an audiotape purportedly from al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden is indeed that of the terrorist leader .
-The tape - first broadcast Thursday by Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera - says there are plans for a new attack in the United States , but offers a " long-term " truce if American forces pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan .
-The White House flatly rejected the offer , with a spokesman saying the United States does not negotiate with terrorists .
-The message says heightened security in the United States has not prevented attacks .
-It says the delay is simply due to preparations for new operations .
-There has been no specific information on when the tape was recorded , but the voice makes reference to sinking public opinion polls for President Bush .
-This is Osama bin Laden 's first message since December , 2004 .
-Ten people believed to be North Koreans seeking asylum have entered a South Korean school in China .
-South Korean officials say the people entered the school Tuesday in the city of Qingdao , along China 's eastern coast .
-Earlier this month , South Korean diplomats took custody of another group of people believed to be North Koreans who entered the same school asking to be sent to South Korea .
-No decision on their status has been announced .
-Beijing has an agreement with Pyongyang to return asylum seekers , but has allowed many to travel to South Korea through third countries .
-Hundreds of North Koreans have broken into embassies and foreign schools in China in recent years seeking asylum .
-The prime minister of Nepal plans to give the U.S. president a Mount Everest rock as a symbol of concern about climate change .
-Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal is scheduled to attend a United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York during the coming week .
-He plans to present President Barack Obama with a stone from the summit of Mount Everest .
-Everest is the world 's tallest mountain , at nearly 8,900 meters .
-The World Wildlife Fund says Mr. Nepal will bring the memento to Mr. Obama as a " symbol of the melting Himalayas . "
-Back in May , a Nepalese Sherpa climbed Everest for a record 19th time .
-At the top , he unfurled a banner that read : " Stop Climate Change . "
-The U.S. Secretary of State says World AIDS Day Thursday , is an opportunity for people to rededicate themselves to action in the fight against the disease .
-In a videotaped message discussing this year 's theme of " Keeping the Promise , " Condoleezza Rice said that America is leading the battle against AIDS in more than 100 countries .
-Ms. Rice noted that President Bush 's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief is the largest international initiative ever undertaken by a single nation to combat a disease .
-That plan , announced nearly three years ago , is a five-year , $ 15 billion effort focusing on the 15 hardest-hit nations in Africa , Asia and the Caribbean .
-World AIDS Day is being commemorated in cities and towns across America with special musical and literary events , moments of silence and fundraisers .
-President Bush spoke Thursday morning in Washington to commemorate World AIDS Day .
-Cuban state television says Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has made a surprise visit to Cuba to meet with his friend and ally , Cuban leader Fidel Castro .
-The media report Tuesday said Mr. Chavez also is to meet with acting Cuban President Raul Castro , who has been head of the Cuban government since Fidel Castro temporarily transferred power to him last July after undergoing intestinal surgery .
-Last week , Bolivian President Evo Morales was on the island for meetings with Fidel and Raul Castro .
-He said Fidel appears to have recovered well from the surgery .
-Cuban television recently broadcast Fidel Castro 's first television interview since the surgery .
-In the pre-recorded piece , Fidel spoke slowly and did not say whether he plans to resume the day-to-day duties as president .
-The 80-year-old Cuban leader has not appeared in public since the transfer of power last year .
-Members of the Palestinian 's Fatah party say they have agreed on a cabinet for Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia after days of negotiations and delays .
-Mr. Qureia has been trying all week to get a new cabinet approved in the Palestinian parliament .
-The prime minister abandoned his original cabinet list Monday after several legislators charged it had many corrupt officials , and threatened to vote it down .
-Palestinian officials say the vote is now rescheduled for Thursday .
-Mr. Qureia must step down if he fails to get his cabinet approved .
-French oil group Total says it has not made any new acquisitions or investments in Burma since 1998 , after French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday urged the company to freeze investments in the southeast Asian country .
-Total defended its business in Burma , saying companies that would take their place in the country may be less ethical .
-The French oil giant directly employs at least 240 people in Burma , and operates the Yadana offshore gas field , selling the majority of its product to Thailand .
-Chevron , a U.S. oil company , also has a stake in the Yadana project .
-Critics say the money brought in by foreign investors like Total keeps the current military regime in power .
-Burma is thought to have substantial supplies of natural gas and oil that have attracted energy companies from China , India , and Malaysia .
-Officials in Taiwan say President Chen Shui-bian is expected to travel to Central America and the Caribbean next week .
-Saint Vincent and the Grenadines , Nicaragua and Guatemala are among the nations on his itinerary .
-The Taipei Times Wednesday quotes a government spokesman as saying the trip is aimed at strengthening friendship between Taiwan and its allies .
-Taipei 's participation in diplomatic affairs has been a controversial issue since 1949 , when Taiwan and China split at the end of a civil war .
-China continues to claim sovereignty over Taiwan .
-Only 26 countries , mostly small nations in Africa , Central America and the Caribbean , recognize Taiwan 's government .
-The United States recognizes the People 's Republic of China as China 's sole legal government , and acknowledges Beijing 's position that there is but one China and Taiwan is part of it .
-Sri Lanka 's Tamil Tiger rebels say their meeting with Norway 's peace envoy has failed to reach a deal on a controversial government proposal to share the distribution of tsunami aid with them .
-The head of the rebels ' political wing , S.P. Thamilselvan , made the remark after talks Wednesday with Norway 's Deputy Foreign Minister Vidar Helgesen in the northern town of Kilinochchi .
-Mr. Helgesen met with President Chandrika Kumaratunga Tuesday .
-The envoy said he will return to Colombo to clear up remaining obstacles , including a request from Sri Lanka 's Muslim minority to be included in the aid plan .
-Last week , the ruling party 's main coalition partner quit the government over the joint aid plan .
-The country 's influential Buddhist monks said such an agreement would help the rebels ' cause for a separate state .
-Canada 's foreign ministry says seven Canadian citizens have been killed by Israeli air strikes in Lebanon and three other Canadians have been wounded .
-On Sunday , Israeli forces hit the house where the Canadians were staying in southern Lebanon , near the Israeli border .
-Earlier , Canadian foreign minister Peter MacKay said eight Canadians had died in Lebanon , but a spokesperson , citing updated information , late Sunday revised the number to seven .
-Lebanese police said at least five of the Canadians were from the same family .
-News reports said the family was vacationing in Lebanon .
-The Israeli Army issued a statement saying it had warned civilians to get out of the area because it was used by Hezbollah to fire missiles into Israel .
-The statement said responsibility for the deaths rests entirely with Hezbollah .
-Iraqi officials say a series of bombings at a sports facility in the predominately Shi'ite Turkmen town of Tal Afar killed at least 10 people Friday .
-Investigators say the blasts took place at a field where a crowd had gathered to watch a football match .
-Police say an attacker drove a vehicle near the crowd and detonated explosives .
-They say two other suicide bombers then detonated explosives near spectators .
-Authorities say more than 100 people were wounded .
-Tal Afar is located in northern Iraq , near the city of Mosul .
-Russian news reports say two people were killed and several others wounded in a bomb blast in Abkhazia during Wednesday 's visit by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin .
-Mr. Putin 's one-day trip to the Georgian breakaway territory was the first by a top Russian official since Moscow last year recognized Abkhazia 's independence after the five-day Russian-Georgian war .
-The reports quote authorities as saying the blast in the resort town of Gagra killed a 52-year-old woman and wounded four others .
-A second victim died later in a hospital .
-Authorities say no one was hurt in the second blast , which occurred in the Abkhaz capital , Sukhumi , shortly after Mr. Putin departed the city and returned to the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi .
-NATO-led peacekeeping troops in Afghanistan have reached the wreckage of an Afghan airliner that crashed into a mountain during a snowstorm last week , apparently killing everyone on board .
-Coalition spokesman Major Joseph Bowman told reporters in Kabul that a small team of medics and other experts reached the site Monday as weather cleared .
-NATO helicopters spotted the wreckage Saturday , but could not take the recovery team to site because of fog , subzero temperatures and up to two meters of snow .
-The Kam Air flight , which originated in the western Afghan city of Herat , had 104 people on board .
-The Boeing 737 jet crashed Thursday while approaching Kabul .
-U.S. media reports say a severe snowstorm that has battered the central United States in recent days has contributed to at least four deaths .
-The deaths were blamed on slippery roads in the Plains states of South Dakota , Nebraska and Kansas .
-Blizzard-like conditions and high winds in the region have forced the closure of schools and government buildings , and have left many people without electricity .
-Highways have been shut down because of impassable conditions and poor visibility , forcing travelers trying to get home after last week 's Thanksgiving holiday to head to shelters , motels and churches .
-This is the season 's first major snowstorm to hit the region .
-In another weather-related death , a person was killed when a tornado picked up a car and flipped it in the southern state of Arkansas .
-Ghana 's leading opposition party has protested the government 's plans for disbursing $ 500 million of U.S. funding .
-The National Democratic Congress ( NDC ) said it will send a letter to the U.S. Congress contesting the Ghanaian government 's exclusion of two poor regions from its spending plans for Millenium Challenge Account money .
-A spokesman for the NDC , Haruna Idrissu , said the Upper East and Upper West regions of Ghana are among the country 's poorest and should meet the criteria for receiving aid .
-A smaller opposition party , the People 's National Convention , has joined the protest and says it will also send a letter to the U.S. Congress .
-Ghana is one of 13 African countries eligible to receive funds from the Millenium Challenge Account .
-The United States established the program to help countries fight poverty and encourage good governance .
-The top United Nations humanitarian official is demanding that Ivory Coast authorities punish those responsible for attacks on U.N. facilities last month .
-On a visit to Abidjan Wednesday , Jan Egeland said the government has assured him that violence against civilian aid workers will not be repeated .
-But Egeland of the U.N. undersecretary for Humanitarian Affairs , said such violence is criminal , and that the perpetrators should be arrested .
-He added that the U.N. wants to continue helping the Ivorian people .
-The U.N. has 7,000 peacekeepers in Ivory Coast and thousands more staff providing humanitarian assistance .
-Protesters attacked U.N. buildings in January after international mediators called for parliament to be dissolved as part of the divided country 's peace process .
-U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has sent Ivory Coast a bill for $ 3.5 million to pay for damages .
-China is criticizing U.S. moves aimed at protecting the domestic textile industry .
-A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang says Washington 's actions are unreasonable and protectionist .
-Monday the U.S. Commerce Department said it has begun an investigation into whether a recent surge in Chinese textile imports is disrupting the U.S. market .
-The review is the first step in a process that could lead to the re-imposition of quotas on certain products .
-The investigation will cover imports of trousers , knit shirts , and underwear .
-Imports of trousers rose 1,500 percent in the first quarter of this year over the same period last year .
-Imports of knit shirts were up 1,250 percent .
-A global quota system on textile imports expired at the end of 2004 .
-The International Atomic Energy Agency 's 35-nation board is expected to vote Saturday on a motion that could eventually see Iran referred to the United Nations Security Council for its controversial nuclear activities .
-The European Union proposed the motion Friday .
-It puts off immediate referral to the Security Council , but leaves that option open .
-It also condemns Iran for past violations of nuclear safeguards .
-EU negotiators softened the draft resolution in an apparent effort to gain support from Russia and China , which both oppose referral to the Security Council .
-Diplomats say Iran is threatening to resume sensitive uranium enrichment and to limit inspections if the IAEA adopts the resolution .
-Tehran denies western accusations that it is secretly pursuing nuclear weapons .
-Health ministers from the Group of Eight nations have met in Moscow to discuss global cooperation in fighting infectious diseases such as bird flu and AIDS .
-The meeting comes ahead of the G-8 summit that Russia will host in July , where health issues are expected to be high on the agenda .
-The G-8 consists of the world 's seven leading industrialized nations , plus Russia .
-U.S. Secretary of State is in India for the start of a six-nation tour of Asia .
-Her New Delhi talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are expected to focus on India and Pakistan 's relations .
-Ms. Rice says those nations ' strong ties with the United States have helped them ease tensions with each other .
-After her talks in New Delhi , Ms. Rice heads to Pakistan and Afghanistan before traveling to Japan , South Korea and China .
-She says that China 's new law authorizing military action against Taiwan could make Europe re-examine its decision to resume weapons sales to China .
-North Korea 's nuclear weapons program is expected to be the focus of her meetings in Tokyo , Seoul and Beijing .
-Ms. Rice stressed that the United States believes the six-party framework is the best way to deal with the issue .
-Venezuela 's National Assembly has voted to approve a request by President Hugo Chavez to allow him to enact laws by decree for one year .
-Lawmakers voted in President Chavez 's favor Tuesday following the first discussion on the proposal .
-Reports say a final vote on the controversial measure is expected later this week .
-Vice President Elias Jaua made the request earlier in the day on behalf of the president .
-The measure was presented to the outgoing National Assembly , which is dominated by President Chavez 's allies .
-European and Asian leaders have pledged to continue working to reduce carbon dioxide emissions , blamed by many scientists for global warming .
-Top officials from 38 Asian and European nations concluded their Asia-Europe Meeting in Helsinki Monday .
-They released a final statement promising to continue working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions after the Kyoto Protocol on climate change expires in 2012 .
-But no firm targets were set .
-In their final statement , the 38 leaders agreed to share cleaner and climate-friendly technology with developing nations .
-Enacted in 2005 , the Kyoto Protocol establishes goals for 35 industrialized nations to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about five percent below 1990 levels by 2012 .
-The agreement does not require developing nations like India and China to restrict their emissions .
-Citing economic reasons , the United States has not signed the protocol .
-Landslides and flash floods triggered by Typhoon Muifa have killed at least 33 people in Vietnam 's Central Highlands .
-Torrential rains hit Vietnam 's central region last week , and floods submerged more than 10,000 houses while paralyzing rail traffic .
-Four provinces , Quang Ngai , Quang Nam , Thua Thien Hue and Quang Tri were hardest-hit .
-Authorities in the region are continuing to evacuate people from flooded areas and provide victims with food , medicine and shelter .
-Despite the flooding elsewhere , little rain has been reported over the past few days in the nearby province of Daklak , the country 's largest coffee growing region , and there have been no reports of damaged crops .
-Forecasters predict only light rain from Muifa , now downgraded to a tropical storm , at it moves into the Gulf of Thailand .
-Opposition supporters armed with sticks speed past a sign for ruling-party candidate Faure Gnassingbe
-Togo 's interim leader , Abbas Bonfoh , says Sunday 's presidential elections will take place as scheduled , and he fired a powerful minister who called for a delay .
-Interior Minister Francois Boko was fired Friday after calling for a transitional government , saying that holding the April 24 poll would be " suicidal " amid rising political tensions .
-Hours later , the Togolese government announced Mr. Boko had been replaced .
-Opposition leaders have held protests - during which several people were killed - saying that Togo is not ready to hold a free and fair election .
-The country was thrown into chaos after the government installed the son of longtime leader Gnassingbe Eyadema after he died in February .
-West African leaders pressured Togo to hold fresh elections .
-The international police organization Interpol has issued a wanted notice for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi , the leader of the al Qaida in Iraq terrorist network .
-Interpol says Algerian officials requested a so-called Red Notice on the Jordanian-born terrorist in connection with the kidnapping and murder of two Algerian diplomats in Iraq last July .
-Interpol officials said the notice will be distributed to its 184 member nations and will decrease the likelihood the suspect will be able to escape detection .
-Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is already the most wanted man in Iraq , with the United States offering a $ 25 million bounty for his capture .
-Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is also wanted in Jordan .
-He claimed responsibility for organizing suicide attacks that killed 59 people at two luxury hotels in Amman last month .
-The proposed U.S. budget for fiscal year 2008 includes money for fighting malaria and HIV and to support democratic programs abroad .
-The White House says the budget provides more than $ 4 billion for treatment and prevention of HIV in the world 's hardest hit countries , and more than $ 1 billion for HIV-AIDS programs worldwide .
-Three hundred million dollars is for fighting malaria worldwide .
-The White House says the budget also includes support for humanitarian and peacekeeping efforts in Sudan , as well as for Lebanon to help it strengthen government capacity , promote economic reform , and support its security forces .
-The budget calls for $ 3 billion for the Millennium Challenge to promote sustainable economic growth in the poorest countries in the world .
-The budget also allots $ 80 million to the private , nonprofit National Endowment for Democracy to promote democratic programs and institutions .
-Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Omar Karami resigned Wednesday after failing to form a government to lead the country to elections in May .
-Mr. Karami says he " reached a dead end " in consultations to form a cabinet .
-The pro-Syrian politician first stepped down on February 28 following a wave of anti-Syrian demonstrations .
-He was re-appointed in March , but could not form a government including members of Lebanon 's anti-Syrian opposition .
-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice welcomed his latest resignation as an opportunity for Lebanon to move forward and determine its own future , free of outside interference .
-She says there is no reason for further delays in Lebanon 's political process .
-Wednesday 's events come as Lebanese observed the 1975 outbreak of the country 's 15-year civil war with a day of reconciliation , celebrating Muslim-Christian unity .
-Islamic clerics in Afghanistan are warning the country 's president to stop foreign aid groups from doing missionary work in the country .
-Members of the Afghanistan Islamic Council say they are concerned about the activities of some international non-governmental groups that are trying to convert Afghan Muslims to Christianity .
-The group made the statement after meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Friday .
-The clerics warned of what they called " catastrophe " if the activities were not prevented .
-Taliban militants took some 23 South Korean Christian missionaries hostage in July 2007 , killing two and releasing the remainder .
-Afghanistan 's Islamic Council also urged President Karzai to crack down on certain television programming that it says is spreading immorality and non-Islamic culture in the country .
-The European Union plans to re-impose sanctions on as much as $ 4 billion worth of U.S. goods after the World Trade Organization ruled that Washington has not ended illegal tax breaks for U.S. exporters .
-A WTO panel issued the ruling Monday .
-It gives Washington three months to bring its laws into compliance with treaty agreements or face retaliatory tariffs .
-Washington had repealed the offending law , but the WTO says a replacement law is still unfair .
-Japan is calling on the United States to take thorough measures to prevent any further beef shipments containing banned animal matter that could cause " mad-cow " disease .
-Agriculture Minister Shoichi Nakagawa made the demand Sunday during a meeting with a senior American official who is visiting Japan .
-Robert Zoellick , the State Department 's second highest-ranking official deputy secretary of state , says an accidental shipment to Japan of veal containing prohibited bone material was an unacceptable mistake , and he expressed sincere regret on behalf of the United States .
-Japan reimposed a total ban on U.S. beef imports Friday , after finding spinal material in a shipment of veal from New York .
-The ban had been partially lifted just weeks ago .
-The American Embassy in Tokyo says a high-level delegation led by Agriculture Undersecretary J. B. Penn will arrive in Japan Monday to discuss the situation .
-Police in Iraq have found 14 bodies in northern Baghdad , including some that were blindfolded and shot execution-style .
-Reports say the victims all appeared to be Iraqis .
-Separately , at least seven Iraqi policemen were killed Friday and several others wounded in a bomb attack in the northern town of Tikrit .
-An Iraqi Defense Ministry official said the attack occurred at a checkpoint in the city , about 130 kilometers north of Baghdad .
-The blast , which targeted a minibus carrying police , is the latest attack in a wave of insurgent violence that followed last week 's announcement of a partial cabinet list .
-On Thursday , at least 27 people were killed in a series of attacks against the country 's military and police forces .
-A series of internal e-mails reveals the government agency charged with responding to Hurricane Katrina was in a state of chaos before and after the storm devastated the U.S. Gulf Coast .
-The e-mails among several high-ranking officials of the Federal Emergency Management Agency , including then-director Michael Brown , were released to U.S. Congressional investigators and copies were obtained by news organizations .
-The messages show FEMA was overwhelmed by a host of issues , including communications failures and bureaucratic fights between the agency and the White House .
-Mr. Brown resigned as FEMA director after he was roundly criticized for the agency 's slow response to the disaster .
-Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is expected to be asked about the e-mails when he testifies before a congressional committee on Wednesday .
-The Homeland Security department oversees FEMA .
-Friends and family members of imprisoned opposition activists in Belarus have sent an open letter to G-8 leaders , calling on them to press for the release of the activists .
-They also appealed to G-8 member countries to press Russian President Vladimir Putin to withdraw his support for Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko .
-Mr. Lukashenko was elected to a third term in March in an election Western governments call fraudulent .
-The open letter comes ahead of a summit in St. Petersburg of the world 's seven leading industrialized democracies plus Russia .
-It also comes on the heels of the start of a trial of former opposition presidential candidate Alexander Kozulin .
-Kozulin faces up to six years in prison if convicted on charges of hooliganism and incitement to mass disorder .
-The charges are tied to the protests that followed the election .
-Authorities declared the vote an overwhelming victory for President Lukashenko .
-Hadson Corp. said it expects to report a third-quarter net loss of $ 17 million to $ 19 million because of special reserves and continued low natural-gas prices .
-The Oklahoma City energy and defense concern said it will record a $ 7.5 million reserve for its defense group , including a $ 4.7 million charge related to problems under a fixed-price development contract and $ 2.8 million in overhead costs that wo n't be reimbursed .
-In addition , Hadson said it will write off about $ 3.5 million in costs related to international exploration leases where exploration efforts have been unsuccessful .
-The company also cited interest costs and amortization of goodwill as factors in the loss .
-A year earlier , net income was $ 2.1 million , or six cents a share , on revenue of $ 169.9 million .
-Discovered and claimed by Portugal in the late 15th century , the islands ' sugar-based economy gave way to coffee and cocoa in the 19th century - all grown with plantation slave labor , a form of which lingered into the 20th century .
-While independence was achieved in 1975 , democratic reforms were not instituted until the late 1980s .
-The country held its first free elections in 1991 , but frequent internal wrangling between the various political parties precipitated repeated changes in leadership and two failed coup attempts in 1995 and 2003 .
-The recent discovery of oil in the Gulf of Guinea promises to attract increased attention to the small island nation .
-Carib Indians occupied the islands for hundreds of years before the British began settlement in 1623 .
-The islands became an associated state of the UK with full internal autonomy in 1967 .
-The island of Anguilla rebelled and was allowed to secede in 1971 .
-Saint Kitts and Nevis achieved independence in 1983 .
-In 1998 , a vote in Nevis on a referendum to separate from Saint Kitts fell short of the two-thirds majority needed .
-Nevis continues in its efforts to separate from Saint Kitts .
-Guinea has had a history of authoritarian rule since gaining its independence from France in 1958 .
-Lansana CONTE came to power in 1984 when the military seized the government after the death of the first president , Sekou TOURE .
-Guinea did not hold democratic elections until 1993 when Gen. CONTE ( head of the military government ) was elected president of the civilian government .
-He was reelected in 1998 and again in 2003 , though all the polls were marred by irregularities .
-History repeated itself in December 2008 when following President CONTE 's death , Capt. Moussa Dadis CAMARA led a military coup , seizing power and suspending the constitution .
-His unwillingness to yield to domestic and international pressure to step down led to heightened political tensions that culminated in September 2009 when presidential guards opened fire on an opposition rally killing more than 150 people , and in early December 2009 when CAMARA was wounded in an assassination attempt and evacuated to Morocco and subsequently to Burkina Faso .
-A transitional government led by General Sekouba KONATE held democratic elections in 2010 and Alpha CONDE was elected president in the country 's first free and fair elections since independence .
-As an affluent , high-tech industrial society in the trillion-dollar class , Canada resembles the US in its market-oriented economic system , pattern of production , and affluent living standards .
-Since World War II , the impressive growth of the manufacturing , mining , and service sectors has transformed the nation from a largely rural economy into one primarily industrial and urban .
-The 1989 US-Canada Free Trade Agreement ( FTA ) and the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement ( NAFTA ) ( which includes Mexico ) touched off a dramatic increase in trade and economic integration with the US , its principal trading partner .
-Canada enjoys a substantial trade surplus with the US , which absorbs about three-fourths of Canadian exports each year .
-Canada is the US 's largest foreign supplier of energy , including oil , gas , uranium , and electric power .
-Given its great natural resources , skilled labor force , and modern capital plant , Canada enjoyed solid economic growth from 1993 through 2007 .
-Buffeted by the global economic crisis , the economy dropped into a sharp recession in the final months of 2008 , and Ottawa posted its first fiscal deficit in 2009 after 12 years of surplus .
-Canada 's major banks , however , emerged from the financial crisis of 2008 - 9 among the strongest in the world , owing to the financial sector 's tradition of conservative lending practices and strong capitalization .
-During 2010 , Canada 's economy grew only 3 % , due to decreased global demand and a highly valued Canadian dollar .
-A CONVENTION of female writers , which for two days had been stuffing Woman 's couch with goose-quills and hailing the down of a new era , adjourned with unabated enthusiasm , shouting , " Place aux dames ! "
-And Echo wearily replied , " Oh , damn . "
-Two lawyers are in a bank , when armed robbers suddenly burst in .
-While several of the robbers take the money from the tellers , others line the customers , including the lawyers , up against a wall , and proceed to take their wallets , watches , etc .
-While this is going on lawyer number one jams something in lawyer number two 's hand .
-Without looking down , lawyer number two whispers , " What is this ? "
-To which lawyer number one replies , " It 's that $ 50 I owe you . "
-A school teacher injured his back and had to wear a plaster cast around the upper part of his body .
-It fit under his shirt and was not noticeable at all .
-On the first day of the term , still with the cast under his shirt , he found himself assigned to the toughest students in school .
-Walking confidently into the rowdy classroom , he opened the window as wide as possible and then busied himself with desk work .
-When a strong breeze made his tie flap , he took the desk stapler and stapled the tie to his chest .
-He had no trouble with discipline that term .
-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the West must continue efforts to defeat Taleban insurgents and support democracy in Afghanistan .
-In comments Tuesday in Canada , Rice recalled how Afghanistan became a haven for terrorists after the United States withdrew support for the country after Soviet forces withdrew in 1989 .
-She warned against leaving Afghanistan too early again .
-Rice made the comments during a news conference in Nova Scotia with Canadian Foreign Minister Peter MacKay .
-She thanked Canada for its contributions to the NATO force in Afghanistan .
-Canada has about 2,200 troops in the country .
-More than 20 Canadian troops have died in Afghanistan .
-Canadian lawmakers have faced calls to end the country 's involvement in the war .
-The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has concluded that Cuban leader Fidel Castro has Parkinson 's disease , a debilitating condition that affects a person 's physical coordination .
-Officials in Washington have confirmed a report about the CIA assessment published in the Miami Herald newspaper on Wednesday .
-The officials , speaking on condition of anonymity , say the assessment was based on a variety of material , including Mr. Castro 's public appearances .
-Cuban officials have declined to comment on the reports .
-According to the Herald , the CIA has warned U.S. policymakers to be ready for trouble in Cuba as the 79-year-old leader 's health declines .
-But the Reuters news agency quotes a State Department official as saying Washington does not expect Mr. Castro to lose his grip on Cuba .
-Mr. Castro 's communist government has ruled Cuba since 1959 .
-Mr. Castro has appointed his 74-year-old brother Raul to be his successor .
-Oil prices continued to break new records this week , trading briefly above $ 126 per barrel on Monday .
-American consumers fear prices will go even higher as the summer driving season gets underway .
-Some say they are desperate and many are calling on U.S. lawmakers to do something - fast .
-VOA 's Mil Arcega reports .
-The U.S. military in Afghanistan says about 20 suspected Taleban insurgents and one Afghan policeman were killed in a fierce firefight in southeastern Zabul province .
-A military statement issued Wednesday said six American soldiers and five Afghan policemen were wounded in Tuesday 's fighting that involved U.S. warplanes , helicopters as well as ground troops .
-It said six insurgents were detained after the clash , described as one of the deadliest in recent weeks .
-The military says the battle erupted after gunmen fired on U.S. troops and Afghan police investigating a reported beating of a villager .
-Taleban insurgents have stepped up attacks against Afghan and U.S.-led coalition troops as harsh winter weather conditions have improved .
-An Israeli human rights group says the West Bank is facing a severe water shortage largely as a result of what it calls " discriminatory " Israeli policies .
-The rights group , B'Tselem accused Israel Tuesday of discrimination in the distribution of joint water resources between Jewish settlers and Palestinians .
-It warned that a water shortage would have serious repercussions on the economy and health of tens of thousands of Palestinians .
-The group said Israel also limits the Palestinian Authority 's ability to drill new wells .
-It said the effects of several years of drought will make a water shortage even worse in coming months .
-The Israeli water company , Mekorot , denied the allegations .
-It said it has provided more water to the West Bank than is required under the 1993 Israel-Palestinian Oslo peace accord .
-Three Sunni Arab parties in Iraq have announced they are forming a coalition ahead of December 's parliamentary election for a permanent government .
-The announcement Wednesday , from the Iraqi Peoples Gathering , the Iraqi Islamic Party and the Iraqi National Dialogue comes a day after referendum results showed 78 percent of Iraqis approved the new constitution .
-The document passed despite stiff opposition from Sunni Arabs .
-In other developments , an Internet statement attributed to al-Qaida in Iraq claimed it had kidnapped two employees from the Moroccan embassy in Baghdad .
-The Moroccan news agency reports that Rabat has had no news about the missing employees since Thursday and has sent a team to Jordan to coordinate efforts to win their release .
-Meanwhile , attacks in Baghdad and Ramadi killed three Iraqis .
-An American soldier also died in a vehicle accident in southern Iraq .
-An Iraqi appeals court has upheld the death sentence for Saddam Hussein 's former vice president , Taha Yassin Ramadan , for his role in the killing of 148 Shi'ite Muslims in 1982 .
-The court confirmed Thursday that Ramadan will be hanged , which is the method of state execution in Iraq .
-The government now has to set a date for the execution .
-Ramadan was convicted late last year with Saddam Hussein and six others .
-Ramadan initially was sentenced to life in prison .
-But an appeals court ruled that sentence was too lenient and asked the lower court to consider the death penalty .
-The decision to give Ramadan the maximum sentence ignored appeals from international human rights groups .
-Saddam Hussein was hanged in December , and two of his co-defendants were executed in January .
-A United Nations investigation team says a powerful truck bomb caused the explosion that killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri .
-A German prosecutor , Detlev Mehlis , leading the U.N. team told a news conference in Beirut , Friday the blast occurred above ground .
-Some people believed the explosives were buried under the street , suggesting officials were involved in the plot to kill the former prime minister .
-Mr. Hariri and 20 others were killed when his motorcade was blown up on February 14 in downtown Beirut .
-His assassination was the catalyst for mass anti-Syrian protests and intensified international pressure on Damascus to withdraw its army from Lebanon .
-Turkish police have detained 23 people suspected of having links with the al-Qaida terrorist network .
-Police detained the suspects Wednesday in the northwestern province of Bursa .
-In May , police detained 11 suspected al-Qaida militants who were believed to be planning terrorist attacks in Istanbul .
-A Turkish al-Qaida cell was blamed in four suicide bombings in 2003 that killed at least 58 people and injured hundreds more .
-Those attacks targeted two synagogues , the British consulate and a London-based bank .
-French President Jacques Chirac has announced he will hold a nationwide referendum on the European Union 's constitution before the middle of next year .
-In his televised New Year 's Address Friday the French leader , who supports the EU constitution , told his compatriots they will , in his words , have Europe 's future in their hands .
-Mr. Chirac and other European Union leaders signed the constitution at a summit in Rome in late October , but most of the 25 EU member states still have to ratify it .
-The document creates new top-level EU positions , such as a permanent EU Council Presidency and a Foreign Ministry .
-It also modifies the bloc 's decision-making process .
-In France , right-wing critics worry that it enhances EU powers at the expense of the member states , while left-wing opponents say it enshrines the rights of business to the detriment of workers .
-A published report says donors plan to withhold $ 375 million in aid from Ethiopia in light of the government 's response to recent opposition-led protests .
-The Financial Times newspaper quotes the World Bank 's director in Ethiopia Ishac Diwan as saying the World Bank , the European Union , Britain and other donors will consider disbursing funds in other ways to address the country 's massive poverty .
-At least 46 people were killed and thousands detained during clashes between security forces and opposition protesters last month .
-The violence erupted during anti-government protests against alleged fraud in last May 's parliamentary elections won by Ethiopia 's ruling party .
-Wednesday , an Ethiopian judge ordered a group of 131 opposition leaders , journalists and others detained during the protests to remain in custody after most boycotted a bail hearing .
-Those detainees have been charged with treason and genocide .
-A Shi'ite member of Iraq 's parliament says followers of radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr will quit the national unity government if Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki meets with President Bush in Jordan next week .
-Parliamentarian Qusai Abdul-Wahab issued a statement on behalf of the group Friday .
-He said the group would also withdraw if the security situation in Iraq does not improve .
-Al-Sadr 's followers hold six cabinet seats and have 30 members in the 275-member parliament .
-Mr. Bush and Mr. Maliki are scheduled to meet Wednesday and Thursday in the Jordanian capital , Amman , to discuss the situation in Iraq .
-Bahrain 's foreign minister is calling for Arab countries to form a regional group that includes rivals Iran and Israel .
-Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa says the organization could get under way even if not all members recognize each other .
-Of the Arab states , only Egypt and Jordan recognize Israel .
-Non-Arab Iran is particularly opposed to the Jewish state , with its president vowing to see it end .
-In an interview in Wednesday 's al-Hayat pan-Arab newspaper , Sheik Khalid says Turkey should also be included in the Middle East grouping .
-He argues such a forum is the only way to resolve the region 's problems .
-The Bahrainian diplomat notes the countries are all able to sit together in the United Nations .
-The tiny Gulf kingdom , whose Shi'ite majority is ruled by a Sunni minority , has close ties with the United States and hosts the U.S. Navy 's Fifth Fleet .
-Nine former communist-ruled NATO countries and Canada have urged alliance members to overcome their disagreements and initiate the membership process for Georgia and Ukraine at next month 's summit in Bucharest .
-Representatives of Bulgaria , the Czech Republic , Estonia , Latvia , Lithuania , Poland , Slovakia , Slovenia and Romania as well as Canada expressed their views in a letter to NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer .
-The message says extending a NATO Membership Action Plan to Georgia and Ukraine will increase stability and security in Europe .
-It adds failure to do so would create doubts that NATO membership is available to all democratic countries .
-Russia strongly opposes further NATO expansion .
-Some larger NATO members have expressed doubts that Georgia fully satisfies alliance standards for democracy .
-They also note that a large proportion of Ukrainian citizens opposes NATO entry .
-President Bush will travel to Europe in February for talks with NATO and European Union officials as he starts his second term in office .
-A White House spokesman says the visit February 22 will include talks with Alliance heads of state , top European Commission officials and Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt .
-The spokesman called the trip an effort to strengthen cooperation in the struggle against terrorism .
-In Brussels Secretary of State Colin Powell said the February trip is an attempt to rebuild ties strained by disagreements over the U.S.-led war in Iraq .
-The United States has officially ended its peacekeeping presence in Bosnia-Herzegovina , although some American soldiers will remain in the Balkan country to help hunt down war crimes suspects .
-U.S. military officials marked the end of the peacekeeping presence Wednesday , with a ceremony at Eagle Base in the Tuzla area .
-Some 700 Americans now serve in the NATO-led Stabilization Force , which has fewer than 10,000 soldiers in Bosnia .
-NATO troops began peacekeeping in Bosnia after the December 1995 Dayton agreement halted the Bosnian conflict .
-Most of the American soldiers will leave when NATO hands over peacekeeping duties next week to a European Union Force that will number 7,000 .
-About 150 American soldiers will remain at Eagle Base to focus on hunting for war crimes suspects like fugitive former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic .
-In the Democratic Republic of Congo , government troops backed by United Nations peacekeepers have begun to drive out Rwandan rebels a month after a deadline for their pullout expired .
-A U.N. military spokesman says the aim of the joint operation is to clear out as many as 5,000 Rwandan Hutu rebels who have set up camp in Virunga National Park in North Kivu province .
-The rebels promised in March they would disarm and return home by the end of October .
-But few have done so , asking the Rwandan government for more guarantees .
-An estimated 10,000 Rwandan rebels are believed to be in eastern Congo .
-They fled to Congo after helping orchestrate Rwanda 's 1994 genocide .
-Hamas officials say Egyptian forces have closed the breach in the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt , nearly two weeks after militants blew up a section of the border wall .
-Officials said Sunday that troops are allowing Gazans and Egyptians to cross the border to return to their homes , but are preventing any new cross-border traffic .
-Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have streamed across the Egyptian border since Hamas militants destroyed a barrier wall on January 23 , shattering an Israeli blockade .
-Egyptian forces placed metal barriers across several breaches in the Rafah border crossing Friday .
-But militants used bulldozers to tear down the barriers , and hundreds of people demonstrated to demand the border remain open .
-European Union justice and interior ministers have agreed on a counter-terrorism strategy aimed at preventing recruitment by terrorist groups .
-EU top anti-terror official Gijs de Vries says Europe faces a dual threat - from outsiders coming to Europe and from people who live on the continent .
-The new strategy 's objectives include protecting potential targets , pursuing and investigating suspects , and improving EU capability to respond to terrorist attacks .
-The plan covers everything from Internet sites promoting extremist Islamic ideas to fostering better community relations with Muslim groups .
-It also calls for better police cooperation and stepped-up security at ports of entry .
-Thursday 's agreement comes as Belgian investigators charged five people with involvement in a network that sent volunteers to Iraq .
-The volunteers included a young Belgian woman , Muriel Degauque , who blew herself up in a failed attack on U.S. troops near Baghdad last month .
-Pakistan 's Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani vowed to fight terrorism as he embarked Saturday , on a visit to Washington to meet with U.S. President George Bush .
-Prime Minister Gilani told reporters near Islamabad the fight against extremism is Pakistan 's own cause .
-Mr. Gilani 's trip comes as violence continues to rise in the tribal regions of northwest Pakistan .
-U.S. and Afghan officials have called on Pakistan to fight militants who launch attacks on Afghan and foreign forces along the Afghan border .
-The Pakistani government has repeatedly said it will not allow foreign forces to conduct operations against militants on Pakistani soil .
-Mr. Gilani 's visit is the first official trip to Washington since taking office in March .
-The Pakistani leader will also meet with U.S. presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain .
-Officials in Ivory Coast say at least four people have been killed by a group of armed men attacking a military police post in the country 's main city .
-The attack occurred Saturday in Anyama , a suburb of Abidjan .
-Reuters news agency quotes an unidentified military policemen saying the four men were all gendarmes .
-The small west African nation has been plagued by violence since a 2002 civil war that virtually split the country in two .
-Another suicide car bomber has struck at an entrance to Baghdad 's heavily guarded Green Zone , a day after nine Iraqis were killed in an attack at the same checkpoint .
-Hospital officials say at least two people were killed in Tuesday 's attack , and a dozen others were wounded .
-Meanwhile , to the north , in Mosul , the U.S. military says six bodies were found Tuesday , all killed execution-style with a bullet to the head .
-Monday , hospital officials said they had received the bodies of eight other men , all killed in the same way .
-And in Fallujah , more clashes have been reported in the city that was the target of last month 's massive U.S.-led offensive against insurgents .
-Israeli forces killed three Palestinians and wounded several others Monday in operations against militants in the northern Gaza Strip .
-In one incident , Israel 's military says troops shot dead two armed Palestinians who were trying to place explosives near the border fence separating Gaza from Israel .
-Earlier , an Israeli air strike killed a Hamas militant and wounded several other people in the northern town of Beit Hanoun .
-The Israeli military says the aircraft hit a group of militants who had just fired mortars into southern Israel .
-Israel has stepped up air strikes and ground raids in Gaza since Hamas seized control of the territory in June .
-Venezuela and Cuba have asked a United Nations committee to investigate the release on bail of a Cuban militant from a U.S. prison .
-The governments in Caracas and Havana sent a letter Wednesday to the U.N. 's Counter-Terrorism Committee , urging it to examine the release of Luis Posada Carriles .
-Venezuela and Cuba accuse the U.S. of " flagrantly violating " U.N. Security Council resolutions on counter-terrorism by releasing him .
-Venezuela convicted the former U.S. intelligence operative of plotting the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people .
-Posada Carriles denies the charge .
-He escaped a Venezuelan prison in 1985 .
-Posada Carriles has been in U.S. custody since 2005 for alleged immigration offenses .
-A U.S. court released him on bail last week ahead of his trial on May 11 .
-Posada Carriles was born in Cuba and is a naturalized Venezuelan citizen .
-Thousands of college students are returning to New Orleans this week , as the city 's universities open after a semester shut down for recovery from Hurricane Katrina .
-City officials say the students ' return will sizably increase the city 's population and bring in new consumer dollars .
-While some students changed schools after the city flooded last year , most are returning , including 88 percent of students at Tulane University .
-The universities are using hotels and trailers to house students and classes , as repairs on flood-damaged facilities continue .
-City and state officials are urging students to help rebuild .
-Meanwhile , members of the U.S. Senate committee for Homeland Security are assessing hurricane recovery efforts in Mississippi and Louisiana today .
-Two days after a shooting killed one person at a science seminar in India 's southern city of Bangalore , a letter threatening bomb blasts has prompted security alerts in the area known for its high-tech businesses .
-The letter was signed by someone calling themselves Moinuddin .
-It was addressed to police , and published by local newspapers Friday .
-It warns that there will be bomb blasts on New Year 's Eve at a five-star hotel and at the home of Karnataka state 's chief minister .
-Police say they do not know if the threat is real , but they have stepped up security and say they are taking no chances .
-Officials say Wednesday 's attack on the science conference , in which a gunman sprayed bullets indiscriminately at delegates and killed one professor , M.C.
-Puri , was likely the work of militants .
-Bolivia 's President Evo Morales says he wants to raise natural gas prices by nearly 60 percent for exports to Brazil and Argentina , which rely heavily on Bolivian gas .
-Mr. Morales says the price increase will bring in an extra $ 600 million to the Bolivian government .
-His remarks come one week after he ordered soldiers to production facilities to forcibly nationalize Bolivia 's energy sector .
-In Brazil Monday , President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva reassured Brazilians that Bolivia 's nationalization will not result in gas shortages in his country .
-He also said Brazil will not retaliate against Bolivia , but instead will negotiate with its neighbor to reach an agreement on contracts and prices .
-After a summit last Thursday , Mr. Morales and the leaders of Argentina , Brazil and Venezuela issued a statement affirming Bolivia 's " sovereign right " to control its natural resources .
-A young Egyptian woman died from bird flu Tuesday .
-Egypt 's MENA news agency quotes the health ministry as saying the 25-year-old woman from Fayyum died in a Giza hospital south of the capital , Cairo .
-Of the 44 bird flu cases confirmed in Egypt , 20 have been fatal .
-Most of the fatalities have been women or girls whose families raise poultry , which brings them into daily contact with chickens or turkeys .
-Close to five million Egyptian households depend on poultry for food or income .
-The government says this makes it unlikely the disease can be eradicated , despite a large-scale poultry vaccination program .
-Representatives from Iraq 's main Shi'ite and Kurdish political factions are meeting to negotiate a final agreement on a new governing coalition .
-News reports say Shi'ites are seeking Kurdish support for a power-sharing deal that also addresses Kurdish claims to oil-rich northern areas .
-Details could not be confirmed .
-The majority Shi'ite Muslim alliance wants Ibrahim al-Jaafari as prime minister .
-Kurdish officials have lobbied for a top role for their leader , Jalal Talabani .
-Because no party holds a two-thirds majority in parliament , lawmakers must form a coalition to approve a new government .
-Officials say even if they do not agree , parliament will convene March 16th - the 17th anniversary of Saddam Hussein 's notorious chemical weapons attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja .
-Unidentified gunmen have fired on a car carrying a Czech diplomat in Afghanistan , injuring his two bodyguards .
-Filip Velach , the Czech charge d'affaires , was not hurt in the attack which took place about 100 kilometers outside the capital , Kabul .
-The three sought safety in a house and were later rescued by NATO 's International Security Assistance Force .
-Last month , the Czech Republic opened a diplomatic office in Kabul , headed by Velach .
-More than 150 Czech troops are currently serving in Afghanistan .
-Russian officials say the deadly H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus has killed more than 1,00,000 birds on a poultry farm in southern Russia .
-The governor , Alexander Tkachev , of the Krasnodar region said Tuesday that the farm has been quarantined and other measures have been ordered to stop the spread of the virus .
-In Paris , the World Organization for Animal Health warned that the H5N1 virus would likely spread across Europe after being found at a French poultry farm .
-Officials were holding a second day of talks in the French capital to discuss mass vaccinations and other efforts to combat the illness .
-Meanwhile , Swedish authorities say wild ducks in southern Sweden have been found with the H5 strain of bird flu .
-And Pakistani authorities today culled at least 15,000 chickens infected with the H5 strain in North West Frontier province .
-Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have killed at least four militants during a raid in the southern Gaza Strip .
-Israeli troops and tanks entered the Khan Younis refugee camp early Thursday , in an operation the army says is aimed at stopping Palestinian militants ' mortar and rocket attacks on nearby Jewish settlements .
-Meanwhile , Israel 's Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told the Jerusalem Post that Israel should follow up next year 's planned pullout from the Gaza Strip with a much larger withdrawal from the West Bank .
-Mr. Olmert said he believes such a move would be in Israel 's interest .
-On Wednesday , interim Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas called on Israel to dismantle its separation barrier along the West Bank .
-Mr. Abbas is running in the January 9 presidential election to succeed the late Yasser Arafat .
-Uganda 's President Yoweri Museveni says he is open to new peace talks with northern rebels , but only if the meetings take place outside the country .
-Speaking in Gulu district on Sunday , Mr. Museveni said government troops in the meantime will press ahead with attacks on rebels in northern Uganda and parts of Sudan .
-Uganda 's government has called on rebels of the Lord 's Resistance Army to surrender , saying they will be forgiven .
-A cease-fire between the government and rebels expired Friday , after the two sides failed to advance a peace process .
-Officials criticized rebel leaders , who said they needed more time for internal discussions on ending the conflict .
-The rebels have been fighting to overthrow the Ugandan government since 1987 .
-Hungary has become the second country to ratify the European Union 's constitution .
-In Budapest Monday , the Hungarian parliament voted overwhelmingly to approve the pact , which aims to streamline the workings of the 25-member bloc .
-Hungary , which entered the European Union on May 1 , joins Lithuania as the only countries that have ratified the EU constitution .
-The text has been accepted by leaders of all member states , but must still be ratified by each country before it comes into force .
-The constitution will create an EU president and foreign minister .
-It is aimed at speeding up decision-making by ending national vetoes in certain policy areas , including the economy , the judiciary and education .
-North Korea is denying suggestions it may be helping Syria develop a nuclear weapons facility .
-The North Korean Foreign Ministry Tuesday dismissed U.S. media reports that Pyongyang has secretly offered nuclear cooperation to Syria .
-The Washington Post newspaper reported last week that U.S. intelligence has acquired information , including satellite photos , indicating North Korea may be cooperating with Syria on some sort of nuclear facility .
-The information is said to have been provided mostly by Israel .
-North Korea tested a nuclear weapon last year , but has since cooperated in six-nation talks aimed at ending its nuclear weapons program .
-China announced this week that six-party talks scheduled for Wednesday have been postponed .
-It did not give a reason for the change .
-A North Korean Foreign Ministry delegation arrived in Beijing Tuesday for talks with government officials .
-It is unclear whether the visit is aimed at sorting out a date for the nuclear negotiations .
-Iraqi police say gunmen wearing Iraqi special forces uniforms have kidnapped a wealthy businessman and his son , after killing five of their bodyguards .
-Police Friday say Ghalib Abdul Hussein Kubba , director-general of the Basra International Bank , was abducted from his home in western Baghdad late Thursday , along with his son .
-Officers say no demands have been made so far .
-In northern Baghdad , police say they discovered the bodies of at least three unidentified men who had been shot dead .
-Elsewhere , insurgents have blown up an oil pipeline , sabotaging oil delivery .
-In other developments , a White House spokesman Friday stressed that Iraqi police forces must adhere to the highest human rights standards .
-The comments come as Iraq 's interior ministry investigates allegations that death squads are operating within the police force and targeting Sunni Arabs .
-Turkey has reaffirmed its commitment to meet standards for European Union membership , after critics said momentum toward that goal had slowed .
-Following meetings Monday in Ankara with EU diplomats , Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul denied that Turkish commitment to joining the Union is lagging .
-Also speaking after the talks , Luxembourg Deputy Foreign Minister Nicolas Schmit , whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency , said that Turkey must continue to implement reforms .
-Turkey has yet to sign a customs pact that it agreed to in December .
-The pact includes Cyprus , but does not require Ankara to officially recognize the Greek Cypriot government on the divided island .
-The European Union has indicated that Turkish goodwill gestures involving the divided island , which joined the EU last May , could help Ankara when it begins EU membership talks in October .
-A senior Thai minister says the United States has neither operated a secret jail in Thailand for terror suspects nor used the country as a transfer point for such suspects .
-U.S.-based ABC News and The Washington Post have reported that secret U.S. Central Intelligence Agency jails have existed since March 2002 when the first was created in Thailand .
-ABC said Tuesday the Thai jail was established following the capture in Pakistan of Abu Zabayda , who was sent to a vacant warehouse on an air base in Thailand .
-Thailand 's Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister Chitchai Wannasathit Wednesday denied the reports .
-He said no prisoner was brought to Thailand from Pakistan in 2002 .
-China is reporting a new outbreak of bird flu in poultry in the northwest Xinjiang region .
-Agriculture ministry officials said Thursday the virus responsible for the 11 dead birds in Turpan city has been confirmed as the highly contagious H5N1 type .
-More than 5,000 birds have been culled to contain the new outbreak .
-In Indonesia , agriculture officials say hundreds of chickens infected with the most deadly strain of avian influenza have died in three districts in Aceh .
-In Vietnam , public health officials say a 15-year-old boy from the northern port city of Haiphong has tested positive for the same H5N1 strain of the flu virus .
-The findings have not yet been confirmed by the World Health Organization .
-Nearly 70 people have died from bird flu in Asia since 2003 .
-All known human cases of avian flu are believed to have resulted from close contact with infected birds .
-The Basque separatist group ETA says it plans to continue its militant campaign against Spain to further its goals .
-In a statement issued Sunday , ETA said a peace process begun by Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero offered no political solutions and sought only the defeat of the separatists .
-ETA also claimed responsibility for a small explosion on July 25th as the Tour de France bicycle race went through the northern town of Navarro , a stronger blast against a civil guard barracks in the northern town of Durango in August and two other explosions that month .
-ETA declared a cease-fire in March of 2006 but , called it off in June , blaming the government for a breakdown in negotiations .
-Colombian police have deactivated a parcel bomb delivered to the home of a lawmaker allied with President Alvaro Uribe .
-Authorities say the package resembled a book and was sent to Armando Benedetti 's home Thursday night .
-Benedetti and his aides called police when they noticed something suspicious about the package , which contained an incendiary substance .
-Investigators announced a $ 25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons who sent the package .
-The incident happened one day after a similar package was sent to a man with the same name as former Defense Minister Rafael Pardo .
-The lawyer for a group of Pakistani men who say they were kidnapped and tortured by Greek and British agents after the July bomb attacks in London have filed suit against the alleged intelligence officers .
-The lawyer , Frangiskos Ragoussis , representing at least 27 men who say they were taken from homes in Greece says the suit is against agents identified in a recent story published by an Athens newspaper .
-The governments of Greece , Britain and Pakistan have denied the allegations , but Greek lawmakers have called for an investigation .
-The attacks on the London public transportation system killed at least 52 people .
-Mary J. Blige , Jamie Foxx , and Jennifer Hudson were among the winners at the 21st annual Soul Train Music Awards , held March 10 in Pasadena , California .
-Mary J. Blige took the Best Female Album award for The Breakthrough , while Jamie Foxx brought home Best Male Album honors for Unpredictable .
-Former American Idol castoff Jennifer Hudson continued her Cinderella story , winning the Entertainer Of The Year award for her supporting role in the movie Dreamgirls .
-She also received an Academy Award and an NAACP Image Award for her role .
-A number of senior diplomats are in Washington Monday to mark the 10th anniversary of the Dayton Peace Accords , which ended the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina .
-Those attending Monday 's conference on the accords include the head of Bosnia 's joint presidency , Ivo Miro Jovic , and U.N. High Representative Paddy Ashdown .
-The 1995 agreement ended a brutal ethnic war that killed more than 2,00,000 people .
-The accord split the former Yugoslav republic into a Serb Republic and a Muslim-Croat Federation - each with its own government and army .
-Bosnian leaders , working with U.S. and European officials , are negotiating a new constitution aimed at simplifying the current arrangement .
-Agreement on the peace accords was reached at a U.S. Air Force base in Dayton , Ohio on November 21 , 1995 .
-The accords were signed several weeks later .
-Senegal 's President Abdoulaye Wade says the leaders of Chad and Sudan will sign peace accords next week at a summit in Dakar .
-Mr. Wade told reporters in Paris Friday that Chadian President Idriss Deby and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir will agree to stop supporting rebel groups on each other 's territory .
-He said the signing will take place March 12 , before the start of a summit of Muslim leaders .
-Chad has accused Sudan of backing the rebels who attacked Chad 's capital N'Djamena last month .
-Chadian President Deby said earlier Friday that the fighting sparked by that attack killed 700 people .
-Sudan , for its part , accuses Chad of aiding rebels in Sudan 's war-torn Darfur region .
-Mr. Deby and Mr. Bashir signed a peace agreement at the urging of Libya in 2006 but the agreement quickly broke down .
-A rights group said Saturday it has received reports that Burma 's army is set to attack a refugee camp near the border with Thailand .
-Christian Solidarity Worldwide said more than 1,200 villagers at the Ler Per Her camp just inside Burma 's Karen State have fled across the border into Thailand to avoid possible fighting .
-The group said more than 1,000 Burmese government troops and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army - a pro-government militia - are approaching the area and plan to attack the camp Sunday .
-The organization did not reveal the source of the reports .
-CSW said it has visited the camp many times , including once earlier this year .
-CSW says it received evidence from the camp 's residents about the military government 's policies , which the group says include forced labor , rape , torture , destruction of villages and the use of human minesweepers .
-The death toll from South Asia 's monsoon floods has risen above 2000 , and torrential rains continue to pound several parts of the region .
-Floods have affected an estimated 30 million people in India , Bangladesh , Nepal and Pakistan since the start of the monsoon season in June .
-At least 10 people were killed Monday in northern Pakistan when heavy rains caused landslides to cover their homes .
-In the Indian state of Bihar Sunday , a man died and at least four others were injured during a riot by several hundred flood victims upset by the lack of aid .
-The violence came as the state government announced it was scaling back flood relief efforts and ending airdrops of supplies .
-Last week , the United Nations warned of disease outbreaks in the region as rescue workers struggled to deliver food and water to millions of people displaced by floods .
-Iraqi officials say four prisoners with links to al-Qaida have escaped from a Baghdad detention center .
-Officials say the four broke out of a U.S.-controlled section of Karkh Prison , formerly called Camp Cropper , Wednesday night .
-It is not clear how they managed to escape .
-U.S. officials confirmed the escape , saying the military is working with Iraqi forces to investigate the incident and recapture the individuals involved .
-In July , the U.S. military handed over control of the Camp Cropper detention center to Iraqi authorities .
-The facility houses about 1,500 detainees , but about 200 , including those who escaped , remained in a U.S.-controlled section of the prison .
-The U.S. military has suffered one of its single-worst troop losses in Iraq in a roadside bomb blast near the western city of Fallujah .
-In a statement Friday , the military said 10 Marines were killed and 11 wounded Thursday while they patrolled the area on foot .
-The device that exploded was built from several large artillery shells .
-U.S. troops have been conducting anti-insurgent operations to secure the area ahead of this month 's parliamentary election .
-Another Marine was killed in Fallujah earlier this week .
-The U.S. military also reported the deaths of four American soldiers .
-Three were killed in a road accident near Balad today , and another died Thursday following a rocket attack in Ramadi .
-U.S. and Iraqi troops are conducting joint operations in Ramadi to disrupt al-Qaida-in-Iraq terrorists operating in the Euphrates River Valley .
-Lebanese authorities have arrested a senior employee of a Lebanese telecommunications agency on suspicion he is a spy for Israel .
-The arrest at the state 's largest telecommunications company , Ogero , is the fourth of its kind this year .
-Lebanese investigators reportedly intercepted messages between the worker and Israeli contacts .
-The man works in the technical department of the international wing of the telecommunications company .
-There was no immediate comment from Israel .
-Hezbollah and other Lebanese factions have alleged that Israeli spies are entrenched throughout Lebanon 's telecommunications sector .
-Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is expected to address the recent espionage findings in a speech Tuesday .
-More than 50 Lebanese have been arrested since last year in a broad spying investigation linked to Israel .
-The U.S. trade deficit has widened to its highest level in more than a year , as exports fell more than imports .
-A new report Thursday from the Commerce Department shows the deficit at $ 40.3 billion in April , a slight increase from the previous month .
-Despite an overall fall in U.S. exports of goods and services , the report shows a slight rise in sales of industrial supplies and automobiles .
-A separate report shows the number of Americans filing first-time unemployment claims fell slightly last week - a sign of hope for the struggling U.S. jobs market .
-The Labor Department says the number of laid-off workers filing claims fell by 3,000 to a total of 4,56,000 .
-The report says the number of people continuing to receive jobless benefits after their first week of aid fell by 2,55,000 , the largest decline in over a year .
-Justine Henin-Hardenne says she will not play for Belgium 's Fed Cup tennis team when it takes on Russia in the opening round of the women 's team event next year .
-The world number five Henin-Hardenne said Tuesday that injuries and illness have compromised her 2005 season and she wants to avoid further problems in 2006 .
-After winning the French Open in June , Henin-Hardenne has been troubled by a thigh injury for much of the season .
-The Belgian star says she will concentrate on regaining the world number-one ranking .
-The announcement is a big blow to Belgium 's Fed Cup hopes because world number three Kim Clijsters announced that she would also skip the competition if Henin-Hardenne does not play .
-A leader of Taiwan 's largest opposition party is traveling to China Monday in a rare visit to the mainland just days after China passed a controversial anti-secession law .
-Nationalist Party Vice Chairman Chiang Ping-kun will lead the party 's first official delegation in decades to the southern Chinese city of Ghangzhou to pay homage at the graves of party members who died in an uprising nearly a century ago .
-The group will also visit the grave of Nationalist party leader Sun Yat Sen in Nangjing .
-The Nationalist party is seen as closer to Beijing than Taiwan 's ruling Democratic Progressive party .
-Reports say the trip is aimed at reducing tension over China 's new anti-secession law , which authorizes China use force on Taiwan if it declares independence .
-View flash slideshow narrated by Sgt. Roche
-US Army Sergeant Joe Roche served in Baghdad for 15 months with the 16th Engineer Battalion of the 1st Armored Division .
-His unit worked on helping rebuild Iraq 's infrastructure , including schools and sewage systems , while fighting insurgents and terrorists .
-His unit also helped train new Iraqi soldiers .
-The following are pictures he took during his stay in Iraq .
-Every two years , the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City mounts an exhibition of new art made in the U.S.
-The show aims to survey contemporary art 's newest trends and methods .
-Not surprisingly , given its influence on young artists and art markets , the result is often controversial .
-Some have taken to calling it the show that people love to hate .
-The Whitney 's 2008 Biennial , its 74th , continues that tradition .
-VOA 's Carolyn Weaver reports .
-Chinese state media says Beijing has established a company to manufacture passenger jumbo jets .
-The Xinhua news agency says the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China was established in Shanghai Sunday .
-Xinhua said the company will be responsible for researching , developing , manufacturing and marketing large passenger aircraft .
-The news agency said the central government and China 's two largest aircraft manufacturing and servicing companies are among the major shareholders .
-The company was launched with capital of $ 2.7 billion .
-Ukraine 's parliament has opened an emergency session to debate the country 's disputed presidential runoff election .
-Lawmakers meeting Saturday do not have the power to overturn last Sunday 's vote .
-But their evaluation of the situation could influence the Supreme Court when it meets on Monday to consider reports by the opposition and international monitors of widespread election fraud .
-Also due to meet Saturday , is a multilateral committee tasked with resolving the political stalemate .
-It comprises representatives of both candidates - opposition challenger Viktor Yushchenko , and Moscow-backed Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych .
-Late Friday , Mr. Yushchenko called for fresh elections on December 12 as he addressed thousands of supporters who have been demonstrating in Kiev since Sunday .
-Disputed official results indicate the pro-Western politician narrowly lost the runoff .
-Iraqi police in the city of Samarra say an explosion has damaged an ancient Islamic monument .
-Police say insurgents caused an explosion Friday in the top section of the six-story Malwiya mosque tower , leaving a jagged hole and debris on the upper part of the structure .
-The tower is very important in Islamic architecture .
-It is one of only three spiral minarets in the world and was built of brick and clay during the Abbassid dynasty in the 9th century .
-In other news , the police chief , Colonel Hatem Rashid Mohammad in Balad Ruz , northeast of Baghdad , was ambushed and killed along with another police officer .
-And , Sunni Muslim clerics issued a religious edict ( fatwa ) encouraging Iraqis to join the country 's police and army .
-Stronger Iraqi forces could help quell the Sunni-led insurgency .
-Economic ministers and senior leaders open a three-day conference in Ghana 's capital of Accra Sunday on the effectiveness of donor aid to developing countries .
-The Accra High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness will gauge progress since a similar meeting in Paris in 2005 .
-The conference was organized by the World Bank , the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the government of Ghana .
-It will look at making aid contributions more transparent and at ways of allowing countries which receive aid to channel the money through their national budgets to better manage it .
-Representatives will also address the practice of donor nations providing aid based on economic requirements they expect the recipient nations to follow .
-Critics say the conditions often reduce the effectiveness of the aid countries receive .
-Embattled federal emergency management chief Michael Brown has been relieved of his duties managing the massive hurricane relief effort along the U.S. Gulf Coast .
-Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff Friday in Baton Rouge said Coast Guard Vice Admiral Thad Allen will take charge of federal operations in the region .
-Admiral Allen has been overseeing the rescue and recovery efforts in the devastated city of New Orleans .
-Mr. Chertoff said Mr. Brown will return to Washington to oversee the Federal Emergency Management Agency 's operations nationwide .
-A number of congressional leaders and Louisiana officials have fiercely criticized the federal government 's initial response to the disaster and have called on President Bush to fire Mr. Brown .
-Several Democratic Senators said recalling Mr. Brown to oversee the emergency management agency in Washington is a bad decision .
-They say his continued presence in the critical position endangers the success of recovery efforts .
-Pope Benedict has declared Sunday a special day of prayer for Middle East peace .
-He also renewed an appeal for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and the Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon .
-Benedict issued his plea as he spoke to thousands of pilgrims at his summer retreat in the Italian Alps .
-The pontiff reiterated statements supporting Lebanon 's sovereignty and Israel 's right to live in peace .
-He expressed a special closeness to what he called the " defenseless civilian populations unjustly hit in a conflict in which they are only victims . "
-He said those victims include those in northern Israel forced to live in shelters to avoid Hezbollah rocket attacks , and " the multitudes of Lebanese who once again are seeing their country destroyed . "
-Every few seconds , someone somewhere needs blood .
-It could be someone who has suffered a traumatic injury , in an accident or a war , or someone who needs a transfusion to help survive an illness .
-VOA 's Carol Pearson explains .
-Iranians have marked the 22nd anniversary of the U.S. downing of an Iranian passenger jet with a ceremony at the site where the plane crashed .
-Family members of the 290 people killed were among those who gathered in Persian Gulf waters Saturday , where they laid flowers in memory of Flight 655 victims .
-A statement from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was read at the ceremony .
-He called the downing a " tragic human catastrophe " that was " not an understandable incident " but a " declaration of war against humanity . "
-The USS Vincennes shot down the passenger plane on July 3 , 1988 , shortly after the aircraft took off from the Iranian city of Bandar Abbas for Dubai in the United Arab Emirates .
-The U.S. said it mistook the airliner for a hostile Iranian fighter jet .
-The U.S. paid Iran more than $ 100 million in compensation as part of a 1996 settlement .
-The U.S. military says violence in Iraq has killed three American soldiers near the southern port city of Basra .
-A statement released Friday says the troops were killed during an attack on a coalition base .
-The statement says the troops were killed by " indirect fire " late Thursday .
-The U.S. military often refers to mortar and rocket attacks as " indirect fire " .
-Violence in the region has dropped sharply since coalition and Iraqi forces moved to take control of Basra from Shi'ite militias last year .
-On Tuesday , the top U.S. military commander in southern Iraq Colonel Butch Kievenaar warned that some of the Shi'ite fighters who fled to Iran have started to return to the area .
-Teams that have qualified for the upcoming World Cup football finals next month in Germany continue to practice in friendly international games .
-Croatia and visiting Iran played to a 02-Feb draw Sunday .
-Host Ukraine scored a 4-0 win over Costa Rica .
-Ukraine is appearing in its first World Cup while Costa Rica will face host Germany in the World Cup opener on June 9 in Munich .
-Playing Sunday in Hamburg , Estonia and Turkey played to a 01-Jan draw .
-In Madrid , Macedonia was a 02-Jan winner over Ecuador .
-Mali beat Morocco , 1-0 , in a game played in Paris .
-The United States hosts Latvia in a game later Sunday as part of a three-match friendly warmup before the U.S. team heads to Germany .
-The Sudanese government has arrested at least 14 military and security officials for alleged crimes in Darfur - the first such arrests in the conflict there .
-Sudan 's Justice Minister , Ali Mohamed Osman Yassin , said Monday the detainees are accused of crimes that include rape and murder .
-The announcement comes as the U.N. Security Council is expected to vote this week on a French proposal to send Darfur suspects to the International Criminal Court .
-Sudan is opposed to the draft , saying its courts are competent to prosecute those guilty of crimes .
-The United Nations says the two year conflict in Darfur between black rebels and mostly government-backed Arab militias has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced nearly two million people .
-The United States calls the violence genocide .
-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says Israeli and Palestinian representatives are discussing peace initiatives behind closed doors .
-Rice spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One Sunday as she accompanied President Bush home from a trip to the Middle East .
-She said divulging the contents of the negotiations would endanger their outcome .
-The U.S. secretary of state predicted that the talks will intensify in the coming months .
-She said that during his trip , Mr. Bush had extensive discussions with all of the Israeli and Palestinian leaders .
-She reaffirmed Mr. Bush 's support for the vision of a Palestinian state living side-by-side with Israel .
-Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori has been arrested in Chile , just hours after his unexpected arrival there .
-Officials in Lima and Santiago say Mr. Fujimori was arrested at his hotel by Chilean police Monday .
-He is wanted in Peru on charges of corruption and human rights abuses related to the death squad murders of 25 people .
-Mr. Fujimori , who was born in Peru to Japanese immigrants , fled to Japan in 2000 .
-Tokyo has refused to extradite him because he holds Japanese nationality .
-In a statement issued after his arrival in Chile , Mr. Fujimori said he would reside there temporarily while launching a campaign for the Peruvian presidency in the 2006 elections .
-The government of Peru had requested that Chilean authorities arrest Mr. Fujimori .
-A suicide bombing near a busy shrine in southern Afghanistan has killed at least one policeman .
-A local police official said the attacker blew himself up next to police guarding a shrine in Kandahar province filled with people celebrating the traditional new year Friday in Arghandab district .
-Several other people were wounded .
-Another bombing reported near a shrine in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif injured four people .
-And NATO said a soldier was killed on Thursday in an explosion in the south .
-The alliance did not release the soldier 's nationality or the exact location of the accident .
-But U.S. , NATO and Afghan forces are fighting daily battles against Taliban and other insurgents in southern and eastern Afghanistan .
-Afghan officials say four Taleban guerrillas were killed when the bomb they were planting on a road went off prematurely .
-The incident took place on Saturday night in restive Kandahar province in the south .
-Local officials say the insurgents ' bodies were blown to pieces .
-Taleban fighters have used roadside bombs against U.S. and Afghan government troops , especially in the south and east of the country .
-Nearly 60 U.S. soldiers and scores of Afghan troops have been killed in the Taleban insurgency this year , the bloodiest period since 2001 when U.S.-led troops ousted Taleban rulers .
-Around 2,000 Serbian nationalists marched through the streets of the ethnically-divided Kosovo town of Mitrovica Saturday , on the sixth day of protests against Kosovo 's independence .
-The city has been torn by protests since Kosovo declared independence last week .
-Most Serbs consider the seceded territory a historic heart of Serbia .
-Meanwhile , the European Union 's special representative in Kosovo has confirmed the evacuation of his personnel from Mitrovica .
-Peter Feith , the head of the EU 's peacekeeping mission in Kosovo , said Saturday that the pull-out was temporary .
-Friday , Serbian President Boris Tadic called for an end to violence after rioters opposed to Kosovo 's declaration of independence Thursday attacked the U.S. and other embassies in Belgrade .
-The demonstrators were angered by U.S. support for Kosovo 's independence declaration .
-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the United States is doing everything possible to help countries around the world locate any of their citizens missing in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina .
-In a statement released Tuesday , Ms. Rice said Ambassador Joe Sullivan has established an operations center in Baton Rouge , Louisiana .
-She said foreigners impacted by the hurricane should contact their consulates or embassies in Washington , or other facilities located throughout the country .
-Ms. Rice also said both the American and International Red Cross agencies have established websites to help people get reunited as quickly as possible .
-There were about 35 foreign consulates in New Orleans , mostly from Latin America and Europe , before floodwaters from Katrina devastated the entire U.S. city .
-All of them have suspended operations or moved elsewhere .
-The French consulate has set up a temporary office in the city of Lafayette .
-Pope Benedict has called on wealthy nations to set aside their " narrow interests " to work toward a trade deal that would help poorer countries .
-The pope Thursday said he is confident that a sense of responsibility and solidarity with disadvantaged nations will prevail at upcoming world trade talks .
-Pope Benedict noted that rural areas and independent farmers suffer greatly because they do not have access to the global marketplace .
-The pope made the comments to a delegation from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization .
-The World Trade Organization is set to meet in Hong Kong next month to discuss reaching a global trade deal .
-Past efforts have been stymied largely because of disputes over how much developed countries are willing to cut agricultural trade barriers .
-China says the death toll from an explosion in a northeastern coal mine has risen to 19 , with the confirmation of 18 more deaths .
-The official Xinhua news agency said Monday that 18 miners missing since Saturday have been found dead .
-Xinhua says the explosion occurred Saturday evening .
-One miner was found dead Sunday .
-The news agency says an initial investigation found that the operators of the mine illegally resumed production after their license had been revoked .
-China 's mines are among the most dangerous in the world , with safety standards often ignored as mine operators push production amid soaring demand for coal .
-A senior Central Intelligence Agency officer has resigned so he can speak openly about what he sees as the government 's failure to understand the threat from the al-Qaida terrorist network .
-Michael Scheuer , the former chief of the CIA 's Osama bin Laden unit , said he believes there has not been adequate national debate over the nature of the threat posed by bin Laden and the forces he leads and inspires .
-The CIA allowed Mr. Scheuer to publish his book " Imperial Hubris " anonymously and to conduct media interviews under the name " Mike . "
-But he became a critic of the U.S.-led war in Iraq , saying it has inflamed anti-American sentiment among Muslims , and his name eventually became known .
-He is also critical of how CIA resources are being used to go after al-Qaida .
-The CIA has declined to comment .
-Iran 's parliament has ordered the resumption of nuclear processing activities .
-But Iranian officials say implementation of the order will be delayed to give one last chance to talks with the European Union .
-EU foreign ministers and Iran are expected to meet within the coming days .
-Iran had previously agreed to suspend its nuclear processing program to avoid sanctions from the United Nations .
-Iran says it wants to use the processed nuclear material to produce electricity .
-But the EU and the United States worry that Iran could be developing nuclear weapons .
-France , Britain , and Germany want Tehran to abandon its enrichment activities in exchange for economic aid and backing for Iran 's efforts to join mainstream international organizations .
-Palestinians in Jerusalem marched through the streets of Bethlehem Monday celebrating the Eve of Christmas , the day before the traditional birth of Jesus Christ .
-Robert Berger is in Bethlehem and filed this on-scene report .
-Palestinian boy and girl scouts are marched through Manger Square in Bethlehem , kicking off Christmas Eve celebrations .
-They marched past the Church of the Nativity , the traditional birthplace of Jesus , playing drums and bagpipes .
-It was a festive atmosphere .
-Manger Square is decked out with Christmas Trees that light and colorful balloons .
-On a cool , sunny day a big crowd is looking on , including some pilgrims , but mostly local Palestinians .
-Christmas Eve celebrations will culminate with midnight mass at the Church of the Nativity .
-China is defending its decision to collect information on foreign journalists covering the 2008 Beijing Olympics , saying the information will be used to help the media , not to hinder reporting .
-A media official for Beijing 's Olympic organizing committee , Li Zhanjun , told reporters Tuesday that the database was not created to monitor or threaten journalists .
-Li also said it was not a blacklist and stressed that coverage at the Games would be open and transparent .
-Meanwhile , Chinese officials denied state-run media reports Monday that the government had created a database of some 30,000 accredited Olympic Games reporters .
-A report on Monday quoted China 's top media official , Liu Binjie the minister of the General Administration of Press and Publication , as saying the list was made to help clamp down on " fake reporters " and unlicensed publications .
-Brazil 's foreign minister has said he has seen indications the United States wants to block a sale of Brazilian-made military aircraft to Venezuela .
-Foreign Minister Celso Amorim told reporters Wednesday he intends to discuss the matter with U.S. officials and try to convince them not to prevent the sale .
-He says he believes Venezuela is a threat to no one and that disagreements over internal policies should not restrict transfers of technology .
-Mr. Amorim 's comments came after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Tuesday alleged Washington wanted to veto his deal with Brazilian aircraft-maker Embraer because the planes use U.S. technology .
-Reuters news service quotes a U.S. State Department spokesman who declined to comment on the veto allegation , but said the U.S. had let Brazil know it had concerns about Venezuela 's arms acquisitions .
-The U.S. airline industry is ramping up cost-cutting efforts to deal with skyrocketing fuel prices .
-Nearly all the major U.S. carriers have announced major job cuts this year .
-But airline representatives say cutting jobs is not enough .
-They 're asking lawmakers to do more to reduce fuel costs that now threaten the US airline industry .
-VOA 's Mil Arcega has more .
-Chinese state-run media say a third of China 's vast land mass has been hurt by acid rain caused by the emissions of factories and power plants .
-The official Xinhua news agency cites a parliamentary pollution report released Saturday , which says emissions of sulphur dioxide , the chemical that causes acid rain , are two times higher than safe levels .
-Sheng Huaren , the vice chairman of the parliamentary standing committee , says China 's factories discharged some 25 million tons of sulphur dioxide last year , up 27 percent from 2000 .
-He says the resulting acid rain is threatening China 's soil and food safety .
-China is struggling to balance its booming industrial growth with environmental protection .
-A series of chemical spills has cut off drinking water to millions of people over the past couple years , and air pollution is a constant problem in many cities .
-Kidnappers of four Western peace activists in Iraq have threatened to kill them unless all Iraqi prisoners are released from U.S. and Iraqi prisons .
-The kidnappers issued the threat in a videotape broadcast Saturday by the Arab television station al-Jazeera .
-The videotape , dated January 21 , apparently shows the two Canadians , one Briton and one American standing against a wall .
-The four disappeared on November 26 .
-Al-Jazeera said the kidnappers issued a statement with the tape saying it was the " last chance " for U.S. and Iraqi authorities to save the hostages .
-The latest development comes a day after al-Jazeera broadcast a video of two Germans kidnapped last Tuesday .
-In Iraq Saturday , authorities say a policeman was killed and another wounded in a roadside bomb attack in the western city of Fallujah .
-A senior NATO official says U.S.-led coalition forces plan to increase their use of the US air base in Kyrgyzstan , now that neighboring Uzbekistan has ordered American forces off a base there .
-NATO 's special representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia , Robert Simmons , made the announcement on Monday during his visit to the Kyrgyz capital , Bishkek .
-Both Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan allowed the United States to set up air bases in 2001 to help anti-terror operations in nearby Afghanistan .
-But two months ago , the Uzbek government asked Washington to leave the Karshi-Khanabad base .
-The request came just days after Washington criticized the Uzbek government for a violent military crackdown on an opposition rally in eastern Uzbekistan .
-Kyrgyz authorities , however , have said U.S. forces can use the Manas air base near Bishkek for as long as required .
-U.S. President George Bush says the nation 's entire economy is at risk , and Congress needs to approve a $ 700 billion financial rescue plan .
-In a nationally televised address Wednesday night , Mr. Bush said his administration is taking decisive action and is working with Congress to address the financial crisis .
-Mr. Bush also said action is needed to prevent a long , and painful recession .
-He acknowledged that the expensive bailout package is a " tough vote " for many members of Congress , but said failure to act would cause more severe problems later .
-Mr. Bush also said he has invited Republican presidential nominee John McCain and Democratic nominee Barack Obama to a meeting with Congressional leaders Thursday in Washington to discuss the issue .
-Pakistani police have arrested two suspected Islamic militants in connection with last week 's deadly suicide attack on a Shi'ite mosque in Karachi that killed five people , including two attackers .
-Karachi 's senior police official Fayyaz Khan says authorities captured the pair during a pre-dawn raid on a hide-out in the city 's eastern district .
-He says police also recovered explosives , two grenades and a pistol during the raid .
-The men belong to an outlawed militant group , Lashkar-e-Jhangvi , which has links with Osama bin Laden 's al-Qaida terror network .
-The May 30 mosque attack sparked riots in Karachi , where an angry mob torched a crowded U.S. fast-food outlet , killing six employees .
-The rioters also attacked a hospital and two gas stations , and bombed buses and cars .
-Indonesia 's attorney general says three Islamic militants have until the end of this month to appeal their death sentences in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people .
-Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh says it is fair to give the bombers until the end of December .
-But , he said if they do not file an appeal , the execution process will move forward .
-Lawyers for the three men have been saying for months that they will file for a case review , but have yet to do so .
-If they do file , Indonesian law requires that they produce fresh evidence .
-The al-Qaida-linked extremist network Jemaah Islamiyah has been blamed for the 2002 Bali bombings and other attacks in Indonesia .
-Insurgents have shot down a U.S. helicopter in Iraq , killing the two soldiers on board .
-The U.S. military says the helicopter crashed late Thursday near Baqubah , north of Baghdad .
-A second helicopter was damaged in the attack , but landed safely at a coalition base .
-Recently , the U.S. military said some insurgents have been using increasingly sophisticated tactics .
-This has led to intensified anti-insurgent operations in western Iraq and , beginning next week , in Baghdad .
-A U.S.-led offensive is in its third day in the Euphrates River city of Haditha , on the road to the Syrian border .
-Next week , some 40,000 Iraqi forces will cordon off Baghdad , setting up hundreds of checkpoints and conducting raids in a bid to crackdown on insurgents who have killed more than 600 people in the last month .
-Australia 's first woman prime minister was sworn in again Tuesday , less than three months after she deposed her predecessor .
-Julia Gillard took office this time at the head of a minority government after she lost her majority in polls August 21 and cobbled together a shaky coalition last week , with two independent lawmakers .
-Her center-left Labor Party controls 76 seats in the 150-member House or Representatives , meaning a single defection , resignation or death could bring down her government .
-Ms. Gillard 's new Cabinet also took the oath of office Tuesday .
-On Saturday , she named former leader Kevin Rudd as her foreign minister , less than three months after she ousted him in a surprise party coup .
-The head of the U.S. central bank says the current housing crisis in the United States demands a " vigorous response . "
-In a speech to a banking group in Florida , Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said foreclosures and late payments on mortgages are likely to continue rising " for a while longer . "
-He said the current banking industry-backed plan that has seen some lenders lowering interest rates or working out payment plans is a " step in the right direction . "
-Bernanke says it is in lenders ' interest to do more to avoid the huge cost of foreclosures .
-He says it is good for communities and the nation 's economy to offer more help to more homeowners .
-Recent declines in home values have made it difficult for troubled homeowners to solve their problems by refinancing or selling their properties .
-British Prime Minister Tony Blair launches a new bid to advance the Middle East peace process later Tuesday , with visits to Israel and the Palestinian territories .
-Mr. Blair , who has made reviving the Middle East peace process a priority , is expected to meet with his Israeli counterpart , Ariel Sharon , before heading to the West Bank for talks with Palestinian leaders .
-International diplomacy aimed at bringing Israel and the Palestinians together for peace talks have intensified since the death of Yasser Arafat last month .
-Earlier Tuesday , the British leader paid a surprise visit to Iraq , meeting with interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi in Baghdad and visiting British troops in the southern city of Basra .
-It was Mr. Blair 's first visit to Baghdad .
-He has twice previously visited British troops stationed around Basra .
-The head of the Arab League says discussions with Lebanese political rivals on ending the country 's political crisis have not produced an agreement .
-Amr Moussa warned that rival political leaders are not talking to each other and he urged them not to increase tensions .
-Moussa had been meeting in Beirut with Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora and the pro-Syrian opposition to try to bridge the differences between the two sides .
-Moussa said on Saturday that he plans to resume mediation efforts in the new year .
-In November , the Shi'ite militant group Hezbollah and its pro-Syrian allies left Lebanon 's cabinet , demanding more power in the government .
-The groups have since organized massive demonstrations in Beirut against the government .
-Prime Minister Siniora has the support of Western nations and Saudi Arabia .
-He so far has rejected demands to step down .
-U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has praised donor nations for pledging $ 4.5 billion for rebuilding Sudan , but says promises alone are not enough .
-In an opinion piece published Wednesday in The New York Times , Mr. Annan again urged the donors to immediately convert their pledges to cash .
-He also called for more protection forces in Sudan 's war-torn western Darfur region to prevent " yet more death and suffering . "
-Donor nations meeting in Oslo this week pledged $ 4.5 billion to help rebuild southern Sudan after 21 years of civil war .
-U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick said Tuesday that the U.S. pledge of nearly $ 2 billion is contingent upon Khartoum putting an end to atrocities committed in Darfur .
-Heritage Media Corp. , New York , said it offered to buy the shares of POP Radio Corp. it does n't already own in a stock swap .
-Heritage , which owns 51 % of POP 's 3.6 million shares outstanding , said it will exchange one share of a new preferred stock for each POP common share it does n't already own .
-Depending upon how many warrants and options are exercised prior to completion of the transaction , Heritage would issue between 1.8 million and 2.35 million preferred shares , a Heritage spokesman estimated .
-In national over-the-counter trading yesterday , POP plunged $ 4 to $ 14.75 .
-The preferred stock , which would have a dividend rate of $ 1.76 a year , would be convertible into Heritage common at a rate of four common shares for each preferred .
-New York-based POP Radio provides , through a national , in-store network , a customized music , information and advertising service which simulates live radio .
-Heritage owns and operates television and radio stations and in-store advertising and promotion programs .
-The economy of Sint Maarten centers around tourism with nearly four-fifths of the labor force engaged in this sector .
-Over one million visitors come to the island each year - 1.3 million in 2008 - with most arriving through the Princess Juliana International Airport .
-Cruise ships and yachts also call on Sint Maarten 's numerous ports and harbors .
-No significant agriculture and limited local fishing means that almost all food must be imported .
-Energy resources and manufactured goods are also imported .
-Sint Maarten had the highest per capita income among the five islands that formerly comprised the Netherlands Antilles .
-The Bahamas is one of the wealthiest Caribbean countries with an economy heavily dependent on tourism and offshore banking .
-Tourism together with tourism-driven construction and manufacturing accounts for approximately 60 % of GDP and directly or indirectly employs half of the archipelago 's labor force .
-Prior to 2006 , a steady growth in tourism receipts and a boom in construction of new hotels , resorts , and residences led to solid GDP growth but since then tourism receipts have begun to drop off .
-The global recession in 2009 took a sizeable toll on the Bahamas , resulting in a contraction in GDP and a widening budget deficit .
-The decline continued in 2010 as tourism from the US and sector investment lagged .
-Financial services constitute the second-most important sector of the Bahamian economy and , when combined with business services , account for about 36 % of GDP .
-However , the financial sector currently is smaller than it has been in the past because of the enactment of new and stricter financial regulations in 2000 that caused many international businesses to relocate elsewhere .
-Manufacturing and agriculture combined contribute approximately a tenth of GDP and show little growth , despite government incentives aimed at those sectors .
-Overall growth prospects in the short run rest heavily on the fortunes of the tourism sector .
-First discovered by the Norwegians in the 12th century , the islands served as an international whaling base during the 17th and 18th centuries .
-Norway 's sovereignty was recognized in 1920 ; five years later it officially took over the territory .
-Established in 1891 , the British protectorate of Nyasaland became the independent nation of Malawi in 1964 .
-After three decades of one-party rule under President Hastings Kamuzu BANDA the country held multiparty elections in 1994 , under a provisional constitution that came into full effect the following year .
-Current President Bingu wa MUTHARIKA , elected in May 2004 after a failed attempt by the previous president to amend the constitution to permit another term , struggled to assert his authority against his predecessor and subsequently started his own party , the Democratic Progressive Party ( DPP ) in 2005 .
-As president , MUTHARIKA has overseen some economic improvement .
-Population growth , increasing pressure on agricultural lands , corruption , and the spread of HIV / AIDS pose major problems for Malawi .
-MUTHARIKA was reelected to a second term in May 2009 .
-Named after Captain COOK , who sighted them in 1770 , the islands became a British protectorate in 1888 .
-By 1900 , administrative control was transferred to New Zealand ; in 1965 , residents chose self-government in free association with New Zealand .
-The emigration of skilled workers to New Zealand and government deficits are continuing problems .
-THE DOLPHINS and Whales waged a fierce war with each other .
-When the battle was at its height , a Sprat lifted its head out of the waves and said that he would reconcile their differences if they would accept him as an umpire .
-One of the Dolphins replied , " We would far rather be destroyed in our battle with each other than admit any interference from you in our affairs . "
-One hot summer 's day a Fox was strolling through an orchard till he came to a bunch of Grapes just ripening on a vine which had been trained over a lofty branch .
-" Just the thing to quench my thirst , " quoth he .
-Drawing back a few paces , he took a run and a jump , and just missed the bunch .
-Turning round again with a One , Two , Three , he jumped up , but with no greater success .
-Again and again he tried after the tempting morsel , but at last had to give it up , and walked away with his nose in the air , saying : " I am sure they are sour . "
-It is easy to despise what you can not get .
-The NBA season is so long the players seldom get time to spend at home with their butlers and chauffeurs .
-A man walked into a Circle-K , put a $ 20 bill on the counter and asked for change .
-When the clerk opened the cash drawer , the man pulled out a gun and asked for all the cash in the register , which the clerk promptly provided .
-The man took the cash from the clerk and fled , leaving the $ 20 bill on the counter .
-The total amount of cash he got from the drawer ?
-Fifteen dollars .
-If someone points a gun at you and gives you money , was a crime committed ?
-John decided life would be much easier if he had a clone .
-So he had one made and sent him to work in his place while he stayed home and relaxed .
-Soon this backfired when the clone came home and said he 'd been fired for making sexual comments to the women in the office .
-John decided , he had to get rid of his clone before things got any worse .
-John took his clone to the top of a tall building and pushed him off .
-Unfortunately , someone saw John and he was arrested and convicted for making an obscene clone fall .
-During a visit to a military medical clinic , I was sent to the lab to have blood drawn .
-The technician there was friendly and mentioned that his mood improved every day because he was due to leave the service in two months .
-As he applied the tourniquet on my arm , he told me that taking the blood would n't hurt much .
-Then , noticing my Air Force T-shirt , he asked me what my husband did .
-When I replied that he was a recruiter , the technician smiled slyly and said , " This might hurt a little more than I thought . "
-A Missouri farmer passed away and left 17 mules to his three sons .
-The instructions left in the will said that the oldest boy was to get one-half , the second oldest one-third , and the youngest one-ninth .
-The three sons , recognizing the difficulty of dividing 17 mules into these fractions , began to argue .
-Their uncle heard about the argument , hitched up his mule and drove out to settle the matter .
-He added his mule to the 17 , making 18 .
-The oldest therefore got one-half , or nine , the second oldest got one-third , or six , and the youngest son got one-ninth , or two .
-Adding up 9 , 6 and 2 equals 17 .
-The uncle , having settled the argument , hitched up his mule and drove home .
-Thousands of fisherman from Spain , Portugal and Italy have gone on strike to join other European protests against soaring fuel prices .
-Spanish fisherman say almost the entire Spanish fleet , the largest in Europe , remained in port on Friday .
-Trawlers and larger commercial boats also remained docked at ports across Portugal .
-And in Italy , about 12,000 fisherman joined the strike .
-French fisherman have already been on strike for two weeks , at times blocking oil terminals and disrupting shipping traffic .
-In Madrid Friday , fishermen gathered outside the Environment , Agriculture and Fishing Ministry , where they handed out more than 20 tons of free fish to try to win public support .
-The fisherman say rapidly rising fuel costs are threatening their livelihoods .
-Spanish Economy Minister Pedro Solbes told reporters Friday the government is looking into ways to help the fishermen but can not cut fuel taxes .
-A top U.S. aid official in Iraq has defended the pace of reconstruction there and detailed several projects tapped to receive a share of $ 4.3 billion in reconstruction funds .
-U.S. Agency for International Development administrator ( USAID ) Andrew Natsios said those funds have been earmarked for repairing electricity grids , constructing water treatment plants and power stations , and building hundreds of schools , firehouses , clinics and police stations .
-Mr. Natsios said $ 86 million has been allocated to Iraq 's electoral commission and several non-government organizations preparing for the January elections .
-Mr. Natsios acknowledged that the ongoing insurgency has slowed rebuilding efforts , but said he is optimistic about Iraq 's future .
-Turkish troops have killed two more Kurdish rebels in an overnight clash in the Tunceli region of eastern Turkey .
-The latest clash occurred Friday in an area where government troops have been conducting military operations against the rebels in the Kurdistan Worker 's Party , or PKK .
-The Turkish military said three Kurdish militants were killed in the same area on Thursday .
-Also Thursday , Turkish authorities said suspected militants killed at least four forestry workers and wounded four others .
-The attack occurred in Bingol province in southeastern Turkey .
-Turkey has sent more troops and tanks to the Tunceli region amid speculation about a possible Turkish incursion against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq .
-The PKK has been fighting for autonomy in Turkey 's mainly Kurdish southeast since 1984 .
-The United States , the European Union and Turkey classify the PKK as a terrorist group .
-Saudi Arabia has taken a firm stance with Syria , telling its president to begin fully removing his troops from Lebanon in accordance with a United Nations resolution , or Saudi-Syrian relations will suffer .
-A Saudi official said Crown Prince Abdullah delivered the warning Thursday during a meeting in Riyadh with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad .
-At the United Nations , Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he will be sending his special envoy , Terje Roed-Larsen , to Damascus and Beirut to discuss removing Syria 's 14,000 troops in accordance with U.N. Resolution 1559 .
-Mr. Annan said he hopes to be able to report progress on the Syrian withdrawal to the Security Council in April .
-In Beirut , pro-Syrian politicians ignored opposition demands for a full Syrian withdrawal as a pre-condition for joining the new government .
-Instead they have called for dialogue through the formation of a national unity government .
-Pakistan 's prime minister says he will push forward the ongoing peace process with India when he meets his Indian counterpart , Manmohan Singh , in New Delhi next month .
-Shaukat Aziz travels to India and two other South Asian nations after the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr in the third week of November .
-In New Delhi , he is also scheduled to meet with Congress party leader , Sonia Gandhi Mr. Aziz told reporters Sunday that Pakistan desires to resolve all issues peacefully with every country , including India .
-Pakistan and India , who have fought three wars , have been engaged in formal peace talks since January .
-Mr. Aziz also said President Pervez Musharraf 's comments on Kashmir last week were meant to stir a debate within Pakistan , not as a proposal for India .
-Some of this information provided by AP and Reuters .
-A handgun once owned by Elvis Presley was stolen from a museum in the music titan 's home town of Memphis , Tennessee .
-Authorities said the black , 9 mm Smith & Wesson pistol was stolen from a display case in the Elvis After Dark museum , across the street from Presley 's Graceland mansion .
-A video camera caught a man removing the pistol from the display case around midnight .
-The theft came to light on August 17 , when a visitor noticed an unfastened glass panel on the case .
-Officials from Graceland , which owns the museum , subsequently viewed the video tape .
-Presley died at Graceland on August 16 , 1977 , and is buried in a small garden beside the house .
-Thousands of visitors from around the world have journeyed to Memphis to observe the 30th anniversary of his death .
-Russian-born ice dancer Sergey Magerovskiy has become a United States citizen and is now eligible to compete with partner Tiffany Stiegler to represent the United States at the Turin Winter Olympics in February .
-USA Figure Skating says Magerovskiy was sworn-in during a ceremony in Detroit on Wednesday .
-In 2002 , he married American Rebecca Palmer , his former partner , and applied for naturalization under U.S. law after three years of marriage .
-The Olympics is the only major global figure skating competition where both partners must be from the same nation .
-The move comes one week after a special bill was passed by the U.S. Congress regarding U.S. citizenship for aliens of extraordinary ability , including that of U.S. ice dancing champion Tanith Belbin from Canada .
-Afghanistan 's Taleban regime , which was driven from power by U.S.-led forces , has launched a clandestine radio station that is being heard in that country 's southern provinces .
-The pirate radio station , called Shariat Shagh or Voice of Shariat , operates from a mobile transmitter and broadcasts anti-U.S. and anti-government propaganda and Islamic hymns .
-It can be heard in regions of the country which were once the strongholds of the fundamentalist movement .
-The Voice of Shariat comes as a bloody insurgency still rages in parts of Afghanistan , particularly in the south .
-A Taleban spokesman said the radio station will tell listeners about the Taleban 's thoughts and objectives .
-U.S.-led forces toppled the Taleban government after it refused to hand over al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden , architect of the September 11 , 2001 , attacks against the U.S.
-A flurry of economic reports on Monday paint a mixed picture of the U.S. economy .
-The Commerce Department says sales of newly-built homes dropped 9.2 percent in January .
-Home sales have been central to the U.S. economic expansion over the past year , boosted by low mortgage rates that allowed home buyers to take out larger loans .
-A separate report on manufacturing in the Chicago area showed factory work expanding at an accelerated rate in February .
-Economists track the key area for clues about the nation-wide health of the troubled factory sector .
-Still another government report showed U.S. consumer spending did not grow in January , while a measure of inflation rose .
-Consumer spending offers indications of the overall health of the U.S. economy .
-The United Nations says the Haitian government has initialed an agreement to receive $ 41 million in aid to prepare for elections later this year .
-A U.N. statement issued Tuesday said the funds will come from Canada , the European Union and the United States .
-Haiti itself pledged three million dollars .
-U.N. Special Representative Juan Gabriel Valdes said the aid package showed that there was strong international support for what he called " the establishment of a stable atmosphere for elections and for the return of constitutional order in Haiti . "
-On Monday , the International Monetary Fund approved $ 15.6 million for Haiti , saying the money is intended to help the nation recover from an extended period of political conflict .
-Last February , then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide fled the Caribbean nation amid an armed rebellion .
-He now lives in exile in South Africa .
-Ivory Coast 's new transitional prime minister , Charles Konan Banny , says he hopes to restore trust in the divided country .
-Mr. Banny made the comment after meeting with President Laurent Gbagbo in Abidjan late Monday , one day after his appointment by African mediators .
-VOA 's West Africa correspondent Nico Colombant says Mr. Banny is expected to meet with outgoing Prime Minister Seydou Diarra Tuesday .
-United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has urged Mr. Banny 's government to immediately begin implementing a transition plan designed to lead to new elections by next October .
-A U.N. resolution gives the new prime minister expanded authority to carry out electoral reforms and push for rebel disarmament .
-Mr. Banny is governor of West Africa 's central bank .
-African mediators appointed him prime minister on Sunday , ending a deadlock between Mr. Gbagbo , opposition leaders and rebels .
-Rain has washed out the entire first day of the fifth and final cricket test between South Africa and England in Centurion .
-The start of Friday 's match was delayed twice , but as rain continued to fall it was clear the players would not be able to take the field at all .
-Occasional thundershowers are predicted for Saturday .
-England leads South Africa in the series 02-Jan .
-The second test ended in a draw .
-South Africa named all rounder Andrew Hall and fast bowler Andre Nel to the starting line-up , replacing batsman Boeta Dippenaar and fast bowler Dale Steyn .
-England made just one change to the team that won the fourth test .
-Simon Jones was recalled for James Anderson , who bowled without much control in the fourth test .
-The Cannes Film Festival has named Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai as the head of this year 's international jury .
-His selection marks the first time a Chinese film maker has headed the nearly 60-year-old awards festival .
-Mr. Wong 's 1997 film Happy Together earned him a best director award from the festival .
-His other films include In The Mood For Love ( 2000 ) and the stylized sci-fi movie 2047 ( 2004 ) .
-On Wednesday , festival organizers issued a statement from Mr. Wong in which he said he is honored to serve as jury president .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says he would welcome a visit by U.S. State Department official Thomas Shannon , but he says the diplomat should not come to cause problems .
-Mr. Chavez made the comment in his weekly radio address Sunday .
-The president said Shannon contacted his foreign minister to say he wants to visit Venezuela .
-Mr. Chavez said if Shannon shows Venezuela respect , it will show him respect in return .
-Shannon is the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs Earlier this month in Caracas , Chavez supporters pelted the car of U.S. Ambassador William Brownfield with eggs and vegetables as he left a charity event .
-Mr. Chavez had accused the ambassador of repeatedly engaging in provocative activity .
-The United States threatened to restrict the movements of Venezuela 's ambassador to Washington , Bernando Alvarez , if there is another such incident .
-Sri Lankan officials say eight government troops have been killed by a land mine explosion in the north of the country .
-Officials say suspected Tamil rebels detonated the land mine Thursday , as a Sri Lankan navy convoy passed through the northern district of Vavuniya .
-The blast destroyed a navy bus , killing at least eight sailors .
-Dozens of Sri Lankan troops have died in attacks blamed on Tamil rebels in recent weeks .
-The violence has severely strained a cease-fire agreed by the two sides in 2002 .
-The rebels have threatened to resume their armed struggle unless the government gives them a separate Tamil homeland in the north and east of the country .
-Former Beatle Paul McCartney and his wife Heather have donated nearly $ 2 million to the tsunami relief efforts .
-The couple said in a statement they were giving the money to the International Rescue Committee UK , an independent British charity that operates in Indonesia 's Aceh province .
-A spokesman for the charity told the British media they were overwhelmed by the couple 's generous gesture .
-He said the group will use the money to deploy mobile emergency teams in Aceh to supply clean drinking water and medicines to the needy .
-A source close to the couple said that , like most people , they were moved by the devastation and wanted to do their part to help in the British effort .
-Officials in the main Palestinian faction , Fatah , say jailed leader Marwan Barghouti has decided to run for Palestinian president .
-But it remains unclear if the senior Fatah member will run as an independent .
-The outspoken leader is serving five life sentences in an Israeli prison for the murder of five Israelis .
-News of his intention to run surfaced Thursday , the same day that Fatah leaders confirmed former Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas as their candidate in the January 9 election .
-Barghouti had earlier said he would not run if Fatah chose Mr. Abbas as its candidate .
-In other developments , the Israeli army says two senior Hamas members were killed and a third wounded during an arrest operation in the West Bank town of Hebron .
-Donatella Versace 's daughter Allegra is battling anorexia .
-In a statement released by her spokesman Robert Zimmerman , the Italian fashion designer and her estanged husband , Paul Beck , said their 20-year-old daughter has had the eating disorder for years , and is currently receiving treatment .
-Donatella Versace first confirmed the news on the syndicated U.S. television show The Insider , following speculation about her daughter 's gaunt appearance .
-She and Paul Beck are legally separated .
-The United Nations says the devastation caused in Bangladesh by Cyclone Sidr last month is far worse than previously thought .
-The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says nearly 2.6 million Bangladeshis across nine districts still need emergency assistance .
-The total number of people affected by the cyclone was about 8.5 million , 1.5 million more than initially thought .
-The U.N. says property damage is also more severe than first reported .
-Nearly 5,64,000 homes were destroyed , up from initial estimates of 2,00,000 .
-The confirmed death toll from the cyclone is 3,268 .
-The U.N. says food , shelter and cash are needed the most in terms of emergency aid .
-Proper sanitation and clean water are also high priorities .
-The November 15 cyclone was the worst in Bangladesh in more than a decade .
-It struck the coast with fierce winds and a tidal surge that wiped out villages .
-A bomb blast in Pakistan 's northwestern city of Peshawar has wounded eight people just hours after the U.S. consulate was temporarily closed after receiving a threat .
-Police say the blast was caused by explosives planted on a motorcycle parked in a crowded bazaar in the city center .
-Police say it seems the place where the blast occurred was not the target , and that the attacker was transporting the bomb .
-Earlier on Tuesday , a spokeswoman for the U.S. embassy in Islamabad said its consulate in Peshawar has been temporarily closed after receiving a " specific and credible " threat .
-Peruvian lawmakers have rejected votes of no confidence against the country 's prime and transport ministers .
-Opposition lawmakers accused Prime Minister Carlos Ferrero of not doing enough to offset the effects of high world oil prices .
-The opposition also called for the dismissal of Transport Minister Jose Ortiz over problems within the country 's airline sector .
-Peru 's top airline was suspended from flying last month due to an ownership dispute , while its second-biggest carrier was grounded for safety reasons .
-Peru 's Congress fired the country 's interior minister in May over accusations he mishandled a riot in southern Peru .
-Heavy rain and snow in Pakistani Kashmir has grounded relief flights to survivors of last year 's earthquake for a third consecutive day .
-The bad weather also forced former President George Bush , the father of the current president , to postpone a flight to the regional capital , Muzaffarabad .
-The elder Mr. Bush is visiting Pakistan in his role as a United Nations special envoy for earthquake relief .
-He greeted earthquake refugees Tuesday at a tent camp on the outskirts of Islamabad .
-On Monday , he discussed aid and reconstruction efforts with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf .
-U.N. officials say the world body is still far short of the $ 500 million it needs to sustain relief operations for the three million people made homeless by last October 's earthquake .
-Afghanistan 's border police say a U.S.-led coalition warplane has mistakenly killed 12 police officers in the eastern part of the country .
-Afghan Commander Abdul Rahman said the aircraft attacked a patrol Thursday in Paktika province .
-A coalition spokesman says the report is being investigated .
-He had no further details .
-U.S.-backed coalition forces began investigating in April two cases in which civilians and Afghan security forces may have been killed by friendly fire .
-Coalition forces are hunting down Taleban insurgents in the province .
-Earlier , Afghan officials said two suicide bomb attacks in the south of the country wounded seven Afghan policemen and one foreign soldier .
-Russian forces have begun withdrawing from a Soviet-era base in Georgia .
-A train carrying tanks , armored personnel carriers and other support vehicles left the base at Akhalkalaki Monday on its way back to Russia .
-Under an agreement with Georgia , the base will close by the end of 2007 , while a Russian airbase at Batumi will close by the end of 2008 .
-Meanwhile , negotiators from Georgia and its breakaway region of Abkhazia have met in Tbilisi Monday for talks on security , economic and refugee issues .
-Officials from both sides called the United Nations-hosted talks productive .
-The discussions were the first after a five-year break Abkhazia has acted as an independent state since it drove out Georgian troops in the early 1990s .
-However , it is not recognized by other countries , and Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has pledged to bring Abkhazia back under central government control .
-British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is heading to Washington Monday for talks with U.S. President Barack Obama on forging a global pact aimed at fighting the world economic crisis .
-Mr. Brown will meet with Mr. Obama Tuesday at the White House .
-On Wednesday , the British leader will address the U.S Senate and House of Representatives .
-Mr. Brown wrote in London 's " Sunday Times " that he and President Obama will discuss " a global new deal , whose impact can stretch from the villages of Africa to reforming the financial institutions of London and New York . "
-Mr. Brown said all nations should agree to inject cash into their economies , agree to international banking reforms and an overhaul of financial institutions .
-He will be the first European leader to meet with Mr. Obama since the president took office in January .
-Alberto Gonzales has been formally sworn in as U.S. attorney general , saying he welcomes the opportunity to serve as the country 's top law enforcement official .
-President Bush introduced Mr. Gonzales , the country 's first Hispanic attorney general , at a ceremony in Washington D.C. Monday .
-The president said Mr. Gonzales will lead efforts to protect the United States against another terrorist attack and will pursue criminals at home while protecting the liberty of all Americans .
-The president called his former White House counsel a good friend .
-Mr. Gonzales accepted the post of attorney general earlier this month , after winning Senate confirmation in a 60-to-36 vote .
-He replaced John Ashcroft .
-Many Democrats criticized the nomination , saying Mr. Gonzales has helped shape Bush administration policy that contributed to prisoner abuse overseas .
-Pakistan officials say they will close four camps holding 2,40,000 refugees from Afghanistan within about six months .
-The announcement was made after Pakistani and Afghan ministers met with United Nations High Commission for Refugees officials in Pakistan 's capital , Islamabad , Wednesday .
-More than two million Afghan refugees currently live in camps in Pakistan .
-Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz told NATO and European Union officials last week that the refugee camps along the border with Afghanistan provide recruiting grounds and safe havens for terrorists .
-He said he needs European help in repatriating the people who live in the camps .
-Diplomats from Iran made their first visit Saturday to five Iranians who have been detained by U.S. forces in northern Iraq .
-U.S. military officials say the five , who were detained in January , were helping militants in Iraq fight against U.S. and Iraqi forces .
-Tehran says the men are diplomats and is demanding their release .
-An Iraqi foreign ministry statement today said it hoped that the gesture would help ease tensions and facilitate dialogue between the U.S. and Iran .
-In late May , the United States held its highest level talks with Iran in almost 30 years .
-U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker met with his Iranian counterpart , Hassan Kazemi Qomi .
-During that meeting , Crocker asked Iran to stop supporting militias in Iraq .
-British Prime Minister Tony Blair is in Egypt to discuss ways to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process .
-Mr. Blair held talks in Cairo Saturday with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak , whose government is a key mediator between Israel and the Palestinians .
-The British leader welcomed a call from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to hold new elections .
-He said it is a sign that Mr. Abbas is seeking to overcome a deadlock amid rising tensions between his Fatah party and Hamas .
-Mr. Blair also called on the international community to support Mr. Abbas in order to boost peace efforts .
-After leaving Cairo , Mr. Blair is to travel to Israel and the Palestinian territories .
-Friday , Mr. Blair was in Ankara for talks with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan .
-Members of parliament in Benin have voted to change the country 's constitution , extending their terms in office by one year .
-Local media report the controversial vote took place behind closed doors late Friday night .
-An overwhelming majority of members voted for the change , with 71 members supporting the change and eight against it .
-Benin 's constitution grants lawmakers four-year terms .
-The next legislative election is scheduled for early next year .
-If the change is approved by the country 's constitutional court , terms will be five years and legislative elections will be pushed back to 2008 .
-Lawmakers argued that the change would bring their elections in line with presidential elections .
-They are held every five years in the Benin .
-Opposition groups said changing the constitution threatens the west African country 's young democracy and is merely a power grab by members of the national assembly .
-Iran and Syria say they will form a united front to confront challenges and threats from other countries .
-Syrian Prime Minister Naji Otri , who is in Tehran Wednesday , said the meeting of the two allies comes at a very important and delicate time , when both countries are facing numerous challenges .
-Iran 's vice president , Mohammad Reza Aref , told reporters that Tehran is ready to help Syria on all grounds to confront threats .
-Iran has been under intense U.S. and European pressure to abandon its nuclear activities , while Washington has accused Syria of being a haven for anti-Iraqi insurgents .
-Tuesday , Washington recalled its ambassador to Syria for consultations , a day after Lebanon 's former prime minister , Rafik Hariri , was killed in a Beirut car bombing .
-An EU naval force spokesman says ransom has been paid for the release of a Singapore-flagged chemical tanker , held for nearly two months by Somali pirates .
-John Harbor said the money was delivered on Friday morning .
-He said he expects the pirates to release the crew and leave the ship within about 24 hours , after counting the money .
-The ransom amount was not specified .
-The chemical tanker Pramoni was hijacked on January 1 in the Gulf of Aden .
-The crew includes 17 Indonesians , five Chinese , one Vietnamese and one Nigerian .
-Somali pirates have made tens of millions of dollars over the past two years hijacking ships for ransom .
-Multinational naval forces have stopped many attacks near the coast , but pirates have increasingly focused their efforts on the Indian Ocean , an area too large for foreign navies to effectively patrol .
-United Nations offices around the world have observed a minute of silence for those killed in the 2003 terrorist bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad .
-In New York Friday , U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette laid a wreath in front of the memorial plaque honoring the victims of the August 19 attack .
-The huge explosion killed 22 people , including the top U.N. envoy in Iraq , Sergio Vieira de Mello , and injured hundreds of others .
-In a statement , U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan hailed those killed in the bombings , calling them courageous and devoted to helping people in impoverished lands and war-torn countries build better lives .
-Mr. Annan withdrew the U.N. international staff from Iraq in October , 2003 , following a second attack on its offices in Baghdad and a series of attacks on humanitarian workers throughout Iraq .
-Since 2004 , they have slowly been allowed to return .
-Venezuela 's ambassador to Cuba says President Fidel Castro is eating again and his health has significantly improved since intestinal surgery last year .
-Ali Rodriguez Araque told Venezuelan state television Thursday that the Cuban leader could not eat for a period following his surgery .
-But , Rodriguez Araque says now that Mr. Castro is eating again , he is improving .
-Last month , Cuba 's state television broadcast images of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez meeting with Mr. Castro in Havana .
-It was the first image released of the Cuban president in three months .
-The Cuban government treats the 80-year-old leader 's health as a state secret .
-After his surgery in late July , Mr. Castro temporarily handed power over to his younger brother , Defense Minister Raul Castro .
-A top Russian energy official says Iran is ready for detailed discussions on Moscow 's proposal to conduct Tehran 's uranium enrichment in Russia .
-Sergei Kiryenko , the head of Russia 's atomic energy agency , made the announcement Friday , during a televised meeting with President Vladimir Putin .
-Kiryenko says Iranian officials were due to visit Moscow in the coming days to discuss the plan .
-The proposal for uranium to be enriched in Russia for use in Iranian reactors is aimed at eliminating concerns that Tehran could enrich its own uranium for use in nuclear weapons .
-The United States and European Union have backed the Russian proposal as a way to break the deadlock over Iran 's nuclear program .
-The U.S. accuses Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons .
-Tehran insists its nuclear intentions are peaceful .
-Iraqi authorities say at least 40 people have been killed and more than 70 wounded in multiple bomb attacks Wednesday .
-The first attack took place at an army recruiting center in southern Iraq , in the town of Hilla .
-A time bomb planted on a parked bicycle exploded and ripped through a crowd of young men outside the military office , killing 12 of them and wounding 38 .
-In Baghdad , police say at least 24 people were killed and 35 were wounded by a bomb that exploded in the commercial neighborhood of Shurja where clothing and household products are sold .
-Three more people were killed and others were injured by several other bomb blasts in different parts of the Iraqi capital .
-Today 's attacks took place despite an intensified security clampdown in Baghdad by U.S. and Iraqi forces .
-Pakistan 's cricket team has scored 50-1 after India declared its first innings at 616-5 in the second test at the Eden Gardens ground in Kolkata , India .
-A double century from Wasim Jaffer ( 202 ) and centuries from Sourav Ganguly and V.V.S. Laxman put India in a commanding position .
-Ganguly delighted the home crowd with his first century at Eden Gardens , scoring 102 before holing out to Sohail Tanvir .
-Laxman added 112 not out and wicket keeper Mahendra Dhoni was 50 not out when Anil Kumble declared the innings .
-Pakistan managed 50 runs with Salman Butt on 26 and stand-in captain Younis Khan at three when play was stopped .
-India won the first match of the three-test series in New Delhi by six wickets .
-The third test in Bangalore begins December 8th .
-The home side also took a five-match one-day series , 03-Feb .
-Sudan 's President Omar al-Bashir has vowed to defend a peace deal ending more than 20 years of war in southern Sudan .
-Speaking in the southwestern town of Waw on Saturday , Mr. Bashir said the nation 's troops would prevent any efforts to block implementation of the deal signed with rebels last week .
-In recent days , Mr. Bashir has visited several key towns in the south , promising greater cooperation and investment from Khartoum .
-The peace deal grants some autonomy to the south and requires local leaders and Khartoum to share oil wealth .
-Meantime , southern rebel leader John Garang told British radio that Sudanese officials must pursue a similar deal to end a separate conflict in the western Darfur region .
-Ugandan Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa says his country has no plans to attack the Democratic Republic of Congo , but will defend its own territory .
-Mr. Kutesa has departed Congo 's capital , Kinshasa , following talks with President Joseph Kabila late Monday that focused on defusing tension caused by recent border violence .
-On August 3 , a British oil worker was killed during an attack on an oil exploration barge in Lake Albert .
-Then last week , gunmen who crossed the border from Congo looted shops in a Ugandan border town and killed three civilians .
-Uganda and Congo have had strained relations for many years , with Uganda regularly threatening to send troops across the border if Kinshasa does not take action against lawless groups in eastern Congo .
-New Yorkers are trudging through their third day without bus or train service , as a transit strike keeps the city in turmoil .
-As residents walked , jogged or biked to work this Thursday morning , union leaders and transit officials met for their first talks since the strike began .
-That meeting came after three union leaders were threatened with jail for defying a state law against strikes by public workers .
-The union already is being fined $ 1 million each day of the walkout .
-The strike has shut down New York 's huge subway and bus network , crippling normal travel arrangements for millions of people .
-Business is down sharply at the city 's famous shops and department stores , as well as at restaurants , museums and theaters .
-The strike also comes during the busy holiday period , costing the local economy hundreds of millions of dollars a day .
-France has defeated Spain , 5-0 , to earn a place in the finals of the Fed Cup women 's tennis competition in Moscow .
-The French started the day Thursday , up 2-0 , and then swept the reverse singles and the doubles competition .
-Nathalie Dechy of France defeated Anabel Medina Garrigues in straight sets , 06-Mar , 06-Jan .
-Tatiana Golovin of France downed Marta Marrero of Spain 06-Mar , 06-Apr .
-Marion Bartoli and Emilie Loit of France then defeated Marta Marrero and Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain in the doubles 07-May , 06-Feb .
-The French are trying to win their third Fed Cup title and are bidding to become the first nation since the United States in 1999 - 2000 to win two successive Fed Cup titles .
-France takes on the winner of the Russia-Austria series .
-Russia leads that series , 2-0 .
-Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is rejecting an idea published by Israel media that would create a Palestinian state within temporary borders .
-In a speech to his Fatah party in Ramallah on Saturday , Mr. Abbas said the idea was being presented as a way to move the Middle East peace process forward .
-He added that Palestinians would not accept such a deal and restated his call for full Palestinian statehood .
-On Friday , Mr. Abbas met with U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell who traveled to the region in an effort to kick-start indirect Israeli-Palestinian peace talks .
-Mitchell also met on Friday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu , who said Israel is " serious " about restarting negotiations .
-The U.S. envoy is scheduled to meet with Mr. Netanyahu again on Sunday .
-Mitchell said Friday the United States hopes to see a development to advance the peace process relatively soon .
-The United Nations food agency says it will run out of food for millions of hungry Kenyans unless donors immediately provide more aid .
-The World Food Program says it has enough cereals to last until April , but will run out of other badly needed food items by the end of this month .
-WFP officials said Saturday more aid must come within the next 10 days or the consequences will be catastrophic .
-A spokesman ( Peter Smerdon ) says the WFP has received just $ 28 million of the $ 225 million needed for the Kenya program .
-Kenyans have been dying of food shortages due to drought , and three-and-a-half million more people are on the brink of starvation .
-At least 11 million people are facing starvation across East Africa .
-The president of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries says the oil cartel should keep producing the current amount of oil and consider raising its quotas .
-The comments came Monday from OPEC President Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahd al-Sabah , who is also Kuwait 's oil minister .
-OPEC officials are scheduled to gather in Iran on March 16 to discuss oil supplies and prices .
-World oil prices pushed above $ 52 a barrel Monday as forecasters said a winter storm would dump significant snow on the northeastern part of the United States , pushing up demand for heating oil .
-U.S. stock markets are making strong gains in Friday 's trading , with key stock indexes up as much as three percent .
-Traders are watching as the U.S. House of Representatives considers a massive government-sponsored bailout plan for the financial sector .
-European markets also posted strong gains .
-It was a different story in Asia , where Japan 's benchmark Nikkei index fell two percent , and Hong Kong 's Hang Seng index was down nearly three percent .
-China has mobilized its huge army to guard against bird flu in its ranks after the country reported its fourth outbreak of the disease .
-The People 's Liberation Army Daily newspaper said Saturday the 2.3-million-strong army should make urgent plans to detect the virus and stop its spread .
-The news came as Indonesian officials said a woman who died in October had bird flu , bringing the number of deaths in that country to five .
-A child related to the woman is being treated in a Jakarta hospital after testing positive for the disease , bringing the number of Indonesian cases to nine .
-The confirmation of the two cases Saturday came a day after China , Vietnam and Japan reported fresh outbreaks of bird flu in poultry .
-A Serbian court has found 14 former Serb militia members guilty of the 1991 killings of more than 200 civilians outside the Croatian city of Vukovar .
-The special court in Belgrade Monday sentenced the defendants including one woman to prison terms ranging from five to 20 years .
-In November 1991 , Yugoslav troops rounded up the Croat victims from Vukovar hospital , where they awaited evacuation to safety , and took them to pits where firing squads shot them .
-The bodies were discovered later in a mass grave at a farm outside of Vukovar .
-Three Yugoslav military officers , General Mile Mrksic , Captain Miroslav Radic and Colonel Veselin Sljivancanin face trial before The Hague war crimes tribunal for their role in the deaths .
-The United States said Friday it hopes India sends " a clear message " regarding human rights when Burma 's military leader visits New Delhi .
-A delegation including Burma 's senior general , Than Shwe , is expected to be in India for meetings next week .
-U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said India should let Burma know that " it needs to change its course . "
-He said Burma 's ruling military government needs to be told that it should " constructively engage its opposition and other ethnic groups within Burma . "
-He also said Burma has a responsibility to protect " the region against the risk of proliferation . "
-Than Shwe is expected to meet with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his visit .
-Developing countries say a U.N. climate change report being drafted in Thailand should acknowledge that poor nations contribute little to global warming , but suffer its worst effects .
-Delegates from poor nations attending the climate change conference in Bangkok this week also are demanding that rich countries share their cleaner energy-producing technologies .
-A Sri Lankan delegate says some developing countries are forced to burn fossil fuels because they can not afford to develop more environmentally friendly methods of generating power .
-Scientists and experts from about 120 countries are negotiating the contents of the U.N. climate change report , which is expected to be released at the end of the conference on Friday .
-The report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is expected to call for the world to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by investing in renewable energy and reforestation .
-Somalia 's interim government remained deadlocked over peacekeeping troops Friday , after a contentious vote in the fledgling parliament erupted into a bloody brawl .
-A majority of parliamentarians voted Thursday against the Somali president 's call for peacekeepers from bordering states to help stabilize Somalia .
-But Prime Minister Mohamed Ali Gedi said the vote was flawed and must be held again .
-The speaker of the parliament defended the vote , saying lawmakers would accept troops from states other than Ethiopia , Kenya and Djibouti , which they accuse of backing violent factions in Somalia .
-Lawmakers came to blows after Thursday 's vote in the parliament , currently based in the Kenyan capital Nairobi .
-Chaos erupted with members of parliament throwing metal chairs and beating each other with walking sticks and clubs .
-World No. 1 men 's tennis player Roger Federer of Switzerland has reached the semifinals of the Thailand Open men 's tennis tournament , but American Robby Ginepri is out of the event .
-Federer , the top seed , scored a straight-set win over Gilles Muller of Luxembourg ( 06-Apr , 06-Mar ) .
-In the semifinals , the Swiss player faces Finland 's Jarkko Nieminen , a three-set winner over Yeu-Tzuoo Wang of Taiwan ( 06-Apr , 06-Jul , 06-Apr ) .
-The other semifinal has Britain 's Andy Murray taking on hometown hero Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand .
-Murray ousted third-seeded American Ginepri ( 04-Jun , 06-Apr , 06-Mar ) .
-Srichaphan advanced when his opponent , second seed Lleyton Hewitt of Australia , withdrew with a groin injury .
-Marxist rebels have ambushed an army convoy in southern Colombia , killing eight soldiers and a civilian , and wounding four other soldiers .
-Authorities say the soldiers were traveling on a bridge in the jungle province of Putumayo Wednesday when the rebels known as the FARC detonated mines hidden on the span .
-The incident took place one day after the FARC attacked a military post in the southwestern village of Iscuande , killing 15 Marines and wounding 25 .
-Colombia is mired in a long-running civil war involving leftist rebels , rightist paramilitaries and the government .
-The violence leaves thousands dead each year .
-South Korea 's spy chief says North Korean leader Kim Jong Il appears to have recovered enough from a stroke to resume his ordinary duties .
-National Intelligence Service chief Kim Sung-ho told lawmakers Tuesday that while North Korea 's autocratic leader is not completely fit , he appears well enough to run the country .
-The South 's spy agency also believes Mr. Kim 's eldest son , Kim Jong Nam visited France last week .
-South Korea 's Yonhap news agency quotes the spy chief as saying Mr. Kim 's son traveled to France to meet his father 's neurosurgeon .
-North Korea denies Mr. Kim is ill , even though he has not been seen in public since mid-August and missed several anniversary celebrations .
-South Korean and U.S. officials say Mr. Kim suffered a stroke in August .
-Japanese carmaker Toyota Motor Corporation is reported to be considering letting Fuji Heavy Industries use its hybrid vehicle technology .
-Under the plan reported by the Nihon Keizai business daily , Fuji would use Toyota 's hybrid system in its Subaru vehicles .
-If the two companies reach an agreement , Toyota 's hybrid technology would become the dominant system in the world .
-Fuji sells 35 percent of its Subaru line in the North American market .
-Toyota has pioneered the hybrid vehicle , which combines a conventional fuel-powered engine with an electric motor , making the car more economical and environmentally-friendly .
-U.S. automaker General Motors , which holds a majority stake in Fuji Heavy , has formed a partnership with rival DaimlerChrysler to develop its own hybrid technology .
-South Korean authorities have destroyed thousands of ducks at four southern farms , after discovering what they call a " low pathogenic " strain of the bird flu virus .
-Officials say the virus turned up on a farm near the southern city of Gwangju , about 250 kilometers south of Seoul .
-As a precaution , they destroyed 3,800 ducks on that farm and more than 12,000 at three other farms in the area .
-This case of bird flu is a strain , known as H7 that is not highly contagious to humans .
-South Korea 's poultry exports were hit hard by seven outbreaks of the potentially deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu between November 2006 and March of this year .
-The World Health Organization says at least 206 people have died from that strain of bird flu since 2003 .
-No human deaths have been reported in South Korea .
-The European Union is hailing the re-election of pro-Western Serbian President Boris Tadic , saying it proves Serbia 's commitment to mainstream Europe .
-In a congratulatory note Monday , European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso called Mr. Tadic 's win Sunday a victory for democracy and European values .
-Both Germany and Austria also promised more support for Serbia 's move toward eventual EU membership .
-Senior Russian lawmakers said Mr. Tadic 's win assured that good bilateral relations will continue .
-Mr. Tadic narrowly defeated ultra-nationalist challenger Tomislav Nikolic by a margin of 51 to 48 percent .
-Both candidates opposed independence for Serbia 's breakaway Kosovo province , where ethnic Albanian leaders are expected to declare independence from Belgrade in coming weeks .
-Last week , European nations agreed to support closer ties with Serbia , in a push to counter anti-Western anger over Kosovo 's pending declaration of independence .
-The sandy brown Quagga Zebra ( pronounced qua-ha ) was hunted to extinction more than 100 years ago .
-But when scientists learned it was not a unique species but a subspecies of the Plains Zebra , the Quagga Project was started by South African Reinhold Rau to bring the animal back .
-VOA 's Paul Sisco has more on a unique scientific endeavor .
-Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Asif Zardari says Pakistan 's government is not strong enough to oust President Pervez Musharraf .
-Zardari says , in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation , that the new coalition government does not have the two-thirds majority in parliament necessary to impeach the president .
-Zardari adds that a confrontation between Mr. Musharraf and the new government could prolong instability in Pakistan .
-He says the government has other problems to work on , besides going after Mr. Musharraf .
-Zardari has formed a coalition with the political party of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif .
-The new government has said it will remove the president 's powers to dissolve parliament , and will reinstate top judges fired by Mr. Musharraf under emergency rule last year .
-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says all parties in the multilateral talks on North Korea 's nuclear weapons program are united in the view that there has to be a non-nuclear Korean peninsula .
-She made the comments Wednesday on the way back to the United States after an Asian tour , just days after North Korea announced it will end a yearlong boycott and return to disarmament talks July 25 .
-Ms. Rice said the United States and its four allies must work intensively so they provide a common front when talks resume .
-Earlier Wednesday , North Korean leader Kim Jong-il told a Chinese envoy in Pyongyang his country 's goal is a nuclear-free Korean peninsula , and added he hopes the six-party talks can be the first step .
-U.S. military officials in Afghanistan say coalition forces have killed at least 40 insurgents in the southern part of the country .
-The military says the rebels were killed during an operation in a remote part of southeastern Pakitka province , bordering Pakistan .
-The attack was part of an offensive that began Wednesday in the region .
-The offensive , Operation Mountain Thrust , is the largest since U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan in late 2001 to oust the Taleban .
-Some 10,000 Afghan and coalition troops are targeting the Taleban 's traditional stronghold in four southern provinces - Kandahar , Helmand , Uruzgan and Zabol .
-Earlier Thursday , the Taleban claimed responsibility for a bomb blast on a bus in the southern city of Kandahar that killed at least eight people and wounded at least 15 others .
-Pope Benedict has opened four days of ceremonies leading to the Christian observance of Easter , with a call for the faithful to find TRUE freedom by submitting to the will of God .
-Benedict 's Holy Thursday plea came at a mass that included participation by clergy from the diocese of Rome .
-During the service , he also blessed oils that will be used in the coming year in church rituals .
-The pontiff will celebrate a second mass later Thursday , commemorating the biblical Last Supper of Jesus and his apostles .
-During that ceremony , the pope will symbolically wash the feet of 12 men .
-Christian liturgy says Jesus washed the feet of his 12 apostles on the evening before his crucifixion .
-On Easter Sunday -- the holiest day of the Christian calendar -- Christians will commemorate what they believe was the resurrection of Jesus .
-Mexican President Vicente Fox is continuing his tour of the western United States that coincides with a debate in the U.S. Senate on immigration reform .
-Mr. Fox is addressing a special meeting of the Utah state legislature Wednesday .
-He then travels on to Washington state , where he is to speak with Mexican laborers .
-On Tuesday , at the start of his four-day trip , Mr. Fox told an audience in Utah that building a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border is not the answer to the immigration problem .
-The U.S. Senate is considering legislation to strengthen border security , including putting increased fencing along the border .
-President Bush said last week it makes sense to use fencing in key border areas .
-Mr. Fox also heads to California , where he is to meet with that state 's governor , Arnold Schwarzenegger , as well as with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa , who is Mexican-American .
-Pakistani security officials say U.S. drone strikes in northwestern Pakistan have killed at least 15 people , most of them militants .
-There were three drone attacks reported Saturday in the North Waziristan tribal region , a suspected hideout for al-Qaida and Taliban fighters .
-Authorities say the first attack killed at least seven people .
-It was followed by a drone strike that left at least four people dead .
-The third strike killed four militants when it struck their vehicle near Miranshah , the main town in North Waziristan .
-The strikes come a day after a missile attack in the same area killed at least five people .
-North Waziristan , located near the Afghan border , is a frequent target of U.S. missile strikes because al-Qaida and Taliban leaders are believed based there .
-Visiting French President Jacques Chirac has assured Japan that lifting Europe 's embargo on weapons to China will not result in an increase in weapons sales .
-Speaking at a joint news conference in Tokyo after a meeting Sunday with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi , Mr. Chirac said he told the Japanese leader that no sensitive technology would be transferred to Beijing .
-Mr. Chirac said China 's request to lift the arms embargo was legitimate and the reason for lifting the ban was political , aimed at normalizing ties .
-Mr. Koizumi repeated Japan 's opposition to lifting the embargo , imposed after China 's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in 1989 .
-France has been a prime supporter of ending the ban , a move opposed by both the United States and Japan .
-A fourth Venezuelan opposition party has pulled out of Sunday 's congressional elections , saying it was concerned the balloting would not be fair .
-The Justice First party announced its decision Wednesday , one day after the Democratic Action , Project Venezuela and Copei parties announced their withdrawal .
-Those parties say they are boycotting the vote because the electoral council is biased .
-State Department spokesman Sean McCormack Wednesday denied U.S. involvement in the withdrawals , after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez accused the United States of interfering in the country 's electoral process .
-Opposition leaders have proposed postponing the vote until they can be assured of a free and fair election .
-Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel has denied the accusations and insists the elections will be fair .
-Kazakhstan 's long-time ruler has rejected a motion from parliament to extend his rule through a referendum , rather than through a scheduled election .
-President Nursultan Nazarbayev issued a decree Friday rejecting the initiative that could have allowed the popular president to continue to rule unchallenged until 2020 .
-The U.S. Embassy in Almaty strongly disapproved of the proposal , saying it would be a " setback for democracy in Kazakhstan . "
-Mr. Nazarbayev has ruled the former Soviet state for the past 20 years .
-His supporters celebrate him for bolstering Kazakhstan 's economy with investments in energy and development .
-But his critics accuse him of clamping down on human rights and democracy .
-Israel 's Labor party has voted to quit the ruling coalition of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon , paving the way for early national elections .
-Labor 's Central Committee approved the recommendation of party leader Amir Peretz by an overwhelming show of hands Sunday evening .
-Last week , Mr. Sharon and Mr. Peretz agreed that early elections would be held by the end of March .
-A date for the polls is expected this week or next .
-The Labor party joined Mr. Sharon 's Likud-led coalition last year to help the prime minister defeat Likud rightists who tried unsuccessfully to block Israel 's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip .
-Mr. Peretz said last week he would pull Labor out of the coaltion over differences in economic policy .
-It is unclear whether Mr. Sharon will remain in Likud or form a new party before the polls .
-Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican Thursday .
-The two men spoke privately for 15 minutes and addressed the subject of Mr. Abbas 's meeting last month with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Barack Obama in New York .
-Mr. Abbas presented the Holy See with a piece of ceramic art depicting Jerusalem with the words " Jerusalem , Capital of Arab Culture " written on it in both Arabic and English .
-Pope Benedict toured the Middle East in May of this year , where he met separately with Mr. Abbas and Mr. Netanyahu .
-The pope has said Israel has the right to enjoy peace and security within its borders and the Palestinian people have a right to a sovereign independent homeland .
-After his visit to the Middle East , the pontiff declared that peace in the region is possible .
-A spokesman for the Taliban in Pakistan is quoted Saturday as denying a U.S. media report that Osama bin Laden 's chief deputy , Ayman al-Zawahiri , has been killed or wounded .
-The spokesman called Friday 's report by CBS News " baseless . "
-Pakistani officials say they have not seen any evidence to support the claim that al-Qaida 's second-in-command was hit in missile strike Monday in South Waziristan , near the Afghan border .
-CBS said it based its report on an intercepted letter from a Pakistani Taliban commander that said Zawahiri needed medical treatment after the military strike .
-In other news , security officials say six police officers were killed Saturday when a bomb exploded in northwestern Pakistan 's Swat valley .
-They say the bomb was detonated by remote control as a vehicle passed .
-Government security forces are battling pro-Taliban militants in the northwestern region .
-Sri Lanka 's baby tsunami survivor has been reunited with his parents , ending weeks of controversy .
-The four-month-old boy , known as " Baby 81 " , was handed over to his parents in a court Wednesday , after DNA tests confirmed the TRUE parents .
-Nine couples originally claimed the boy , but only one couple ( Murugupillai and Jenita Jeyarajah ) formally filed for custody .
-The infant was found alive among debris on Sri Lanka 's east coast hours after the tsunami struck on December 26 .
-Hong Kong 's government says two dead birds , a crested myna and a chicken , have tested positive for the H5N1 strain of bird flu .
-Authorities say three villagers may have come into contact with the infected chicken , and are being isolated in a hospital .
-They say the three people are being tested for bird flu , but have shown no obvious symptoms .
-The dead chicken was purchased by a Hong Kong villager in mainland China .
-The dead myna was found in a playground in an urban area of Hong Kong .
-Authorities say they will close a local bird sanctuary and all public aviaries beginning Thursday as a precaution .
-Syria has called on the leader of Lebanon 's parliamentary majority to provide proof of alleged Syrian assassination plots against him and the Lebanese prime minister .
-Syria 's state-run news agency , SANA , Wednesday quotes an unidentified Syrian official as saying the allegations by Lebanese lawmaker Saad Hariri are fabricated .
-The official called on Hariri to present evidence of the assassination plots to the public .
-Hariri told reporters in Cairo Tuesday he has information about Syrian plots to kill him and Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora , though he did not elaborate .
-A number of anti-Syrian figures have been murdered in Lebanon in recent years , including lawmaker Antoine Ghanem in September .
-Syria has denied involvement in any of the attacks .
-Saad Hariri 's father , former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri , was killed by a truck bomb blast in 2005 in Beirut .
-Former world number one women 's tennis player Martina Hingis of Switzerland has reached the semifinals of the Australian women 's hard court tournament in Gold Coast .
-Hingis , playing in her first full event since coming out of retirement , beat Spain 's Nuria Llagostera Vives in three sets ( 06-Feb , 04-Jun , 6-0 ) .
-In the semifinals , Hingis takes on fourth-seed Flavia Pennetta of Italy , a three-set winner over Tatiana Golovin of France ( 06-Feb , 05-Jul , 06-Mar ) .
-The other semifinal has third-seeded Dinara Safina of Russia facing Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic .
-Safina ousted Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain in straight sets ( 06-Jan , 06-Mar ) .
-Safarova scored an upset win over top seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland ( 06-Apr , 06-Mar ) .
-Chilean presidential candidate Michelle Bachelet remains the front-runner for Sunday 's runoff election , as the final day of campaigning draws to a close .
-Poll results issued Thursday suggest the socialist Bachelet will get some 45 percent of the vote on Sunday , compared to 40 percent for her rival , businessman Sebastian Pinera , the candidate of a rightist alliance .
-Fifteen percent of the 1,200 people surveyed last week said they were undecided .
-If elected , Bachelet will become Chile 's first female president .
-She shares her center-left support base with current President Richard Lagos , under whom she served as defense minister .
-Bachelet won Chile 's first round of elections in December with 46 percent of the vote , just short of the 50 percent needed to avoid a runoff .
-Indonesian police say they have identified the third suicide bomber in the October 1 attacks on Bali that killed 20 people dead along with the bombers .
-A police spokesman , Inspector General Aryanto Boedihardjo , said the bomber was Aip Hidayat , from Ciamis regency West Java .
-The spokesman said police are comparing DNA samples from the family to confirm the bomber 's identity .
-He and two other bombers identified earlier , Salik Firdaus , Misno , reportedly videotaped a statement before launching the restaurant attacks .
-The video was seized from the hideout of Malaysian bomb expert Azahari Husin , who was killed November 9 in a shootout with security officers in Batu in eastern Java .
-The triple suicide bombings last month were the second major bomb attack on Bali after a blast three years ago killed 202 people .
-Colombia 's government has announced the end of a dispute with Venezuela over the capture of a Colombian leftist rebel leader by bounty hunters on Venezuelan soil .
-Bogota released a statement Friday , saying the incident between the South American neighbors has been resolved , and that Colombian President Alvaro Uribe will meet with his Venezuelan counterpart , Hugo Chavez , on February 3 in Venezuela .
-Officials in Caracas welcomed the development .
-Colombia has acknowledged paying bounty hunters to capture Rodrigo Granda from Caracas and take him back to Colombia .
-Mr. Granda is a member of the rebel group known as the FARC .
-Venezuela accused Colombia of violating Venezuela 's sovereignty in what it says was a kidnapping .
-Colombia denied the accusation , saying the capture was a legitimate part of its war against the rebels .
-North Korea says it will delay a scheduled round of high level inter-Korean talks , because of an upcoming joint military exercise between South Korea and the United States .
-The official Korean Central News Agency Saturday referred to the war games as " hostile " , and said the drills can not be conducted alongside peaceful talks .
-The joint exercises are to begin March 25 , and will include at least 5,000 U.S. troops .
-It is not clear how many South Korean troops will participate .
-The latest round of Cabinet level talks between the two Koreas was expected to begin in late March as well .
-Pyongyang has repeatedly urged South Korea to scrap the joint exercises .
-North Korea says the United States uses the drills as preparations for an invasion , a claim Washington denies .
-Hamas is urging international donors not to cut off aid to the Palestinian Authority following the militant group 's election victory last week .
-Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh called on the quartet -- the United States , Russia , the European Union and the United Nations -- to keep aid flowing .
-He spoke as quartet officials were in London for talks on how to deal with a Hamas-led government .
-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United States is contacting donor nations about suspending aid , unless Hamas renounces violence and accepts Israel 's right to exist .
-E.U. diplomats say they also want Hamas to make those changes .
-They say they will keep diplomatic channels open with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas , who is not a member of Hamas .
-In both the books and films , fictional spy James Bond is portrayed as a gourmet who savors fine food , wine , and , of course , his signature " shaken , not stirred " martinis .
-But , as VOA correspondent Gary Thomas reports , the Central Intelligence Agency employs an executive chef who runs a very exclusive restaurant where only those with proper security clearance can enjoy the fine dining .
-Indonesia 's Health Ministry says a 29-year-old man has died of bird flu , the latest victim in the country hardest-hit by the virus .
-The ministry said Saturday that the human death toll from the virus now stands at 74 .
-However , World Health Organization officials have only recorded 63 deaths .
-Indonesia only recently agreed to resume sharing its bird flu samples with the WHO , ending a four-month dispute .
-Indonesia had refused to share the samples until the health organization guaranteed they would not be used to make expensive commercial vaccines .
-Indonesia has more bird flu deaths than any other nation .
-WHO officials say 171 people have died from the virus worldwide since the outbreak began in 2003 , mostly in Asian countries .
-Yasser Arafat 's nephew has turned over the late Palestinian leader 's medical records to a committee investigating the cause of his uncle 's death .
-Nasser al-Kidwa , who also is the Palestinian representative to the United Nations , delivered the 558-page medical report plus X-rays to Palestinian Authority representatives Saturday .
-It was the first time Palestinian officials in Ramallah have had access to Mr. Arafat 's records since his death at a Paris hospital November 11 .
-Mr. al-Kidwa told a news conference the files do not give a clear explanation of the cause of Mr. Arafat 's death , adding that French doctors did not find any known poisons .
-French media quoted doctors who treated Mr. Arafat as saying he died of a blood clotting disorder .
-The U.S. military in Iraq says American and Iraqi forces have finished clearing operations in the western border town of Husaybah , which is believed to be a major entry point for foreign fighters and weapons .
-The military said Wednesday that patrols and raids would continue to root out remaining insurgents in the town near the Syrian border .
-In other violence , bombing and shooting attacks in Baquba and Baghdad killed at least seven people , including five policemen .
-The U.S. military also reported the death Tuesday of a Marine in western Iraq .
-In a separate development , the murdered lawyer for one of former dictator Saddam Hussein 's co-defendents was buried Wednesday .
-President Jalal Talabani condemned Tuesday 's shooting of Adel al-Zubeidi , who represented Iraq 's former vice president , Taha Yassin Ramadan .
-Mr. Talabani also urged other members of the defense team to accept government protection which they had refused .
-World oil prices moved back above $ 65 a barrel in Friday 's trading as analysts expressed concern that it will take time to repair hurricane damage to the U.S. oil industry .
-The price of crude oil for future delivery hit $ 65.32 a barrel in New York , an increase of about 83 cents from yesterday .
-U.S. officials have said oil production from the Gulf of Mexico is still well below normal levels , and four refineries will need months of repair .
-The Gulf coast is responsible for about 30 percent of U.S. crude oil and much of America 's refining capacity .
-Oil prices have been generally easing since hitting an all-time record high of $ 70.85 on August 30 .
-RMS International Inc. , Hasbrouk Heights , N.J. , facing a cash-flow squeeze , said it is seeking other financing sources and waivers from debenture holders .
-The company said that because of softening sales it is n't in compliance with requirements that it maintain $ 3 million in working capital .
-RMS distributes electronic devices and produces power supplies and plastic literature displays .
-RMS said it had a loss of $ 158 , 666 , or 10 cents a share , in the third quarter , compared with a year-earlier loss of $ 26,956 , or two cents a share .
-Sales rose to $ 3 million from $ 2.9 million .
-For the nine months , the company reported a net loss of $ 608 , 413 , or 39 cents a share , compared with year-earlier net income of $ 967 , 809 , or 62 cents a share .
-Sales rose to $ 9.8 million from $ 8.9 million .
-Founded in the 12th century , the Principality of Muscovy , was able to emerge from over 200 years of Mongol domination ( 13th - 15th centuries ) and to gradually conquer and absorb surrounding principalities .
-In the early 17th century , a new Romanov Dynasty continued this policy of expansion across Siberia to the Pacific .
-Under PETER I ( ruled 1682 - 1725 ) , hegemony was extended to the Baltic Sea and the country was renamed the Russian Empire .
-During the 19th century , more territorial acquisitions were made in Europe and Asia .
-Defeat in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904 - 5 contributed to the Revolution of 1905 , which resulted in the formation of a parliament and other reforms .
-Repeated devastating defeats of the Russian army in World War I led to widespread rioting in the major cities of the Russian Empire and to the overthrow in 1917 of the imperial household .
-The Communists under Vladimir LENIN seized power soon after and formed the USSR .
-The brutal rule of Iosif STALIN ( 1928 - 53 ) strengthened Communist rule and Russian dominance of the Soviet Union at a cost of tens of millions of lives .
-The Soviet economy and society stagnated in the following decades until General Secretary Mikhail GORBACHEV ( 1985 - 91 ) introduced glasnost ( openness ) and perestroika ( restructuring ) in an attempt to modernize Communism , but his initiatives inadvertently released forces that by December 1991 splintered the USSR into Russia and 14 other independent republics .
-Since then , Russia has shifted its post-Soviet democratic ambitions in favor of a centralized semi-authoritarian state whose legitimacy is buttressed , in part , by carefully managed national elections , former President PUTIN 's genuine popularity , and the prudent management of Russia 's windfall energy wealth .
-Russia has severely disabled a Chechen rebel movement , although violence still occurs throughout the North Caucasus .
-Severe volcanic activity , which began in July 1995 , has put a damper on this small , open economy .
-A catastrophic eruption in June 1997 closed the airports and seaports , causing further economic and social dislocation .
-Two-thirds of the 12,000 inhabitants fled the island .
-Some began to return in 1998 but lack of housing limited the number .
-The agriculture sector continued to be affected by the lack of suitable land for farming and the destruction of crops .
-Prospects for the economy depend largely on developments in relation to the volcanic activity and on public sector construction activity .
-The UK has launched a three-year $ 122.8 million aid program to help reconstruct the economy .
-Half of the island is expected to remain uninhabitable for another decade .
-Tourism continues to dominate Antigua and Barbuda 's economy , accounting for nearly 60 % of GDP and 40 % of investment .
-The dual-island nation 's agricultural production is focused on the domestic market and constrained by a limited water supply and a labor shortage stemming from the lure of higher wages in tourism and construction .
-Manufacturing comprises enclave-type assembly for export with major products being bedding , handicrafts , and electronic components .
-Prospects for economic growth in the medium term will continue to depend on tourist arrivals from the US , Canada , and Europe and potential damages from natural disasters .
-After taking office in 2004 , the SPENCER government adopted an ambitious fiscal reform program , and was successful in reducing its public debt-to-GDP ratio from 120 % to about 90 % in 2008 .
-However , the global financial crisis that began in 2008 , has led to a significant increase in the national debt , which topped 130 % at the end of 2010 .
-The Antiguan economy experienced solid growth from 2003 to 2007 , reaching over 12 % in 2006 driven by a construction boom in hotels and housing associated with the Cricket World Cup , but growth dropped off in 2008 with the end of the boom .
-In 2009 , Antigua 's economy was severely hit by the global economic crisis , suffering from the collapse of its largest financial institution and a steep decline in tourism .
-This decline continued in 2010 as the country struggled with a yawning budget deficit .
-Haiti is a free market economy that enjoys the advantages of low labor costs and tariff-free access to the US for many of its exports .
-Poverty , corruption , and poor access to education for much of the population are among Haiti 's most serious disadvantages .
-Over the longer term , Haiti needs to create jobs for its young workforce and to build institutional capacity .
-Haiti 's economy suffered a severe setback when a 7 magnitude earthquake destroyed much of its capital city , Port-au-Prince , and neighboring areas in January 2010 .
-Already the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere with 80 % of the population living under the poverty line and 54 % in abject poverty , the damage to Port-au-Prince caused the country 's GDP to contract an estimated 5.1 % in 2010 .
-Two-thirds of all Haitians depend on the agricultural sector , mainly small-scale subsistence farming , and remain vulnerable to damage from frequent natural disasters , exacerbated by the country 's widespread deforestation .
-US economic engagement under the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement ( HOPE ) Act , passed in December 2006 , has boosted apparel exports and investment by providing duty-free access to the US .
-Congress voted in 2010 to extend the legislation until 2020 under the Haitian Economic Lift Act ( HELP ) ; the apparel sector accounts for three-quarters of Haitian exports and nearly one-tenth of GDP .
-Remittances are the primary source of foreign exchange , equaling nearly 20 % of GDP and more than twice the earnings from exports .
-Haiti suffers from a lack of investment , partly because of limited infrastructure and a lack of security .
-In 2005 , Haiti paid its arrears to the World Bank , paving the way for reengagement with the Bank .
-Haiti received debt forgiveness for over $ 1 billion through the Highly-Indebted Poor Country ( HIPC ) initiative in mis-2009 .
-The remainder of its outstanding external debt was cancelled by donor countries in early 2010 but has since risen to about $ 400 million .
-The government relies on formal international economic assistance for fiscal sustainability , with over half of its annual budget coming from outside sources .
-The economy depends largely on US military spending and tourism .
-Total US grants , wage payments , and procurement outlays amounted to $ 1.3 billion in 2004 .
-Over the past 30 years , the tourist industry has grown to become the largest income source following national defense .
-The Guam economy continues to experience expansion in both its tourism and military sectors .
-An Ant , going to a river to drink , fell in , and was carried along in the stream .
-A Dove pitied her condition , and threw into the river a small bough , by means of which the Ant gained the shore .
-The Ant afterward , seeing a man with a fowling-piece aiming at the Dove , stung him in the foot sharply , and made him miss his aim , and so saved the Dove 's life .
-" Little friends may prove great friends . "
-A SHEPHERD once found the whelp of a Wolf and brought it up , and after a while taught it to steal lambs from the neighboring flocks .
-The Wolf , having shown himself an apt pupil , said to the Shepherd , " Since you have taught me to steal , you must keep a sharp lookout , or you will lose some of your own flock . "
-A FAMISHING Wolf , passing the door of a cottage in the forest , heard a Mother say to her babe :
-" Be quiet , or I will throw you out of the window , and the wolves will get you . "
-So he waited all day below the window , growing more hungry all the time .
-But at night the Old Man , having returned from the village club , threw out both Mother and Child .
-" You seem to have more than the average share of intelligence for a man of your background , " sneered the lawyer at a witness on the stand .
-" If I was n't under oath , I'd return the compliment , " replied the witness .
-A leading Democratic U.S. senator has called on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to explain why there is a critical shortage of protective equipment for American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan .
-In his party 's weekly radio address Saturday , Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois said the lack of armor in the battlefield is not a matter of logistics , but a lack of leadership .
-He said lawmakers have provided the Bush administration with all the defense spending it has requested , but that most vehicles and many soldiers lack adequate protection .
-Mr. Durbin 's remarks add to growing criticism of Mr. Rumsfeld by members of Congress for his handling of the war .
-The White House has defended the defense secretary , with a spokesman saying Mr. Rumsfeld is doing a great job .
-An official in southern Sudan says Ugandan soldiers were responsible for a recent attack in the region that left at least one person dead .
-The accusation was made by the vice president of semi-autonomous southern Sudan , Riek Machar .
-He said Ugandan forces must leave the region .
-Machar said an investigation shows that Ugandan soldiers were responsible for an attack last month on a homestead in the town of Nyongwa .
-One person was abducted during that attack and later killed .
-Initial reports said rebels of the Ugandan Lord 's Resistance Army ( LRA ) were behind the attack .
-There has been no Ugandan government reaction to Machar 's accusation .
-However , a Ugandan army spokesman , Major Paddy Ankunda , is quoted by Bloomberg news service as saying Ugandan forces are in southern Sudan to pursue LRA rebels .
-Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad says U.S. suspicions about Iran 's nuclear program stem from what he calls an " element of hatred against Muslims . "
-Malaysia 's official news agency , Bernama reports that Mr. Mahathir said the United States is taking a much harder stance with Iran than it is with North Korea .
-The former prime minister said Pyongyang will not be the target of a U.S. attack because " if it is non-Muslim , the U.S. will not attack . "
-Mr. Mahathir was reported as saying he believes Washington will use Israel as a proxy to attack Tehran .
-Shortly before stepping down in late 2003 after 22 years in office , Mr. Mahathir remarked that " Jews rule the world by proxy , " setting off a storm of international criticism .
-Rescue workers in Indonesia have located a survivor of Monday 's huge earthquake off the coast of Sumatra .
-A crew of rescuers from Singapore heard the victim crying out weakly for help Saturday from beneath the rubble of a collapsed building on Nias island , one of areas hardest hit by the 8.7-magnitude quake .
-Details of the man 's injuries are unknown .
-He was discovered after the search for earthquake survivors had already been halted .
-Indonesian authorities said they expected to find no one alive more than four days after the devastating jolt .
-Restoring basic services and shelter for thousands of people whose homes were lost in the quake is now the focus of relief efforts .
-Water and food are still in short supply in the islands off Sumatra , and bad weather and aftershocks are hampering aid workers .
-Witnesses in Somalia say Islamist insurgents have seized control of Hudur , the capital of the Bakool region .
-The insurgent group al-Shabab says on its Web site that its fighters entered Hudur early Friday after government-allied soldiers fled the town late Thursday .
-The governor of Bakool confirmed in a phone interview with VOA 's Somali service that he and other officials have left the town .
-The Bakool region borders Ethiopia , which has thousands of troops in Somalia supporting the country 's U.N.-backed administration led by President Abdullahi Yusuf .
-Anti-government insurgents have captured other provincial towns in recent months but have usually withdrawn after a short time .
-Islamists briefly controlled much of Somalia in 2006 before a joint offensive by the government and Ethiopia pushed them from power .
-Insurgents have waged an 18-month effort to drive out the Ethiopians and topple the government .
-The chief of the Russian navy says his country is looking to establish a permanent naval base on the Mediterranean Sea .
-Admiral Vladimir Masorin says the Mediterranean has the highest " strategic importance " for his country 's Black Sea fleet .
-He says a " permanent presence " of the Russian navy must be restored in the region .
-Masorin spoke Friday at the existing base of the Black Sea fleet in the Ukrainian port city of Sevastopol .
-Earlier this year , Russian officials denied reports they were looking to build a military base in the Syrian port of Tartus .
-Russia uses that port as a naval maintenance site .
-Detained Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has met with a senior official of country 's ruling military government in the main city of Rangoon .
-Aung San Suu Kyi was taken from her home Friday for the one hour meeting with Burmese official Aung Kyi at a nearby government facility .
-It was the fourth meeting between the two since September , when the military launched a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators , and the first since mid-November .
-The United Nations says at least 31 people were killed in the crackdown , which triggered international outrage against the military government .
-Aung San Suu Kyi , a Nobel Peace Prize winner , has spent 12 of the last 18 years under some form of detention .
-Thousands of people in Indian Kashmir protested against India 's security forces Thursday , blaming them for killing four youths a day before .
-Indian officials say the youths were killed in a crossfire Wednesday as Indian troops battled militants in the Kupwara district of northern Kashmir .
-But demonstrators accused Indian soldiers of firing indiscriminately at the boys as they were playing in a park in the village of Doodipora .
-India 's chief minister for Jammu Kashmir state , Ghulam Nabi Azad , has ordered an investigation .
-In other violence Wednesday , Indian security forces raided rebel hideouts in the Udhampur and Poonch districts of Indian Kashmir .
-Indian officials say seven militants were killed , along with two Indian security personnel .
-Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is to hold talks with Kashmiri political leaders on Saturday .
-But several prominent Kashmiri separatists say they will not attend .
-Campaigning has ended in Iran 's closely contested presidential election , but analysts expect Friday 's poll to produce no outright winner without a runoff election .
-Supporters of rival candidates campaigned in Tehran early Thursday morning , in a last minute effort to win over undecided voters .
-Several hundred pro-reform demonstrators marched in the capital , calling for a boycott of the polls .
-Police later dispersed the protesters .
-Mohsen Rezaei , seated , registers as a presidential candidate in Tehran , May 11 ; he later dropped out of the race Opinion polls show former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani is leading in the race to replace President Mohammad Khatami , who is barred from running for a third consecutive term .
-Mr. Rafsanjani 's main rivals are top reform candidate Mostafa Moin and the conservative former national police chief Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf .
-Three hard-line conservatives are still in the race after a fourth dropped out Wednesday .
-At least one person has been seriously injured as thousands of Palestinian protesters demonstrated against Egypt 's closing of the Rafah border crossing from Gaza .
-Reports from the scene Saturday say a teenage protester was critically wounded when Hamas security forces fired into the air to disperse demonstrators .
-The Rafah border crossing was controlled by Fatah-led Palestinian security forces until Hamas forces seized control of the Gaza strip in June .
-The crossing had been the only direct link between Gaza and Egypt .
-Hamas seized control of Gaza after six days of clashes in which more than 100 people died .
-Egypt responded by closing the border .
-On Friday , at least eight people in Gaza - including at least one foreign journalist - were injured by what appeared to be stun grenades as Hamas security personnel dispersed a protest by supporters of the rival Fatah faction .
-Burma 's military government says it is releasing nearly 4,000 prisoners who had been wrongly jailed .
-State radio said 3,937 prisoners would be released starting Thursday , because they were improperly charged by the recently disbanded National Intelligence Bureau .
-The bureau was headed by former Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt , who was ousted last month and placed under house arrest .
-He was accused of investigating military commanders and threatening the unity of the armed forces .
-It is not known if any of Burma 's estimated 1,300 political prisoners will be among those freed .
-The announced release comes two weeks before a major summit of the 10-nation Association of South East Asian Nations , where Burma is expected to be questioned about its democratic reforms .
-Pope John Paul II has presented the relics of two early Christian saints to the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople , the spiritual leader of the world 's Orthodox Christians .
-The presentation of the relics of Saint John Chrysostom and Saint Gregory Nazianzen came during a joint service in Saint Peter 's Basilica .
-In remarks read by an aide , the pontiff , who is seeking closer relations between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches , expressed hope that the occasion will move the churches toward reconciliation .
-Patriarch Bartholomew called it proof that there are no insurmountable problems in the Church of Christ .
-The two saints honored throughout Christianity as Doctors of the Church served as Bishops of Constantinople during the fourth century , before the split of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches in 1054 .
-Orthodox scholars say Crusaders took the relics to Rome after sacking Constantinople in 1204 .
-Russia says it will withdraw its troops from the two remaining Soviet-era military bases in neighboring Georgia during 2008 .
-Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced the agreement Monday after talks in Moscow with his Georgian counterpart , Salome Zurabishvili .
-The agreement helps resolve one of the most contentious issues between the two former Soviet states .
-Tbilisi had wanted Moscow to close its two remaining bases on Georgian soil by 2006 , a timeline Russia said it could not meet .
-Earlier this month , Georgia imposed limited sanctions on the two Russian bases in an attempt to pressure Moscow to agree to a timetable for withdrawal .
-Indonesian officials say several Southeast Asian nations have agreed to send observers to monitor a peace agreement for Indonesia 's Aceh province .
-The officials say Brunei , Malaysia , the Philippines , Singapore , and Thailand have agreed to participate in the observer mission .
-Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda had made a formal request for monitors at the meeting in Laos of the Association of Southeast Asian nations .
-The peace agreement between the Free Aceh Movement rebel group and the Indonesian government is scheduled to be signed on August 15 .
-The two sides reached the agreement earlier this month at talks in Finland .
-Under the accord , the rebel group is to disarm and give up its demands for independence in return for some form of political representation in Aceh .
-Some inforamtion for this report provided by AP and AFP .
-Authorities in Baghdad say Iraqi security forces have captured the leader of an al-Qaida terrorist cell allegedly responsible for a series of beheadings .
-The government identified the cell leader as Mohammed Najam Ibrahim , and said he worked closely with Iraq 's most-wanted fugitive , Abu Musab al-Zarqawi .
-He was arrested in Baquba , 60 kilometers north of the Iraqi capital .
-An official statement issued Thursday did not indicate when the arrest took place , but said interrogators are seeking information that might lead them to other members of the al-Zarqawi organization .
-Iraqi officials say Mohammed Najam Ibrahim and his brother have carried out a number of beheadings and also have launched attacks against Iraqi security forces .
-In Iraq 's western al-Anbar province , U.S. military officials say a weeklong offensive to hunt down insurgents is moving ahead .
-They also reported another casualty - a U.S. Marine who was killed Thursday .
-Voting has begun in Venezuela 's congressional elections , amid calls for a boycott by opponents of President Hugo Chavez .
-Five opposition groups are not taking part in the vote , saying the country 's electoral council is biased in favor of the president .
-The boycott makes it likely that pro-Chavez candidates will win two-thirds of the seats in the National Assembly .
-Analysts say with such a majority , pro-Chavez lawmakers could rewrite portions of the constitution , such as the clause that sets presidential term limits .
-Mr. Chavez has said the boycott is a U.S.-backed " conspiracy " against his government .
-The U.S. State Department has repeatedly denied the accusations .
-The Venezuelan government has deployed thousands of soldiers around the country to maintain order during the vote .
-Small explosions injured three people in the Caracas area on Friday .
-Two competing pharmaceutical companies say they are going to work together to develop the first once-a-day pill to treat HIV - the virus that causes AIDS .
-Briston-Myers Squibb and Gilead Sciences announced Monday they will collaborate to combine three separate drugs currently on the market into a single-dose pill that will make it easier for patients to manage their medication routine .
-Current treatment requires patients to take several pills a day .
-Missing doses makes it easier for the virus to mutate and become resistant to medication .
-The companies say the planned once-a-day pill will combine Briston-Myers ' drug , Sustiva , with two drugs by Gilead - Viread and Emtriva .
-The medicines attack the AIDS virus at different points in its replication cycle .
-There is no cure for AIDS or HIV .
-Hurricane Ophelia has gathered more strength and battered the coast of North Carolina Wednesday night , pounding the beachfront communities with rains and sustained winds of 140-kilometers per hour .
-The U.S. National Hurricane Center has issued a hurricane warning for coastal North Carolina , north to Virginia .
-Forecasters have discontinued all warnings for South Carolina .
-Fears of floods are intensifying , as the storm 's slow speed indicates that it could rain for days over the region , producing as much as 38 centimeters .
-Storm surges are also expected .
-Some 50,000 people along North Carolina 's coast have already lost power due to high winds and heavy rain .
-The governors of Virginia and North Carolina have declared states of emergency ahead of the storm .
-U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell says North Korea may be ready to resume multi-party talks to defuse a crisis over its nuclear ambitions .
-Mr. Powell told reporters en route to Chile for the APEC summit that the United States has seen signals coming out of North Korea where it said it never insisted the crisis be solved only through negotiations with the United States .
-Earlier U.S. officials said Washington plans to take advantage of the summit , which begins Saturday , to discuss with China , Japan , South Korea and Russia ways of getting Pyongyang back to the negotiating table .
-The six countries have held three rounds of talks on North Korea 's nuclear ambitions .
-North Korea refused to attend a fourth round of talks planned for September because , experts believe , it was awaiting the outcome of the U.S. presidential election .
-U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney has announced plans to visit Saudi Arabia for talks with King Abdullah .
-The vice president 's office said Wednesday that Cheney and the King will meet Saturday to discuss issues of mutual interest related to developments in the mideast region .
-The issues on the agenda are expected to be the war in Iraq , the Israeli - Palestinian conflict , and the situation in Lebanon .
-President Bush has announced he will travel to Jordan next week to discuss improving the Iraq security situation with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki .
-In a joint statement , Mr. Bush and Mr. Malaki affirmed their commitment to building a peaceful , democratic and secure Iraq .
-They also pledged to strengthen their bilateral partnership .
-U.S. President Barack Obama met Thursday with the American hiker recently freed by Iran and the mothers of her two friends still being detained in Tehran .
-The White House said Mr. Obama wanted to personally welcome Sarah Shourd back to the Untied States following her more than one year long detention .
-Mr. Obama told Shourd , her mother and the mothers of the other two U.S. hikers that the occasion is " bittersweet " because Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal are still being held in Iran .
-Iranian border guards seized the three U.S. hikers last year after Iran says they crossed from Iraq into Iranian territory .
-Shourd was freed earlier this month on $ 5,00,000 bail .
-She told VOA that she and her two friends were victims of bad circumstances .
-Chilean President-elect Michelle Bachelet has unveiled a cabinet containing an equal number of men and women .
-Bachelet told reporters Monday the 10 men and 10 women represent a " historic step for equality " in Chile .
-The cabinet includes members of parties that are part of the left-of-center coalition , Concertacion , that has governed Chile since the end of the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet in 1990 .
-Among the cabinet members are former economist and finance minister Alejandro Foxley as foreign minister and Harvard professor Andres Velasco as finance minister .
-The Reuters news agency quotes Velasco as saying Tuesday he will continue the economic policies of the outgoing government , which produced economic growth of six percent last year .
-Bachelet , who was elected president earlier this month , will take office in March , succeeding socialist president Ricardo Lagos .
-A bomb has ripped through a passenger bus in southwestern Pakistan , killing at least 13 people and wounding 20 others .
-The police chief of the Baluchistan province , Chaudhry Mohammed Yaqoob , says the toll could rise because some people were still trapped inside the wreckage .
-Officials say the bus was carrying about 50 passengers from the provincial capital , Quetta , to the eastern city of Lahore when the bomb went off Sunday .
-No one has claimed responsibility .
-But the police chief blamed Baluch tribal militants who have stepped up their insurgency seeking greater autonomy and more compensation for the region 's gas and other natural resources .
-The bus bombing came a day after a rocket attack blamed on Baluch tribal militants killed a soldier and wounded at least two people .
-Tribal militants also blew up a gas pipeline and fired more than 200 rockets at the main paramilitary base in the region .
-U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and the European Union 's Dutch presidency have held talks on the Ukrainian election crisis , the situation in Iraq and other major international issues .
-Mr. Powell met Friday with Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot .
-The Netherlands also has troops in Iraq as part of the U.S.-led multinational force .
-On Thursday , the Dutch government volunteered to send additional personnel to Iraq as part of efforts to boost NATO 's training mission in that country .
-The visit is part of Mr. Powell 's final trip to Europe as Secretary of State , before the retired general leaves the Bush Administration .
-The International Committee of the Red Cross says it is concerned about prisoners on a hunger strike at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay , Cuba .
-Spokeswoman Antonella Notari on Friday described the situation at Guantanamo as serious .
-She said the International Red Cross spent 10 days visiting with detainees in late September .
-The prisoners have been fasting since August to protest their detention without charges or trial .
-Human rights groups say more than 200 prisoners have refused food .
-U.S. authorities say fewer than 30 detainees are currently not eating .
-Twenty-two have been hospitalized and fed involuntarily through tubes .
-The U.S. military is holding about 500 prisoners at Guantanamo .
-Most were captured in Afghanistan and are suspected of being members of al-Qaida or the former Taliban regime .
-Archaeologists working south of Cairo have displayed ancient tombs and artifacts that are dated later than previous discoveries in the region .
-Egypt 's chief archaeologist , Zahi Hawass , Tuesday unveiled the tomb of a royal servant who died over 3,000 years ago , during a period known as the " New Kingdom . "
-The tomb is in Saqqara , better known for pyramids and tombs that are 1,000 years older .
-The walls of the tomb are covered with painted murals .
-The excavation director says he expects to find more New Kingdom tombs at the site .
-Hawass also revealed 4,000-year-old coffins containing the mummies of a priest and his female companion buried near Egypt 's oldest pyramid at Saqqara .
-On Monday , Egyptian archaeologists announced the discovery of a rare double statue of a scribe and his wife dating back more than 4,000 years
-Afghan officials say at least 27 people were killed when a suicide bomber detonated explosives in a crowded area in southern Helmand province .
-At least 45 other people were wounded .
-NATO officials say the bomber was driving a motorized rickshaw when he blew himself up next to a bus station .
-An Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman , General Mohammad Zahir Azimi , says a local police commander who survived the attack appeared to have been the target of the blast , which killed 13 other policemen .
-The explosion in the town of Gereshk , in Helmand province , is considered one of the deadliest in Afghanistan this year .
-NATO says that Afghan security forces have been deployed to secure the area around the site of the attack .
-Israel 's ruling Likud party has closed a deal with the opposition Labor party to form a unity government .
-Under the agreement , Labor leader Shimon Peres will become second-in-command to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon .
-Both Mr. Peres and Likud Minister Ehud Olmert will share the title of vice premier in the new government , which could be announced as early as next week .
-Coalition talks began after some Likud members quit the Sharon government to protest Israel 's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip .
-In a separate development , witnesses say four Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli air strike Thursday night in the southern Gaza Strip .
-This brings to nine the number of Palestinians killed since an Israeli incursion began Wednesday night in the Khan Younis refugee camp .
-Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir says Sudan will not hand over any of its citizens to a foreign court , after the United nations voted to refer Darfur war crimes suspects to the International Criminal Court .
-In a speech to the leadership council of the ruling National Congress party , Mr. Bashir said Saturday the Sudanese justice system is competent and honest enough to try any war crimes suspects .
-The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution Thursday to refer 51 people accused of crimes against humanity in Sudan 's western Darfur region to the court in the Hague .
-Hundreds of Sudanese demonstrated in the capital , Khartoum , today to protest the resolution .
-They called for Sudan to cut diplomatic relations with France for having drafted the resolution .
-President Bush has chosen federal appeals court Judge Samuel Alito as his new nominee for the United States Supreme Court .
-Speaking at the White House Monday , the president described Mr. Alito as a man of " enormous character " who has shown mastery of the law and a deep commitment to justice .
-The nominee takes the place of White House counsel Harriet Miers , who withdrew her nomination last week after pressure from some of the president 's conservative supporters .
-Unlike Ms. Miers , Mr. Alito has a reputation as a solid conservative jurist , and has served 15 years as a judge on the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals .
-The nomination is likely to set off an intense political struggle .
-If approved by the Senate , Mr. Alito would replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor , a moderate who has often been the deciding vote in cases dealing with abortion and other contentious issues .
-Officials in Pakistan say a suspected suicide bomb blast near the home of a politician has killed at least four people .
-The bombing happened Thursday in the northwestern town of Charsadda , close to a house belonging to Asfandyar Wali - head of the Awami National Party .
-Officials say Wali was not hurt in the attack .
-In another development , United Nations employees in Pakistan 's capital , Islamabad , will no longer be allowed to live with their children in the country due to heightened security measures .
-U.N. officials say the secretary general approved raising security following last month 's deadly truck bombing in Islamabad .
-The attack at a Marriott Hotel left more than 50 people dead , and greatly raised fears about the country 's security .
-Britain has also issued an order for its diplomats ' children to leave Pakistan .
-The Venezuelan government has seized about 3,30,000 hectares of land it considers idle from 16 estates for use as collective farms .
-President Hugo Chavez announced the seizures Sunday on his weekly Hello , President television show .
-He said the land will be mostly used to raise cattle for meat and milk production .
-He did not elaborate on how the collectivization of the property would work , but said the land belongs to everyone and will benefit everyone .
-Mr. Chavez said the move is part of a program to do away with large private estates .
-Mr. Chavez began nationalizing privately-owned industries when he began his second term of office this year in an attempt to turn Venezuela into a socialist state .
-In February , he ordered the nationalization of oil projects run by foreign companies .
-He had already taken control of a foreign-run telecommunications company and an electric power company .
-A major figure in U.S. journalism , Tim Russert , chief of the Washington bureau for NBC television , has collapsed and died of a heart attack in his Washington office .
-He was 58 years old .
-Russert came to broadcast journalism in 1984 after working for Democratic politicians in his native New York state .
-He took over as host of NBC 's Sunday morning interview program " Meet the Press " in 1991 and brought the nearly 50-year-old show to the top of the broadcast ratings .
-He became known for his tough questioning of politicians while maintaining a cheerful demeanor .
-Russert also wrote two best-selling books , including one that chronicled the close relationship with his father .
-Cuba 's communist party newspaper is signaling a crackdown on black-market satellite dishes used by citizens to get news from the United States .
-The newspaper Granma said satellite television programming from the United States carries out the objectives of those who want to destroy the spirit of Cuba 's 1959 communist revolution .
-As the official voice of the Havana government , such articles in the past have signaled imminent government action .
-The French news agency , AFP , quotes witnesses as saying a government hunt for some of the clandestine dishes has already begun .
-Last week , Cuban President Fidel Castro , 79 , provisionally surrendered power to his brother , Raul , after undergoing what has been described as stomach surgery .
-The Cuban population has since been eager for information .
-Neither Castro has appeared in public since the announcement .
-A new study says the gap between what men and women earn is closing in some nations , but remains as wide as ever in others .
-Monday 's report from The World Economic Forum ranks Sweden at the top of a list of 58 major nations .
-But it notes that not even Sweden and its nordic neighbors have completely closed the gender gap .
-Researchers examined women 's economic opportunity and participation , political power , education and health in order to come up with the rankings .
-They placed the United States a poor 17th because of what they term inadequate child care , maternity leave and economic opportunity .
-The researchers ranked Pakistan , Turkey and Egypt at the bottom of the list .
-Switzerland and Russia have skated to the quarterfinals of the men 's Olympic ice hockey tournament at the Turin Games in Italy .
-The Swiss played Group A rival Germany to a two-goal draw ( 02-Feb ) Sunday .
-But with upset wins over Canada and the Czech Republic , Switzerland will advance .
-Group A leader Finland has a place , and the Czech Republic and Canada will gain the other two spots with at least ties in games later Sunday .
-Slovakia is guaranteed to finish at the top of Group B , beating Kazakhstan , 02-Jan , to remain undefeated after four games .
-Eight-time Olympic champion Russia hammered Latvia , 09-Feb , to reach the quarterfinals .
-Sweden also will advance .
-The other place will go to the United States if it gets at least one point from its last two games .
-Syria has agreed to allow United Nations investigators to question at U.N. headquarters in Vienna five Syrian officials about the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri .
-Deputy Foreign Minister Walid Moallem told reporters Friday in Damascus that Syria agreed to the compromise after it received guarantees about the rights of the individuals and assurances that its sovereignty would be respected .
-He did not say when the interviews will take place .
-A U.N. spokeswoman confirmed that a deal has been reached , and she said Secretary-General Kofi Annan expects Syria 's cooperation to continue .
-The compromise ends a deadlock with the United Nations , which had originally asked to interview the Syrians in Beirut .
-Last month , the U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution demanding that Syria cooperate with the investigation into the February assassination or face possible sanctions .
-Syria has denied any involvement in the killing .
-The United States has condemned the multiple explosions that struck in the Indian capital , New Delhi on Saturday .
-In a statement released late Saturday , U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described the deadly blasts as a heinous act that deliberately targeted innocent civilians preparing for holiday celebrations .
-She said fighting terrorism is a struggle shared around the world and that the United States stands with India as it seeks to bring the guilty to justice .
-Elsewhere , U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said he was appalled by the crime and urged authorities to prosecute those responsible .
-In Pakistan , the Minister for Information and Broadcasting , Sheikh Rashid Ahmad , said his country is shocked at what he called an act of barbarism .
-Japan 's foreign ministry called the attacks a cowardly act .
-Australian Prime Minister John Howard , British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and Chinese President Hu Jintao also condemned the attacks .
-Thousands of mourners in Azerbaijan have turned out for the funeral of magazine editor Elmar Husseinov , who was gunned down earlier in the week .
-Opposition supporters gathered for the funeral procession Friday protested what they say are oppressive media conditions .
-Mr. Husseinov worked for the weekly Monitor , which has been critical of the government .
-He had previously been fined and jailed for his work .
-He was found shot to death outside his apartment in Baku Wednesday .
-The United States has sent an FBI agent to help find those responsible for the killing .
-President Ilham Aliyev ordered a swift investigation into the attack , calling it a serious provocation against the state and authority .
-Media groups , including the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders , have condemned the killing and expressed concern about what they describe as government harassment and repression of the media .
-Socialist Michelle Bachelet is set to become Chile 's first woman president after winning Sunday 's runoff election .
-Her rightist opponent Sebastian Pinera conceded defeat as vote tallies put Bachelet ahead with 53 percent of the ballots .
-Pinera was behind with less than 47 percent .
-Two-thirds of the vote have been counted .
-Bachelet , a former political prisoner and later a defense minister , had been projected to win .
-Succeeding current President Ricardo Lagos , she will inherit an economy that has surged in part because of soaring prices for copper , which is Chile 's top export .
-The European Space Agency says the Huygens space probe has successfully transmitted scientific data from Saturn 's moon Titan .
-Officials say the probe , operated jointly by the American , European and Italian space agencies , is continuing to transmit data after landing on the moon 's surface earlier Friday .
-Huygens is studying the composition of Titan 's atmosphere and relaying the information to the probe 's parent craft , Cassini , for transmission to Earth .
-European space officials say the probe will continue to transmit data over the next few hours .
-It takes about one hour for the signal to travel from the probe back to Earth .
-Scientists believe conditions on Titan are similar to those here on Earth before life evolved , which could help them understand the origin of our atmosphere .
-President Bush says he takes " full responsibility " for what went wrong with the federal response to the disaster caused by Hurricane Katrina .
-Speaking at the White House Tuesday , Mr. Bush said Katrina exposed serious problems in the response capability at all levels of government to disasters .
-President Bush has seen his approval rating drop to its lowest point ever in several public opinion polls , amid widespread criticism of the federal government 's initial response to the storm .
-Television images showed hundreds of New Orleans residents waiting for help on docks or rooftops for several days after Katrina hit .
-Earlier , the White House said President Bush will address the nation from Louisiana late Thursday .
-New Orleans ' Louis Armstrong international airport plans to resume some commercial flights Tuesday .
-The World Food Program says it will continue supplying aid to survivors of the Indian Ocean tsunami in Indonesia and Sri Lanka until 2007 .
-In a statement Tuesday the WFP said the aid will be focused on the most vulnerable : children , new mothers , the elderly and displaced people .
-The WFP director for Asia , Anthony Banbury , said the agency will remain active in the area until people are back on their feet and have regained the livelihoods they lost .
-About 1.5 million people will receive assistance .
-The WFP statement said aid to the Maldives and Somalia will be phased out by the end of the year .
-Assistance to Burma and Thailand ended in mid 2005 .
-Cuba says it has resumed diplomatic contact with eight European Union countries that have stopped inviting dissidents to official embassy events .
-Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque announced the Cuban government 's decision at a news conference in Havana Monday .
-Mr. Roque says Cuban authorities will start meeting with the ambassadors of the EU countries which include France , Germany and Britain .
-Relations between Cuba and the European Union became strained in 2003 after the Cuban government cracked down on opposition to President Fidel Castro .
-Seventy-five dissidents were arrested and imprisoned for lenghty jail terms .
-Fourteen of them have been released .
-The European Union began to reduce high-level government visits and invited dissidents to embassy gatherings .
-Iran 's judiciary says it is not ready to announce the verdicts of several al-Qaida members who Tehran says were tried and sentenced in the Islamic state .
-An Iranian judiciary official said Tuesday the verdicts will only be released when all " legal obstacles are removed . "
-He did not offer any details .
-Iran has not said how many suspected al-Qaida members were on trial , or released details on the charges against them .
-Iran denies accusations that it has become a haven for al-Qaida militants .
-Authorities in Indian Kashmir say a suspected Islamic militant and three policemen have been killed and at least six people wounded in two separate incidents .
-Police say one militant and three policemen were killed during a raid late Tuesday on a house in a village northeast of Jammu city .
-They say three houses were damaged in the fighting .
-In a separate incident in Srinagar Wednesday , suspected militants lobbed a grenade at police officers , wounding at least two policemen and four civilians .
-Militant separatist groups in Indian Kashmir continue attacks against government targets , saying they oppose the ongoing peace process between India and Pakistan .
-Kashmiri militants have been fighting since 1989 for Kashmir 's independence or its merger with Pakistan .
-The insurgency has claimed tens of thousand of lives .
-A leading Palestinian newspaper says Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia will resign next week .
-The al-Hayam newspaper Wednesday said Mr. Qureia will quit after returning from medical treatments in Paris .
-There has been no official confirmation of the report .
-On Sunday , Palestinian lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to urge Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to fire his cabinet for failing to stop factional fighting in the Gaza Strip .
-The lawmakers demanded that Mr. Abbas appoint a new prime minister within two weeks or else face a no-confidence vote .
-The action came after a legislative committee presented a special report on the deteriorating Gaza security situation .
-Hours earlier Sunday , a Palestinian police commander and two civilian bystanders were killed and at least 50 others wounded in gunbattles between Hamas militants and police .
-Two separate bomb attacks in southern Afghanistan Wednesday killed five people and injured several others .
-A NATO spokesman says a suicide bomber blew up a vehicle at a police checkpoint in the Zahri district of Kandahar province , killing himself and three policemen .
-Three other policemen were wounded in the attack .
-Also in Kandahar , a remote-controlled bomb killed two Afghan security guards working for a U.S. company .
-Six other guards were wounded .
-In another development , U.S. forces say they have captured two suspected al-Qaida militants during a raid in eastern Afghanistan .
-A military statement says the two Afghan men were taken into custody this Wednesday morning in Nangarhar province .
-The statement says coalition forces acted on intelligence about an al-Qaida member known to pass messages to senior leaders of the group .
-It says the two detained men are being questioned about links to the terrorist organization .
-An official with Cuba 's biotechnology program says his country may develop a bird flu vaccine .
-Carlos Borroto , with Cuba 's Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology , made the comment Thursday .
-But he said officials do not want to raise expectations because they are still studying the project 's feasibility .
-The official also said the two drugs now in use against avian flu are effective , but were not being produced in sufficient quantities .
-The remarks come as Cuba prepares to host an international biotechnology conference in Havana .
-An estimated 500 scientists from 35 countries are expected at the talks , beginning November 27 in Havana .
-Cuba 's biotechnology industry is one of the most advanced in the developing world .
-The United Nations Security Council has adopted a resolution condemning the bombings in London .
-The unanimous vote came Thursday during an emergency meeting of the 15-member council , on which Britain holds a permanent seat .
-The measure expresses condolences for the British people and the victims of the four bombings in London .
-It says any act of terrorism threatens peace and security .
-Similar resolutions of condemnation were passed following the Madrid train bombings in 2004 , and the September 11 , 2001 attacks in the United States .
-U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan , now in Scotland , joined leaders from the Group of Eight Industrialized nations in strongly condemning the London attacks .
-Bomb blasts killed at least 20 people in Iraq Wednesday , and the U.S. military urged Iraqi political leaders to increase efforts to stem the bloodshed .
-Iraqi security officials say a car bomb blast in a Shi'ite neighborhood in eastern Baghdad killed at least 10 people and wounded 25 others .
-Later , two car bombs exploded in another eastern suburb , killing five day laborers and wounding 10 others .
-In the town of Riyadh , some 50 kilometers south of Kirkuk , suicide car bombers attacked an Iraqi army base and killed at least five soldiers and wounded 10 others .
-In a village south of Baghdad , gunmen stormed a house and killed nine members of a Shi'ite family .
-U.S. military spokesman Major General William Caldwell warned that the upsurge in violence will continue unless Iraqi political leaders make a greater effort to overcome their differences .
-French President Jacques Chirac has signaled he will probably not seek an unprecedented third term in this year 's presidential elections .
-The 74-year-old president said in a TV interview to be broadcast on Sunday that there is life after politics .
-In office since 1995 , Mr. Chirac said he hoped to continue to serve France but " in another capacity . "
-As recently as last month , Mr. Chirac had indicated he was contemplating a new run at the presidency and would announce his intentions at a later date .
-If he were to run , he must declare his candidacy before mid-March for the elections in April .
-Polls have shown that a large majority of the French do not want Mr. Chirac to run again .
-Mr. Chirac 's popularity ratings are low , and many in the French electorate view him as old and out of touch .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has criticized U.S. President George Bush for his handling of the U.S. financial crisis .
-Mr. Chavez said Friday that the crisis has put the world economy at risk .
-The Venezuelan leader spoke to reporters from the presidential palace in Paris following a meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy .
-Mr. Chavez praised President Sarkozy and said the two discussed technology transfers and energy issues .
-Earlier Friday , Mr. Chavez was in Russia where he signed an energy cooperation pact with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev .
-Russian energy officials recently said they will expand their investment in Venezuela 's oil industry .
-The Venezuelan leader 's trip has also taken him to Cuba and China .
-He plans to stop in Portugal before returning home .
-Pope John Paul has spent a second night under close medical care , but Vatican officials say his fragile health has stabilized .
-Vatican chief spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said Wednesday the pope was running a slight fever and will remain at Rome 's Gemelli hospital for a few more days .
-Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said he is convinced the pontiff will be released in two or three days .
-The 84-year old pope was hospitalized late Tuesday for treatment of an acute inflammation of the respiratory tract brought on by the flu .
-He came down with the flu Sunday and had canceled all of his engagements over the past couple of days .
-The pope suffers from Parkinson 's disease , which gradually affects control of the muscles , including those of the throat and chest .
-A four-year-old girl in Egypt has tested positive for bird flu , the 44th confirmed human case of the deadly disease in the Arab world 's most populous country .
-Egyptian health ministry officials say the girl is from the southern village of Sheik Massoud in Minya province .
-She was admitted to a Cairo hospital for treatment on Monday .
-Of the 44 bird flu cases confirmed so far in Egypt , 19 have been fatal .
-Most of the fatalities have been women or girls whose families raise poultry , which brings them into daily contact with chickens or turkeys .
-Close to five million Egyptian households depend on poultry for food or income .
-The government says this makes it unlikely that the disease can be eradicated despite a large-scale poultry vaccination program .
-Four Egyptian women died from bird flu last December .
-Thousands of tsunami victims in Sri Lanka are slowly returning to government-run centers a day after flash floods forced them out .
-The floods are also slowing down relief efforts .
-Aid convoys continue to have difficulty reaching some of the hardest-hit areas on the devastated eastern coast .
-Health officials say they are bracing for outbreaks of contagious diseases as hundreds of thousands of displaced people live in unsanitary conditions and lack clean drinking water .
-Aid continues to arrive from other countries .
-The first contingent of 1,500 U.S. Marines , along with a ship carrying 20 helicopters , are due to arrive in Sri Lanka later Sunday .
-The Marines will operate from an offshore platform south of the port city of Galle .
-Russia and China are conducting three days of joint anti-terrorism exercises in Moscow .
-The event began Tuesday with a simulation of a hostage situation in an administrative building , complete with attackers wearing helmets and carrying weapons .
-The exercises are a followup to large-scale maneuvers last month that involved not just Russia and China but also forces from Kazakhstan , Kyrgyzstan , Tajikistan , and Uzbekistan .
-Those exercises were held near Chelyabinsk in Russia , near the border with Kazakhstan .
-Britain says it will relax controls on the export of civilian nuclear technology to India .
-The British government says India is a key international partner in fighting terrorism and weapons of mass destruction following India 's agreement to adhere to international guidelines on nuclear nonproliferation .
-British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw also noted the ongoing improvement in India 's relations with Pakistan .
-Last month , New Delhi and Washington reached an agreement under which India agreed to separate its civilian and military nuclear programs , continue a moratorium on nuclear testing and open the civilian facilities for U.N. inspections .
-Under the accord , the United States promised India full cooperation in helping India fulfill its growing energy needs , including the sale of nuclear power plants .
-The party of Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is urging voters to reject a proposed new constitution conceived by the country 's ruling military regime .
-The National League for Democracy issued a statement Wednesday calling on citizens to vote " no " when the charter comes up for approval in a referendum scheduled for May .
-General elections will be held in 2010 .
-International critics have denounced the proposed constitution , saying it solidifies the military junta 's hold on power .
-The draft charter also bars Aung San Suu Kyi from the elections , on the grounds that she was once married to a foreigner , a British citizen who died of cancer in 1999 .
-Aung San Suu Kyi 's National League for Democracy party won Burma 's last general elections in 1990 , but the country 's military leaders ignored the result .
-Police in India say at least 15 people were killed Sunday when a highway overpass under construction collapsed in southern India .
-About 10 people were also reported to be injured .
-It is unclear as to whether any others were trapped .
-The overpass was located in a busy commercial area in Hyderabad , the capital of Andhra Pradesh state .
-When it comes to entertainment earnings , men still dominate .
-Forbes Magazine has just released its 2007 listing of the World 's Most Powerful Celebrities , with men on average earning nearly twice as much as their female counterparts .
-Movie actor Tom Cruise ranks atop this year 's list , earning $ 67 million .
-Rounding out the top five are , in descending order , rock singer Mick Jagger ; talk show hostess-producer Oprah Winfrey ; rock band U2 ; and golfer Tiger Woods .
-The list measures both the stars ' earnings and their influence within their respective fields .
-Movie industry analysts say men have the upper hand through career longevity and overall box-office appeal .
-Five West African heads of state will travel to Togo Friday to pressure the military-installed government to return the nation to consitutional order , or face sanctions .
-The delegation , made up of the presidents of Nigeria , Niger , Benin , Mali and Ghana , will demand Togo reverse constitutional changes , made shortly after President Gnassingbe Eyadema died on Saturday , that allow his son to serve out his term until 2008 .
-West African leaders say Togo must respect the prior constitution which called for new elections within 60 days , and the temporary handing over of power to the spearker of the parliament in the event of the president 's death .
-The Economic Community of West African States , ECOWAS , says it will not recognize the new government , calling the events in Togo a coup .
-The new Togolese president , Faure Gnassingbe , has promised to hold general elections as soon as possible .
-China 's Commerce Ministry says major differences remain between Beijing and Washington over textile exports after two days of talks on the issue in San Francisco , California earlier this week .
-A statement Thursday on the ministry 's website said Chinese officials are hopeful future talks will yield an agreement .
-The meetings focused on U.S. limits on Chinese imports intended to protect American clothing manufacturers from low-cost competition .
-Chinese products flooded the market this year after global trade quotas expired .
-U.S. textile manufacturers complain they have lost 26,000 jobs to cheap Chinese imports .
-But American retailers argue that sharp limits on low-cost imports could cost U.S. consumers $ 6 billion in higher clothing bills annually .
-That works out to about $ 20 a person in the United States .
-No breakthroughs were reported during talks in Luxembourg Sunday aimed at ending a stalemate blocking European Union membership negotiations with Turkey .
-EU foreign ministers , meeting in emergency session in Luxembourg , are expected to meet again Monday -- the same day the long-awaited negotiations with Turkey were supposed to begin .
-Diplomats reported some progress during Sunday 's talks , and are holding out hopes for a breakthrough .
-Austria is demanding that negotiations with Turkey include the possibility of offering Ankara less than full EU membership .
-Turkey has said it would not accept a so called " privileged partnership . "
-Iran says it has no intention of abandoning plans to resume sensitive nuclear work , as the European Union warns that such a move could spark an international crisis .
-The foreign ministers of Britain , France and Germany Tuesday signed a joint letter warning Iran against resuming activity at its Isfahan nuclear facility .
-The letter threatens other unspecified courses of action if Tehran does not adhere to past commitments with the European Union .
-The United States says it agrees with European officials that Tehran must maintain its suspension on uranium enrichment activities .
-A State Department spokesman Tom Casey says if Iran were to break its commitments with the European Union , U.S. officials would refer the situation to the United Nations Security Council and the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency .
-Iranian officials say their plan to resume nuclear work is not reversible .
-Afghan officials say five policemen have been killed in two separate attacks .
-Authorities say three officers were killed by a roadside bomb in Ghazni province .
-Two other policemen were killed during a militant attack in the western province of Ghor .
-Three rebels were also killed in that incident .
-On Sunday , the British military said three British soldiers were killed in a suicide attack in Afghanistan 's restive Helmand province .
-The incident brings to 100 the number of British military personnel killed in Afghanistan since 2001 .
-British Prime Minister Gordon Brown Monday paid tribute to those troops , saying they have paid the ultimate price to help " turn a lawless region sheltering terrorists into an emerging democracy .
-On Sunday , an Afghan reporter working for the British Broadcasting Corporation was found dead in Helmand province , one day after he was abducted .
-U.S. Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice is resting , after successful , minimally invasive surgery .
-A senior administration official told VOA Dr. Rice underwent a one-and-a-half hour uterine fibroid embolization operation at a Washington hospital Friday .
-The operation , an alternative to hysterectomy , shrinks fibroid tumors and allows for a rapid recovery .
-Uterine fibroids are among the most common tumors in women , and are not cancerous .
-The administration official said Dr. Rice will stay in the hospital overnight , and return to work Monday .
-Currently the national security adviser , she was nominated by President Bush on Tuesday to head the State Department .
-A trade delegation led by Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman has signed agreements to sell nearly $ 30 million worth of food to Cuba .
-The delegation signed the deal Tuesday in Havana with Cuba 's food importing company , Alimport .
-Nebraska farmers agreed to sell wheat , beans and soy products to the Cubans .
-The signing took place during Havana 's annual trade fair .
-Governor Heineman said it is a big boost for farmers in his state to find a new market .
-Cuba has been under a U.S. trade embargo for more than four decades , but a law passed by the U.S. Congress in 2000 allows American food to be sold directly to Cuba on a cash basis .
-Police in southern Pakistan say a powerful bomb ripped through an Islamic school Monday , killing six students and wounding at least four others .
-Authorities said the bomb exploded in a madrassa in southwestern Qilla Saifullah , a town near the Afghan border in the province of Baluchistan .
-Investigators said the bomb was concealed in the belongings of an Afghan student who stayed in the school overnight .
-Officials said it exploded after the person had left .
-There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast .
-Some Pakistani madrassas are seen as breeding grounds for militants fighting foreign forces in Afghanistan and opposed to Pakistani support for U.S. efforts against terrorism .
-Police said it was unclear if the explosion was linked to either conflict .
-Iran 's supreme leader has dismissed President Bush 's charges against Tehran , saying Mr. Bush , like four American presidents before him , will fail in his efforts to uproot Iran 's ruling Islamic establishment .
-Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told students in Tehran Thursday that Iran 's stance has convinced other Islamic countries that it is possible to , in his words , " confront global arrogance and win . "
-In his State of the Union address Wednesday night , President Bush accused Iran of being the world 's primary state sponsor of terror and of pursuing nuclear weapons .
-He also said the United States stands with the Iranian people as they seek liberty .
-Iran 's foreign ministry spokesman called the charges " baseless " and said they show Mr. Bush is ignoring what he called Iran 's " deep-rooted freedom and democracy . "
-A roadside bomb , a Taleban assault on a police station , and an air strike by U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan have killed at least 13 people .
-Four Afghan soldiers died in a roadside bomb blast as they took part in a joint operation with U.S. forces against insurgents in Kunar province on Tuesday .
-Also Tuesday , two rockets hit central Kabul , injuring three people .
-There was no claim of responsibility .
-A day earlier , an airstrike by U.S.-led forces in the Lashkar Gah district of Helmand province killed three suspected Taleban .
-In another clash , five rebels and one policeman were killed in a gun battle when Taleban insurgents attacked a police checkpoint in Kandahar province .
-The number of Americans getting long-term unemployment aid hit another record high last week .
-Thursday 's report from the Labor Department shows more than 5.8 million people collecting jobless compensation for more than one week .
-It is the 11th week in a row continuing claims have hit a record high , and it is a sign that the U.S. labor market remains weak .
-The number of new claims fell slightly by 20,000 to a total of 6,54,000 .
-A separate report showed the U.S. trade deficit fell to its lowest level in at least nine years in February .
-The Commerce Department data show the gap between what Americans sell abroad and what they buy from foreigners narrowed by 28 percent for the month .
-The trade deficit shrank to $ 26 billion in February as the faltering economy pushed imports down , while U.S. exports recovered slightly from a two-year low .
-Foxy Brown is a wanted woman ... again .
-Police in Fort Lauderdale , Florida have issued an arrest warrant for the 27-year-old rapper , after she failed to appear in court on charges of battery and resisting arrest without violence .
-Foxy Brown - real name Inga Marchand - scuffled last month with employees of a Fort Lauderdale beauty supply store .
-She also struggled with a responding police officer .
-This is n't Foxy Brown 's first run-in with the law : her legal troubles stretch back to a 1997 incident in which she received 80 hours of community service after spitting on two hotel workers in North Carolina .
-Last October , she was sentenced to three years ' probation and anger management counseling , following a 2004 attack on two manicurists in New York City .
-Israel has re-opened the border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt , that had been closed for several weeks .
-The Rafah crossing , which is the main exit and entrance point for Gaza Palestinians traveling abroad , was closed after a militant attack on a nearby Israeli army post in December , that killed five Israeli soldiers .
-Meanwhile , top Israeli and Palestinian security officials met to discuss a plan for Israel to hand over security control of several West Bank towns to the Palestinian Authority .
-But there was no immediate announcement of an agreement after the talks ended early Tuesday .
-The meeting came hours after Palestinians say Israeli military gunfire killed a schoolgirl in the Gaza Strip .
-Palestinian militants retaliated by firing mortars at a nearby Jewish settlement .
-But there were no reports of injuries .
-Chinese leaders have completed an annual economic meeting with pledges to maintain stable fiscal policies to keep their rapidly-growing economy under control .
-State media reported Sunday that Communist Party officials plan to tighten controls on fixed-asset investments , such as real estate , and try to increase agricultural output in the coming years .
-They are concerned that without proper management , China 's fast-growing economy could suddenly collapse .
-The report did not mention any changes in the fixed exchange rate for China 's currency , the yuan .
-The United States has been pressuring China to lift controls on the exchange rate , saying it gives Chinese goods an unfair advantage in world markets .
-Beijing has promised to change the policy but has not said when it will do so .
-U.S. Vice President Joe Biden says U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan are making what he called " measurable progress " against al-Qaida , as the United States increases its military presence there .
-Speaking in the midwestern American city of Indianapolis Monday , Biden said international troops must deny al-Qaida safe haven and reverse the momentum of the Taliban .
-The vice president said the latest phase is " only beginning " and promised the situation in Afghanistan will be reassessed in December .
-Meanwhile , the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan says four troops were killed in separate incidents in the country Monday .
-One of the soldiers was Hungarian and two were French .
-The Associated Press reports the other soldier was American .
-Two soldiers died in an attack by insurgents in eastern Afghanistan , while the other two casualties resulted from roadside bomb blasts elsewhere .
-Poland 's parliament has overwhelmingly passed a bill approving ratification of the new European Union treaty after weeks of political infighting .
-Lawmakers in the lower house voted 384 to 56 Tuesday to adopt the charter , which replaces the much-maligned EU constitution rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005 .
-Poland 's upper house is expected to pass the bill Wednesday and President Lech Kaczynski is expected to sign it .
-The approval follows weeks of wrangling between Poland 's pro-European government and the nationalist opposition , which argued the EU Treaty will limit Polish sovereignty .
-To resolve the dispute , lawmakers adopted a separate resolution saying the Polish constitution has supremacy over the EU charter .
-The EU Treaty requires the approval of all 27 member countries .
-France , Hungary , Slovenia , Malta and Romania have already ratified the treaty , which is designed to streamline decision-making and unify the bloc 's foreign policy objectives .
-The United Farm Workers union has reached an agreement with a labor recruiter that would ensure better working conditions for thousands of agricultural guest workers .
-California-based Global Horizons is promising to pay two percent more than the federally-mandated minimum wage for guest workers .
-The company also will provide medical care and paid bereavement leave if a family member dies , including transportation to and from their native country .
-Global Horizons brings in workers from dozens of nations each year under the federal government 's ( H-2A ) agricultural guest worker program .
-Officials in the western state of Washington revoked the company 's operating license in December over numerous labor violations involving hundreds of workers from Thailand .
-Iraqi police say a car bomb detonated by remote control has killed five people and injured 10 south of Baghdad .
-Officials say the vehicle blew up on the roadside as an Iraqi police patrol passed by near the town of Haswa .
-Meanwhile , a bodyguard of Iraq 's Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi was killed and three others wounded when gunmen ambushed their convoy south of Baghdad .
-Iraqi police say Mr. Chalabi was not in the convoy .
-Elsewhere , the U.S. military says four U.S. soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in southwest Baghdad late Saturday .
-And the military reports killing 11 insurgents during a battle near the northwestern town of Haditha .
-Witnesses in Somalia 's capital say at least 11 people have been killed and 15 others wounded in fighting between rival militia groups .
-The fighting broke out in the Sii-Sii area of Mogadishu Sunday when gunmen linked to an alliance of warlords , the Alliance for Restoration of Peace and Counter Terrorism , opened fire on a vehicle belonging to forces loyal to the country 's Islamic courts .
-Clashes between the same groups have killed at least 90 people since March .
-Many Somalis suspect the coalition of warlords is supported by the U.S. government as part of its campaign to end terrorism .
-The U.S. State Department has said it supports the alliance 's objective of rooting out terrorists , but declined further comment .
-Somalia has been without an effective central government since 1991 , when clan-based factions ousted President Siad Barre .
-A transitional government was formed last year but many factional leaders oppose it .
-Pakistan 's president says peace with India regarding the disputed region of Kashmir is " within reach . "
-Addressing European lawmakers in Brussels Tuesday , President Pervez Musharraf said it is important to resolve the issue through peaceful dialogue .
-He said , however , Pakistan will not change its stance unless India shows flexibility in regard to the disputed Himalayan area .
-Both of the nuclear-armed nations claim Kashmir as their own .
-They have fought two wars over the region .
-Mr. Musharraf is expected to meet with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of this week 's summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Cuba .
-After the summit , the Pakistan president will attend the U.N. General Assembly in New York before traveling to Washington for talks with President Bush .
-Accidents in three mines in China have killed at least 30 people and left 13 miners trapped .
-The official Xinhua news agency says all 28 workers in a mine in northwestern Shaanxi province died when an underground cable caught fire on Saturday night .
-The report also said rescuers had retrieved the remains of five of the miners early Sunday .
-In a separate incident , Xinhua says an explosion in a coal mining area in Hunan province killed two people on Sunday .
-Thirteen workers were reported trapped underground after a coal mine flooded in northwestern Gansu province .
-Xinhua says three others were lifted out of the facility in Jib city Sunday .
-China has the world 's worst mine safety record , with more than 2,600 coal miners killed last year in accidents and explosions .
-Polish officials say they will not admit a research team Iran reportedly plans to send to Auschwitz , the notorious World War II Nazi death camp .
-Polish Foreign Minister Stefan Mellar said his country should stop Iran from investigating the scale of the Holocaust , which Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has dismissed as a myth .
-The manager of the Auschwitz museum said Friday that deniers of the Holocaust profane the memory of its victims and will not be admitted .
-Most estimates put the number of deaths at Auschwitz alone at more than one million , mostly Jews .
-Earlier this week , Iran 's ambassador to Portugal said he doubts the number of victims of the Holocaust , usually estimated at about six million .
-He said that , based on what he has seen at Auschwitz , it would take about 15 years to burn that number of bodies .
-Gunmen in Iraq disguised as police officers have shot dead five Shi'ite elementary school teachers and their driver south of Baghdad .
-Police say the victims were pulled from a mini-bus Monday as they were leaving the school near Iskandariyah .
-They were then forced back into a classroom , lined up against the wall and shot to death .
-In Baghdad , authorities say at least 10 people were killed and at least 30 others wounded in a suicide car bombing near the oil ministry .
-Separately , the U.S. military says three American soldiers were killed today in roadside bomb attacks .
-Two of the soldiers died in western Baghdad , the third was killed 80 kilometers southeast of the capital .
-Meanwhile , the U.S military has released 500 detainees from Abu Ghraib prison to mark the upcoming Muslim holy month of Ramadan .
-Officials say another 500 prisoners will be freed over the next week .
-NATO officials in Afghanistan have urged the government to plan for parliamentary elections to take place soon to ensure there are enough troops to provide security .
-NATO 's top civilian representative for Afghanistan , Hikmet Cetin , says the elections must take place by early July or risk conflicting with the next rotation of troops in the 8,000-strong International Security Assistance Force ISAF .
-Mr. Cetin says if elections are not held by then , it would be better to postpone voting until September .
-Turkey took control of ISAF Sunday from a French commander during a ceremony in Kabul .
-It is the second six-month command for Turkey since the force was established after the U.S.-led overthrow of the Taleban in late 2001 .
-Authorities in Zimbabwe have arrested a sixth man in a widening investigation into an alleged spy ring .
-The state-run Herald newspaper reports Tuesday police arrested a senior official at the Ministry of State of National Security after he allegedly found out about the spy ring - but failed to report it .
-If convicted , he could face up to 10 years in prison .
-Five other officials are facing charges of selling state secrets to foreign agents .
-One of those is Philip Chiyangwa , a lawmaker from Mashonaland West and a top official in the ruling ZANU-PF party .
-Other suspects include the country 's ambassador-designate to Mozambique , Godfrey Dzvairo , two ruling party officials , Itai Marchi and Kenny Karidza and a bank executive , Tendai Matambanadzo .
-The Herald reports three of the suspects are trying to switch their original plea from guilty to not guilty .
-Afghan police say a roadside bomb has exploded in the country 's southern province of Helmand , killing four people , including two U.S. nationals .
-A provincial police official Sunday said the two Americans , along with their Afghan interpreter and an Afghan police officer , were killed while they were inspecting the bomb in the Naad Ali district .
-A Taliban spokesman , Yousuf Ahmadi , told the French News Agency that Taliban militants carried out the attack and killed two American soldiers and several Afghan police .
-U.S. officials have not yet confirmed the incident .
-Southern Afghanistan is the center of the Taliban-led insurgency , and militants rely heavily on roadside bombs in their campaign against foreign forces .
-The United States plans to intensify its fight against the Taliban this year by sending an extra 30,000 troops to Afghanistan .
-Zimbabwe 's state-run media report the government is investigating non-governmental organizations ( NGOs ) it says have failed to account for millions of dollars in donor money .
-The Herald newspaper says a special commission has begun probing whether 13 NGOs handled $ 88 million in accordance with the country 's laws .
-The United Nations Development Program helped raise the funds following a government appeal .
-Zimbabwe 's labor minister Paul Mangwana told the paper that groups found to be in violation will be prosecuted .
-The report also says 17 other NGOs in Zimbabwe have successfully met a deadline to account for funding they received .
-It says a full report is expected within one month .
-A new poll shows widespread disapproval of how President Bush and Democrats in Congress are handling the war in Iraq .
-The Washington Post-ABC News survey indicates that 68 percent of the 1,125 respondents disagree with President Bush on Iraq .
-A total of 63 percent disapprove of how Democrats in Congress have handled the war .
-Nearly half of those polled said they believe Democrats have done " too little " to get President Bush to change his war strategy .
-The nationwide poll , which was taken last week , has a 3-point margin of sampling error .
-More than half of the respondents said they support legislation that would set a deadline for withdrawing U.S. combat forces from Iraq in the first months of 2008 .
-Venezuela President Hugo Chavez has threatened to detain U.S. officials if they are caught collecting sensitive information about Venezuela 's military .
-The statement , issued Friday , came hours after Mr. Chavez 's government accused the U.S. Embassy in Caracas of involvement with a group of Venezuelan military officers accused of spying .
-A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy told Reuters news agency that officials there have had no official communication with Mr. Chavez 's government and could not comment .
-The military officers are accused of gathering information for the U.S. Defense Department .
-Venezuela says some of the officers have been detained and others have left the country .
-Relations between the two countries have been strained since Mr. Chavez took office in 1999 .
-The U.S. recently opposed Venezuela 's acquisition of military transport and maritime surveillance aircraft , saying it threatened regional stability .
-The Russian Prosecutor General 's office is expected to carry out tests in Chechnya Wednesday to confirm Chechen Separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov 's reported death .
-Russia 's Prosecutor General says forensic tests due Wednesday on the body of a man shown on Russian television in a pool of blood could confirm whether it it is that of Mr. Maskhadov .
-Russian President Vladimir Putin has said if the wanted fugitive 's death is confirmed , those who participated in the Special Forces operation in which Mr. Maskhadov was reportedly killed will be decorated with medals .
-In a statement broadcast on Russian television , President Putin also said that much more work needs to be done to stabilize Chechnya .
-Russian officials have blamed Mr. Maskhadov for numerous terrorist attacks from last year 's Beslan school massacre to the Dubrovka theater hostage crisis .
-Russia had offered a $ 10 million reward for information that would lead to Mr. Maskhadov 's capture .
-Meridian National Corp. said it sold 7,50,000 shares of its common stock to the McAlpine family interests , for $ 1 million , or $ 1.35 a share .
-The sale represents 10.2 % of Meridian 's shares outstanding .
-The McAlpine family , which operates a number of multinational companies , including a London-based engineering and construction company , also lent to Meridian National $ 5,00,000 .
-That amount is convertible into shares of Meridian common stock at $ 2 a share during its one-year term .
-The loan may be extended by the McAlpine group for an additional year with an increase in the conversion price to $ 2.5 a share .
-The sale of shares to the McAlpine family along with the recent sale of 7,50,000 shares of Meridian stock to Haden MacLellan Holding PLC of Surrey , England and a recent public offering have increased Meridian 's net worth to $ 8.5 million , said William Feniger , chief executive officer of Toledo , Ohio-based Meridian .
-Albania declared its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1912 , but was conquered by Italy in 1939 .
-Communist partisans took over the country in 1944 .
-Albania allied itself first with the USSR ( until 1960 ) , and then with China ( to 1978 ) .
-In the early 1990s , Albania ended 46 years of xenophobic Communist rule and established a multiparty democracy .
-The transition has proven challenging as successive governments have tried to deal with high unemployment , widespread corruption , a dilapidated physical infrastructure , powerful organized crime networks , and combative political opponents .
-Albania has made progress in its democratic development since first holding multiparty elections in 1991 , but deficiencies remain .
-International observers judged elections to be largely free and fair since the restoration of political stability following the collapse of pyramid schemes in 1997 ; however , there have been claims of electoral fraud in every one of Albania 's post-communist elections .
-The 2009 general elections resulted in no single party gaining a majority of the 140 seats in Parliament , and the Movement for Socialist Integration ( LSI ) and the Democratic Party ( DP ) combined to form a coalition government , the first such in Albania 's history .
-The Socialist Party ( SP ) has , in effect , boycotted Parliament since it convened in September 2009 and has called for investigations into alleged electoral fraud in the June 2009 elections .
-Albania joined NATO in April 2009 and is a potential candidate for EU accession .
-Although Albania 's economy continues to grow , the country is still one of the poorest in Europe , hampered by a large informal economy and an inadequate energy and transportation infrastructure .
-The principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia - for centuries under the suzerainty of the Turkish Ottoman Empire - secured their autonomy in 1856 ; they were de~facto linked in 1859 and formally united in 1862 under the new name of Romania .
-The country gained recognition of its independence in 1878 .
-It joined the Allied Powers in World War I and acquired new territories - most notably Transylvania - following the conflict .
-In 1940 , Romania allied with the Axis powers and participated in the 1941 German invasion of the USSR .
-Three years later , overrun by the Soviets , Romania signed an armistice .
-The post-war Soviet occupation led to the formation of a Communist " people 's republic " in 1947 and the abdication of the king .
-The decades-long rule of dictator Nicolae CEAUSESCU , who took power in 1965 , and his Securitate police state became increasingly oppressive and draconian through the 1980s .
-CEAUSESCU was overthrown and executed in late 1989 .
-Former Communists dominated the government until 1996 when they were swept from power .
-Romania joined NATO in 2004 and the EU in 2007 .
-This small , poor island economy has become increasingly dependent on cocoa since independence in 1975 .
-Cocoa production has substantially declined in recent years because of drought and mismanagement .
-Sao Tome and Principe has to import all fuels , most manufactured goods , consumer goods , and a substantial amount of food .
-Over the years , it has had difficulty servicing its external debt and has relied heavily on concessional aid and debt rescheduling .
-Sao Tome and Principe benefited from $ 200 million in debt relief in December 2000 under the Highly Indebted Poor Countries ( HIPC ) program , which helped bring down the country 's $ 300 million debt burden .
-In August 2005 , the government signed on to a new 3-year IMF Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility ( PRGF ) program worth $ 4.3 million .
-Considerable potential exists for development of a tourist industry , and the government has taken steps to expand facilities in recent years .
-The government also has attempted to reduce price controls and subsidies .
-Potential exists for the development of petroleum resources in Sao Tome and Principe 's territorial waters in the oil-rich Gulf of Guinea , which are being jointly developed in a 60-40 split with Nigeria , but any actual production is at least several years off .
-The first production licenses were sold in 2004 , though a dispute over licensing with Nigeria delayed the country 's receipt of more than $ 20 million in signing bonuses for almost a year .
-A Central Asian country of incredible natural beauty and proud nomadic traditions , most of Kyrgyzstan was formally annexed to Russia in 1876 .
-The Kyrgyz staged a major revolt against the Tsarist Empire in 1916 in which almost one-sixth of the Kyrgyz population was killed .
-Kyrgyzstan became a Soviet republic in 1936 and achieved independence in 1991 when the USSR dissolved .
-Nationwide demonstrations in the spring of 2005 resulted in the ouster of President Askar AKAEV , who had run the country since 1990 .
-Subsequent presidential elections in July 2005 were won overwhelmingly by former prime minister Kurmanbek BAKIEV .
-Over the next few years , the new president manipulated the parliament to accrue new powers for himself .
-In July 2009 , after months of harassment against his opponents and media critics , BAKIEV won re-election in a presidential campaign that the international community deemed flawed .
-In April 2010 , nationwide protests led to the resignation and expulsion of BAKIEV .
-He was replaced by President Roza OTUNBAEVA who will serve as president until 31 December 2011 according to a presidential decree issued 19 May 2010 .
-Presidential elections are scheduled to be held in October 2011 .
-Continuing concerns include : endemic corruption , poor interethnic relations , and terrorism .
-THE LARK ( according to an ancient legend ) was created before the earth itself , and when her father died , as there was no earth , she could find no place of burial for him .
-She let him lie uninterred for five days , and on the sixth day , not knowing what else to do , she buried him in her own head .
-Hence she obtained her crest , which is popularly said to be her father 's grave-hillock .
-Youth 's first duty is reverence to parents .
-A RICH Man wanted to tell a certain lie , but the lie was of such monstrous size that it stuck in his throat ; so he employed an Editor to write it out and publish it in his paper as an editorial .
-But when the Editor presented his bill , the Rich Man said : " Be content - is it nothing that I refrained from advising you about investments ? "
-This is a test .
-This is a test of the Answering Machine Broadcast System .
-This is only a test .
-A published report in the United States predicts international financial assistance for the Palestinian Authority could double if elections in the West Bank and Gaza take place on schedule next month , and if the Palestinians take steps toward resolving their conflict with Israel .
-The New York Times estimates up to $ 8 billion in aid from the United States , Europe and Arab nations could go to the Palestinian Authority over the next four years if those conditions - successful elections and progress toward peace - are met .
-The Palestinian Authority has been facing a severe financial crisis , primarily due to declining tax revenues , and the Palestinian economy has been paralyzed during the past four years of violence in the West Bank and Gaza .
-President Bush 's wife , Laura , has announced four new African countries will be added to a U.S.-backed initiative to control malaria on the continent .
-Speaking in Washington Thursday Mrs. Bush said the United States will be a partner in the initiative with Malawi , Mozambique , Rwanda , and Senegal .
-She said the program will help provide the countries with anti-malaria drugs and long-lasting mosquito nets , and help them conduct spraying procedures to kill mosquitoes .
-President Bush unveiled the $ 1.2 billion initiative last year .
-Tanzania , Uganda and Angola are already part of the five-year plan .
-The U.N. says 3,000 children a day die of malaria in Africa .
-To help lead the fight against the illness , President Bush has appointed the first U.S. Malaria Coordinator , Timothy Ziemer .
-Ziemer , a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral , was previously executive director of World Relief , a private American disaster relief organization .
-The late comedian Richard Pryor and late blues legend Robert Johnson are among the artists who will receive a posthumous lifetime achievement Grammy award .
-The Recording Academy , which awards the Grammys - one of the top awards in the U.S. recording industry - said Pryor will be remembered for his deft treatment of controversial topics , such as race relations , that had previously been ignored .
-Pryor died last month at age 65 , after suffering for years from a degenerative nerve disease .
-Blues legend Robert Johnson will also receive an award .
-Despite a short life that ended in 1938 , Johnson 's Delta blues style influenced generations of musicians .
-Innovative rock musician David Bowie , country music artist Merle Haggard , and opera singer Jessye Norman are among the living performers to be recognized at the February 8 ceremony .
-A U.S. military helicopter has crashed during an anti-militant operation in southern Afghanistan , killing its five-member American crew .
-The U.S. military says the Chinook aircraft went down early Sunday in Zabul province shortly after dropping off troops involved in the mission .
-A U.S. military spokesman , Colonel Jim Yonts , says the cause of the crash is under investigation , and that troops are at the scene providing security for recovery operation .
-A Taleban spokesman , Abdul Latif Hakimi , claimed responsibility for shooting down the aircraft , but the U.S. military says there is no indication hostile fire was involved .
-Two other U.S. Chinooks crashed in Afghanistan earlier this year .
-One of the large , twin-rotor aircraft was shot down in June , killing all 16 Americans aboard .
-Another Chinook crashed in a sandstorm in April , killing 15 American troops and three civilians .
-One person was killed and at least several others wounded in Mogadishu overnight as insurgents attacked three police stations .
-Witnesses report grenade explosions and exchanges of gunfire around police stations in the Wadajir , Hodan , and Florence districts .
-There were conflicting reports whether the person killed was an insurgent or a civilian hit by a stray bullet .
-Such gunbattles have become a daily occurrence in the Somali capital as insurgents continue to battle the government and its Ethiopian allies .
-A national peace conference organized by the government has shown no sign of reconciling Somalia 's warring clans and factions .
-The Horn of Africa country has not had a stable central government since 1991 .
-A suicide bombing Saturday in Turkey killed at least four people riding a minibus to a beach in an Aegean seacoast resort town .
-Injured foreign tourist is carried to ambulance after explosion in Kusadasi , Saturday Authorities in Kusadasi , southeast of Izmir , say the blast wounded 14 people , several of whom are in critical condition .
-Three of the dead were believed to be foreign tourists .
-One Turkish account says the bombing was carried out by a woman , but there is no word yet on who plotted the explosion .
-Several recent attacks in Turkey have been claimed by Kurdish separatist rebels , including TAK guerrillas linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party , PKK .
-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the attack was the work of terrorists , but he did not blame any specific group .
-Palestinian medical workers say two gunmen with the Islamic militant group Hamas have been killed in an Israeli air strike in the southern Gaza Strip .
-Hamas says Israeli aircraft Saturday struck one of the group 's military posts near the town of Khan Younis .
-It says the two dead gunmen belonged to Hamas ' military wing ( Ezzedin al-Qassam ) , and that four of its members were wounded in the attack .
-The Israeli army confirmed the air strike .
-Israel conducts air strikes and land operations in the Gaza Strip in an effort to stop Palestinian militants from firing rockets into southern Israel .
-Russia - one of the world 's largest wheat exporters - has imposed a ban on grain exports due to an extended drought , wildfires and record-high temperatures ravaging much of the country .
-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin ordered the ban Thursday , as part of a push to control domestic prices for wheat products and livestock feed .
-The ban begins August 15 and is scheduled to end in December .
-Russia slashed its grain harvest forecast last week by 20 percent , as drought and high temperatures spawned hundreds of wildfires that destroyed entire villages and at least one key military base near Moscow .
-Fifty people have been found dead in the smoldering ruins of rural homes in western and central Russia .
-Temperatures in Moscow have hovered near 40 C for more than a week , as parched residents battle choking smog and smoke from peat fires burning just outside the city .
-Argentina and Spain have agreed to pursue a strategic alliance to strengthen political and economic ties .
-Argentine President Nestor Kirchner and visiting Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero signed the agreement Tuesday in Buenos Aires .
-Earlier this week , Mr. Zapatero met with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Brasilia .
-The two said they plan to strengthen cooperation in social development , construction projects and other fields .
-For the last leg of his South American trip , Mr. Zapatero is scheduled to fly to Chile Wednesday to meet with President Ricardo Lagos .
-Humanitarian agencies report more than 50 people have been killed in floods in Pakistan brought on by heavy monsoon rains that began earlier this month .
-The Red Cross says 50,000 people have been affected in the worst hit areas in the province of Baluchistan .
-The Pakistani government and relief organizations are pledging food and supplies to help those displaced by the flooding .
-But there are concerns that worsening weather conditions could hamper those relief efforts .
-Thailand 's military installed government Friday announced a proposal to lift martial law in 11 of 35 provinces .
-But the government proposes to place new restrictions on three provinces that border Laos .
-Former head of the military government , Sonthi Boonyaratglin , told reporters that martial law will remain in regions that are prone to drug problems .
-Many of the restricted provinces also supported the former political party of ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra .
-Thai prosecutors flew to England Friday to discuss the possibility of extraditing Mr. Thaksin on corruption charges .
-Last month , Thailand 's supreme court suspended a case against Mr. Thaksin and his wife until they appear in court .
-Prosecutors charge the couple with illegally influencing a Bangkok real estate deal in 2003 .
-The two have been living in self-imposed exile in England since Mr. Thaksin was ousted in a coup last year .
-Reporters Without Borders has expressed shock over a female television reporter 's murder in Afghanistan , and called on President Hamid Karzai to take concrete steps in support of press freedom .
-Shaima Rezayee had presented a music program on the privately-run television channel Tolo TV , and was shot in the head in the Kabul neighborhood of Char Qala on Wednesday .
-She was the first journalist to be killed in Afghanistan since the end of the war in 2001 .
-The group is urging an independent investigation into the murder so that those responsible can be arrested and brought to trial .
-Conservative Islamists in Afghanistan had been criticizing 24-year-old Ms. Rezayee 's music program as anti-Islamic .
-Bowing to pressure from religious leaders , Tolo TV had fired her earlier this year .
-Palestinian officials say Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian near a checkpoint in the West Bank Sunday .
-They say the Israeli soldiers opened fire on the man 's vehicle when it tried to bypass a checkpoint near the city of Nablus .
-Three other Palestinians in the vehicle were wounded .
-Meanwhile , Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh condemned Israel 's arrest of Deputy Prime Minister Nasser al-Shaer , a top official of the Hamas organization .
-Israeli forces raided Shaer 's home in the West Bank early Saturday and took him away for questioning .
-An Israeli spokesman says Shaer was detained because he is a member of Hamas , which won Palestinian elections early this year but is considered a terrorist group by Israel , the United States and the European Union .
-Al-Qaida 's front group in Iraq has claimed responsibility for a string of attacks on Baghdad 's Shi'ite districts this week that left at least 64 dead and 360 wounded .
-In a statement posted Friday on a militant website , the Islamic State of Iraq is threatening more attacks on the country 's Shi'ite majority .
-The statement says the assault Tuesday on Shi'ite civilians at restaurants and cafes across the capital was " the first day of many bloody days to come . "
-The Islamic State of Iraq is an umbrella group that includes al-Qaida in Iraq and other Sunni insurgent factions .
-The group this week also threatened more attacks on Christians , after it took responsibility for a shocking siege at a Baghdad church during Sunday Mass that left 58 people dead .
-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says Washington is concerned about reports of a Chinese government crackdown on dissidents ahead of President Bush 's visit .
-Ms. Rice told reporters in Beijing Sunday the United States would strongly raise its concerns with Beijing .
-She says U.S. officials will seek clarification on the matter , and will make clear " open societies societies allow people to express themselves . "
-The French news agency ( AFP ) says Chinese authorities have recently detained or placed under house arrest at least a dozen dissidents and activists .
-Secretary Rice also says Washington is disappointed in China 's lack of progress to a request made in September for action on specific human rights cases .
-The secretary says the issue of human rights in China will be a long conversation over a long period of time .
-The former majority leader in the U.S. House of Representatives turned himself in to authorities Thursday to face charges of money laundering and conspiracy .
-Congressman Tom DeLay reported to a sheriff 's office in Houston , Texas , where he was booked , photographed and fingerprinted before being released on $ 10,000 bond .
-Mr. DeLay had been expected to appear for booking after a Texas state court issued a warrant for his arrest on Wednesday .
-The court 's move was a formality under Texas law , which requires that an arrest warrant be issued for anyone indicted on a felony charge .
-The Republican congressman has denied the charges against him , saying they are politically motivated .
-Mr. DeLay has kept his Texas congressional seat but has stepped down as Republican leader under a party rule requiring him to give up the post if charged with a felony .
-Citigroup , one of the largest financial institutions in the United States , said Tuesday it lost nearly $ 10 billion in the last few months of 2007 .
-The bank says its assets have shrunk by more than $ 18 billion because of huge investments in the troubled subprime mortgage sector .
-The company says it will layoff another 4,200 employees to save money .
-Citi is turning to outside investors to replenish capital , raising more than $ 14 billion from investors in Singapore , Kuwait , Saudi Arabia and elsewhere .
-Meantime , Merrill Lynch , the largest brokerage , is suffering from similar problems and raising about $ 6.6 billion from investors in Japan , Kuwait and South Korea .
-Tens of thousands of Nepalese have marched through the capital , Kathmandu demanding an end to years of violence between Maoist rebels and government security forces .
-Organizers of the peace rally said Monday they want to mount pressure on the government and the rebels to resume peace talks .
-Students and people from all walks of life carried banners and chanted slogans demanding an immediate end to the Maoist rebellion that has claimed more than 10,000 lives since it began in 1996 .
-The rebels want to replace Nepal 's constitutional monarchy with a communist state .
-The rally was held as a crippling Maoist-called transport blockade of the Kathmandu valley entered its fifth day .
-The rebels are demanding information about their missing activists who they say disappeared while in custody .
-World oil prices declined about two percent in Tuesday 's trading after Chinese oil imports slowed and a report on the U.S. economy disappointed investors .
-In New York trading , the price of crude oil fell more than $ 2 to $ 79.43 .
-A report on declining worker productivity in the United States prompted investors to expect less demand for energy , which would lower oil prices .
-The United States and China are the world 's two largest oil consumers .
-Sixty years ago , fifteen-year old Roman Ferencevych lived through the waning months of World War II in war-shattered Berlin , far from his native Ukraine .
-After the war , he found himself in the United States -- a displaced person , a refugee , and an American soldier .
-Here he shares his memories of that turbulent time .
-The day the war ended in Germany , Hear Roman Ferencevych describe life in a Displaced Persons ' Camp
-Roman Ferencevych talks about the goals of the Ukrainian Community in the U.S.
-Mauritania 's foreign minister says her country has broken diplomatic relations with Israel .
-Speaking in the capital of Nouakchott late Saturday , Naha Mint Hamdi Ould Mouknass said Mauritania has cut ties with Israel in a " complete and definitive way . "
-Mauritania was once one of three Arab states that had diplomatic relations with Israel .
-It suspended the ties in January 2009 because of an Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip .
-In March , the government expelled Israeli diplomats and ordered the closing of the Israeli embassy .
-The 2009 Israeli offensive killed an estimated 1,300 Palestinians .
-Israel said it launched the offensive to protect itself against rocket attacks by the militant group Hamas .
-Mauritania 's move leaves Egypt and Jordan as the only Arab states to maintain relations with Israel .
-U.S. military lawyers want charges dropped against alleged conspirators in the September 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States , saying their cases were improperly influenced by a Pentagon adviser .
-In documents released Friday , defense attorneys argue that Air Force adviser Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann failed to provide fair and objective legal advice , and instead pushed prosecutors to take up " sexy " high-profile cases .
-The defense 's motion pertains to the case of the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks , Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other prisoners held at the U.S. military detention center in Guantanamo Bay , Cuba .
-A judge had already barred Hartmann from a case against Salim Hamdan , a former driver for al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden .
-Hamdan was scheduled to go to trial early next month , but a military judge on Friday postponed the case for six weeks so the defendant can receive a mental evaluation .
-Chief U.N. war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte says Slobodan Milosevic secretly took medicines in his jail cell in what may have been a suicide attempt .
-Del Ponte told France 's Le Monde newspaper Tuesday that Milosevic apparently decided to worsen his health in an attempt to get out of jail and go to Moscow for treatment or to take his own life .
-She said she is waiting for blood test results to see what brought on the heart attack that killed Milosevic .
-Del Ponte said Milosevic 's death is difficult to accept and that it dealt the war crimes tribunal a nasty blow .
-But she said she wants to try fugitive former Bosnian Serb leaders Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic , saying the court is now in a coma and must come back to life .
-European naval forces have detained seven suspected pirates off the coast of Somalia .
-The German Defense Ministry says pirates fired on one of its supply ships , the FSG Spessart , in the Gulf of Aden on Sunday .
-It says the German ship returned fire and then chased down the pirates with the help of other vessels in the European Union 's anti-piracy mission .
-The seven suspects are being held on a German frigate ( the Rheinland-Pfalz ) .
-Somali pirates seized more than 40 ships during 2008 , receiving millions of dollars in ransom payments .
-But the number of hijackings has dropped sharply in recent months , after the EU , the United States and other world powers began naval patrols in the waters near Somalia .
-North Korea says it has sent its top diplomat to Russia , amid a flurry of attempts to ease tensions on the Korean peninsula .
-The North 's state Korean Central News Agency said in a one-sentence dispatch that Foreign Minister Pak Ui-Chun departed for Moscow .
-The article provided no further details .
-Pak told Russia 's Interfax news agency Friday that Pyongyang felt justified in building a nuclear defense to ward off threats from South Korea and the U.S. , which he accused of conducting a policy of hostility and confrontation .
-Russia is a member of the six nations attempting to bring a halt to North Korea 's nuclear program .
-The six-party talks also include the two Koreas , China , Japan and the United States .
-Talking about fashion instantly evokes in many people images of models strutting down the catwalk .
-But the South Asian Student Association at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania recently took a different spin on fashion during Pakistan Awareness Week on campus .
-VOA 's Ruth Reader reports for producer Imran Siddiqi .
-Venezuelan station Radio Caracas Television ( RCTV ) is now being shown on cable and satellite after being forced off the air by President Hugo Chavez in May .
-The opposition-aligned TV station began its new programming Monday .
-The chief of RCTV told a news conference last week that the station 's return is a victory for Venezuelan people who want its programs .
-Mr. Chavez refused to renew RCTV 's license to broadcast on a public frequency for allegedly backing a failed coup against him in 2002 .
-Other national private networks also opposed Mr. Chavez , but their criticism of the government is now softer and they have retained their licenses .
-The United States says its relief helicopters are now supplying twice as much aid to key distribution centers in quake-ravaged areas of Pakistan .
-The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad said Sunday this is to ensure at least a 30-day food supply in remote villages before bad weather grounds flights again .
-The statement says U.S. Chinook helicopters are now delivering over 100 tons of cargo a day , doubling their usual load by hanging supplies in nets under the aircraft .
-Meanwhile , the United Nations and Pakistani authorities are investigating why Pakistani earthquake victims forced their way onto two aid helicopters Friday and made the pilots airlift them from the disaster zone .
-The October 8 quake killed more than 73,000 people and made more than three million people homeless .
-Ukrainian emergency officials say five people have been killed in the crash of a small private passenger plane near Kyiv .
-The Beechcraft turboprop was on a flight Sunday from the Czech Republic .
-Witnesses say the plane crashed and exploded in a field just short of the runway at Zhulyany airport near Kyiv .
-No one on the ground was hurt .
-All five victims were Czech .
-Investigators say initial findings point to human error as the cause of the crash .
-Burmese officials have ordered about 80 HIV patients and staff to leave a care home in Rangoon after a visit there by democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi .
-The official reason given for the eviction was that the home , a wooden shelter operated by Phyu Phyu Tin , a member of Aung San Suu Kyi 's National League for Democracy party , was in violation of Burmese law .
-The eviction order came a day after Aung San Suu Kyi visited the clinic and called for more medical assistance for the shelter 's residents , which include children .
-The Nobel laureate visited the clinic four days after she was freed from seven years of house arrest , when she pledged a " peaceful revolution " while seeking dialogue with the ruling generals .
-British Prime Minister Tony Blair says he wants the U.S. military to close the detention facility for terrorism suspects at the American naval base in Guantanamo Bay , Cuba .
-Mr. Blair told lawmakers he hopes a judicial process could be put in place so the detention center could close .
-His comments came during his weekly question-and-answer session in parliament .
-The prime minister stressed that the detention facility was opened under extraordinary circumstances , following the September 11 , 2001 attacks on the United States that killed nearly 3,000 people .
-He said the facility housed people fighting U.S. and British troops in Afghanistan .
-About 500 detainees are being held at Guantanamo , suspected of links to al-Qaida or the Taleban .
-Human rights groups and the United Nations have called for its closure .
-U.S. officials insist detainees there are treated humanely .
-Chinese protesters chant anti-Japanese slogans as they march in Beijing 's Chinese police have warned against unauthorized anti-Japanese protests in the coming days after last week 's demonstrations turned violent .
-A statement posted Friday on popular Web sites told people to place their faith in the Communist Party and express their patriotic passion in an orderly manner .
-The statement noted that public demonstrations require police permission and warned that violators could face punishment .
-Notices spread by activists on Web sites and by mobile phones are calling for more protests in the next few days in Beijing , Shanghai and other cities .
-The official announcement comes after violent anti-Japanese marches in Beijing , Guangzhou and Shenzhen this past week against Japan 's bid for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council and Tokyo 's alleged downplaying of wartime atrocities .
-Iran 's hard-line president has called for the destruction of Israel and warned Muslim nations who recognize the Jewish state that they will be forever disgraced .
-Speaking at a Tehran conference entitled " The World Without Zionism " Wednesday , President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told thousands of students that countries or leaders who acknowledge Israel will be confronted with the wrath of the Islamic community .
-Intoning the words of the founder of Iran 's Islamic revolution , Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini , he said , " Israel must be wiped off the map . "
-He also called Israel 's recent withdrawal from the Gaza Strip " a trick , " meant to make Islamic states acknowledge Israel .
-There was no immediate reaction to his comments from Jerusalem , but in Paris , a French foreign ministry spokesman strongly condemned the remarks .
-Serbian government officials say a former Bosnian Serb interior minister plans to surrender to the United Nations Tribunal in The Hague to face war crimes charges .
-The government said Thursday Mica Stanisic will travel to The Hague and surrender to the court Friday .
-The tribunal has not yet made his indictment public .
-Mr. Stanisic was Bosnian Serb interior minister during part of the conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina that began in 1992 .
-The European Union , NATO and Western governments have urged Serbia to arrest war crimes suspects and transfer them to The Hague .
-Since January , four high-ranking Serb military officials have surrendered to the tribunal .
-However , at least 17 Serbian or Bosnian Serb suspects , as well as Croatian General Ante Gotovina , still remain at large .
-Congo 's electoral commission has requested a delay in national elections that are scheduled for June .
-The head of the commission said Thursday he has presented the request to parliament , which must approve any delay .
-He did not say why the delay is necessary .
-However the move was widely expected as preparations for the polls have fallen behind schedule .
-The delay is in line with Congo 's peace accord , which allows up to two six-month delays in elections , the nation 's first since independence in 1960 .
-Congo 's peace deal , signed in 2003 , ended a five-year war .
-Earlier this year , concerns about a delay in the elections led to violent protests in Kinshasa .
-Thursday , police were out in force on the streets of the capital to prevent any violence .
-Pakistani officials said military fighter jets and helicopter gunships pounded tribal areas in northwestern Pakistan on Sunday , killing at least 30 insurgents and destroying seven militant hide-outs .
-Pakistan launched the offensive in Orakzai to rout Taliban fighters from the mountainous area near its border with Afghanistan .
-Elsewhere in Pakistan 's tribal region , suspected militants released 50 of the 60 people kidnapped at gunpoint in Kurram on Saturday .
-Local officials say tribal elders are helping to negotiate the release of the remaining hostages .
-Delegations from Somalia 's interim government and opposition groups are meeting in Djibouti Saturday for United Nations brokered peace talks .
-Two explosions along the road to the airport outside the Somali capital , Mogadishu , Friday briefly delayed President Abdullahi Yousuf and Prime Minister Hussein Nur Adde as they prepared to fly to the meeting .
-After the explosions Ethiopian backed government forces opened fire on insurgents killing at least two civilians .
-During three days of meetings in Djibouti , the groups will try to finalize details of a peace agreement worked out in June between the Somali government and the opposition Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia .
-Somalia has not had a stable government since 1991 .
-Fighting between government forces and insurgents has killed thousands of Somalis and displaced more than a million others .
-Officials in the eastern European nation of Slovakia say two wild birds found dead appear to have carried the H5N1 strain of bird flu .
-Slovakian Agriculture Minister Zsolt Simon said Thursday , the strain was detected in a white grebe found in the capital , Bratislava , and in a peregrine falcon found in Gabcikovo , at the border with Hungary .
-He said samples from the birds have been sent to the European Union reference laboratory in Britain .
-Slovakia is the latest European Union nation to confirm H5N1 cases .
-The strain has already been confirmed in France , Germany , Greece , Hungary , Slovenia , Italy and Austria .
-Austrian officials Wednesday reported the first European Union case of the deadly disease in poultry .
-Bird flu has killed 92 people worldwide since 2003 , mostly in Asia .
-A pair of upsets have highlighted play at the Adelaide International men 's hardcourt tennis championships , with third-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain and number four Mario Ancic of Croatia both losing .
-Florent Serra of France needed three sets to eliminate Robredo , 07-Jun , 03-Jun , 06-Mar on Wednesday , while Belgium 's Xavier Malisse topped Ancic , 03-Jun , 06-Mar , 07-Jun in their second round match .
-Serra will play seventh-seeded Jarkko Nieminen in the third round , after the Finnish player beat Germany 's Florian Mayer , 07-Jun , 07-May .
-Top-seeded Lleyton Hewitt of Australia will play his second round match Thursday against Germany 's Philipp Kohlschreiber .
-Bangladeshi medical officials are struggling to treat the victims of a fire that has killed at least 114 people in the capital , Dhaka .
-According to local news reports , the state-run Dhaka Medical College has admitted at least 100 people with burn injuries , since the huge fire destroyed several buildings in Dhaka 's densely-populated old section .
-Bangladeshi officials said the blaze started Thursday night when an electrical transformer exploded .
-Witnesses say chemicals inside shops worsened the fire as it spread through apartment buildings .
-Narrow roads in the centuries-old Kayettuli neighborhood hampered rescue efforts , leaving many residents trapped inside the area 's tightly-packed buildings .
-The Bangladeshi government has declared Saturday a national day of mourning .
-The fire was the second deadly accident in Dhaka this week .
-On Tuesday , a building collapsed , killing at least 25 people .
-European Union officials say the 16 nations that use the euro face a recession this year , which will bring rising unemployment and growing government debts .
-Officials say the economies will shrink by 1.9 % this year , while unemployment goes above 9 % .
-The forecast is even gloomier than one issued in November .
-Experts predict the EU economy will recover somewhat in the second half of this year , and resume growth in 2010 , but warn the outlook is uncertain .
-European nations are trying to ease the impact of the recession by crafting stimulus packages that now total in the hundreds of billions of dollars , which will boost government deficits .
-U.S. authorities have charged an American college student with providing aid to terrorists .
-Court papers unsealed this week show that Syed Haris Ahmed , a mechanical engineering student at Georgia Tech in Atlanta was arrested on March 23 after a year-long investigation .
-Authorities accuse Ahmed , who was born in Pakistan , of attending a terrorist training camp in Pakistan last year .
-Ahmed has pleaded not guilty .
-He is being held at an undisclosed location .
-Authorities say another person from the Atlanta area , 19-year-old Ehsanul Islam Sadequee , was arrested in Bangladesh in connection with the investigation of Ahmed .
-They say he is being flown to New York to face charges .
-Officials say this is the first international terrorism charge filed in the state of Georgia .
-North Korea says its National Security Service has arrested several of its citizens who were working as spies for a foreign country .
-The official Korean Central News Agency reports Wednesday that a foreign espionage agency coerced the North Koreans with money , sex and blackmail .
-Several foreigners were also arrested .
-The news report says the agents had posed as businessmen and used cameras , and global positioning systems to take pictures and draw maps of key military facilities .
-North Korea says the spies also were asked to collect information on military and state secrets and spread the ideas of freedom and democracy .
-It did not identify the foreign country or the spy agency .
-This is the first time in recent years that North Korea has announced the arrest of spies .
-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in Israel , at the start of a two-day push to revive the Middle East peace process .
-Before her arrival , Ms. Rice said resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a top priority .
-She also urged both sides to build on the recently-completed Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip to reach a two-state solution to the decades-long conflict .
-The U.S. diplomat is to address an Israeli think-tank later Sunday before meeting with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon .
-She meets with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas Monday in the West Bank .
-Earlier today in Saudi Arabia , Ms. Rice had talks with Saudi leaders on the war on terror and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict .
-She later said both countries are united in fighting terrorism , and said both governments could do more to improve the image of the United States within the kingdom .
-Rescuers in western Nepal continue to search for more than 100 people missing since a suspension bridge collapsed .
-Local authorities say rescue workers recovered 14 bodies , including children , from the icy waters of the Bheri River in the remote Surkhet district .
-They say at least 32 seriously injured people were taken to hospitals , and one person died on the way .
-Dozens more with light injuries were treated at the scene Tuesday and allowed to go home .
-Police say scores of people managed to swim to safety , but many more may have been swept downstream .
-Authorities believe hundreds of people were crossing the bridge to attend a religious festival when its support cables snapped under the weight .
-The leader of Lebanon 's parliamentary majority has accused Syria and Iran of seeking to impose a political and terrorist presence in Lebanon .
-Saad al-Hariri made his remarks in a speech Thursday to party members and supporters .
-He also called on supporters to attend a rally next week marking the third anniversary of the assassination of his father , former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri , who was killed in a car bombing in Beirut on February 14 , 2005 .
-Several other anti-Syrian political figures in Lebanon have since been assassinated , but Syria has denied involvement in the killings .
-Lebanon is facing a crisis as the country 's political factions struggle to resolve their differences and elect a new president .
-The parliamentary vote for a new president has been postponed 13 times and is now scheduled for Monday .
-Lebanon has been without a president since November 23 , when the term of pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud expired .
-Human Rights Watch has called for the investigation of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir 's role in crimes against humanity committed in his country 's Darfur region .
-In a report , the group listed 20 other government , military , and Janjaweed militia members who should also be investigated .
-The report is being submitted to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court which is scheduled to brief the United Nations Security Council Monday on the situation in Darfur .
-A Human Rights Watch official Peter Takirambudde , HRW Africa Director , says senior Sudanese officials must be held accountable for the ethnic cleansing in Darfur .
-Since the war erupted in 2003 between rebels and government-backed militia , an estimated 1,80,000 people have died , and two million others have been displaced .
-Iraq 's main Sunni Arab coalition has challenged partial vote results showing a strong lead for a Shi'ite coalition in last week 's parliamentary elections .
-Leaders for the Iraqi Consensus Front said the preliminary totals did not match those recorded by party monitors in Baghdad province , and warned they may call for a re-vote .
-Initial results show the Sunni coalition received 19 percent of the vote , and the Shi'ite-led United Iraqi Alliance took 59 percent in Baghdad .
-Final results are expected early next month .
-Meanwhile , U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad expressed concern that results showed votes in other parts of Iraq were mostly divided along religious and ethnic lines .
-He said Iraq 's future relies on cross-ethnic cooperation .
-In Washington , President Bush called Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari Tuesday to congratulate them on the election .
-Firefighters in the western U.S. state of California are trying to contain more than 1,400 wildfires that have been burning for more than a week .
-State emergency officials say the fire is centered in the state 's northern region where 1,40,000 hectares have already burned .
-Officials say more than 50 properties have been destroyed , while another 7,000 homes remain under threat .
-So far no deaths have been reported , however , health officials have raised concerns over poor air quality .
-Some 1,800 people are working to contain the blaze with the help of at least 100 water-dropping helicopters .
-On Saturday , President Bush declared a state of emergency for California and ordered federal aid to assist in firefighting efforts .
-California is frequently hit by wildfires due to its arid climate and hot , dry winds .
-Last year , fires destroyed more than 2,00,000 hectares and some 2,000 homes in southern California .
-Three Palestinians have been killed and at least 14 others injured during an Israeli raid on a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip .
-Witnesses say Israeli tanks opened fire as they entered the Khan Younis camp in southern Gaza early Friday , followed by bulldozers that razed several houses .
-Israel said the raid was intended to destroy launching points for mortar and rocket attacks into nearby Jewish settlements .
-An Israeli helicopter fired missiles at a Gaza building Thursday in Rafah .
-Israeli military officials say the building housed a workshop used for weapons storage by the militant group Hamas .
-Palestinians from the area , however , say it was a carpentry shop .
-The latest violence comes amid an offer by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to coordinate his Gaza troop withdrawal plan with a future Palestinian government .
-Voters in Taiwan are heading to the polls for parliamentary elections .
-The election could redefine Taiwan 's troubled relationship with mainland China .
-At stake in Saturday 's election is control of Taiwan 's 225-seat legislature .
-Taiwan and China split in 1949 after a civil war .
-Beijing considers the island its territory and says Taiwanese moves toward independence would provoke a war .
-The election pits a pro-independence coalition , led by President Chen Shui-bian 's Democratic Progressive Party , against the Kuomintang and its allies , who favor improving relations with Beijing .
-DPP Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim says the election is too close to call .
-" But President Chen is fairly confident that we can win at least close to a majority in this election , " he says .
-Polls close at four p.m. and results are expected a few hours later .
-The U.S. military in Iraq says its warplanes have bombed a suspected al-Qaida safehouse in the western part of the country , near the Syrian border .
-The air strike , early Thursday , specifically targeted what the military said was a " known bombmaking cell leader , " Abu Mohammad , who was also believed to have participated in tribal fighting in the area .
-It was not clear if he was confirmed killed in the strike near the town of Husaybah .
-In other news , rescued American hostage Roy Hallums is reported in good health and is expected to return to the United States within days .
-The U.S. military says within three hours of obtaining information on where he was being held from an Iraqi detainee they launched a successful mission Wednesday to free him .
-Palestinian officials say Israeli forces operating in the Gaza Strip killed five Palestinians Monday .
-The officials say two of the dead were from Hamas and two were from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ' security guard .
-They say the fifth victim was a civilian .
-Israeli forces entered the Gaza City district on Saturday as part of an operation against militants .
-Since then , Israeli troops have killed several suspected militants and wounded several people , including two journalists .
-In a separate incident Monday , Hamas gunmen shot and killed a Palestinian motorist in southern Gaza when he refused to stop at a Hamas roadblock .
-About 200 Afghans have demonstrated in Kabul against a death sentence given to an Afghan reporter accused of blasphemy .
-The protesters marched to the United Nations office in the capital Thursday , calling for the immediate release of Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh .
-An Afghan court sentenced the 23-year-old journalism student to death last week for defaming Islam .
-He was detained in late October , 2007 for distributing articles about the role of women in Muslim society .
-The case has attracted international attention with the United States and several human right groups expressing concern .
-The Paris-based media rights group Reporters Without Borders Thursday said authorities should quickly reexamine the case .
-It added that Kambakhsh and his family have been receiving death threats .
-Under Islamic law stipulated in Afghanistan 's constitution , blasphemy is punishable by death .
-But Afghan President Hamid Karzai has to approve any death sentences before they are carried out .
-Bird flu experts from U.N. agencies are in Nigeria to assist in efforts to contain the lethal strain of the virus .
-Officials from the World Health Organization and Food and Agriculture Organization have joined local authorities to inform farmers and others about the potential risks .
-A highly pathogenic version of the H5N1 strain was recently discovered in birds on a farm in the northern state of Kaduna .
-The case was the first of the lethal strain of bird flu reported on the African continent .
-Health officials are awaiting test results from two children in Kaduna who recently became sick to determine if they are Africa 's first human cases of bird flu .
-Somalia 's parliament has passed a no confidence motion against the prime minister and his cabinet , effectively dissolving the government .
-Lawmakers said Saturday Prime Minister Mohamed Ali Gedi failed to respect a power-sharing deal when he named a cabinet that was not equally divided between Somalia 's ethnic groups .
-They also said the prime minister violated the constitution by failing to seek a vote of confidence from lawmakers .
-Somali President Abdullahi Yusef Ahmed will now have to appoint another prime minister .
-The president was himself elected by the parliament in October .
-He has promised to restore stability to Somalia , wracked by clan violence and lawlessness following the overthrow of the government 13 years ago .
-Somalia 's parliament has been meeting in the Kenyan capital , Nairobi , due to security concerns at home .
-The number of confirmed dead in Somalia from South Asia 's earthquake generated tsunami has risen to at least 142 people .
-A spokesman for the Somali government , Yusuf Ismail Baribari , says relief agencies are rushing aid to communities along the northeastern shoreline .
-The worst hit area is the Somali island of Hafun .
-Most of the dead are believed to be fishermen who were in boats when huge waves struck the coastline on December 26 .
-The Somali government says thousands in the region need immediate aid .
-There are reports of acute diarrhea and concerns that outbreaks of cholera will follow .
-The tsunami also took lives in Tanzania , Seychelles and Kenya .
-NATO officials say a rocket attack in southern Afghanistan has killed a coalition soldier involved in the ongoing fight against the resurgent Taleban .
-Officials say the rocket struck a military vehicle Tuesday , in Kandahar province .
-There is no word on the NATO soldier 's nationality .
-Separately , Afghan officials say Taleban militants attacked a police checkpoint in the eastern province of Khost late Monday .
-Two militants and a police officer were killed .
-NATO-led military forces are fighting alongside Afghan troops in their effort to repel Taleban insurgents fighting against the U.S.-backed Kabul government .
-Attacks by the Taleban , including an increasing number of suicide bombings , have surged this year .
-The extremist group was forced from power almost five years ago in an offensive led by the United States .
-Millions of Americans could lose their homes this year and in 2009 as foreclosures across the United States are occurring at the highest rate in decades .
-At the beginning of the year , the number of homes facing foreclosure jumped more than 57 percent compared to a year ago .
-The foreclosure crisis is worsening despite ongoing efforts by some lenders and the federal government to help borrowers manage the mortgage payments on their homes .
-VOA 's Chris Simkins reports on how one organization is helping people save their homes .
-A previously-unknown group in Iraq has claimed responsibility for last week 's bomb attack on a Shi'ite funeral that killed at least 50 people and wounded 80 others .
-In an internet statement Sunday , the group said it carried out the attack to demonstrate opposition to Shi'ites who are set to take control of Iraq 's new government this week .
-Separately , U.S. officials say two American civilian security contractors have been killed and a third wounded in a roadside bomb blast south of Baghdad .
-Meanwhile , Kurdish negotiators say they are nearing a deal with the dominant Shi'ite alliance on forming a coalition government .
-Kurdish negotiator Fuad Masoum said the talks will resume Monday in Baghdad - two days before the Iraqi National Assembly convenes for the first time since January elections .
-A leading figure in Latin jazz music , Ray Barretto , has died .
-The Grammy-winning percussionist , known as " Hard Hands " for his work on the conga drums , died Friday in the northeastern U.S. state of New Jersey .
-He was 76 .
-His family did not give a cause of death , but he underwent heart bypass surgery earlier this year .
-Barretto was raised in the United States by Puerto Rican immigrants .
-In a career that spanned more than four decades , Barretto played with such jazz greats as Dizzy Gillespie and Tito Puente .
-He won a Grammy with Cuban salsa singer Celia Cruz in 1990 , for a single called Rhythm in the Heart .
-His latest album , Time Was - Time Is , was nominated for a Grammy this year for Best Latin Jazz Album .
-Taiwan has withdrawn permits allowing journalists from China 's official Xinhua news agency and People 's Daily newspaper to report from Taipei .
-Joseph Wu , chairman of Taiwan 's Mainland Affairs Council , said Sunday the decision was part of an overall review of exchanges with China , which regards Taiwan as a breakaway province .
-Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian 's government announced its intention to conduct such a policy review after Beijing adopted a new anti-secession law approving the use of force against Taiwan if the island declares independence .
-All journalists from the mainland had been barred from Taipei for more than five decades until late 2000 , when Taiwan issued a limited number of permits to Chinese reporters .
-Haiti hosts a donors conference Tuesday , hoping to secure at least $ 5 billion in pledges to help the impoverished Caribbean nation jump start its economy and make vital repairs to infrastructure .
-Delegates at the conference will include representatives from the United States , European Union , and the Inter-American Development Bank .
-Haitian leaders say building roads , revitalizing agriculture , and boosting education and health care services are their priority .
-Haiti 's economic problems continue and living standards remain low more than two years after a rebellion that overthrew President Jean-Bertrand Aristide .
-Venezuela 's foreign ministry has rejected Colombian charges that Venezuelan President Hugh Chavez is linked to the rebel group , FARC .
-Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro also said he does not recognize documents Colombia says prove the charges .
-He called the documents inconsistent and incomprehensible .
-But Colombian authorities say the documents show that Mr. Chavez planned to give FARC rebels $ 300 million .
-They say the documents were found in the computer of FARC leader Raul Reyes during a cross-border raid in Ecuador last month .
-Reyes was killed in that raid .
-Venezuela and Ecuador responded to the raid by taking diplomatic action against Colombia and sending troops to the border with Colombia .
-The leaders of all three countries have since said they have settled the crisis .
-Colombia apologized for the raid but called it a necessary part of the struggle against the FARC .
-A suicide car bomb exploded in southern Iraq Sunday outside an apartment building used by a Shi'ite militia , killing at least one person and wounding several others .
-The attack in Basra , Iraq 's second city , apparently was aimed at the Iranian-backed Badr Brigade militia .
-News reports say Basra 's former governor Hassan al-Rashid , a senior militia leader , escaped unharmed .
-Basra has been hit by several recent bombings ahead of next Saturday 's ( October 15 ) vote on a new national constitution .
-Authorities in Baghdad say security will heightened nationwide for the referendum , with curfews and a ban on car travel in many areas .
-Iraq 's borders will be closed to deter infiltration by insurgents , and coalition forces will protect polling places .
-Wildlife workers in New Zealand have shot dozens of whales that beached on the country 's South Island .
-Officials say a rescue operation had become too dangerous .
-Forty-nine pilot whales came ashore since Saturday in a remote region known as Farewell Spit .
-Eight of them died on the beaches .
-The remaining 41 whales were spread over a wide area , more than a kilometer from the shore .
-A New Zealand conservation official said it was hopeless to try refloating the whales because of rough seas .
-He said wildlife officers shot the whales to prevent them from suffering a long and painful death .
-It was the second major stranding of whales in the area in recent weeks .
-Volunteers managed to refloat more than 100 whales that beached in the earlier incident .
-Authorities in Saudi Arabia say a fourth French national has died of wounds suffered in an attack in northwestern Saudi Arabia .
-Officials say a teenager died in a hospital Tuesday of wounds sustained when gunmen shot at a group of nine French nationals who had stopped along a road on Monday .
-Three had died shortly after the attack .
-A Saudi spokesman said the French nationals were residents of the Saudi kingdom who had been visiting historic sites .
-Saudi Arabia has been battling al-Qaida militants in the kingdom , and the terrorist group has targeted Westerners in the past .
-A four-day-long public holiday began in Iraq Thursday , ahead of Saturday 's referendum on a new constitution .
-New checkpoints and concrete security barriers began appearing near polling stations , and a nighttime curfew was to go into effect .
-Friday , Iraq will close its borders and vehicles will be banned .
-In pre-election violence , two policemen were killed in the northern city of Kirkuk , and roadside bombs in Mosul and Tikrit killed two civilians and an American soldier .
-About 15.5 million Iraqis are eligible to vote .
-Today , detainees who have not been convicted of a crime , as well as hospital patients , were authorized to began casting their ballots early .
-Late Wednesday , parliament approved a deal designed to win support from Sunni Arabs , who have generally been against the constitution .
-But many Sunni groups say they will still vote " no . "
-People around the world are celebrating the Christmas holiday Sunday , in both religious and secular settings .
-Christians celebrate the holiday as the birth date of Jesus Christ .
-They attend church , light ceremonial candles , and sing hymns to commemorate God 's coming to Earth in the form of a man .
-Christmas is also celebrated as a secular , gift-giving holiday , making December one of the most lucrative times of the year for many Western retail stores .
-President Bush Saturday made phone calls to several members of the U.S. military to wish them happy holidays .
-On Christmas Eve , children anticipate the coming of Santa Claus , a mythical figure who flies around the world overnight to deliver presents to good children .
-The North American Aerospace Defense Command , which guards against security threats in U.S. and Canadian airspace , provides updates on what it says is Santa 's progress across the globe .
-The United Nations mediator for Kosovo , Martti Ahtisaari , has met with top officials in Belgrade for talks on the future of the Serbian province .
-The discussions with Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica Tuesday come one week after the first round of international talks on the future of Kosovo .
-The U.N.-sponsored talks in Vienna are set to resume March 17 in an effort to set the guidelines for negotiations on resolving the status of the province .
-Meanwhile , the top U.N. official in Kosovo , Soren Jessen-Petersen , expressed confidence that the talks will lead to a resolution by the end of the year .
-He also said he met NATO officials in Brussels who have promised to ensure security for the ethnic Serbian minority in Kosovo throughout status talks .
-The region 's ethnic Albanian majority is pressing for independence from Serbia -- a demand Serbs strongly oppose .
-Finance ministers are considering how to start winding down trillions of dollars in government stimulus funds that have saved the world 's economies from collapse .
-Economic officials from the Group of 20 industrialized nations are meeting in London Friday and Saturday to discuss this and other issues ahead of the G-20 summit in the United States later this month .
-G-20 governments are calling for a coordinated exit from the emergency stimulus measures .
-Finance ministers in London this week also are expected to support actions to reduce bonuses paid to bankers .
-Swedish Finance Minister Anders Borg said Wednesday the " bonus culture must come to an end . "
-Critics say these bonuses encourage risky bets that hurt companies and the economy and were a key reason the economic crisis grew so bad so quickly .
-Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has reviewed the security situation in Indian Kashmir on the second and final day of his visit to the disputed territory .
-Officials say top security commanders briefed Mr. Singh Thursday in Jammu , the winter capital of Indian Kashmir .
-They say the commanders told him that infiltration of militants from neighboring Pakistan has gone down sharply in the past year .
-Muslim militants opposed to Indian rule have staged an insurgency in Kashmir for the past 15 years .
-On Wednesday , Mr. Singh said he is ready to meet with anyone who wants to end violence in Kashmir .
-But he said he will not accept any Pakistani proposal that involves redrawing the line of control that separates Indian- from Pakistani-controlled Kashmir .
-The two South Asian neighbors each claim the entire territory .
-India withdrew 1,000 troops from Kashmir Wednesday , with more expected to follow .
-Pakistan called the move a positive step .
-A U.N. aid official in Gaza says dozens of masked gunmen have attacked a U.N. summer camp .
-A U.N. spokesman said the attackers assaulted a guard , burned tents and vandalized bathrooms Sunday at the camp in eastern Gaza .
-The armed men also left behind a note pierced with several bullets , threatening to kill the U.N. Relief and Works Agency director , John Ging .
-The summer camp offers arts , sports and other activities to some 2,50,000 Gaza children .
-There were no claim of responsibility for the attack .
-Some extremist Islamic groups in Gaza oppose the camps .
-Gaza 's Hamas police are investigating the incident .
-U.S. consumer spending surged in January , far more than economists had expected .
-A report from the Commerce Department Tuesday showed spending up 2.3 percent , the strongest gain in more than a year , and more than double what analysts expected .
-Experts watch consumer spending closely because consumer demand drives about two-thirds of the U.S. economy , which is the world 's biggest .
-Analysts predict the spending surge will encourage the U.S. central bank to continue its campaign of gradually raising interest rates to fend off inflation .
-We will get another picture of the U.S. economy on Wednesday when the Federal Reserve 's new Chairman , Ben Bernanke , is scheduled to deliver a report to Congress .
-An Islamist Web site Monday says al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden soon will release a new message aimed at Europeans .
-The Web site attributes the statement to al-Qaida 's media unit As-Sahab .
-It is not clear if the message will be an audio or video statement or when it will be released .
-Bin Laden released an audio taped message last month .
-He called on insurgents in Iraq to unite and said militants must overcome rivalries and beware of sectarian divisions .
-In September , bin Laden appeared on video for the first time in nearly three years .
-That message coincided with the sixth anniversary of the September 11 , 2001 , terrorist attacks on the United States .
-Bin Laden and his deputy , Ayman al-Zawahiri , are believed to be hiding in the border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan .
-The United States has offered a $ 25-million reward for the capture of each man .
-Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian says information provided by Taipei helped Japan locate a Chinese nuclear submarine in Japanese waters last week .
-Mr. Chen said Friday that Taiwan provided intelligence to Japan and the United States , alerting them to the intrusion .
-He emphasized the threat from China , and the common interests among Japan , the United States and Taiwan in maintaining peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region .
-Last week , Tokyo demanded an apology from Beijing after the intrusion into its southern waters , which set off a two-day high-seas chase .
-Beijing initially refused to accept the protest or make an apology , saying it was still investigating the matter .
-But earlier this week China expressed regret for the intrusion .
-German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder says his Social Democratic Party will probably form a so-called " Grand Coalition " with the main opposition Christian Democratic Union , after this month 's general election failed to produce a clear winner .
-Mr. Schroeder spoke Tuesday at a forum on Europrean integration in Strasbourg , France .
-He said he expects a stable government to emerge from exploratory talks between the two parties , but did not say what role , if any , he would hold in such a coalition .
-The Social Democrats and their Greens Party coalition partner lost their majority in the September 18 vote .
-The Christian Democrats , led by Angela Merkel , and their likely coalition partner , the liberal Free Democrats , also fell short of a majority .
-Separately , the Greens elected Agriculture Minister Renate Kuenast and former party co-leader Fritz Kuhn to lead their parliamentary faction .
-Russian authorities and witnesses say a suspected bomb exploded Sunday in a McDonald 's restaurant on St. Petersburg 's main street , injuring six people .
-The blast shattered windows and caused part of the restaurant 's ceiling to cave in .
-None of the injuries are said to be serious .
-The blast occurred along Nevsky Prospekt .
-Police closed down part of St. Petersburg 's main street while they carried it their investigation .
-A car bombing of a Moscow McDonald 's by Muslim extremists in 2002 killed one person and wounded seven .
-The armed Basque separatist group , ETA , says it is willing to take part in peace talks with the Spanish government .
-But Sunday 's statement did not mention whether it will lay down arms as demanded by the government as a precondition for any talks .
-The outlawed group 's statement backed the recent peace initiative its political wing , Batasuna , presented to the Spanish parliament that would virtually grant independence to the country 's northern Basque region .
-Opponents say the plan would open the way for secession by other areas of Spain .
-In ETA 's statement today it claimed responsibility for a series of attacks in recent months , but the it denied involvement in last month 's bomb hoax at Real Madrid 's soccer stadium .
-ETA has been blamed for more than 800 deaths in its more than 30 year campaign for an independent Basque homeland .
-China 's agriculture minister is warning of a possible massive bird flu outbreak as the country announced two new human cases of the deadly H5N1 flu strain .
-China 's state-owned media report Agriculture Minister Du Qinglin said authorities must be on " high alert " and step up efforts to control the disease .
-He says China culled 22.5 million birds last year to stem the spread of the virus .
-Citing a Health Ministry statement , the Xinhua news agency said Saturday a nine-year-old girl from Zhejiang province and a 26-year-old woman from Anhui province tested positive for the H5N1 virus , and are in critical condition .
-In France , President Jacques Chirac is urging people not to panic after confirmation of the deadly strain of bird flu at a turkey farm near Lyon .
-An official of the country 's agricultural union , Christine Lambert , expressed concern the development will hurt French exports .
-Hundreds of Nigerians crippled by polio have staged a rally in the northern city of Kano to urge parents to vaccinate their children against the disease .
-The chairman of a polio victims association in Kano says many parents in the area have been slow to respond to international immunization programs .
-Muslim leaders in northern Nigeria suspended polio immunizations in late 2003 , claiming the U.N. health agency had supplied a vaccine that would cause sterility .
-The World Health Organization ( WHO ) says the ban , which lasted a year , set Nigeria back in its efforts to fight polio .
-Nearly 500 cases of polio have been reported in the country this year , the most in the world by far .
-The suspension in Kano was also blamed for causing polio to spread in a number of African nations and as far away as Indonesia .
-Belarus says it plans to raise transit fees later this month by more than 30 percent on Russian oil pumped through Belarusian territory to western Europe .
-Just weeks ago Moscow more than doubled the price of natural gas sold to its western neighbor .
-Authorities in Minsk say the Belarusian hike will take effect February 15 .
-In an interview Tuesday with Reuters news agency , Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko - stung by the Russian price hikes - vowed to recover $ 5 billion in losses incurred since the Russian increases took effect .
-At the height of the dispute , Russia briefly cut off oil supplies in Belarusian pipelines , after accusing Minsk of siphoning oil bound for western Europe .
-The stand-off was resolved when Belarus revoked a transit tax it had imposed on Russian oil , and Moscow lowered oil fees it had demanded from Minsk .
-Turkish media reports say a suicide car bomber in the southern part of the country Tuesday killed himself and wounded at least nine police officers .
-Officials and media reports from CNN-Turk television say the bomber detonated explosives after police stopped his vehicle at a checkpoint outside the port city of Mersin , on Turkey 's Mediterranean coast .
-Some reports had said earlier that another suspect in the vehicle also was killed .
-According to reports , police had been following the vehicle after receiving intelligence that said a bomber was preparing for an attack .
-There was no immediate claim of responsibility .
-Islamist extremists , Kurdish separatists and leftist militants have all carried out attacks in Turkey in the past .
-U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan begins a visit to Haiti Wednesday , to talk with political leaders about ways to improve security across the country .
-The U.N. says Mr. Annan will meet with President Rene Preval , other top officials and members of the U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti .
-The number of kidnappings by armed groups has started to surge after a period of calm following the election of Mr. Preval .
-The U.N. says trafficking in illegal drugs and weapons remains a major problem .
-In a report to the Security Council Tuesday , Mr. Annan called for the U.N. police force in Haiti to be strengthened with experts in counterkidnapping and anti-gang operations to better support the Haitian National Police .
-Following his visit to Haiti , Mr. Annan will travel to the Dominican Republic , where he is scheduled to meet with President Leonel Fernandez and members of the nation 's Congress and Supreme Court .
-A former Yugoslav army chief of staff has pleaded not guilty to 13 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity before the United Nations tribunal in The Hague .
-General Momcilo Perisic appeared in court Wednesday to face charges that troops under his command attacked Zagreb , the Croatian capital , and committed atrocities during the Bosnian conflict between 1992 and 1995 .
-The charges include the massacre of more than 7,000 Muslim men and boys by Bosnian Serb troops following their capture of the Muslim enclave of Srebrenica .
-General Perisic surrendered to the court Monday .
-He said last week that appearing before the tribunal was the best way to defend his honor and the reputation of the army .
-Coming to a cinema near you : the Iron Lady . Margaret Thatcher , prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 , will reportedly be the subject of an upcoming film .
-Set during the Falklands War , the film will cover the 17 days leading up to Britain 's 1982 conflict with Argentina .
-Backed by London-based Pathe Productions , BBC Films , and DJ Films , the project has yet to be cast , and no director has been named .
-Steven Frears ' film The Queen , which features an Oscar-winning performance from Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II , has re-awakened interest in recent British history .
-Ratners Group PLC , a fast-growing , acquisition-minded London-based jeweler , raised its price for Seattle-based specialty jeweler Weisfield 's Inc. to $ 57.5 a share , or $ 62.1 million , from $ 50 a share , or $ 55 million , after another concern said it would be prepared to outbid Ratners 's initial offer .
-The other concern was n't identified .
-Ratners 's chairman , Gerald Ratner , said the deal remains of " substantial benefit to Ratners . "
-In London at mid-afternoon yesterday , Ratners 's shares were up 2 pence ( 1.26 cents ) , at 260 pence ( $ 1.64 ) .
-The sweetened offer has acceptances from more than 50 % of Weisfield 's shareholders , and it is scheduled for completion by Dec. 10 .
-The acquisition of 87-store Weisfield 's raises Ratners 's U.S. presence to 450 stores .
-About 30 % of Ratners 's profit already is derived from the U.S.
-Since independence in 1976 , per capita output in this Indian Ocean archipelago has expanded to roughly seven times the pre-independence , near-subsistence level , moving the island into the upper-middle income group of countries .
-Growth has been led by the tourist sector , which employs about 30 % of the labor force and provides more than 70 % of hard currency earnings , and by tuna fishing .
-In recent years , the government has encouraged foreign investment to upgrade hotels and other services .
-At the same time , the government has moved to reduce the dependence on tourism by promoting the development of farming , fishing , and small-scale manufacturing .
-GDP grew about 07-Aug % per year in 2006 - 7 , driven by tourism and a boom in tourism-related construction .
-The Seychelles rupee was allowed to depreciate in 2006 after being overvalued for years and fell by 10 % in the first 9 months of 2007 .
-Despite these actions , the Seychelles economy has struggled to maintain its gains and in 2008 suffered from food and oil price shocks , a foreign exchange shortage , high inflation , large financing gaps , and the global recession .
-In July 2008 the government defaulted on a Euro amortizing note worth roughly US $ 80 million , leading to a downgrading of Seychelles credit rating , but in October 2010 the EU approved a $ 2.9 million grant as part of a larger four-year program for Seychelles .
-In response to Seychelles successful implementation of tighter monetary and fiscal policies , the IMF upgraded Seychelles to a three-year extended fund facility ( EFF ) of $ 31 million in December 2009 .
-In 2008 , GDP fell more than 1 % due to declining tourism , but the economy recovered in 2009 - 10 with a notable increase in tourist numbers for 2010 .
-The area of the Republic of Cyprus under government control has a market economy dominated by the service sector , which accounts for nearly four-fifths of GDP .
-Tourism , financial services , and real estate are the most important sectors .
-Erratic growth rates over the past decade reflect the economy 's reliance on tourism , the profitability of which often fluctuates with political instability in the region and economic conditions in Western Europe .
-Nevertheless , the economy in the area under government control has grown at a rate well above the EU average since 2000 .
-Cyprus joined the European Exchange Rate Mechanism ( ERM2 ) in May 2005 and adopted the euro as its national currency on 1 January 2008 .
-An aggressive austerity program in the preceding years , aimed at paving the way for the euro , helped turn a soaring fiscal deficit ( 6.3 % in 2003 ) into a surplus of 1.2 % in 2008 , and reduced inflation to 4.7 % .
-This prosperity came under pressure in 2009 , as construction and tourism slowed in the face of reduced foreign demand triggered by the ongoing global financial crisis .
-Although Cyprus lagged behind its EU peers in showing signs of stress from the global crisis , the economy tipped into recession in 2009 , contracting by 1.8 % , and has been slow to bounce back since , posting an anemic growth rate of 0.6 % in 2010 .
-In addition , the budget deficit is on the rise and reached 5.3 % of GDP in 2010 , a violation of the EU 's budget deficit criteria of no more than 3 % of GDP .
-In response to the country 's deteriorating finances , Nicosia is promising to implement measures to cut the cost of the state payroll , curb tax evasion , and revamp social benefits .
-However , it has been slow to act , lacking a consensus in parliament and among the social partners for its proposed measures .
-The economy is a mixture of subsistence agriculture , an industrial sector based largely on oil and support services , and government spending .
-Oil has supplanted forestry as the mainstay of the economy , providing a major share of government revenues and exports .
-In the early 1980s , rapidly rising oil revenues enabled the government to finance large-scale development projects with GDP growth averaging 5 % annually , one of the highest rates in Africa .
-Characterized by budget problems and overstaffing , the government has mortgaged a substantial portion of its oil earnings through oil-backed loans that have contributed to a growing debt burden and chronic revenue shortfalls .
-Economic reform efforts have been undertaken with the support of international organizations , notably the World Bank and the IMF .
-However , the reform program came to a halt in June 1997 when civil war erupted .
-Denis SASSOU-Nguesso , who returned to power when the war ended in October 1997 , publicly expressed interest in moving forward on economic reforms and privatization and in renewing cooperation with international financial institutions .
-Economic progress was badly hurt by slumping oil prices and the resumption of armed conflict in December 1998 , which worsened the republic 's budget deficit .
-The current administration presides over an uneasy internal peace and faces difficult economic challenges of stimulating recovery and reducing poverty .
-The drop in oil prices during the global crisis reduced oil revenue by about 30 % , but the subsequent recovery of oil prices has boosted the economy 's GDP and near-term prospects .
-In March 2006 , the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund ( IMF ) approved Heavily Indebted Poor Countries ( HIPC ) treatment for Congo , receiving $ 1.9 billion in debt relief under the program in 2010 .
-Switzerland is a peaceful , prosperous , and modern market economy with low unemployment , a highly skilled labor force , and a per capita GDP among the highest in the world .
-Switzerland 's economy benefits from a highly developed service sector , led by financial services , and a manufacturing industry that specializes in high-technology , knowledge-based production .
-The Swiss have brought their economic practices largely into conformity with the EU 's , in order to enhance their international competitiveness , but some trade protectionism remains , particularly for its small agricultural sector .
-The global financial crisis and resulting economic downturn put Switzerland in a recession in 2009 as global export demand stalled .
-The Swiss National Bank during this period effectively implemented a zero-interest rate policy in a bid to boost the economy and prevent appreciation of the franc .
-Switzerland 's economy grew by 2.7 % in 2010 , when Bern implemented a third fiscal stimulus program , but its prized banking sector has recently faced significant challenges .
-The country 's largest banks suffered sizable losses in 2008 - 9 , leading its largest bank to accept a government rescue deal in late 2008 .
-Switzerland has also come under increasing pressure from individual neighboring countries , the EU , the US , and international institutions to reform its banking secrecy laws .
-Consequently , the government agreed to conform to OECD regulations on administrative assistance in tax matters , including tax evasion .
-The government has renegotiated its double taxation agreements with numerous countries , including the US , to incorporate the OECD standard , and it is working with Germany and the UK to resolve outstanding issues , particularly the possibility of imposing taxes on bank deposits held by foreigners .
-Parliament passed the first five double-taxation agreements , including that with the US , in March 2010 .
-The agreement with the US awaits US Senate approval .
-In 2009 , Swiss financial regulators ordered the country 's largest bank to reveal at Washington 's behest the names of US account-holders suspected of using the bank to commit tax fraud .
-These steps will have a lasting impact on Switzerland 's long history of bank secrecy .
-The French annexed various Polynesian island groups during the 19th century .
-In September 1995 , France stirred up widespread protests by resuming nuclear testing on the Mururoa atoll after a three-year moratorium .
-The tests were suspended in January 1996 .
-In recent years , French Polynesia 's autonomy has been considerably expanded .
-Landlocked Paraguay has a market economy distinguished by a large informal sector , featuring re-export of imported consumer goods to neighboring countries , as well as the activities of thousands of microenterprises and urban street vendors .
-A large percentage of the population , especially in rural areas , derives its living from agricultural activity , often on a subsistence basis .
-Because of the importance of the informal sector , accurate economic measures are difficult to obtain .
-On a per capita basis , real income has stagnated at 1980 levels .
-The economy grew rapidly between 2003 and 2008 as growing world demand for commodities combined with high prices and favorable weather to support Paraguay 's commodity-based export expansion .
-Paraguay is the sixth largest soy producer in the world .
-Drought hit in 2008 , reducing agricultural exports and slowing the economy even before the onset of the global recession .
-The economy fell 3.8 % in 2009 , as lower world demand and commodity prices caused exports to contract .
-The government reacted by introducing fiscal and monetary stimulus packages .
-Growth resumed at a 14.5 % level in 2010 , the highest in South America .
-Political uncertainty , corruption , limited progress on structural reform , and deficient infrastructure are the main obstacles to growth .
-A SHIPWRECKED MAN , having been cast upon a certain shore , slept after his buffetings with the deep .
-After a while he awoke , and looking upon the Sea , loaded it with reproaches .
-He argued that it enticed men with the calmness of its looks , but when it had induced them to plow its waters , it grew rough and destroyed them .
-The Sea , assuming the form of a woman , replied to him : " Blame not me , my good sir , but the winds , for I am by my own nature as calm and firm even as this earth ; but the winds suddenly falling on me create these waves , and lash me into fury . "
-I 'm sorry but my answering machine is out of order .
-I am leaving a broken CD player in its place .
-It ca n't take messages either .
-In fact , it ca n't even play you a nice tune while you wait to not leave a message .
-Global oil prices fell Monday as investors apparently interpreted the bankruptcy of a major U.S. investment bank as a signal that the global economy could slow down , cutting demand for oil .
-Prices were also pushed down by reports that Hurricane Ike did only limited damage to key U.S. oil producing and refining facilities .
-In electronic trading in New York , the price of oil for future delivery was down more than $ 7 , putting the price of a barrel of oil at $ 94.13 .
-That is the lowest price since February , and a drop of one-third since the record-high recorded in July .
-Another benchmark oil price , Brent crude , fell even lower .
-Palestinian protests erupted in east Jerusalem on Tuesday after Israeli forces demolished a home in the Arab neighborhood of Issawiya .
-Israeli police report an angry crowd of protesters threw rocks and set several cars on fire before forces broke up the demonstration .
-Israeli authorities say a home and a small room housing a printing press next door were demolished because they were built illegally .
-Also on Tuesday , five Palestinians were injured by Israeli gunfire while looking for construction material in rubble near Gaza 's northern border with Israel .
-The Israeli military said it had opened fire on three Palestinians approaching the border fence after they failed to respond to warning shots .
-NEW : Follow our Middle East stories on Twitter and discuss them on our Facebook page .
-Afghan security forces have seized more than 15 tons of illegal drugs in a series of operations across the country .
-The nation 's top drug enforcement official , Lieutenant General Mohammed Daoud Daoud said Saturday the seizures over the past 10 days included one ton of heroin .
-He also is quoted by the French news agency as saying that more than a dozen men were arrested .
-Daoud said the government is seeking to increase efforts to block cultivation of poppy and other drugs .
-The United Nations has reported that opium production is up 60 percent this year in Afghanistan .
-The world body says much of the proceeds of the illegal drug trade are funding insurgent activities and fueling political corruption .
-Afghan President Hamid Karzai has warned a booming trade in opium and heroin threatens the existence of Afghanistan as a nation-state .
-In an interview with the Associated Press Sunday , the Afghan leader called drugs a bigger threat than terrorism .
-He said foreign crime groups and terrorists are forcing farmers to grow poppies .
-He said drugs are criminalizing the economy , tainting the country 's image and hindering the development of strong government institutions .
-During the interview , Mr. Karzai also invited Taleban leader Mullah Omar to contact his government and seek reconciliation .
-But he expressed doubts that the fugitive leader would come out of hiding .
-The Afghan leader also said that NATO-led troops taking over security in southern part of the country must not use aggressive tactics without government permission .
-Europe 's top human rights watchdog has expanded its probe into the alleged secret international prison network run by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency .
-The Council of Europe said it is investigating whether European airports were used by CIA aircraft transporting prisoners to secret detention centers .
-The Council is already investigating the existence of alleged CIA prisons in European nations .
-Separately , Austria Wednesday said an aircraft suspected of transporting CIA terrorist captives flew though its airspace in 2003 .
-Austria 's Air Force Chief Major General Erich Wolf told Austrian radio that military jets scrambled to intercept the plane that took off from Germany but found nothing wrong and allowed it to proceed to Baku , Azerbaijan .
-Press reports say the CIA has been holding and interrogating terrorist suspects at secret detention facilities in several countries abroad , circumventing U.S. laws protecting prisoners .
-U.S authorities have refused either to confirm or deny the reports .
-UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
-United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan is leaving Tuesday for Africa , where he will co-chair a conference designed to raise support for the African Union mission in Sudan 's western Darfur region .
-The secretary-general spoke about his trip with reporters Monday at U.N. headquarters in New York .
-He said he will co-chair the donor 's meeting Thursday in Addis Ababa , Ethiopia , where the A.U. has its headquarters .
-Mr. Annan said there are plans to expand the AU peacekeeping force in Darfur from the current 2,000 troops to 8,000 .
-But he said the AU is about $ 350 million short for the project .
-The secretary-general will also be traveling to the Darfur region himself and to Sudan 's southern town of Rumbek , where he will examine the peace process .
-The murder trial of Phil Spector was halted April 30 , when one of the defense attorneys sought medical attention .
-Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler did not provide a reason why Bruce Cutler consulted a physician , but told jurors that court would reconvene May 2 .
-Spector , 67 , famous for his " Wall of Sound " production technique , is accused of fatally shooting actress Lana Clarkson in February , 2003 .
-He met Clarkson at the House Of Blues in Hollywood , where she was a hostess .
-Prosecutors allege Spector did not mean to murder the 40-year-old actress , but caused her death through reckless behavior .
-The Indonesian health ministry says bird flu is suspected in the recent deaths of a man and his two daughters near Jakarta .
-The victims would be Indonesia 's first human fatalities linked to avian influenza .
-Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari says there is no evidence the man and his daughters had contact with sickened poultry , which raises the probability of human-to-human transmission of bird flu .
-Hundreds of millions of birds have died or been culled across Asia during the past two years due to the deadly virus which has jumped to humans , killing people in Vietnam , Cambodia and Thailand .
-World health officials have long feared the virus might change into a form easily transferable among people , triggering a deadly global pandemic .
-Russian authorities say power has been fully restored to the Moscow region Thursday , a day after a massive blackout knocked out electricity to large parts of the Russian capital .
-The blackout Wednesday left thousands of people stranded on subways , shut down the stock market , and forced hospitals to switch to emergency power .
-Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko blamed the power outage on a fire and explosion at an energy substation .
-President Vladimir Putin has accused the state-run power company ( Unified Energy Systems ) of negligence .
-Meanwhile , prosecutors have opened a criminal case over the power outage , and say they plan to question the chairman of the power company , Anatoly Chubais , who is also one of Mr. Putin 's top political rivals .
-The outage extended as far south as the Tula region , about 200 kilometers south of Moscow .
-Nigerian military officials say four soldiers and a policeman were killed in a fierce gun battle Wednesday with militants in the oil-rich Niger Delta .
-A Navy spokesman said Thursday that the militants were trying to capture a fuel tanker on the Escravos River , but were repelled .
-Officials say three militants were killed .
-The militant group , the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta , says at least seven soldiers were killed during the gun battle .
-They also say that army gunboats attacked them first .
-The militants kidnapped nine foreign oil workers last month , but have freed six of them .
-They say they will not release the other three until the people of the Delta region receive a greater share of oil revenues .
-Nigeria is Africa 's biggest oil exporter , but recent violence has forced an estimated 20 percent cut in the country 's output .
-A top official at the International Monetary Fund ( IMF ) says wealthy countries will need to start cutting spending and deal with huge national debts next year .
-John Lipsky , the first deputy managing director of the IMF , said in a speech in China Sunday that stimulus spending remains appropriate in 2010 to push the global economic recovery .
-But he says wealthy nations must cut spending , increase taxes and reform pensions and health entitlements to reduce debt in 2011 .
-Lipsky says cutting stimulus measures put in place during the economic crisis will not be enough , because the stimulus programs account for only about one percent of rich countries ' gross domestic products .
-He estimated that government debt will be higher than annual GDP in most advanced economies by 2014 , the highest debt-to-GDP ratio since the years after World War II .
-South African Wesley Moodie has reached the second round of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington .
-Moodie , ranked 86th in the world , needed four match points Monday to beat American Sam Querrey , 02-Jun , 07-Jun , 07-Jun .
-Moodie never managed a service break while Querrey fired 19 aces .
-But Moodie won 10-percent more of his first-serve points to claim just his fifth win this year .
-Moodie next faces French sixth-seed Sebastien Grosjean .
-Kenneth Carlsen of Denmark advanced past Danai Udomchoke , 06-Jan , 06-Feb .
-Carlsen will face another Thai opponent , 43rd-ranked Paradorn Srichaphan , in the second round .
-American Kevin Kim ousted compatriot Scott Oudsema , 06-Jan , 06-Mar .
-Kim next plays top-seeded American James Blake , who was the runner-up last year to compatriot Andy Roddick .
-Haitian and U.N. officials are appealing for calm following protests by Haitians who have demanded that front-runner Rene Preval be declared the winner of last week 's presidential election .
-Preval is expected to address Haiti 's citizens later Tuesday in Port-au-Prince .
-On Monday , protesters set up roadblocks , burned tires and stormed a hotel in Port-au-Prince .
-At least one man was killed in the violence .
-With 90 percent of votes counted , former President Preval has nearly 49 percent of the vote .
-He needs to exceed 50 percent to win outright and avoid a runoff election .
-Another former president , Leslie Manigat , is second with about 12 percent .
-A State Department spokesman Monday said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan Monday have discussed the importance of Haitian citizens respecting the election process .
-Saudi Arabia and most Gulf Arab states have announced they will celebrate the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr on Friday to mark the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan .
-Religious councils in Saudi Arabia , the United Arab Emirates , Kuwait and other Arab states said the moon 's crescent was not sighted after nightfall Wednesday , meaning there will be one more day of fasting before the holy month comes to an end .
-Muslims scan the sky at night in search of the new moon to proclaim the start of the month in Islam 's lunar calendar .
-Like most major Islamic events , the start of the Eid festival depends on a lunar sighting .
-The timing of Eid can vary in different countries accordingly .
-Eid al-Fitr celebrates the purification achieved by a month of sunrise-to-sunset fasting , one of the five pillars of Islam , and is marked by several days of festivities .
-Calling the press an " agent of change , " United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan marked the thirteenth annual World Press Freedom Day by declaring his support of the universal right to freedom of expression .
-According to the international group Committee to Protect Journalists , press freedom in Africa has deteriorated in the past year .
-The group 's Africa Coordinator , Julia Crawford , says Eritrea and Equatorial Guinea are among the top 10 countries in the world that censor their journalists the most .
-But she also criticized Ethiopia for the recent jailings of reporters .
-Crawford says there are some countries , like Liberia , where press freedom is more hopeful .
-She notes that freedom of the press is an essential foundation for democracy .
-The Committee to Protect Journalists says 47 journalists were killed around the world in 2005 , and 11 have lost their lives so far this year .
-A new survey says more Afghans think their country is heading in the right direction , even though many believe it is still plagued by a lack of security .
-In a poll released Tuesday by the Asia Foundation , 47 percent of those surveyed said Afghanistan is on the right track .
-That is up from 42 percent in 2009 .
-A lack of security was listed as the nation 's top problem , followed by unemployment and corruption .
-This year 's survey showed a large jump in the number of Afghans who say they support efforts to negotiate with armed groups .
-More than 83 percent of those surveyed said they back talks with insurgents , up from 71 percent in 2009 .
-The Asia Foundation surveyed more than 6,400 Afghan adults in June and July .
-French counter-terrorism units have detained at least 10 people suspected of recruiting religious extremists and sending them as fighters in the insurgency in Iraq .
-French authorities say four of the suspects were arrested Wednesday .
-They are being held with at least six others detained Monday .
-Authorities launched an investigation last year to determine if extremists are running a network in France recruiting Islamic militants to fight U.S. forces in Iraq .
-French officials began the investigation last September after the deaths of a number of French Muslims there .
-The French news agency , AFP , says intelligence agents believe between 15 and 30 French nationals are combatants who have joined insurgents in Iraq .
-Four have been killed in clashes with U.S. forces .
-Former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay has successfully petitioned to remove the judge set to preside over the politician 's campaign-finance trial .
-In a Texas courtroom Tuesday , a retired district judge , C.W. Duncan , hearing the petition ruled in favor of the embattled Republican lawmaker .
-Last week , Mr. DeLay 's lawyer filed a motion asking that the trial 's judge , Bob Perkins , be replaced because he has contributed to MoveOn.org , a political action group that has been critical of Mr. DeLay and supports Democratic Party candidates and issues .
-Mr. DeLay and two associates are accused of illegally funneling corporate donations to candidates .
-All three have denied any wrongdoing .
-Mr. DeLay was forced to step down from the majority leader 's post under House rules , but retains his congressional seat .
-Iraqi officials say a car bomb in central Baghdad has killed at least 14 people and wounded at least 64 others .
-They say a woman and a child are among the dead from Friday 's blast in a crowded market .
-In other developments , the U.S. military says coalition forces killed five militants and detained 14 suspects during operations against al-Qaida in Iraq .
-Officials say the raid in Muqdadiyah targeted individuals associated with a network involved in numerous engagements with coalition forces .
-The military says coalition forces also conducted operations near Salman Pak , Samarra and Baghdad .
-Chilean authorities have arrested the wife and four children of former dictator Augusto Pinochet on tax evasion charges .
-A judge ordered the arrest of Lucia Hiriart and her children Monday as part of an investigation into millions of dollars kept in bank accounts abroad .
-General Pinochet has been indicted for tax fraud for allegedly hiding $ 27 million in foreign bank accounts .
-Pinochet also faces human rights charges related to " Operation Colombo " , in which some 119 political opponents disappeared during the former dictator 's rule in the mid-1970s .
-His lawyers say he is not healthy enough to stand trial , but court-ordered doctors say he is fit enough to do so .
-More than two million Muslim pilgrims on the ritual journey known as Hajj are Saturday performing a ritual stoning ceremony in Mina , Saudi Arabia .
-Millions of people crowded into the holy site to throw small stones at walls called jamarat , as part of a ritual representing the symbolic stoning of the devil .
-More than 360 worshippers died in a stampede during the stoning ritual a year ago .
-Saudi authorities have spent more than $ 1 billion renovating the site to make it safe .
-The Hajj began Thursday under heavy security .
-The grueling ritual is a duty for every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to make the trip .
-Each year pilgrims wearing white robes , symbolizing equality , converge on Islamic holy sites in Saudi Arabia for five days of rituals , prayer and communion with fellow Muslims .
-Iraqi officials say two Iraqi policemen and two civilians have been mistakenly killed by U.S. troops after a U.S. convoy was bombed south of Baghdad .
-U.S. military officials have not commented on the incident , which the Iraqi Interior Ministry said occurred late Saturday in an area known as the triangle of death .
-In a separate incident , U.S. authorities have expressed deep regret for the mistaken bombing Saturday of a house near the northern city of Mosul .
-U.S. officials say five people were killed when U.S. airstrikes hit the wrong house .
-Witnesses and journalists say 14 were killed .
-U.S. officials say a probe is continuing .
-Meanwhile , authorities say seven Ukrainians and a Kazakh soldier were killed Sunday while trying to detonate an ammunition cache southwest of the capital , in Wasit province .
-Elsewhere , police in Samarra say assassins have gunned down the city 's deputy police chief in a drive-by shooting .
-Thousands of Ugandans turned out today for the official state funeral of the country ’s founding father and two-time president , Milton Obote .
-The managing editor of the daily Monitor newspaper in Kampala , Peter Mwesige , says it was attended by government officials , political supporters and relatives of the former leader .
-But he told VOA reporter Shaka Ssali that Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni was not there .
-The day was not declared a national public holiday , which to some is a source of controversy .
-Dr. Obote ’s coffin is now on a tour of several Ugandan towns .
-On Monday he will be buried at his ancestral home in northern Uganda .
-The 81-year-old leader died of kidney failure in South Africa last week .
-He was toppled from power in 1985 and spent the rest of his life in exile in Zambia .
-Portugal 's two biggest unions have launched a day of strikes to protest planned austerity measures .
-The strikes Wednesday affected the transport sector , grounding flights and causing the cancelation of some bus and train services .
-Banking services and other businesses , including an automotive plant were also affected .
-Unions , representing both public and private sector workers , expected the stoppage to be the biggest in 20 years .
-The government proposes to address a budget crisis by slashing spending , including wage cuts for public workers .
-European Council President Herman van Rompuy said Tuesday Portugal does not need the kind of financial bailout the European Union is discussing with Ireland .
-He said Portugal 's banks are well capitalized , and that the country has not experienced the type of housing market collapse that has affected other economies .
-British police have been out in force in Edinburgh , Scotland , Monday , where demonstrators have begun protesting the G-Eight conference of industrialized nations that opens Wednesday .
-An undetermined number of arrests were reported after some of the protesters scuffled with police .
-There were no reports of serious violence .
-Advocates of several causes have descended to promote their causes , including representatives from anti-military , anti-nuclear , and anti-globalization groups .
-The pro-reunification party in Cyprus ' Turkish enclave has scored a strong victory in parliamentary elections , but not enough to gain an outright majority .
-The Republican Turkish Party of Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Talat secured 44 percent of the vote in Sunday 's election , well ahead of its opponent , the National Unity Party of former Prime Minister Dervis Eroglu .
-Mr. Talat , whose party won 24 of 50 seats in parliament , favors a United Nations plan to reunify the 30-year-old breakaway Turkish Cypriot enclave with the Greek Cypriot government .
-Mr. Eroglu strongly opposes the UN plan .
-Greek Cypriots rejected reunification last year , but were allowed to join the European Union under a complicated set of rules for the divided island .
-Sunday 's vote was closely watched in Turkey , whose chances for EU membership hinge on resolution of the Cyprus dispute .
-Indian authorities say an explosion set off by Maoist rebels in central Chhattisgarh state has killed 13 civilians and wounded several others .
-Local police say the incident took place late Friday south of the state capital , Raipur , and that the blast was most likely intended for security forces .
-The Maoists have stepped up attacks on police and government supporters in the area in recent months .
-Last week , they seized a train in neighboring eastern Jharkhand state , holding some 200 people on board at gunpoint for several hours before leaving .
-The rebels say they are fighting on behalf of poor people and landless laborers .
-A series of discouraging reports on the U.S. economy has brought sharp criticism from the Democrat who heads a key economic committee .
-Senator Charles Schumer said Friday reports showing a declining job market and record-high foreclosures are more evidence that the U.S. economy is headed for recession .
-Schumer accuses the Bush administration of doing far too little to fend off the economic crisis .
-White House spokesman Tony Fratto says the economy is in for a " difficult quarter , " but notes that the new stimulus plan is just getting underway .
-He says it should restore economic growth .
-The world 's stock markets posted mixed results Wednesday after a week of turmoil that saw steep losses and some recovery .
-The major U.S. stock market indexes lost around three-tenths of a percent after rising oil prices discouraged traders .
-European stock market indexes moved up two-tenths of a percent or more .
-Dealers say many investors are concerned that the global market sell-off that began last week may resume .
-Earlier in Asia , major indices fell almost one percent in Mumbai and Hong Kong , while Tokyo was down half-a-percent at the close .
-China 's official Xinhua news agency says an HIV-positive man in northern China has infected at least 18 people with the virus by repeatedly donating blood before knowing he had the disease .
-Three of the blood recipients have died .
-Xinhua says the man made 15 blood donations in Jilin province 's Dehui city between January of 2003 and June of 2004 .
-The report says his blood was apparently never tested for the deadly virus .
-China 's state media say authorities are investigating the case , and that at least 11 workers of the city 's central blood bank have been detained .
-China estimates 8,40,000 people on the mainland are HIV-positive , although some experts suspect there are many more .
-The World Health Organization says China could have 10 million people infected by 2010 .
-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon 's Kadima Party has named interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as its acting chairman to lead the party into March 28 elections .
-A Kadima Party statement Monday says the decision was taken because of Mr. Sharon 's medical condition .
-The 77-year-old leader remains in a coma after suffering a massive stroke on January 4 .
-In another development , Israel has sent security forces to the West Bank town of Hebron following a riot by Jewish settlers protesting an eviction order for eight settler families who occupied Palestinian homes four years ago .
-One Israeli soldier was wounded in the violence Saturday - the last day the families were to be allowed to leave without eviction by force .
-About 400 settlers live in Hebron which has a Palestinian population of around 1,20,000 .
-The U.S. Army is conducting a review of the reports it has given families on the deaths of soldiers killed in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan .
-Army officials announced on Friday that they are preparing to request that all unit commanders submit lists of their combat deaths so accounts of those deaths can be checked for accuracy .
-Spokesmen said Friday that about 500 of some 1,700 Army deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan have been checked already , and only a tiny fraction were found to have inaccuracies .
-The review follows the high-profile case of former professional football player Pat Tillman who was killed by friendly fire .
-The Army initially told Tillman 's family that he died as the result of an enemy ambush .
-Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has demanded that Iran stop what he says is its shelling of Kurdish areas in northern Iraq .
-Zebari , who was in Tehran for ministerial meetings Monday , said the cross-border shelling has displaced hundreds of Kurds and threatens Iraqi relations with Iran .
-Iran 's deputy foreign minister , Mehdi Mostafavi , denied that Iranian forces have shelled Iraqi territory .
-Last week , Zebari said his country had summoned the Iranian ambassador and delivered a formal note of protest over the cross-border attacks .
-Zebari also acknowledged there are Kurdish rebels that move inside the border area in Iraq , but he said their presence does not justify the continued shelling .
-Iran has accused Kurdish rebels of using Iraqi bases to launch attacks inside Iran .
-Scientists in the United States say they believe they have discovered what makes bird flu viruses so deadly to humans .
-Researchers at St. Jude Children 's Research Hospital in Memphis , Tennessee , say the culprit may be a protein found in the genes of many avian flu viruses .
-The scientists say this protein can attach to proteins in human cells .
-They found the protein only in the avian flu viruses they sampled , and not in any of what are known as the human strains of the disease .
-The researchers say this striking difference between the two viruses may explain why avian influenza is more lethal to people than human influenza .
-The findings are published in the journal Science .
-Avian flu is blamed for the global pandemic of 1918 , but not milder outbreaks later in the century .
-Bird flu has killed at least 81 people in East Asia and Turkey since 2003 .
-Mexican officials have razed more than 30 abandoned dwellings in a border town known as a staging ground for migrants to cross illegally into the United States .
-The demolitions in the town of Las Chepas , officially known as Josefa Ortiz de Dominguez , were the result of an agreement made last month between the governors of Mexico 's Chihuahua state and the U.S. state of New Mexico .
-Chihuahua 's Jose Reyes Baeza and New Mexico 's Bill Richardson agreed to a plan to curb illegal immigration and drug smuggling across the Mexico-U.S. border .
-A Chihuahua public safety official told Reuters news agency that the demolitions represent less than half the buildings in Las Chepas , which is home to at least 50 residents .
-U.S.-based automaker Ford Motor Company has reported a $ 750 Million profit in the April through June quarter , breaking a nearly two-year streak of consecutive quarterly losses .
-Thursday 's profit report came as a surprise to many analysts who had expected further losses from the struggling auto company .
-Ford 's profit is attributed to increased sales worldwide , as well as the recent sale of its Aston Martin operation .
-Ford Chief Executive Alan Mulally said the results are proof that an overall cost-reduction plan is working , but warned that the second half of this year will be difficult .
-The second-largest U.S. automaker is trying to recover from losses that totaled about $ 12.5 billion last year .
-To regain profitability , the company launched a major restructuring plan that involves closing 16 factories and eliminating up to 44,000 jobs .
-Egyptian police have killed a man they say was the leader of an Islamist militant group blamed for several attacks on tourist towns last month .
-Security officials said Tuesday that Nasser Khamis el-Mallahi was killed in a firefight near the North Sinai town of El-Arish .
-One accomplice was captured .
-Police say el-Mallahi headed Tawhid wal Jihad , which has been blamed for a series of attacks against tourist resorts in the Sinai since 2004 .
-The attacks have killed at least 117 people .
-The most recent occurred last month in Dahab , when three near-simultaneous explosions killed at least 19 people .
-About 80 others were wounded in the blasts .
-India 's cricket team has compiled an impressive total of 352-3 after the opening day of the second test against Pakistan in Kolkata .
-Wasim Jaffer led the way Friday with an aggressive 192 not out as he aims for his second double-century in 24 tests .
-The opening batsman struck 32 boundaries off 255 deliveries .
-Jaffer shared prosperous partnerships with Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar after opener Dinesh Kartik fell for one in the second over .
-Jaffer anchored the second-wicket partnership of 136 with Dravid , who had 50 , and then a 175-run stand for the third wicket with Tendulkar , who tallied 82 .
-Dravid 's 117-ball knock contained seven boundaries .
-India won the opening test of this three-match series by six wickets .
-Indian troops say they have killed six more suspected militants in Indian-controlled Kashmir , bringing the death toll from several days of fierce gunbattles to 25 .
-Indian army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel J.S. Brar said the fighting ended Tuesday , with eight soldiers and 17 militants , killed since Friday in the Kupwara district .
-The area is close to the Line of Control that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan .
-An army spokesman says troops began flushing out militants from the Shamsbari area Friday , sparking the longest and deadliest clash in the disputed region in recent months .
-Muslim separatists in Kashmir have been fighting for independence or a merger with Pakistan since 1989 .
-Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the violence .
-India and Pakistan began a slowly-implemented peace process in 2004 .
-Two of their three wars have been fought over Kashmir .
-Authorities in Indian Kashmir say militants have raided a police station , killing two officers and stealing a cache of weapons .
-Police officials say at least one officer assisted the group of militants in the attack late Friday in the remote Doda district .
-Police gave few details of the attack .
-Officials say security forces are searching for the attackers , who fled after the raid .
-Kashmir is in the midst of a 17-year insurgency that has claimed more than 45,000 lives .
-Various rebel groups are fighting for an independent Kashmir or its merger with Pakistan .
-Former Presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush have started a nationwide fundraising campaign to help hurricane victims .
-The former presidents announced the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund at a news conference in Houston , Texas Monday .
-The money raised will go to the governors of Louisiana , Mississippi and Alabama for disaster relief and medical services .
-Former President Clinton said Congress must focus on what action it can take to alleviate the suffering of those displaced - such as providing incentives for firms to hire evacuees .
-President Bush 's father , former President Bush said retail giant Wal-Mart will immediately give jobs to their employees who have to re-locate because of the hurricane .
-Wal-Mart is also contributing $ 23 million to the fund .
-Mr. Clinton and Mr. Bush , once political rivals , teamed up earlier this year to coordinate the U.S. fundraising drive for victims of the tsunami .
-United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan says it will take up to 10 years to rebuild areas of southern Asia devastated by last week 's tsunami and earthquake .
-Mr. Annan says the disaster is the largest the U.N. has ever dealt with .
-The tsunami wreaked havoc from Malaysia to east Africa , leaving at least 1,27,000 dead .
-Mr. Annan will head to south Asia later this week for a summit on relief efforts .
-World leaders attending the conference in Jakarta , Indonesia , will also make an appeal for more aid .
-The international community has pledged $ 2 billion so far .
-U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell heads to the region today to inspect damage in Thailand and Indonesia .
-He told NBC television the $ 350 million pledged by the United States may have have to be increased , saying the catastrophe is one of the worst the world has ever seen .
-Iraqi officials say Turkish warplanes have bombed targets in the Kurdish autonomous region of northern Iraq , wounding one civilian .
-The officials say Turkey bombed the village of Sidakan near the Iranian border Saturday .
-There was no immediate confirmation of the strike from the Turkish military .
-Clashes between Turks and Kurds have increased since the Kurdistan Workers ' Party , or PKK , called off a yearlong cease-fire in June .
-The group cited repeated Turkish military attacks for ending the truce .
-The PKK is fighting for Kurdish autonomy in southeastern Turkey , and has bases in northern Iraq .
-Palestinian security forces have begun early voting for parliamentary candidates , in order to be free for duty during the official polling time next week .
-Nearly 60,000 security personnel are eligible to vote through Monday .
-They will be deployed in the Palestinian territories during Wednesday 's parliamentary elections .
-The ruling Fatah party is facing stiff competition from its chief rival , the Islamic militant group Hamas , for the 132 seats in the Palestinian parliament .
-A new Palestinian opinion poll shows Fatah with a seven-point lead over Hamas , while another survey puts the two groups in a virtual tie .
-Hamas is taking part in the Palestinian legislative elections for the first time .
-Israel 's Cabinet now says it will allow Arabs in East Jerusalem to vote for the Palestinian parliament , but will not permit candidates from Hamas to be on Jerusalem ballots .
-Shuttle astronauts installed part of cooling system on International Space Station .
-The U.S. space agency NASA says two astronauts from the shuttle Atlantis have completed a spacewalk to install part of a cooling system on the International Space Station .
-Astronauts Rex Walheim and Hans Schlegel installed a nitrogen tank on the orbital outpost .
-The outing Wednesday lasted just over six-and-a-half hours .
-Schlegel , a German , missed a previous spacewalk due to an undisclosed illness .
-On Monday , two astronauts installed a European science laboratory with help from crewmates inside the space station .
-Crewmembers set up electrical and data lines linking the Columbus laboratory to the space station before European astronaut Leopold Eyharts of France briefly floated inside the module for the first time .
-Atlantis will remain at the space station until at least Sunday .
-President Bush has appealed for Americans to be patient with the military mission in Iraq , as poll numbers continue to show most of the country does not approve of the president 's handling of the war .
-Mr. Bush said in his weekly radio address Saturday that the effort in Iraq and the broader Middle East will require more time , sacrifice and continued resolve .
-He praised the efforts of Iraqi leaders who are trying to agree on a constitution .
-Iraqi lawmakers missed several deadlines this week for completing a draft constitution .
-Mr. Bush also used his radio address to hail what he called Israel 's " courageous and painful " dismantling of Jewish settlements from Gaza and parts of the West Bank .
-He urged Palestinians to now show the world they can fight terrorism .
-Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson has signed an $ 88 million deal to sponsor the Women 's Tennis Association tour .
-The deal announced Wednesday is a six-year agreement , and gives the tour a global sponsor for the first time in two years .
-Sony Ericsson will get to put its logos on nets at Tour events , starting Monday at the Sydney International tournament .
-The season-ending event will now be called the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour championships .
-The deal will also bring advanced technology to the women 's tour , including handsets for chair umpires that will allow match scores to go directly to the Internet .
-Tournament prize money is not expected to increase this season as a result of the deal .
-A Burmese dissident living in the United States says the Burmese government is conducting a smear campaign against him .
-Aung Din , of the lobbying group U.S. Campaign for Burma , told VOA 's Burmese service that he has been named as a suspect in last month 's bombings at three shopping centers in Rangoon , in which at least 19 people died .
-Aung Din said his family in Burma has confirmed the government is circulating leaflets accusing him of involvement in the bombing .
-He also said that the government briefly detained his family for questioning following the attacks .
-Aung Din said he categorically denies any involvement in the bombings .
-He said his lobbying group does not practice terrorism and only supports protest by peaceful means .
-Police in Nepal have detained more than 50 Tibetan protesters as they prepared to demonstrate near the Chinese embassy in Kathmandu .
-The protesters were traveling to the embassy in buses when they were stopped by police and driven to detention centers .
-Nepal is home to some 20,000 Tibetan refugees and has seen daily , pro-Tibet demonstrations since violence erupted in Tibet in March .
-Police have been detaining the protesters but are generally freeing them the same day .
-Nepal regards Tibet as part of China .
-Hundreds of Afghan forces - backed by tanks and rocket launchers - have surrounded the country 's main high security prison after Taleban and al-Qaida prisoners seized control Saturday evening .
-Authorities restarted negotiations Monday but warned the government could use force end the standoff .
-Afghan officials are blaming the uprising on hundreds of al-Qaida and Taleban inmates housed in the Pol-e-Charkhi jail just outside Kabul .
-Deputy Afghan Justice Minister Mohammed Qasim Hashimzai says more than a thousand inmates armed with makeshift weapons began the revolt late Saturday .
-He says the riots started in block two of the prison , which houses more than 13 hundred of facility 's 2,000 inmates .
-He says the violence erupted after inmates rejected new uniforms .
-The uniforms were meant to improve security after seven Taleban detainees disguised as civilians escaped last month .
-Officials say dozens of inmates have been injured but details are sketchy .
-Authorities are stepping up the pressure on New Orleans residents who have refused to leave the devastated city .
-Thousands of police and National Guard troops are completing their efforts to evacuate all those who want to leave , and are now turning their attention to those who have not obeyed a mandatory evacuation effort .
-Officials estimate that between 5,000 and 10,000 residents remain in New Orleans , despite contaminated floodwaters and several raging fires .
-Authorities warn the death toll could reach into the thousands , although fewer than 200 bodies have been found so far .
-Twenty-five thousand body bags have been provided for the clean-up operation .
-Late Thursday President Bush signed a bill promising nearly $ 52 billion more in relief to victims of Hurricane Katrina .
-The president has come under pressure for the slow federal response to the national disaster .
-The White House has condemned the attack targeting a convoy carrying former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto .
-U.S. National Security Council spokesman , Gordon Johndroe , said Thursday the United States mourns " the loss of innocent life " in Karachi .
-The NSC spokesman added , " Extremists will not be allowed to stop Pakistanis from selecting their representatives through an open and democratic process . "
-In New York , U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed shock by news of the attack and extended condolences to the families of the victims .
-The European Union also denounced the deadly bomb blasts , while Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf called the attacks " a conspiracy against democracy . "
-Speaking from Dubai , Ms. Bhutto 's husband , Asif Ali Zardari , alleged that a Pakistani intelligence agency was behind the bloodshed .
-Mexico City 's mayor , also seen as a leading presidential contender , has called for a mass campaign to keep adversaries from jailing him .
-Mexico 's Congress is to decide in coming months whether to strip Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of immunity from prosecution enjoyed by public officials , and force him to face charges over a minor land-use case .
-Mr. Lopez could be jailed and barred from running for president if found guilty .
-Speaking at a news conference Friday , Mr. Lopez Obrador said he would keep fighting and would campaign from a jail cell if he had to .
-It was his first explicit statement of his plans to replace President Vicente Fox when Mr. Fox 's final term finishes in 2006 .
-The central-leftist mayor of the Party of the Democratic Revolution is widely popular in Mexico City for setting up welfare programs for the poor and the elderly .
-Haitian officials have said local and national elections will be held later this year .
-An official on Haiti 's Provisional Electoral Council said local elections will be held on October 9 , followed by presidential and legislative polls on November 13 .
-The dates were announced in an electoral decree recently sent to Haiti 's interim government .
-Security for the election remains a concern .
-Former soldiers and rebels who helped force Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide into exile in South Africa last February still control parts of the countryside .
-Violence in Port-au-Prince 's pro-Aristide slums has killed more than 200 people in the last four months .
-U.S. theatergoers chose suspense over skating , as Disturbiaunseated Blades Of Glory for the U.S. box office championship .
-The peeping tom thriller starring Shia LaBeouf and David Morse took in $ 23 million to debut at number one last weekend .
-The real winner continues to be DreamWorks Pictures , distributor of both Disturbia and Blades Of Glory .
-LeBeouf , who plays a teen under house arrest who suspects a neighbor of murder , is also on the upswing .
-The 20-year-old actor has been confirmed to appear in the fourth Indiana Jones movie , set for worldwide release in May , 2008 .
-He will also provide the lead voice for this year 's animated penguin comedy Surf 's Up , while starring in the science fiction adventure Transformers .
-China 's state news agency says scientists have developed two vaccines to prevent the spread of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu .
-Xinhua quoted the director of the China National Bird Flu Reference Laboratory , Chen Hualan as saying experiments show the new vaccines are 100 percent effective in preventing the spread of the virus .
-Last week , China enacted emergency measures after confirming that the virus killed scores of migratory birds in the western Qinghai province .
-No human cases were reported .
-The World Health Organization recently said a study suggests the virus is mutating in ways that could pose a greater threat to humans .
-Experts have warned that such a mutation could kill millions .
-The virus has killed more than 50 people in Vietnam , Thailand and Cambodia .
-A suicide bomber walked into a local government office in southern Afghanistan Monday and blew himself up , killing eight people .
-Among the dead are four policemen and four civilians .
-The attack occurred in Nad Ali district of Afghanistan 's opium producing heartland of Helmand province .
-Taleban insurgents have vowed to step up their attacks against Afghan and international troops during the holy month of Ramadan , which began last week .
-Meanwhile , Bangladesh is appealing for the release of an aid worker kidnapped just south of the capital , Kabul , on Saturday .
-An official with the interim government of Bangladesh said in a statement Monday the abducted man 's only mission in Afghanistan is humanitarian .
-The Bangladeshi national was taken from his office in Logar province by unidentified armed men .
-Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is reported to have called Israel the " flag of Satan . "
-The state-run IRNA news agency says the Iranian leader made the comment to a religious conference .
-It quotes him saying that when the philosophy of a state is in question , it may be on the path to decline and dissolution .
-Mr. Ahmadinejad sparked international outrage in 2005 when he said Israel should be wiped off the map .
-He has also called the Holocaust a myth .
-The government of Senegal shut down the country 's leading radio station for most of the day Monday after it broadcast an interview with a separatist leader .
-Nineteen employees of Sud FM were charged with violating national security laws following the airing of the interview with Salif Sadio , leader of the armed wing of the secessionist Democratic Forces Movement of Casamance .
-In the interview , Mr. Sadio pledged to end what he called the Senegalese occupation of Casamance province .
-Interior Minister Ousamane Ngom told state radio that he had ordered the station closed in the interest of national security .
-Radio Sud staffers tell Voice of America 's French to Africa Service that other media outlets in Senegal plan to publish and broadcast the interview with Mr. Sadio on Tuesday .
-Officials in Nigeria say the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has spread to another state , bringing the total number of states now affected by the virus to 14 .
-Health authorities say the strain has appeared in northeastern Taraba state .
-The new outbreak means the virus is now present in more than one third of Nigerian states .
-Nigeria was the first African country to be hit by bird flu .
-Several other West African countries are also grappling with outbreaks of the disease , including Nigeria 's neighbors , Niger and Cameroon .
-No human cases have been detected in the region , although the disease is believed to have killed more than 120 people around the world since 2003 .
-Iraqi officials say five people , including four children , were killed Thursday in attacks in Baghdad .
-Authorities say a bomb attached to a government worker 's car exploded , killing four children inside it and injuring the worker and his wife .
-Meanwhile , unidentified gunmen killed an Iraqi army officer and injured at his wife in northern Baghdad .
-The Associated Press says the officer worked with units that provide protection to Iraqi government officials .
-Separately , officials in Baghdad say a police officer was mistakenly killed after Finance Ministry security guards opened fire on a suspicious vehicle .
-An agreement has been reached in Ecuador to end a strike that had shut down oil exports from the country 's two largest oil-producing regions and had triggered violent protests .
-The accord was reached Thursday between the protesters and oil companies after four days of talks .
-It calls for those companies to invest more in the poor communities where they drill , including repairing highways .
-However , the accord does not include a key demand of the demonstrators - that they not face prosecution for damaging oil installations during the protests .
-The strike and protests led the government to declare a state of emergency in Orellana and Sucumbios provinces and to put them under military control .
-Most of Ecuador 's oil exports go to the United States .
-Thailand said Tuesday it is lifting a state of emergency in three northern provinces , but it will remain in force in others , including the capital , Bangkok .
-The government extended the state of emergency for three months across much of the country on July 6 , citing concerns that anti-government elements might instigate more unrest like the weeks of deadly protests that began in March .
-The decree suspends some civil liberties , allows censorship and makes it easier to use the military to keep the peace .
-Fighting between Thai security forces and anti-government Red Shirts killed 90 people and wounded about 1,900 others during the protesters ' 10-week occupation of part of downtown Bangkok .
-The military broke up the Red Shirts ' encampment in a raid on May 19 .
-Ukraine 's Central Election Commission has declared Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych the winner of Sunday 's disputed presidential election .
-Authorities say the prime minister won more than 49 percent of the vote - nearly three percentage points ahead of opposition challenger Viktor Yushchenko .
-The announcement Wednesday came as tens of thousands of protesters continued to mass in the capital , Kiev , alleging widespread fraud in the vote .
-Crowds packed the Ukrainian capital 's main square , waving flags and chanting Mr. Yushchenko 's name .
-Some have slept in tents , despite the cold and snow .
-Protesters marched to the Election Commission following the announcement .
-The European Union had warned of consequences in its relations with Ukraine if the results were announced before a review is conducted .
-European and U.S. monitors allege widespread fraud in the vote .
-The White House says it is disturbed about indications of wrongdoing .
-Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf says international terrorism should be fought on two levels .
-General Musharraf told the U.N. General Assembly Tuesday that apart from confronting terrorists , the international community should also resolve the conflicts afflicting the Islamic world .
-He said unless those conflicts are resolved and suppression of Muslim peoples is ended , terrorism and extremism will continue to find recruits among alienated Muslims .
-The Pakistani leader said it is also imperative to end what he called racial and religious discrimination against Muslims and to prohibit the defamation of Islam .
-In an apparent reference to the controversy over Pope Benedict 's recent remarks about Islam , he said it is disappointing to see that personalities of high standing are oblivious of Muslim sensitivities .
-Saudi Arabia 's King Abdullah held talks with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf Saturday in the kingdom .
-Official media in Saudi Arabia reported that the two met at a palace in Jeddah .
-News media say the leaders and their delegations discussed ways to enhance cooperation between the two nations .
-According to reports , King Abdullah also held a lunch party for General Musharraf and his delegation .
-The Pakistani president said he was grateful for the hospitality .
-Russian officials have officially opened two new schools in the southern town of Beslan to replace the one destroyed in last year 's school siege , which ended with the deaths of 330 people .
-The ceremonies Wednesday comes almost one year after armed militants raided the school , taking more than 1,000 people hostage .
-The siege ended in explosions and a hail of gunfire as Russian security forces stormed the building .
-More than half those killed were children .
-Chechen separatist leader Shamil Basayev has claimed responsibility for the attack .
-Last week , robbers ransacked one of the new schools and made off with thousands of dollars worth of equipment .
-Reports out of Burma say last week 's tsunami swept a seasonal fishing village of about 600 people out to sea , leaving 17 dead and scores of families destitute .
-The French news agency , AFP , says most of the casualties were children playing on the beach when a three-meter wave crashed down on them and crushed village huts .
-The village , 352 kilometers southwest of the capital of Rangoon , was built about a month ago for the post-monsoon fishing season .
-The agency said 14 children and three women were killed when waves swept through the village .
-The official New Light of Myanmar newspaper has raised Burma 's death toll to 59 after the bodies of three more victims were found .
-The paper says three people are still missing .
-Pope Benedict XVI called on African leaders Monday to make the needs of the poor their prime concern .
-The Roman Catholic pontiff made his remarks before heading back to Rome from the airport in Angola 's capital , Luanda .
-During his seven-day trip to Cameroon and Angola , the pope promoted the message of Christianity as a way to inspire hope .
-But his rejection of condoms as a means to fight Africa 's AIDS epidemic provoked a firestorm of criticism during his visit .
-Pope Benedict celebrated Mass Sunday with an estimated one million Christian faithful in Luanda .
-In his homily , the pope lamented what he called " clouds of evil " over Africa .
-He said war and greed have robbed the continent of the resources needed to build a better society .
-The Vatican says Africa has been a place of tremendous growth for the Catholic Church .
-U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz says some 15,000 U.S. troops who were deployed for Iraq 's election will soon return home , but 1,35,000 forces are expected to remain in Iraq .
-Testifying Thursday before the Senate Armed Services committee , the deputy secretary said American troops and the proposed $ 80 billion in supplemental funding are focused on training Iraqi security forces .
-Also during the hearing , Air Force General Richard Myers said there is not a good measure of how many of Iraq 's estimated 1,30,000 security forces are properly trained and equipped .
-The general also said he could not publicly discuss the military 's estimate of the size of the insurgency in Iraq .
-A car bomb exploded in central Baghdad Thursday , killing at least two people and wounding several others as insurgents continued their campaign of post-election violence .
-Officials say the bomb , detonated by remote control , went off just after a U.S. military patrol vehicle passed by .
-South of Baghdad , Iraqi police found the bodies of 20 truck drivers who had been shot dead .
-Meanwhile , Iraq 's interim government said the country 's borders will be closed for five days from February 17 - apparently to boost security during the major Shi'ite Muslim religious observance of Ashura .
-Wednesday , Iraq 's election commission said 300 ballot boxes from the January 30th vote need to be recounted and that it is not ready to announce the final results , which were expected today .
-The daughter of rhythm-and-blues legend Fats Domino says her father , who had been reported missing in New Orleans , had been rescued from the devastated city .
-Karen Domino White said Thursday she identified her father in a photograph taken of him being evacuated from his home after the hurricane .
-The 77-year-old entertainer had been reported missing Thursday by his long-time agent .
-Fats Domino , whose real name is Antoine Domino , was born in New Orleans in 1928 .
-He earned the nickname " Fats " after he wrote a song called The Fat Man .
-Other hits include Blueberry Hill and Ai n't That a Shame .
-He was one of the first inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame .
-Police in Indonesia have announced a $ 10,000 ( 100 million rupiah ) reward for information identifying the three men who carried out suicide bomb attacks on Bali earlier this month .
-Officials are distributing hundreds of thousands of photos of the bombers ' severed heads as well as of the Malaysian fugitives accused in the plot .
-Weeks of police work have failed to identify the bombers or uncover organizers behind the attacks that killed 23 people , including the bombers , October 1 .
-Indonesian authorities also are offering a reward of $ 1,00,000 ( one billion rupiah ) for information leading to the arrest of Malaysian suspects Noordin Mohamed Top and Azahari bin Husin .
-The two are alleged leaders of the al Qaida-linked regional terror group Jemaah Islamiyah , which is also blamed in the 2002 Bali bomb attacks that killed 202 people .
-A published report says Zimbabwe security officials are probing whether two cabinet officials and a lawmaker are linked to an alleged spying ring .
-The state-run Sunday Mail reports officials this week hope to question the three men , who have been accused of passing state secrets to foreign intelligence agencies .
-The report alleges the men received " handsome payments " for the information .
-Another person suspected in the alleged ring is an official , Erasmus Moyo , at Zimbabwe 's embassy in Geneva , who has been reported missing .
-Officials say he disappeared after being summoned back to Zimbabwe .
-Last month , police arrested four other men , including a ruling party lawmaker , Philip Chiyangwa , on charges of selling state secrets to foreign powers .
-Russia 's lower house of parliament has warned that the execution of Saddam Hussein could lead to a further escalation of violence in war-torn Iraq .
-The Kremlin-controlled State Duma Wednesday unanimously approved a statement saying that executing Saddam " will not solve the existing problems of the long-suffering people of Iraq . "
-An Iraqi tribunal this month convicted the former president of crimes against humanity for the 1982 killings of 148 Iraqi Shi'ite Muslims in the village of Dujail , and sentenced him to death by hanging .
-No execution date has been set .
-Moscow has been a consistent critic of the U.S.-led military campaign in Iraq .
-Russian authorities have warned previously that Saddam 's execution will dangerously increase tensions between Iraq 's Sunni Muslims who backed Saddam , and the majority Shi'ite population which supported the death penalty .
-Ukraine 's parliament has voted to dismiss two senior officials over a recent deal that nearly doubled prices for imported Russian gas .
-A total of 246 members of Ukraine 's parliament Thursday endorsed the dismissal of Justice Minister Serhiy Holovaty and Fuel and Energy Minister Ivan Plachkov .
-Lawmakers also expressed no-confidence in Oleksiy Ivchenko , head of the state gas company , Naftogaz Ukrainy .
-Earlier this month , Ukraine agreed to buy gas from Russia at a rate of $ 95 per 1,000 cubic meters - up from the previous rate of $ 50 - following Russia 's three-day suspension of deliveries .
-But the deal triggered a political crisis , and Ukraine 's parliament voted to dismiss the government of Prime Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov .
-Thursday , Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko formally asked the Constitutional Court to decide the legality of the dismissal .
-Authorities in northern Bosnia-Herzegovina have arrested a fugitive Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect .
-A spokesman for Bosnia 's Prosecutor 's Office says members of the State Investigation and Protection Agency and Bosnian Serb police apprehended Predrag Kujundzic Wednesday in the northern town of Doboj .
-Kujundzic was a commander of a special unit of Bosnian Serb forces during the Balkan conflict of the 1990s .
-He is suspected of violating laws and customs of war in the Doboj region on several occasions during 1992 and the following year .
-The spokesman said Kujundzic was arrested on the order of the country 's central Prosecutor 's Office and is being held in a court detention facility in Sarajevo .
-Iraqi officials are still counting votes and verifying results from Saturday 's referendum , with partial results suggesting the draft constitution will be approved .
-Iraq 's Independent Electoral Commission says it will take random samples from some provinces to examine for possible irregularities .
-President Bush praised Iraqis for voting despite threats of insurgent attacks .
-But U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan says it is too soon to say if the draft constitution will bring Iraq together or widen divisions between its Shi'te , Sunni and Kurdish communities .
-In other developments , a U.S. airstrike killed 20 people the military says were planting roadside bombs near Ramadi .
-Other coalition operations in Al Anbar province on Sunday killed what U.S. officials said were 50 more suspected terrorists .
-But residents say half of the dead were civilians .
-The eldest daughter of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet is being questioned in Washington D.C. after fleeing Chile , where she has been charged with tax evasion .
-U.S. Customs and Border officials say Lucia Pinochet is being interviewed at Washington 's Dulles International Airport after arriving from Argentina .
-The charges she faces are related to a broader investigation of $ 27 million her father allegedly hid in foreign bank accounts .
-General Pinochet also has been charged with tax fraud .
-His wife and four other adult children were detained Monday on charges relating to the tax fraud probe .
-They were freed on bail a day later .
-The former dictator also faces human rights charges related to his rule in the mid-1970s .
-French President Nicolas Sarkozy says France is willing to help Egypt develop nuclear power plants .
-In an interview published Saturday in the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram , Mr. Sarkozy said France will cooperate and work together with Egypt if the Cairo government wants to develop civilians uses for nuclear technology .
-Earlier this year , authorities in Cairo announced that Egypt intends to build several nuclear reactors to meet its future energy needs .
-The French president has been vacationing in Egypt in advance of an official state visit he will begin on Sunday in Cairo .
-The U.S. military in Iraq says it has detained seven suspects in Saturday 's rocket attack on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad .
-Two Americans were killed and four others wounded in the attack .
-A U.S. statement says the suspects were caught by U.S. troops in southeastern Baghdad about an hour after the strike , which was recorded by police surveillance cameras .
-In other developments Sunday , The Washington Post newspaper says the Bush administration does not have a timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq .
-The report quotes U.S. officials as saying U.S. forces will leave only after Iraqi military units take the lead in combat operations .
-A senior administration official also said a U.S. departure will be linked to a reduction in overall violence , once an elected Iraqi government is operational .
-The report says commanders want to withdraw about 15,000 troops by the middle of this year .
-New clashes were reported between protesters and police in the Rostock , Germany , ahead of this week 's Group of Eight summit in a nearby resort .
-Authorities say some 400 extremists pelted police with bottles as they protested restrictions on refugees and asylum seekers in G8 countries .
-The clashes were the second outbreak of violence ahead of Heiligendamm summit .
-With public access to the resort closed , demonstrators have been meeting in Rostok .
-A riot Saturday left about 1,000 people injured .
-Those protesters were demanding that the G8 leading industrialized countries take more action to reduce poverty , inequality , environmental destruction and restrictions on immigration .
-German Chancellor Angela Merkel , in a television broadcast Sunday , condemned the violence and warned that authorities will not tolerate such activities .
-China has rushed a first batch of vaccine to the southwestern province of Sichuan , where a pig-borne disease has killed at least 34 people .
-The Xinhua news agency reports that enough vaccine to treat Streptococcus suis bacteria in 3,50,000 pigs has been flown to the province .
-Another 10 million doses are being manufactured and will be sent to affected areas .
-Health authorities have identified 174 human cases - either confirmed or suspected - of the illness as of Saturday .
-Most victims had handled either infected pigs or pork .
-China says no human-to-human transmission of the ailment has been seen .
-Two cases have been reported in Hong Kong , adjacent to Guangdong , but they are believed to be unrelated to the Sichuan outbreak .
-After cracking down on firms trading with Iran , UAE authorities say they are worried that the newest sanctions against Iran may hurt business interests .
-Iran is one of the United Arab Emirate 's largest trading partners .
-UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash says the two countries have billions of dollars in legitimate trade agreements that must be spared .
-He said Monday that the government is trying to decide on an approach that will help it sift through the exchanges that do not violate sanctions .
-The UAE comments come days after U.S. Undersecretary of the Treasury Stuart Levey made a trip to the UAE to urge tighter enforcement of the sanctions against Iran .
-The sanctions are designed to curtail Iran 's alleged nuclear weapons program .
-Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful use .
-Nepalese police have arrested a top opposition leader in the capital , Kathmandu , and Maoist rebels have opened fire at a busy marketplace in southern Nepal , wounding three people .
-Officials in Bara district , where the Maoist attack took place Thursday , say the rebels fired indiscriminately .
-They wounded a policeman , a journalist and a health worker .
-At least 38 people have been killed in clashes between rebels and security forces over the past week .
-Also Thursday , authorities stormed the home of the secretary-general of the Communist Party , Madhav Kumar Nepal , and took him away .
-The arrest followed a raid on his home a day earlier by armed police who seized phones , communication equipment and documents .
-Security forces placed Nepal under house arrest in mid-January during a government crackdown on opposition activists to prevent anti-government protests .
-European Union leaders have agreed to a long-term budget after Britain offered to reduce its annual rebate .
-The leaders reached a final deal in Brussels early Saturday after British Prime Minister Tony Blair agreed to cut his country 's rebate by nearly $ 13 billion .
-Mr. Blair described negotiations as extraordinarily difficult .
-German Chancellor Angela Merkel played a key role in the talks and praised the deal .
-Polish Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz said the budget was reached in the spirit of solidarity .
-The six-year plan begins in 2007 .
-It includes billions of dollars of development aid to new member states from Eastern Europe , and caps overall spending at $ 1 trillion dollars for the six-year period .
-The final deal calls for a review of all EU budget revenue and spending , including farm subsidies .
-Valley Federal Savings & Loan Association took an $ 89.9 million charge as it reported a third-quarter loss of $ 70.7 million , or $ 12.09 a share .
-The Van Nuys , Calif. , thrift had net income of $ 1,32,000 , or three cents a share , a year ago .
-The bulk of the pretax charge is a $ 62 million write-off of capitalized servicing at the mobile home financing subsidiary , which the company said had been a big drain on earnings .
-The company said the one-time provision would substantially eliminate all future losses at the unit .
-Valley Federal also added $ 18 million to realestate loan reserves and eliminated $ 9.9 million of good will .
-The thrift said that " after these charges and assuming no dramatic fluctuation in interest rates , the association expects to achieve near record earnings in 1990 . "
-Valley Federal is currently being examined by regulators .
-New loans continue to slow ; they were $ 6.6 million in the quarter compared with $ 361.8 million a year ago .
-The thrift has assets of $ 3.2 billion .
-An independent Korean state or collection of states has existed almost continuously for several millennia .
-Between its initial unification in the 7th century - from three predecessor Korean states - until the 20th century , Korea existed as a single independent country .
-In 1905 , following the Russo-Japanese War , Korea became a protectorate of imperial Japan , and in 1910 it was annexed as a colony .
-Korea regained its independence following Japan 's surrender to the United States in 1945 .
-After World War II , a Republic of Korea ( ROK ) was set up in the southern half of the Korean Peninsula while a Communist-style government was installed in the north ( the DPRK ) .
-During the Korean War ( 1950 - 53 ) , US troops and UN forces fought alongside soldiers from the ROK to defend South Korea from DPRK attacks supported by China and the Soviet Union .
-An armistice was signed in 1953 , splitting the peninsula along a demilitarized zone at about the 38th parallel .
-Thereafter , South Korea achieved rapid economic growth with per capita income rising to roughly 17 times the level of North Korea .
-In 1993 , KIM Young-sam became South Korea 's first civilian president following 32 years of military rule .
-South Korea today is a fully functioning modern democracy .
-President LEE Myung-bak has pursued a policy of global engagement since taking office in February 2008 , highlighted by Seoul 's hosting of the G-20 summit in November 2010 .
-Serious tensions with North Korea have punctuated inter-Korean relations in recent years , including the North 's sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan in March 2010 and its artillery attack on South Korean soldiers and citizens in November 2010 .
-Discovered in 1493 by Christopher COLUMBUS who named it for his brother Bartolomeo , Saint Barthelemy was first settled by the French in 1648 .
-In 1784 , the French sold the island to Sweden , who renamed the largest town Gustavia , after the Swedish King GUSTAV III , and made it a free port ; the island prospered as a trade and supply center during the colonial wars of the 18th century .
-France repurchased the island in 1878 and placed it under the administration of Guadeloupe .
-Saint Barthelemy retained its free port status along with various Swedish appellations such as Swedish street and town names , and the three-crown symbol on the coat of arms .
-In 2003 , the populace of the island voted to secede from Guadeloupe and in 2007 , the island became a French overseas collectivity .
-In 1951 , the Nepalese monarch ended the century-old system of rule by hereditary premiers and instituted a cabinet system of government .
-Reforms in 1990 established a multiparty democracy within the framework of a constitutional monarchy .
-An insurgency led by Maoist extremists broke out in 1996 .
-The ensuing ten-year civil war between insurgents and government forces witnessed the dissolution of the cabinet and parliament and assumption of absolute power by the king .
-Several weeks of mass protests in April 2006 were followed by several months of peace negotiations between the Maoists and government officials , and culminated in a November 2006 peace accord and the promulgation of an interim constitution .
-Following a nation-wide election in April 2008 , the newly formed Constituent Assembly declared Nepal a federal democratic republic and abolished the monarchy at its first meeting the following month .
-The Constituent Assembly elected the country 's first president in July .
-The Maoists , who received a plurality of votes in the Constituent Assembly election , formed a coalition government in August 2008 , but resigned in May 2009 after the president overruled a decision to fire the chief of the army staff .
-The Communist Party of Nepal-United Marxist-Leninist and the Nepali Congress party then formed a new coalition government with several smaller parties .
-The prime minister 's resignation in June 2010 ushered in seven months of political gridlock until Jhala Nath KHANAL was elected as replacement in February 2011 .
-His pressing tasks are to conclude the drafting of a new constitution by the late May 2011 deadline and to determine the future of the former Maoist combatants .
-Originally a Dutch colony in the 17th century , by 1815 Guyana had become a British possession .
-The abolition of slavery led to black settlement of urban areas and the importation of indentured servants from India to work the sugar plantations .
-This ethnocultural divide has persisted and has led to turbulent politics .
-Guyana achieved independence from the UK in 1966 , and since then it has been ruled mostly by socialist-oriented governments .
-In 1992 , Cheddi JAGAN was elected president in what is considered the country 's first free and fair election since independence .
-After his death five years later , his wife , Janet JAGAN , became president but resigned in 1999 due to poor health .
-Her successor , Bharrat JAGDEO , was reelected in 2001 and again in 2006 .
-The territory of Northern Rhodesia was administered by the [ British ] South Africa Company from 1891 until it was taken over by the UK in 1923 .
-During the 1920s and 1930s , advances in mining spurred development and immigration .
-The name was changed to Zambia upon independence in 1964 .
-In the 1980s and 1990s , declining copper prices , economic mismanagement and a prolonged drought hurt the economy .
-Elections in 1991 brought an end to one-party rule , but the subsequent vote in 1996 saw blatant harassment of opposition parties .
-The election in 2001 was marked by administrative problems with three parties filing a legal petition challenging the election of ruling party candidate Levy MWANAWASA .
-The new president launched an anticorruption investigation in 2002 to probe high-level corruption during the previous administration .
-In 2006 - 7 , this task force successfully prosecuted four cases , including a landmark civil case in the UK in which former President CHILUBA and numerous others were found liable for more than USD 41 million .
-MWANAWASA was reelected in 2006 in an election that was deemed free and fair .
-Upon his abrupt death in August 2008 , he was succeeded by his Vice President Rupiah BANDA , who subsequently won a special presidential by-election in October 2008 .
-Under President BANDA , the Task Force on Corruption was abolished , President CHILUBA and his wife were acquitted in their criminal cases , and the government declined to register the UK civil verdict .
-The Spratly Islands consist of more than 100 small islands or reefs .
-They are surrounded by rich fishing grounds and potentially by gas and oil deposits .
-They are claimed in their entirety by China , Taiwan , and Vietnam , while portions are claimed by Malaysia and the Philippines .
-About 45 islands are occupied by relatively small numbers of military forces from China , Malaysia , the Philippines , Taiwan , and Vietnam .
-Brunei has established a fishing zone that overlaps a southern reef but has not made any formal claim .
-THE President of a great Corporation went into a dry-goods shop and saw a placard which read : " If You Do n't See What You Want , Ask For It . "
-Approaching the shopkeeper , who had been narrowly observing him as he read the placard , he was about to speak , when the shopkeeper called to a salesman : " John , show this gentleman the world . "
-More than 1,000 supporters of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic have walked past his coffin , paying final respects to the late president .
-A large portrait of the former leader was placed Thursday in front of the closed , flag-draped casket at a communist-era museum in Belgrade .
-The observances prompted criticism from the museum 's director about the use of the cultural institution for political purposes .
-Officials with Milosevic 's Socialist Party say his coffin will remain on public display until Saturday , when it will be taken to his hometown of Pozarevac .
-Milosevic will be buried in the yard of his family home .
-A top party official , Milorad Vucelic says Milosevic 's widow , Mira Markovic , is expected to return to Belgrade from Russia Friday for the funeral .
-Her expected appearance follows a Serbian court Tuesday suspending an arrest warrant for her on charges of abuse of power .
-There will be no official remembrances for Milosevic .
-Serbian President Boris Tadic has ruled out a state funeral .
-Milosevic died of a heart attack last week in his jail cell near The Hague .
-He was on trial before the United Nations war crimes tribunal for genocide and crimes against humanity stemming from the Balkan wars of the 1990s .
-The United States ' only mobile field hospital has arrived in Pakistan to help earthquake victims in Pakistan 's devastated Kashmir region .
-Officials Sunday said the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital , or MASH unit , would be positioned in Muzaffarabad , the capital of Pakistani Kashmir .
-They say the Germany-based unit will be an important addition to other international hospitals operating in the region .
-Tens of thousands of people were injured in the massive quake , and Pakistani and international medical teams have been struggling to treat them .
-U.S. Army doctors say they expect to see people with broken bones , trauma injuries and those suffering from shock , cold or malnutrition .
-The MASH unit , the last of its kind in the U.S. Army , dates back to World War I and has been used in several conflicts , including Vietnam , the Balkans and the 1991 Gulf war .
-Officials in eastern Sudan say clashes between police and demonstrators have left at least 14 people dead .
-Witnesses say members of the Beja tribal group were marching to the governor 's office in the eastern city of Port Sudan Saturday when the violence began .
-Officials from the Beja tribe say security forces shot at the demonstrators .
-They put the death toll at 23 .
-Police say the protesters were looting and vandalizing buildings .
-They have imposed a curfew on the town .
-Earlier this week , Beja tribes people presented a list of demands to the local government , including a call for a fairer distribution of wealth and power in the region .
-Their demands are similar to those that sparked separate violence in Sudan 's western and southern regions .
-A southern peace deal was reached earlier this year , but violence continues in Darfur .
-Russian officials say President Vladimir Putin will travel to Libya Wednesday at the invitation of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi .
-The talks between the two leaders meeting in the North African country are expected to focus on gas exploration deals with Russia 's natural gas company , Gazprom .
-The two-day visit will be one of Mr. Putin 's last foreign trips before he steps down from office next month , when Dmitry Medvedev will replace him .
-Mr. Putin is expected to become Russia 's prime minister .
-The blockbuster movie 300 may have conquered U.S. box offices , but it 's no hit in Iran .
-Blasting it as an " obvious insult , " state-run television is featuring Iranian film directors to point out its historical inaccuracies .
-Focusing on the Greek victory over vastly larger Persian forces at the Battle Of Thermopylae in 480 B.C. , 300 grossed $ 70 million in its first weekend of U.S. release .
-The film comes at a time of tension between the United States and Iran over the Middle Eastern nation 's nuclear ambitions 0.3 has not opened in Iran and likely never will , although one newspaper noted its availability through illegally-copied DVDs .
-The U.S. Army says it has reviewed an American soldier 's videotape from Iraq that appears to show troops kicking a wounded and bound Iraqi prisoner , and concluded that such behavior was inappropriate but not criminal .
-The internal military report about the videotape was part of a massive release of 1,200 pages of documents following a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union .
-The military says its investigation of the videotape did not result in any new abuse charges , in part because the video apparently has been destroyed .
-A spokesman said , " The Army continues to investigate and hold people accountable when appropriate .
-Nearly 110 American soldiers are said to have been disciplined for their actions in Iraq .
-The two Koreas have announced special prisoner amnesties to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the peninsula from Japanese colonial rule .
-South Korean authorities said Friday , that President Roh Moo-hyun has issued more than four million pardons , covering a range of offenses including corruption by government officials , less serious crimes and traffic-law violations .
-Authorities in Pyongyang say North Korea is granting amnesty to prisoners to celebrate not only the liberation of the Korean peninsula in 1945 , but also the found of its Communist party 60 years ago .
-The official Korean Central News Agency says the amnesty will take effect on September 1 .
-There is no word on how many prisoners will be pardoned or what crimes the amnesty will absolve .
-The United States estimates that North Korea has between 1,50,000 and 2,00,000 political prisoners in custody .
-Under the watchful eye of security forces , the family of ousted Chinese leader Zhao Ziyang has held a memorial ceremony for him on China 's traditional day of remembrance for the dead .
-Zhao 's family planted a magnolia tree in the backyard of his Beijing home Tuesday .
-The former Communist Party leader died in January at the age of 85 .
-Zhao was deposed in 1989 over his opposition to the violent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square .
-He spent the next 15 years under house arrest .
-China 's government accused Zhao of making " serious mistakes " in his handling of the protests and downplayed his death .
-Many pro-democracy activists and relatives of those who were killed in Tiananmen have been prevented by security forces from visiting Zhao 's home to pay their respects .
-Ministers from 21 Asia-Pacific economies will begin meetings later Wednesday in Santiago , Chile , ahead of a summit of leaders from the region later this week .
-Officials say today 's meetings of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group will help set the agenda for the leaders ' summit , and are expected to feature discussions on regional trade agreements and general trade policies .
-The ministers also are expected to express their support for global trade talks under the auspices of the World Trade Organization .
-Other themes expected to be addressed by ministers include anti-terrorism efforts , health concerns , anti-corruption and transparency issues , and maintaining the security of regional financial markets .
-President Bush , Chinese President Hu Jintao and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will be among the leaders attending the APEC summit Saturday and Sunday .
-Pakistan 's deposed chief justice has begun a national campaign to reclaim his post by saying he still considers himself the legal head of his country 's Supreme Court .
-Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry was speaking Tuesday to lawyers in his hometown of Quetta , the first stop on a tour of Pakistani cities .
-Pakistani authorities released Chaudhry from house arrest last week on the orders of new Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani .
-Chaudhry praised the election victory of Mr. Gilani and other opposition leaders in February 's parliamentary vote , saying it has changed Pakistan 's political culture .
-He says Pakistani voters rejected what he calls the " one-man rule " of President Pervez Musharraf .
-Mr. Musharraf dismissed Chaudhry and dozens of other top judges last November after they refused to recognize his October reelection as president .
-Mr. Gilani 's coalition government has promised to reinstate all the deposed judges within 30 days .
-Kosovo 's Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi has resigned , following intense pressure from his own party .
-Mr. Kosumi faced mounting criticism from the ruling coalition , which viewed him as an ineffective leader .
-One of several political parties in the province , the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo , has suggested that President Fatmir Sejdiu nominate a former key member of the ethnic Albanian guerrilla movement , the Kosovo Liberation Army , Agim Ceku for the post .
-The party says it believes Ceku would be dedicated to the pursuit of an independent Kosovo .
-The outgoing prime minister was a key figure in the United Nations-mediated talks on the future of the Serbian province .
-Kosovo has been under U.N. administration since 1999 , when NATO airstrikes drove out Serbian security forces after violence against ethnic Albanians .
-The region 's ethnic Albanian majority is pressing for independence from Serbia - a demand that Serbs strongly oppose .
-Pakistani police say they have arrested five people in Karachi for allegedly plotting attacks on security forces and government buildings in the nation 's commercial capital .
-Karachi 's police chief , Waseem Ahmed , told reporters Wednesday the suspected terrorists belong to the Sunni extremist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi .
-Police say they recovered weapons and ammunition when they captured the men during a raid Tuesday night in the Sohrab Goth neighborhood , in the southern city .
-The police chief says the men planned to target several government buildings and the police head office in Karachi .
-As the dollar 's value drops , especially in relation to the euro , the British pound and some Asian currencies , New York City is experiencing a new kind of tourism boom .
-The world is coming to New York to go shopping .
-Some say their savings on consumer goods actually pays for their travel .
-VOA 's Carolyn Weaver reports .
-Kosovo 's ruling coalition says it has agreed on the makeup of a new government , with minor changes to some posts .
-The Democratic League of Kosovo says it will keep most ministers in the same positions , but will name Lutfi Haziri as new deputy prime minister .
-The government reshuffle follows the resignation of former Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi , after criticism of the performance of his government .
-The Kosovo Assembly meets Friday to decide whether to appoint as prime minister General Agim Ceku , who commands the Kosovo Protection Corps - the Serbian province 's civil defense group .
-Ceku led the ethic Albanian guerrilla movement , the Kosovo Liberation Army , in the struggle of the late 1990s against Serbian troops and security forces .
-He has said he is willing to assume the post .
-Serbia accuses him of war crimes against civilians during the fighting .
-Rebels in Ivory Coast say they have withdrawn their support for elections scheduled for October 30 .
-The rebels reached the decision Thursday after a meeting in their northern stronghold of Bouake .
-The French News Agency , AFP , quotes a rebel statement as saying that conditions for a " free , democratic , and transparent vote " can not be guaranteed .
-The October elections are meant to help foster the reunification of Ivory Coast , which has been cut in two since a civil war erupted in September 2002 after a failed coup against President Laurent Gbagbo .
-Little progress has been made in implementing a series of peace deals between the government and rebels .
-Rwanda has withdrawn a public threat to send troops into eastern Democratic Republic of Congo , where Congolese troops have been fighting dissident soldiers .
-Rwandan President Paul Kagame had threatened to send soldiers across the border to fight Hutu militias blamed for attacks on Rwanda .
-The Congolese government sent extra troops to eastern Congo in response to the threat , angering dissidents in the Congolese army who the Kinshasa government says are backed by Rwanda .
-Fighting broke out last week , forcing at least 1,00,000 people to flee their homes .
-Rwandan leaders now say disarming Hutu rebels in Congo is a job for the international community .
-Rwanda blames Hutu militias for the 1994 genocide of about 8,00,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus .
-Officials in Somalia say U.S. naval warships have bombarded a remote coastal village where suspected Islamist insurgents had set up a base .
-The attack happened Friday night when a Navy destroyer opened fire around the village of Bargal , located in northern Somalia 's semi-autonomous region of Puntland .
-Officials say the extremists arrived in Bargal earlier this week , then fought with troops from the region .
-A U.S. Department of Defense spokesman would not confirm or deny the report .
-He would only say the United States remains committed to reducing terrorist capabilities when it finds them .
-CNN International reported Friday that the ships fired on a suspected al-Qaida operative suspected of being involved in the simultaneous bomb attacks on the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 .
-The U.S. carried out airstrikes earlier this year in southern Somalia targeting suspected al-Qaida operatives .
-Uzbekistan has rejected a call from NATO 's inter-parliamentary assembly for an international inquiry into recent violence in Andijan , but said foreign diplomats can monitor its own probe .
-Uzbek Foreign Minister Elyor Ganiyev proposed setting up a group of representatives of foreign embassies in Tashkent that would monitor the probe .
-NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer asked for the investigation after allegations that Uzbek troops used excessive force against unarmed civilians .
-NATO parliamentarians urged member states to halt support for Uzbek armed forces unless a probe was conducted .
-Witnesses and Uzbek opposition groups say as many as 1,000 people were killed in the crackdown .
-The government put the death toll at 173 .
-A U.S. professor and his wife , accused of spying for Cuba , have pleaded not guilty in federal court .
-Carlos and Elsa Alvarez appeared in a Miami , Florida , courtroom Thursday to face charges they spent decades sending information to Cuba about Cuban exiles in the United States .
-The couple 's attorneys say they plan to appeal a federal magistrate 's order that they be considered a flight risk and kept in detention until trial .
-No trial date has been set .
-The Alvarezes were charged January ninth with being agents of a foreign power without registering with the U.S. government .
-Prosecutors say they sent information to Cuba using shortwave radio and encryption equipment .
-Federal Bureau of Investigation officials say there is no evidence they gave Cuba any classified or military information .
-Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be sworn in for a second consecutive term Friday , following his Congress party 's surprisingly decisive victory in national elections .
-Congress party lawmakers formally elected Singh to return as the prime minister on Tuesday .
-The party is in the process of forming a new government .
-Party leaders say the priorities include the plight of the poor , India 's security and promoting tolerance between Hindus and Muslims .
-Mr. Singh is in a more commanding position since the ruling party has decided not to include communists in its coalition .
-This will give it more flexibility in pursuing its own domestic and foreign policies .
-The ruling Congress Party-led alliance won 261 seats in the 543-member parliament , while its main rival , the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party , only won 159 seats .
-The rest went to a number of other small parties .
-President Bush Friday made Christmas Eve phone calls to members of the U.S. military , thanking them for their service and wishing them happy holidays .
-Mr. Bush placed the calls from the presidential retreat at Camp David , Maryland , where the Bush family is spending the Christmas weekend .
-The White House says Mr. Bush called 10 soldiers in all - six of them stationed in Iraq , another serving in Korea , and three others in the United States .
-President Bush has also sent out his annual Christmas message .
-In the message , Mr. Bush thanked all members of the armed forces and urged Americans to help neighbors in need .
-The president issued a separate message extending best wishes to those who celebrate Kwanzaa , a December holiday observed by many African-Americans .
-Pakistani officials say a wintery mix of rain and snow has fallen over Pakistan 's earthquake zone today Sunday , disrupting relief operations .
-Nearly 20 centimeters of snow fell in some high-altitude areas and up to 32 millimeters of rain fell today in some lower areas .
-A Pakistani army spokesman told the Reuters news agency no helicopters could fly in quake-stricken Kashmir because of rain and clouds .
-International relief officials also said their flight operations had been called off because of the weather .
-Thousands of victims from the deadly October 8 earthquake have found shelter in temporary camps , but tens of thousands more remain in high-altitude villages .
-U.N. officials have warned cold weather could force some 40,000 people to abandon the villages and seek shelter in already over-crowded cities in the warmer valleys .
-Iraq 's prime minister has named his defense and interior ministers , and a head of national security , following weeks of negotiations over the posts .
-Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki named Jawad al-Bolani , a Shi'ite Muslim , as his interior minister ; Sunni Arab General Abdel Qader Jassim as the defense minister ; and another Shi'ite , Sherwan al-Waili , as the new head of national security .
-Filling the posts was considered crucial for Mr. Maliki as he moves to implement a plan for Iraqi forces to take charge of security to allow for the reduction and eventual withdrawal of foreign troops .
-In other developments Thursday , insurgents carried out a string of bomb attacks across Baghdad , killing at least 27 people .
-In the deadliest blast , a bomb killed 13 people at a crowded market in eastern Baghdad .
-Separate roadside bombings have killed 12 Afghan civilians and a Polish soldier in eastern Afghanistan .
-The Polish defense ministry says a soldier was killed and five other service members were wounded Friday in Ghazni province .
-Elsewhere in Ghazni , NATO says three Afghan construction workers were killed and two others wounded Thursday , when a bomb exploded in the Qarabaugh district .
-Later in the day , nine construction workers were killed in a separate roadside bombing in the Bar Kunar district of Kunar province .
-Separately , South Korea 's foreign ministry said Friday that Afghan security personnel staged a rocket attack in June on the construction site of South Korea 's civilian base in northern Parwan province .
-The attack caused no casualties .
-The ministry says it is not clear why Afghan security guards fired rocket-propelled grenades at the site .
-The South Korean Yonhap news agency says four guards have been taken into custody .
-Russia has authorized the United States to use its airspace for flights carrying troops and military supplies to Afghanistan .
-The deal , signed Monday at a U.S.-Russian summit in Moscow , permits up to 4,500 military flights a year - about 12 a day - carrying troops , arms , munitions , military vehicles and spare parts .
-Senior U.S. officials say the flights will not be charged Russian transit fees and will not stop in Russian territory .
-Moscow had previously limited U.S. shipments across its territory to non-military supplies carried by train .
-The White House said the air transit agreement will save more than $ 130 million a year in fuel and other transit costs .
-The two presidents also agreed to boost joint anti-terrorism and anti-crime measures , including cooperation in sharing financial intelligence in the fight against heroin trafficking .
-A record-breaking heat wave over southeastern Europe and parts of the Middle East is expected to continue , closing out what experts say will be the hottest June ever recorded in the region .
-Temperatures reached a stifling 46 degrees Celsius Monday in Athens , forcing government offices to close .
-Greek authorities say the heat killed two elderly women while another death was reported on Cyprus .
-Romanian authorities say the heat has killed 25 people .
-Elsewhere , British authorities issued warnings across much of the country Monday , where flash floods killed three people in northern England .
-The bad weather forced a delay in the Wimbledon tennis tournament in London .
-Bolivian President-elect Evo Morales has met with two prominent South Africans as he winds up his visit to South Africa .
-Morales met with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former President F. W. De Klerk Thursday to learn how the two Nobel Peace Prize winners helped transform South Africa from , as Morales said , " apartheid isolation to democratic prosperity . "
-He also visited the notorious Robben Island prison , where anti-apartheid leader and former President Nelson Mandela , also a Nobel Peace laureate , spent years in captivity .
-Morales is the first indigenous Bolivian to be elected president .
-He has pledged to concentrate on fighting discrimination and poverty in his poor South American homeland .
-Wednesday , Morales met with South African President Thabo Mbeki and said the meeting strengthened political ties between their countries .
-Morales is traveling next to Brazil , where he will meet with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Friday .
-Turkish Cypriots have voted Sunday to elect their first new president in more than 20 years .
-The 81-year-old incumbent Rauf Denktash , who declared the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus an independent state in 1983 , is not running for re-election .
-Turkish Cypriot Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Talat led a field of nine candidates in pre-election opinion polls .
-He backs a United Nations plan for resolving the division of the island .
-When he cast his ballot Sunday , Mr. Talat called it a vote for peace .
-Cyprus has been divided between Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities since 1974 when Turkish troops invaded in response to a coup in Nicosia backed by Greece .
-Turkish Cypriots voted last year in favor of the U.N. reunification plan , but Greek Cypriots rejected it .
-The U.S. military says three al-Qaida terrorists linked to bombings in Baghdad have been arrested .
-It says the three are believed to be associated with al-Qaida 's chief bombing coordinator for the Iraqi capital .
-The U.S. military says the three surrendered in recent days without a fight after being surrounded by multinational forces .
-Meanwhile , Iraqis observed three minutes of silence Wednesday to honor victims of two recent massive suicide bombings .
-But the attacks continued , with a suicide bomber killing 10 people in Baghdad .
-On the political front , several Sunni members of the committee drafting Iraq 's new constitution suspended work following the killing of two colleagues Tuesday .
-A U.S. State Department spokesman condemned the killings as the work of terrorists trying to prevent democracy from taking root in Iraq .
-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales meets US soldiers at in Baghdad
-The head of the U.S. Justice Department has met with Iraq 's prime minister during a surprise trip Baghdad .
-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales ' one-day trip was meant as a show of support for the Iraqi government .
-In addition to his meeting with Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jafaari and other Iraqi officials , Mr. Gonzales also spoke with American soldiers .
-Reporters who traveled with Mr. Gonzales to Baghdad say he made the trip , on the eve of the U.S. Independence Day holiday , to commend the Iraqi government 's commitment to democracy despite continuing deadly attacks by insurgents .
-The head of Russia 's parliamentary commission investigating last year 's bloody Beslan school siege says the crisis could have been prevented if local authorities had followed orders to tighten security .
-Alexander Torshin told Russian lawmakers local authorities in North Ossetia , where Beslan is located , failed to carry out instructions given by Russia 's Interior Ministry to strengthen security around educational institutions on the first day of school .
-Gunmen demanding a withdrawal of Russian forces from Chechnya held more than a 1,000 hostages for three days .
-The stand-off ended in a series of explosions as security forces stormed the building .
-More than 330 people , mostly children , were killed .
-Tuesday , Russia 's deputy prosecutor-general Nikolai Shepel said security forces acted properly to end the siege .
-A committee of Beslan mothers has criticized authorities for using flame-throwers and tanks , which caused the roof to collapse on escaping hostages .
-The Moscow City Court has opened preliminary hearings on the 2004 killing of American journalist Paul Klebnikov .
-Court officials say Tuesday 's proceedings are closed to the public and focus on whether the case will be considered by a jury or a judge .
-Russian authorities say Mr. Klebnikov , who was editor of the Russian edition of the U.S. financial magazine Forbes , was killed by ethnic Chechens .
-They say the men killed him on orders from another ethnic Chechen .
-Russian investigators believe the shooting may be connected to Mr. Klebnikov 's writings .
-State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said Monday the United States expects all those implicated in the killing to be tried and punished appropriately .
-He says Russia 's handling of the case will send a message that those who threaten journalists will be held accountable .
-Alberto Gonzales President Bush 's attorney general , the head of the U.S. Justice Department , has arrived in Baghdad on a surprise visit to show support for the Iraqi government .
-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has been surrounded by heavy security in the Iraqi capital as he visits with American soldiers and Iraqi officials .
-Reporters who traveled with Mr. Gonzales to Baghdad say he intended this trip , on the eve of the U.S. Independence Day holiday , to show support for the Iraqi government 's commitment to democracy despite continuing deadly attacks by insurgents .
-Scientists have reportedly concluded that traces of highly-enriched uranium found in Iran two years ago were from imported equipment rather than Iranian nuclear activities .
-The findings , reported by the Washington Post and the Associated Press , appear to support Iran 's claim that the bomb-grade uranium entered the country together with the centrifuge parts provided by Pakistan .
-The Bush administration has cited the material as evidence that Iran is trying to produce highly enriched uranium needed for nuclear weapons .
-The European Union has been negotiating with Iran to halt uranium conversion that can lead to high-grade nuclear fuel for atomic weaponry .
-However , the Europeans canceled further talks set for August 31 , after Tehran resumed uranium conversion activities earlier this month .
-IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei is due to issue a formal report on Iran 's nuclear activities September 3 .
-A White House spokesman says President Bush disapproves of what a leading Christian broadcaster said about Israeli leader Ariel Sharon .
-Television evangelist Pat Robertson suggested Thursday that Mr. Sharon suffered a massive stroke because the prime minister defied , what he termed , the will of God by dividing Israel .
-Mr. Bush 's spokesman said the president views those remarks as wholly inappropriate and offensive .
-Mr. Robertson hosts the popular 700 Club religious show and has been one of Mr. Bush 's strongest supporters among Christian conservatives .
-But the relationship has been strained by several of Mr. Robertson 's recent comments , among them a suggestion that the United States assassinate Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez .
-Turkish officials say seven police officers have been wounded in a shootout during a raid on members of a far-left militant group in Istanbul .
-Officials say militants threw explosive devices at police Monday as they moved in on an apartment block .
-Two civilians , including a cameraman , were struck by stray bullets .
-Thick smoke filled the air as helicopters flew over the area .
-Police say they detained at least 10 suspects during overnight raids in more than 60 areas .
-The raids come days before May Day , which parliament reinstated as a public holiday last week .
-The date had been removed from Turkey 's calendar of national holidays after a military coup in 1980 .
-The coup came at a time of severe political tensions and street violence between left- and right-wing activists .
-This week , the Voice of America reported from Beijing on an alleged study regarding childhood deaths in China related to indoor air pollution .
-Chinese state media , citing the alleged study , had reported that more than two million Chinese children die each year from health problems related to indoor air pollution .
-The VOA report , issued ( broadcast ) on Monday , said the study results were released by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention , or CDC .
-On Tuesday , Chinese media quoted officials from the CDC as saying the reports were wrong , and that the CDC had released no such statistics .
-A U.S. Defense Department internal probe has found there was no direct cooperation between the al-Qaida terrorist network and Saddam Hussein 's Iraqi government .
-A declassified Pentagon report says military officials reached the conclusion based on interviews with Saddam and two former aides , and documents seized by U.S. forces after Saddam was ousted in 2003 .
-The report by Pentagon acting inspector general Thomas Gimble backs earlier assertions made by the intelligence community before the U.S.-led invasion that Iraq and al-Qaida had no operational ties .
-In a radio interview Thursday , U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney repeated the Bush administration 's view that al Qaida was present in Iraq before the start of the war .
-Ukrainian opposition leader says his rival in the country 's upcoming presidential election is planning to disrupt the vote .
-Viktor Yushchenko told a news conference in Kiev Thursday that provocations are being planned for the December 26 balloting .
-Wednesday , his rival , Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych , said massive protests are planned if Mr. Yushchenko wins the poll .
-The prime minister was declared the winner of a flawed election in November , but the Supreme Court overturned the results and ordered this month 's re-run .
-The election has been hotly contested .
-Mr. Yushchenko told the Associated Press he was poisoned during a dinner in September with top Ukrainian security officials .
-He said the meeting was the only time he was without his staff and no precautions were taken with regards to his food .
-The doctors who treated him in Austria said he suffered dioxin poisoning .
-Rhythm & blues legend James Brown is recovering after undergoing surgery Wednesday for prostate cancer .
-The 71-year-old singer and songwriter underwent surgery at a hospital in Atlanta , Georgia , and was later released .
-His doctor says the surgery was successful , and expects Mr. Brown to make a full recovery .
-Mr. Brown is known by millions of fans as " The Godfather of Soul " thanks to such classic songs as " Please , Please , Please , " " It 's a Man 's World , " and " Papa 's Got a Brand New Bag . "
-Mr. Brown will hit the road next month to promote his autobiography , followed by a tour of Australia and Asia .
-Israeli troops have shot and killed a young Palestinian girl in the southern Gaza Strip , after militants fired mortar rounds at a nearby Jewish settlement .
-Officials say the confrontation began when militants fired three mortars at the settlement near the Khan Younis refugee camp .
-Four Israelis , including one child , were hurt .
-In response , the Israeli military fired into the refugee camp , killing the young girl .
-Palestinian militants often fire homemade mortars and missiles into Jewish settlements in Gaza , but they rarely cause any injury or damage .
-Thousands of Palestinians and Lebanese civil rights activists rallied in Beirut Sunday to demand more rights for Palestinian refugees .
-Several buses transported demonstrators to the Lebanese capital waving Palestinian flags and carrying signs saying , " We just want to live in dignity . "
-Many of the refugees live in overcrowded refugee camps across the country .
-The event organizers had planned to protest outside the parliament building but moved the demonstration in front of the nearby U.N. headquarters when Lebanese soldiers prevented them from gathering there .
-About 4,00,000 Palestinians are registered as refugees in Lebanon by the U.N. Palestinian refugees in Lebanon have restrictions on employment opportunities and can not own property under Lebanese law .
-The European Union says Britain , France and Germany are due to hold new talks with Iran Wednesday on Tehran 's nuclear program .
-A spokeswoman for EU Foreign Policy chief Javier Solana Monday characterized the upcoming meeting in Vienna as " talks about the talks , " and said they will take place at the political directors ' level .
-Separately , Reuters quotes a diplomat as saying the exploratory talks are aimed at determining whether or not to meet again in January .
-The Europeans are seeking assurances that Tehran will halt work on its nuclear fuel program , which the United States alleges is secretly aimed at developing an atomic bomb .
-Iran denies the charges , and says its program is aimed at developing electricity .
-Pakistani officials say 18 people were killed and 40 others injured when a truck carrying chemicals exploded Monday in the southern city of Hyderabad .
-Several nearby shops were destroyed by the blast , which authorities described as an accident caused by a buildup of chemicals in the truck 's storage tank .
-In Pakistan 's northwest , military officials said four soldiers were killed by militants who attacked an army convoy in the Bajaur tribal region .
-A government official said three militants were killed in the gunfight .
-Sunday , Reporters Without Borders said separatist gunmen murdered a local newspaper reporter as he drove in his car in Baluchistan province .
-The Paris-based media rights group says he was the sixth media worker to be killed this year in Pakistan , which it calls the world 's most dangerous country for journalists .
-The European Union Tuesday approved extra aid to farmers hit by a serious slump in poultry sales caused by scares from the bird flu crisis .
-EU agriculture ministers , meeting in Luxembourg , approved the measure .
-Under the plan , national governments will present compensation claims to the European Commission , which will decide whether to co-finance them .
-The European Union will pick up half the cost to help countries that can prove damage due to falling demand .
-Italy has already reported at least a 50 percent drop in poultry sales , one of the largest drops according to EU data .
-The EU agriculture Commissioner , Mariann Fischer Boel , says the most sensible approach would be to compensate farmers for measures which temporarily reduce production .
-Chinese paramilitary officer gestures outside of the Japanese embassy in Beijing , the scene of violent protests Beijing 's police chief has warned people against staging anti-Japanese protests during the week-long May Day holiday that starts on Sunday .
-The official Xinhua news agency quotes Ma Zhenchuan , the director of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau Saturday as saying police would resolutely punish law breakers who organize and instigate illegal demonstrations .
-Police also sent text messages via cell phones to city residents , urging them not to participate in illegal protests .
-Fresh protests had been rumored to be planned in Beijing and other cities for Sunday and Wednesday , About 10,000 people took part in an anti-Japanese protest in Beijing on April 9 , with many hurling stones , eggs and bottles at the Japanese embassy and ambassador 's residence .
-World oil prices soared to new record highs Tuesday as investors worried about the impact of Hurricane Katrina on oil production in the United States .
-The price of a barrel of crude oil for future delivery went as high as $ 70.85 in New York trading .
-The powerful hurricane tore through an area that produces about 25 percent of the crude oil used by the United States .
-It also shut down key refineries in the path of the storm .
-Even before the hurricane , world oil prices were at high levels as strong demand from China , India , and the United States strained the ability of oil producers and refiners to get products to market .
-The World Food Organization says several provinces in western and northern China are facing food shortages because of a long drought .
-The FAO said Monday that it estimates five million hectares of winter crops were lost because of the lack of rain in provinces such as Yunnan , Gansu , Ningxia , Inner Mongolia , and Hebei .
-The organization said more than 60 percent of winter wheat crops were lost in the worst-hit districts .
-It also said the affected areas are among China 's poorest regions , with more than half the rural population living under the poverty line with limited access to food .
-The FAO says the drought has a particularly serious impact on mountain areas , where there are few alternative sources of income .
-NATO officials in Afghanistan say one of their bombs missed its target in eastern Khost province Tuesday and instead killed two civilians and wounded up to 10 others .
-A NATO statement says the bomb was meant for a militant hideout but it malfunctioned and missed its target by more than two kilometers .
-Also Tuesday , the U.S.-led coalition said a roadside bomb in the east killed three of its soldiers and an Afghan contractor .
-Elsewhere , the police chief in southern Uruzgan province , Juma Gul Himat said a coalition airstrike killed at least 15 militants .
-The violence came on the anniversary of Afghanistan 's first known suicide attack against legendary commander Ahmad Shah Massoud on September ninth , 2001 , by al-Qaida operatives .
-His death came two days before al-Qaida 's September 11 attacks on the United States .
-The Republic of Congo celebrated 50 years of independence Sunday with a parade and ceremony in the capital , Brazzaville .
-Longtime President Denis Sassou N'Guesso watched the ceremony along with more than a dozen African heads of state , as well as a representative from former colonial power France .
-The president kicked off the anniversary with a national address Friday night , in which he said he would increase the minimum salary for all civil servants by 25 percent and offer free maternity care .
-The news was welcomed in Congo , where despite large oil reserves and a wealth of other natural resources , more than half the population of some four million lives below the poverty line .
-Witnesses say Burmese authorities arrested nine members of an opposition political group Tuesday , as they held a protest in Rangoon calling for the release of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi .
-The witnesses say the nine members of her National League for Democracy 's youth wing were arrested by police as they marched on the country 's old parliament building .
-The protesters were holding a banner calling for Aung San Suu Kyi 's release from house arrest .
-Aung San Suu Kyi has been held under house arrest in Rangoon for 13 of the last 19 years .
-Her party won a landslide victory in 1990 elections , but the military , which has ruled the country since 1962 , never allowed it to take power .
-The U.S. Justice Department has issued a new memo on prisoner interrogation , replacing a controversial document outlining how to question prisoners without violating U.S. and international anti-torture statutes .
-The opening sentence of the memo released Friday says " torture is abhorrent both to American laws and values , and to international norms . "
-The document replaces a controversial memo issued in August , 2002 , which defined torture in such a way that critics said only the most severe types of interrogation techniques would not be permissible .
-That memo became controversial after several cases of prisoner mistreatment in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay , Cuba became public .
-The new document contains a broader definition of torture , describing it as " any act by which severe pain or suffering , whether physical or mental " is inflicted on a person to get information or a confession .
-Supporters and critics of Russia 's president are demonstrating in Moscow , with both groups calling attention to Kremlin plans to consolidate power .
-Hundreds of prominent critics of President Vladimir Putin 's denounced the legislation as a step back for democracy and an increase in authoritarian rule .
-State-run media reported another rally elsewhere in Moscow of 15,000 Putin supporters .
-The rallies came on Russia 's Constitution Day , as Mr. Putin signed into law a bill letting the president appoint who can run for governor .
-Another of the president 's proposals , aimed at scrapping the direct election of national lawmakers , is also expected to win parliamentary approval .
-The Kremlin says the changes are needed to bolster security in the wake of the Beslan school terrorist assault .
-Hundreds died in the attack , many of them children .
-The Serbian government says a retired top Bosnian Serb general will surrender voluntarily to the U.N. 's war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia .
-The government says General Milan Gvero , who was a close aide of wanted commander General Ratko Mladic , agreed in recent talks with Serbia 's justice minister to surrender Thursday .
-The United Nations tribunal has accused the former general of war crimes , but released no details of the charges .
-Serbia and Montenegro have been pressured by Western nations to turn over over war crimes suspects .
-United Nations war crimes prosecutors have accused Serbian authorities of not cooperating with the tribunal .
-Uzbekistan , Afghanistan and Iran have agreed to join forces and build a trans-Afghan transport corridor that will give Uzbekistan access to the Persian Gulf .
-An Uzbek Foreign Ministry statement says officials from the three countries signed an agreement to set up the Interstate Coordination Council after Wednesday 's talks in Tashkent .
-The statement says the document will serve as a legal basis to develop the 2,400-kilometer interstate road , linking the former Soviet republic with Iran 's Gulf coast through Afghanistan .
-The Foreign Ministry gave no details on how much the project would cost or when the work will begin .
-The U.N. Security Council has renewed trade sanctions on Liberian timber and diamonds , and extended an arms embargo in the West African nation .
-The council unanimously adopted a resolution Tuesday that extends bans on Liberian exports of wood and diamonds for six months and the arms embargo for another year .
-The resolution also praised Liberia 's recent elections , saying they were an important step towards lasting peace in the war-torn nation .
-The Security Council called on new President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf to reform the nation 's existing forestry and logging operations and consider independent , outside advice on managing its diamond resources .
-The United Nations had originally imposed the sanctions in 2001 and 2003 on the government of former Liberian President Charles Taylor .
-It was believed Mr. Taylor was supplying weapons to rebels in neighboring Sierra Leone , where he is wanted on war crimes charges .
-The U.S. State Department 's annual human rights report , released Tuesday , says some African countries are making progress , while others are regressing or lagging behind .
-The report praises Liberia , noting that President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has dismissed some corrupt officials , and that her government is investigating war crimes committing during the country 's civil war .
-But the U.S. report has harsh words for Zimbabwe , saying the Mugabe government continues " across-the-board " human rights violations .
-The report is even harder on Eritrea 's government , which it says continues to be one of the most repressive in sub-Saharan Africa .
-There is especially strong criticism of Sudan .
-The report says the Sudanese government and government-backed Janjaweed militia bear responsibility for what the U.S. calls the genocide in Darfur .
-Permanent legal residents of the United States will be subjected to a fingerprint check when they re-enter the country by land , sea or air .
-The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says the new security checks are part of an existing program ( US-VISIT ) that keeps track of visitors as they enter or leave the United States , and screens out criminals and potential terrorists .
-The acting director of the program , Robert Mocny , says at least 1,100 criminals have been captured at U.S. ports of entry .
-The new fingerprinting rules will affect 11 million to 12 million green-card holders .
-It also will apply to Canadians entering the country for an extended period of time , such as workers or students .
-The new requirements will take effect late next month .
-An American has managed to escape from kidnappers who abducted him from the streets of Kabul , Afghanistan .
-The man , whose name has not been released , was accosted and forced into the trunk of a car , but within minutes , he managed to open the trunk and jump out .
-The kidnappers drove away in the car .
-The United States Embassy says the victim is an American civilian , but did not say why the man is in Afghanistan .
-Since a British adviser to the Afghan government was shot to death in Kabul last month , foreigners have been advised to keep a low profile .
-The United Nations says the underground water aquifer that sustains some 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip is " in danger of collapse " following years of overuse and contamination from armed conflict .
-U.N. Environment Program researchers said overuse , salt water intrusion , sewage and agricultural runoff as well as hazardous medical waste in Gaza landfills is contributing to the situation .
-They said pollution levels in the water are now so bad that Gaza infants are now at risk for nitrate poisoning .
-A report published Monday said that residents need an alternate water supply to give the aquifer a chance to rest .
-Researchers said unless the trend is reversed now , the damage could take centuries to reverse .
-Scientists estimated restoration efforts could take 20 years and cost some $ 1.5 billion .
-Eritrea 's President Isaias Afeworki has rejected a call from Ethiopia 's government to begin talks on a border dispute that sparked a two-year war in 1998 .
-In a statement Tuesday , Mr. Isaias said Ethiopia 's latest offer contains nothing new and would only drag the peace process backward .
-He also said Eritrea will accept no alternative to a 2002 ruling by an independent commission on the border dispute .
-Last month , Ethiopia 's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said his government had accepted the ruling " in principle , " after opposing it for more than a year .
-In 2000 , the two countries agreed to abide by the commission 's decision as part of a peace deal ending the war which killed some 70,000 people .
-Iraqi President Jalal Talabani says he believes voters will approve the country 's new constitution in a nationwide referendum next month .
-At a news conference Friday at the Voice of America in Washington , Mr. Talabani said he did not think Sunni Arab objections would prevent the document 's approval .
-But if it is rejected , he said elections would be held for a new national assembly , which would then draft a new document .
-He repeated his support for a federated Iraq , saying it would strengthen the country , not divide it as some Sunni Arabs fear .
-He also rejected suggestions that Iraq could spiral into a civil war .
-Mr. Talabani said he hoped Iraqi security forces and police could be sufficiently rebuilt within one year to allow for U.S. and coalition forces to begin leaving the country .
-New York City is known for its restaurants , but one small bakery in the West Village is helping its customers rethink their environmental impact simply by eating its baked goods .
-VOA 's Susy Tekunan has the story of this bakery and its quest for environmental sustainability , through car-free deliveries of its products , recycled construction materials in its store , and organic baking materials in its cookies .
-Brian Allen narrates .
-Sudan has accused Chad of assisting Darfur rebels in their fight against the government .
-Chad 's foreign ministry rejected the claims Thursday .
-It says Sudan 's allegations are unfriendly because Chad has contributed to the peaceful resolution of the Darfur crisis through its mediation with the African Union .
-Sudan 's accusations come less than a week after Chad accused Khartoum of using Chadian army deserters to fight a small rebel group in Darfur .
-Hundreds of thousands of refugees from Darfur have fled into Chad since the Sudanese conflict erupted more than two years ago .
-Iraqi police say at least 16 bus passengers were killed by a roadside bomb Tuesday in southern Iraq .
-A police spokesman says the bus was traveling from the port city of Basra to Nasariyah .
-At least 22 people were wounded in the blast .
-No other details were immediately available .
-In other news , the U.S. military says a bomb attack Monday killed three American soldiers and their translator in the Iraqi province of Diyala .
-In a separate incident , the military said a suspected suicide bomb attack killed five U.S. soldiers on foot patrol in Baghdad .
-Afghan officials say suspected Taleban gunmen have killed six policemen during a raid on a police post in southern Helmand province .
-Authorities said Wednesday that one gunman was killed in a shoot-out with the militants late Tuesday in the Kajaki district .
-Taleban militants have carried out a guerrilla insurgency in Afghanistan since U.S.-led forces ousted the Islamic extremist government three years ago .
-From Liverpool to lattes : Sir Paul McCartney has become the first artist to sign with Starbucks ' new record label , Hear Music .
-Chairman Howard Schultz announced the news March 21 at the coffee company 's annual meeting in Seattle , Washington .
-The 64-year-old ex-Beatle appeared via satellite from London , saying the move reflected the changing nature of music marketing .
-Current U.S. album sales are down almost 17 percent from last year , in the face of competition from Internet piracy and competing media .
-McCartney , currently enduring a bitter divorce from Heather Mills , said he hopes to release the still-untitled album in early June .
-Starbucks is the world 's largest specialty coffee retailer .
-The chain has already struck successful marketing deals with other musical acts , while also selling books and developing a feature-length film .
-Hear Music releases will be sold through Starbucks stores and other music retailers .
-The Argentine Senate has narrowly rejected a controversial grain export tax increase that has sparked a deep political crisis in the country .
-After 17 hours of debate , the decision came down to Vice President Julio Cobos , who broke a 36-36 tie by casting his vote against the measure early Thursday .
-President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner introduced the tax in March , a move that divided the country , triggered farm strikes and interrupted agricultural exports .
-Earlier this month , the lower house of Congress approved the grain export taxes that farmers bitterly opposed .
-President Fernandez had asked Congress to debate the measure in an effort to defuse tension over the issue .
-Ms. Fernandez defended the increase saying the money would have been used to help the poor .
-Afghan officials say security forces in the southern city of Kandahar have arrested two men carrying explosives .
-The officials say the men , believed to be terrorists , were detained hours after unidentified attackers threw a grenade at the Indian consulate in the city 's center Tuesday night .
-The grenade exploded outside the complex , causing no casualties .
-Also Tuesday , unknown attackers hurled a grenade at the Ministry of Women 's Affairs in the capital , Kabul , but it too blew up outside the compound and there were no injuries .
-A police spokesman says no one has claimed responsibility for the attacks .
-Representatives of the European Union and China have failed to resolve a trade dispute over Chinese textiles during a third day of talks in Beijing Saturday .
-Negotiators say they will continue their discussions on Sunday .
-In June , China agreed to quotas in its textile exports to the EU .
-But millions of items of clothing manufactured in China have been blocked in European ports because China has already shipped its annual quota .
-The quotas are designed to protect European textile manufacturers from low-priced Chinese competition .
-Chinese textile exports surged early this year when a global system of textile quotas ended .
-Talks between China and the EU began on Thursday .
-The Gulf Arab state of Qatar says it will donate $ 50 million to the Hamas-led Palestinian government , which is in a financial crisis .
-The contribution announced Monday in Doha comes after the United States and European Union cut off financial support to the Hamas-led Palestinian government until Hamas renounces violence and recognizes Israel .
-On Sunday , Iran said it would contribute $ 50 million to the Palestinian Authority .
-Since taking office last month , Hamas has come under diplomatic and economic pressure from Israel and Western governments , which consider Hamas a terrorist organization .
-Israel is withholding about $ 50 million in monthly tax revenues it collects for the Palestinian Authority .
-A major symbol of Poland 's thriving pre-World War II Jewish community has been restored with the re-opening of the famed Lublin synagogue .
-Poland 's Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich led hundreds of Jews Sunday in a joyful procession carrying the sacred religious scrolls into the building for the first time since the Nazi occupation .
-Jewish leaders noted that this is the first time that Lublin 's tiny Jewish community took on a major restoration project without any donations from abroad .
-The synagogue is part of what once was the world 's most famous rabinnical school .
-Nazis shut down the school after the 1939 invasion .
-The communist government later turned it into a medical college .
-Before World War II about 40,000 Jews lived in Lublin .
-Most were killed by the Nazis .
-Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage says he remains optimistic about the recovery of ailing President Fidel Castro , who temporarily stepped aside in July following intestinal surgery .
-Lage made the comments on state television Tuesday , saying Mr. Castro continues to recover and that his health is improving .
-But he did not say whether Mr. Castro will be well enough to attend upcoming festivities belatedly marking his birthday .
-The Cuban leader turned 80 in August , but the festivities were postponed to allow him time to recover .
-The official Granma newspaper says the events will begin on November 28 and last through early December .
-Mr. Castro temporarily handed power to his younger brother , Defense Minister Raul Castro , due to the operation .
-The Cuban leader has appeared only in news videos and photographs since then .
-Details of his health remain a state secret .
-A leading environmental organization says it has uncovered a massive timber smuggling operation linking Indonesia 's province of Papua and China .
-The London-based Environmental Investigation Agency Thursday said 3,00,000 cubic meters of merbau wood is being illegally smuggled out of Papua every month .
-It says the operation is threatening the last major tract of undisturbed tropical forests in the entire Asia-Pacific region .
-Illegal logging is common in Indonesia and the environmental group says it continues despite Indonesia 's 2001 ban on exporting logs , and an anti-smuggling agreement between Jakarta and Beijing .
-The smuggling operation , which the group contends involves the powerful Indonesian military , is worth up to $ 1 billion a year , based on the wood 's value in the west .
-Namibia has a new president .
-Hifikepunye Pohamba was sworn in Monday as the country 's second president since gaining independence from apartheid-era South Africa in 1990 .
-Mr. Pohamba took the oath of office in front of thousands of people at an outdoor stadium in the capital , Windhoek .
-He won 75 percent of the vote in elections last November to succeed Sam Nujoma , who has led Namibia for the past 15 years .
-Both men are from the ruling SWAPO , South West Africa People 's Organization , party .
-Mr. Pohamba served as lands minister under Mr. Nujoma .
-The new president vows to maintain many of his predecessor 's economic policies , and to advance a land reform program which buys farms from white owners and distributes the farms to blacks .
-Mr. Pohamba has warned that the country faces revolution if the reforms are not quickly implemented .
-The U.S military in Iraq says coalition forces have captured five suspected so-called special group criminals , including a suspected financier of Iranian-sponsored insurgents .
-The military issued a statement saying coalition forces staged the raid early Friday , in the Admhaiyah section of Baghdad , about three kilometers northwest of Sadr City .
-The special groups designation is used by the military to describe Shi'ite insurgents backed by Iran .
-In other news , Kuwait 's official news agency reports the country has named former military chief of staff Ali al-Momen as its first ambassador to Baghdad since the 1991 Gulf War .
-The United States has been urging Sunni-ruled Arab states to establish high-level diplomatic representation to the Shi'ite-led government in Baghdad .
-Kuwait 's decision comes shortly after the United Arab Emirates and Jordan named their own ambassadors to Iraq .
-Bahrain also has announced plans to appoint an envoy .
-Mexican legislators are calling on their Latin American counterparts to join them in opposing a proposed barrier along the U.S.-Mexican border .
-Heliodoro Diaz , who presides over Mexico 's House of Representatives , has sent a written request to several regional legislatures as well as to parliaments in Spain and Portugal .
-Mr. Diaz says opposing the wall would be " an act of unity among Ibero-American legislatures . "
-The U.S. House of Representatives approved a measure earlier this month to construct security fencing along the U.S.-Mexican border in an effort to curb illegal border crossing .
-The measure would also reclassify illegal entry into the United States as a crime , instead of a civil offense , as at present .
-The U.N. Security Council on Thursday denounced the recent military crackdown against pro-democracy protesters in Burma and called for a release of all political prisoners there .
-Permanent members of the council with veto powers , China and Russia , had been pushing for softer language , while the United States and other Western powers want tougher action against the military-backed government .
-The non-binding statement was issued as U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he would dispatch special adviser Ibrahim Gambari back to the region for consultations on the situation in Burma .
-The U.N. says Gambari will begin his Asian tour on Monday in Thailand before continuing to Malaysia , Indonesia , India , China and Japan .
-He will return to Burma shortly thereafter .
-Gambari returned from a four-day visit to Burma last week .
-Burmese officials say the crackdown on pro-democracy protesters left 10 people dead .
-Dissidents put the number of fatalities at 200 .
-Nearly a week after Cyclone Nargis hit Burma , bloating corpses dot the canals and riverbanks of the Irrawaddy River delta .
-Rescuers , including Buddhist monks , are struggling to reach survivors before they succumb to disease and starvation .
-International health officials say as many as 1.5 million homeless people face a wide range of threats from deadly diseases , including malaria and cholera , diarrhea , sun exposure and dirty water .
-Shelter remains scarce and reports from Burma say profiteers are charging exorbitant prices for food , gas and other essentials .
-One victim tells VOA Burmese Service that entire homes in his village were washed away and that only about 20 people survived the storm .
-Some survivors say they have been forced to move from village to village in search of aid .
-They say most of the help is coming from local sources and not from the government .
-The U.S. military in Afghanistan says coalition forces killed more than 50 insurgents in southern Afghanistan during a 12-hour battle that ended early Thursday , but there also are reports of civilian casualties .
-The battle took place in Helmand Province , near Musa Qala village , which has seen intense fighting and heavy casualties throughout this week .
-A U.S. military statement says coalition warplanes were called in during the Musa Qala fighting , but that there were no casualties among either coalition troops or civilians .
-However , several residents of Musa Qala district have told reporters they believe almost all victims of the air strike were civilians .
-They say 16 civilians died in the bombing raid .
-One British soldier was killed Thursday during a separate clash between NATO troops and militants in southern Afghanistan .
-Violence has surged in Afghanistan during the past 18 months , the bloodiest period since U.S.-led troops overthrew the Taleban in 2001 .
-Pakistani officials say government troops have killed at least 43 militants in an ongoing operation in the northwestern Khyber tribal region bordering Afghanistan .
-Authorities say one of the bases of the militant group Lashkar-e-Islam was destroyed in Saturday 's attack .
-Pakistan is under intense U.S. pressure to crack down on militants close to the Afghan border .
-Khyber is on the main land route through Pakistan into Afghanistan .
-Kidnappers who seized an Italian photojournalist in Afghanistan last week are offering to release him in return for an Afghan Christian now living in Italy .
-The Afghan man , a convert to Christianity , fled his homeland earlier this year after he was charged with leaving Islam , an offense punishable by death .
-He subsequently was granted asylum in Italy .
-A hospital in Afghanistan operated by an Italian aid agency ( Emergency ) was contacted this week by the kidnappers , who said they would release their captive if the Afghan Christian ( Abdul Rahman ) is returned to his home country .
-Photographer Gabriele Torsello was kidnapped in Helmand province last week .
-Authorities there blamed the abduction on the Taleban , but the radical Islamist group denies any involvement in the Italian 's abduction .
-Polling centers in Iraq have closed after a remarkably violence-free day , which allowed millions to turn out to vote in a referendum for the country 's new draft constitution .
-Crowds of Iraqis gathered at polling sites long before they opened at 7.00 a.m. , Saturday .
-Within three hours of polls opening , more than one-fourth of the nearly three million registered voters in Baghdad had cast ballots in 1,200 polling centers .
-An Iraqi policeman , providing security at a polling center in the mostly-Sunni area of Ghazaliyah , says the voting process proceeded better than anyone had expected .
-Despite insurgent threats to disrupt the referendum , heavy security kept violence to a minimum on Saturday .
-A handful of polling centers came under small arms fire in and around Baghdad , wounding several people .
-There were no reported car bombings or suicide attacks .
-President Bush used his weekly radio address Saturday to highlight Pakistan 's efforts to combat Islamist militants .
-Mr. Bush cited a recent report released by his administration that says al-Qaida has established a safe haven in the tribal areas of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan .
-He said Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf agreed to give tribal leaders more responsibility for policing their areas , but their efforts were unsuccessful .
-Last Sunday , pro-Taleban militants broke the agreement .
-Mr. Bush said the Pakistani president is taking active steps to go after radicals .
-He noted Mr. Musharraf 's decision to send Pakistani troops to raid an extremist Mosque in Islamabad .
-That raid has triggered a wave of militant attacks across the country that has killed more than 160 people .
-Mr. Bush 's remarks were taped before the president underwent a medical procedure requiring him to temporarily hand over power to Vice President Dick Cheney .
-The U.S. National Hurricane Center says the season 's latest storm , Ophelia , has weakened to " tropical storm " status as it hovers off the U.S. Atlantic coast .
-Ophelia 's winds dropped to about 115 kilometers an hour Monday , just below hurricane level ( 119 kph ) .
-But residents of both North and South Carolina remain wary , as it could regain strength .
-The storm 's path is uncertain .
-Officials are taking extra precautions after the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina , which hit the U.S. Gulf Coast two weeks ago .
-There is a hurricane watch along 400 kilometers of the east coast .
-The governor of North Carolina has declared a state of emergency and ordered tourists to leave an island in the state 's Outer Banks chain .
-First of America Bank Corp. said it completed its acquisition of Midwest Financial Group Inc. for about $ 250 million .
-First of America , which now has 45 banks and $ 12.5 billion in assets , announced an agreement to acquire the Peoria , Ill. , bank holding company in January .
-Midwest Financial has $ 2.3 billion in assets and eight banks .
-The Midwest Financial subsidiary banks will continue to operate under their current names until early 1990 , when each will adopt the First of America name .
-Kalamazoo , Mich.-based First of America said it will eliminate the 13 management positions of the former Midwest Financial parent company .
-First of America said some of the managers will take other jobs with First of America .
-But it said that severance payments to those executives not staying with the company will reduce First of America 's operating results for 1989 by $ 3 million to $ 4 million , or 15 cents to 20 cents a share .
-Maldives was long a sultanate , first under Dutch and then under British protection .
-It became a republic in 1968 , three years after independence .
-President Maumoon Abdul GAYOOM dominated the islands ' political scene for 30 years , elected to six successive terms by single-party referendums .
-Following riots in the capital Male in August 2004 , the president and his government pledged to embark upon democratic reforms including a more representative political system and expanded political freedoms .
-Progress was sluggish , however , and many promised reforms were slow to be realized .
-Nonetheless , political parties were legalized in 2005 .
-In June 2008 , a constituent assembly - termed the " Special Majlis " - finalized a new constitution , which was ratified by the president in August .
-The first-ever presidential elections under a multi-candidate , multi-party system were held in October 2008 .
-GAYOOM was defeated in a runoff poll by Mohamed NASHEED , a political activist who had been jailed several years earlier by the former regime .
-Challenges facing President NASHEED include strengthening democracy and combating poverty and drug abuse .
-Maldives officials have played a prominent role in the international climate change discussion ( due to the islands ' low elevation and the threat from sea-level rise ) and on the United Nations Human Rights Council .
-The UN awarded Eritrea to Ethiopia in 1952 as part of a federation .
-Ethiopia 's annexation of Eritrea as a province 10 years later sparked a 30-year struggle for independence that ended in 1991 with Eritrean rebels defeating governmental forces ; independence was overwhelmingly approved in a 1993 referendum .
-A two-and-a-half-year border war with Ethiopia that erupted in 1998 ended under UN auspices in December 2000 .
-Eritrea hosted a UN peacekeeping operation that monitored a 25 km-wide Temporary Security Zone ( TSZ ) on the border with Ethiopia .
-Eritrea 's denial of fuel to the mission caused the UN to withdraw the mission and terminate its mandate 31 July 2008 .
-An international commission , organized to resolve the border dispute , posted its findings in 2002 .
-However , both parties have been unable to reach agreement on implementing the decision .
-On 30 November 2007 , the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission remotely demarcated the border by coordinates and dissolved itself , leaving Ethiopia still occupying several tracts of disputed territory , including the town of Badme .
-Eritrea accepted the EEBC 's " virtual demarcation " decision and called on Ethiopia to remove its troops from the TSZ that it states is Eritrean territory .
-Ethiopia has not accepted the virtual demarcation decision .
-In 2009 the UN imposed sanctions on Eritrea after accusing it of backing anti-Ethiopian Islamist insurgents in Somalia .
-As Europe 's largest economy and second most populous nation ( after Russia ) , Germany is a key member of the continent 's economic , political , and defense organizations .
-European power struggles immersed Germany in two devastating World Wars in the first half of the 20th century and left the country occupied by the victorious Allied powers of the US , UK , France , and the Soviet Union in 1945 .
-With the advent of the Cold War , two German states were formed in 1949 : the western Federal Republic of Germany ( FRG ) and the eastern German Democratic Republic ( GDR ) .
-The democratic FRG embedded itself in key Western economic and security organizations , the EC , which became the EU , and NATO , while the Communist GDR was on the front line of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact .
-The decline of the USSR and the end of the Cold War allowed for German unification in 1990 .
-Since then , Germany has expended considerable funds to bring Eastern productivity and wages up to Western standards .
-In January 1999 , Germany and 10 other EU countries introduced a common European exchange currency , the euro .
-In January 2011 , Germany assumed a nonpermanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2011 - 12 term .
-Slovakia has made significant economic reforms since its separation from the Czech Republic in 1993 .
-Reforms to the taxation , healthcare , pension , and social welfare systems helped Slovakia consolidate its budget and get on track to join the EU in 2004 and to adopt the euro in January 2009 .
-Major privatizations are nearly complete , the banking sector is almost entirely in foreign hands , and the government has helped facilitate a foreign investment boom with business friendly policies .
-Slovakia 's economic growth exceeded expectations in 2001 - 8 despite a general European slowdown .
-Unemployment , at an unacceptable 18 % in 2003 - 4 , dropped to 7.7 % in 2008 but remains the economy 's Achilles heel .
-Foreign direct investment ( FDI ) accounted for much of the growth until 2008 .
-Cheap and skilled labor , low taxes , a 19 % flat tax for corporations and individuals , no dividend taxes , a relatively liberal labor code and a favorable geographical location are Slovakia 's main advantages for foreign investors .
-Foreign investment in the automotive and electronic sectors has been especially strong .
-To maintain a stable operating environment for investors , the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development advised the Slovak government to refrain from intervening in important sectors of the economy .
-However , Bratislava 's approach to mitigating the economic slowdown has included substantial government intervention and the option to nationalize strategic companies .
-RADICOVA 's government , in power since July 2010 , has allowed the budget deficit to rise slightly , to 7.9 % of GDP in 2010 .
-GDP fell nearly 5 % in 2009 before gaining back 4 % in 2010 , and unemployment rose above 12 % in 2010 , as the global recession impacted many segments of the economy .
-ON A SUMMER DAY , when the great heat induced a general thirst among the beasts , a Lion and a Boar came at the same moment to a small well to drink .
-They fiercely disputed which of them should drink first , and were soon engaged in the agonies of a mortal combat .
-When they stopped suddenly to catch their breath for a fiercer renewal of the fight , they saw some Vultures waiting in the distance to feast on the one that should fall first .
-They at once made up their quarrel , saying , " It is better for us to make friends , than to become the food of Crows or Vultures . "
-A Lion had come to the end of his days and lay sick unto death at the mouth of his cave , gasping for breath .
-The animals , his subjects , came round him and drew nearer as he grew more and more helpless .
-When they saw him on the point of death they thought to themselves : " Now is the time to pay off old grudges . "
-So the Boar came up and drove at him with his tusks ; then a Bull gored him with his horns ; still the Lion lay helpless before them : so the Ass , feeling quite safe from danger , came up , and turning his tail to the Lion kicked up his heels into his face .
-" This is a double death , " growled the Lion .
-Only cowards insult dying majesty .
-You should never marry a tennis player , because to them love means nothing
-Lawyers and computers have both been proliferating since 1970 .
-Unfortunately , lawyers , unlike computers , have not gotten twice as smart and half as expensive every 18 months .
-The radiation belts surrounding the earth were discovered almost simultaneously by VanAllen and another scientist named Fan .
-VanAllen published first , or else the earth would have a Fan Belt .
-Chinese President Hu says he would like to see his country return to stronger ties with Japan .
-Mr. Hu made the comments Tuesday during a meeting with Ichiro Ozawa , the leader of Japan 's main opposition party .
-The two men met as Ozawa visited Beijing in an effort to improve relations between the two countries .
-Ozawa was invited to Beijing by the Chinese government .
-Before leaving Tokyo Monday , he said it is important for Japan and China to develop friendly relations .
-The two countries ' leaders have not met face-to-face since 2001 .
-Beijing has objected to Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi 's repeated visits to a Tokyo shrine that honors war dead , including war criminals from World War Two .
-Sino-Japanese relations also have been strained by territorial disputes , including access to natural gas deposits in the East China Sea .
-An author and former aide to President Bush 's father has revealed a number of audiotapes he secretly recorded of the current president for more than a year leading up to Mr. Bush 's nomination five years ago .
-Doug Wead told The New York Times in a story published Sunday that he made the recordings of his friend , who was then governor of Texas , because he viewed Mr. Bush as a historic figure .
-In some conversations Mr. Wead played for a reporter , the future president expresses concern about gaining support of conservative Christian leaders , and discusses several opponents , including Democratic Vice President Al Gore .
-At one point , Mr. Bush calls the man he would defeat in a close contest in 2000 " pathologically a liar . "
-Mr. Bush complained repeatedly about the news media , which he accused of a " campaign " against him .
-Australia 's cricket team has a 179-run lead over India after the second day of their first test match in Melbourne .
-The hosts started the day Thursday at 337-9 and were soon all out for 343 .
-But Australian bowlers Stuart Clark and Brett Lee made sure India was not able to get its offense going , with both men taking four wickets .
-Clark ( Apr-28 ) took two wickets from three balls either side of the tea break .
-Lee ( Apr-46 ) knocked out India 's lower order on the rapidly deteriorating Melbourne Cricket Ground pitch .
-The visitors managed only 196 all out in their first innings .
-Australia then scored 32 without loss in its second innings .
-This is the first of four tests between the two countries .
-Australia and India will also play a triangular series that also features Sri Lanka beginning February 3rd .
-Police in Washington briefly closed the landmark Washington Monument Friday because of a bomb threat .
-Authorities evacuated the monument and the surrounding area after the threat was phoned in to Washington police .
-An official with the National Park Police declined in a television interview to elaborate on the threat to the 170-meter tall monument , which is a popular tourist attraction on the National Mall near the White House .
-Sri Lanka 's government is denying claims by Tamil Tiger rebels that it is using tsunami relief money to buy weapons and obstructing aid deliveries to areas under rebel control .
-Defense Ministry spokesman Brigadier Daya Ratnayke said Sunday , the government uses only its annual budget for defense spending .
-The Sri Lankan official also insisted the government is taking extensive measures to ensure that rebel-held areas are provided with a fair share of assistance .
-A report on the pro-rebel Tamilnet web site said rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran raised the issues during a meeting Saturday with Norway 's Foreign Minister Jan Petersen in the rebel stronghold , Kilinochchi .
-Mr. Petersen is in Sri Lanka to try to revive peace efforts between the rebels and government , and to assess the needs of tsunami-hit areas .
-The hunter shot by Vice President Dick Cheney says he is " deeply sorry " for all the trouble the accident caused his friend .
-Harry Whittington spoke Friday as he was leaving the Texas hospital that treated him after Mr. Cheney sprayed him with bird shot Saturday .
-Although his face was heavily bruised , the 78-year-old lawyer appeared in good health , despite having suffered a minor heart attack Tuesday .
-Mr. Cheney today acknowledged the difficulties and media scrutiny the incident has caused .
-Speaking in Wyoming , he said it had been a " very long week " and was grateful that his friend is doing well .
-The vice president on Wednesday took responsibility for the shooting .
-The owner of the ranch where it occurred had initially blamed Whittington .
-Egyptian officials say Somali pirates have released an Egyptian cargo ship and its 28-member crew after more than two months in captivity .
-The officials say the cargo ship Blue Star was released Thursday following negotiations with the captors .
-It is not clear whether a ransom was paid .
-The officials say the ship was seized on New Year 's Day by 15 pirates as it passed by the coast of Somalia .
-The vessel carried a cargo of 6,000 tons of fertilizer .
-Somali pirates hijacked more than 40 ships in 2008 , sometimes getting millions of dollars in ransom for their release .
-The attacks have prompted a number of countries , including the United States and China , to begin conducting naval patrols near Somalia .
-The ships have stopped several pirate attacks , most recently on Tuesday , when the crew of a German frigate arrested nine pirates who had fired on a cargo ship .
-Renowned Egyptian film maker Youssef Chahine , whose films reached beyond the Arab world , died early Sunday after several weeks in a coma .
-He was 82 .
-Chahine was born to a Lebanese Christian family in the port city of Alexandria , which was at that time a center of cosmopolitan life in the Mediterranean with its large foreign communities .
-Throughout his more than 40 films , he tried to recapture the spirit of multiculturalism and tolerance that he grew up with there , because he saw it threatened by fundamentalism , dictatorship and imperialism .
-Chahine 's films were popular internationally - particularly in France .
-In 1997 he received a lifetime achievement award at the Cannes film festival .
-His final film " Chaos " was released earlier this year .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez used his speech before the United Nations World Summit Thursday to lash out at the United States , saying the world body should move out of New York because of the war in Iraq .
-President Chavez told the leaders gathered for the summit Thursday that there were never weapons of mass destruction in Iraq but that the United States still bombed the country .
-He accused the United States of failing to respect the resolutions of the United Nations , and later characterized the United States as a " terrorist state " during a press conference .
-The United States has had tense relations with the Chavez government .
-The Venezuelan leader has repeatedly accused the United States of trying to topple his government , a charge Washington has denied .
-Iran has rejected a request from European nations to briefly delay their submission of proposals intended to resolve a dispute over Tehran 's nuclear program .
-Iran 's nuclear negotiator said Saturday that the European Union had requested extending Monday 's deadline until the following Sunday , but Iran rejects any delay .
-He also expressed concern that the proposals , a package of economic and political incentives , would not meet Iran 's basic expectations .
-The Europeans want Iran to agree to a permanent suspension of its uranium enrichment program , which can be used for both generating electricity , but in certain forms can fuel nuclear weapons .
-Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes , but the United States accuses Tehran of trying secretly to develop nuclear weapons .
-Algerian officials say the All Africa Games are continuing as planned in Algiers despite a suicide bomb attack near the capital on Wednesday .
-Officials say security would be stepped up around the competition sites .
-Before the opening ceremony Wednesday , a suicide bomber killed at least eight soldiers and wounded 35 others in Lakhdaria , a village east of the capital , Algiers .
-The al-Qaida Organization in the Islamic Maghreb , formerly known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat has claimed responsibility for the bombing .
-The group also claimed responsibility for a number of attacks that have rocked the region , including two car bombings in April that killed 33 people .
-The All Africa Games are a regional multi-sport event held every four years .
-Competing athletes must be from the African continent .
-The competition is set to last until July 23 .
-Authorities in Indian Kashmir say suspected Islamic militants have attacked a remote police station , triggering a gunbattle that left two militants , one policeman and one civilian dead .
-Police say the ambush occurred late Sunday in southern Poonch province near the Pakistani border .
-They say the rebels hurled grenades and used machine guns in the attack , which led to a three-hour shoot-out .
-Kashmiri militants continue their attacks against government targets , as India and Pakistan inch forward in their 18-month peace process aimed at resolving all their disputes , including Kashmir .
-Militant groups have been fighting for Kashmir 's independence or its merger with Pakistan since 1989 .
-The insurgency has claimed tens of thousand of lives .
-U.S. President George Bush and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have reaffirmed their joint support for a peaceful Lebanon , and say it is important for the country to have diplomatic ties with Syria .
-The two leaders issued a joint statement following talks in Paris Saturday calling for Syria and Lebanon to work towards a relationship based on " respect , equality , security and sovereignty . "
-The French and American presidents have held different positions in regard to Syria .
-Mr. Bush has repeatedly accused Damascus of supporting terrorism and fomenting violence in Lebanon .
-But , Mr. Sarkozy has shown signs of warming relations with Syria , pledging to resume diplomatic ties that were suspended last year .
-Mr. Sarkozy has also invited President Bashar al-Assad to attend France 's " Bastille Day " celebrations on July 14 , and plans to include Syria in a new Mediterranean Union .
-Iran 's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has formally endorsed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the country 's next president .
-The conservative Mr. Ahmadinejad , who won the June presidential elections , succeeds reformist President Mohammad Khatami , whose term ends Wednesday .
-The new president will be sworn-in before parliament Saturday .
-He takes office at a time when Iran is under mounting western pressure over its nuclear ambitions .
-Mr. Ahmadinejad , a former mayor of Tehran , says " access to nuclear technology is Iran 's inalienable right . "
-The 49-year-old Mr. Ahmadinejad is also a former member of the hard-line Revolutionary Guard and a former instructor of the Basij religious vigilantes .
-A powerful storm has smashed apart Russian oil tanker anchored between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov , creating what some experts are calling an environmental catastrophe .
-As much as 2,000 metric tons of fuel oil spilled into the Kerch Strait off Ukraine .
-Some officials believe it could take several years to clean up .
-The Volganeft-139 was anchored in the strait several kilometers from land to ride out the storm .
-Huge waves split the tanker in two .
-Thirteen crewmembers were rescued .
-The storm also sank four other cargo ships - three of which were carrying sulfur .
-At least eight people from the other ships are still missing .
-The Kerch Strait is a major migration route for birds and is also home to porpoises .
-Prosecutors have opened an investigation into possible criminal charges .
-Fighting between suspected Taleban rebels and U.S.-coalition and Afghan troops has left seven insurgents dead , while a rebel attack on a medical clinic left a doctor and his six colleagues dead .
-Police say the attack on the independently run clinic occurred in Khost province , bordering Pakistan .
-Suspected Taleban rebels broke into the building and shot the seven victims late Tuesday night .
-Also on Tuesday , officials say seven insurgents were killed in a clash that broke out on the border between the southern provinces of Kandahar and Uruzgan after the rebels attacked a joint Afghan-coalition patrol .
-The officials say four Afghan soldiers were wounded in the fighting , which ended with the insurgents fleeing into nearby mountains , carrying their wounded .
-Several rebels were captured .
-President Bush has congratulated Chile 's first female president-elect , Michelle Bachelet , on her win in last Sunday 's runoff election .
-A White House spokesman said President Bush called Ms. Bachelet Thursday and told her he looks forward to working with her .
-The spokesman said they talked about the importance of working together to promote good governance in the region .
-Ms. Bachelet , a left-leaning candidate , took 53 percent of the vote in Sunday 's runoff election .
-Her opponent was billionaire businessman Sebastian Pinera , the candidate of a rightist alliance .
-The socialist Ms. Bachelet brings to her position her experience as a physician , single mother and former political dissident .
-She has promised to improve health care and education , and has said she will divide her cabinet appointments equally between men and women .
-Iraqi lawmakers say the nation 's parliament voted Saturday to extend its current session until the end of July .
-The session was due to close at the end of this month .
-Lawmakers are under pressure to pass key measures aimed at promoting national reconciliation .
-In a separate development , Iran 's state-run IRNA news agency reports that Iraq 's president will visit Tehran this week .
-IRNA quotes Iraqi sources who say President Jalal Talabani is expected to meet with senior officials , including his Iranian counterpart , President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad .
-Preliminary election results from the West Bank indicate the mainstream Fatah faction is leading in the first Palestinian municipal elections since 1976 despite a strong showing by the militant Islamic group Hamas .
-Some 1,50,000 eligible voters cast ballots Thursday in 26 West Bank localities .
-Official results are expected Saturday .
-In the coming months , similar elections are due to be held in stages in the rest of the Palestinian territories .
-Thursday 's vote was seen as a test of popularity between Fatah and Hamas .
-Hamas has already said it will not participate in the Palestinian presidential elections set for January 9 .
-Former Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas , Fatah 's candidate , leads that race .
-Elsewhere in the West Bank , Israeli and Palestinian officials say Israeli troops killed three members of the militant Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades .
-Sudanese officials have opened a new oil pipeline expected to raise the country 's output to at least 5,00,000 barrels of oil per day .
-Government ministers attended a launch ceremony for the pipeline in the town of Fallouj on Monday .
-The 1,400 kilometer pipeline will carry oil from wells in Sudan 's southeast to Port Sudan on the Red Sea .
-Revenue will be split between the northern and southern governments , which signed a wealth-sharing agreement as part of the peace deal that ended Sudan 's north-south civil war last year .
-The pipeline is run by Petrodar , a conglomerate owned mainly by China 's National Petroleum Corporation and Malaysia 's Petronas .
-Companies in Dubai and Sudan and another Chinese firm own smaller shares .
-China is the world 's second-largest energy consumer after the United States , and has become a major investor in Sudan as it seeks foreign sources of oil .
-Security officials in Pakistan say shots were fired at the plane of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf after the craft took off from a military base in Rawalpindi .
-The plane was not hit , and General Musharraf landed safely in southern Pakistan , where he spoke to victims of recent floods .
-An Army spokesman , Major General Waheed Arshad , says the government is trying to figure out who fired the shots , but insists that the president 's plane was not the intended target .
-However , other Pakistani officials called the incident an unsuccessful attack on the president 's plane .
-Officials say the shots were from a machine gun .
-Police found two anti-aircraft guns on a nearby roof .
-In other news , a suicide bomb attack in northwestern Pakistan has killed at least four Pakistani soldiers in a military convoy .
-A major oil company will not sign an agreement to give majority control of its oil operations in Venezuela to the government of President Hugo Chavez .
-ConocoPhillips has refused to accept Venezuela 's terms for compensation for its investments .
-News reports say ExxonMobil also will decline the deal .
-President Chavez gave foreign oil companies until Tuesday to agree to give the government a 60 percent share of their operations .
-Those facilities are said to be worth $ 25 billion or more , and some companies complain the compensation offered is too low .
-ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil may seek arbitration or court action to resolve the dispute .
-The Wall Street Journal cites unnamed sources and says it is not yet clear how other companies will respond .
-Venezuela has already taken over foreign companies ' assets in the telecommunications and electricity sectors .
-Kurdish party officials in Syria say the body of a Kurdish Muslim cleric has been found three weeks after he was reported missing .
-The Yekiti Kurdish Party says hospital officials in northeastern Syria found signs of torture on the body of Sheikh Mohammad Maashouq al-Khaznawi .
-Mr. al-Khaznawi had been missing since leaving the Islamic Studies Center in Damascus on May 10 .
-The disappearance sparked a march last month by thousands of Kurds demanding to know his whereabouts .
-Kurdish leaders accused Syrian officials of holding the sheikh .
-Authorities denied the charge .
-Kurdish party leaders say the cleric 's body was being transported for burial services in the town of Kameshli .
-Provincial officials in western Afghanistan say at least 12 people were killed Sunday in factional fighting there .
-The officials say clashes broke out in western Herat province between two local warlords , Amanullah Khan and Arbab Basir .
-Earlier Sunday , NATO-led troops killed 15 suspected militants who ambushed a NATO convoy in southern Afghanistan .
-The alliance said Sunday that the troops returned fire after they were attacked in Zabul province with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades .
-It said two NATO vehicles were damaged in the attack .
-NATO forces are encountering stiff resistance from Taleban insurgents in the south .
-Italy 's prime minister has confirmed that U.S. forces in Iraq opened fire on a car carrying a freed Italian hostage and her rescuers , Friday .
-Silvio Berlusconi said freed journalist Giuliana Sgrena sustained a shoulder injury and an Italian agent who helped free her was killed .
-Mr. Berlusconi said he has summoned the American ambassador in Rome for an explanation of the incident .
-Executives at Ms. Sgrena 's newspaper , Il Manifesto , said the shooting occurred at a coalition checkpoint as the car headed to Baghdad airport .
-A spokesman for the U.S. military in Baghdad told VOA they are looking into press reports about the incident , but had no information .
-Gunmen abducted Ms. Sgrena outside a Baghdad mosque on February 4 .
-She later appeared in a video appeal for Italian troops to leave Iraq .
-A recent Philippine military report says al Qaida-linked Muslim militants in the country have stepped-up recruiting efforts and signed on some 100 recent Muslim converts since July .
-The report says the Abu Sayyaf terror group has joined forces with the Rajah Solaiman Movement , a group of Filipino Christians who have converted to Islam .
-Military officials say Abu Sayyaf has promised the recent converts up to $ 530 each to conduct sabotage operations in Zamboanga city on the southern island of Mindanao .
-Philippine security forces , assisted by U.S. intelligence , have been battling Muslim insurgents in Mindanao and other southern islands .
-Abu Sayyaf has been blamed for a series of kidnappings and other deadly attacks , including a ferry bombing last year that killed more than 100 people .
-A major Chinese oil company , CNOOC , has given up an $ 18.5 billion bid to take over the U.S.-based Unocal oil company .
-It would have been the largest-ever Chinese acquisition of a U.S. company .
-With oil prices at record-high levels , the bid sparked opposition from members of the U.S. Congress .
-Some politicians said losing control of some U.S.-owned oil assets could harm the nation 's economy and security .
-The parent company of CNOOC is controlled by the Chinese government .
-A statement on the company web site said its interests are " purely commercial " and called the political opposition " unjustified " and harmful to Unocal shareholders and employees .
-Ending CNOOC 's bid leaves Chevron as the only bidder for Unocal .
-Millions of residents of Harbin , one of northeast China 's largest cities , are enduring their third day without water after about 100 tons of a toxic chemical were released into a river .
-China 's official Xinhua news agency says that , as of early Friday , the level of chemicals in the Songhua River remained 28 times above national safety standards .
-Thursday , the leading edge of an 80-kilometer long slick of benzene reached Harbin 's municipal water inlets .
-Experts say it will be sometime Saturday before the river flows clean again in Harbin .
-Authorities are warning people to avoid the benzene fumes rising from the river .
-Meanwhile , Petrechemical Corporation , a subsidiary of China 's largest oil producer , China National Petroleum Corporation has apologized for the chemical plant explosion November 13 that spilled the cancer-causing pollutants upstream in Jilin City .
-A powerful typhoon that drenched the Philippines earlier this week is bearing down on Taiwan Friday , forcing the cancellation of flights and the closure of schools and offices .
-Forecasters at Taiwan 's Central Weather Bureau say that by late Friday afternoon local time , Typhoon Sepat was located about 220 kilometers southeast of coastal Taitung county , with gusts of wind up to 227 kilometers per hour .
-Sepat is moving northwest at a speed of around 20 kilometers per hour .
-Forecasters expect it to begin plowing over the center of the island on Friday evening and then move on to lash China 's southeastern coast on Saturday .
-Earlier this week Typhoon Sepat exacerbated monsoon rains and flooded parts of the Philippine capital , Manila .
-No deaths were reported .
-Flooding continued in Manila Friday , forcing the closure of offices and schools .
-Iraq 's prime minister-designate has completed his list of proposed cabinet members after three months of political negotiations .
-Ibrahim al-Jaafari presented the list to President Jalal Talabani Tuesday .
-The three-member presidential council must approve the list , before it can go to the 275-member national assembly for a vote of approval .
-Iraqi officials and state television report that the country 's majority Shi'ites will get 17 cabinet seats , while the Kurds , who came second in the elections , will get eight .
-The Sunnis , who mostly boycotted the vote , will get only six seats .
-And the tiny Christian minority will have one seat .
-The party of interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi , which won 40 seats in the assembly , was apparently shut out of the new government .
-In addition , Mr. Jaafari has named three deputy prime ministers - a Shi'ite , a Kurd and a Sunni .
-Iraqi politicians are holding more talks on forming a unity government as another U.S. congressional delegation visits Baghdad to check on their progress .
-U.S. Senator John McCain met in Baghdad with officials who have been trying to form a government for the past three months .
-McCain said he is guardedly optimistic that officials can agree on a government within weeks .
-Separately , U.S. Ambassador to Iraq , Zalmay Khalilzad , said the country is at a defining moment .
-He said Iraqi leaders are struggling to form a government and bring under control the violence that grips the nation .
-In the latest violence , a roadside bomb killed four Iraqis in Baghdad Saturday .
-Police also found 10 more bodies that showed signs of torture in the city .
-North of the capital , another roadside bomb killed two Iraqis .
-Polls have opened in Benin , where voters are choosing a successor to long-time President Mathieu Kerekou .
-After casting his ballot Sunday in Cotonou , Mr. Kerekou expressed doubt about the vote 's transparency .
-The French press agency quotes him as saying unnamed groups gave FALSE names and voter cards to foreigners in the west African nation before the poll .
-Some four million people are eligible to cast ballots in the election , which features 26 candidates , including two women .
-A second round will be called in two weeks if no candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote .
-President Kerekou is barred from running again because he is older than the 70 year age limit .
-Mr. Kerekou first came to power in a military coup in 1972 and led the country to its first democratic elections in 1991 , which he lost .
-He returned to office after winning a 1996 vote .
-Pakistani authorities have raided offices of two Afghan trading firms suspected of providing funds to leaders of Taleban insurgents and frozen their bank accounts .
-Pakistani officials say the raids by government agents in the northwestern city of Peshawar and in the capital , Islamabad , occurred on Tuesday .
-They say the agents seized documents indicating the firms ' involvement in transferring money to the Taleban .
-The authorities now are trying to determine whether the funds were being channeled to the Taleban 's reclusive leader , Mullah Omar .
-Tuesday 's raids came the same day as a meeting in Washington between President Bush and Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz , in which the two sides vowed to continue working closely to defeat terrorism .
-Egypt has reported a second suspected human case of bird flu as Israel culls thousands of birds in an effort to contain an outbreak .
-Egypt 's health ministry said Sunday a young man hospitalized since Thursday is suffering symptoms of the disease .
-It said he kept a farm , north of Cairo , where a number of chickens died last Monday .
-The report followed the death Friday in Egypt of a woman believed to have contracted the H5N1 strain of the virus .
-In Israel , authorities say the situation is under control .
-They are killing tens of thousands of birds to try to prevent the disease from spreading .
-Bird flu has spread across parts of Europe , Africa and Asia , killing about 100 people since 2003 .
-Health officials have warned it could mutate into a virus that can be easily transmitted between humans and create a global pandemic .
-President Bush has used his weekly radio address to urge Congress to do more to ease the economic worries of many Americans .
-The president Saturday said even though the economy is growing , American families are concerned with rising energy prices and the cost of health care .
-The president praised Congress for passing recent energy and tax bills .
-But he said he was disappointed in a spending bill that he signed earlier this week .
-He said the $ 555 billion budget bill was loaded with wasteful special interest items , mentioning a prison museum and a sailing school .
-The president said his resolution for the New Year is to work with Congress to keep the economy growing , to keep taxes low and to ensure Washington spends money wisely .
-Some experts say the worst of the recession may be over , but others are pessimistic about the economic outlook .
-A survey of economists by the Bloomberg financial news service projects U.S. unemployment will rise further this year , from 8.9 to 9.6 percent .
-These experts also expect the world 's largest economy to get smaller at a 1.9 percent annual pace in April , May and June , and gradually switch to modest growth later this year .
-Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman says the U.S. and other governments need to do more than the current set of stimulus packages and interest rate cuts .
-He says half-measures will do too little to help banks and boost growth .
-But the head of the European Central Bank , Jean-Claude Trichet , said Monday that the global economy has weathered the worst of the recession and is ready to turn upward .
-Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong says China 's imports have helped create 10 million jobs worldwide since it joined the World Trade Organization in 2001 .
-Zeng made the comments during opening remarks Saturday at a regional meeting of politicians , business leaders and academics on China 's southern island of Hainan .
-China 's official Xinhua News Agency quoted Zeng as saying that since 2001 it has annually imported nearly $ 500 billion worth of goods from around the world .
-Xinhua says more than 850 participants from about 40 countries are attending the annual Boao Forum for Asia .
-The meeting is expected to focus on topics including regional economic cooperation , the Doha round of WTO talks and other global issues .
-A senior Iraqi official says an appeals court has upheld the death sentence against ousted leader Saddam Hussein for the 1982 killings of 148 Shi'ite villagers .
-National Security Advisor Mowaffaq Rubaie made the announcement in Baghdad Tuesday .
-Under Iraqi law , the death sentence is to be carried out within 30 days .
-Last month , an Iraqi court sentenced Saddam to hang for the killings of the Shi'ites from the town of Dujail after an attempt there to assassinate Saddam .
-The ousted leader is also on trial on charges of genocide for the 1988 Anfal campaign in which prosecutors say 1,80,000 Kurds were killed .
-A group of independent policymakers and economists say economic growth is within reach of developing countries if they adopt the right policies .
-The World Bank 's Commission on Growth and Development has released a new report , which says developing countries can achieve fast , sustained and equitable growth , providing they use formulas used by other successful economies .
-VOA 's Mil Arcega reports .
-Leaders of the the world 's richest nations have again pledged to help cut poverty and disease in Africa .
-In a statement Sunday , leaders at the summit of the seven top industrialized nations plus Russia pledged to pursue existing efforts to increase debt relief and support aid work on the continent .
-The statement also said the grouping will identify the next steps to be taken before next year 's summit in Germany .
-Aid agencies welcomed the formal G-8 commitment not to let Africa issues fade from public view .
-But an official from the British charity " Save the Children " urged G-8 countries to act more urgently .
-Matt Phillips said the " fact that there have not been [ G-8 ] steps backward " will " be cold comfort to the 800 African families who lost a child today " because they could not afford a doctor .
-Gunmen killed at least 12 people at a house party in Ciudad Juarez , Mexico Friday , the latest act of brutality in a border city known as a battleground for drug gangs .
-Local media report a group of armed men arrived at the house in several vehicles and opened fire on party-goers .
-At least 10 people were wounded in the attack , including a child .
-Ciudad Juarez sits just across the border from the U.S. city of El~Paso , Texas .
-More than 6,000 people have been killed in the last three years in the Mexican city where the Juarez and Sinaloa drug cartels battle with Mexican police and military forces that are trying to stop their illegal operations .
-It was not immediately clear whether the latest violence was related to the drug war .
-President Bush has invited representatives from 11 countries to a conference on global warming , to be held in Washington September 27-28 .
-The White House says Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will host the meeting .
-Attendees are expected to discuss a new strategy for global warming for 2012 , when the Kyoto agreement expires .
-In his invitation letter , Mr. Bush said he hopes the group will agree to set new international limits on gas emissions , and work with businesses to help new environment-friendly technologies grow .
-The Bush administration has long been accused of having an environmental policy that lags behind other nations .
-The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in 1997 to limit the amount of so-called greenhouse gas emitted in industrialized countries .
-The United States has never been a party to the agreement .
-Mr. Bush invited representatives from the United Nations and European Union as well as the 11 individual nations .
-U.S. and European share prices have recovered a day after they plunged because of concerns about the economy .
-U.S. stock indexes are up in Wednesday 's trading , while European markets are mixed .
-Asian markets took a nosedive Wednesday following Tuesday 's steep decline in U.S. and European share prices .
-Hong Kong 's Hang Seng index fell more than 1,300 points , more than five percent , in a holiday-shortened trading day .
-Tokyo 's Nikkei index was off 646 points - nearly five percent .
-Markets in China , Taiwan , South Korea , and New Zealand were closed for a holiday .
-Analysts say many investors fear the U.S. economy is close to a recession if not already in one .
-Many private radio stations in Nepal resumed news broadcasts Friday , more than six months after King Gyanendra banned news from all independent outlets .
-Nepal 's Supreme Court ruled earlier this week that one station closed for violating the news ban should be allowed to resume operations .
-A media rights group in Nepal , Save Independent Radio Movement , says other stations interpreted the ruling as giving them the right to broadcast news .
-The group says about 16 of the country 's more than 40 independent radio stations have restarted news broadcasts , and others will do the same over the next several days .
-The news ban for independent radio was part of a wider media crackdown imposed by King Gyanendra after he fired the government and seized complete power in February .
-Iraqi police in Kirkuk say a suicide car bomber struck a funeral service for a Shi'ite soldier , killing at least four people and wounding some 25 others .
-Officials said the bomber drove into the middle of the service before detonating a blast .
-Also Thursday , the prime minister and president of Romania publicly disagreed about a proposal to withdraw the country 's 890 troops from Iraq .
-Prime Minister Calin Tariceanu proposed a withdrawal because of the human and financial cost of the deployment .
-But President Traian Basescu called the idea " unacceptable . "
-Under Romanian law , the country 's Supreme Defense Council , chaired by the president , has the power to decide on a withdrawal .
-The president said the prime minister 's statement would hurt Romania 's credibility abroad .
-Belarus 's Foreign Ministry has dismissed the latest U.S.-imposed sanctions aimed at freezing the U.S. assets of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and other government officials .
-A Foreign Ministry spokesman , Andrei Popov , Tuesday accused the United States of pursuing what he called " an old goal " of spreading FALSE information about Belarus .
-President Bush signed an executive order for the sanctions on Monday .
-The move also bars Americans and U.S. companies from doing business with Mr. Lukashenko and nine other officials .
-The European Union froze Mr. Lukashenko 's assets in Europe last month and joined the United States in imposing a travel ban on Belarusian senior government officials .
-President Lukashenko was elected to a third term in March in a vote the West called fraudulent .
-Turkish authorities say a security officer and a Kurdish rebel have been killed in clashes in the country 's mainly Kurdish southeast .
-They say the two died in Siirt province Tuesday .
-Authorities say the rebel was a member of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party , or PKK .
-The violence is the latest in southeastern Turkey .
-In March , clashes erupted at funerals for some of the 14 Kurdish guerrillas killed by Turkish security forces in Diyarbakir .
-The PKK has been fighting for autonomy in Turkey 's southeastern region since 1984 .
-More than 30,000 people have been killed .
-The PKK guerrillas are based mainly in the mountains of southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq .
-The organizers of a Lebanese aid voyage say they will set sail Sunday on a trip designed to break Israel 's blockade of the Gaza Strip .
-Israel has warned against the journey by the ship , named the Mariam .
-The organizers of the mission say those on board will be women only .
-Israel came under harsh international criticism after it launched a deadly raid in May on a flotilla of aid ships trying to break the Gaza blockade .
-Nine Turkish activists were killed .
-Israel eased its land blockade in response to the outrage , but kept the sea blockade in force .
-Israeli officials say the measure is necessary to prevent Hamas militants and supporters from smuggling weapons into Gaza .
-The French Defense Ministry says an investigation has confirmed an Ivory Coast man was killed by suffocation by French soldiers in the West African nation last May .
-In a statement issued Wednesday the ministry says the man was killed while in an armored vehicle May 13 .
-The statement says the commander of the French force in Ivory Coast was informed of the incident but did not inform his superiors .
-Last month the ministry suspended General Henri Poncet and two other military officers for what it called " serious breaches of law , military regulations and orders " in connection with the incident .
-French peacekeepers patrol a buffer zone in Ivory Coast separating the government-controlled south and the rebel-held north .
-Monday marks the 30th anniversary of the barcode .
-Barcodes are the symbols that appear on goods in 155 countries that help clerks speed customer purchases , and help companies keep track of inventory .
-Barcodes are a series of lines and numbers that machine scanners can read and identify exactly what product is being sold and how much it costs .
-More than 100 nations have groups that issue unique barcodes to one million companies around the world .
-And scanners read those barcodes about 10 billion times each day .
-The non-profit group that issues barcodes in the United States says the first barcoded item scanned and sold was a package of chewing gum , which is now in a museum .
-Ukraine 's Supreme Court has invalidated the results of the country 's presidential runoff , and called for a new vote in three weeks .
-Friday 's decision comes as tens of thousands of opposition supporters rally in Kiev protesting the disputed November 21 runoff vote .
-Election officials had declared Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych the winner of the election , prompting massive demonstrations .
-Opposition challenger Viktor Yushchenko and international monitors said massive fraud occurred .
-Demonstrators clad in orange , the color of the opposition , massed outside the court Friday to await the decision , while thousands of others continued to gather in Kiev main 's square .
-Ukraine 's outgoing president , Leonid Kuchma , said Thursday in Kiev he supports holding entirely new elections .
-He met earlier outside Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin , who said he does not support redoing the runoff .
-British police say they have released two people who had been detained in connection with last month 's failed car bomb attacks in London and Glasgow .
-The two who were released without charge are physician trainees arrested July 2 - two days after a vehicle packed with gas cylinders , nails and gasoline smashed into barricades near the entrance to Glasgow 's main airport .
-A woman detained in the case was released last week .
-Three people - two in Britain and one in Australia - have been charged .
-Police have identified the suspects as Indian-born doctor Sabeel Ahmed , and his brother , Kafeel , who remains hospitalized in Glasgow with severe burns .
-A distant cousin of the two , Muhammad Haneef , was charged Saturday in Brisbane , Australia .
-Separately , a British judge has given police until July 21 to question a Jordanian doctor who was arrested in northern England June 30 .
-The U.S. military in Iraq says one U.S. soldier has been killed and three others wounded in a bomb attack in the country 's north .
-In a statement , the military said the bomb was detonated Monday near a military patrol near the town of Baquba .
-The violence came as President Bush joined other world leaders in praising the results from Iraq 's national elections .
-World leaders hailed the election results , but several also urged the winning parties not to worsen religious and ethnic tensions in the country .
-The United Iraqi Alliance , a coalition of Shi'ite Muslim groups , won the biggest share of the eight million votes , but fell just short of an outright majority .
-Iraq 's election commission says a Kurdish coalition finished second , with 25 percent .
-Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and his allies ranked third , with 14 percent .
-Iraqi authorities say gunmen have ambushed and killed 12 Iraqi soldiers near the northern city of Kirkuk .
-Officials say the attackers shot and killed the soldiers after stopping their bus on a road leading to the oil-rich city late Wednesday .
-It was the deadliest single attack in Iraq since Sunday 's election to choose members of the country 's interim national assembly .
-Election workers are still counting votes .
-An influential association of Sunni Muslim clerics said the assembly will lack the authority to draft a new constitution , because many Sunnis did not vote .
-Iraq 's interim prime minister Iyad Allawi said he wants to ensure all parts of Iraqi society have a role in its new government .
-Mr. Allawi held talks Wednesday with leaders from the country 's political and religious factions , including Sunni leaders .
-Five Philippine legislators accused of plotting a coup against the president have emerged from the Congress building where they took refuge more than two months ago .
-Hundreds of supporters cheered the left-wing lawmakers Monday as they walked out of the House of Representatives after a 70-day standoff with the government .
-The five hid in the building to avoid being taken into custody for their alleged role in a failed plot in February to overthrow President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo .
-On Thursday , a court dismissed rebellion charges against them on technical grounds .
-The government says it does not rule out refiling a case against the lawmakers .
-A Pakistani court has lifted a ban on the popular social networking site Facebook , two weeks after the site was blocked for soliciting images of the Prophet Muhammad .
-Most Muslims consider any image of the Prophet to be blasphemous , and Facebook 's " Everybody Draw Muhammad Day " page triggered protests throughout Pakistan .
-The Lahore High Court on Monday ordered the government to restore access to Facebook , but said " blasphemous " content should remain blocked .
-The court also called on the government to develop a system targeting offensive content online .
-Last week , Pakistan lifted a similar ban on the video website YouTube .
-Authorities said sacrilegious or profane material will remain restricted .
-On Sunday , authorities in Bangladesh also temporarily blocked Facebook .
-Publications of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in Danish newspapers a few years ago sparked violent protests in majority-Muslim countries .
-Suspected leftist rebels in Colombia have killed at least a dozen coca growers in the northwestern part of the country .
-A local official says members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia , or FARC , killed 11 men and one woman during an attack Wednesday near Puerto Valdivia .
-The FARC relies on coca , which is used to make cocaine , for much of its funding .
-It often kills peasants who refuse to cooperate or sell their product to rightwing paramilitaries .
-The FARC and a smaller leftist rebel group are locked in a long-running war against the government and rightist paramilitaries that leaves thousands of people dead each year .
-Vice President Dick Cheney was briefly examined at a Washington hospital Tuesday after experiencing discomfort in his left leg , where a blood clot was discovered earlier this month .
-Cheney 's office says the doctors conducted another ultrasound image of the clot in his leg , which showed there was no extension or complication of the clot .
-Doctors say Cheney 's blood thinning medication is working .
-The vice president later returned to the White House to resume his schedule .
-Cheney has had four heart attacks , although none since taking office in 2001 .
-The blood clot was discovered shortly after Cheney returned from a trip that took him to Australia and South Asia .
-Doctors say there is an increased risk of developing blood clots from long flights because of prolonged periods of immobility .
-Israeli President Shimon Peres says tensions between Israel and Syria are now " over , " and Israel is ready to negotiate for peace with Syria .
-Mr. Peres made the comment to foreign reporters Tuesday in Israel .
-Monday , Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert also said Israel was ready to negotiate with Syria .
-The developments come less than two weeks after Syria accused Israel of launching an air strike inside Syria .
-Israel has refused to comment on the matter .
-Media reports have suggested the air strike either targeted Iranian arms destined for Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas , or a nuclear facility in Syria built with North Korean technology .
-Last week , Syria protested to the United Nations about the incident and accused Israel of aggression .
-Peace talks between Syria and Israel collapsed in 2000 .
-A Palestinian teenager has been killed and at least six others wounded in the West Bank in a shootout between Israeli troops and militants .
-Palestinian witnesses in Jenin say the dead 18-year-old was unarmed and was throwing rocks at Israeli troops attempting to arrest a wanted militant from the Islamic Jihad movement .
-Israel says its troops returned fire after Palestinians began shooting and detonating explosives .
-In other developments , the Israeli parliament passed a law Wednesday , severely limiting Palestinian lawsuits for damages incurred in Israeli military operations .
-The law limits suits brought in Israeli courts to just traffic accidents involving Israeli forces and instances where Palestinians are injured while in Israeli prisons .
-Palestinian medical workers say an Israeli air strike on Gaza has killed a Palestinian militant and wounded two other people .
-Medics said Monday that the air strike hit near the border , east of Gaza City .
-An Israeli army spokeswoman said the strike targeted a militant who fired a rocket-powered grenade at Israeli soldiers near the border .
-The militant was believed to have been a member of the group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine .
-The new archbishop of Warsaw has assumed his duties , three months after his predecessor admitted to being a communist-era informer and resigned .
-More than 1,000 people attended Palm Sunday Mass today in Warsaw , where a Papal decree was read appointing Kazimierz Nycz , a former bishop in northern Poland , to the post .
-Pope Benedict XVI appointed the cleric last month , after his previous choice , Stanislaw Wielgus , resigned , admitting he had worked with Poland 's dreaded communist-era police for two decades beginning in the 1960s .
-In his admission , Wielgus expressed remorse and said he never informed on or sought to hurt anyone .
-Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his brother Jaroslaw , the prime minister , have vowed to root out those in public life with close ties to the communist apparatus .
-Health officials in Thailand say a 27-year-old man has died of bird flu .
-He is the second person the virus has killed in the country this year .
-If confirmed by the World Health Organization , the case would raise Thailand 's bird flu death toll to 16 people since the virus began spreading in Asia in late 2003 .
-Thai authorities say the latest victim of the H5N1 virus died Thursday in the central province of Uthai Thani , after burying a sick chicken .
-They say the man 's wife is taking anti-viral medication and is being monitored .
-In his radio address Saturday , Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra called on farmers to report promptly any suspected cases of bird flu in their flocks .
-The WHO says bird flu has killed at least 134 people worldwide since 2003 .
-Pakistan is condemning the loss of civilian lives during a NATO attack on suspected Taleban militants along the border with Afghanistan .
-Pakistani spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said Monday the NATO mission in Afghanistan must be more cautious before launching military operations near Pakistan 's borders .
-She also said any military action taken inside Pakistan must only be conducted by Pakistani forces .
-Nine civilians died when a rocket fired by NATO forces on Saturday hit a building in Pakistan 's North Waziristan province .
-At the time , NATO says it was battling Taleban insurgents near the Afghan-Pakistan border .
-The spokeswoman says Pakistan has issued a complaint with NATO .
-Civilian deaths during NATO and U.S.-led military operations in Afghanistan have prompted sharp criticism from Afghan officials , including President Hamid Karzai .
-NATO officials have said they are reviewing their rules of engagement to limit civilian causalities but have also blamed Taleban militants for using civilians as human shields .
-Officials in Kyrgyzstan say they have detained about 50 people after hundreds of looters tore through a Kurdish village to protest the rape of a four year-old Russian girl .
-Officials said Monday the group is being held on charges of mass disorder .
-The riots began Sunday after news spread that a Kurdish suspect in the rape was being held in the village of Petrovka .
-Ethnic Russian and Kyrgyz protesters charged through the village , smashing windows and overturning cars belonging to ethnic Kurds .
-Interior Minister spokesman Bakyt Seitov says the situation is under control .
-Officials say such ethnic clashes are rare in Kyrgyzstan , a former Soviet republic where Turkic-speaking groups live along side Russians , Chinese and others .
-Police in the Nepalese capital , Kathmandu , detained at least 16 more activists Monday , who were protesting against King Gyanendra 's seizure of absolute power .
-The protesters defied a ban on demonstrations and gathered near the Central Secretariat building , shouting slogans like " down with autocracy , we want democracy . "
-Sunday , seven activists - all members of the Nepali Congress party - were arrested after staging a similar protest .
-Meanwhile , the Nepalese army said Maoist rebels kidnapped and killed three unarmed soldiers in the eastern Ramechhap district Saturday .
-Nepal 's king dismissed the government and assumed all powers on February first , saying the government had failed to stop the Maoist insurgency .
-Rebels have been fighting nearly a decade to replace Nepal 's monarchy with a communist state .
-Russian human rights advocates and liberal politicians gathered in Moscow Monday to criticize President Vladimir Putin and call for unity by opposition groups .
-Speakers at the congress slammed Mr. Putin for decisions they say are steadily moving Russia back into an authoritarian state .
-Among those attending were former world chess champion Gary Kasparov and ex-Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov .
-Russia 's political liberals are gearing up for the 2007 parliamentary elections and the 2008 presidential election .
-Meanwhile , Mr. Putin made a surprise visit to Chechnya Monday to attend the opening of the troubled province 's new parliament .
-The president traveled to the capital city of Grozny by helicopter .
-Thousands of Russian troops have died in continued fighting with Chechen rebels since Mr. Putin assumed power in 1999 .
-The Central Intelligence Agency , CIA , says Iraq has become a magnet for international terrorist activity and provides an ideal training ground for terrorists to enhance their skills .
-In a report on long-term global trends released Thursday , the CIA says political Islam will have a significant impact in the next 15 years , rallying disparate ethnic and national groups and possibly creating an authority that transcends national boundaries .
-It says al-Qaida will likely be superseded by other Islamic extremist groups that merge with local separatist movements .
-The CIA says the prospect of a biological or nuclear weapons attack remains the greatest danger facing the United States .
-Analysts also say globalization will be the dominant force in the next 15 years and will generate enormous economic , cultural and political changes across the planet .
-U.S. business tycoon Donald Trump intends to build a high-rise building in the former Soviet republic of Georgia .
-Georgia 's presidential press office and the Trump organization confirmed Wednesday that Trump had signed a letter of intent to build one of his self-named towers in the country .
-Trump signed the deal with the Georgian business group Silk Road during a visit of President Mikheil Saakashvili to New York .
-An executive vice president of the Trump organization , Michael Cohen , said Mr. Saakashvili was present at the signing .
-Cohen said in a statement that while the letter of intent was just the first in a series of agreements , it demonstrated Trump 's interest in investing in Georgia .
-Mr. Saakashvili 's press office said potential sites for the development included Tbilisi and along the Black Sea coast .
-A suicide car bomber in northern Iraq has killed at least 20 people at the funeral of a local Kurdish official .
-The blast in Tal Afar wounded 30 others taking part in the funeral procession .
-In Baghdad , insurgents gunned down five Iraqi policemen at a checkpoint Sunday .
-And a car bomber killed four Iraqis in an attack on a U.S. military convoy .
-In other developments , a new video shows a bound blond-haired man claiming to be a 63-year-old Australian national surrounded by gunmen and urging coalition forces to leave Iraq .
-Authorities are working to authenticate the tape .
-Meanwhile , Iraqi police say five suspects arrested in the kidnapping and murder of British aid worker Margaret Hassan have admitted involvement in her death .
-He says they were detained early Sunday south of Baghdad .
-Authorities in Tajikistan are tearing down advertisements for mobile telephones , after President Emomali Rakhmon criticized use of the devices .
-The leader of the Central Asian nation says people are spending too much of their monthly income on mobile phone service .
-President Rakhmon has also warned of potential health hazards stemming from mobile phone use .
-More than 70 percent of Tajikistan 's population of more than seven million own mobile phones .
-Tajik mobile phone companies say the restrictions on advertising and other measures will hurt the development of the mobile telecommunications industry which they say has been flourishing in the country .
-Chinese state media say the most famous Buddhist temple in Tibet has opened its doors again to worshippers .
-Chinese authorities shut down the Jokhang Temple , in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa , after a series of protests by Tibetan monks in March .
-The protests , initially peacefully , eventually led to violent clashes between the monks and Chinese authorities .
-The Xinhua news agency said the temple had reopened Friday .
-The agency reported that an estimated 400 Buddhist pilgrims and 40 tourists had visited the temple within hours after it opened again .
-China has accused the Dalai Lama , Tibet 's exiled spiritual leader , of provoking unrest as part of a bid for Tibetan independence .
-The Dalai Lama says that he wants autonomy , but not independence , for the region .
-Chinese agricultural authorities have reported an outbreak of bird flu among poultry in Tibet .
-China 's official Xinhua News Agency says the outbreak occurred in Tibet 's Gongga county , which lies about 50 kilometers outside the capital , Lhasa .
-Xinhua says the outbreak , of the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus , had been suspected since January 25 , and was confirmed Tuesday .
-The Ministry of Agriculture says efforts are underway to contain the outbreak .
-One thousand birds have died from the virus , more than 1,300 others have been culled to prevent it from spreading .
-No human infections have been reported .
-Bird flu remains difficult for humans to catch but scientists worry it could mutate into a form that passes easily between people .
-The World Health Organization says the bird flu virus has killed more than 200 people worldwide since 2003 , mostly in Asia .
-Witnesses in southwestern Somalia say fighting between government troops and Islamist militants has killed at least 14 people .
-The clash broke out Wednesday in the Bakool region , after government troops attacked a base belonging to the al-Shabab militant group in the Rabdhure district .
-Heavy gunfire was exchanged and at least one vehicle was burned .
-Another vehicle was reported to have been captured by the militants .
-Al-Shabab controls much of southern and central Somalia after a two-year insurgency , and has moved to impose its own strict form of Islamic law in areas under its control .
-Last week , Somalia 's cabinet voted to make Sharia the basis of Somalia 's legal system , in an effort to appease the insurgents .
-Pakistani authorities say they have arrested two suspected suicide bombers who were allegedly planning to attack a mosque and government buildings in the capital , Islamabad .
-Bin Amin , a senior police official in the capital , says authorities are looking for others who may be involved in the alleged plot .
-He told the Associated Press the men were linked to the Pakistani Taliban in the country 's South Waziristan region .
-The alleged plot was set to be carried out in an exclusive and high security neighborhood in Islamabad , where many foreign embassies , Pakistan 's parliament and government ministries are located .
-The last terrorist attack in Islamabad took place in October 2009 , when a suicide bomber killed five U.N. staffers at the Islamabad office of the World Food Program .
-In September 2008 a massive truck bomb destroyed Islamabad 's Marriott Hotel killing at least 60 people .
-France 's presidential election finalists are to debate Wednesday , in a two-hour , televised event ahead of this Sunday 's vote .
-The debate between conservative frontrunner Nicholas Sarkozy and Socialist Segolene Royal begins at 9.00 p.m. local time ( 1900 UTC ) and is expected to draw more than 20 million French viewers - an audience size usually reserved for World Cup soccer finals .
-The latest opinion poll shows Sarkozy maintaining at least a four percentage point lead over Royal .
-On Tuesday , the fourth-place finisher in the April 22 first-round vote , ultra-conservative Jean-Marie Le Pen , urged his supporters to boycott the run-off election .
-The third-place finisher , centrist Francois Bayrou , has not formally backed either candidate .
-Russia 's President Vladimir Putin was meeting President Bush at the White House Friday for talks on bilateral and global issues .
-White House officials have said the talks will focus on deepening the U.S.-Russian partnership to face current challenges and opportunities .
-Relations between the two leaders have been strained recently by differences over Iran 's nuclear program .
-Mr. Putin supports Iran 's right to develop nuclear technology , while Mr. Bush warns that the Islamic republic may be seeking nuclear weapons .
-Mr. Putin traveled to Washington after addressing the United Nations World Summit in New York on Thursday .
-In his speech , he warned terrorism is the main threat to human rights and development , and called on the United Nations to be the center for international anti-terrorism efforts .
-The Bush administration is asking the state of Texas to hold new hearings for 51 Mexicans on death row , who say they were denied consular assistance in violation of international law .
-The move is in response to a 2004 ruling by the International Court of Justice , which said Texas officials failed to notify the Mexicans of their right to talk to consular officials shortly after their arrests .
-U.S. officials said in a recent Supreme Court filing that complying with the World Court 's decision will help protect the interests of U.S. citizens abroad and underscore America 's commitment to international law .
-The decision comes just weeks ahead of a U.S. Supreme Court hearing in the case of Jose Medellin , one of five gang members sentenced to death for the rape and murder of two Texas girls in 1993 .
-Coleco Industries Inc. , a once high-flying toy maker whose stock peaked at $ 65 a share in the early 1980s , filed a Chapter 11 reorganization plan that provides just 1.125 cents a share for common stockholders .
-Under the plan , unsecured creditors , who are owed about $ 430 million , would receive about $ 92 million , or 21 cents for each dollar they are owed .
-In addition , they will receive stock in the reorganized company , which will be named Ranger Industries Inc .
-After these payments , about $ 2,25,000 will be available for the 20 million common shares outstanding .
-The Avon , Conn. , company 's stock hit a high in 1983 after it unveiled its Adam home computer , but the product was plagued with glitches and the company 's fortunes plunged .
-But Coleco bounced back with the introduction of the Cabbage Patch dolls , whose sales hit $ 600 million in 1985 .
-But as the craze died , Coleco failed to come up with another winner and filed for bankruptcy-law protection in July 1988 .
-The plan was filed jointly with unsecured creditors in federal bankruptcy court in New York and must be approved by the court .
-Comoros has endured more than 20 coups or attempted coups since gaining independence from France in 1975 .
-In 1997 , the islands of Anjouan and Moheli declared independence from Comoros .
-In 1999 , military chief Col. AZALI seized power in a bloodless coup , and helped negotiate the 2000 Fomboni Accords power-sharing agreement in which the federal presidency rotates among the three islands , and each island maintains its own local government .
-AZALI won the 2002 presidential election , and each island in the archipelago elected its own president .
-AZALI stepped down in 2006 and President SAMBI was elected to office .
-In 2007 , Mohamed BACAR effected Anjouan 's de-facto secession from the Union , refusing to step down in favor of fresh Anjouanais elections when Comoros ' other islands held legitimate elections in July .
-The African Union ( AU ) initially attempted to resolve the political crisis by applying sanctions and a naval blockade on Anjouan , but in March 2008 , AU and Comoran soldiers seized the island .
-The move was generally welcomed by the island 's inhabitants .
-The Holy See is supported financially by a variety of sources , including investments , real estate income , and donations from Catholic individuals , dioceses , and institutions ; these help fund the Roman Curia ( Vatican bureaucracy ) , diplomatic missions , and media outlets .
-The separate Vatican City State budget includes the Vatican museums and post office and is supported financially by the sale of stamps , coins , medals , and tourist mementos ; by fees for admission to museums ; and by publications sales .
-Moreover , an annual collection taken up in dioceses and direct donations go to a non-budgetary fund known as Peter 's Pence , which is used directly by the Pope for charity , disaster relief , and aid to churches in developing nations .
-The incomes and living standards of lay workers are comparable to those of counterparts who work in the city of Rome .
-Bolivia , named after independence fighter Simon BOLIVAR , broke away from Spanish rule in 1825 ; much of its subsequent history has consisted of a series of nearly 200 coups and countercoups .
-Democratic civilian rule was established in 1982 , but leaders have faced difficult problems of deep-seated poverty , social unrest , and illegal drug production .
-In December 2005 , Bolivians elected Movement Toward Socialism leader Evo MORALES president - by the widest margin of any leader since the restoration of civilian rule in 1982 - after he ran on a promise to change the country 's traditional political class and empower the nation 's poor , indigenous majority .
-However , since taking office , his controversial strategies have exacerbated racial and economic tensions between the Amerindian populations of the Andean west and the non-indigenous communities of the eastern lowlands .
-In December 2009 , President MORALES easily won reelection , and his party took control of the legislative branch of the government , which will allow him to continue his process of change .
-Estonia , a 2004 European Union entrant , has a modern market-based economy and one of the higher per capita income levels in Central Europe and the Baltic region .
-Estonia 's successive governments have pursued a free market , pro-business economic agenda and have wavered little in their commitment to pro-market reforms .
-The current government has followed relatively sound fiscal policies that have resulted in balanced budgets and very low public debt .
-The economy benefits from strong electronics and telecommunications sectors and strong trade ties with Finland , Sweden , and Germany .
-Tallinn 's priority has been to sustain high growth rates - on average 8 % per year from 2003 to 2007 .
-Estonia 's economy slowed down markedly and fell sharply into recession in mid-2008 , primarily as a result of an investment and consumption slump following the bursting of the real estate market bubble .
-GDP dropped nearly 14 % in 2009 , among the world 's highest rates of contraction .
-Rising exports to Sweden and Finland lead an economic recovery in 2010 , but unemployment stands above 17 % .
-Estonia joined the OECD in December 2010 and adopted the euro in January 2011 .
-Italy became a nation-state in 1861 when the regional states of the peninsula , along with Sardinia and Sicily , were united under King Victor EMMANUEL II .
-An era of parliamentary government came to a close in the early 1920s when Benito MUSSOLINI established a Fascist dictatorship .
-His alliance with Nazi Germany led to Italy 's defeat in World War II .
-A democratic republic replaced the monarchy in 1946 and economic revival followed .
-Italy was a charter member of NATO and the European Economic Community ( EEC ) .
-It has been at the forefront of European economic and political unification , joining the Economic and Monetary Union in 1999 .
-Persistent problems include illegal immigration , organized crime , corruption , high unemployment , sluggish economic growth , and the low incomes and technical standards of southern Italy compared with the prosperous north .
-Indonesia , a vast polyglot nation , has weathered the global financial crisis relatively smoothly because of its heavy reliance on domestic consumption as the driver of economic growth .
-Increasing investment by both local and foreign investors is also supporting solid growth .
-Although the economy slowed to 4.5 % growth in 2009 from the 6 %-plus growth rate recorded in 2007 and 2008 , by 2010 growth returned to a 6 % rate .
-During the recession , Indonesia outperformed most of its regional neighbors .
-The government made economic advances under the first administration of President YUDHOYONO , introducing significant reforms in the financial sector , including tax and customs reforms , the use of Treasury bills , and capital market development and supervision .
-Indonesia 's debt-to-GDP ratio in recent years has declined steadily because of increasingly robust GDP growth and sound fiscal stewardship , leading two of the three leading credit agencies to upgrade credit ratings for Indonesia 's sovereign debt to one notch below investment grade .
-Indonesia still struggles with poverty and unemployment , inadequate infrastructure , corruption , a complex regulatory environment , and unequal resource distribution among regions .
-YUDHOYONO and his vice president , respected economist BOEDIONO , have maintained broad continuity of economic policy , although the economic reform agenda has been slowed during the first year of their term by corruption scandals and the departure of an internationally respected finance minister .
-In late 2010 , increasing inflation , driven by higher and volatile food prices , posed an increasing challenge to economic policymakers and threatened to push millions of the near-poor below the poverty line .
-The government in 2011 faces the ongoing challenge of improving Indonesia 's infrastructure to remove impediments to growth , while addressing climate change concerns , particularly with regard to conserving Indonesia 's forests and peatlands , the focus of a potentially trailblazing $ 1 billion REDD+ pilot project .
-A WOLF , who in devouring a man had choked himself with a bunch of keys , asked an ostrich to put her head down his throat and pull them out , which she did .
-" I suppose , " said the Wolf , " you expect payment for that service . "
-" A kind act , " replied the Ostrich , " is its own reward ; I have eaten the keys . "
-To err is human .
-To put the blame on someone else is doubles .
-AT&T fired President John Walter after nine months , saying he lacked intellectual leadership .
-He received a $ 26 million severance package .
-Perhaps it 's not Walter who 's lacking intelligence .
-Pope John Paul II The Vatican has released the spiritual testament of Pope John Paul II .
-In the document , the pontiff said he considered resigning in 2000 .
-He also said he thought about being buried in his native Poland , but decided to leave that decision up to the College of Cardinals .
-The pope requested that his personal notes be destroyed , and said he left no material property .
-He began writing the document a quarter-century ago , and also reflected on his family and youth , and said it was a miracle he survived an assassination attempt in 1981 .
-Meanwhile , thousands of people continue to wait hours to view the pope 's body at St. Peter 's Basilica .
-The Vatican says some two million people have already passed by it .
-President Bush and some 200 other world leaders are to attend the pope 's funeral Friday .
-The pontiff will be interred in a crypt beneath the basilica .
-Italian officials have imposed extraordinary security measures that include anti-aircraft missiles and instituting a no-fly zone over Rome .
-Sudan promised on Saturday to implement a resolution adopted by the 53-nation U.N. Human Rights Commission that unanimously condemns human-rights violations in Sudan 's western Darfur region .
-Sudan 's State Minister of Foreign Affairs , Najib el-Kheir , says his country will cooperate with a special investigator appointed by the Commission to monitor the human-rights situation in Darfur .
-The Geneva-based Human Rights Commission called on Khartoum to disarm Arab militias that have been terrorizing villagers in Darfur , and to bring to justice all those involved in human-rights violations .
-An estimated 1,80,000 people have been killed in Darfur since February 2003 .
-Iran is warning the Group of Eight industrialized nations against making any decisions on its nuclear program without first consulting Tehran .
-Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki says because Iran is not attending the group 's summit this month , a decision made there could negate progress toward resolving the standoff over Iran 's nuclear program .
-Iran 's top nuclear negotiator , Ali Larijani , meets this week with European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana to discuss an international offer of incentives for Iran to suspend uranium enrichment .
-The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany offered the incentives package .
-They want Iran to respond before the Group of Eight summit on July 15 .
-Iran has said it will not respond until late August .
-The U.S. and many of its European allies believe Iran is planning to build nuclear weapons .
-Iran denies the charge .
-Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres says Iran should be expelled from the United Nations , after its president called for Israel to be " wiped off the map . "
-Mr. Peres said the statement from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad goes against the principles of the United Nations .
-Mr. Ahmadinejad was speaking Wednesday in Tehran to thousands of students gathered at a conference titled " The World Without Zionism . "
-He warned that any country or leader that acknowledges Israel will face the wrath of the Islamic community .
-In Washington , a White House spokesman , Scott McClellan , said the remarks underscore the Bush administration 's concerns about Iran 's nuclear intentions .
-Speaking on a trip to Moscow , Israel 's foreign minister , Silvan Shalom , also expressed concern over Iran 's nuclear program .
-Several Western nations fear that Iran is secretly trying to build nuclear weapons , a charge Tehran denies .
-South Korean news reports say North Korea is preparing to test fire more short-range missiles , following this week 's reported launch of two missiles .
-According to the reports , intelligence sources believe the North has deployed 10 missiles on Chodo , a small island navy base off the peninsula 's western coast .
-The missiles include land-to-ship and ship-to-ship missiles .
-Pyongyang has banned all ships from traveling near Chodo until October 15 .
-North Korea reportedly fired two missiles from Chodo on Monday as part of a military drill .
-But the firings occur at a time of increased tensions between the two Korean rivals , and speculation about the health of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.
-South Korea 's Yonhap news agency says the North used an aging Russian-made aircraft to fire the two short-range missiles earlier this week , according to a source with knowledge of North Korean military affairs .
-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says Iran has so far shown no interest in a proposed European deal over its nuclear program .
-Ms. Rice says Iran has given no indication that it will accept the offer of trade benefits in exchange for an end to the Tehran government 's nuclear ambitions .
-She added that the world is coming to a united position that Iran must not be able to produce a nuclear weapon .
-She spoke in Washington ahead of talks with President Bush .
-Earlier Thursday , White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Mr. Bush is looking at how the United States can best support the European effort and make sure it gets Iran to abandon its nuclear ambition .
-The United States says Iran is secretly trying to develop a nuclear weapon , a charge Iran denies .
-Russia says it will not pay a higher rent to Ukraine for basing its Black Sea fleet on Ukraine 's Crimean peninsula .
-Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin says the annual rent for the naval base is not subject to change , because it was fixed by agreement with Ukraine in 1997 .
-Under the deal , Russia pays $ 93 million a year to use the base .
-Ukraine wants to increase that figure significantly to reflect current market prices .
-Karasin met with Ukrainian officials in Kiev Tuesday to try to resolve the dispute .
-Both sides said they would continue discussing the issue .
-They also agreed to conduct an inventory of lighthouses and other Black Sea facilities that Ukraine claims as its own .
-Nobel Peace Laureate Mohamed ElBaradei began his career four decades ago as a diplomat in his native Egypt .
-After receiving a bachelor 's degree in law at the University of Cairo , he joined the foreign ministry and was posted to the United Nations office in Geneva .
-In 1974 , he earned a doctorate in International Law at New York University in the United States , where he also taught for several years .
-Mr. ElBaradei , 63 , joined the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency in 1984 and rose quickly through the organization , becoming its director in 1997 .
-In recent years , Mr. ElBaradei 's work has taken him to such political hot spots as North Korea , Libya , Iran and Iraq .
-A top U.S. official has called on Burma 's military government to free pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners .
-Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said Aung San Suu Kyi 's continued house arrest poses a real problem for Burma being able to rejoin the international community .
-A Nobel laureate , Aung San Suu Kyi has spent most of the last 17 years under some form of detention .
-Her latest term of house arrest is up for review on May 27 .
-Aung San Suu Kyi 's National League for Democracy won parliamentary elections in 1990 .
-But the military junta did not allow it to take power .
-Last week the United States said it is renewing sanctions on Burma for at least another year , saying the military government is becoming more brutal .
-The United Nations estimates there are at least 1,100 political prisoners in Burma .
-Al-Qaida in Iraq says it will put on trial two employees of the Moroccan embassy in Baghdad that it kidnapped last month .
-In an unverifiable Internet posting , the group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said Tuesday an Islamic court would determine the men 's fate .
-The Moroccan government has confirmed that two of its employees disappeared October 20 while driving from Jordan to Baghdad .
-Meanwhile , the U.S. military says it released 500 detainees from Abu Ghraib prison Tuesday , ahead of this week 's Eid al-Fitr holiday , which marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan .
-None of those released was guilty of violent crimes .
-And the U.S. military reported the death of another service member .
-The soldier , killed Monday , was the 93rd American killed in Iraq last month , making it the second deadliest month this year for American forces in Iraq .
-Tension is running high in Lebanon after a bomb blast that injured at least six people in a Christian suburb of Beirut late Saturday .
-Opposition leaders have blamed Syria for the blast - the third to hit a Christian neighborhood over the past eight days .
-Lawmaker Walid Jumblatt says Lebanon 's Syrian-backed security forces are trying to destabilize the country as Damascus withdraws its forces .
-Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir , leader of Lebanon 's Maronite Christians , told worshippers Sunday that the country faces a choice between sovereignty and more turmoil .
-Talking to reporters after the Easter Sunday mass , Lebanon 's President Emile Lahoud called on the country 's people to be united .
-The U.S. State Department has condemned the bombings in Beirut , saying authorities must arrest those responsible .
-It also repeated the the U.S. call for Syrian forces to leave Lebanon immediately .
-Google users in China will no longer be automatically redirected to an unfiltered website in Hong Kong when they open the popular Internet search engine .
-Instead , they will find a page with a link they can click on to go to the Hong Kong site for unfiltered searches .
-Google will continue to offer music and other non-controversial services on the main China site .
-The American Internet giant began redirecting users to Hong Kong in January to protest Chinese censorship and an attempt to hack into the e-mail accounts of human rights activists .
-But a blog by Google 's chief legal officer David Drummond on Tuesday said China had warned the company its operating license would not be renewed if the practice continued .
-The license expires on Wednesday .
-Indian officials say at least 32 people have been killed by a blaze in a southern India firecracker warehouse .
-Police say two people have been arrested , including the owner of the warehouse .
-Ten other people were reported injured in the fire late Friday on the eve of the Diwali holiday , also known as the festival of lights .
-The deadly fire ignited in a warehouse in the village of Pallipat , 90 kilometers from the port city of Chennai .
-Among the victims were people buying firecrackers for the holiday .
-Diwali celebrations are spread over several days and involve wearing new clothes , sharing sweets and snacks , as well as lighting many lamps , candles and firecrackers .
-The International Labor Organization is calling on the Burmese government to change legislation and a constitutional provision that allow forced labor .
-During a session of the ILO 's committee on labor standards in Geneva Saturday , the group said efforts by the military government to end forced labor so far have been " totally inadequate " .
-The committee called on the Burmese government to amend current legislation to ban forced labor .
-It also called on the military-ruled junta to change a provision that will allow forced labor when the new constitution goes into effect in 2010 .
-Human rights groups have long accused the Burmese government of using forced labor , including child labor , for state-run construction projects .
-China 's official news agency says the death toll from Tropical Storm Bilis has risen to 518 .
-Xinhua says Guangdong province reported an additional 36 deaths Saturday .
-On Friday , the official death toll doubled from previous counts .
-The Xinhua report did not say how the newly reported deaths occurred .
-Rains from the tropical storm caused massive flooding and triggered landslides in several provinces .
-Hardest hit was Hunan , where the storm is blamed for the deaths of 346 people .
-Bilis hit China 's southeastern coast July 14 , after first striking the Philippines , where it left 28 dead .
-One person was killed in Taiwan .
-Iraq 's election commission says it has rejected a small number of ballots from last month 's parliamentary vote , and plans to issue final results later this week .
-Officials said ballots from 227 boxes were thrown out , adding the move should not affect the vote tally .
-They said final results from the remaining 31,000 boxes will be announced as early as Friday .
-Vote results have been delayed for weeks , after some Sunni Arab groups alleged widespread fraud .
-Near Baghdad , a U.S. military helicopter crashed Monday killing the two soldiers on board .
-In an unverified Internet claim , insurgents said they hit the aircraft in a rocket attack .
-Meanwhile , Iraqi prosecutors said the trial of Saddam Hussein is to resume January 24th without the chief judge .
-Judge Rizkar Mohammed Amin quit last week , complaining of government interference .
-The Pakistani military says its troops have killed nearly 40 militants in two separate attacks Sunday in the northwest region of the country .
-Officials say both offensives were in the Orakzai tribal area near the Afghan border .
-A government official said several dozen militants attacked a village , but troops beat them back , killing many of the insurgents .
-Hours later , militants and troops battled in another area of the region .
-A government official says 12 rebels were killed in that fight .
-Pakistan 's military figures can not be independently verified because access to the remote area is limited .
-Pakistan 's military began an offensive in Orakzai in March to flush out Taliban insurgents believed to have fled an earlier military offensive in South Waziristan .
-Burmese officials say they plan to release 5,000 prisoners to mark the 60th anniversary of the country 's independence on Tuesday .
-Burma 's military government issued the announcement on state-radio Sunday .
-Since November , officials have freed some 20,000 prisoners , including some who had been illegally jailed by the former National Intelligence Bureau .
-The government has dismantled the organization led by disgraced Prime Minister Khin Nyunt .
-A panel headed by British Prime Minister Tony Blair is calling on wealthy nations to spend $ 25 billion a year more to help reverse poverty in Africa .
-In a report released Friday , in London and Addis Ababa , Ethiopia , the Africa Commission calls on rich nations to end trade barriers and agricultural subsidies and cancel all debt for poor African countries .
-The report also calls on African governments to commit to transparency and to ratify the U.N. Covenant on Corruption .
-The panel urges developed nations to monitor corruption and reject illicit funds deposited in their banks by corrupt officials from African nations .
-Mr. Blair says there is " no excuse , no defense , no justification " for the plight of millions in Africa today .
-A United Nations envoy has carried out his first inspection to verify that Syria is withdrawing its military and intelligence personnel from Lebanon and complying with Security Council Resolution 1559 .
-Terje Roed-Larsen Tuesday visited a West Beirut apartment block that Syrian intelligence agents evacuated in recent weeks .
-Mr. Roed-Larsen also voiced support for the Lebanese opposition 's demand that parliamentary elections go forward on time by May 31 .
-On Sunday , Syria pledged to remove all of its troops and intelligence personnel from Lebanon by April 30 .
-Today , witnesses reported more Syrian troops were dismantling their posts , and at least 20 trucks were seen transporting troops and equipment towards Syria .
-A Thai soldier has been shot and killed by suspected insurgents in strife-torn southern Thailand .
-Police say the soldier was gunned down Thursday in Yala province .
-No arrests have been made .
-Meanwhile , the head of Yala 's teachers union says government schools in the province will remain closed indefinitely due to recent attacks on teachers .
-The schools have been shut since last month .
-Many schools in two other southern provinces , Narathiwat and Pattani , are also closed .
-Teachers have been a frequent target in a year-long Muslim separatist insurgency in Thailand 's three southern provinces that has left more than 500 people dead .
-Lawyers for former Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky say they will appeal his fraud and tax evasion conviction to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg , France .
-Thursday , a Moscow court rejected Khodorkovsky 's appeal of his conviction , but supporters of the former head of the oil firm Yukos say authorities rushed through the process to prevent him from running in a December parliamentary byelection .
-In a related development Friday , the Moscow prosecutor 's office said it has asked that three of Khodorkovsky 's lawyers be disbarred .
-A spokeswoman said the three should have represented him in his appeal as well as in his defense .
-Another of his lawyers , Robert Amsterdam of Canada , said Friday Moscow authorities have revoked his visa and told him to leave the country immediately .
-Russian authorities have not confirmed his statement .
-Shoppers gave Madonna 's new fashion venture mixed reviews March 22 , on the occasion of its worldwide rollout .
-The Material Girl 's " M By Madonna " line of clothing and accessories is being marketed by the low-priced Swedish retailer Hennes & Mauritz AB ( H&M ) .
-Shoppers in New York City quickly snapped up items such as belts and small purses , but were reportedly surprised at the generally conservative approach to clothing design .
-An H & M sales associate said retail action has been equally divided between sales and returns .
-Madonna has often shocked contemporary audiences through such risque fashion choices as conical bras and crucifixes .
-Stockholm-based H & M has more than 1,300 stores in 24 countries .
-The International Atomic Energy Agency has decided to use its half of the $ 1 million Nobel Peace Prize award to improve cancer treatment and nutrition in the developing world .
-The 35-member board of the U.N. nuclear agency agreed Friday to create a fund for fellowships and training to improve cancer management and childhood nutrition in these nations .
-In October , the Norwegian Nobel committee presented the agency and its director , Mohamed ElBaradei , with the prestigious prize .
-The award was given in recognition of their efforts to use nuclear energy in safe , peaceful ways and prevent it from being used for military purposes .
-Mr. ElBaradei plans to use his share of the prize money to assist orphanages in his native Egypt .
-Several automakers say their U.S. sales rose sharply in March as the American economy recovers from the worst recession in decades .
-Toyota gained nearly 41 percent from the same month a year ago .
-Toyota used discounts and other incentives to boost sales after safety recalls tarnished the company 's image of reliability .
-Sales for Ford jumped around 40 percent , Honda gained 22 percent , and General Motors improved 21 percent .
-The Korea-based company Hyundai sold about 15 percent more cars .
-Chrysler saw sales fall about eight percent .
-Ten of Egypt 's opposition groups have joined forces against President Hosni Mubarak 's ruling party in parliamentary elections set for November .
-The new alliance , the National Front for Change , includes groups across the political spectrum including liberals , leftists , Islamists and the Kifaya or " Enough " protest movement .
-The outlawed Muslim Brotherhood says it will coordinate fully with the coalition but will field candidates as independents rather than on the unified list .
-Reuters news agency says talks are under way to bring the opposition Ghad tomorrow party into the new coalition .
-Ghad 's leader , Ayman Nour , is facing a forgery trial after running second to President Mubarak in September 's presidential voting .
-Officials say Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas plan to meet in two weeks for their first face to face talks since Mr. Abbas ' election earlier this month .
-The meeting will coincide with a planned visit to the region by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice .
-News of the talks came Saturday , as Israeli and Palestinians security officials met to discuss the security situation .
-The Israelis and Palestinians have recently taken steps to try to revive the peace process .
-Israel stopped offensive operations in the Gaza Strip and the Palestinians deployed thousands of police in the territory to stop militants from firing rockets on Israelis .
-Mr. Abbas is also trying to get Israel and Palestinian militants to agree to a ceasefire .
-A U.S. government report says the nation 's employers added 2,11,000 new jobs in March , dropping the unemployment rate slightly , to 4.7 percent .
-The Labor Department report says job gains were spread throughout the non-farm economy - with the biggest gains in the areas of professional and business services , education and health services , and retail trade .
-The 2,11,000 new jobs figure is well above what most economists had predicted ( 1,90,000 ) for March .
-Analysts say this is an indication the economy is continuing to strengthen .
-In remarks to reporters at the White House , President Bush cited those new figures as evidence that Congress should make his tax-relief plan permanent , rather than let the tax cuts expire .
-Mr. Bush said the cuts are helping the economy move forward and create jobs .
-The unemployment figure in February was 4.8 percent .
-Witnesses in Burma have reported two explosions in the country 's main city , Rangoon .
-They say Burmese security forces sealed off a park and a bus station hit by the explosions , which happened Tuesday night about an hour apart .
-The witnesses say police brought in bomb-sniffing dogs and ordered onlookers to disperse .
-Burma 's military rulers made no comment on the explosions and there were no reports of serious casualties .
-Burma has seen several small bombings in recent years .
-The military government has blamed them on its political opponents or ethnic rebel groups seeking autonomy .
-The groups deny carrying out such attacks .
-Burma has been under near-continuous military rule since 1962 .
-Pakistan 's new government has moved to lift harsh restrictions on the media put in place during November 's state of emergency .
-Information Minister Sherry Rehman introduced legislation Friday that would clear the way for live media broadcasts .
-The measure would also prevent officials at the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority from shutting down news channels , seizing equipment , or fining and imprisoning journalists .
-Rehman said the new freedoms would place a " heavy responsibility " on journalists and other members of the media .
-Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf first moved to curb the media when he declared a state of emergency on November 3 .
-He lifted the state of emergency just over a month later but left restrictions on the media in place .
-The Iranian government has lifted its ban on the Cable News Network , which was imposed for misquoting President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad because of a translation error .
-Officials say Mr. Ahmadinejad asked the cultural ministry to lift the ban late Monday , after CNN apologized for the mistake .
-Hours earlier , Iran barred CNN journalists from the country for misquoting the president as speaking of " nuclear weapons " when he actually spoke of " nuclear technology " during a recent news conference .
-CNN says the Farsi word for " technology " was mistakenly translated into " weapons . "
-The U.S.-based network does not have a permanent correspondent in Iran .
-But reporters have occasionally been allowed to enter the country for brief assignments .
-Iraq 's Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari is in Turkey for talks on boosting relations and on ways to defuse the spike in sectarian violence in Iraq .
-He met Tuesday in Ankara with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan , who warned the violence could spill outside Iraq 's borders .
-Turkish officials fear a civil war in Iraq could lead to the creation of a Kurdish state in northern Iraq , leading Turkey 's Kurds to call for their own independence .
-Mr. al-Jaafari 's talks were also expected to focus on Turkish help for Iraq to overcome water and energy shortages .
-Iraq 's president , Jalal Talabani , criticized Mr. al-Jaafari for making the trip without informing him .
-The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to let the Bush administration transfer accused " enemy combatant " Jose Padilla from U.S. military custody to face criminal charges in Florida .
-The high court 's ruling Wednesday is a victory for the White House , which has held Mr. Padilla in a military detention facility since he was detained three years ago .
-Mr. Padilla 's case has been the subject of numerous court rulings and his classification as an " enemy combatant " has been criticized by civil rights groups .
-Last month the U.S. Justice Department reversed course and requested that the U.S.-born Mr. Padilla be tried in a civilian court .
-An appeals court had ruled against that request , prompting the administration to take the case to the Supreme Court .
-Mr. Padilla was arrested under suspicion of plotting with al-Qaida to set off a dirty bomb in the United States .
-At least 100 demonstrators have rallied near Egypt 's security police headquarters to demand the resignation of the country 's interior minister and the prosecution of security officers whom they accuse of torture .
-Participants in Sunday 's demonstration in Cairo included Egyptian human rights activists .
-International and Egyptian human rights groups have criticized Egyptian prisons , police stations and detention centers for what they say is widespread brutality and torture .
-The U.S. State Department 's latest human rights report said Egypt has a poor human rights record .
-Egypt agreed two years ago to create a national council on human rights to investigate allegations of rights abuses .
-But the government has frequently denied abuse allegations .
-The Washington-area 's planning commission has given preliminary approval to a memorial for victims of communism .
-The National Planning Commission on Thursday approved the design , which includes a bronze statue of the " Goddess of Democracy " , similar to one erected by Chinese students in Beijings 's Tiananmen Square in 1989 .
-Plans are to build the memorial in Northwest Washington near the Capitol .
-The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation have pushed for the project for more than a decade , arguing that the nation 's capital has memorials to many wars but not to the Cold War .
-The chairman of the foundation says donors have given about 70 percent of the $ 6,00,000 needed to build the memorial .
-He expects construction to begin in early 2006 .
-The foundation has worked to honor the more than 100 million people who were killed or tortured under communist regimes .
-A U.S. newspaper says the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has maintained a secret prison for valuable al-Qaida detainees at the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay , Cuba .
-The Washington Post Friday quotes military officials and intelligence officers as saying the existence of the prison has never been made public before .
-The Postsays it is unclear whether the facility is still in operation .
-But , it cites intelligence sources as saying the prison has housed detainees from Pakistan , West Africa , Yemen and other countries .
-The newspaper says most international terrorism suspects in U.S. custody are held by the U.S. military - not the CIA .
-Those held by the military are guaranteed access to the International Committee of the Red Cross .
-But the Post says the CIA detainees are held under separate rules and far greater secrecy .
-Officials at the CIA had no immediate comment .
-Rescue workers have retrieved three more bodies from the wreckage of a passenger train that derailed Saturday in southern India , bringing the death toll to at least 113 people .
-The train plunged into a rain-swollen river in Andhra Pradesh where flash floods had washed away a portion of track .
-Military and other rescue personnel used hacksaws and other machinery to dismantle the partially submerged coaches and rescued at least 100 injured passengers .
-Railway safety officials have begun an investigation into the accident .
-State-run Indian Railways transports more than 13 million passengers daily .
-Each year , some 300 train accidents take place across the country , most are blamed on lax safety standards .
-Ukraine 's Central Election Commission has officially declared opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko the winner of the December 26 runoff presidential election .
-The final results announced late Monday give Mr. Yushchenko 51 percent of the vote , while former pro-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych received 44 percent .
-Election officials had been waiting until Mr. Yanukovych exhausted his appeals to the Supreme Court before officially declaring a winner .
-The former prime minister filed a number of complaints to the high court alleging massive fraud .
-They were all dismissed by the court .
-Aides to Mr. Yanukovych say they will keep up their legal fight .
-The supreme court ordered the December 26 runoff after throwing out a November vote it said was rigged in favor of Mr. Yanukovych .
-Mr. Yushchenko may take the oath of office as early as this week .
-Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has agreed to meet a Kashmiri separatist leader to discuss the future of the disputed region .
-Indian media say Mr. Singh invited Sajjad Lone , chairman of Kashmir 's People 's Conference , to talks in New Delhi on Saturday .
-Mr. Singh has promised to meet with all separatist leaders from Indian-controlled Kashmir who have renounced violence .
-The prime minister held his first talks with a Kashmiri group in September of last year .
-On that occasion , he met with moderate members of the Hurriyat Conference , an umbrella organization of Kashmiri separatists .
-India has been fighting an insurgency in Kashmir for more than 15 years , which has killed at least 44,000 people .
-Kashmiri separatists have made various demands , ranging from independence to merging with neighboring Pakistan .
-Belgian officials have tightened security in the country after the arrest of 14 suspects accused of planning to free an imprisoned member of al-Qaida .
-The suspects were detained early Friday in a police raid .
-Officials say they planned to break Nizar Trabelsi out of prison using weapons and explosives .
-Authorities say they are not aware of any other actions the group had planned .
-But they say they are taking precautions during the busy holiday season and have tightened security on the metro , railway stations , airports and shopping districts .
-The extra security measures will remain in place at least until after New Year 's Day .
-The U.S. embassy today issued a warning to American citizens of a heightened risk of terrorist attack in Brussels .
-Trabelsi is serving a 10-year prison term , for planning to attack a military base in Belgium where U.S. soldiers are stationed .
-He was arrested in September 2001 .
-A passenger plane flying from Dubai to India hit an air pocket Sunday over India , plunging 4,600 meters , injuring more than a dozen people .
-The plane dropped from a height of about approximately 7,620 meters before the pilot could bring the aircraft under control .
-Aviation officials say some of the injured passengers were not wearing seat belts when the plane fell .
-The aircraft carried 361 passengers and 14 crew members .
-The Emirates Boeing 777 landed safely at its destination , the southern Indian city of Kochi , where doctors examined the passengers .
-An air pocket is a downward air current that causes an aircraft to lose altitude abruptly .
-Ukraine 's outgoing president , Leonid Kuchma , has fired three government officials , including one who reportedly backs opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko .
-President Kuchma made the staff changes Friday .
-Earlier this week , London 's Financial Times newspaper quoted one of those dismissed , presidential aide Vasil Baziv , as saying state officials called on Mr. Kuchma to use force to quell mass opposition demonstrations in Kiev .
-The aide also is reported to have said that nearly all of the country 's civil servants believe that Mr. Yushchenko is already the new president of Ukraine .
-Mr. Yushchenko is locked in a tight presidential race with Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych .
-The two will face-off in a court-ordered re-vote on December 26 .
-The new vote is to replace November 's flawed balloting .
-President Kuchma also fired Agrarian Policy Minister Viktor Slauta and Kharkiv regional administration head Yevhen Kushnaryov .
-Preliminary Palestinian election results indicate President Mahmoud Abbas ' ruling Fatah movement has won more than half the votes cast in Thursday 's West Bank municipal elections .
-Election officials gave varying results Friday , but all showed a clear Fatah victory .
-The militant group Hamas , which was expected to have a strong showing , garnered just over 20 percent of the votes .
-Election turnout was strong , with over 80 percent of eligible voters choosing local councils in 104 West Bank towns and villages .
-Hamas downplayed its poor showing , saying many of its candidates were arrested in a week of Israeli raids and airstrikes preceding the vote .
-Friday , Israeli troops killed two militants from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades during a raid for wanted Palestinians in Balata refugee camp , in Nablus .
-Israeli troops also killed a 13-year-old boy during an incident at Askar camp .
-Afghan officials say the U.S. military has handed over six Afghan villagers who were detained during a raid early Tuesday at a compound where troops discovered bomb-making materials .
-The raid near Bagram Air Base and the subsequent arrests sparked a violent protest by several hundred locals who demanded their release .
-They said U.S. troops arrested the villagers without consulting local authorities .
-U.S. soldiers fired warning shots outside the air base after some protesters threw stones at military vehicles and tried to push down the base 's outer gate .
-No casualties were reported .
-The U.S. military said those arrested were suspected of planning attacks against U.S.-led forces .
-This latest incident at Bagram came amid an upsurge in violence ahead of September 's parliamentary elections in Afghanistan .
-Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko says withdrawing his country 's troops from Iraq is a top priority .
-Mr. Yuschenko stressed the importance of coordinating the withdrawal with Ukraine 's coalition partners and withdrawing the troops without suffering any losses .
-The Interfax news agency quotes him as saying Thursday the military has completed its mission , and now it is time for the diplomats and instructors to do their job .
-Defense Minister Anatoly Hrytsenko said Thursday 700 of Ukraine 's more than 1,600 troops in Iraq could be withdrawn by April .
-Ukraine 's foreign minister , Boris Tarasyuk , said last week that instructors , businessmen and diplomats will replace the peacekeepers .
-A Nigerian oil workers ' union says it has suspended a nationwide strike aimed at forcing the government to lower the price of diesel .
-Officials from Nigeria 's National Union of Petroleum and Gas Workers Monday said they called off the strike after the government agreed to address their demands .
-Union officials say they are giving the government two weeks to come up with a plan to lower diesel prices , which have more than doubled in recent weeks .
-Long lines formed at gas stations across the country after the strike began Friday , as drivers feared the strike could disrupt supplies .
-Nigeria is Africa 's biggest crude exporter .
-But attacks on oil pipelines and the kidnapping of foreign workers have significantly cut Nigeria 's output and contributed to record high oil prices around the world .
-Authorities in Iraq say at least 14 people have been killed and 75 injured in a fire that swept through a hospital in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah early Sunday .
-The Italian news agency ( ANSA ) says Italian military personnel stationed in the area helped evacuate the facility .
-The cause of the blaze has not been determined .
-But authorities say they do not believe the fire resulted from insurgent attacks .
-Meanwhile , eight Chinese workers taken hostage in Iraq earlier this month have turned up unharmed in Baghdad .
-Reuters ( news agency ) says a new video shows the eight men being greeted by Chinese diplomatic officials at a mosque west of Baghdad .
-In a video released Saturday , kidnappers said they released the captives after Beijing promised to discourage its citizens from traveling to Iraq .
-A former Russian prime minister and retired Russian general will travel to the war crimes tribunal at the Hague to speak in defense of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic .
-Retired Colonel General Leonid Ivashov will testify Friday and former Prime Minister Nikolai Ryzhkov on Monday .
-The general said Thursday the men believe the charges against Mr. Milosevic are far-fetched , and that claims he committed war crimes have been fabricated by those who launched the 1999 NATO bombing campaign over Kosovo .
-General Ivashov said former prime minister and foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov also will speak on Mr. Milosevic 's behalf in late November .
-The former Yugoslav leader faces more than 60 counts of war crimes stemming from the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s .
-The NATO assault was launched to end Serb aggression against ethnic Albanians .
-Yasser Arafat 's nephew says the late Palestinian leader 's medical records give no clear cause for his death , but there were no trace of known poisons .
-Nasser al-Kidwa spoke to reporters Monday after receiving a copy of the medical file from the French military hospital outside Paris , where Mr. Arafat died on November 11 .
-He said toxicology tests were conducted on the late Palestinian leader , but no known poison was detected .
-Mr. al-Kidwa , who is also the Palestinian representative to the United Nations , is expected to deliver the report to a Palestinian ministerial council which is looking into the cause of Mr. Arafat 's death .
-The Palestinian leader was admitted to the French hospital in late October , but details of his illness have not been revealed .
-The United Nations High Commission for Refugees will be on an eight day mission to Uganda and Tanzania starting Monday
-A U.N. statement says Antonio Guterres will oversee the start of a new program that would help refugees from Burundi return to their country for the first time since 1972 .
-The commissioner 's office says some 2,18,000 Burundians were forced out of their homeland by violence that year , and now he would like to get as many home as possible .
-In a deal reached by Burundi , Tanzania and the U.N. refugee agency , 1,72,000 of the refugees will be allowed to stay in Tanzania and become citizens .
-The other 46,000 plan to return home to Burundi .
-Former U.S. President Bill Clinton has announced a $ 20 million fund to support small- and medium-sized businesses in earthquake-ravaged Haiti .
-Mr. Clinton make the announcement Thursday in Haiti , along with Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim and Canadian businessman Frank Giustra , who each plan to donate half the seed money for the fund .
-In a statement , Mr. Clinton said the fund recognizes the important role small-and medium-sized enterprises play in helping to build a self-sustainable economy in Haiti .
-The announcement came shortly before the inaugural board meeting of the Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission , which is being chaired by Mr. Clinton and Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive .
-The commission is overseeing assistance to the Caribbean nation .
-The powerful January 12 earthquake killed at least 2,17,000 people and left one million homeless .
-Many of the homeless are still living in tent cities .
-Mr. Clinton is the U.N. special envoy to Haiti .
-A U.S. health expert says the burden of responding to a possible bird flu pandemic reaching the United States will largely fall on local governments .
-Michael Osterholm says the U.S. military will not be able to respond quickly if a pandemic spreads to all 50 U.S. states , leaving the effort up to state and city officials .
-A plan drafted by the Bush administration to help the country deal with a possible bird flu outbreak says nearly two million people could die , in a worst-case scenario .
-The plan says hospitals would be overwhelmed with patients , which could number more than eight million .
-Ban Ki-moon is in Japan for ceremonies commemorating the 65th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki .
-Mr. Ban will be the first U.N. secretary general ever to attend the Peace Memorial Ceremony , held every year on August 6 at the exact hour an atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima .
-He will also be the world body 's first leader to visit Nagasaki , where a bomb fell three days later .
-Mr. Ban met Tuesday with Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada in Tokyo , where he said his visit was meant to send a message about the need to work for global nuclear disarmament .
-He was expected to meet Wednesday with Prime Minister Naoto Kan before traveling to Hiroshima .
-The two bombs killed more than 2,00,000 people during the final stages of World War II .
-United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has condemned a recent incursion of Ugandan rebels into the Democratic Republic of Congo ( DRC ) .
-In a statement Wednesday , Mr. Annan called for all governments in the region to use established processes to resolve the situation and boost efforts to end the activities of illegal armed groups .
-He reiterated that the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Congo violates the U.N. charter and recent mutual commitments .
-Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has threatened to send troops into Congo to disarm Ugandan rebels if Congo 's army and U.N. peacekeepers failed to do so .
-At least 300 Ugandan rebels from the Lord 's Resistance Army crossed into Congo last month seeking political asylum .
-The U.N. Security Council Tuesday expressed concern about the foreign armed groups that remain in the DRC , and welcomed a DRC plan to disarm Ugandan rebels .
-Palestinian sources say two police officers have been killed and several others wounded in an explosion in the northern Gaza Strip that destroyed a building used by Palestinian security forces .
-A Palestinian Interior Ministry spokesman accused Israel in the incident at the Jabaliya refugee camp .
-But the Israeli army said it was not involved .
-Israel has recently stepped up air strikes and artillery shelling against militant targets in northern Gaza , in response to ongoing rocket fire from Gaza militants targeting southern Israel .
-Officials in Chile say the rescue shaft they are drilling to free 33 trapped copper miners could reach the men by Saturday .
-Chile 's mining minister , Laurence Golborne , told reporters Thursday that once the drill breaks through , it could take anywhere from three to 10 days to bring the men to safety .
-Golborne said experts will have to analyze the soil and rock around the bore to determine if a metal reinforcement is needed to secure the shaft .
-He said that process could take as long as three days .
-The officials say a drill boring the rescue shaft is now within 100 meters of where the miners are located .
-The men have been trapped more than 600 meters underground since early August .
-Crews have been sending food , water , games , letters and other items to the men through small supply shafts .
-Crowds are gathering in the U.S. city of New Orleans Tuesday to celebrate Mardi Gras , which literally means " Fat Tuesday " .
-Eleven parades will be taking place in the city Tuesday , and street parties will continue until midnight .
-Mardi Gras , or Carnival as it is known elsewhere , is a joyful time celebrated in many predominately Roman Catholic countries .
-It precedes Lent , the somber Christian observance leading up to Easter .
-City officials say the crowd is smaller than last year , but still party-goers are pouring into New Orleans ' famous French Quarter .
-Many of them are in costume , wearing purple , gold and green beads , feather boas and masks .
-Lavish Mardi Gras parades were also staged in New Orleans Tuesday evening , one of them led by singer Harry Connick Jr .
-Uruguay 's new president has restored diplomatic ties with Cuba .
-The move came Tuesday , shortly after Tabare Vazquez was sworn into office in Montevideo .
-Diplomatic relations between the two nations were broken in 2002 after Mr. Vazquez 's predecessor , Jorge Batlle , criticized Cuba over its human rights record .
-Uruguay 's 65-year-old president is a cancer specialist and former mayor of Montevideo .
-Cuban leader Fidel Castro canceled his plans to attend the inauguration for health reasons .
-Among those attending the inauguration were the presidents of Bolivia , Chile , Paraguay and Peru as well as Spain 's Crown Prince Felipe .
-The U.S. delegation was led by Labor Secretary Elaine Chao .
-U.S. State Department spokesman Adam Ereli Tuesday offered congratuatlions to the New President and said the United States looks forward to working with him .
-Afghan officials say the police chief for the southern province of Kandahar has been killed in a clash with Afghan special forces trained by the U.S.
-A senior member of the Kandahar provincial council says at least nine other police officers were killed in Monday 's clash outside the prosecutor 's office in Kandahar city .
-It is not clear what sparked the shootout .
-Afghan officials said Sunday Taliban insurgents killed at least seven police officers in separate attacks in western Afghanistan on Saturday .
-Authorities say five officers and at least seven Taliban fighters were killed when militants attacked a police post in Farah province , Posht-e-Rud .
-Elsewhere in Farah Saturday , Taliban fighters ambushed Afghan police in Bala Boluk , triggering a battle in which two police officers and at least five insurgents were killed .
-The U.S. Army began work Thursday on a long process to destroy nearly 9,50,000 liters of deadly VX nerve gas agent that has been stored in the midestern U.S. state of Indiana .
-Army contractors drained two of 1,600 hardened steel containers at the Newport Chemical Depot and moved the nerve agent into a holding tank .
-Friday , the VX will be pumped into a chemical reactor where it will be mixed with water and sodium hydroxide .
-The mixture will be heated for several days to determine when the chemical has been neutralized .
-The entire process will take more than two years to complete .
-Authorities want to ship the neutralized chemical to a New Jersey treatment plant before it is dumped into the Delaware River .
-Experts say a single drop of VX on the skin can kill a person in less than 12 seconds .
-Nepal 's army has deployed more helicopters and armed escorts along highways Sunday in an effort to break a Maoist blockade .
-Traffic was light again on the second day of the nationwide blockade .
-The Maoists are protesting King Gyanendra 's decision to dismiss the government , impose a state of emergency and suspend civil liberties , as well as putting the media under military control .
-The rebels say they will continue until the monarch reverses his actions , which have prompted protests from many countries .
-The king dismissed the government for failing to hold parliamentary elections and stop the communist insurgency .
-The blockade began on the ninth anniversary of the rebels ' violent uprising against the monarchy , during which more than 11,000 people have been killed .
-The Afghan government says it is not concerned about the recently launched clandestine Taleban radio station that is broadcasting anti-U.S. and anti-government propaganda .
-A presidential spokesman says since the Afghan people suffered enough under the ousted Taleban regime , the propaganda is not expected to have an impact .
-He also said he does not believe the Taleban remnants can continue such activities for long because the government intends to bring them to justice sooner rather than later .
-A U.S. military spokeswoman in Kabul says it is up to the Afghan government how it wants to deal with the broadcasts .
-But she said the area targeted by the broadcasts will definitely be under U.S. military surveillance .
-Campaigning has officially begun in Iraq for the country 's upcoming March 7 general election .
-The first official campaign posters were plastered across Baghdad Friday .
-Campaigning opened amid simmering tensions over the decision to ban a number of Sunni Muslim candidates because of alleged ties to late Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein 's Ba'ath party .
-Iraq 's Shi'ite-led government has tried to purge former Ba'athists from top positions .
-Analysts say the effort could re-ignite sectarian tensions between majority Shi'ite Muslims and Sunnis , who dominated Iraq under Saddam .
-As campaigning began , the U.S. military said five people were killed during a joint raid with Iraqi forces in a village near the Iranian border .
-It said those killed were suspected militants , but a provincial council member told the Associated Press they were civilians .
-No further information was immediately available .
-A diplomat close to a U.N. investigation of Iran 's nuclear program says Pakistan has agreed to hand over used centrifuge components to the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency .
-Inspectors hope tests will prove whether traces of enriched uranium found in Iran came from the Pakistani equipment , as Tehran has argued , rather than from material produced at the Iranian site .
-Each batch of enriched uranium has a unique " fingerprint . "
-Islamabad acknowledged for the first time last week that Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan gave equipment to Iran .
-It has previously admitted that his group sold technology and blueprints to North Korea , Libya and Iran .
-Iran insists it intends to use enriched uranium only in power stations , but Washington argues that Iran is making fuel for atomic warheads .
-Military officials say at least three soldiers and 12 militants have been killed in a clash in southwestern Pakistan .
-Major General Salim Nawaz say the rebels ambushed a paramilitary convoy Sunday in the Dera Bugti district of Baluchistan province .
-The general says troops retaliated , killing the militants and destroying their hideout near natural gas installations in the Sui area .
-This is the second such clash in over a week .
-At least 36 militants and troops were killed in the region last weekend .
-Rebel tribesmen have been waging a long-running , low-key insurgency in Dera Bugti .
-The militants accuse the central government of not sharing profits from the province 's vast natural gas reserves .
-Dera Bugti is near Pakistan 's biggest natural gas field and was the base of late Baluch rebel leader Nawab Akbar Bugti who was killed in a military operation in 2006 .
-Shi'ite and Kurdish political leaders in Iraq say the new government could be formed within the next week , as marathon negotiations on its makeup continue .
-Jawad al-Maliky of the Shi'ite-dominated United Iraqi Alliance told reporters Friday the National Assembly will likely meet again next Thursday and vote on the proposed president , prime minster and cabinet .
-But some other politicians have given a slightly longer time frame , saying the parliament will not reconvene until next Saturday .
-The new interim assembly was sworn in Wednesday , but the government was not named because Shi'ite and Kurdish politicians have not been able to compromise on several significant issues .
-Some Iraqis have expressed frustration over the prolonged talks , after millions defied insurgents and risked attack to vote in the January 30th election .
-Turkish officials say Kurdish separatist militants have killed four soldiers in an overnight ambush in the eastern part of Turkey .
-Authorities say militants of the Kurdistan Workers Party , armed with rocket launchers , attacked a local commando unit on patrol in Tunceli province in a pre-dawn raid on Sunday .
-One Turkish soldier was wounded .
-Fighting between the government and the Kurdish rebels subsided in 1999 after the rebels declared a cease-fire with Ankara .
-But rebels called off the truce last June , saying they were not satisfied with the pace of promised Turkish reforms .
-The Kurdistan Workers Party has been fighting for an ethnic homeland in southeastern Turkey for more than two decades .
-More than 30,000 people have died since their revolt began in 1984 .
-Japanese authorities have confirmed that a bird flu outbreak in the country 's south was caused by the deadly H5N1 virus .
-Authorities said Saturday officials are culling tens of thousands of birds on the affected poultry farm in Miyazaki prefecture .
-The culling began Friday , after preliminary tests showed the chickens were infected with an H5 strain of the bird flu virus .
-Earlier this month in the same area , Japan confirmed its first outbreak of H5N1 in three years .
-No human infections have been reported .
-Bird flu has killed more than 150 people worldwide since its emergence in 2003 .
-Taleban militants have freed one German and four Afghans held hostage in Afghanistan since July in exchange for the release of several Taleban prisoners .
-Jaghato district chief Mohammed Nahim in Wardak province says the hostage swap took place earlier Wednesday .
-The official and the private Afghan news agency , Pajhwok , says the freed Taleban militants were related to the kidnappers .
-The German , Rudolf Blechschmidt , was captured in Wardak province along with the Afghans and another German , who became ill while in captivity and was shot dead .
-German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier confirmed the release of the engineer , saying officials were happy and relieved .
-Blechschmidt appeared in a video in August pleading for his freedom and saying his health was deteriorating .
-Taleban kidnappers demanded Germany withdraw its troops serving with the NATO mission in Afghanistan .
-The German government refused .
-Afghan officials say at least 32 people have died in a head-on collision between two buses in southern Afghanistan .
-At least 35 others were injured .
-Police said the crash occurred Monday on the main road linking the capital Kabul and the southern city of Kandahar .
-The Reuters news agency reports the crash occurred at a high speed about an hour before sundown .
-In other news , NATO reports that a soldier with its International Security Assistance Force mission was killed and at least four others wounded while on patrol in southern Afghanistan on Monday .
-Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo have agreed to support a U.S. proposal for indirect peace talks between Palestinians and Israelis .
-Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told reporters Wednesday that members of the Arab League will back the talks for a period of four months .
-Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas , who is attending the Cairo meeting , has said he would abide by the Arab League 's decision .
-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also welcomed the decision .
-The announcement follows a U.S. offer to mediate discussions between the two sides in an effort to revive the stalled peace process .
-On Tuesday , a U.S. State Department spokesman , P.J. Crowley , said Washington believes Israel and the Palestinians are " getting closer " to starting a dialogue .
-Talks broke down over a year ago .
-One of the biggest disputes is Israel 's continued settlement activity in territory that Palestinians claim for a future state .
-Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has assured President Bush that recent political developments in Ukraine will in no way affect his country 's hopes to eventually join NATO and the European Union .
-In a statement , Saturday , the Ukrainian presidency said the two men had spoken by telephone .
-The statement quoted Mr. Yushchenko as telling Mr. Bush his recent actions were aimed at consolidating democracy and making Ukraine 's government more efficient .
-Thursday , Mr. Yushchenko dismissed Prime Minister Yulija Tymoshenko , one of the key figures behind the " Orange Revolution , " the popular movement that brought him to power early this year .
-The Ukrainian president also dismissed the entire cabinet amid reports of government infighting and allegations of official fraud .
-He named senior regional official Yuri Yekhanurov acting prime minister .
-Ms. Tymoshenko says she and her supporters plan to run their own candidates in next year 's parliamentary elections .
-Governments , officials and activists worldwide are commemorating International Human Rights Day Friday .
-Today marks the anniversary of the U.N. General Assembly 's adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 .
-The General Assembly will commemorate Human Rights Day by holding a plenary session on human rights education .
-The session also marks the end of the United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education , which began in 1995 .
-The world body also plans to hold panel discussions on human rights education in schools , as well as a human rights year in review .
-Pope John Paul II has denounced using hostages as bargaining pieces and called for respect of human life .
-The pontiff made the comments in French Saturday as he accepted a political courage award from a French Catholic television station and French political magazine .
-He told the audience at the Vatican that his thoughts go out to journalists , who he described as artisans of peace and liberty , and face danger in conflict zones .
-He said there is no justification for kidnappers using a human life to bargain for demands .
-His comments come as officials still seek word on two French journalists who have been missing in Iraq since August .
-Militants who claimed to have abducted the pair have called for France to repeal its headscarf ban in state schools .
-U.S. Republicans say the country 's health care costs could be lowered by cutting down on lawsuits and allowing people to buy health insurance plans across state lines .
-Giving the Republican Party 's weekly Saturday radio and Internet address , Illinois Congressman Mark Kirk said his party 's suggested reforms are " common sense . "
-He said he regrets their health care reform bill was rejected .
-Kirk said the Democrats ' plan is " a new massive spending program , " when the national debt already " tops $ 12 trillion . "
-Last week , Democrats in the House of Representatives passed their plan .
-It includes a government-run option for health insurance and extends coverage to an additional 36 million people .
-The government estimates the new bill would cost about $ 1.2 trillion over 10 years .
-The U.S. Senate has yet to pass health care legislation .
-Heads of state from French-speaking nations are gathering in the west African nation of Burkina Faso for a two-day summit to discuss the crisis in Ivory Coast .
-Leaders of some world hotspots : Sudan , Haiti , Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo - top the guest list .
-However , Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo is not expected to attend .
-French President Jacques Chirac is expected to press delegates to renew a call for peace in Ivory Coast , after the government raided rebel bases this month , shattering an 18-month truce .
-The raids killed nine members of a French peacekeeping force , which responded by destroying Ivorian warplanes .
-The United States is concerned about the outbreak of violence in eastern Uzbekistan .
-A State Department spokesman in Washington , Richard Boucher , has called Friday on both the Uzbek government and the protesters to avoid violence and seek a peaceful way out of the crisis .
-The European Union is blaming authorities in Tashkent for the violence .
-A spokesman for the European Commission says the clashes in Andijan were a consequence of the government 's lack of respect for human rights and the rule of law , as well as its failure to ease poverty .
-In Moscow , Russian authorities have blamed Uzbek protesters for the violence .
-The head of the Duma State Committee for International Affairs , Konstantin Kosachev , warns that the Adijon uprising could trigger a wave of unrest across a wider area of Central Asia .
-Doctors treating prominent U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy say his apparent seizure Tuesday was caused by fatigue .
-Kennedy , who has brain cancer , collapsed during an inauguration luncheon in honor of President Barack Obama at the Capitol building .
-He was taken to a nearby hospital , where he underwent tests .
-Doctors say the 76-year-old liberal icon is awake , talking with friends , and feeling well .
-He will remain in the hospital overnight for observation .
-Mr. Obama told dignitaries at the inaugural lunch that he was praying for Kennedy , who he called a warrior for civil rights .
-Kennedy underwent surgery for a malignant brain tumor last year , after being diagnosed in May .
-He has represented the state of Massachusetts in the Senate since 1962 and is the only surviving brother of the late President John Kennedy .
-Sony Corp. completed its tender offer for Columbia Pictures Entertainment Inc. , with Columbia shareholders tendering 99.3 % of all common shares outstanding by the Tuesday deadline .
-Sony Columbia Acquisition Corp. , formed for the Columbia deal , will formally take ownership of the movie studio later this month , a spokesman said .
-Sony is paying $ 27 a share , or $ 3.55 billion , cash and is assuming $ 1.4 billion of long-term debt .
-Still unresolved is Sony 's effort to hire producers Jon Peters and Peter Guber to run the studio .
-Sony 's planned acquisition of Guber / Peters Entertainment Co. for $ 200 million is scheduled to close Monday .
-Guber / Peters has been locked in litigation with Warner Communications Inc. in an attempt to get out of an exclusive production contract with Warner .
-Both sides are in talks to settle the dispute .
-In February 2007 , the Iles Eparses became an integral part of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands ( TAAF ) .
-The Southern Lands are now divided into five administrative districts , two of which are archipelagos , Iles Crozet and Iles Kerguelen ; the third is a district composed of two volcanic islands , Ile Saint-Paul and Ile Amsterdam ; the fourth , Iles Eparses , consists of five scattered tropical islands around Madagascar .
-They contain no permanent inhabitants and are visited only by researchers studying the native fauna , scientists at the various scientific stations , fishermen , and military personnel .
-The fifth district is the Antarctic portion , which consists of " Adelie Land , " a thin slice of the Antarctic continent discovered and claimed by the French in 1840 .
-Landlocked Malawi ranks among the world 's most densely populated and least developed countries .
-The economy is predominately agricultural with about 80 % of the population living in rural areas .
-Agriculture , which has benefited from fertilizer subsidies since 2006 , accounts for more than one-third of GDP and 90 % of export revenues .
-The performance of the tobacco sector is key to short-term growth as tobacco accounts for more than half of exports .
-The economy depends on substantial inflows of economic assistance from the IMF , the World Bank , and individual donor nations .
-In 2006 , Malawi was approved for relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries ( HIPC ) program .
-In December 2007 , the US granted Malawi eligibility status to receive financial support within the Millennium Challenge Corporation ( MCC ) initiative .
-The government faces many challenges including developing a market economy , improving educational facilities , facing up to environmental problems , dealing with the rapidly growing problem of HIV / AIDS , and satisfying foreign donors that fiscal discipline is being tightened .
-Since 2005 President MUTHARIKA'S government has exhibited improved financial discipline under the guidance of Finance Minister Goodall GONDWE and signed a three year Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility worth $ 56 million with the IMF .
-Improved relations with the IMF lead other international donors to resume aid as well .
-The government has announced infrastructure projects that could yield improvements , such as a new oil pipeline , for better fuel access , and the potential for a waterway link through Mozambican rivers to the ocean , for better transportation options .
-Since 2009 , however , Malawi has experienced some setbacks , including a general shortage of foreign exchange , which has damaged its ability to pay for imports , and fuel shortages that hinder transportation and productivity .
-Investment fell 23 % in 2009 , and continued to decline in 2010 .
-The government has failed to address barriers to investment such as unreliable power , water shortages , poor telecommunications infrastructure , and the high costs of services .
-The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world 's five oceans ( after the Pacific Ocean , but larger than the Indian Ocean , Southern Ocean , and Arctic Ocean ) .
-The Kiel Canal ( Germany ) , Oresund ( Denmark-Sweden ) , Bosporus ( Turkey ) , Strait of Gibraltar ( Morocco-Spain ) , and the Saint Lawrence Seaway ( Canada-US ) are important strategic access waterways .
-The decision by the International Hydrographic Organization in the spring of 2000 to delimit a fifth world ocean , the Southern Ocean , removed the portion of the Atlantic Ocean south of 60 degrees south latitude .
-Founding president and liberation struggle icon Jomo KENYATTA led Kenya from independence in 1963 until his death in 1978 , when President Daniel Toroitich arap MOI took power in a constitutional succession .
-The country was a de~facto one-party state from 1969 until 1982 when the ruling Kenya African National Union ( KANU ) made itself the sole legal party in Kenya .
-MOI acceded to internal and external pressure for political liberalization in late 1991 .
-The ethnically fractured opposition failed to dislodge KANU from power in elections in 1992 and 1997 , which were marred by violence and fraud , but were viewed as having generally reflected the will of the Kenyan people .
-President MOI stepped down in December 2002 following fair and peaceful elections .
-Mwai KIBAKI , running as the candidate of the multiethnic , united opposition group , the National Rainbow Coalition ( NARC ) , defeated KANU candidate Uhuru KENYATTA and assumed the presidency following a campaign centered on an anticorruption platform .
-KIBAKI 's NARC coalition splintered in 2005 over a constitutional review process .
-Government defectors joined with KANU to form a new opposition coalition , the Orange Democratic Movement , which defeated the government 's draft constitution in a popular referendum in November 2005 .
-KIBAKI 's reelection in December 2007 brought charges of vote rigging from ODM candidate Raila ODINGA and unleashed two months of violence in which as many as 1,500 people died .
-UN-sponsored talks in late February produced a powersharing accord bringing ODINGA into the government in the restored position of prime minister .
-Kenya in August 2010 adopted a new constitution that eliminates the role of prime minister after the next presidential election .
-Scattered over more than three-quarters of a million square kilometers of ocean , the Coral Sea Islands were declared a territory of Australia in 1969 .
-They are uninhabited except for a small meteorological staff on the Willis Islets .
-Automated weather stations , beacons , and a lighthouse occupy many other islands and reefs .
-A LION roaming by the seashore saw a Dolphin lift up its head out of the waves , and suggested that they contract an alliance , saying that of all the animals they ought to be the best friends , since the one was the king of beasts on the earth , and the other was the sovereign ruler of all the inhabitants of the ocean .
-The Dolphin gladly consented to this request .
-Not long afterwards the Lion had a combat with a wild bull , and called on the Dolphin to help him .
-The Dolphin , though quite willing to give him assistance , was unable to do so , as he could not by any means reach the land .
-The Lion abused him as a traitor .
-The Dolphin replied , " Nay , my friend , blame not me , but Nature , which , while giving me the sovereignty of the sea , has quite denied me the power of living upon the land . "
-A DRUNKEN Man was lying in the road with a bleeding nose , upon which he had fallen , when a Pig passed that way .
-" You wallow fairly well , " said the Pig , " but , my fine fellow , you have much to learn about rooting . "
-Diplomats say the United States and the European Union are ready to offer Iran a compromise deal that would permit the Tehran government to carry out one of the early stages of making nuclear fuel , but all actual uranium enrichment would take place in Russia .
-Enriched uranium can be used to generate energy or to make nuclear weapons .
-Iran says it wants to process its own nuclear fuel to produce electricity .
-But The United States and Europe accuse Tehran of seeking highly enriched weapons-grade material .
-Diplomats say moving the enrichment process to Russia would allow international oversight of the process .
-Iran has rejected international demands to renounce its right to enrichment , and restarted its conversion process earlier this year .
-The International Atomic Energy Agency ruled Tehran is not in compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty .
-The IAEA board meets later this month ( November 24 ) to consider further action .
-An estimated 8,000 landless activists converged on Brazil 's capital this week to demand land reform .
-The demonstrators surrounded the central bank in Brasilia Thursday , carrying a list of demands for delivery to a bank official .
-The Reuters news agency quoted one activist as saying there could be another fight over the issue in five to six months unless more public money is provided to speed up land reform .
-The protest took place just days after hooded gunmen killed five land reform activists on a farm in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais .
-Brazil has one of the greatest disparities in land ownership in the world , with a small number of wealthy ranchers owning the vast majority of the land .
-South Korea says North Korea has fired three short-range missiles off its west coast .
-South Korea 's Yonhap news agency said Saturday that the missiles were fired Friday into the Yellow Sea off Jeungsan County , about 40 kilometers west of the North Korean capital of Pyongyang .
-Quoting a government source , Yonhap said the testing was part of a military training exercise involving ship-to-ship missiles with a range of 46 kilometers .
-The North 's navy fired three ship-to-ship missiles on March 28th in what was then described by the South Korean government as part of a regular military exercise in the waters off the peninsula 's west coast .
-A White House spokesman , Gordon Johndroe , described the tests in March as " not constructive , " and urged North Korea to instead focus on dismantling its nuclear facilities .
-Iraqi search and rescue crews are pulling bodies Friday from destroyed buildings after a barrage of rocket and bomb attacks on Baghdad killed at least 64 people Thursday .
-The attack , which officials say included explosives planted in apartments , wounded more than 250 people .
-The series of blasts went off for a half hour in mainly Shi'ite areas of the capital .
-The coordinated attacks occurred during the intensified U.S.-Iraqi security clampdown across the capital aimed at stopping sectarian violence .
-Earlier Thursday , Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said he hoped Iraqi forces would be able to take responsibility for security for most of the country by the end of the year .
-He said the province of Dhi Qar will be handed over to Iraqi forces next month .
-The U.S. Navy is warning ships to stay away from the coast of Somalia after a series of pirate attacks there .
-The U.S. Maritime Liaison Office in Bahrain says that , although ships belonging to U.S.-led anti-terror coalition are operating in the area , they can not monitor every ship that passes the east coast of Somalia .
-The office is urging merchant ships to stay at least 200 nautical miles ( 370 kilometers ) off Somalia .
-Pirates have attacked at least eight ships in the area this year .
-On Saturday , pirates tried , but failed , to hijack a boat carrying food to Somalia for the United Nations World Food Program .
-The United Nations is calling for international action against the rampant piracy off Somalia 's coast , saying it threatens further aid deliveries to the country .
-President Bush is holding a televised news conference to discuss two of his top priorities - energy and the government 's Social Security pension plan .
-Listen on VOA News Now for the live news conference on the following shortwave frequencies : 7115 Khz , 9885 Khz , 11705 Khz and 11725 Khz , or monitor it here now on VOANews.com .
-The news conference will also be available on FM in some areas .
-Baghdad listeners can tune in 102.4 FM ; Mosul listeners , 104.6 FM ; and in Basra , 105 FM .
-White House spokesman Scott McClellan says the president will talk about specific ideas to keep Social Security solvent in the future .
-He says Mr. Bush will also talk about the importance of addressing the nation 's long-term energy needs .
-The news conference comes as rising fuel costs continue to take a toll on the U.S. economy and Mr. Bush 's approval ratings .
-Argentinean authorities say they have arrested a Colombian model accused of leading a drug-trafficking ring .
-Authorities say they detained Angie Sanclemente Valenica on Wednesday in Argentina 's capital Buenos Aires .
-Valencia , a former beauty queen , had been accused of heading a group of attractive young women that smuggled cocaine to Mexico .
-Valencia has denied the charges .
-Her native Colombia is the world 's largest cocaine producer .
-A Russian who had been held at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay , Cuba , says U.S. forces there regularly desecrated the Koran .
-Airat Vakhitov , who was released from Guantanamo last year , said soldiers threw Korans into the toilet and regularly desecrated the book to provoke a response .
-The Associated Press quotes Mr. Vakhitov as later saying he did not personally see the Koran being desecrated , but was informed of the alleged incidents by other detainees .
-U.S. officials did not immediately respond to the claims made Tuesday in Moscow .
-Earlier this month , the Pentagon acknowledged that U.S. forces at Guantanamo had mishandled the Koran on several occasions .
-Newsweek magazine reported last month that U.S. forces in Guantanamo had flushed a Koran down a toilet - a charged that sparked deadly riots in Afghanistan and protests in a number of other countries .
-The magazine later retracted the story .
-A South Korean official says Seoul has repatriated three North Korean fishermen rescued from a boat drifting in South Korean waters .
-Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung told reporters that the fishermen were sent back to the North at the border village of Panmunjom on Friday .
-He said the three were rescued last month by a South Korean navy vessel near the disputed western sea border with North Korea .
-Chun said the fisherman told investigators they wanted to go back to their homeland .
-The two Koreas are still technically at war after the Korean War ended in 1953 with a truce .
-The U.S. military in Iraq says three coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq in separate incidents in the past 24 hours .
-Officials say one soldier was killed and four others injured when their patrol was attacked by an explosive and small arms fire near Ashraf .
-And two American soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in eastern Baghdad .
-The casualties Wednesday came as U.S. officials announced troops had killed two members of al-Qaida in Iraq during separate operations .
-The security situation in Iraq was cited by defense lawyers for Saddam Hussein , who demanded bodyguards and other security measures following the kidnapping and murder of a lawyer representing one of Saddam 's co-defendants .
-And in Washington , U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad , said military officials could begin reducing the size of American forces in Iraq next year .
-The Treasury Department has frozen the U.S. assets of five people and four groups for alleged connections to an organization with ties to the al-Qaida terrorist network .
-The suspects , companies - Sara Properties , Meadowbrook Investments and Ozlam Properties - and charity - Sanabel Relief Agency - are reported to be based in Britain .
-A statement from the Treasury Department accuses them of financing the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group .
-That group is alleged to be affiliated with al-Qaida and allegedly has engaged in terrorist activities including the attempted assassination of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi .
-The order against the individuals and groups also bars Americans from doing business with them .
-Acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says Iran is obsessed with hatred of Israel and the Jewish people and must be stopped from developing nuclear weapons .
-Speaking late Tuesday , the Israeli leader called for concrete , joint action by the international community to stop Iran 's alleged push to develop a nuclear arsenal .
-Hours earlier , the leaders of Russia and France joined the chorus of world leaders calling on Tehran to stop all uranium enrichment .
-China called for continued diplomatic efforts to ease growing international tensions .
-Iran insists its nuclear program is aimed at developing electricity .
-Iran resumed small-scale uranium enrichment Monday -- an initial step in the process of producing fuel for nuclear reactors or atomic weapons .
-Iran had threatened to resume enrichment after the International Atomic Energy Agency referred it to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions earlier this month .
-Taiwan says it has arrested a military intelligence officer who allegedly provided defense secrets to China .
-A defense ministry spokesman says the officer worked in a division responsible for collecting information about China 's military capabilities .
-His activities were uncovered during an investigation into a crime ring involving fake credit cards .
-The spokesman says the information the officer passed on to Beijing dealt with the mainland and not Taiwan , and was non-essential .
-A former Australian soldier is suspected of appearing in a videotaped terror message released this week , threatening attacks against the West .
-Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Friday , that former army private Mathew Stewart is suspected of joining al-Qaida , although he has not been identified as the masked spokesman in the video .
-Mr. Downer says the government has reason to believe Mr. Stewart is one of a number of Australians who have turned to al-Qaida .
-Federal police have questioned Mr. Stewart 's family , and his mother says he is not the man in the video .
-Mr. Stewart served with the U.N. peacekeeping force in East Timor before he was discharged in 2001 and traveled to Afghanistan the next year .
-He has not been seen since .
-U.S. military officials in Afghanistan say four American soldiers were killed Saturday when their vehicle hit a mine and exploded .
-The military says the blast occurred Saturday in the southeastern province of Logar , where U.S. and Afghan soldiers were surveying a potential site for a weapons range .
-Officials say they are not certain if the mine had been planted recently or was old unexploded ordnance .
-Afghanistan is littered with old mines after a quarter century of war .
-The deaths came a day after a U.S. Defense Department spokesman , Paul Swiergosz , said American troops will provide transportation and planning support to U.S. and Afghan agencies conducting counter drug operations .
-The 17,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan were previously instructed only to seize or destroy drugs discovered during military operations .
-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says it will be up to her daughter Chelsea whether to accept a Kenyan man 's offer of livestock in return for Chelsea 's hand in marriage .
-The Kenyan man 's offer of 40 goats and 20 cows was first made in 2000 , in a letter to Secretary Clinton 's husband , then-president Bill Clinton .
-At a town hall meeting in Nairobi Thursday , the mediator asked for a fresh response to the proposal .
-Clinton said her daughter is " very independent , " but added that she will pass along what she called the " very kind offer . "
-Secretary Clinton is on an 11-day , seven-nation tour of Africa .
-A U.S. group measuring governments ' Internet censorship says Burma has one of the world 's most restrictive policies and may be increasing control through sophisticated filtering software .
-The " Open Net Initiative " group , supported by several rights groups and U.S. universities , says Burma 's regulating system has both broad , vaguely worded policies governing Internet behavior and harsh penalties for lawbreakers .
-It says the state focuses on blocking politically sensitive information such as pro-democracy Web sites , and has the capability to monitor e-mail communication .
-The group says even some mainstream Internet sites , like Yahoo and Hotmail , are barred because they thwart state monitoring .
-It says the government uses Internet filtering software purchased from a U.S. company , Fortinet .
-The independent Irawaddy newspaper quotes officials with the company denying the charge .
-Somalia 's parliament has approved Mohammed Ali Gedi as the country 's new prime minister , nearly two weeks after rejecting his nomination .
-More than 80 percent of lawmakers voted to approve Mr. Gedi Thursday .
-He was later sworn in during a ceremony in Nairobi , Kenya , where the new government has been meeting due to security concerns at home .
-Earlier this month , lawmakers passed a vote of no confidence in Mr. Gedi , saying Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed failed to seek parliament 's approval for the nomination .
-The president re-appointed Mr. Gedi two days later , satisfying lawmakers demands that the process comply with rules governing the newly created power-sharing government .
-Parliament had also rejected the prime minister 's formation of a cabinet of nearly 80 ministers .
-Mr. Gedi is expected to appoint a new cabinet in the coming weeks .
-The U.S. Senate is expected to take up a measure Wednesday designed to make sweeping reforms to the nation 's intelligence agencies .
-Lawmakers in the House of Representatives approved the bill Tuesday night by a vote of 336 to 75 .
-The bill calls for the creation of a national intelligence director and a National Counterterrorism Center to coordinate all intelligence on terrorist activity .
-The bill enacts many of the reforms advocated by the panel that investigated the September 11 , 2001 terrorist attacks .
-A White House spokesman said President Bush was very pleased with the bill 's passage in the House and that the president believes it will make America safer .
-Congressional leaders said earlier Tuesday they were able to resolve key differences in the bill that had delayed its final passage .
-The U.S. military says coalition forces killed about 40 Taleban fighters Friday in an attack on an insurgent camp in southern Afghanistan .
-A military spokesman , Lieutenant Colonel Paul Fitzpatrick , said Saturday that the coalition forces waited until about 50 rebels entered the camp for a meeting before attacking .
-The spokesman said the compound , in eastern Uruzgan province , was severely damaged and it was anticipated that most of those present were killed .
-Another U.S. statement said two coalition troops were killed Friday , when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in eastern Kunar province , bordering Pakistan .
-The military did not give the nationalities of the soldiers killed .
-U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan launched an offensive Wednesday involving about 10,000 Afghan and coalition troops .
-Gunmen have raided a hospital in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk , freeing a wounded man who was detained for plotting to kill a judge involved in Saddam Hussein 's trial .
-A police official says three police guards were killed and six others were wounded in the early morning attack Wednesday .
-Elsewhere , an American soldier was killed Tuesday near the western town of Habbaniya when his vehicle hit a mine .
-Meanwhile , in London , British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Britain can not meet the demands of kidnappers holding a British peace activist and three other Westerners hostage in Iraq .
-Mr. Straw said no government could meet their demands .
-The kidnappers have threatened to kill the hostages unless Iraqi detainees are released from American and Iraqi jails by Thursday .
-Scientists are warning that a long-term temperature increase of more than two-degrees Celsius would have dangerous consequences for global climate systems .
-Meeting at a U.N. sponsored climate conference in Argentina Tuesday , a group of European experts said such an increase could threaten Latin American water supplies , reduce food yields in Asia and increase extreme weather conditions in the Caribbean .
-Most scientists agree that global temperatures have already risen an average of more than half-a-degree Celsius over the past century .
-The main focus of the two-week U.N. conference in Buenos Aires conference is the 1997 Kyoto Protocol , which mandates the reduction of carbon dioxide and other gas emissions believed to cause global warming .
-The United States and Australia are the only major industrial countries that have failed to ratify the accord .
-In rejecting the accord , President Bush said it would damage the U.S. economy .
-The Libyan government has given its first-ever donation to the World Food Program to assist with relief efforts in the Darfur region .
-The U.N. agency says it will use the $ 4.5 million contribution to cover the increased costs of jet fuel for food airlifts into the troubled area .
-In a statement , the agency says it has been airlifting food from southern Libya into Darfur for nearly a year .
-It says Libya has provided a ground transportation corridor for relief convoys from the port of Benghazi , Libya , into eastern Chad since 2004 .
-The World Food Program says it aims to help two-point-seven million people in the Darfur region of western Sudan , and more than 2,00,000 Sudanese refugees in eastern Chad .
-British Prime Minister Tony Blair says he hopes to bring the United States back into global warming talks .
-Mr. Blair said Wednesday - the day the Kyoto pact took effect - that global warming could become a catastrophe and that getting the United States back into a dialogue is one solution .
-President Bush pulled out of Kyoto in 2001 , saying it would hurt the U.S. economy .
-He has called for new technology as one way to cut greenhouse gases .
-Some European leaders have criticized the United States for pulling out of the Kyoto treaty .
-They say they expect Mr. Bush to address the matter when he visits Europe next week .
-North Korean media say a top official is planning to visit Syria , heightening suspicions that the two countries are cooperating on a secret nuclear program .
-In a brief statement Saturday , the official North Korean Central News Agency said the speaker of North Korea 's parliament , Choe Thae Bok , has left for a trip that will take him to Italy and Syria .
-The report gave no other details .
-In September , U.S. media reports said Pyongyang has secretly offered nuclear cooperation to Syria , and that the two nations are working on some sort of nuclear facility .
-Both have denied the allegations .
-North Korea conducted a nuclear weapons test last year , but has since been compliant in six-nation talks aimed at ending its nuclear weapons program .
-An official in southern Nigeria says two recently kidnapped Philippine oil workers have been freed .
-The government spokesman , Emmanuel Okah , in Rivers State said the two workers abducted Tuesday from the troubled Niger Delta region were released Sunday .
-He did not say if negotiators paid a ransom , which is frequently demanded by kidnappers in the oil-rich region .
-The two workers are employees of the Norway-based oil services company Petroleum Geo-Services .
-They were abducted by armed men from an oil rig near the city of Port Harcourt .
-Militants targeting Nigeria 's oil industry have kidnapped some 31 foreign workers since January .
-All have been released unharmed .
-The militants are demanding a greater share of the region 's oil wealth .
-Chinese journalists covering the recent collapse of a bridge in central China , which killed at least 41 people , have been harassed while trying to interview grieving families of the deceased .
-According to a Chinese-language Web site , China Public Opinion Monitor , that focuses on human rights issues , a group of reporters from five state-run newspapers , including the Communist Party 's People 's Daily , were attacked by a group of unidentified men earlier this week in Hunan province .
-An editor from China 's Southern Metropolitan Daily confirmed to VOA Mandarin service that the clash occurred .
-Local government officials deny that any reporters were beaten .
-Monday 's collapse of the bridge over the Tuo river in Hunan province has captured nationwide media attention and China 's president has promised a swift investigation .
-It is still unclear why the bridge collapsed .
-Bisphenol A is a chemical used in making plastic bottles and most other plastic products we use every day .
-Until now , the only indication that bisphenol A , or BPA , might be harmful came from studies using laboratory animals .
-Now , a study involving humans indicates exposure to the chemical may increase the risk of developing heart disease , diabetes and liver problems .
-VOA 's Carol Pearson has more .
-Italian prosecutors say police have arrested two foreigners suspected of plotting terror attacks on targets near Milan .
-Italy 's ANSA news agency says the suspects are Moroccan nationals with suspected links to al-Qaida .
-The report says the two , identified as Rachid Ilhami and Gafir Abdelkader , were planning attacks on a supermarket and a nightclub parking lot outside Milan .
-Authorities say additional attacks were planned on police stations in the area .
-The report says wiretaps showed the suspects initially planned to use a van packed with explosives , but later decided to use oxygen canisters .
-ANSA says police also seized a cultural center near Milan , where one of the suspects worked as a preacher .
-Both suspects are thought to have lived in Italy for several years .
-A bomb exploded near a busy bus terminal south of the Pakistani capital Islamabad late Monday , killing at least nine people and injuring around 17 others .
-Local police say the explosion in Rawalpindi appears to be a suicide attack .
-Some news reports say the bomber was inside a car or on a motorcycle when the explosives went off .
-Emergency personnel are at the scene .
-No other information is immediately available .
-The attack came on the same day the government gave in to opposition demands to reinstate a popular Supreme Court justice .
-The concession prompted supporters of opposition leader Nawaz Sharif to call off his so-called " long march " to Islamabad .
-Pakistan has been facing a wave of militant attacks over the past few years .
-The government has recently signed separate peace agreements with Islamic militants in the Swat Valley , and in the neighboring Bajaur region .
-The Israeli military has acknowledged it carried out a strike in Gaza City Wednesday that killed a Palestinian man and wounded another .
-Military officials say the strike targeted a militant with the Army of Islam , an extremist group believed to have al-Qaida loyalties .
-The Israeli military released a statement saying the intended target ( identified as Mohammed Jamal al-Nimnim ) had directed several attacks against Israel .
-The military says the strike was a joint effort between Israeli Defense Forces and the Israel Security Agency .
-Earlier Wednesday , Palestinians blamed Israel after the suspect 's car exploded near Hamas police headquarters .
-Israeli media reports said the blast could have been a car bomb that detonated prematurely , but there was no official word from Israel .
-The explosion comes during a period of relative calm between the Palestinian-ruled territory and Israel -- and between the rival Hamas and Fatah factions .
-Daughter of journalist Dharmeratnam Sivaram , grieves by his body in Talangama , near Colombo Sri Lanka 's government has ordered a full-scale investigation into the murder of a prominent Tamil journalist who was abducted outside a restaurant Thursday night .
-Dharmeratnam Sivaram , a 46-year-old senior editor of a pro-Tamil rebel website , was out with friends when four unidentified men grabbed him .
-He was shot after being bound and gagged , and his body dumped near the Sri Lankan parliamentary complex .
-Mr. Sivaram , also a columnist with an English language daily , was the country 's best-known Tamil Internet journalist .
-The website was popular for its reporting on the Sri Lankan civil war and the peace process after the 2002 cease-fire .
-The Paris-based media watch dog Reporters Without Borders had expressed fears for Mr. Sivaram 's safety after police searched his home in Colombo last year .
-The Netherlands rallied to defeat China , 02-Jan , to reach the main draw of the eight-nation Hopman Cup mixed team tennis tournament in Perth , Australia .
-Peng Shuai , ranked 36th , gave China a 1-0 lead when she beat 16-year-old Michaella Krajicek in the women 's singles match , 06-Mar , 04-Jun , 06-Mar .
-Peter Wessels got the Dutch even by winning his singles match over Sun Peng , 06-Feb , 06-Feb .
-Then Wessels and Krajicek combined to win the mixed doubles match over Peng and Sun , 06-Apr , 06-Apr .
-With the victory , the Dutch will join Australia , Argentina and Germany in Group A .
-Germany , with Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Nicolas Kiefer plays on Saturday against the Australian team of Samantha Stosur and Wayne Arthurs .
-Group B features the United States , Russia , Sweden and Serbia and Montenegro .
-The Americans are represented by Lisa Raymond and Taylor Dent .
-Plans to build a mosque near the site of the destroyed World Trade Center in New York cleared an obstacle Tuesday when a city committee denied landmark status to a nearby building .
-The New York Landmarks Preservation Committee voted unanimously against giving protected status to a building constructed in the 1850s , that developers want to tear down to build an Islamic community center and mosque .
-The World Trade Center site in downtown New York has been known as ground zero since the terrorist attacks of September 11 , 2001 destroyed the twin towers that once stood there .
-The plan to build a mosque a few blocks from the ground zero has drawn criticism from those who say it is disrespectful to victims who were killed in an attack by Islamist extremists .
-Supporters of the project say it will help bridge divisions between the West and the Muslim world .
-Authorities in Vietnam say Typhoon Kai Tak killed at least 18 people , and emergency workers are still searching for bodies .
-Weather officials say the typhoon dissipated Wednesday after battering the coast of central Vietnam .
-Authorities say deaths have been reported in several regions , including the provinces of Quang Ngai and Thua Thien Hue .
-At least six people are missing .
-Vietnam 's official news agency says heavy rain and widespread flooding inundated thousands of homes and severely damaged roads and other infrastructure .
-Thousands of hectares of crops have been destroyed .
-The typhoon also prompted Chinese President Hu Jintao to cut short his visit to Vietnam .
-Official reports say damage from the typhoon is estimated at $ 1.7 million .
-Iraqi police say at least 28 people , including seven policemen , were killed in a powerful explosion in a Baghdad house overnight .
-Officials describe the incident as an ambush , saying " massive amounts of explosives " were detonated as police raided the building .
-Police had earlier received an anonymous tip that the house was a suspected base for foreign militants .
-Officials say several nearby houses also collapsed , and they fear a number of residents might be trapped under the rubble .
-Tuesday , at least 23 Iraqi police and national guards were killed in a series of insurgent attacks in the so-called Sunni Triangle region north of Baghdad - in and near the towns of Tikrit , Samarra , Balad and Baquba .
-Top U.S. military officials in Iraq say they expect an escalation of attacks and assassination attempts ahead of the January 30th elections .
-French football star Zinedine Zidane has announced that he will retire from the sport after this summer 's World Cup tournament in Germany .
-Zidane told French television , Canal Plus , Tuesday that he has made a " definitive " decision that the World Cup is his last goal .
-The inspirational Real Madrid playmaker said the World Cup is the only thing he wants to focus on .
-Zidane was awarded FIFA World Player of the Year honors in 1998 , 2000 and 2003 and has won 99 caps for France , including 17 as captain .
-He scored two goals against Brazil in the final to secure the 1998 World Cup .
-Zidane became the world 's most expensive player in 2001 when he moved from Juventus of Italy to Real Madrid for $ 66 million .
-France is grouped with Switzerland , South Korea and Togo at this year 's World Cup .
-Rescuers in Baghdad have pulled more bodies from the rubble of a house that was destroyed in an apparent suicide attack Christmas Eve , raising the death toll to nine people .
-There are unconfirmed reports that the dead were all members of the same family .
-Meanwhile , the wounded were being treated at Baghdad hospitals .
-Many of them suffered severe burns in the gas tanker explosion .
-Friday 's attack further unnerved Christians living in the capital , as many of them did not venture out to subdued Christmas services this Saturday morning .
-In the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf , the governor said police have arrested a group of men suspected of having organized Sunday 's attack in Najaf that killed 52 pilgrims .
-He said an announcement would be made in Baghdad next week .
-China says it will accept bids next week from three international firms to design and build four nuclear reactors .
-U.S.-based Westinghouse , along with companies from France and Russia , will submit bids to build the reactors in China 's eastern province of Zhejiang and the southern province of Guangdong .
-Westinghouse 's efforts got a boost last week when the U.S. Export-Import Bank approved nearly five billion dollars to help finance the project .
-This is the first time a U.S. firm has competed for a nuclear project in China .
-China is seeking to boost its nuclear power program as part of an overall effort to meet its growing energy demands .
-It already has nine nuclear power plants in operation .
-London police chief Ian Blair says police have made what he calls " significant " progress in its investigation into last week 's failed London subway bombings .
-Investigators said Tuesday they found a large amount of suspicious material in a north London apartment connected to one of the four wanted suspects .
-They have also seized a suspicious car parked near the apartment .
-The suspects fled from three London subway stations and a bus when their bombs failed to explode on July 21st .
-Police have identified two of the suspects as a British citizen from Eritrea and a Somali living legally in Britain .
-Authorities are looking for a link between the July 21 attack and the July 7 London suicide bombings that killed 56 people .
-Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo says a law approved by parliament to allow an opposition leader to run for president must be put to a referendum , angering rebels who say he is wrecking peace efforts .
-The rebels say the reform should be enacted into law immediately .
-The law to allow opposition leaders to run for president has been a key demand among those who want former prime minister and opposition leader Alassane Ouattara to make a bid for the presidency .
-It is designed to end a ban on Ivorians with foreign parents from running as presidential candidates .
-U.S. lawmakers have approved an addition $ 2 billion to fund an immensely popular car trade-in program known as " cash for clunkers . "
-The House of Representatives rushed a bill forward Friday to replenish funding for the program , which nearly exhausted its initial $ 1 billion funding limit within a matter of days .
-President Barack Obama praised lawmakers for working quickly to pass the bill .
-His administration had promised to extend the initiative .
-The legislation still has to be approved by the Senate , which is likely to vote next week .
-" Cash for clunkers " gives car owners up to $ 4,500 in rebates to trade in older vehicles for more fuel-efficient models .
-The government launched the program one week ago to boost U.S. auto sales and to improve the fuel economy of vehicles on the road .
-It was scheduled to run through November 1 .
-Thai police say at least 18 bombs have exploded at banks in the restive southern province of Yala , killing at least one person and wounding several others .
-Officials suspect militants detonated the bombs , which exploded Thursday at or near commercial banks in Yala 's provincial capital and nearby districts .
-Islamist insurgents have staged a lengthy series of attacks in Yala and two other Muslim-majority provinces in southern Thailand , Narathiwat and Pattani , since January 2004 .
-The provinces were a Malay sultanate until Buddhist Thailand annexed them a century ago .
-More than 1,400 people have been killed since the insurgency erupted .
-Egyptian police say they have killed one of the main suspects in the recent bombings at Egypt 's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh .
-A police official says Mohammed Saleh Fulayfill was killed and his wife was wounded during a shootout with police near the town of Suez .
-The July 23 bombings at Sharm el-Sheikh killed at least 64 people .
-The suspect was also being tried in his absence for his alleged role in similar bomb attacks last October in the Egyptian resort town of Taba .
-Austrian prosecutors say the three-year prison term of a British historian convicted of denying the Nazi Holocaust is too light and have appealed the ruling .
-A spokesman for the Vienna prosecutor 's office , Walter Geyer , announced the appeal of the sentence of David Irving .
-The historian Monday pleaded guilty to charges of denying the Holocaust following his arrest in November over comments he made in 1989 .
-He told the judge that he had abandoned those views after finding documents by the chief planner of the Jewish genocide , Adolf Eichmann .
-The chief judge , however , said he did not believe Irving was sincere .
-The British historian also has said he plans to appeal the sentence .
-Irving has written books calling Nazi concentration camp gas chambers a hoax , and he has said that Nazi forces killed far fewer than the estimated six million Jews .
-Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari toured the embattled city of Tal Afar Monday , where Iraqi forces backed by U.S. troops are trying to drive insurgents from their northern stronghold .
-The prime minister 's office confirmed the visit , which came despite insurgent threats to counter-attack coalition forces in the city with chemical weapons .
-Some insurgent positions were found deserted Sunday , as 5,000 Iraqi soldiers and 3,500 U.S. armored cavalry troops pushed into the near-empty city .
-U.S. authorities say they suspect many insurgents escaped the fighting through a network of tunnels found beneath the city on Sunday .
-In Baghdad today , the Iraqi Defense Ministry said 157 insurgents have been killed since Sunday .
-The U.S. military reported 141 insurgent fatalities in the previous 24 hours .
-Reuters news agency quotes a Defense Ministry spokesman as saying the operation should be completed by Thursday .
-The White House says Florida Governor and President Bush 's brother Jeb will lead a delegation to Haiti for Sunday 's inauguration of incoming Haitian President René Préval .
-A statement issued Monday said U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Janet Ann Sanderson and M.
-Rony Francois , Secretary of the Florida Department of Health , also will comprise the presidential delegation announced by President Bush .
-The incoming Haitian leader won the presidency in February , following a campaign of promises to improve social conditions and education for Haitians .
-The vote ushered in the first democratically elected government in Haiti since the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004 .
-Mr. Préval first held the presidency from 1996 to 2001 .
-The top U.S. military commander in Iraq has told troops they must refrain from torturing or mistreating Iraqis .
-Army General David Petraeus reminded American forces in an open letter dated Thursday they had to convince Iraqis that " we - not our enemies - occupy the high moral ground . "
-General Petraeus was responding to a recent survey of U.S. ground troops in Iraq , which found more than one-third of all Marines and Army soldiers support torture if it leads to information about insurgents , or saves the lives of U.S. troops .
-Many also said they would not report a fellow serviceman for killing or injuring an Iraqi civilian .
-The general says that while seeing a fellow trooper killed can lead to anger and a need for revenge , torture is " neither useful nor necessary . "
-Congo 's President Joseph Kabila has suspended six government ministers accused of embezzling money through state-run companies .
-Mr. Kabila says the sanctions target the ministers of energy , transport and communications , higher education , public works and infrastructure , mining , and external trade .
-The government also suspended 10 top officials in state-run companies as part of an ongoing probe into corruption charges .
-Mr. Kabila 's transition government is struggling to rebuild the nation , following more than 30 years of corrupt rule by former dictator Mobutu Sese Seko .
-Mobutu 's regime was accused of massive fraud and looting of funds through government offices and state mining companies .
-Officials in Afghanistan say Taleban militants have beheaded four Afghan men .
-Authorities say the decapitated bodies were found in Shajoy district of insurgent-hit Zabol province .
-They say the men were kidnapped from their homes Tuesday .
-The Taleban claimed responsibility , accusing the men of spying for the United States .
-That claim could not be immediately confirmed .
-Also Friday , a roadside bomb exploded as a convoy carrying Denmark 's defense chief , Jesper Helsoe , passed by .
-The explosion occurred near Feyzabad in the northeastern part of the country .
-No casualties were reported .
-Late Thursday , coalition leaders announced the deaths of 14 militants during the ongoing military offensive to flush out insurgents from southern Afghanistan .
-The Taleban , whose government was toppled by a U.S.-led military coalition in late 2001 , have been fighting against the new government .
-A suicide bomber in a car blew himself up next to a NATO convoy in southern Afghanistan on Friday , but no troops were hurt .
-The blast occurred north of Tirin Kot , the capital of Uruzgan province .
-Afghan police say the suicide bomber was trying to get close to the convoy but was more than 30 meters away when the explosion went off .
-The bomber was killed , but there were no other casualties .
-Attacks from suspected Taleban militants against NATO , U.S. and Afghan forces increased dramatically in Afghanistan last year .
-U.S. and Afghan officials have warned they expect an increase in Taleban attacks in the coming months .
-Pakistani security officials say they have detained a suspected Taliban commander and killed at least five other militants during an operation in the country 's northwest .
-Officials say security forces clashed with the insurgents Thursday in the Mohmand tribal region , bordering Bajaur , where Pakistani troops have been fighting Taliban and al-Qaida militants for months .
-Authorities say the security forces captured a suspected explosives expert and Pakistani Taliban commander , known as Imran or Mansoor , during the clash today .
-They say the commander helped prepare suicide bomb materials and maintained links with insurgents across the border in Afghanistan .
-Authorities in Nepal say one policeman has been killed and four wounded by a bomb that exploded as they were clearing a roadblock set by suspected Maoist rebels .
-Authorities say the blast struck Monday on the Mahendranagar highway , about 600 kilometers west of the capital , Kathmandu .
-The explosion comes on the second day of a week-long strike called by Maoist rebels to disrupt Wednesday 's local elections to be held across the country .
-The rebels have threatened to harm anyone who participates in the municipal elections .
-More than 600 candidates have already dropped out .
-The rebels and opposition parties oppose the elections , calling them a sham aimed at legitimizing King Gyanendra 's seizure of power a year ago in the constitutional monarchy .
-The king says he took absolute rule because the government failed to stop the nearly decade-long Maoist insurgency .
-Afghan officials say a roadside bomb has killed three Afghans and two foreigners in the country 's south .
-Officials say the victims worked for an American security company ( USPI ) and were killed on the road linking Kandahar with Herat .
-The nationalities of the two foreigners is not clear .
-The Taleban are being blamed for the attack .
-In a separate incident , a suicide bomber blew up himself and his accomplice in the center of Kandahar city Tuesday .
-There were no other casualties .
-The governor of Kandahar province , Asadullah Khalid , blamed the attack on people he considers Taleban militants .
-Taleban insurgents have increased attacks in southern Afghanistan in recent months .
-U.S.-led forces overthrew the hardline Islamist Taleban regime in late 2001 , following the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States .
-Seismologists say a 7.1 magnitude earthquake has struck about 100 kilometers south of the coast of Taiwan .
-Japanese seismologists have issued a tsunami warning for the region , saying a one-meter-tall tsunami is now heading for the Philippines .
-Taiwanese scientists say the earthquake was followed by a magnitude 6.4 aftershock that struck off of southwestern Taiwan .
-There have been no immediate reports of damage or casualties .
-Abu Farraj al-Libbi , a top al-Qaida operative and close associate of Osama bin Laden who is wanted for two attempts to assassinate Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf , has been arrested in Pakistan .
-Pakistani Information Minister Shiekh Rashid Ahmed confirmed the arrest of Abu Farraj al-Libbi .
-" We arrested [ him ] yesterday with four other people , " said Shiekh Rashid Ahmed .
-The Libyan native , considered third in charge of al-Qaida , had a $ 1 million bounty on his head .
-He is one of the group 's top operational commanders , and is accused of planning two unsuccessful bomb attacks against Pakistan 's president , Pervez Musharraf , in 2003 .
-Mr. Rashid would not comment on where the suspect was arrested , but he was thought to have been hiding in Pakistan 's northern tribal areas .
-Burma 's military government appears to have resumed its promised release of prisoners after a delay of several days .
-Journalists in Rangoon Thursday said they saw inmates being freed from the country 's largest jail , Insein prison .
-They apparently were the first to be let go since a few hundred were granted freedom last Friday .
-The government announced last week that it would free some 4,000 prisoners it said were wrongly detained by the recently disbanded security apparatus , the National lntelligence Bureau .
-Of those freed last week , only a handful were said to be political dissidents .
-Sources in the Burmese capital tell VOA one of those expected to be released is Win Tin , a former top aide to opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi .
-Win Tin has been jailed since 1989 and is 74 years old .
-Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest .
-Brazil has successfully launched its first rocket into space .
-The rocket was launched from the Alcantara base in northern Brazil to conduct experiments just outside Earth 's atmosphere .
-The launch Saturday came 14 months after a deadly rocket explosion at the Altcantara base killed 21 space agency employees , including key technicians .
-The launch pad explosion also damaged the reputation of Brazil 's space program and set back plans to sell up to 15 of its VSV-30 rockets .
-Brazil 's Alcantara base is considered an excellent launch site because of its proximity to the equator , where the Earth moves the fastest . .
-Scientists say launching a rocket at this point gives it an extra boost and allows it to carry less fuel .
-The U.N. Security Council has canceled plans to send a delegation to talks with the Sudanese government and the African Union on the crisis in Darfur .
-U.N. diplomats said late Friday the mission fell through after they could not agree on its scope and mandate .
-The Council president , Peru 's U.N. Ambassador Jorge Voto Bernales , said members could also not agree on what message the delegation would convey to the Sudanese and A.U. officials who begin meetings Monday in Ethiopia 's capital , Addis Ababa .
-The Security Council has approved a U.N. mission for Darfur to take over from an under-funded A.U. mission .
-Sudan has repeatedly rejected the mission , likening a U.N. force to colonization .
-To counter those rejections , U.N. diplomats are reported to be considering a force made up mainly of African troops who receive communication gear and logistical support through the United Nations .
-Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe told the U.N. General Assembly Sunday that claims of a humanitarian crisis in his country are unfounded .
-Mr. Mugabe said those who criticized Zimbabwe 's recent program to demolish illegal dwellings and street stalls were trying to tarnish the image of Zimbabwe and depict it as a failed state .
-A recent U.N. report called Mr. Mugabe 's so-called urban cleanup campaign a disastrous policy that left 7,00,000 people without homes or jobs .
-President Mugabe told the General Assembly that what he calls " Operation Restore Order " cleared the way for a vast reconstruction program that would lead to new factories and homes .
-He also criticized what he called Zimbabwe 's " detractors and ill-wishers " for reporting starvation in the country .
-He said those reports were not TRUE .
-U.S.-led forces in Iraq 's western Anbar province say they have detained 13 suspected insurgents in a continuing offensive along the Euphrates river .
-A U.S. military statement Thursday said no major battles or airstrikes have occurred during the operation , which began Tuesday around the city of Hit .
-The statement also said troops have confiscated hundreds of mortars , explosives and guns .
-It said basic utilities in the town continue to function and residents continue to have access to medical treatment .
-Anbar is Iraq 's largest province and is believed to be an insurgent stronghold and transit route for foreign fighters .
-The presidents of Russia and Syria have held talks at the Kremlin amid controversy over a reported weapons sale between their nations .
-Russia 's Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad of Syria signed bilateral agreements at Tuesday 's meeting .
-Russia also agreed to write-off about $ 10 billion of Syria 's more than $ 13 billion debt to Moscow .
-The leaders stressed the importance of building strong relations .
-Mr. al-Assad also said he would welcome an increased Russian role in the Middle East .
-Earlier , the Syrian leader told university students his country has the right to purchase anti-aircraft missiles for defense .
-Reports have said Russia planned to sell shoulder-fired SA-18 missiles and larger Iskander-E missiles to Syria - prompting protests from Israel .
-The Iskander-E would be capable of hitting most of Israel .
-The Israelis fear the SA-18 could fall into the hands of Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon .
-Chinese organizers have canceled the international portion of the Beijing Paralympic torch relay , and shortened the domestic legs .
-Wednesday 's announcement comes after international legs of the Olympic torch relay were plagued by violent protests against China 's Tibet policy .
-However , organizers say the Paralympic relay route was changed because the government is focusing on relief work following a deadly earthquake on May 12 .
-It killed 70,000 people and left millions displaced in Sichuan province .
-The first-ever international Paralympic torch relay had been scheduled to visit upcoming Olympic host cities London , England , Vancouver , Canada and Sochi , Russia as well as Hong Kong before the September sixth to 17th Paralympics .
-Four Chinese cities , Chengdu , Chongqing , Urumqi and Tianjin , were also removed from the original 16-stop schedule for the domestic relay .
-The state-run China Daily newspaper has reported the 2008 Olympics will create more than 1.8 million jobs in Beijing and boost the Chinese capital 's overall economic growth .
-The newspaper cited a new economic outlook by two statisticians for the city government that says Beijing 's economy will grow 9.8 percent annually between now and 2008 .
-That is an increase of almost one percentage point ( 0.8 ) from the annual average between 2001 and 2005 .
-The report says more than 50 sectors of the economy will benefit from the Games , with construction leading the way with more than 20 percent of the growth .
-The 2008 Games have spurred Beijing to launch numerous infrastructure development projects , including expanded highway and subway systems , an Olympic sports and culture zone and 17 new gymnasiums .
-Thousands of Egyptians demonstrated in central Cairo Wednesday to demand democratic reform .
-The protest brought together members of the banned Islamist group the Muslim Brotherhood and several leftist groups .
-It was one of the largest and the latest in a series of demonstrations held ahead of Egypt 's first multi-candidate presidential elections scheduled for September .
-Egyptians approved an amendment to allow more than one presidential candidate earlier this year .
-But opposition officials say the amendment includes restrictive measures that will prevent a credible challenge to President Hosni Mubarak if he decides to seek another term .
-Egypt has banned the Muslim Brotherhood so members of the group will not be able to take part in the election .
-A sleek , black and chrome French train with oversized wheels has broken a world speed record for conventional rail , reaching a top velocity of nearly 575 kilometers per hour .
-French television Tuesday showed sparks flying and a long tail of dust , as the specially built ( V-150 ) train streaked through the French countryside .
-The train easily surpassed the old French record of 515 kilometers per hour set in 1990 , and just missed the Japanese record ( 581 kph ) for a train that levitates over magnetic track .
-French manufacturer Alstom equipped the train with two 25,000 horsepower engines and three double-decker cars .
-It set the record on a newly-built track linking Paris with Strasbourg .
-A modified version of the prototype train is set to begin passenger service between Paris and Strasbourg in June .
-The U.S. government is taking steps to move Hurricane Katrina evacuees out of hotels and into long-term housing .
-The Federal Emergency Management Agency , known as FEMA has told families living in more than 40,000 hotel rooms across the country that it will stop paying their hotel bills on December 1 .
-Funding will last until January 7 for another 12,000 families occupying hotel rooms in the states of Louisiana and Mississippi , where damage from Katrina has led to a housing shortage .
-Up to 1,50,000 evacuees will have to find apartments or other housing options by the deadlines if they want to continue receiving FEMA rental assistance of $ 786 a month .
-Advocates for the evacuees have criticized the deadlines , saying FEMA is not giving the families enough time to find new housing .
-A defunct Russian communications satellite has smashed into a U.S. satellite in orbit , creating a possible risk to the International Space Station .
-U.S. officials say this is the first time two whole satellites ever crashed into each other in space .
-They collided Tuesday about 780 kilometers above Siberia , creating a huge explosion with many pieces of debris .
-The U.S. space agency , NASA , said the floating satellite parts create a small risk to the International Space Station , which flies at a lower orbit than where the collision took place .
-But NASA says it will be weeks before the full magnitude of the collision is known .
-Scientists say there are thousands of pieces of space junk orbiting the Earth , including old satellites and burned-out rocket boosters .
-Thousands of people have marched in two Colombian cities to protest a planned free trade agreement with the United States .
-The marchers massed in Bogota and Cartagena Thursday , saying the accord would worsen unemployment in the Andean nation .
-The demonstration took place as trade negotiators from Colombia , Ecuador , Peru and the United States met for a new round of talks in Cartagena .
-The negotiations for the free trade deal began in May of last year and are supposed to conclude next month .
-The Andean countries want to extend existing trade accords that allow them to export items such as fresh cut flowers without tariffs .
-The agreements , set to expire in 2006 , were put in place to help countries on the front lines in the fight against the illegal drug trade .
-World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz is in Islamabad , where he met with President Pervez Musharraf and praised Pakistan 's economic and banking sector reforms .
-General Musharraf thanked the World Bank for its support to Pakistan , which includes poverty alleviation , water , power , energy and infrastructure projects .
-Pakistan is the World Bank 's fifth-largest borrower .
-Earlier , Mr. Wolfowitz met with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz , a former Citibank executive who is credited with turning around Pakistan 's economy over the past few years .
-The government has said that Pakistan 's economy grew 8.4 percent in the fiscal year that ended in June .
-Mr. Wolfowitz also met with people from poor rural areas to learn how World Bank-funded projects have helped them .
-The World Bank president is scheduled to leave on Wednesday for India .
-Pakistani officials say the latest crackdown has resulted in the arrest of up to 600 suspected militants , clerics and Islamist activists across the country .
-Those detained include members of outlawed militant organizations , clerics accused of delivering " provocative " speeches , and Islamists accused of publishing or distributing hate material .
-At least 295 of the detainees belong to militant groups outlawed over the past three years .
-President Pervez Musharraf ordered the crackdown after revelations that some of the suspected suicide bombers in the July 7 attacks on London were Britons of Pakistani descent who had visited Pakistan .
-But Pakistani officials say the arrests had nothing to do with the London Bombings .
-The officials say some of those detained will be tried under Pakistan 's Anti-Terrorism Law , which allows authorities to hold a suspect up to a year without laying charges .
-Iraqi President Jalal Talabani is in the United States for weeks of medical care , including weight-loss treatment .
-Mr. Talabani , a Kurd , arrived at the Mayo Clinic in the northern U.S. state of Minnesota on Sunday .
-The Iraqi president , who is in his early 70s , has said he has no health problems except for his weight .
-Earlier this year , he underwent more than two weeks of treatment in Jordan for exhaustion and dehydration .
-Mr. Talabani 's role as president is largely ceremonial , but he has been influential in political efforts to try to heal Iraq 's sectarian divisions .
-The teen years are often a difficult time for girls and boys as they make the transition from children to young adults .
-One group is using the written word to help ease the transition for girls who come from difficult environments in New York .
-‘ Girls Write Now ’ pairs teenage girls with professional women writers , who serve as writing coaches .
-Paige Kollock reports .
-American actor Dennis Weaver , who was famous for his role as Chester in the television show Gunsmoke , has died at the age of 81 .
-Weaver 's publicist said Monday that he died at his home in Colorado from complications caused by cancer .
-As a young man , Weaver served in the Navy during World War II and took part in qualifications for the 1948 U.S. Olympic decathlon team .
-He later pursued acting , and won an Emmy award in the 1950s for his role as the tall , limping Chester on the Western Gunsmoke .
-Dennis Weaver also starred in a television series during the 1970s called McCloud and appeared in several major movies .
-An Iraqi prosecutor says Saddam Hussein 's cousin and four other former officials in the ousted regime deserve the death penalty for mass killings of Kurds .
-The prosecutor sought the death penalty Monday at the trial in Baghdad against Ali Hassan al-Majid and the other four officials .
-Al-Majid is known as " Chemical Ali " for allegedly ordering poison gas attacks against the Kurds .
-The prosecutor asked that a sixth defendant , former governor of Mosul Taher al-Ani , be released for lack of evidence .
-The former officials are on trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity for the so-called Anfal campaign in the 1980s , in which 1,80,000 Iraqi Kurds died .
-The defendants claim the campaign was against legitimate military targets - Kurdish guerrillas who had sided with Iran during the 1980 - 88 Iran-Iraq war .
-Busta Rhymes will face trial on two assault charges after being caught driving with a suspended license .
-A Manhattan judge Monday , March 26 , withdrew a plea offer which included probation , community service , and a series of lectures to troubled youth .
-The trial is tentatively set to start May 8 .
-The 34-year-old rapper - real name Trevor Smith , Jr. - is accused of beating his former driver last December in a dispute over back pay .
-The other case involves an August , 2006 attack on a fan , who allegedly spit on the rapper 's car .
-New York City police also want to question Busta Rhymes in connection with the February , 2006 shooting death of his bodyguard , Israel Ramirez .
-They claim he has been uncooperative .
-The U.S. military says 23 of the terror suspects being held at the U.S. detention camp at Guantanamo Bay , Cuba , tried to hang or strangle themselves in a coordinated , mass disruption in 2003 .
-A military spokesman , Lieutenant Commander Chris Lounderma , told VOA two of the protesters attempted suicide , during the disruption from August 18 to August 26 of 2003 .
-The spokesman said those two protesters required hospital treatment before they were eventually transferred to a psychiatric ward .
-Officials say the demonstration was an attempt to disrupt operations at Guantanamo and unnerve new security guards .
-The U.S. military released details on the disruption in response to questions from U.S. media .
-There are some 550 prisoners held at the camp .
-Palestinian officials and witnesses say Hamas militiamen detained at least 10 members of the rival Fatah movement after breaking up a wedding and beating guests .
-The witnesses said the arrests occurred during overnight marriage celebrations in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanun .
-Hamas authorities say the wedding guests were singing Fatah nationalist songs in support of Palestinian President and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas , and firing guns into the air .
-Hospital workers said at least 10 people were hurt in the confrontation .
-Witnesses said that after the incident , about 150 relatives of those arrested staged protests outside Hamas offices in the town .
-Most of the protesters were women and children .
-Hamas militants took control of the Gaza Strip nearly two months ago after a week of deadly street battles with Fatah .
-A published report says between $ 5 million and $ 15 million worth of oil a day is missing in Iraq , and could have been siphoned off through corruption or smuggling .
-Citing a draft report from the U.S. Government Accountability office , The New York Times said Saturday the losses amount to between 1,00,000 and 3,00,000 barrels a day of Iraq 's declared oil production over the past four years .
-The Times quotes an unnamed State Department official who offered some possible explanations for the losses , including pipeline sabotage , and inaccurate reporting of oil production .
-The newspaper says the report did not make a final conclusion on what happened to the missing oil .
-The Times said the report is expected to be released next week .
-Dozens of Palestinian gunmen took over an office of the Palestinian elections commission near Jerusalem Tuesday , to press for changes in a slate of ruling party candidates for parliament .
-The gunmen , from the militant al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades , were demanding that the ruling Fatah party slate for January 25 elections include more representatives from neighboring East Jerusalem .
-Police were reported negotiating with the gunmen Tuesday afternoon .
-In another sign of growing lawlessness in the Palestinian territories , al-Aqsa gunmen Tuesday briefly seized three government buildings in the northern Gaza Strip , to demand jobs with the Palestinian Authority .
-Internal unrest has been growing in Gaza since Israel ended its 38-year occupation of the territory earlier this year .
-Pakistani officials say at least seven family members have been killed by fighting in the country 's troubled northwest .
-The civilians were killed Friday when artillery shells launched by security forces hit their home in Swat Valley .
-The victims included at least three children .
-At least three other homes in the area also were damaged .
-Troops said they were targeting militant positions in the region .
-Pakistan 's military launched a major offensive against militants in Swat Valley last year , when radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah called for a holy war against the government .
-Since then , security forces have killed more than 200 militants and cleared out most of the area .
-Syria and Iraq have re-opened embassies in each other 's capitals for the first time in more than two decades .
-They agreed last month to resume diplomatic relations that were severed because of Syria 's support for Iran during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s .
-Meanwhile , in violence Monday , bombings killed two people in Baghdad .
-And gunmen wearing Iraqi army uniforms stole one million dollars and kidnapped four security guards from a vehicle transporting the money to the central bank in Baghdad .
-In western Baghdad , U.S. and Iraqi troops found and freed 23 kidnapped Iraqis and arrested six men suspected of abducting them .
-The U.S. military also says a Marine helicopter made an emergency landing in Anbar province , injuring 18 people on board .
-But officials do not believe the helicopter was forced to land because of enemy action .
-Roadside bombs killed four American soldiers in Baghdad on Sunday .
-Mexico 's Zapatista rebels have emerged from their jungle hideout to begin a six-month nationwide tour in a bid to influence this year 's presidential elections .
-Rebel leader Subcomandante Marcos led the Zapatistas into the city of San Cristobal de las Casas on Sunday riding a motorcycle to the cheers of thousands of supporters .
-The rebels plan to visit every Mexican state to build support for the country 's indigenous people and the poor ahead of the July vote .
-The ski mask-wearing rebel leader - who now wants to be called " Delegate Zero " - says the rebels will avoid big rallies and concentrate on building ties with ordinary workers .
-The tour began on the 12th anniversary of the Zapatista 's bloody uprising demanding greater rights for Indians , and autonomy for the Chiapas region .
-Pakistan has re-opened a route critical to transporting supplies to NATO and U.S.-led forces in neighboring Afghanistan .
-Local officials say Pakistani security forces escorted a convoy of about 30 food trucks and oil tankers through the Khyber Pass Monday .
-Pakistan closed the route last week after gunmen hijacked about 15 supply trucks destined for Afghanistan .
-Security along the countries ' mountainous border is a major concern for U.S.-led troops fighting Taliban and al-Qaida militants in Afghanistan .
-The Chinese state news agency says 21 miners were killed in a mine explosion in southwestern China last week .
-The accident happened Thursday at a small mine in Panzhihua , in Sichuan province .
-Xinhua news agency says 10 miners survived the disaster .
-It says a preliminary investigation found the blast was caused by poor management practices .
-It did not explain the delay in reporting the blast .
-China has the deadliest mines in the world , despite government efforts to improve safety .
-More than 1,000 miners have been killed this year .
-Mine producers ignore safety regulations to fulfill soaring energy demands brought on by China 's booming economy .
-Jordanian officials say King Abdullah has ordered his ambassador to return to Iraq one day after the envoy was recalled .
-On Sunday , in a diplomatic tit-for-tat Iraq and Jordan both recalled their top diplomats .
-Jordan called its ambassador to Iraq home for consultations after Iraqis , protesting a deadly bombing south of Baghdad , raised the Iraqi flag over the Jordanian embassy .
-The protesters gathered at the embassy after news reports said the suicide bomber was a Jordanian national .
-Hours after the Jordanian recall Iraqi brought home its ambassador to Jordan for consultations .
-Meanwhile , a car bomb attack in Samarra wounded 10 people Monday and a U.S. soldier was killed in an insurgent attack in Kirkuk .
-On Sunday , coalition soldiers killed 24 insurgents who attacked a coalition convoy outside Baghdad .
-A Rwandan businessman has been found guilty for his role in destroying a church where 2,000 Tutsis had sought shelter during Rwanda 's 1994 genocide .
-The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda on Monday sentenced Gaspard Kanyarukiga to 30 years in prison .
-It was not immediately clear if he will appeal .
-Prosecutors argued during his trial that Kanyarukiga ordered the bulldozing of the church with the Tutsis inside .
-Kanyarukiga is the second person to be sentenced by the court in connection with the massacre at Nyange church .
-The church 's priest was sentenced to life in prison in 2008 .
-Hutu extremists killed an estimated 8,00,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus during the genocide .
-The U.N. tribunal , operating out of the Tanzanian town of Arusha , was set up to prosecute those most responsible for organizing the killings .
-Xerox Corp. has told employees in its Crum & Forster personal insurance operations that it is laying off about 300 people , or 25 % of the staff .
-A spokeswoman for Crum & Forster said employees were told early this week that numerous staff functions for the personal insurance lines were going to be centralized as a cost-cutting move .
-She said the move would result in a after-tax charge of less than $ 4 million to be spread over the next three quarters .
-By comparison , for the first nine months , Xerox earned $ 492 million , or $ 4.55 a share , on revenue of $ 12.97 billion .
-Earnings at Xerox 's financial-services operations actually rose slightly , but that was largely because capital gains at Crum & Forster offset Hurricane Hugo payments and the reserves set up to cover future payments .
-Property / casualty insurance has been a tough business in recent quarters , as pricing has been cutthroat and natural disasters such as Hurricane Hugo and the California earthquake have resulted in huge payments .
-Great Britain formally acquired possession of Malta in 1814 .
-The island staunchly supported the UK through both world wars and remained in the Commonwealth when it became independent in 1964 .
-A decade later Malta became a republic .
-Since about the mid-1980s , the island has transformed itself into a freight transshipment point , a financial center , and a tourist destination .
-Malta became an EU member in May 2004 and began using the euro as currency in 2008 .
-In 1979 the Federated States of Micronesia , a UN Trust Territory under US administration , adopted a constitution .
-In 1986 independence was attained under a Compact of Free Association with the US , which was amended and renewed in 2004 .
-Present concerns include large-scale unemployment , overfishing , and overdependence on US aid .
-Pitcairn Island was discovered in 1767 by the British and settled in 1790 by the Bounty mutineers and their Tahitian companions .
-Pitcairn was the first Pacific island to become a British colony ( in 1838 ) and today remains the last vestige of that empire in the South Pacific .
-Outmigration , primarily to New Zealand , has thinned the population from a peak of 233 in 1937 to less than 50 today .
-By terms of the 1960 Treaty of Establishment that created the independent Republic of Cyprus , the UK retained full sovereignty and jurisdiction over two areas of almost 254 square kilometers - Akrotiri and Dhekelia .
-The southernmost and smallest of these is the Akrotiri Sovereign Base Area , which is also referred to as the Western Sovereign Base Area .
-Fiji became independent in 1970 after nearly a century as a British colony .
-Democratic rule was interrupted by two military coups in 1987 caused by concern over a government perceived as dominated by the Indian community ( descendants of contract laborers brought to the islands by the British in the 19th century ) .
-The coups and a 1990 constitution that cemented native Melanesian control of Fiji led to heavy Indian emigration ; the population loss resulted in economic difficulties , but ensured that Melanesians became the majority .
-A new constitution enacted in 1997 was more equitable .
-Free and peaceful elections in 1999 resulted in a government led by an Indo-Fijian , but a civilian-led coup in May 2000 ushered in a prolonged period of political turmoil .
-Parliamentary elections held in August 2001 provided Fiji with a democratically elected government led by Prime Minister Laisenia QARASE .
-Re-elected in May 2006 , QARASE was ousted in a December 2006 military coup led by Commodore Voreqe BAINIMARAMA , who initially appointed himself acting president but in January 2007 became interim prime minister .
-Since taking power BAINIMARAMA has neutralized his opponents , crippled Fiji 's democratic institutions , and refused to hold elections .
-Military regimes favoring Islamic-oriented governments have dominated national politics since independence from the UK in 1956 .
-Sudan was embroiled in two prolonged civil wars during most of the remainder of the 20th century .
-These conflicts were rooted in northern economic , political , and social domination of largely non-Muslim , non-Arab southern Sudanese .
-The first civil war ended in 1972 but broke out again in 1983 .
-The second war and famine-related effects resulted in more than four million people displaced and , according to rebel estimates , more than two million deaths over a period of two decades .
-Peace talks gained momentum in 2002 - 4 with the signing of several accords .
-The final North / South Comprehensive Peace Agreement ( CPA ) , signed in January 2005 , granted the southern rebels autonomy for six years followed by a referendum on independence for Southern Sudan .
-The referendum was held in January 2011 and indicated overwhelming support for independence .
-A separate conflict , which broke out in the western region of Darfur in 2003 , has displaced nearly two million people and caused an estimated 2,00,000 to 4,00,000 deaths .
-The UN took command of the Darfur peacekeeping operation from the African Union in December 2007 .
-Peacekeeping troops have struggled to stabilize the situation , which has become increasingly regional in scope and has brought instability to eastern Chad .
-Sudan also has faced large refugee influxes from neighboring countries primarily Ethiopia and Chad .
-Armed conflict , poor transport infrastructure , and lack of government support have chronically obstructed the provision of humanitarian assistance to affected populations .
-A FOX entered into partnership with a Lion on the pretense of becoming his servant .
-Each undertook his proper duty in accordance with his own nature and powers .
-The Fox discovered and pointed out the prey ; the Lion sprang on it and seized it .
-The Fox soon became jealous of the Lion carrying off the Lion 's share , and said that he would no longer find out the prey , but would capture it on his own account .
-The next day he attempted to snatch a lamb from the fold , but he himself fell prey to the huntsmen and hounds .
-It is difficult to trust anyone whose instrument changes shape as he plays it !
-Two brawny men came to my house to install some new floor covering in the kitchen .
-Once they had moved the stove and refrigerator out of the way , it was not long before the job was done .
-As they were getting ready to leave , I asked them to put the heavy appliances back in place .
-The two men demanded $ 45 for this service , stating it was not in their contract .
-I really had no choice but to pay them .
-As soon as they left , however , the doorbell rang .
-It was the two men .
-They asked me to move my car , which was blocking their van .
-I told them my fee : $ 45 .
-The US Gulf Coast city of New Orleans escaped a major disaster this week when Hurricane Gustav hit shore some 110 kilometers southwest of the legendary city .
-Three years ago , New Orleans was devastated by Hurricane Katrina .
-VOA 's Barry Wood reports the city is cleaning up from a storm that could have been much worse .
-A delegation of Taiwan 's main opposition party visiting mainland China has paid tribute to a group of Chinese revolutionaries .
-Chiang Pin-kung , the vice chairman of the Nationalist Party , laid a wreath Tuesday at a shrine in the southern city of Guangzhou honoring 72 revolutionaries killed in the effort to overthrow China 's last imperial dynasty in 1911 .
-The visit by the Nationalist Party delegation comes days after a mass protest was held in Taiwan against Beijing 's new anti-secession law , which authorizes the use of force if Taiwan declares its independence from the mainland .
-Official Chinese media have hailed the delegation 's visit as a step toward easing tensions between the mainland and Taiwan .
-The Nationalists ruled mainland China until 1949 , when they lost a civil war to Mao Zedong 's communist forces .
-A former Egyptian militant says Iran has secretly handed over to Cairo the alleged mastermind of a failed 1995 assassination attempt on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak .
-Hani el-Sibaie , who now runs an Islamic center in London , said he has been told that Iran returned militant Moustafa Hamza to Egypt in October .
-The fugitive is facing three deaths sentences imposed by Cairo since 1992 in absentia .
-Neither Egypt nor Iran has publicly commented on Sunday 's reports .
-Hamza 's group renounced violence in 1997 and two years later ended all attacks inside and outside of Egypt .
-He has lived abroad for years .
-A senior Chinese official says the current dispute with U.S.-based Internet giant Google should not be " over-interpreted " as a sign of Beijing 's relationship with Washington .
-State-run Xinhua news agency says Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei made the remarks Thursday in Beijing .
-Google announced last week that may end its operations in China due to censorship concerns , and a cyber attack targeting the Google-based e-mail accounts of Chinese human rights activists .
-China says it does not condone cyber attacks , but added that all foreign companies , including Google , must comply with all local laws , regulations and customs , including government controls over the Internet .
-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will unveil the the Obama administration 's policies towards Internet freedom during a speech Thursday in Washington .
-At least 20 people have been killed in two attacks in Baghdad .
-Iraqi authorities say insurgents stormed a police station in the western Amil district early Friday , killing six policemen .
-Later in the day , 14 people were killed and 19 injured by a car bomb that exploded outside a mosque in the northern district of al-Adamiya .
-The attacks were the latest by insurgents fighting the U.S. led coalition and security forces of the interim Iraqi government .
-President Bush says Iraq should stick to plans to hold elections in January , despite calls by some Iraqi politicians for a delay until security improves .
-On Thursday , U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld acknowledged America failed to anticipate the strength of the Iraqi insurgency after the fall of Saddam Hussein .
-Nigerian government officials say former Liberian leader and war crimes suspect Charles Taylor has disappeared from the house where he was living in exile in Nigeria .
-They say Taylor left his villa in the southern town of Calabar Monday night .
-His disappearance came just after the Nigerian government said they were willing to allow Liberia to arrest Taylor .
-The United Nations war crimes tribunal for Sierra Leone had asked for his arrest on charges of rape and torture related to his rule in Liberia and a civil war in neighboring Sierra Leone .
-Local officials said 22 Taliban insurgents have been killed in fighting in southern Afghanistan .
-Officials said NATO airstrikes and Afghan security forces attacked the group of militants Friday in Helmand province .
-They said several local Taliban commanders were among the dead .
-The clash took place near the province 's main city , Lashkar Gah .
-Earlier in the same province , the British defense ministry said a roadside bomb blast killed a British Royal Marine .
-NATO said the man was part of the NATO-led international force battling insurgents in Afghanistan .
-Two other NATO soldiers were killed in fighting in the east .
-A spokesman for the force said they came under direct fire while under patrol .
-Their identities and nationalities were not immediately released .
-Two American journalists have been reunited with their families after being released from detention in North Korea .
-The two were freed after a diplomatic trip to Pyongyang by former president Bill Clinton .
-In an interview with VOA Senior Correspondent André de Nesnera , former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton talks about Bill Clinton ’s trip and the issue of North Korea’s nuclear ambitions .
-Report says consequences to human health from environmental degradation will grow significantly worse in next 50 years
-The World Health Organization ( WHO ) says the decline of the global ecosystem poses a serious threat to human health .
-In a WHO report published Friday , scientists warn that pressures on the environment could have unpredictable and potentially severe impacts on health .
-It says more than one billion people lack access to safe water supplies , while more than two billion lack adequate sanitation , due in part to ecosystem depletion and contamination .
-The report says consequences to human health from environmental degradation will grow significantly worse in the next 50 years .
-The report says poor populations dependent on natural ecosystems for basic needs face the greatest risk of health problems .
-Regions of concern include sub-Saharan Africa , Central Asia , parts of Latin America , and areas in South and Southeast Asia .
-Top seed Maria Sharapova of Russia has withdrawn from the semifinals of the China Open tennis tournament in Beijing , giving countrywoman Maria Kirilenko a slot in the final .
-Sharapova was trailing , 06-Apr , 02-Jan , when she pulled out because of an injury to her right pectoral muscle .
-The crowd booed when the top-seeded Russian retired from the semifinal .
-In Sunday 's final , Kirilenko faces Germany 's Anna-Lena Groenefeld , a straight-set winner over Marta Domachowska of Poland 07-May , 06-Apr .
-Sharapova is the latest of several players to withdraw because of injury .
-World number two Lindsay Davenport of the United States pulled out of the tournament before it started because of back trouble .
-Venus Williams of the United States withdrew from her quarterfinal match Friday because of a knee problem .
-The Pacific Ocean was so named for its seemingly peaceful character , but unusually high waves pounded the California coastline Thursday .
-The waves rose up to five and one half meters in some places , but most were in the two-meter range .
-A strong storm in the North Pacific Ocean that started out in the Gulf of Alaska generated the waves .
-These high waves happen occasionally on the California coast and usually do n't harm coastline structures .
-Some beachside communities built sand berms to help protect their property .
-But for the many California surfboard riders it is an exciting opportunity that only happens a couple of times each year .
-Coastline authorities and experienced surfers emphasize that only highly skilled surfers should enter the water in these extreme conditions .
-The large swells are expected to fade soon .
-A published report says the United States has ended its hunt for biological , chemical and nuclear weapons in Iraq , several months after inspectors concluded that Baghdad did not possess banned weapons at the time of the U.S.-led invasion .
-The Washington Post reports Wednesday that chief U.S. weapons inspector Charles Duelfer wrapped up his work in Iraq last month .
-The newspaper quotes unnamed intelligence officials as saying the hunt was called off because of a lack of new information and the ongoing violence in Iraq .
-One official said there will not be any substantial changes to Mr. Duelfer 's final report , which was presented to Congress last September .
-The report concluded that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein did not posses illicit weapons prior to the 2002 invasion .
-President Bush cited Iraq 's alleged stockpiles of banned weapons as a key reason for going to war .
-Iran says it has postponed further talks with Russia about a proposal to process uranium on Russian soil for use in Iran 's nuclear plants .
-Government spokesman Gholamhossein Elham told reporters in Tehran Monday the two sides will not meet late this week , as scheduled , but that a mutually convenient date will be set later .
-Russia has been pushing for the plan as a way to ease international concerns that Iran might be aiming to produce weapons-grade uranium .
-Iran says its nuclear program is only intended to generate electricity .
-Speaking on Sunday , U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said a coalition of countries , including all members of the United Nations Security Council , are determined to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons .
-A U.S. federal judge has ruled that military tribunals for prisoners at the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay , Cuba , are unconstitutional .
-In a setback for the Bush administration , a U.S. district judge in Washington D.C. also ruled that the Guantanamo detainees have constitutional protections under the law .
-An attorney for the Bush administration had asked the judge to throw out the prisoners ' challenges , saying their fate should be left to the military .
-The military tribunals have been criticized by human rights groups as fundamentally unfair to defendants .
-Monday 's ruling will probably not final .
-Several lawsuits by Guantanamo prisoners could go to U.S. appeals courts and then to the Supreme Court .
-More than 540 terrorism suspects are being held as enemy combatants at the U.S. naval base .
-Most of them were captured in Afghanistan or Pakistan during the 2001 U.S.-led invasion to oust the Taleban .
-While football players around the world are preparing for the 2006 World Cup in Germany , so are the referees who will oversee the games .
-FIFA , the sport 's world governing body , says referees designated for the World Cup finals will start their build-up to the tournament 16 months before the opening kick-off .
-A total of 46 international referees will attend the first workshop in Frankfurt between February 12 and 16 .
-They will be subjected to a medical check-up and theoretical and practical training sessions while working on their physical fitness .
-The final list of World Cup referees will be announced early next year .
-FIFA president Sepp Blatter says the unique program will help identify , train and prepare the best match officials .
-Yet another major carmaker is slashing jobs .
-This time DaimlerChrysler is cutting 6000 positions to save more than $ 1 billion a year .
-The cuts trim one fifth of the company 's management and administrative workers over the next two years .
-Daimler announced 8,500 production job cuts last year .
-DaimlerChrysler 's cuts follow recent announcements by larger rivals Ford and General Motors that they are slashing tens of thousands of workers and closing two dozen factories and other facilities .
-DaimlerChrysler is the world 's fifth-largest carmaker , and it is based in Germany and the United States .
-Intensified competition from Asian automakers is forcing European and U.S. companies to slash costs and search for greater efficiency .
-Angola has imposed travel restrictions on people who have visited an area hit hard by an outbreak of the deadly Marburg virus .
-Angola 's deputy health minister , Jose Van Dunem , says anyone who has visited northern Uige province will not be allowed to leave the country for 21 days .
-He said the measure is necessary to stop the spread of the Marburg virus to neighboring countries .
-Health officials say the disease has killed at least 117 people , mostly children .
-All of those who died contracted the disease in Uige .
-Two deaths took place in Angola 's capital , Luanda .
-Several neighboring countries have put their health workers on alert for people showing symptoms of the disease .
-Marburg virus , similar to the deadly Ebola virus , causes high fever , vomiting , and bloody discharges .
-Angry crowds in several Indian cities burned pictures of Hollywood actor Richard Gere and Indian actress Shilpa Shetty after he publicly kissed her hand and cheeks at an AIDS awareness event .
-Demonstrators say Gere 's kissing of Shetty goes against Indian culture .
-Protesters gathered Monday in at least three Indian cities - Mumbai , Varanasi , Meerut - where they chanted " Down with Shilpa Shetty " while burning pictures of the two actors .
-Gere and Shetty appeared at a press conference Sunday in New Delhi to promote AIDS awareness among truck drivers in India .
-During the conference , Gere kissed Shetty on the hand and repeatedly on the cheeks in front of cheering crowds .
-The space shuttle Endeavourhas undocked from the International Space Station after bringing equipment needed to expand its capacity from three to six people .
-The shuttle left the orbiting outpost Friday with seven astronauts , and looped around the space station so the shuttle crew could photograph its exterior .
-The astronauts shared a Thanksgiving dinner Thursday with the three-person crew aboard the International Space Station before saying their goodbyes and sealing the hatches between the shuttle and the space station .
-The shuttle is scheduled to arrive at the Kennedy Space Center in the southeastern U.S. state of Florida on Sunday .
-As part of the 16-day mission , the shuttle crew delivered and installed a new toilet , kitchen equipment , and water recycling system meant to allow the space station to double its crew capacity .
-The U.S. dollar declined in value compared to other major currencies Tuesday .
-At one point , the dollar bought a bit more than 104 yen and it took just over $ 1.32 to buy a euro .
-The drop followed reports that South Korea plans to switch more of its reserves from dollars to other currencies .
-South Korea has the world 's fourth largest currency reserves , and they have traditionally been held largely in dollar-denominated investments .
-Some analysts say they are watching central banks in Europe and the Middle East to see if they take similar action , which would further reduce demand for the dollar and weaken its value .
-Medical researchers say a simple decision by expectant mothers can mean the difference between life and death for thousands of people .
-Blood from umbilical cords has been used in life-saving transplants for people suffering from diseases such as leukemia .
-But cord blood is in short supply .
-VOA 's Robert Raffaele has the story .
-The World Health Organization says that while there have already been three deaths from bird flu in China this year , there are no signs the deadly disease is becoming a bigger problem .
-In a statement Wednesday , the WHO 's top representative in China , Hans Troedsson , says the three recent cases were not unexpected considering the winter season .
-Bird flu tends to be more active during the colder months of the year .
-Troedsson also stressed that all three cases involved people who contracted the disease from poultry , not from human to human transmissions .
-China has the world 's largest poultry population and is at the center of the fight against bird flu , which scientists fear could mutate into a form that could pass easily between people , sparking a pandemic .
-The World Health Organization says China has had 20 bird flu deaths and 30 cases since the outbreak began in 2003 .
-Sudan 's President Omar al-Bashir has arrived in Libya for talks on Sudan 's troubled Darfur region .
-Sudan 's official news agency , SUNA , says the president will meet with Darfur rebels who refused to endorse a peace deal signed last year .
-The discussions this week also will be attended by Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki .
-Last year , Sudan 's government and the largest Darfur rebel group signed a landmark peace deal .
-Some other rebel groups rejected the deal , saying it does not meet their demands for power- and wealth-sharing .
-Four years of fighting in Darfur has killed at least 2,00,000 people and driven more than two million others from their homes .
-President Bashir has resisted the deployment of United Nations peacekeepers to Darfur to support a 7,000-strong African Union mission .
-One of the two main rebel groups in Sudan 's Darfur region has demanded a United Nations force to replace African Union troops in the troubled region .
-The leader of the Justice and Equality Movement , Khalil Ibrahim , said Thursday the AU force has failed to protect civilians in Darfur or disarm pro-government Arab militias known as the Janjaweed .
-In an interview with Reuters news agency , he said his group will not return to peace talks in Nigeria unless the United Nations takes over as lead mediator from the African Union .
-This latest round of AU-sponsored talks broke off this week with both the rebels and the government accusing each other of violating a cease-fire agreement .
-The African Union has sent some 800 troops to Darfur to protect cease-fire monitors , but they are not mandated to protect civilians or to intervene in fighting .
-Canada has assumed the presidency of the Group of Eight industrialized nations for 2010 , a year that will see the country play a much larger role on the international stage .
-Prime Minister Stephen Harper will host the leaders of the world 's major economic powers in Ontario in June for an annual summit expected to focus on free trade , democracy and human rights .
-Canada takes over the presidency from Italy , which presided over debates in 2009 on food security , as well as the nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea .
-The G8 includes the United States , Japan , Germany , France , Britain , Italy , Canada and Russia .
-Canada will also chair this year 's Group of 20 developed and developing nations , and host the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver .
-Radical Muslim militant Shamil Basayev , in a Chechen rebel-linked website , has reportedly claimed responsibility for a extensive blackout that hit large parts of Moscow Wednesday .
-But Russian officials repeated Friday their belief that the power outage was caused by a fire and explosion at an energy substation , which they say runs on worn-out equipment .
-The militant has claimed responsibility for some of Russia 's deadliest terrorist attacks , including last year 's elementary school massacre of 330 people .
-Yesterday , Russian prosecutors questioned the chief of the country 's monopoly power company , Anatoly Chubais , about the blackout .
-Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused Unified Energy Systems , the monopoly company that is mostly owned by the government , of negligence .
-Wednesday 's blackout shut down the Moscow stock market , forced hospitals to switch to emergency power , and left thousands of people stranded in subways .
-Iran has again rejected calls to end its nuclear fuel cycle work , despite fresh European threats to bring United Nations sanctions .
-A Foreign Ministry spokesman Sunday repeated Tehran 's claim that its uranium conversion work is aimed at generating electricity rather than atomic weaponry .
-He said Iran will not yield to threats from Western governments .
-Iran resumed uranium conversion at its plant in Isfahan last month , rejecting European incentives aimed at ending Tehran 's nuclear activities .
-Thursday , the European Union said it would ask the International Atomic Energy Agency to seek U.N. sanctions at an IAEA board meeting September 19 in Vienna .
-On Friday , an IAEA report said Iran has failed to answer key questions about its work with uranium and plutonium - two key materials needed for an atomic bomb .
-Iraqi officials say insurgents ambushed an Egyptian-owned telephone company 's convoy in Baghdad Wednesday , killing at least six security guards and possibly abducting two foreign engineers .
-Officials say the engineers from Malawi and Madagascar are missing and feared kidnapped .
-Meanwhile , kidnappers freed the sister of Iraq 's interior minister , Shi'ite politician Bayan Jabr , two weeks after she was abducted in Baghdad .
-On Tuesday , Iraqi insurgents released a videotape of kidnapped American journalist Jill Carroll , who works for the Christian Science Monitor , saying they would kill her unless female prisoners in Iraq are released within 72 hours .
-And Iran said it is looking into Iraqi allegations of a clash between Iraqi and Iranian coastguard forces in the Persian Gulf .
-Basra 's governor said Tuesday that nine Iraqi coast guard sailors were kidnapped and one killed in a skirmish with Iranian forces .
-Director of Greek shipping firm Alloceans Shipping says pirates freed the ' Ariana ' and its crew members after the company paid a ransom .
-Somali pirates have released a Greek-owned cargo ship and its 24 Ukrainian crew members after seven months in captivity .
-The director of Greek shipping firm Alloceans Shipping , Spyros Minas , says pirates freed the Ariana Thursday , after the company paid a ransom .
-In Kiev , Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko also announced the crew 's release .
-The shipping company did not reveal the size of the ransom , but pirates told reporters the amount was more than $ 2.5 million .
-Pirates have continued to hijack vessels despite the presence of foreign naval patrols near Somalia .
-They are still believed to be holding around 260 crew members on nearly a dozen captured ships .
-Estonia 's Kristina Smigun has captured her second gold medal of the Turin Winter Olympics , with a victory in the women 's 10-kilometer classical cross country ski event .
-Smigun , who won the 15-kilometer pursuit on Sunday , finished more than 21 seconds ahead of Marit Bjoergen of Norway , who took the silver medal Thursday .
-Hilde Pedersen , also from Norway , won the bronze .
-Seven other gold medals are at stake Thursday , in Turin .
-The men 's Nordic Combined is on the schedule after high winds postponed the event on Wednesday .
-Thursday 's schedule also includes the debut of men 's snowboard cross , while the free program will complete men 's figure skating .
-Women will ski and shoot for gold in the 7.5 kilometer biathlon sprint .
-Women will also compete in skeleton singles .
-Both genders will seek medals in speedskating team pursuit .
-Iran says it has filed a complaint with the International Monetary Fund against a U.S. treasury department ban on a leading Iranian bank .
-Iranian state television quotes central bank chief Ebrahim Sheibani as saying Iran lodged the complaint after the United States imposed sanctions this month on Bank Saderat .
-U.S. officials allege the Iranian government uses the bank to transfer millions of dollars to terrorist groups , including Hezbollah and Hamas .
-Sheibani says the ban is politically motivated and the United States has not provided any evidence for its claim .
-Iranian banks have long been denied access to the U.S. financial system but are able to access the system indirectly through third-country banks .
-The ban effectively cuts off Bank Saderat from the U.S. financial system .
-The cut-off comes as Washington continues to pressure Iran to stop enriching uranium as part of its nuclear program .
-The Israeli army says it carried out two airstrikes in Gaza late Monday , both aimed at houses belonging to militants .
-The first was aimed at a home in the Jabalya refugee camp , and the second hit a house in the Beit Hanoun district of Northern Gaza .
-In both cases residents of the houses were warned in advance .
-Earlier , Palestinian hospital officials said an Israeli military strike in northern Gaza killed three Palestinians , including a teenage boy .
-Israel 's military says it targeted Palestinian militants in the area after they fired two rockets at the Israeli city of Ashkelon .
-Meanwhile , the U.S. television network , Fox , says two of its employees were kidnapped by Palestinian gunmen in the Gaza Strip Monday .
-Witnesses say American correspondent Steve Centanni and cameraman Olaf Wiig from New Zealand were taken away by gunmen after their car was intercepted in Gaza City .
-Authorities have lost control of a southern Afghanistan district after Taleban fighters attacked and disarmed police late Thursday .
-Reports from Musa Qala in the southern province of Helmand say hundreds of Taleban fighters seized the town , destroying part of its district headquarters .
-The Associated press quotes a spokesman for NATO forces in Afghanistan , Colonel Tom Collins , as saying an unknown number of militants apparently entered Musa Qala .
-British forces pulled out of the town last year after a peace deal was signed between local elders and the Helmand provincial government .
-India has test-fired another multi-target surface-to-air missile , as part of trials of its airborne warfare systems .
-The missile , known as " Akash , " or the Sky , has a range of approximately 25 kilometers and can carry a warhead of up to 50 kilograms .
-Indian defense officials say the missile performed successfully in Monday 's test in eastern Orissa state .
-They say it was fired from a mobile launcher at the country 's main Chandipur coastal testing site , northeast of the state capital , Bhubaneshwar .
-It was the third Akash missile test in as many days .
-On Saturday , two missiles fired from rocket launchers tracked , intercepted and destroyed two airborne targets at a range of about 20 kilometers .
-The missile is one of five being developed by India 's state-run Defense Research and Development Organization .
-The first Roman Catholic priest to serve as a voting member of the U.S Congress has died .
-Georgetown University says Reverend Robert Drinan died at the age of 86 after suffering from pneumonia and congestive heart failure .
-He represented Massachusetts in the House of Representatives during the 1970s before stepping down when Pope John Paul II issued a directive barring priests from holding public office .
-After leaving Congress , Drinan continued to advocate human rights and humanitarian causes .
-He also taught classes on international human rights , law , legal ethics and religion and government at Georgetown .
-The U.S. State Department has issued a new warning for U.S. citizens considering travel to Israel and the Palestinian territories .
-In a statement Friday , the State Department said the fresh warning supersedes a previous travel alert for the region issued in January .
-It cited " considerable violence " in recent months between Palestinian factions , as well as between Israeli security forces and armed Palestinian groups .
-It urged U.S. citizens to be mindful of security when traveling to Israel and Jerusalem .
-The statement recommended that all Americans , including journalists and aid workers , defer travel to the West Bank and avoid any travel in the Gaza Strip .
-Chinese paramilitary officer gestures outside of the Japanese embassy in Beijing , the scene of violent protests China has offered to repair damage the Japanese embassy in Beijing sustained during recent violent protests , but is rejecting Tokyo 's demand for an apology .
-Beijing says Japan is to blame for starting the dispute , which centers on a new Japanese history textbook critics say overlooks Japan 's brutal military occupation of much of Asia before and during World War II .
-Approval of the book sparked three weeks of angry protests in China .
-Tokyo has proposed a meeting between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Chinese President Hu Jintao at the upcoming Asia-Africa summit in Indonesia .
-UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has also urged the two leaders to meet and resolve their differences .
-Cuban President Fidel Castro says the country 's economy is growing despite the U.S. government 's long-standing trade embargo against the island .
-The Cuban leader said Monday in a May Day speech lasting more than three hours that the current rate of growth was at 12.5 percent .
-Cuba , however , uses a calculation system that differs from the international standard .
-As he spoke before hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Havana , Mr. Castro criticized the Bush administration for creating a transition plan for a post-Castro Cuba .
-Additionally , he said the U.S. characterization of his country as a state sponsor of terrorism was cynical .
-Last Friday , the State Department released a report which again listed Cuba and five other countries , Iran , Libya , North Korea , Sudan and Syria as state sponsors of terrorism , which are subject to sanctions under U.S. law .
-Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has confirmed that two Algerian diplomats in Iraq have been killed by their kidnappers .
-The president issued a statement Wednesday calling the murders a " cowardly " act .
-He did not say what evidence the government has that proves Algerian mission chief Ali Belaroussi and attaché Azzedine Belkadi have been killed .
-Earlier Wednesday , Abu Musab al-Zarqawi 's terrorist group , al-Qaida in Iraq , said in an Internet statement that it had killed the two diplomats , who were abducted last Thursday in Baghdad .
-No videotape or pictures of the alleged killings accompanied the statement .
-In New York , United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan condemned the killings as " brutal and barbaric , " and he said every effort must be made to bring the killers to justice .
-Afghan authorities say U.S-led coalition forces have arrested five suspected Taleban insurgents in connection with an attack on a oil tanker that killed two Pakistanis .
-Police in the Afghan border town of Spin Boldak said the five suspects were apprehended Wednesday - a day after the two Pakistani nationals were killed in the same area .
-The victims were ambushed after the Pakistani-owned tanker delivered fuel to a U.S. base in southern Afghanistan .
-Taleban and allied militants have stepped up attacks in recent months , often hitting soft targets associated with coalition forces and the Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai .
-The opposition in Azerbaijan is calling for protests over the shooting death of an editor of a magazine critical of the government .
-Popular Front leader Ali Kerimli urged the demonstrations in response to Wednesday 's fatal attack on Elmar Husseinov of the weekly Monitor .
-No suspects have been identified .
-President Ilham Aliyev ordered a swift investigation and called the attack a serious provocation against the state and authority .
-The slain journalist had come under government scrutiny and had previously been jailed and fined for his work .
-The Committee to Protect Journalists said the killing appeared to have been well planned and orchestrated - while the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders called it part of a campaign of violence against journalists in Azerbaijan .
-Also , the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe expressed shock at the attack and said it expects a swift investigation .
-Witnesses say Palestinian gunmen have freed two Western teachers kidnapped early Wednesday in the Gaza Strip as part of a push to gain the release of several jailed militants .
-The teachers , abducted as they drove to work in Gaza City , were reported safe hours later at the headquarters of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas .
-Details of the release were not clear .
-Gunmen from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine had claimed responsibility , in a statement demanding the release of jailed PFLP chief Ahmed Saadat .
-He and several others in the group remain under foreign supervision in a Palestinian prison for their role in the 2001 assassination of Israeli Cabinet minister Rehavam Zeevi .
-Europe 's top security organization says it will have an observer mission in Kyrgyzstan to monitor the July 10 presidential election .
-The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe , the OSCE , says it will " assess the entire election process " in terms of its compliance with international standards for democratic elections .
-The OSCE mission consists of 15 election experts based in Bishkek and 26 long-term observers deployed to various regions of Kyrgyzstan .
-About 300 short-term observers will join the mission just before the polls .
-The OSCE move follows allegations of official abuses during the Kyrgyz parliamentary polls earlier this year which triggered public protests that ousted the unpopular government in March .
-The presidential election is seen as a major democracy test for the new Kyrgyz leadership .
-Canada 's foreign minister was splattered with red paint by a protester Friday while speaking at a Montreal news conference about the situation in Haiti .
-Pierre Pettigrew left the conference briefly to change clothes as security guards led the protester out of the room .
-The incident took place as Canadian and Haitian ministers , officials from donor countries , and the special U.N. representative for Haiti were meeting to discuss progress in the Caribbean nation as it prepares for elections later this year .
-Canada is urging the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti to intervene more directly in the internal political process .
-Human Rights Watch has expressed concerns that Iraq 's war crimes tribunals will be flawed , unfair and lacking in credibility .
-The New York-based organization said Friday that the tribunal has serious human rights shortcomings , and that the Iraqi government will need to change the process to make sure the trials are fair .
-Among its recommendations are that Iraq enlist international legal experts , inform defendants of their rights and allow them to be questioned in the presence of their lawyers .
-Investigative hearings for some of Saddam Hussein 's top lieutenants are expected to begin next week .
-Charges against them include participating in crimes against Iraqi Kurds and Shi'ites .
-On Thursday , Saddam met with his attorney for the first time since his capture more than a year ago .
-U.S. President Barack Obama turned 48 Tuesday and is spending at least part of his birthday with Democratic senators .
-White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters he is unsure of any specific birthday plans the president has made , but did say Mr. Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are meeting with Democratic senators for lunch to discuss health care and economic issues .
-Gibbs says the president spent time with friends over the weekend at the Camp David presidential retreat outside Washington .
-He says the president played basketball , had dinner and went bowling .
-Gibbs says he will have more information later Tuesday on how the president planned to observe his birthday .
-Venezuelan police have arrested two brothers in connection with the killing of a top government prosecutor .
-Officials said Friday , Rolando and Otoniel Guevara were arrested west of the capital city of Caracas .
-Their arrest comes the same week that police shot and killed two other suspects in the prosecutor 's murder .
-Prosecutor Danilo Anderson died when explosions ripped through his car as he drove through the Venezuelan capital .
-Officials have said the attack may have been politically-motivated .
-Mr. Anderson had been overseeing a case against hundreds of opposition politicians , businessmen and former military officers involved in a 2002 coup that briefly ousted President Hugo Chavez .
-Two former Caracas police chiefs who were being investigated by Mr. Anderson sought asylum Friday at El Salvador 's embassy in Caracas .
-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says he is very satisfied with measures taken by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to halt militant violence .
-In an interview published Thursday in an Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot , Mr. Sharon said there is no doubt the Palestinian leader has begun to work toward reducing militant attacks against Israelis .
-Mr. Sharon added that he wants to move forward with peace efforts .
-Meanwhile , Israeli and Palestinian officials have begun preparations for the first summit between Mr. Sharon and Mr. Abbas .
-Authorities say officials will meet next week to plan details of the summit , which Israel says could take place within two weeks .
-At least three Palestinians have been wounded in the Gaza Strip in what witnesses say was an Israeli attempt to kill a Palestinian militant .
-Palestinian witnesses say a missile from an Israeli drone struck a car carrying a top member of the Popular Resistance Committees , an umbrella organization of militant factions .
-The apparent target of the attack , identified as Jamal Abu Samahdna , was reported among the wounded .
-Israel has not commented .
-Last week , Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Israel would not launch attacks or raids in the Palestinian territories in the runup to January ninth Palestinian elections , as long as the Jewish state is not provoked .
-In other developments , about 3,000 members of Mr. Sharon 's minority Likud Party vote today on forming a new coalition government to advance plans for a proposed Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip .
-Russia is sending doctors and medical supplies to Chile , as part of relief efforts to help Chileans recover from last month 's devastating earthquake and a series of strong aftershocks .
-A Russian official says two planes are being sent to Chile , carrying physicians , medicine and a mobile hospital .
-Parts of Chile shook Thursday after getting hit by a magnitude 6.9 aftershock .
-The U.S. Geological Survey said the aftershock was centered in Chile 's Libertador O'Higgins region , about 145 kilometers southwest of the capital , Santiago .
-The shaking was felt by foreign dignitaries who had gathered in the city of Valparaiso for the inauguration of new Chilean President Sebastian Pinera .
-It was one of the strongest aftershocks to strike Chile since an 8.8-magnitude earthquake in late February killed about 500 people .
-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has warned China not to use legitimate security concerns as an excuse to crack down on dissidents .
-At a joint news conference with New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark in Auckland Saturday , Rice said China should showcase not just the Olympics , but an attitude of openness and tolerance .
-Neither Rice nor the prime minister expressed any concerns about the safety of U.S. or New Zealand athletes .
-Global intelligence analysts Stratfor and Intelcenter said Friday that a Uighur separatist group , the Turkestan Islamic Party , has claimed credit for several attacks , including the May 5 Shanghai bus bombing that killed two people .
-The Internet intelligence analysts said the Islamic group threatened further attacks on Chinese cities that will host Olympic games .
-The Turkestan Islamic Party is an ethnic Uighur and Muslim group seeking to create an independent state out of China 's westernmost , heavily Muslim Xinjiang province .
-The African Union says Sudan 's government is starting to withdraw troops from Darfur , heeding an A.U. demand to end fighting by Saturday .
-An A.U. spokesman says he hopes the pullback will allow Sudan 's government and rebels to resume stalled peace talks in Nigeria .
-Rebels have refused to participate in the talks until the government stops attacks in Darfur .
-Friday , the African Union gave both the Sudanese government and rebels a 24-hour ultimatum to respect a cease-fire .
-It said after the deadline passes , it will report any violations to the U.N. Security Council .
-The ultimatum followed a report by the commander of the A.U. 's observer force in Darfur which said Sudan 's government appears to be preparing a major military offensive in the region .
-The report also detailed violations by rebel forces .
-Kenya 's President Mwai Kibaki says he will take decisive action within days in the multi-million-dollar corruption scandals rocking his government .
-His pledge Thursday came after Kenya 's former anti-corruption chief told British television that he came under high-level pressure in 2004 to abandon a fraud investigation .
-The BBC played excerpts of a tape John Githongo says he recorded when Kenya 's then-Justice Minister Kiraitu Murungi pressed him to give up the probe .
-Githongo , who left Kenya last year , has linked Murungi and other top Kenyan officials to a massive corruption scandal , known as the " Anglo-Leasing " affair that diverted more than $ 200 million from the government .
-Murungi and the other officials deny any wrongdoing .
-However , Kenyan anti-corruption activists say they will post the names and pictures of the accused officials in public places to maintain pressure on Mr. Kibaki .
-The U.S. military in Iraq says 17 more bodies have been discovered in the northern city of Mosul .
-U.S. and Iraqi officials say that in the past two weeks the bodies of more than 50 people , many of them shot execution-style , have been found in and near Mosul .
-A U.S. military statement says 43 suspected insurgents have been taken into custody in the city since Saturday .
-Elsewhere , police say a car bomb explosion in Samarra has killed at least three civilians and wounded several others .
-In other developments , Iran has offered to train Iraqi border guards , as part of an effort to help Baghdad strengthen their 1,600-kilometer common border .
-Deputy Interior Minister Ali Asghar Ahmadi also said Iran will host a meeting Tuesday of Arab interior ministers , aimed at finding ways to help Iraq quell the insurgency .
-Former world number one men 's tennis player Lleyton Hewitt of Australia has beaten number two Andy Roddick of the United States to reach the finals of the Tennis Masters Cup tournament in Houston , Texas .
-Hewitt took less than one hour to beat the second-seeded American in straight sets , 06-Mar , 06-Feb .
-The loss cost Roddick not only a chance at the title but also the one million dollars that goes to an undefeated champion .
-Until Saturday , Roddick had not lost a match in round robin play .
-The Australian faces the winner of the day 's second semifinals between world number one Roger Federer and Russian Marat Safin .
-Federer is also undefeated so far in this tournament and has a chance to win the million-dollar payday .
-The champion is guaranteed $ 7,00,000 .
-Iraqi police say insurgents killed at least nine people in separate attacks , while security forces and people in hospitals and detention centers cast ballots Monday , three days ahead of the main voting in parliamentary elections .
-Authorities are imposing tight security before the polls open for general balloting Thursday .
-Iraq 's borders and airports will be closed .
-Road travel will be restricted to vehicles with special permits , and curfews will be extended effective Tuesday .
-Election officials say Iraqi voters living outside the country will begin casting ballots Tuesday at polling stations in 15 countries , including the United States .
-Meanwhile , the U.S. military says one American soldier was killed in a suicide car bomb blast in Ramadi Sunday .
-Another U.S. soldier was killed in a roadside bomb blast in Baghdad today .
-Three members of Iraq 's largest Sunni Arab political party were kidnapped and killed Friday on a Mosul street in broad daylight .
-A spokesman for the Iraqi Islamic Party said the men were hanging posters urging people to vote in October 's scheduled constitutional referendum when they were abducted .
-They were driven to a different part of the city , made to stand against a wall in front of a mosque and then sprayed with gunfire .
-Some insurgent groups have threatened to kill anyone who participates in the constitutional referendum .
-Meanwhile , in Baghdad , hundreds of supporters of radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr demonstrated against calls for federalism in Iraq .
-Shi'ites are divided over the issue .
-Iraq 's largest Shi'ite party , the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq supports it , but several smaller groups do not .
-The Israeli army says it is investigating allegations that soldiers used Palestinian civilians as human shields during recent operations in the West Bank town of Nablus .
-The army issued a statement Friday , saying it has ordered " an official " investigation into the alleged misuse of civilians by soldiers .
-The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem says Israeli soldiers , in at least two incidents , forced civilians to lead them in house-to-house searches for wanted militants .
-Israeli law bans the military from using human shields .
-The Israeli army carried out a five-day raid into Nablus that ended two weeks ago .
-During the incursion , soldiers shot dead one Palestinian and detained more than 10 suspected militants .
-The Afghan intelligence agency says officials have arrested 17 would-be suicide bombers who allegedly trained in Pakistan .
-A spokesman for the intelligence agency says security agents detained the suspects before they had a chance to strike targets in Afghanistan .
-He says the detainees told authorities they had attended militant training camps in neighboring Pakistan .
-The Afghan spokesman says militants in Pakistan encourage fighters to carry out suicide attacks by telling them Islam is in danger in Afghanistan .
-Pakistani and Afghan authorities have accused each other of not doing enough to combat the Taleban-led insurgency in Afghanistan .
-President Bush will highlight economic progress in Iraq during a speech he is set to give shortly Wednesday in Washington .
-In his address before the Council on Foreign Relations , Mr. Bush is expected to discuss U.S. efforts in rebuilding Iraq 's schools , hospitals and infrastructure , as well as creating new businesses .
-Wednesday 's speech is the second in a series of addresses defending the administration 's Iraq war policy .
-Mr. Bush 's approval ratings have dropped to the lowest of his presidency , thanks in part to the continued insurgency in Iraq that has claimed the lives of more than 2,000 U.S. service members .
-Several Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to the president Tuesday , urging him to put public relations aside in today 's speech and present what they termed a " real " strategy for success , naming specific benchmarks by which progress can be measured .
-The deputy leader of the Yemeni branch of al-Qaida has called for new attacks on U.S. interests .
-Said al-Shihri made the threat in an audio message posted Monday on a website used by Islamic extremists .
-He said attacks should be launched against American interests everywhere .
-Al-Shihri accused Saudi Arabia and Egypt of , in his words , " preserving the interests of Jews and Christians " by providing them with oil and giving them access to waters surrounding the Arabian peninsula .
-He also praised Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab for his failed attempt to blow up a passenger jet over the U.S. city of Detroit on Christmas Day .
-Abdulmutallab , who is in U.S. custody , has said he was trained by al-Qaida operatives in Yemen .
-Al-Shihri is a former inmate at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay , Cuba .
-U.S. President Barack Obama is using his weekly address Saturday to lead America in honoring the country 's fallen military personnel for the Memorial Day holiday .
-Mr. Obama called on Americans to pay tribute to fallen veterans with more than words .
-The comments come ahead of Memorial Day , a national holiday that takes place on the last Monday of May each year .
-Mr. Obama says Americans should make sure that members of armed forces have all the support they need , and that military veterans receive appropriate care and assistance .
-The president summed up his address by saying Americans should serve everyone who has ever worn an American military uniform as well as they have served Americans .
-Memorial Day also is the unofficial start of the summer season in the U.S.
-Many Americans spend the day enjoying barbecues and other outdoor activities .
-Authorities in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh say at least 11 people were killed Sunday afternoon when a bus packed with passengers veered off a road and plunged into a canal .
-The authorities say the accident happened in the Bulandshahr district after the driver lost control of the vehicle .
-They say 11 bodies have been recovered by rescue workers , but cautioned the death toll could rise .
-The rescue operation continued into the night .
-India is plagued by traffic accidents due to poorly maintained vehicles and roads , and hazardous driving .
-Egyptian officials say the ruling National Democratic Party has won about 70 percent of seats at stake in the first round of parliamentary voting .
-Justice Minister Mahmoud Abu el-Leil says the ruling party claimed 112 seats , and the banned Muslim Brotherhood won 34 seats , more than doubling its presence .
-He said independent groups won 13 seats , and opposition candidates took five others .
-Election monitors have said the vote earlier this month was marred by violence , vote buying and voter registration fraud .
-Egypt is to hold a second round of voting Sunday , and the third and final stage on December first .
-The ruling party is expected to retain control over the 454-member parliament , where it holds 90 percent of the seats .
-Tibet 's exiled spiritual leader is set to begin five days of talks with the public in the British city of Nottingham .
-The Dalai Lama says the focus of the conference is to explain Buddhist spiritual values and help teach people how to lead a happy life .
-He says the talks are designed to help everyone , including members of other faiths and atheists .
-He also plans to talk about environmental matters .
-The Dalai Lama arrived in Nottingham Friday after meeting with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown at London 's Lambeth Palace .
-Mr. Brown pledged to work for reconciliation between China and the people of Tibet .
-China Saturday criticized the meeting , saying Britain is interfering in China 's internal affairs .
-The Tibetan leader Thursday told British lawmakers their country is not doing enough to support Tibetans he says face " cultural genocide " at the hands of the Chinese .
-South Korean state auditors questioned disgraced cloning scientist Hwang Woo-suk Friday about his possible misappropriation of state funds .
-Hwang and his research team had received more than $ 45 million in state funding and private donations for research over the past decade .
-The interrogation comes two days after prosecutors said Hwang had made FALSE claims about creating patient-specific stem cells .
-Hwang has already been questioned by a Seoul National University panel , which earlier this month said the veterinarian had fabricated results published in landmark 2004 and 2005 papers in the international journal Science .
-Hwang has admitted to fraud in his papers , but says he was the victim of a conspiracy to discredit him .
-He accuses junior scientists of deceiving him about research data .
-The Olympic torch relay has resumed after a three-day suspension to mark the official mourning period for victims of last week 's devastating earthquake in Sichuan province .
-The torch relay resumed Thursday in China 's eastern port city , Ningbo , with a minute of silence in honor of the more than 80,000 who are dead or missing .
-After Ningbo , the torch will travel to Shanghai .
-Organizers of the Beijing Olympics say they plan to scale back the celebratory tone of the relay .
-The epicenter of the May 12 7.9 magnitude earthquake was in Sichuan , and most of the confirmed deaths from the quake are there .
-Organizers say the torch will still travel through Sichuan province , but later than planned to avoid hampering rescue efforts .
-The Sichuan leg of the relay was originally planned for mid-June , but has now been put off until early August - August 3 to August 5 .
-Some 200 Palestinian women have marched to demand the release of Hamas supporters from jails in the West Bank .
-Protesters wearing veils and chanting " God is great " gathered Saturday in the West Bank city of Ramallah .
-They included wives , mothers and daughters of imprisoned Hamas supporters .
-Scuffles broke out when police tried to block the women from gathering in Ramallah 's main square .
-At least one of the protesters was detained .
-Security forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have arrested scores of Hamas supporters in the West Bank since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip by force in June .
-Mr. Abbas heads the Fatah faction , which is a fierce rival of Hamas .
-President Bush says Afghanistan and Iraq are making progress in the war on terrorism .
-In his weekly radio address Saturday , Mr. Bush talked about his meeting with Afghanistan 's President Hamid Karzai at Camp David earlier this week .
-He said President Karzai told him officials from Afghanistan and Pakistan have been meeting to discuss how to deal with extremists who are targeting both their countries .
-Regarding Iraq , Mr. Bush said his " troop surge , " a buildup of U.S. forces in Iraq since the beginning of this year , is helping coalition troops seize the initiative from the enemy and give it to the Iraqi people , although he admitted political progress has been slower than hoped .
-He said since January , each month coalition forces have killed or captured an average of more than 1,500 al-Qaida terrorists and enemies of the Iraqi government .
-Lebanese prosecutors have issued charges against four pro-Syrian generals in connection with the February assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri .
-Officials say the charges were brought on the recommendation of the head of the U.N. team investigating the killing .
-Detlev Mehlis says he believes the four - a top aide to pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud and three former generals - were involved in planning the assassination .
-The U.N. investigator said he believes more people were involved in the killing .
-Mr. Mehlis said he has not yet uncovered any Syrian links to the February 14 bombing that killed Mr. Hariri and 20 others in Beirut .
-He also emphasized that Lebanon 's President Lahoud is not a suspect .
-Afghan officials say Taliban gunmen have shot and killed a tribal elder and his son , who was a former bodyguard for President Hamid Karzai .
-The two victims were shot to death as they left Saturday 's morning prayers at a mosque in the southern province of Kandahar Mr. Karzai condemned the attack as an affront to Islam .
-In a separate development , three people were killed in a roadside bomb blast in the eastern province of Paktika .
-Also , NATO officials say a suicide car bomber struck an international military convoy in western Afghanistan , wounding at least four foreign troops .
-Elsewhere , officials say NATO forces killed 19 suspected militants in an overnight operation in central Wardak province .
-NATO officials also say they have launched an investigation into a recent NATO air strike against Taliban militants , in which Afghan officials say at least 17 civilians were killed .
-American skier Daron Rahlves has won his third World Cup men 's downhill race of the season by beating Austrian Michael Walchhofer in Wengen , Switzerland .
-Rahlves finished the 4,480 meter Lauberhorn course in two minutes , 30.54 seconds .
-Walchhofer was second , 0.4 seconds behind .
-Austrian teammate and 2002 Olympic champion Fritz Strobl finished third , 1.06 seconds behind the American .
-Reigning World Cup overall champion Bode Miller of the United States finished 11th , nearly 2.5 seconds behind Rahlves .
-Miller was supposed to start the race in the 27th slot but was dropped to 31st after he did not show up for a mandatory bib presentation ceremony Friday night .
-Benjamin Raich of Austria retained the overall World Cup lead with 706 points .
-Walchhofer is second 106 points back with Rahlves third ( 589 points ) .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says a dispute with Colombia regarding the capture of a Colombian leftist rebel leader on Venezuelan soil is - quote - " practically over . "
-President Chavez also said Tuesday he expects a meeting with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Thursday in Caracas to be - in his words - " very fruitful . "
-Venezuela 's ambassador to Colombia returned to Bogota Monday after being recalled during the dispute .
-Mr. Chavez also says he will accept the new Colombian ambassador 's credentials after months of delays .
-Last week , Colombia announced the end of the dispute over the seizure of Rodrigo Granda , a member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia , or FARC .
-Colombia said it paid bounty hunters to capture Mr. Granda in Caracas in December .
-Venezuela accused Colombia of violating its sovereignty in what it says was a kidnapping .
-The Chinese city of Tianjin has ordered 40 factories to close for nearly two months in an effort to cut air pollution for the Beijing Olympics .
-Tianjin , a port city about 150 kilometers southeast of Beijing , will host some of the Olympic soccer matches .
-The city ordered the factories to close from July 25 through September 20 .
-The city has also banned work on major construction sites during the same period .
-Beijing has taken similar efforts to improve air quality , including an " even-odd " system based on license plates which aims to take half the city 's cars off the roads ahead of the Games .
-A deputy governor has been shot and wounded in the latest violence to hit strife-torn southern Thailand .
-Authorities say the deputy governor of Pattani province , Soonthorn Rittipakdee , was visiting the scene of a previous shooting Tuesday when he was wounded .
-Mr. Soonthorn was taken to a provincial hospital after the shooting .
-Police say he should survive the attack .
-Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said he believed the shooting was an accident , but did not elaborate .
-Mr. Soonthorn is believed to be one of the highest-ranking casualties of sectarian violence that has claimed the lives of hundreds of people in southern Thailand since January .
-The southern Thai provinces of Yala , Pattani and Narathiwat are the only Muslim-majority areas in the mostly Buddhist nation .
-British voters are casting ballots Thursday in local and regional elections widely seen as a referendum on Prime Minister Tony Blair 's decade in office .
-Voters are choosing local councils in England and Scotland .
-Voters in Scotland and Wales are also choosing members of their national legislatures .
-In Scotland , the pro-independence Scottish National Party has promised to hold a referendum on independence from Britain if it gains power .
-Many analysts predict Britain 's Labor Party will suffer significant losses Thursday , because of widespread opposition to Mr. Blair 's support for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq , and discontent over several domestic scandals implicating the ruling party .
-Mr. Blair is Labor 's longest-serving prime minister .
-He has said he will make a definitive statement next week on when he plans to leave office .
-Violence on both sides of the Arab-Israeli conflict killed at least three people Friday .
-Israeli military officials say Palestinian gunmen ambushed a car outside the West Bank city of Nablus , killing one Israeli and wounding three others .
-The militant group , Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades , has claimed responsibility for the attack .
-In Gaza , Israeli tank fire killed a young Palestinian man in unclear circumstances .
-Earlier , another Palestinian was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers while trying to enter the Jewish settlement of Ganei Tal in the southern Gaza Strip .
-It was not clear if the man was armed .
-On Thursday , Israeli troops killed a Palestinian gunman as he attempted to infiltrate the same settlement , in a botched attack that was claimed by the militant group , Hamas .
-The U.S. television network Fox has identified two of its employees who were kidnapped by Palestinian gunmen in the Gaza Strip Monday .
-A Fox spokesman named American correspondent Steve Centanni and cameraman Olaf Wiig from New Zealand .
-Witnesses say the two were taken away by gunman after their car was intercepted in Gaza City .
-Meanwhile , witnesses say an Israeli airstrike in Gaza has destroyed an empty house .
-The Israeli military said it was targeting a command center of the Islamic Jihad militant group , and had warned residents of the house before the airstrike took place .
-Earlier , Palestinian hospital officials said an Israeli military strike in northern Gaza killed three Palestinians , including a teenage boy .
-Israel 's military says it targeted Palestinian militants in the area after they fired two rockets at the Israeli city of Ashkelon .
-Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the rocket attack , which did not cause any casualties .
-Iran has denied allegations that it has a secret nuclear weapons facility .
-Iranian officials say the claim by the opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran is a lie .
-They say the group is trying to negate the progress Iran recently made with European negotiators by agreeing to suspend uranium enrichment .
-Tehran says the facility in question is only used to generate electricity .
-Meanwhile , the Washington Post is reporting that U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell 's claim that Iran could be developing nuclear-capable missiles was based on intelligence that was classified and based on what it called an " unvetted , single source . "
-Mr. Powell said Wednesday that intelligence indicates Iran is trying to modify its missiles to carry nuclear warheads , but did not elaborate .
-Brazil 's Foreign Ministry says deposed Ecuadorean President Lucio Gutierrez is expected to leave Ecuador Sunday for exile in Brazil .
-Officials said Saturday a Brazilian air force passenger jet is expected to head for Quito within hours .
-Mr. Gutierrez has been at the Brazilian ambassador 's residence since his ouster on Wednesday .
-Earlier , Brazil said it was waiting for the right security conditions to fly Mr. Gutierrez out of Ecuador .
-Angry protesters have camped outside the residence to demand he face justice .
-A prosecutor has called for the deposed president 's arrest for the deaths of two people killed during recent violent protests .
-Ecuador 's political crisis began in December , when lawmakers dismissed 27 of the 31 Supreme Court justices after Mr. Gutierrez accused them of bias against him .
-China 's state media report the environmental impact of the Three Gorges Dam project may force four million more people to relocate from the area .
-Friday 's reports say residents near the dam will be encouraged to move to the outskirts of the nearby city of Chongqing in southwestern China .
-Nearly 1.5 million people have already been displaced to make way for the world 's biggest hydroelectric project .
-The reports quote Chongqing 's Vice Mayor Yu Yuanmu as saying the reservoir area near the dam has a vulnerable environment that is threatened by overpopulation .
-Last month , Chinese media reports said the project had created potentially catastrophic environmental problems , including flooding and land erosion .
-Environmentalists , who have long condemned the project , say the dam 's reservoir will likely become heavily polluted with industrial waste .
-Delegates from 57 Muslim countries will discuss the challenges and dangers of Islamic extremism when they meet Wednesday at the Organization of Islamic Conference summit in Saudi Arabia .
-Representatives began discussing the agenda Tuesday in the Red Sea city of Jeddah , with plans to combat terrorism high on the list .
-OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu , who is from Turkey , proposed a plan to restructure the 36-year-old organization over the next ten years .
-The so-called " 10 Year Program of Action " calls for decisive cooperation to deal with political , socio-economic , cultural and scientific challenges that weaken Islamic nations .
-The summit begins Wednesday in the Muslim holy city of Mecca .
-Iranian health officials have begun slaughtering thousands of birds along the country 's border with Turkey , in an attempt to prevent the spread of avian flu .
-The move reported Saturday comes as the disease continues to spread in Turkey .
-Three children died of bird flu there last week , and 15 more people have been diagnosed with the disease .
-In Ankara , government ministers and representatives of the poultry industry are discussing how to minimize the economic effects of the bird flu outbreak .
-Industry experts say poultry sales in the country have dropped by 70 percent since the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu was reported in humans in Turkey late last month - the first bird flu deaths outside Asia .
-Meanwhile , Belgian health officials said a Russian journalist hospitalized in Brussels for suspected bird flu has been tested and shows no sign of the disease .
-Polish President Lech Kaczynski has called the roof collapse at an exhibition hall the worst tragedy to strike post-communist Poland .
-Sixty-six people were killed and at least 141 others injured when the roof of an exhibition hall in the city of Katowice caved in Saturday evening .
-The hall was hosting a pigeon racing exhibition and a number of foreigners are among the victims .
-President Kaczynski declared three days of mourning and has canceled Monday 's scheduled visit to the Czech Republic .
-Pope Benedict and Russian President Vladimir Putin have sent messages of condolences .
-Polish authorities say they do not expect to find any more survivors in the wreckage .
-They say heavy snow piled on the roof may have contributed to the collapse .
-Continental Airlines says soaring prices for jet fuel are forcing it to slash 3,000 jobs from its 45,000-person workforce , retire some old , inefficient planes , and cut flights .
-Thursday 's announcement by Continental follows similar drastic actions by rival carriers Delta , United , and American .
-Continental officials say fuel prices are up 75 percent in a year , fundamentally " shifting the economics " of the business .
-Top Continental executives will not take their salaries for the rest of this year , and will forgo bonuses .
-The carrier will cut 67 older model planes from its fleet of 375 planes , and replace some of them with newer , more fuel-efficient aircraft .
-Officials in Afghanistan say two roadside bombings have killed eight civilians in southern Kandahar province .
-Six more people were wounded in the blasts near the town of Spin Boldak .
-Wednesday , Afghan officials said at least seven people were killed when security forces raided a Kabul hideout housing militants involved in an attack on President Hamid Karzai .
-Afghan intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh said at least one of the dead militants directly participated in Sunday 's attack on the president during a military parade in Kabul .
-Mr. Karzai escaped unharmed .
-The intelligence chief also said there is evidence that militants based in Pakistan 's tribal region planned the assassination attempt .
-But Saleh said he had no proof the Pakistani government was involved .
-Saleh told Afghanistan 's Parliament Tuesday he knew of the plot to murder President Karzai and had warned the Afghan leader and his security advisor .
-Italian troops have begun arriving in Lebanon to boost a United Nations peacekeeping mission .
-Helicopters and rubber boats were bringing ashore the more than 800 soldiers from an Italian military ship off the coast of the southern city of Tyre .
-Those troops are part of the first large contingent to arrive since Israel and Hezbollah agreed to end their fighting in Lebanon .
-Italy 's military plans to deploy more than 2,000 soldiers in the coming months to the international force that will include some 15,000 personnel .
-Spain and France also are making large contributions to the force .
-In Beirut , Lebanese lawmakers began a sit-in to protest Israel 's continued blockade of air , land and sea access to Lebanon .
-U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said Israel should withdraw from Lebanon once five thousand U.N. peacekeepers have deployed .
-The head of Iran 's atomic energy agency has proposed building nuclear power plants jointly with neighboring Arab countries .
-Gholam Reza Aghazadeh did not give any specifics about his proposal Sunday for the development of light-water nuclear plants .
-Iran is building its first nuclear power plant with Russia 's help .
-Iran says it is developing nuclear power , not weapons .
-But Western nations are concerned Tehran 's intentions are militaristic .
-The U.N. Security Council has imposed sanctions on Iran to try to stop it from enriching uranium .
-Tehran says it wants to produce low-grade fuel for peaceful nuclear power plants .
-But the same process could be used to enrich uranium to a higher grade for nuclear weapons .
-A recent International Atomic Energy Agency report says Iran is defying U.N. sanctions and has stopped providing substantial information to the U.N. nuclear agency about its activities .
-Capping a day of solemn remembrance , thousands of paper lanterns representing the souls of those killed in the atomic attack on Hiroshima , Japan , 60 years ago have floated down the city 's Motoyasu River .
-Families and friends gathered along the banks of the river Saturday night to launch the candlelit lanterns .
-The river is the same one survivors fled to in an effort to escape the horrific heat of the nuclear blast .
-The annual lantern observance brought to a close a full day of memorials , including official ceremonies at the Peace Memorial Park and dozens of peace rallies .
-Thousands of residents , joined by Japanese and foreign dignitaries , bowed their heads at 8.15 a.m. - the exact moment of the attack - and offered prayers for world peace and for the souls of those who died in the blast .
-Nepalese politicians say police detained hundreds of protesters across the country Monday as they protested King Gyanendra 's seizure of absolute power last month .
-The Communist Party of Nepal says 500 people were arrested in the eastern city of Janakpur , where the largest demonstration took place .
-Five political parties vowed to hold protests Monday in defiance of a ban on public demonstrations .
-Dozens of people were also arrested in Kathmandu .
-As the protests took place , Maoist rebels set fire to four buses near Itahari after their leader , Prachanda , ordered stepped up attacks and strikes against King Gyanendra .
-The New Delhi-based Asia Center for Human Rights is calling for international intervention in the political crisis in Nepal , saying it could deepen if not resolved soon .
-Lebanese military sources say dozens of family members of Islamic militants have been evacuated from a Palestinian refugee camp where militants have been battling government forces for months .
-The sources say some 60 women and children left the battered Nahr el-Bared camp in northern Lebanon Friday after a cease-fire was negotiated with the militants .
-Fighting between the Lebanese Army and the Fatah al-Islam militants began May 20 .
-Since then , government troops have tried to evict the al-Qaida-inspired militants , who have defied demands to leave the camp .
-The fighting has killed 142 Lebanese troops and many militants and civilians .
-The government believes less than 100 militants remain in the camp .
-Before the fighting , the camp had a population of more than 30,000 people .
-Most of the residents have since fled .
-Sri Lankan government supporters clashed with opposition activists protesting the arrest of their defeated presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka .
-Thousands of opposition demonstrators gathered in front of the Supreme Court in Colombo Wednesday , when they were confronted by ruling-party activists who pelted them with stones .
-Police stepped in to break up the clashes .
-Witnesses say several people were wounded .
-Opposition supporters are demanding the release of Fonseka , the former chief of the armed forces , who was arrested Monday on charges of conspiring against the government .
-Fonseka lost last month 's election to President Mahinda Rajapaksa , but the retired general and his allies allege the polls were rigged .
-The Sri Lankan election commissioner said there is no evidence of any tampering .
-On Tuesday , Mr. Rajapaksa dissolved parliament to clear the way for parliamentary elections to be held in early April .
-An official at the Chinese embassy in Jakarta says Beijing is " astonished and strongly dissatisfied " after gunfire from an Indonesian warship killed a Chinese fisherman and wounded two others .
-The China Daily Thursday quotes the official , Yu Hongyao , as saying China expects to be informed of any developments in the incident , which took place Monday in the Arafura Sea off eastern Indonesia .
-The Indonesian navy intercepted four Chinese boats believed to be fishing illegally .
-Indonesian navy officials say three of the boats fled and the warship fired shots when the fourth boat did not respond to radio and visual signals .
-The damaged fishing boat and its remaining 13 crew members are being held at an Indonesian naval base in the Papua coastal town of Merauke .
-Upjohn Co. said it will offer an early retirement package to as many as 1,100 employees in a cost-cutting move expected to result in a fourth-quarter charge .
-Upjohn officials said they could n't estimate the size of the charge until they determine which employees , and how many , will participate in the retirement plan .
-But the pharmaceutical company said it " anticipates the long-term savings resulting from the plan 's implementation will more than offset short-term costs . "
-The program , available to Upjohn employees 55 years old or older , could increase an individual 's retirement benefits 10 % to 20 % .
-In addition , Upjohn is offering a one-time retirement bonus equal to six months of base pay .
-Chairman Theodore Cooper called the program part of the company 's two-year strategy to implement budget constraints and " an effective headcount-control program . "
-But some analysts questioned how much of an impact the retirement package will have , because few jobs will end up being eliminated .
-" It 's a cosmetic move , " said Jonathan S. Gelles of Wertheim Schroder & Co .
-According to Upjohn 's estimates , only 50 % to 60 % of the 1,100 eligible employees will take advantage of the plan .
-Upjohn further estimated that about 50 % of the employees who leave for early retirement may be replaced .
-As a result , Upjohn will likely trim only about 275 to 350 of its more than 21,000 jobs world-wide .
-In composite trading on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday , Upjohn shares rose 87.5 cents to $ 38.875 apiece .
-An Upjohn spokesman said he had " heard nothing " to suggest the early retirement package was spurred by shareholder pressure or a potential bidder for the company , which occasionally has been the target of takeover speculation .
-The company earlier this year adopted a shareholder-rights plan to ward off unwanted suitors .
-The spokesman said it is the first early retirement plan offered under its two-year cost-control strategy .
-Earlier staff-reduction moves have trimmed about 300 jobs , the spokesman said .
-Lithuania gained membership in the World Trade Organization and joined the EU in May 2004 .
-Despite Lithuania 's EU accession , Lithuania 's trade with its Central and Eastern European neighbors , and Russia in particular , accounts for a growing percentage of total trade .
-Privatization of the large , state-owned utilities is nearly complete .
-Foreign government and business support have helped in the transition from the old command economy to a market economy .
-Lithuania 's economy grew on average 8 % per year for the four years prior to 2008 driven by exports and domestic demand .
-However , GDP plunged nearly 15 % in 2009 - during the 2008 - 9 crisis the three former Soviet Baltic republics had the world 's worst economic declines .
-In 2009 , the government launched a high-profile campaign , led by Prime Minister KUBILIUS , to attract foreign investment and to develop export markets .
-The current account deficit , which had risen to roughly 15 % of GDP in 2007 - 8 , recovered to a surplus of 4 % 2009 and 3.4 % in 2010 in the wake of a cutback in imports to almost half the 2008 level .
-Nevertheless , economic growth was flat and unemployment continued upward to 17.9 % in 2010 .
-South Africa is a middle-income , emerging market with an abundant supply of natural resources ; well-developed financial , legal , communications , energy , and transport sectors ; a stock exchange that is the 18th largest in the world ; and modern infrastructure supporting a relatively efficient distribution of goods to major urban centers throughout the region .
-At the end of 2007 , South Africa began to experience an electricity crisis .
-State power supplier Eskom encountered problems with aged plants , necessitating " load-shedding " cuts to residents and businesses in the major cities .
-Growth was robust from 2004 to 2007 as South Africa reaped the benefits of macroeconomic stability and a global commodities boom , but began to slow in the second half of 2007 due to the electricity crisis and the subsequent global financial crisis ' impact on commodity prices and demand .
-GDP fell nearly 2 % in 2009 .
-Unemployment remains high and outdated infrastructure has constrained growth .
-Daunting economic problems remain from the apartheid era - especially poverty , lack of economic empowerment among the disadvantaged groups , and a shortage of public transportation .
-South Africa 's former economic policy was fiscally conservative , focusing on controlling inflation , and attaining a budget surplus .
-The current government largely follows the same prudent policies , but must contend with the impact of the global crisis and is facing growing pressure from special interest groups to use state-owned enterprises to deliver basic services to low-income areas and to increase job growth .
-More than a quarter of South Africa 's population currently receives social grants .
-This uninhabited island was claimed by the US in 1857 for its guano .
-Mining took place between 1865 and 1898 .
-The lighthouse , built in 1917 , was shut down in 1996 and administration of Navassa Island transferred from the Coast Guard to the Department of the Interior .
-A 1998 scientific expedition to the island described it as a unique preserve of Caribbean biodiversity ; the following year it became a National Wildlife Refuge and annual scientific expeditions have continued .
-Explored and settled by the Spanish in the 16th century , Panama broke with Spain in 1821 and joined a union of Colombia , Ecuador , and Venezuela - named the Republic of Gran Colombia .
-When the latter dissolved in 1830 , Panama remained part of Colombia .
-With US backing , Panama seceded from Colombia in 1903 and promptly signed a treaty with the US allowing for the construction of a canal and US sovereignty over a strip of land on either side of the structure ( the Panama Canal Zone ) .
-The Panama Canal was built by the US Army Corps of Engineers between 1904 and 1914 .
-In 1977 , an agreement was signed for the complete transfer of the Canal from the US to Panama by the end of the century .
-Certain portions of the Zone and increasing responsibility over the Canal were turned over in the subsequent decades .
-With US help , dictator Manuel NORIEGA was deposed in 1989 .
-The entire Panama Canal , the area supporting the Canal , and remaining US military bases were transferred to Panama by the end of 1999 .
-In October 2006 , Panamanians approved an ambitious plan ( estimated to cost $ 5.3 billion ) to expand the Canal .
-The project , which began in 2007 and could double the Canal 's capacity , is expected to be completed in 2014 - 15 .
-Paraguay achieved its independence from Spain in 1811 .
-In the disastrous War of the Triple Alliance ( 1865 - 70 ) - between Paraguay and Argentina , Brazil , and Uruguay - Paraguay lost two-thirds of all adult males and much of its territory .
-The country stagnated economically for the next half century .
-Following the Chaco War of 1932 - 35 with Bolivia , Paraguay gained a large part of the Chaco lowland region .
-The 35-year military dictatorship of Alfredo STROESSNER ended in 1989 , and , despite a marked increase in political infighting in recent years , Paraguay has held relatively free and regular presidential elections since then .
-Celtic tribes arrived on the island between 600 - 150 B.C.
-Invasions by Norsemen that began in the late 8th century were finally ended when King Brian BORU defeated the Danes in 1014 .
-English invasions began in the 12th century and set off more than seven centuries of Anglo-Irish struggle marked by fierce rebellions and harsh repressions .
-A failed 1916 Easter Monday Rebellion touched off several years of guerrilla warfare that in 1921 resulted in independence from the UK for 26 southern counties ; six northern ( Ulster ) counties remained part of the UK .
-In 1949 , Ireland withdrew from the British Commonwealth ; it joined the European Community in 1973 .
-Irish governments have sought the peaceful unification of Ireland and have cooperated with Britain against terrorist groups .
-A peace settlement for Northern Ireland is gradually being implemented despite some difficulties .
-In 2006 , the Irish and British governments developed and began to implement the St. Andrews Agreement , building on the Good Friday Agreement approved in 1998 .
-A LION came across a Hare , who was fast asleep .
-He was just in the act of seizing her , when a fine young Hart trotted by , and he left the Hare to follow him .
-The Hare , scared by the noise , awoke and scudded away .
-The Lion was unable after a long chase to catch the Hart , and returned to feed upon the Hare .
-On finding that the Hare also had run off , he said , " I am rightly served , for having let go of the food that I had in my hand for the chance of obtaining more . "
-To the optimist , the glass is half full .
-To the pessimist , the glass is half empty .
-To the engineer , the glass is twice as big as it needs to be .
-Insurgents in Iraq carried out several attacks in Baghdad Wednesday as a week-long surge of violence in the capital continues .
-Officials say three separate suicide car bombings in different parts of Baghdad killed at least two Iraqis and wounded eight others .
-The attacks came a day after two U.S soldiers and at least 12 Iraqis were killed in a series of attacks across the country .
-A U.S. military spokesman said today the American casualties occurred in a suicide car bomb blast near a U.S. patrol in southern Baghdad .
-Al-Qaida in Iraq , the nation 's most feared terrorist group , claimed responsibility for one of Tuesday 's deadliest attacks , in which six Iraqis were killed and more than 30 others wounded in a car bomb blast at an army recruitment center in Baghdad .
-Other attacks killed four Iraqi troops and a Baghdad university professor and his son .
-Asian stock markets were mostly lower in trading Monday .
-Tokyo 's Nikkei index lost 85 points , to finish at 13.857 .
-Hong Kong 's Hang Seng index gained 27 points , to end at 22.772 .
-Elsewhere , share prices were lower in Shanghai , Singapore and Taipei .
-Stocks closed slightly higher in Wellington .
-The dollar was selling at 107.41 yen in Tokyo currency trading , up from 107.25 yen late Friday in New York .
-Yemeni officials say government troops killed seven suspected al-Qaida militants in the country 's restive south Sunday .
-The officials said the seven were killed in the town of Loder in southern Abyan province , where 11 soldiers and seven other suspected al-Qaida militants died in clashes Thursday and Friday .
-On Saturday , the government urged security forces in six provinces to tighten security measures .
-It also called for increased vigilance and said a massive manhunt was under way for suspects linked to the violence .
-South Yemen is feared to have become a base for al-Qaida 's local branch , Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula .
-Earlier this month , al-Qaida threatened to target anyone who supports Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh or what it called the " crusader campaign " by the United States .
-Kiefer Sutherland was arrested early Tuesday on misdemeanor drunk driving charges after reportedly failing a field sobriety test .
-Officer Kevin Maiberger says the 40-year-old star of the TV series 24 was pulled over at about 1.10 a.m. in West Los Angeles after officers spotted him making an illegal U-Turn .
-Officer Karen Smith says Sutherland tested over California 's legal blood alcohol limit of 0.08 percent , and was arrested on a misdmeanor charge of driving under the influence .
-Sheriff 's Department records indicate he was released around 4.00 a.m. after posting $ 25,000 bail .
-Maiberger says Sutherland faces an October 16 court date .
-Keifer Sutherland last year won a best actor Emmy Award for his starring role in the FOX series 24 .
-The series is set to return to the air in January .
-British Prime Minister Tony Blair says it is a " complete obscenity " for terrorists to try to justify their actions .
-Mr. Blair was referring to a videotape aired Thursday of al-Qaida 's second in command , Ayman al-Zawahiri , who said Britain and the United States would face more deaths unless they pull out of Iraq .
-The prime minister charged that those responsible for the video support the killing of innocent people in Iraq , Afghanistan and anywhere that people want to live under the rules of democracy .
-The al-Zawahiri video aired on the Arab satellite channel al-Jazeera .
-Chinese President Hu Jintao will hold talks with the leaders of Russia , Britain and France next month during commemorations in Moscow of the end of the Second World War .
-An official announcement in Beijing Saturday , says it is not known whether Mr. Hu will meet with President Bush , who will be among scores of leaders attending ceremonies marking the end of the European phase of the war .
-China 's assistant foreign minister Li Hui says President Hu will discuss international and regional issues in talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin .
-The official added that there are no plans for a meeting in Moscow between the Chinese leader and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi .
-China says Mr. Hu also will hold talks with the leaders of South Korea , Turkmenistan and Romania .
-European Union foreign ministers are gathered in Brussels ahead of a meeting where heads of state and government are expected to endorse new security initiatives and hold talks on the new EU treaty .
-An EU statement says the ministers are to discuss the Middle East peace process , the Democratic Republic of Congo , and prospects for boosting political dialogue between the union and Israel .
-They also are expected to discuss international security issues .
-Before the summit on Thursday and Friday , EU foreign ministers are also holding talks on the eventual accession of Macedonia into the union and discussing the situation in the Western Balkans and Pakistan .
-State media in China say authorities have stopped a toxic chemical slick from reaching the major southern metropolis of Guangzhou by closing a dam on the Bei River .
-The China Daily newspaper reports Friday that government workers have lowered the gates of the Baishiyao dam to trap the cadmium spill .
-The dam is about 100 kilometers north of Guangzhou , a densely populated city of about 10 million people .
-A local government spokesman says the water quality south of the dam is safe .
-Farther upstream , officials plan to dilute the cadmium by releasing nearly 400 billion liters of water from a reservoir into the Bei River .
-The contamination of the river by a smelter in Guangdong province a week ago is China 's second major environmental incident in recent weeks .
-North Korea says it has asked the United Nations to end all humanitarian aid to the country by the end of the year .
-But the U.N. World Food Program , which administers aid to Pyongyang , said it has received no word about such a move .
-North Korea 's Deputy Foreign Minister Choe Su Hon announced Pyongyang 's intentions Thursday at U.N. headquarters .
-He said his country made the decision because it has experienced improved food production and because countries such as the United States are politicizing humanitarian assistance .
-The World Food Program says it has not been asked to leave North Korea , but that its operation there may change in the new year .
-A spokesman said the organization expects to shift from humanitarian aid to funding development projects .
-Details have not been finalized .
-Author Betty Friedan , frequently credited with laying the groundwork for modern feminism with her book , The Feminine Mystique , died of congestive heart failure Saturday .
-It was her 85th birthday .
-Friedan was born in Peoria , Illinois on 4 February 1921 .
-She studied psychology and worked as a journalist , but was primarily a housewife when she published her groundbreaking book in 1963 .
-The book 's theme was that society forced women to find their identity through their husbands and children and allowed them little personal autonomy , leaving them unfulfilled .
-" The Feminine Mystique " was an immediate best-seller and made Friedan one of the most prominent voices in the women 's movement of the 1960s and 70s .
-She co-founded the National Organization for Women in 1966 and the National Political Women 's Caucus in 1971 .
-Friedan 's later work concentrated on how society views aging .
-Authorities in South Korea say a person there has contracted bird flu but has no symptoms of the disease .
-And in Japan , officials are investigating a possible outbreak at a chicken farm .
-South Korean health officials said Thursday the person was infected during an outbreak of the potentially deadly H5N1 virus that hit poultry farms late last year .
-In Japan , government officials at the Agriculture , Forestry and Fisheries Ministry told the Kyodo news agency that they are looking into what might be an outbreak of bird flu at a farm in Miyazaki Prefecture .
-The farm feeds about 10,000 chickens .
-It was not immediately clear how many birds may already have been infected or killed by the suspected virus .
-The H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed more than 150 people worldwide over the past three years - none in Japan or South Korea .
-Niger 's electoral commission has postponed local and regional elections scheduled for Saturday by three days , citing logistical problems .
-Niger 's electoral commission says the country will now hold its municipal and regional elections on Tuesday , instead of Saturday as planned .
-Electoral commission president , Abdouramane Goushmane says the commission postponed the elections after it realized that all of the ballots would not be ready in time for the poll Saturday .
-The local and regional polls are the first in a series of a elections this month meant to return the country to civilian rule after a military coup in February 2010 .
-Goushmane said this postponement will not affect the timing of legislative elections and a presidential poll planned for January 31 .
-Niger has been under military rule since February , when the army overthrew the country 's increasingly unpopular leader , President Mamadou Tandja .
-The military promised elections within the year .
-The new constitution , voted on by referendum in October , gives the army until April 6 to restore civilian rule .
-Somalia 's exiled Islamist opposition is rejecting peace talks with the government that began in Djibouti on Tuesday .
-The Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia says that opposition figures attending the talks are not authorized to meet with the government or sign any agreements .
-In the statement posted on its Web site on Wednesday , the group says it will never hold talks with the Somali government as long as Ethiopian troops remain in Somalia .
-Ethiopia has several thousand soldiers in Somalia to help the interim government battle an Islamist-led insurgency .
-The exiled opposition alliance is based in Eritrea and includes members of the Islamic Courts Union , which controlled much of Somalia in 2006 before being ousted by government and Ethiopian troops .
-Fighting between insurgents and pro-government forces has killed thousands of Somalis in the year-and-a-half since .
-Somalia has endured 17 years of chaos and conflict since the fall of the last stable government .
-Fifteen people have been killed in the crash of an airplane belonging to Venezuela 's state-run airline , Conviasa .
-Thirty-six others on board survived the accident in a steel mill yard in Bolivar state .
-Steel mill workers helped pull the survivors from the smoking wreckage .
-It is not clear what caused the crash , but officials say the pilot had radioed traffic controllers that something was wrong before the plane went down on the property of the state-run Sidor steel mill .
-The aircraft , a twin-engine turboprop , was carrying 47 passengers and a crew of four .
-It was flying from the Caribbean resort island of Margarita to the industrial city of Puerto Ordaz .
-Bolivar 's state governor described the large number of survivors as " a miracle . "
-And he called the steel mill workers " heroes " for assisting the survivors .
-North Korea has criticized recent reports of a crisis in its leadership as a U.S.-organized smear campaign .
-A statement from the Foreign Ministry in Pyongyang Monday denies reports of mass defections by North Korean generals to China and called them part of a propaganda campaign designed to create instability .
-The Ministry says the campaign is forcing North Korea to reconsider its participation in talks with the United States - an apparent reference to the six-party talks aimed at ending Pyongyang 's nuclear weapons ambitions .
-The statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency also denounced reports in Western news media that some of the many portraits of the Communist state 's leader , Kim Jong-il , have been removed from display in North Korean cities .
-Askar Akayev Kyrgyzstan 's parliament has voted to strip ousted President Askar Akayev of many of his special privileges .
-Lawmakers meeting Friday voted almost unanimously to repeal legislation that would allow the former leader to participate in government and parliament sessions .
-The lawmakers held off , however , a discussion of Mr. Akayev 's resignation .
-Although the ousted leader submitted his resignation Monday it will not be valid until parliament votes to accept it .
-Such a vote would legitimize the country 's new authorities and clear the way for new presidential elections .
-Mr. Akayev fled Kyrgyzstan on March 24 after protesters stormed his office and the opposition seized power .
-Meanwhile , 500 protestors in the southern part of the country ended a three-day occupation of a regional governor 's administrative offices in Naryn .
-The activists were demanding the reversal of a court decision that annulled the new prime minister 's win in parliamentary elections .
-Royal Dutch-Shell Group says it will pour $ 600 million into the development of an onshore gas field in China .
-The project represents a major foreign investment into China 's natural gas sector .
-Shell officials tell the Wall Street Journal they will spend the money over the next couple of years to develop and operate the field in Changbei .
-Natural gas will then be distributed to Beijing , Tianjin , Hebei and Shandong .
-The field is expected to begin production in 2007 through a pipeline that is being built by PetroChina .
-Shell officials tell the Wall Street Journal plans for the project have already been submitted to the Chinese authorities for approval .
-U.S. Homeland Security officials have prepared a report listing 12 ways terrorists might attack the country and estimates of the death toll each attack might produce .
-Existence of the unreleased document was first reported by the New York Times newspaper late Tuesday .
-The Times says the scenarios include terrorists blowing up a chlorine tank , killing more than 17,000 people , and spreading pneumonic plague in public areas , killing 2500 .
-In another scenario , terrorists would infect cattle with foot-and-mouth disease at several sites , resulting in financial losses in the hundreds of millions of dollars .
-Homeland Security officials say the report was drawn up to help federal , state , and local officials develop preparedness plans .
-The officials say there is no credible evidence that the attacks mentioned in the report are being planned .
-Sudan is expelling the country directors for two foreign aid groups , accusing them of violating a ban on engaging in political activities .
-The British charities Oxfam and Save the Children received letters warning of the expulsion orders , and said they plan to follow up with Sudan 's government .
-The United Nations is pressing Khartoum to reverse the orders , saying the aid groups play a key role in helping victims of fighting in western Sudan .
-Sudan 's government has criticized the groups for issuing statements which it says indicate support for the rebels in the western Darfur region .
-It also rejected a Save the Children press release that accused Sudanese troops of bombing a site near a refugee camp in the town of Tawilla earlier this month .
-Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is in Iran Saturday to meet with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and top officials .
-Iran 's state-owned media report the leaders are expected to discuss instability in Iraq , the crisis in Lebanon and ways to strengthen bilateral ties .
-State-run news agency IRNA says the Syrian president is also scheduled to meet with Iran 's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during the two-day visit .
-Syria and Iran are close regional allies .
-Washington accuses the two countries of fomenting tension in Iraq by allowing insurgents to enter Iraq and then aiding them .
-Syria is a firm supporter of Iran 's nuclear program , which the United States says is aimed at building atomic weapons .
-Iran says the program is solely for peaceful purposes .
-Riot police in Santiago , Chile have fired tear gas and water cannon at hundreds of students protesting President Bush 's arrival later this week at an economic summit in the Chilean capital .
-Street clashes erupted Wednesday , just before foreign and trade ministers from the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation ( APEC ) opened two days of talks on free trade and other issues .
-Police arrested dozens of demonstrators protesting the U.S.-led war in Iraq and globalization , which they say widens the gap between rich and poor nations .
-No injuries were reported .
-In addition to President Bush , outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell , Chinese President Hu Jintao and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will attend the talks , which take place this Saturday and Sunday .
-Mexico 's conservative ruling party says it will ask the Supreme Court to review Mexico City 's recent decision to allow first-trimester abortions in the capital .
-City lawmakers approved the measure Tuesday on a 46 - 19 vote .
-The move makes it legal to have an abortion within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy .
-Elsewhere in Mexico , abortion is legal only in cases of rape , incest , or danger to the mother 's health .
-Supporters , including Mexico 's liberal Party of the Democratic Revolution , say the new law will protect women from unsafe , illegal abortions .
-But critics , including the Roman Catholic Church and President Felipe Calderon 's National Action Party , fear it is a step toward legalized abortion across Latin America .
-Only Cuba and Guyana currently allow abortions , though Colombia is considering a law to allow the procedure .
-Former senior White House aide Lewis Libby is scheduled to make his first court appearance Thursday to face perjury , FALSE statement and obstruction of justice charges .
-A grand jury indicted Mr. Libby on Friday in connection with statements he made to jurors and FBI agents investigating who in the White House publicly identified a covert CIA officer .
-Mr. Libby stepped down from his post as Vice President Dick Cheney 's chief of staff after the indictments were handed down .
-Monday , Mr. Cheney named his official government lawyer , David Addington , to replace Mr. Libby as chief of staff .
-He chose a member of his national security team , John Hannah , to fill Mr. Libby 's other post as assistant to the vice president for national security affairs .
-At least one other person , President Bush 's chief adviser Karl Rove , reportedly remains under investigation in the CIA leak probe .
-A Spanish military hospital ship Wednesday picked up the bodies of 24 migrants in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Mauritania .
-The bodies were floating about 720 kilometers south of Spain 's Canary Islands .
-Authorities believe they were North Africans who drowned while trying to reach Spain .
-The bodies were found one day after more than 330 migrants reached the islands in several boats - a single-day record for the Canaries .
-A delegation of Spanish officials plans to fly to Mauritania Thursday to discuss the migrant situation .
-Spain has already offered the west African nation patrol boats to intercept would-be immigrants .
-Spanish officials say about 3,000 North Africans have reached the Canary Islands in the first three months of the year .
-The Red Cross says more than 1,000 died trying .
-Typhoon Utor is whipping across the central Philippines , killing at least three people and forcing 70,000 residents from their homes .
-Evacuees huddled in makeshift emergency shelters Sunday as the typhoon toppled power lines across the island nation with winds of 120 kilometers an hour .
-Authorities are urging villagers on the western island of Mindoro to head to higher ground to avoid possible flash floods and large waves .
-Authorities ordered the mass evacuation from Albay province to prevent a repeat of the disaster that struck just over a week ago when another typhoon triggered mudslides on Mayon Volcano .
-The massive sludge covered entire villages , leaving at least 1,300 people dead or missing .
-Somalia 's prime minister has ordered all aid agencies operating in the country to register with the government or leave .
-A spokesman for the prime minister , Abdulkadir Walayo , said the government will protect aid workers who register , but said it will not be liable for the safety of those who fail to sign up .
-Kidnappings of foreign aid workers by armed groups are frequent in Somalia .
-The spokesman did not provide details on what registration would involve and had no specifics on how the Somali government planned to provide security for registered aid organizations .
-The government controls very little of the countryside where humanitarian agencies do most of their work .
-The hardline al-Shabab militant group and related Islamic groups control much of the country after a two year long insurgency .
-Iran is loaning cash-strapped Cuba $ 26 Million .
-The loan is part of a bilateral cooperation agreement between the two countries covering key areas such as banking , farming and biotechnology .
-Cuba 's state-run newspaper Granma Friday reported details of the agreement .
-The newspaper says Iran will offer Cuba assistance and equipment to help it fight the effects of a drought plaguing the eastern portion of the island .
-In return , Havana will help Tehran build a biotechnology factory to produce hepatitis B vaccines and Cuban-engineered medicines to treat heart and kidney disease .
-Iran 's official news agency IRNA hailed Iranian-Cuban relations , and said the agreement paves the way for further joint economic cooperation between the two nations .
-The United States has accused Iran of running a secret nuclear weapons program , and has recently tightened a long-standing economic embargo on Cuba .
-Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet has been charged with tax evasion and corruption related to multi-million-dollar bank accounts he allegedly opened in the United States and other countries .
-Court officials in Santiago say General Pinochet , who will be 90 on Friday , has been placed under house arrest .
-Judge Carlos Cerda has questioned the former dictator three times during the past two weeks over some $ 27 million prosecutors allege he hid in foreign accounts .
-The general 's wife and youngest son have been indicted as accomplices .
-General Pinochet also faces charges in the disappearances and deaths of 119 leftist opponents in 1975 and is suspected of involvement in hundreds of other deaths while he was in power from 1973 - 1990 .
-A senior U.N. official says Algerian authorities never responded to a request for tighter security for U.N. offices in Algiers that were later hit by a suicide bombing .
-The head of the U.N. Development Agency , Kemal Dervis , said U.N. officials submitted a formal request to the Algerian government for road blockades , but no action was taken .
-The bombing in December destroyed the offices in Algiers and killed at least 37 people , including 17 U.N. staffers .
-Al-Qaida 's North African wing later claimed responsibility .
-The U.N. secretary-general has decided to set up an independent panel to investigate the attack .
-But Algerian Prime Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem has criticized that move , saying the investigation will not be welcome .
-He said the move was decided without consulting the Algerian government .
-Venezuela 's defense minister says his country is considering building unmanned planes and may look to allied countries , such as Iran , for help .
-General Raul Baduel says Venezuela has made progress in the development of planes that do not require human pilots .
-Speaking in Caracas Monday , he said Venezuela will look to other countries for help in maintaining its aging U.S.-made F-5 fighter jets .
-Venezuela has had trouble maintaining the jets since the United States began blocking arms sales to the South American country .
-The Bush administration has said it considers Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez a destabilizing factor in Latin America .
-Costa Rica is asking a United Nations court to order Nicaragua to withdraw its troops from disputed land along the river that forms the border between the two nations .
-The International Court of Justice in The Hague began hearing arguments on the issue Tuesday .
-Costa Rica accuses Nicaragua of violating international law by putting troops on Costa Rican territory for a dredging project to build a canal .
-Nicaragua denies violating Costa Rican territory , saying the work is being done on its own land .
-Costa Rican diplomat Edgar Ugalde told the court the action is threatening peace in the region .
-Costa Rica also says the project is damaging to the area 's wetlands and wildlife .
-Nicaraguan officials are also scheduled to address the court Tuesday .
-Banned American sprinter Justin Gatlin has lost his appeal to run in the U.S. Olympic athletics trials in Eugene , Oregon .
-Gatlin says he will end his legal effort rather than take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court .
-Gatlin has twice tested positive for banned substances .
-But his first doping violation resulted from prescribed medication to treat attention deficit disorder .
-In a brief decision Thursday , the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled Gatlin 's case is not eligible for an injunction .
-Earlier this month , the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld a four-year ban against Gatlin for doping violations .
-The defending Olympic 100-meter champion sought a court ruling that would allow him to run in the U.S. trials starting Saturday .
-A team of Hubble Telescope astronomers has announced the discovery of infant stars in a galaxy neighboring the Milky Way .
-The stars were found in the Small Magellanic Cloud , a fragmentary galaxy some 2,00,000 light years from earth used by scientists as a laboratory to study how stars are born .
-Astronomers say Hubble has taken images of a large number of infant stars still forming from collapsing gas clouds , and say the youngest of these is only half the mass of our sun .
-Though star birth is common in Earth 's own galaxy , scientists say the young star is unusual because it lacks many of the elements it needs to fuel itself .
-The lawyer for an Iranian-American journalist prevented from leaving Iran says his client is facing a new charge of acting against Iran 's national security .
-The lawyer for Parnaz Azima told U.S.-funded Radio Farda that Iranian authorities have given no indication when the Radio Farda journalist can leave Iran .
-Azima is already facing charges of working with Radio Farda and spreading propaganda against the Iranian state .
-Azima traveled to Tehran in January to visit her sick mother , but has been prevented from leaving .
-Last week , Iran released on bail an Iranian-American academic who has been jailed in Tehran since May on security charges .
-Haleh Esfandiari is a Middle East expert for the Woodrow Wilson Center .
-Two other Iranian-Americans - urban planner Kian Tajbakhsh and Ali Shakeri , who works for a university conflict-resolution group - are also being held .
-A top Venezuelan official says his country will fight drug trafficking without the help of the United States .
-Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said Tuesday that Venezuela is a sovereign nation that does not need what he described as " money from the devil . "
-Maduro 's comments come after the release of President Bush 's budget , in which a request for aid for anti-drug efforts in Venezuela was eliminated .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez severed ties with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in 2005 , claiming agents were involved in espionage .
-The South American country is a major transit route for cocaine destined for the United States or Europe .
-Chinese President Hu Jintao has signed several agreements during his visit to Spain to improve relations and trade between the two countries .
-Mr. Hu and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero signed a document Monday making Spain a privileged partner in economic and political dealings .
-China has similar deals with Britain , France and Germany .
-Spain and China also reached an extradition accord .
-But Spain , in accordance with European Union policy , will not send back suspects who could face the death penalty in Spain .
-During his visit to Spain , Mr. Hu also met with King Juan Carlos .
-Spain is the last stop on Mr. Hu 's European tour , which also brought him to Germany and Britain .
-Demonstrators protesting Chinese policies on human rights and Tibet have followed Mr. Hu throughout his trip .
-Firefighters battling a fast moving wildfire in southern California say the blaze is now about 40 percent contained , and should be fully under control by Tuesday .
-When the fire began Saturday in the beach community of Malibu , strong winds and high temperatures helped spread the flames rapidly , forcing more than 10,000 people to leave their homes .
-Los Angeles County fire officials say the blaze has destroyed nearly 50 homes and scorched about 2,000 hectares of land .
-At least 500 firefighters are working to contain the flames , aided by water drops from 10 helicopters and other aircraft .
-Last month , 24 fires in southern California burned through nearly 2,00,000 hectares and destroyed 2,000 homes .
-A British official says the government has been talking with the United States about placing part of an American anti-missile system in Britain .
-A spokeswoman for British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Friday talks with Washington have been held at various levels , but the discussions are at an early stage .
-A U.S. official in London says Washington has been discussing possible joint efforts with Britain .
-But he says right now , the U.S. is concentrating on Poland and the Czech Republic as the main European sites for a missile defense shield .
-Moscow has objected to U.S. plans for placing the system so close to Russia .
-U.S. officials say the system is no threat to Russia , and the system is aimed at stopping such countries as Iran .
-Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to ask Hamas prime minister-designate Ismail Haniyeh to form a new government Tuesday .
-Hamas wants to build a coalition government , but Mr. Abbas 's Fatah party and the militant Islamic Jihad group have declined to join .
-The new Palestinian government is facing a financial crisis because of Western threats to cut aid and Israel 's freeze on the transfer of customs revenues it collects for the Palestinian Authority .
-Iran is urging Muslim nations to make up the funding shortfall .
-Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal said Tuesday Iran will play a greater role in Palestinian affairs .
-Israel has said it will not have contact with a Hamas-led government , but Israel 's interim Prime MInister Ehud Ohlmert said Tuesday there is still hope for reaching peace .
-Japan says it will provide Iraq with $ 655 million in loans for port reconstruction and other infrastructure projects .
-Japan 's foreign ministry said Tuesday the loans will be used to help reconstruct the port of Umm Qasr and repair a thermal power plant near Baghdad .
-It said the funds would also be used for irrigation projects .
-The infrastructure loans are part of $ 3.5 billion in lending that Japan pledged at a 2003 Iraq donors conference in Madrid .
-Japan has around 600 non-combat troops in the southern Iraqi city of Samawa .
-In December , the Cabinet approved an extension of the troop 's mission for up to one year .
-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has not said whether the troops would remain the entire year , but reports from Japan have said Tokyo may consider withdrawing them sooner .
-Indonesian doctors say a 20-year-old woman showing symptoms of bird flu has died in a Jakarta hospital .
-A hospital spokesman , Dr. Ilham Patu , said test results confirming the cause of death are expected to be available by Monday .
-Meanwhile , China confirmed its eighth outbreak of bird flu within a month on Saturday , this time in birds on farms in the central Hubei province .
-The Ministry of Agriculture said the latest outbreak killed a total of 2,500 birds and prompted health officials to cull more than 30,000 birds .
-China has not reported any confirmed human cases of bird flu .
-Kuwait has also found the deadly H5N1 variety of avian flu in a bird culled by authorities .
-Zimbabwe marks 25 years of independence from Britain Monday amid opposition claims that the country 's economy has not done well during those years .
-Officials said leaders of neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo , Tanzania , Namibia , Angola , Mozambique and Botswana are attending the anniversary celebrations .
-President Robert Mugabe , who has led the country since independence , is scheduled to give a speech extolling the country 's achievements .
-But opposition groups are saying that the country is worse off today than when it gained independence 25 years ago .
-Hundreds of Somalis have rallied in support of interim Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi , who narrowly survived a no-confidence vote in parliament Sunday .
-Crowds of supporters marched in the Somali town of Baidoa Monday carrying signs and chanting Mr. Gedi 's name .
-The no-confidence measure Sunday needed 139 votes for passage but only got 126 .
-Eighty-eight lawmakers voted to keep Mr. Gedi in office .
-Many lawmakers have criticized Mr. Gedi 's decision to allow Ethiopian troops onto Somali soil .
-Ethiopia sent the troops earlier this month after Islamic militias that control much of southern Somalia appeared to be moving on the government 's base of Baidoa .
-The transitional government has international backing but virtually no power outside the town .
-The government suffered major political blows last week when 18 cabinet ministers resigned and another overseeing a rewrite of the constitution was shot and killed .
-Pakistani officials say pneumonia is spreading among children who survived the October earthquake that left more than three million people out in the cold .
-They say hundreds of homeless people have contracted pneumonia in the quake-zone as the harsh Himalayan winter sets in .
-The Himalayan region got its first harsh winter weather at the weekend with up to 20 centimeters of snow falling at some high altitudes and heavy rain in some lower areas , bringing relief operations to a halt .
-Aid agencies are racing to ensure that survivors get adequate shelter and enough food to see them through the winter .
-Relief workers say the fear is that disease could sweep through cold , poorly nourished survivors , causing a second wave of deaths .
-Northern California 's wine-making region is bracing for more flooding as a second wave of rainstorms approaches .
-Residents of Napa and Sonoma are still recovering from Saturday 's storms , which dumped about 17 centimeters of rains in some places , swelling rivers , causing mudslides and flooding downtown areas .
-Another wave of storms is expected to dump even more rain in the region .
-Officials continue to urge people to go to higher ground .
-The Russian and Napa rivers have now receded from flood levels and officials do not expect the additional rains to again cause them to breach their banks .
-But the storms are threatening the streak of good weather for Pasadena 's annual Rose Bowl parade Monday before the College Football Championship game .
-It has not rained during the event since 1955 .
-France has indicated it would support referring Iran to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions , if Tehran fails to meet its obligations for nuclear non-proliferation .
-French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin , speaking at a United Nations summit of world leaders , did not mention Iran by name .
-But he said such a referral for sanctions is " legitimate " once dialogue has been exhausted .
-President Bush , in an address to the General Assembly , said countries that sponsor terrorism and pursue weapons of mass destruction must be sent a message that they will not be allowed to threaten world peace .
-The United States accuses Iran of using its nuclear program to develop atomic weapons -- a charge Tehran has repeatedly denied .
-Washington is pushing to have Iran referred to the Security Council .
-The European Union has warned Iran to stop uranium processing and enrichment activities or face referral to the Security Council .
-Two senior Taiwanese Cabinet ministers have offered to resign , following the ruling Democratic Progressive Party 's defeat in legislative elections held last week .
-Government Information Office chief Shieh Jhy-wey told reporters Friday that he wanted to quit ahead of the Cabinet 's planned mass resignation on January 28 .
-Media reports say Education Minister Tu Cheng-sheng has also offered to go as well .
-In last week 's elections , the opposition Nationalists won 81 of the 113 seats in Taiwan 's legislature .
-The Nationalists campaigned on a theme of improving ties with China and strengthening Taiwan 's stagnant economy , which they blamed on President Chen Shu-bian 's pro-independence stance .
-China and Taiwan split in 1949 during the Chinese civil war , and Beijing regards the self-ruled island as part of its territory .
-China has threatened to use force if Taiwan takes steps towards formal independence .
-Insurgents in Iraq carried out a series of attacks Wednesday , as they pressed on with their violent campaign to disrupt Sunday 's national elections .
-In northern Iraq , around Kirkuk , three car bomb blasts killed at least five people , including policemen .
-In Baquba , also in the north , at least one policeman was killed when gunmen attacked the local offices of three political parties contesting in the upcoming vote .
-The U.S. military says one soldier was killed and two others wounded in Tikrit , where insurgents attacked their patrol with rocket propelled grenades .
-A U.S. military convoy also came under attack on the road to Baghdad 's airport .
-Tuesday , U.S. and Iraqi forces said they were stepping up security efforts ahead of Sunday 's vote .
-The Israeli military says it will complete its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip by September 15 , but warned it will strike the territory hard if Israel comes under attack .
-The warning came as Palestinian militants on Saturday reaffirmed their plan to resist disarmament , a key to peace efforts between the Israelis and Palestinians .
-In a direct challenge to the Palestinian leadership , Hamas ' secretive military wing has emerged from hiding and posted information about its command structure on its Web site .
-For the first time , the group has identified its leadership , including the commander of the Ezzedine al-Qassem Brigade military wing , Mohammed Deif .
-In an interview posted on the Web site , the elusive commander warned the Palestinian leadership not to contemplate any move to disarm the militants .
-Canada says it has discovered what may be another case of mad cow disease .
-The news comes just one day after the United States announced plans to reopen its border in March to nearly all Canadian beef and live cattle .
-U.S. officials banned the import of Canadian cattle in May , 2003 after Canada found its first case of the disease .
-The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says the suspected new case involves a 10-year-old dairy cow , but the human food and animal feed systems have not been effected .
-The agency says final results from tests on the cow will be ready in three to five days .
-Mad cow disease attacks the central nervous system of cattle and can be harmful to humans if tainted meat is consumed .
-India says it has successfully test-fired two nuclear-capable missiles .
-Defense sources say the Prithvi-II missiles were fired Monday from a test range in Chandipur in eastern Orissa state .
-The missile has a range of about 220 kilometers and can carry a 500-kilogram warhead .
-Analysts say Monday 's test is considered routine and unlikely to aggravate tensions with longtime rival Pakistan .
-The United Nations Tribunal in The Hague has released its indictment against former Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj , charging him with 37 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity .
-The indictment , unsealed Thursday , charges Mr. Haradinaj and two other former Kosovo ethnic Albanian guerilla leaders with murder , rape , deportation and other offenses .
-The two other men , Idriz Balaj and Lahi Brahimaj , face 35 counts each of war crimes and crimes against humanity .
-Hague prosecutors say Mr. Haradinaj and the two other men , whom the indictment describes as his wartime subordinates , persecuted , mistreated and killed ethnic Serbs in 1998 .
-The alleged offenses took place during the conflict between ethnic Albanian guerrillas and Serbian and Yugoslav forces in Kosovo .
-The three men gave themselves up to the court Wednesday , one day after Mr. Haradinaj resigned as Kosovo prime minister .
-Health officials in India have reported the country 's first death from the H1N1 swine flu virus .
-Officials quoted in media reports say the victim was a 14-year-old girl in the western city of Pune .
-India has reported hundreds of cases of swine flu but Monday 's reported death is the country 's first .
-The World Health Organization has declared the swine flu virus a pandemic .
-Since late July , The WHO reports 1,34,503 cases of swine flu worldwide and 816 deaths .
-Health experts say the majority of patients infected with the virus recover fully within a week , even without any medical treatment .
-Amnesty International has reported to the United Nations that Brazil has scarcely improved its human rights record over the past decade .
-The international human rights group Tuesday submitted a report to the U.N. Human Rights Committee in Geneva .
-It expresses concern about continued high numbers of extra-judicial killings , the widespread use of torture , and attacks against human rights defenders by police officers in Brazil That U.N. committee is to begin Wednesday to conduct its own review of Brazil 's progress on human rights .
-The Amnesty report says despite implementation of a National Human Rights Plan in 1996 and an anti-torture law in 1997 , Brazilian authorities continue to abuse their power , and that incidents of abuse often go unreported or unpunished .
-It says frequent targets for such abuse include include poor black or mixed-race men who are suspected of a crime .
-Hundreds of Pakistani women have gathered in the capital , Islamabad , to denounce President Pervez Musharraf 's reported remarks about rape victims in the country , and to demand his apology .
-The participants condemned the comments published in the Washington Post , in which General Musharraf said that many Pakistanis believe crying rape is an easy way to get a visa to go abroad and make money .
-The Pakistani leader insists he was misquoted and was only expressing a commonly held opinion in Pakistan , not his own .
-But the women activists say he should have been careful in choosing his words about rape victims .
-Pakistani human rights groups have also been protesting the so-called " honor killings " of women in the country .
-The groups say hundreds of women are killed every year in Pakistan in the name of family honor after they are accused of having affairs .
-A well-known U.S. consumer group is calling for a ban on some of the most widely-used dyes in food products sold in the United States and elsewhere .
-The Center for Science in the Public Interest says there is evidence that these dyes are harmful for children .
-VOA 's Carol Pearson has more .
-Negotiators from Iran and several European countries have resumed talks in Geneva on resolving the international standoff over Tehran 's nuclear program .
-Iran insists it has the right to enrich uranium , which can be used in energy production and nuclear weapons .
-Britain , France and Germany say Iran must permanently abandon such activities .
-Iranian officials have said they will never agree to such a halt .
-The latest round of confidential talks is scheduled to continue through Thursday .
-Last week , diplomats at an International Atomic Energy Agency meeting in Vienna said Iran is building a system of underground tunnels to conceal and protect parts of its nuclear program .
-The United States maintains Iran is trying to covertly develop nuclear weapons , but Tehran says its program is meant only to meet the country 's energy needs .
-Japanese officials have lifted the tsunami warning they issued for the nation 's Pacific coastline after strong earthquakes struck the Kuril Islands northeast of Japan earlier Wednesday .
-Earthquake monitoring agencies recorded a quake with a magnitude of at least 7.8 followed by three tremors with magnitudes of 6 or higher .
-Japanese officials advised people in Pacific coastal areas to flee to higher ground , but only minimal waves were reported in northern Japan .
-The Japanese Meteorological agency warns other waves still could follow and urged continued caution .
-Strong earthquakes have the potential to generate a destructive wave that can strike coastlines near the epicenter within minutes of the quake .
-Iraq 's president says he expects the country 's new constitution to be ready Sunday , one day ahead of schedule .
-Jalal Talabani told reporters Saturday that the committee drafting the document had resolved several outstanding issues .
-He said the delegates are working to reach agreement on the issues of federalism and the relationship between Islam and the state .
-Some members of the 71-person drafting committee say most areas of disagreement have been resolved .
-Meanwhile , a roadside bomb killed a U.S. soldier and wounded another in western Baghdad .
-And residents near the western city of Ramadi are blaming U.S. troops for a shooting incident Friday outside a mosque that local officials say killed 15 people , eight of them children .
-The U.S. military says its troops were not involved in any shooting in the area .
-A U.S. government report says the country 's trade deficit rose to an all-time high of $ 60.3 billion in November .
-The Commerce Department says the trade gap grew nearly eight percent from the previous record of $ 56 billion in October .
-The department says the unexpected increase reflected record levels for imports of oil and consumer goods , while exports fell .
-The trade deficit through November totaled $ 561 billion , which exceeds the record for all of 2003 .
-The Associated Press quotes U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow as saying the trade gap reflects the fact that Americans are becoming more prosperous .
-A senior Palestinian official says President Mahmoud Abbas will meet with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on the sidelines of an economic conference in Egypt .
-Saeb Erekat said Thursday the meeting has been arranged for Sunday at the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh .
-Mark Regev , a spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry did not confirm the meeting , saying only that Livni 's schedule has not been finalized .
-A meeting between the two would be the first high-level contact between the parties since Hamas Islamists were swept to power in Palestinian elections in January .
-Israel has boycotted the Hamas-led government and ruled out peace talks unless the militant group renounces violence , recognizes Israel 's right to exist and accepts interim Israeli- Palestinian accords .
-Hamas leaders say negotiations with Israel would be a waste of time .
-British insurance company Prudential says it will buy the Asian unit of U.S. insurer AIG for $ 35 billion , allowing AIG to repay some of the money it owes U.S. taxpayers .
-Prudential announced its proposed takeover of AIG 's AIA Group Monday , saying the deal will make the British company the largest insurer in Southeast Asia .
-Prudential says AIG will get $ 25 billion in cash and $ 10 billion in new Prudential shares in return for AIA .
-The deal is subject to approval by shareholders and regulators .
-AIG says it will use the funds to repay some of the $ 180 billion it received in a U.S. government bailout in 2008 during the height of the global financial crisis .
-Prudential already has a significant presence in Asia 's insurance market .
-Its chief executive Tidjane Thiam said Monday he sees Asia as the " engine " of the group 's future growth .
-President Bush has restated the message he delivered to the United Nations General Assembly earlier this week , a call to support moderates and reformers in the Middle East .
-In his weekly Saturday radio address , Mr. Bush said the alternative is to yield the future to terrorists and extremists .
-Mr. Bush noted that while he was in New York this week , he met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas .
-He said that by supporting moderate leaders like Mr. Abbas , the United States can help Palestinians and Israelis achieve peace in the Middle East .
-The president said he plans to meet next week with the presidents of Pakistan and Afghanistan to discuss the fight against terrorism in their region .
-The British government is planning to send an additional 220 soldiers to Iraq to help replace Dutch troops who are leaving the country later this year .
-Defense Minister Geoff Hoon made the announcement Thursday .
-The Dutch government is to pull its 1,400 troops out of Iraq on March 15 .
-Mr. Hoon says Britain will deploy 600 of its soldiers to provide stability in the area of southern Iraq evacuated by the Dutch .
-He said the 220 additional British troops will supplement Iraqi forces and provide them with logistics and other " essential support . "
-Mr. Hoon said British troops will also support Iraqi security forces in the run-up to Sunday 's general elections and help protect Japanese troops who are engaged in construction projects .
-About 9,000 British troops are deployed in Iraq , concentrated in the southern provinces around Basra .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has made another verbal attack on British Prime Minister Tony Blair , saying he should return the Falkland Islands to Argentina .
-Mr. Chavez has strongly criticized the British leader for saying that Venezuela should respect the rules of the international community .
-Mr. Blair made the comment Wednesday in the British parliament .
-Mr. Chavez said Thursday it was Britain that has violated international law by joining the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq .
-He also accused Britain of " stealing " the Falkland Islands from Argentina , and called on Mr. Blair to give them back .
-Argentina claims sovereignty over the Falkland Islands , and invaded the territory in 1982 , triggering a three-month war with Britain in which hundreds were killed on both sides .
-Britain repelled the invasion , and continues to control the island chain .
-Indonesian Muslim protesters display big banner saying Save Al Aqsa Mosque during anti-Israel protest in Jakarta Thousands of Muslims across Indonesia staged peaceful anti-Israel protests Sunday , including a major demonstration at the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta .
-As many as 10,000 protesters from the Prosperous Justice Party shouted anti-American slogans outside the heavily guarded embassy in the Indonesian capital .
-Speakers lashed out at Israel and demanded Washington stop financial and political support for the Jewish state .
-Traffic in the center of the city was disrupted for several hours .
-Party members held smaller protests in at least three other cities across the world 's most populous Muslim nation .
-Indonesia does not have diplomatic relations with Israel , and there are periodic street protests in the country against the Jewish state and against the U.S. war on terrorism .
-Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned a recent drug raid by U.S. and Russian forces as a violation of Afghan sovereignty .
-U.S. and Russian officials say they seized a metric ton of heroin from four clandestine laboratories earlier this week in Nangarhar province , near the border with Pakistan .
-Mr. Karzai was outraged , saying in a statement Saturday that he was not previously informed of the operation .
-U.S. and Russian officials have both said that Afghan forces were involved in the raid .
-Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told Itar-Tass news agency Saturday that Russia was satisfied with the operation and plans to continue to cooperate in the fight against drug trafficking .
-Russia has been wary of supporting NATO military operations in Afghanistan but has called on NATO to do more to combat the Afghan heroin trade .
-The Iraqi parliament has again failed to approve a law that would govern next year 's national elections .
-Iraqi lawmakers say they will consider the bill again on Sunday .
-Their repeated failure to reach a consensus on the controversial bill has raised doubts that the elections will take place as planned on January 16 .
-The election commission chief , Faraj al-Haidari , had warned parliament that if it did not approve the bill this week , there would not be enough time to get ready for the vote .
-Lawmakers can not agree on the voting guidelines for Kirkuk , an oil-rich province that is home to Kurdish , Arab and Turkmen communities .
-Some parliamentarians support using current voter records for Kirkuk , which would favor Kurds .
-Others have suggested using a voter registry dating back to 2004 , which would favor Arabs .
-Police say a former U.S. presidential aide whose body was found in a landfill in the northeastern U.S. state of Delaware was murdered .
-Authorities announced Monday that they found the body of John Wheeler at a Wilmington , Delaware landfill on New Year 's Eve .
-They said his body was spotted as a trash truck was emptying its load into the landfill .
-Police have asked the public for tips on Wheeler 's whereabouts prior to his death .
-He was last seen Tuesday , exiting a train from Washington , D.C. to Wilmington .
-Wheeler served in the Vietnam War and later was one of the principal backers of a controversial drive for a Vietnam War memorial in Washington , D.C.
-Wheeler served in the Pentagon under four presidents .
-He created a Vietnam War veterans ' leadership program for President Ronald Reagan and later an environmental conservation group for at-risk youth under President George W. Bush .
-Ivory Coast 's officials say presidential elections will be held on October 30 as part of the effort to reunify the West African nation that has been divided since a rebel uprising in September 2002 .
-The announcement Thursday is seen as a major step toward implementing a peace deal signed earlier this month in South Africa .
-On Tuesday , Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo announced that Alassane Ouattara , a formerly excluded opposition leader , would be allowed to run in the election .
-The popular northern leader was barred from earlier elections because of questions over his citizenship .
-Mr. Ouattara 's candidacy has been a key demand by northern rebels who control half of the country .
-Thursday , Mr. Ouattara who lives in self-imposed exile in France , praised Mr. Gabgbo 's decision and said he will return to Ivory Coast soon .
-An artist based in Los Angeles , California , is attracting attention with a showing of his work that combines video , audio and sculpture .
-Video art , or what some call " new media art , " has been around for some time .
-But this artist 's work is unusual - he combines high technology and digital gadgets , making the art interactive but as in traditional art , you could put some of the sculptures in your home .
-VOA 's Paul Sisco reports on the artist , who calls himself simply , " Matteo . "
-Cuba and Panama have restored diplomatic ties , one year after they were severed due to Panama 's decision to pardon four Cubans accused of trying to assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro .
-Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque and his Panamanian counterpart , Ricardo Duran , Saturday signed documents in Havana to officially declare normal relations .
-Havana cut off relations with Panama on August 26 , 2004 , after then-President Mireya Moscoso pardoned the Cuban exiles .
-Her successor , Martin Torrijos , had vowed to re-establish ties after his inauguration last year .
-Mr. Torrijos arrived Saturday in Cuba , where he attended a graduation ceremony at the Latin American School of Medicine along with Mr. Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez .
-A suicide car bomber in the Iraqi capital has struck a convoy carrying an elite Iraqi police unit , killing at least nine people , most of them anti-terror commandos .
-Authorities say at least 10 others were wounded in the attack .
-The bombing followed clashes overnight in Baghdad between U.S. troops and militiamen loyal to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr .
-Coalition authorities say U.S. troops killed at least eight militiamen and wounded five others , as they sought to detain a group of fighters suspected of carrying out guerrilla attacks .
-Elsewhere in Baghdad , police say gunmen raided a convoy of armored vehicles , killing two guards and stealing $ 8,50,000 .
-To the south , a bomber on a bicycle blew himself up in a crowded market in Hilla , killing at least one other person and wounding dozens of others .
-The European Commission says it plans to contribute $ 100 million in aid to help countries prevent the spread of bird flu .
-EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Walder said Friday in Brussels the aid will be offered at next week 's bird flu conference in Beijing .
-She noted that never before has an animal disease posed such a global threat .
-Thursday , the World Bank said it had approved $ 500 million in aid to help fight bird flu .
-The World Health Organization says samples of the deadly H5N1 strain taken from two bird flu victims in Turkey show a slight genetic change in the virus - a sign it may be mutating into a human flu virus that could kill millions .
-Bird flu has killed three people in Turkey and 79 in East Asia since 2003 .
-Former world 200-meter breaststroke record holder Brendan Hansen has failed to make the U.S. Olympic team in the event .
-Hansen held the record of 2.08.50 minutes until Japanese rival Kosuke Kitajima smashed it by nearly one second on June 7 ( 2.07.51 ) .
-On Thursday at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials in Omaha , Nebraska , Hansen was nearly three seconds slower ( 2.11.37 ) than his best time , which remains an American record .
-Hansen is on the Olympic team in the 100-meter breaststroke and could qualify in the 400-meter medley relay .
-Katie Hoff , who qualified for four individual events and one relay , failed to advance out of the semifinals of the 100-meter freestyle .
-That ended her bid for as many as eight medals at the Olympics .
-The Smithsonian Institution has decided to build a national museum of African American history on the National Mall in Washington , D.C. , near the Washington Monument .
-The Institution 's Board of Regents , which oversees a complex of national museums and research centers , chose the site in a voice vote late Monday .
-This new museum will be housed in a 31,500 square-meter building on the two-hectare site , a prime location for visitors because of its proximity to the Washington Monument and the White House .
-The National Museum of African American History and Culture will tell the story of black Americans from slavery through civil rights .
-Officials at the Smithsonian hope to complete construction of the building by 2016 .
-An American museum that wants to honor a Cuban scientist says it is frustrated the U.S. government denied the scientist a visa to come and pick up his award .
-A spokesman for the Tech Museum of Innovation , in San Jose , California , said the museum had wanted the federal government to grant a visa to Vicente Verez Bencomo for the Wednesday ceremony .
-The Miami Herald newspaper quoted the spokesman as saying Mr. Verez-Bencomo had been allowed entry as recently as March .
-The U.S. State Department has declined to comment .
-Mr. Verez-Bencomo was one of a number of scientists being honored for innovations that use technology to benefit mankind .
-He helped develop a low-cost vaccine that fights the bacteria causing pneumonia and meningitis , diseases which kill some 7,00,000 children each year .
-Zimbabwe 's main opposition group appears to be split over whether to participate in elections next month for a newly created upper house of parliament .
-The leader of the Movement for Democratic Change , Morgan Tsvangirai , announced Wednesday that the party had decided to boycott the November 26 poll .
-But later in the day , MDC spokesman Paul Themba-Nyathi said a majority of the party 's national council had voted in favor of participating .
-Lawmakers approved the newly created Senate in August as part of a package of constitutional reforms proposed by President Robert Mugabe .
-The opposition has strongly objected to the creation of the new upper house , calling it a ploy by the ruling party to cement its grip on power .
-A majority of U.S. lawmakers say the revised economic bailout plan defeated Monday failed to address major concerns .
-Lawmakers had modified President George Bush 's original $ 700 billion plan to rescue key financial institutions by adding more scrutiny and limits on dispersing the money .
-The Congressional measure would have phased in funding , provided homeowners some protection and let them share in any profits of the financial firms receiving the money .
-But even in its modified form , enough opposing members of Congress felt the bill was still flawed .
-They said both the original bill and the defeated measure put the taxpayer at far too great a risk for the benefit of large corporations and did not address underlying economic problems .
-Most members of Congress face verdict of voters during election day November 4 .
-The Turkish man who tried to assassinate Pope John Paul in 1981 has asked Turkish authorities to briefly allow him out of prison to attend the pope 's funeral .
-Mehmet Ali Agca 's lawyer Mustafa Demirbag said Tuesday that he has applied to the Justice Ministry for a short compassionate leave .
-On Sunday , Agca said from his Istanbul jail cell that he had lost , in his words , his " spiritual brother " and was grief stricken over the pontiff 's death .
-Agca gravely wounded John Paul in the 1981 shooting in Saint Peter 's Square .
-Two years later , the pope visited Agca in the Italian prison where he served 19 years and forgave him .
-In 2000 , Agca was extradited to Istanbul where he is serving out a 17-year sentence for earlier crimes committed in Turkey .
-Colombia 's second-largest rebel group has accepted an offer from neighboring Venezuela to facilitate peace talks between the guerrillas and the Colombian government .
-The National Liberation Army , the ELN , said in a statement dated September 16 but released Friday , that it accepts the offer from Venezuela 's government and people .
-There was no immediate comment from officials in Bogota , but the government of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has shown an interest in opening talks with the ELN .
-Earlier this month , Colombia agreed to temporarily release jailed ELN rebel leader Francisco Galan to allow him to negotiate with civil society leaders about launching talks with the Uribe government .
-The ELN and a larger rebel group , the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia , are mired in a long-running civil war that also involves rightist paramilitaries and the government .
-The conflict leaves thousands of people dead each year .
-Morocco says security forces have broken up an al-Qaida-linked militant cell that was planning attacks throughout the country .
-Morocco 's state news agency quotes the Interior Ministry as saying the group consisted of 24 militants .
-It said the group was " planning assassinations and acts of sabotage " targeting the security services and foreign interests in Morocco .
-The agency news report says four of the group 's members had been jailed previously on terror-related charges .
-It says the group also recruited Moroccan citizens to send to conflict areas such as Afghanistan , Iraq and Somalia .
-The suspects were captured after an assault on a police officer in Casablanca .
-Bette Midler will replace Celine Dion as headliner at Caesar 's Palace Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas .
-Famed for her bawdy stage routine , the 61-year-old Midler reportedly agreed to a two-year run of 100 shows per year .
-Her five-night-a-week performances begin February 20 .
-Replacing Celine Dion is no mean feat : since inaugurating her show , " A New Day , " in March 2003 , the French-Canadian singer has grossed more than $ 500 million .
-She will give her final performance December 15 .
-Sharing space in the 4,100-seat , $ 95 million Colosseum is Elton John , who will continue his 50 show-per-year schedule through 2008 .
-Booking agent John Meglen says the new performance schedule leaves room for a probable third headliner .
-He would not comment on who it may be , although entertainment insiders have mentioned Cher as a likely candidate .
-Venezuela has agreed to delay its planned suspension of some U.S. flights to allow talks with the affected airlines .
-In a statement , the Venezuelan aviation ministry said the restrictions , set to take effect on Wednesday , will now be postponed until March 30 .
-It added that officials met Friday with representatives from several U.S. airlines , and said more talks are expected in coming days .
-U.S. officials have said the suspension of flights would violate a 50-year-old aviation deal between the nations .
-They expressed hope that talks will help resolve the dispute .
-Venezuelan officials announced the ban last week in response to U.S. restrictions placed on Venezuelan planes 10-years-ago because of security concerns .
-They say the United States has failed to acknowledge security improvements taken by Venezuelan companies in recent years .
-Iraq has agreed to resume imports of Australian wheat as long as they are not handled by the monopoly wheat exporter at the center of a bribery investigation .
-The Australian government is investigating whether A.W.B Limited paid about $ 220 million to secure more than two billion dollars in wheat contracts with Saddam Hussein 's government .
-Earlier this month , the Iraqi Grain Board suspended its relationship with A.W.B. .
-Australian Trade Minister Mark Vaile made an emergency trip to Iraq last week to discuss the suspension .
-Vaile told ABC radio Monday that the new agreement with Iraq is something that has to be worked out with the industry and with growers .
-Prime Minister John Howard has rejected accusations that his government knew about the kickbacks .
-The BBC says it may start to filter out the sound of vuvuzelas from its World Cup broadcasts , following complaints about the incessant drone .
-The BBC said Tuesday it had received 545 complaints from viewers , forcing officials to look into options to reduce the noise from the plastic trumpets .
-One option would be to offer an electronic filter that reduces most of the ambient noise while maintaining the game commentary .
-Football coaches , players and reporters have all complained about the constant din generated by thousands of vuvuzelas at the stadiums .
-However , FIFA officials say the horns are a South African tradition and will not be banned .
-Camel racers in the United Arab Emirates are experimenting with robots now that it is no longer legal to use small boys as jockeys .
-The UAE has instituted new regulations as of March 31 , which forbid boys younger than 16 years of age or lighter than 45 kilograms from being jockeys .
-Human rights groups had called the former practice of using underage jockeys a form of slavery .
-The groups say boys , some as young as four , were kept in prison-like conditions and underfed to keep their weight down .
-A prototype of a new robotic jockey was tested Saturday .
-The first production robots should be assembled by August , in time for the beginning of the next camel racing season .
-A U.S. soldier has pleaded guilty to murdering a wounded 16-year-old Iraqi boy .
-Staff Sergeant Johnny Horne was convicted Friday of the unpremeditated murder of the civilian youth in Baghdad 's Sadr City district in August .
-The sergeant was one of several soldiers who had found the wounded teenager in a burning garbage truck they had just fired on .
-The youth had severe abdominal wounds and Horne said he decided to , in his words , " put him out of his misery " by shooting him in the head .
-Two other soldiers are also implicated in the murder , but have yet to stand trial .
-Under a plea bargain agreement , Horne faces a maximum of 10 years instead of the possibility of life in prison .
-Three Iraqi men have gone on trial in Stuttgart , Germany , suspected of plotting an assassination attempt against former Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi in 2004 .
-The three men are being tried on charges of conspiracy and membership in Ansar al-Islam , an Islamic militant group that U.S. authorities have linked to al-Qaida .
-They were arrested in Germany after police intercepted phone calls during which they allegedly plotted an attack on Mr. Allawi during his visit to Berlin in December 2004 .
-Mr. Allawi changed his travel plans after the alleged plot was uncovered .
-Police say two of the men also are believed to have collected funds for Ansar al-Islam and recruited members to the group .
-In a separate case , two other men are being tried in Munich for allegedly providing logistical and financial aid to Ansar al-Islam .
-An Uzbek human rights group says authorities there executed a prisoner last month , despite a United Nations appeal to suspend the death penalty because of torture concerns .
-The head of the group " Mothers Against Execution and Torture , " Tamara Chikunova , says the 25-year-old prisoner Akhrorkhodzha Tolipkhodzhayev was executed by a firing squad after being found guilty of murdering two teenagers .
-Ms. Chikunova says there was evidence that the man 's charges were not proven at the trial , and that his confession was extracted under torture .
-Uzbekistan 's autocratic government has long been accused of human rights abuses , including torture in detention centers and prisons .
-Amnesty International said recently that at least 6,000 political prisoners , including dozens of women , are being held in degrading conditions in Uzbekistan .
-Afghan officials say police have killed six Taliban insurgents , including a militant-appointed provincial governor , during a clash in western Afghanistan .
-The interior ministry says the fighting erupted Thursday in the western province of Ghor .
-A ministry statement says a militant police chief and a Taliban-appointed governor of Ghor were among those killed in the clash .
-A police official says at least two police officers and a civilian were wounded in the fighting .
-Afghan , NATO and U.S. troops are fighting a resurgent Taliban and other rebels who have strongholds in the southern and eastern parts of the country .
-In some areas , the Taliban have appointed and run their own parallel administration .
-The Bush administration has expressed confidence in United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan , despite calls for his resignation from several U.S. lawmakers over a scandal involving the U.N.-administered oil-for-food program for Iraq .
-The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations , John Danforth , said Thursday that President Bush has confidence in Mr. Annan , and dismissed speculation the administration was trying to push the Ghanaian diplomat out .
-Mr. Danforth also stressed the importance of a U.S. investigation of the oil-for-food program , saying it would be the only way to - in his words - lift the cloud from the United Nations .
-Several prominent Africans , including Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu , are defending the secretary-general .
-The African statesmen are linking the calls for Mr. Annan 's resignation to his sharp differences with President Bush over the U.S.-led war in Iraq .
-Two French journalists who were held hostage in Iraq for four months have arrived back in France .
-Joyful relatives tearfully greeted the men - Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot - upon their arrival at an air base outside Paris Wednesday .
-French President Jacques Chirac cut short a vacation in Morocco to be on hand for the arrival .
-French officials have said no ransom was paid for the release , which came Tuesday .
-The journalists were abducted while traveling to Najaf August 20 .
-They were held by a group calling itself the Islamic Army of Iraq , which has previously killed hostages .
-Police in northwestern Pakistan say a suicide bomber detonated an explosives #NAME? car at a security post Tuesday , killing a Pakistani soldier and wounding at least seven others .
-Authorities say the attack occurred in the town of Doaba in Hangu district .
-Pakistan 's northwestern tribal areas are considered to be Taliban and al-Qaida militant strongholds .
-Elsewhere in the northwest , officials say two rockets landed near the runway of Peshawar airport before dawn Tuesday .
-Reports of damage varied , from slight to none at all .
-China 's foreign ministry says it plans to work closely with Russian officials to minimize the effects of pollution from a toxic chemicals slick moving along a major river toward Russia .
-Russian environmental officials report an increase in the level of cancer-causing benzene in the Amur River .
-But Russian authorities say it is not clear if it is from the Chinese chemical spill .
-They say it could take several more days before the worst of the spill reaches Russian territory .
-Meanwhile , a top United Nations official , Klaus Toepfer , told China 's Xinhua news agency Thursday that Beijing will allow U.N. officials to inspect the effects of the spill .
-An explosion at a Chinese factory two weeks ago released 100 tons of poisonous chemicals into the Songhua river .
-As they flow toward Russia , riverside cities are shutting down water systems to avoid contamination .
-Pakistan 's security force has arrested 10 terrorists in North Wazirstan along the border area of Pakistan and Afghanistan .
-Pakistani officials say the operation was launched Sunday after intelligence reports indicated that several al-Qaida suspects were hiding in the mountainous region , about 300 kilometers southwest of Islamabad .
-The latest offensive comes after the Pakistani army warned local tribesman to stop protecting terrorists , or face military action .
-Last week , Pakistani soldiers killed two foreign al-Qaida members and arrested 11 in the same region .
-Thailand 's parliament has elected Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to a second four-year term .
-Mr. Thaksin received the votes of 377 lawmakers out of 500 in the parliament 's lower house during a televised vote Wednesday , making him the first democratically elected prime minister to hold a second term .
-The 55-year-old prime minister led his Thai Rak Thai party to an overwhelming victory in last month 's general elections .
-He says the focus of his second term will be coping with rising oil prices , bird flu , and the separatist insurgency in the Muslim-dominated south .
-Mr. Thaksin and his government are expected to be sworn in on Monday .
-Pakistani authorities are hunting for a militant who escaped from custody after being detained in connection with a plot to assassinate President Pervez Musharraf in December 2003 .
-Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed confirmed Tuesday that Mushtaq Ahmed had escaped but did not provide any details .
-The French News Agency says the man has been on the run for nearly seven weeks since he vanished after being allowed to go the bathroom at the detention facility near Rawalpindi , a garrison city adjacent to Islamabad .
-There were two failed attempts on Mr. Musharraf 's life in December 2003 .
-The Pakistani leader has angered many extremist groups by his support for the U.S.-led war on terrorism .
-Military officials in Nepal say 11 Maoist rebels and two soldiers were killed during fighting at an army camp in eastern Nepal .
-Officials say the rebels attacked the army camp , located 400 kilometers east of the capital , Kathmandu , late Friday .
-Maoist rebels have carried out a series of attacks across Nepal since ending their four-month , unilateral cease-fire on January 2 .
-They have been fighting to overthrow the constitutional monarchy and replace it with a communist state since 1996 .
-At least 12,000 people have died in the fighting .
-Nepal 's King Gyanendra took absolute control of the country nearly a year ago .
-Formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland , Botswana adopted its new name upon independence in 1966 .
-Four decades of uninterrupted civilian leadership , progressive social policies , and significant capital investment have created one of the most dynamic economies in Africa .
-Mineral extraction , principally diamond mining , dominates economic activity , though tourism is a growing sector due to the country 's conservation practices and extensive nature preserves .
-Botswana has one of the world 's highest known rates of HIV / AIDS infection , but also one of Africa 's most progressive and comprehensive programs for dealing with the disease .
-During the 17th century , the archipelago was divided into two territorial units , one English and the other Danish .
-Sugarcane , produced by slave labor , drove the islands ' economy during the 18th and early 19th centuries .
-In 1917 , the US purchased the Danish portion , which had been in economic decline since the abolition of slavery in 1848 .
-In 1895 , military defeat forced China to cede Taiwan to Japan .
-Taiwan reverted to Chinese control after World War II .
-Following the Communist victory on the mainland in 1949 , 2 million Nationalists fled to Taiwan and established a government using the 1947 constitution drawn up for all of China .
-Over the next five decades , the ruling authorities gradually democratized and incorporated the local population within the governing structure .
-In 2000 , Taiwan underwent its first peaceful transfer of power from the Nationalist to the Democratic Progressive Party .
-Throughout this period , the island prospered and became one of East Asia 's economic " Tigers . "
-The dominant political issues continue to be the relationship between Taiwan and China - specifically the question of Taiwan 's eventual status - as well as domestic political and economic reform .
-The inhabitants of this tiny isolated economy exist on fishing , subsistence farming , handicrafts , and postage stamps .
-The fertile soil of the valleys produces a wide variety of fruits and vegetables , including citrus , sugarcane , watermelons , bananas , yams , and beans .
-Bartering is an important part of the economy .
-The major sources of revenue are the sale of postage stamps to collectors and the sale of handicrafts to passing ships .
-In October 2004 , more than one-quarter of Pitcairn 's small labor force was arrested , putting the economy in a bind , since their services were required as lighter crew to load or unload passing ships .
-In this small , landlocked economy , subsistence agriculture occupies approximately 70 % of the population .
-The manufacturing sector has diversified since the mid-1980s .
-Sugar and wood pulp were major foreign exchange earners ; however , the wood pulp producer closed in January 2010 , and sugar is now the main export earner .
-In 2007 , the sugar industry increased efficiency and diversification efforts , in response to a 17 % decline in EU sugar prices .
-Mining has declined in importance in recent years with only coal and quarry stone mines remaining active .
-Surrounded by South Africa , except for a short border with Mozambique , Swaziland is heavily dependent on South Africa from which it receives more than nine-tenths of its imports and to which it sends 60 % of its exports .
-Swaziland 's currency is pegged to the South African rand , subsuming Swaziland 's monetary policy to South Africa .
-The government is heavily dependent on customs duties from the Southern African Customs Union ( SACU ) , and worker remittances from South Africa substantially supplement domestically earned income .
-The government has also legislated that 30 % of local pension funds need to be invested in Swaziland , boosting demand for government bonds .
-Customs revenues plummeted due to the global economic crisis and a drop in South African imports .
-The resulting decline in revenue has pushed the country into a fiscal crisis .
-The government has requested assistance from the IMF and from the African Development Bank .
-With an estimated 40 % unemployment rate , Swaziland 's need to increase the number and size of small and medium enterprises and attract foreign direct investment is acute .
-Overgrazing , soil depletion , drought , and floods persist as problems for the future .
-More than one-fourth of the population needed emergency food aid in 2006 - 7 because of drought , and more than one-quarter of the adult population has been infected by HIV / AIDS .
-AN Ambitious Writer , distinguished for the condition of his linen , was travelling the high road to fame , when he met a Tramp .
-" What is the matter with your shirt ? " inquired the Tramp .
-" It bears the marks of that superb unconcern which is the characteristic of genius , " replied the Ambitious Writer , contemptuously passing him by .
-Resting by the wayside a little later , the Tramp carved upon the smooth bark of a birch-tree the words , " John Gump , Champion Genius . "
-I think the political correctness is getting ridiculous .
-Today I overheard a little boy say he was going to go play a game of Cattle Management Specialists and Native Americans .
-Haiti is marking six months since the powerful earthquake that killed more than 2,20,000 people and left Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas in ruins .
-The 7 magnitude earthquake on January 12 left some 1.5 million others homeless .
-Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive and former U.S. President Bill Clinton say millions of Haitians still lack access to basic services such as shelter , water , sanitation and health care .
-In an opinion piece in The New York Times , they say progress has been made , but that all involved in Haiti 's recovery must do better .
-Mr. Clinton and Mr. Bellerive , who are the co-chairs of the Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission , say that so far only 10 percent of the $ 5.3 billion pledged by governments to Haiti has been disbursed to the Haitian government .
-Top U.S. and Japanese negotiators in nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea said the North must agree to a verification of its disarmament activities in writing .
-U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill and his Japanese counterpart Akitaka Saiki met Tuesday in Tokyo ahead of six-nation talks in Beijing next week .
-After the meeting , the two envoys told reporters they expect tough negotiations with North Korea .
-They say the Beijing talks will focus on hammering out a document with a detailed list of verification measures .
-Hill said the North must commit in writing to allow international inspectors to take samples from its nuclear facilities .
-Washington said North Korea agreed to sampling during a meeting with Hill in October , but Pyongyang denies it .
-North Korea has agreed to dismantle its nuclear activities in exchange for aid and energy , but has halted the process several times .
-Hill plans to hold talks Wednesday with Saiki and the South Korean negotiator Kim Sook before heading for Singapore , where he is meeting with North Korean officials .
-U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is in Algeria , in what officials believe is the first such visit by a U.S. defense secretary .
-Secretary Rumsfeld says he came to Algeria because it has become a good partner in the war on terrorism .
-He says the country has come a long way since the years when it was a staunch opponent of U.S. policy , as a member of the Non-Aligned Movement .
-Now , Algerian forces are preparing to participate in a NATO counter-terrorism operation in the Mediterranean , starting in June .
-Algeria is also one of the most active participants in the U.S. Trans-Saharan Counter-Terrorism Initiative .
-A senior U.S. official , who spoke on condition of anonymity says the United States wants to further expand military relations with Algeria .
-But , he says , it also wants the Algerian government to think more creatively about how to implement greater political reforms .
-The African Union has condemned a roadside bomb attack in Somalia that killed one AU peacekeeper and wounded two others in the capital , Mogadishu .
-In a statement Thursday , Special A.U. Representative for Somalia Nicolas Bwakira condemned the attack and said it would not derail the A.U. 's peacekeeping mission in Somalia .
-Bwakira says two bombs exploded late Wednesday on a road between the airport and the K-4 Section of Mogadishu .
-He says the wounded peacekeepers were taken to Nairobi , Kenya for treatment .
-The AU peacekeeping mission in Somalia currently consists of about 3,400 troops contributed by Uganda and Burundi .
-The troops have come under frequent attack from the al-Shabab militant group .
-Al-Shabab controls much of southern and central Somalia after a two-year insurgency , and has moved to impose its own strict form of Islamic law in areas under its control .
-Last week , Somalia 's cabinet voted to make Sharia the basis of Somalia 's legal system , in an effort to appease the insurgents .
-The child molestation trial of pop superstar Michael Jackson is underway in southern California , where scores of fans turned out to show their support .
-Lawyers at a Santa Barbara county court Monday began screening the first of up to 750 potential jurors for the trial , which could last several months .
-Mr. Jackson faces 10 charges involving alleged sexual molestation of a child under the age of 14 .
-The singer has pleaded not guilty , saying he is completely innocent .
-Mr. Jackson gave a V-for-victory sign as he entered the courtroom Monday , dressed entirely in white and surrounded by bodyguards .
-In a video statement released Sunday , Mr. Jackson criticized recent leaks of grand jury testimony on the case , calling them " malicious , disgusting and FALSE . "
-Afghan officials say airstrikes by U.S. helicopter gunships and tankbuster jets have killed at least 12 suspected Taleban in southern Afghanistan .
-They say the fighting began after insurgents tried to kill the former military commander of Khost province , Kheyal Baaz Khan Sherzai , in an ambush .
-The suspected Taleban fired rockets at Mr. Sherzai on a main road between the Afghan capital , Kabul and Gardez .
-He was not injured .
-The French press agency ( AFP ) says Afghan soldiers chased the attackers into the mountains and U.S. air support was called in .
-Taleban fighters have carried out a number of attacks recently after a winter lull .
-A U.S.-led coalition ousted the Taleban regime in 2001 .
-About 17,000 US military personnel are in Afghanistan trying to weed out Taleban remnants .
-Mexico 's state-run oil company , Pemex , said its 2008 production of crude oil fell 9.2 percent from 2007 .
-Pemex said Wednesday that daily production last year dropped to almost 2.8 million barrels compared to three million barrels the year before .
-The oil company blamed bad weather and operational factors at its biggest oil field , Cantarell , for the production 2008 shortfall .
-Exports were also down 16.8 percent last year .
-Mexican President Felipe Calderon has sought more private investment in Pemex to boost falling production .
-Opponents have said opening the struggling oil industry to private interests would threaten Mexico 's sovereignty .
-Mexico is a major oil supplier to the United States .
-Leaders of 53 Commonwealth nations have gathered in the Mediterranean island of Malta for a summit .
-The Commonwealth 's three-day biennial meeting is set to begin Friday .
-Most , but not all , members of the Commonwealth were once part of the British Empire .
-Member nations include developed countries such as Australia and Canada , developing nations including India and Pakistan , and island nations such as Vanuatu .
-Almost one-third of the world 's population lives in Commonwealth member nations .
-The Commonwealth says the group 's values include democracy , good governance , equality and economic development .
-A European investigator says there appears to be evidence that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency abducted people in Europe and transferred them between countries illegally .
-Swiss Senator Dick Marty made the comment in a report to the Council of Europe , which brings together lawmakers from democratic European countries to discuss such issues as human rights .
-U.S. newspapers last month reported that the CIA has been using European airports and airspace to transport terror suspects to secret prisons in eastern Europe .
-Mr. Marty criticized U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for not providing information or explanation of the issue during her recent visit to Europe .
-On Monday , British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said his government has found no evidence the Bush administration requested permission to fly terror suspects through Britain or its airspace .
-The United Nations war crimes tribunal has authorized former Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj to engage in political activities during his provisional release .
-Judges at the tribunal in The Hague , in a split decision Wednesday , allowed Mr. Haradinaj to join in such activities if U.N. administrators in Kosovo approve his participation on a case-by-case basis .
-Mr. Haradinaj , a former Kosovo Albanian guerrilla leader , resigned his post and surrendered to The Hague tribunal in March after the court indicted him on 37 counts of war crimes during the Kosovo conflict of the late 1990s .
-Mr. Haradinaj has insisted his actions were consistent with international law .
-Serbian politicians have condemned Wednesday 's decision .
-They demanded that Serb defendants on provisional release be granted similar privileges .
-The Reuters news agency says the tribunal 's chief prosecutor plans to appeal the ruling .
-Israel says it will be forced to defend itself against Iran , if the United Nations Security Council fails to take action to stop Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons .
-In an interview with Reuters news agency , Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz was asked whether Israel is ready to use military force , if the Security Council does not stop what Israel believes is a covert Iranian weapons program .
-Mofaz replied , " we have to defend ourselves . "
-He said any military action would be based on Israel 's right to provide security to its people .
-In 1981 , Israel bombed a nuclear reactor in Iraq to prevent Saddam Hussein from developing nuclear weapons .
-Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for the destruction of Israel since taking office last year .
-He also has rejected the vast body of historical documentation of the Holocaust as myth .
-Afghanistan 's anti-drug force commander says foreign help to combat trade in opium and heroin has been very slow , but he predicted big gains in the anti-narcotic campaign in the coming year .
-The international community has committed hundreds of millions of dollars to train Afghan police in destroying laboratories and opium crops , as well as to fund projects to help farmers grow legal crops .
-General Mohammed Daud told reporters the international community must do more to provide alternative sources of income for farmers being forced to stop growing opium poppies .
-He said the donor countries have not yet fully delivered on their promises .
-The general said 1,300 police officers were being deployed this month from Kabul to provinces where local authorities need help to enforce the government 's anti-poppy campaign .
-He said 2006 will be the year when his special force will arrest all smugglers , especially those who have links with the government .
-The French parliament has given final approval to a bill extending the state of emergency aimed at stopping riots by mostly North African youths .
-The Senate approved the bill Wednesday despite objections from leftist lawmakers who say the continued emergency measures are not needed because the violence is easing .
-But Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said many cities are still tense .
-The lower house of parliament passed the bill Monday .
-It gives local authorities the power to impose curfews for three more months .
-The violence began late last month when two teenagers of North African origin accidentally electrocuted themselves while hiding from police in a power station near Paris .
-Thousands of cars and a number of buildings were burned in the riots that followed .
-The government has promised to tackle what it says are the real causes of the violence , including unemployment and racism .
-Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has arrived in London for talks with Prime Minister Tony Blair on terrorism , trade and the situation in Afghanistan .
-General Musharraf traveled from Washington where he met with President Bush .
-During his visit he said the search for al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden has gone completely cold .
-In an interview published Sunday General Musharraf says Pakistani forces are aggressively pursuing Osama bin Laden , but have only been able to determine that he is still alive .
-Mr. Musharraf says the United States must share responsibility for the failure to track him down because the U.S.-led coalition does not have enough troops in neighboring Afghanistan .
-During his visit , Mr. Bush said " there is nobody more dedicated " to tracking down Osama bin Laden than Mr. Musharraf .
-Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has apologized for a corruption scandal that is rocking his government and threatening his own popularity .
-In a televised address Friday , Mr. da Silva said his ruling Workers ' Party must apologize for its mistakes .
-The party is embroiled in a scandal over allegations it bought votes in Congress .
-There are also accusations that private businessmen bribed lawmakers .
-Earlier Friday , a public opinion poll indicated the Brazilian leader would lose a re-election bid in 2006 because of the growing scandal .
-On Thursday , the publicist behind Mr. da Silva 's 2002 presidential campaign , Duda Mendonca told congressional investigators that he was partly paid for his services with illegal funds from an offshore bank .
-Several lawmakers have resigned since the corruption scandal surfaced in June .
-Hospitals in Bombay are struggling to cope with hundreds of patients infected by waterborne diseases in the aftermath of western India 's monsoon floods , and they say the death toll is rising .
-A government health official says illnesses caused by contaminated water have killed at least 66 people , and there are fears the TRUE death toll could be far higher , since many cases have not been reported .
-Thousands of people seeking medical care crowded into the city 's handful of state-run hospitals , Friday .
-The facilities are short of beds , and many patients are forced to sleep on floors or wait for care in the streets outside the hospitals .
-Bombay 's medical crisis continues , two weeks after record monsoon floods that inundated the city killed more than 1,000 people .
-Egyptian authorities say the death toll from the collapse of a residential building last week has risen to 35 .
-The 12-story building in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria crumbled on Monday .
-Rescue workers have pulled three survivors from the rubble .
-The building collapsed as construction workers carried out repairs on the first floor .
-Prosecutors have issued arrest warrants for the building 's owner and a contractor responsible for repair work .
-Buildings frequently collapse in Egypt because of poor maintenance and inferior construction in violation of regulations .
-Egyptian authorities say the building was erected 25 years ago without a permit .
-It was originally seven stories , but five more were added later .
-Pakistani police say a suicide bomber crashed an explosives-laden car into a police checkpoint killing at least three officers and wounding 17 others .
-Officials say Monday 's early morning attack occurred in northwest Pakistan , near the North Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan .
-No one has claimed responsibility for the incident .
-Many Taliban and al-Qaida militants fled to Pakistan from neighboring Afghanistan after the U.S.-led invasion in Afghanistan toppled the Taliban in late 2001 .
-Insurgents have a strong presence in Pakistan 's volatile tribal areas .
-Afghan officials say five people were killed and six others injured when an earthquake struck near the country 's eastern border with Pakistan .
-A Defense Ministry spokesman , General Mohammed Zahir Azimi , said several homes were destroyed in the quake in Zabul province , correcting an earlier statement that the quake struck in neighboring Paktika province .
-The spokesman said that Army rescue teams and doctors were in the region assessing the damage and helping villagers .
-Pakistan 's Seismological Center in the city of Peshawar said two quakes were registered along the border area early Sunday .
-War-shattered Afghanistan does not have a meteorological agency that can provide information about the scale of earthquakes .
-Afghanistan was spared the devastation caused by a massive October 8 earthquake in neighboring Pakistan and in India .
-The United Nations is launching a massive campaign in Burma this week to fight the spread of dengue fever in areas hard-hit by last month 's deadly cyclone .
-Starting Tuesday , hundreds of volunteers will begin fanning out across the main city of Rangoon and into the Irrawaddy Delta , where the U.N. estimates more than two million people have been affected by the storm .
-The groups will be looking for mosquito larvae that breed in pools of standing water during the monsoon season .
-That season began early last month when Cyclone Nargis ripped across the delta , leaving more than 1,30,000 people dead and missing .
-U.N. officials fear the number of cases of the mosquito-borne disease could be higher than usual this year because many people have lost their homes and are more exposed to mosquitoes .
-Members of the international community are meeting Wednesday in Afghanistan to reduce record-high opium production and illegal drug trafficking .
-The anti-drug conference opened in Kabul with United Nations experts discussing the security threat that opium poses to Afghanistan and surrounding nations .
-A U.N. report released earlier this year showed poppy cultivation reached new highs this year in Afghanistan , with nearly 95 percent of the world 's opium produced in the country .
-The U.N. report also said the illegal opium trade drives instability by helping fund Taliban insurgents .
-Topics on the agenda include ways to strengthen border security among Central Asian countries that are increasingly becoming a destination for heroin .
-Last week , the European Union suggested some of Afghanistan 's poppy crop should be used to make legal opium-based pain medicine instead of heroin .
-The United States and the Afghan government oppose the idea .
-North Korean state radio reportedly has raised the question of a dynastic transfer of power from Kim Jong-il to one of his sons when the Stalinist leader dies .
-Mr. Kim , who turns 63 next month , inherited power from his father Kim Il-Sung in 1994 , establishing what has been called the world 's first Communist dynasty .
-South Korean media report Monday that a recent political commentary on North Korean radio , heard last Thursday , referred to comments by the elder Kim saying his son or even his grandson should complete his work if he falls short of completing the country 's " revolution . "
-Kim Jong-il has three sons , the eldest being 33-year-old Kim Jong-Nam .
-His two rivals for a possible succession are 23-year-old Kim Jong-Chul and 21-year-old Kim Jong-Woon .
-Recent civil wars in the West African nations of Liberia , Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast destabilized neighboring southeast Guinea with a flood of refugees and increased poverty .
-Health workers say the movement of displaced people and an increase in sexual assaults have caused the region to have the highest HIV / AIDS rate in the country .
-As people die from the virus , many leave behind children to face life as AIDS orphans .
-Kari Barber has more from the town of N'Zerekore in Guinea .
-South Korean diplomats have taken custody of eight people believed to be North Koreans who entered a South Korean school in eastern China .
-The North Koreans entered the school Tuesday in the city of Qingdao , along China 's eastern coast asking to be sent to South Korea .
-South Korea 's Foreign Ministry says it has appealed to Beijing not to send the asylum seekers back to North Korea .
-China recently sent home seven North Koreans who sought asylum in August at a South Korean school in the Chinese city of Yentai .
-Beijing has an agreement with Pyongyang to return asylum seekers , but has allowed many to travel to South Korea through third countries .
-Hundreds of North Koreans have broken into embassies and foreign schools in China in recent years seeking asylum .
-The Nepalese military says a fierce battle between government troops and Maoist rebels has left at least five soldiers and an unknown number of guerillas dead .
-A military statement says the clash occurred Friday in the western Kapilvastu district as security forces were trying to clear roadblocks set up by the rebels .
-The statement says the rebels , who were hiding in the area , set off bombs targeting the security forces , who retaliated with heavy gunfire .
-The Maoists are fighting to topple Nepal 's constitutional monarchy and replace it with a communist state .
-In an unrelated development , Nepalese authorities released a journalist held in detention by security forces for almost 21 months .
-The Federation of Nepalese Journalists says Bhaikaji Ghimire was released Thursday afternoon on the Supreme Court 's order .
-A UN report on human rights abuses in Ivory Coast has been published in the Paris-based newspaper Liberation , several days after it was leaked to Ivorian papers .
-The report outlines examples of death squads , mass executions , torture and rapes in the country over the past two years .
-VOA West Africa correspondent Nico Colombant , based in Abidjan , talked with English to Africa reporter William Eagle about the abuses .
-Correspondent Colombant says authorities are probably directing them , although it is difficult to determine who exactly is giving the orders .
-Among those abused are women , and he says soldiers and rebels engage in rape .
-He says warfare and economic hard times have led to a growth in prostitution , which is sometimes controlled by soldiers .
-UN peacekeepers have also been seen soliciting prostitutes , which could lead to the spread of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases
-U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has outlined its terms for further prisoner exchanges with Israel .
-Mr. Ban Wednesday said he received a letter from Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah .
-He said Nasrallah indicated his willingness to resolve the remaining Israeli missing in action humanitarian cases of the 1980s .
-But before Hezbollah acts , the Lebanese Shi'ite leader wants the release of hundreds of " minors , women and elderly people being held in Israeli detention " as well as detainees suffering from handicaps and injuries .
-Last week , Israel released five prisoners and the remains of some 200 militants to Lebanon in exchange for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers whose capture two years ago triggered a 34-day war .
-Wednesday , Hezbollah transferred the remains of 114 of those militants to Syria .
-Hundreds of relatives greeted the bodies as they were handed over at the Lebanese-Syrian border .
-Arnold Schwarzenegger , the Republican governor of California , is scheduled to address this year 's conference of Britain 's Conservative Party .
-Party officials said Sunday in London that Schwarzenegger would speak about climate change at the party 's annual meeting .
-British conservative leader David Cameron said Schwarzenegger had shown tremendous leadership in pioneering measures to protect the environment .
-Schwarzenegger signed into law last year a measure that imposed emissions limits on utilities , refineries and manufacturing plants .
-The goal is to cut greenhouse gas emissions 25 percent by the year 2020 .
-He said California could set the standard for the United States and the rest of the world .
-Taleban militants in Afghanistan bombed a convoy carrying a provincial governor and later opened fire on the vehicles , killing one official .
-Authorities said the governor of eastern Lagham province was unhurt in the attack Saturday .
-They said one official in the provincial government was killed by gunfire .
-A Taleban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack .
-Police said they had detained several suspects .
-Meanwhile , Afghan officials said a roadside bomb killed six members of a security force in eastern Paktia province .
-In Kandahar province , two NATO soldiers were killed and three wounded by militants firing rocket propelled grenades and small arms .
-Coalition officials did not release the nationality of the troops involved .
-Friday , a suicide attack on a NATO convoy in Kandahar killed one NATO soldier and eight Afghan civilians .
-A report by the U.S. Defense Department estimates about 26,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed or wounded in attacks by insurgents since January last year .
-The Pentagon provided the estimate in a report to Congress this month .
-It says about 80 percent of all insurgent attacks were directed at coalition forces , but that the majority of all casualties , 80 percent , are among Iraqi civilians .
-Further , the Pentagon says the number of Iraqi casualties has risen , from about 26 a day between the months of January and March 2004 , to about 64 a day in the period between August 29 of this year and September 16 .
-Violence continued Saturday , when at least 25 people died following a bomb explosion in a Shi'ite village north of Baghdad .
-Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has dismissed opposition protests over the suspension of the country 's top judge , saying his critics are trying to politicize a constitutional and judicial issue .
-Thousands of people across Pakistan protested Monday against the removal of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudry earlier this month on allegations of abusing authority .
-Lawyers and opposition parties say General Musharraf is trying to interfere with the independence of the judiciary .
-He insists there is little public support for the protests .
-During a speech Tuesday in Rawalpindi , the Pakistani leader also denied the government has been involved in the disappearance of hundreds of people since Pakistan joined the U.S.-led war on terrorism in 2001 .
-Human rights groups say the government has detained hundreds of people in secret , accusing them of links to extremist groups .
-International health workers in Angola say they are still struggling to end an outbreak of the Marburg virus , which has killed 156 people in the southern African nation .
-Representatives of Doctors without Borders and the U.N. children 's fund expressed concern Wednesday that the death toll continues to rise , despite emergency efforts .
-The Associated Press quoted Health Minister Sebastiao Veloso as saying no new cases have been reported outside northwestern Uige province , where the rare virus was first spotted .
-Hospital workers are using isolation units and protective clothing to limit the spread of the virus , which causes fever , diarrhea and bleeding .
-Angola 's government and aid groups have also launched campaigns to warn people that the illness can spread through contact with body fluids .
-The Discovery Channel and NASA have restored 50 years of history for the U.S. space agency 's archives .
-Discovery has used the material to produce a documentary series called , When We Left Earth :
-The NASA Missions .
-It will be broadcast internationally next month .
-This week in Washington , former senator and astronaut John Glenn joined members of the U.S. Congress , officials from NASA and others for a sneak preview .
-VOA 's Paul Sisco reports .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez arrived in Iran Wednesday for talks with officials on bilateral issues .
-Reports say he is expected to meet with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday as well as launch a joint development bank and bilateral investment fund .
-Mr. Chavez ' visit to Iran follows a meeting with Latin American and Arab leaders in Qatar .
-The Venezuelan president has made several trips to Iran since Mr. Ahmadinejad took power in 2005 .
-Both leaders have forged close ties .
-Later this week , Mr. Chavez heads to Asia for talks with regional leaders .
-Pakistan 's military says it has successfully test-fired a short-range nuclear-capable missile .
-Officials say the ( Abdali ) surface-to-surface ballistic missile , with a range of 200 kilometers , was launched Saturday from an undisclosed location inside Pakistan .
-It is the country 's second missile test this month .
-The launch comes one day after Pakistan 's rival , India , test-fired a nuclear-capable ballistic missile from a ship off its east coast in the Bay of Bengal .
-Pakistan and India often conduct such tests to demonstrate their defensive readiness .
-The two rivals normally give each other notice for long-range missile launches .
-A team of inspectors from the United Nations nuclear agency has visited a heavy water reactor in Iran .
-Iranian state media reports Monday 's inspection of the Arak facility took five hours .
-The facility will produce plutonium once it is completed .
-Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini says another team from the IAEA will visit Iran on August 6 to work out a framework for inspecting the Natanz uranium enrichment facility .
-Iran has agreed to allow the inspections as part of a deal to resolve questions about its nuclear activities .
-Plutonium and highly enriched uranium can be used to build nuclear weapons .
-The U.N. Security Council has imposed two sets of sanctions on Iran because of its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment .
-The United States and its Western allies accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons , but Iran says its atomic program is for peaceful purposes .
-Saudi King Abdullah says dangerous conditions in Iraq , Lebanon and the Palestinian territories could trigger broad conflict in the region .
-Speaking at a summit of Gulf leaders in Riyadh Saturday , the Saudi king said the Middle East is like a powder keg waiting for a spark to explode .
-He expressed concern that Palestinians are fighting among themselves , and that Iraqis are killing each other .
-King Abdullah added that unity in Lebanon is at risk , following a month-long war between Israel and Hezbollah militants .
-Officials at the Riyadh meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council were expected to discuss Iran 's nuclear program .
-The regional group brings together Bahrain , Kuwait , Oman , Qatar , Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates .
-The U.S. Defense Department says U.S. and North Korean officials have reached agreement on a framework to recover the remains of American servicmen missing from the Korean War .
-Two days of talks in Bangkok were led by U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Jerry Jennings .
-The agreement reached Thursday will mark the 10th consecutive year that U.S. specialists have carried out remains recovery missions in North Korea .
-The remains of more than 200 soldiers have been recovered since 1996 .
-Of the 88,000 Americans missing from all conflicts , more than 8,100 are from the Korean War .
-Financial regulators in the United States have introduced new rules intended to curb a trading strategy that benefits investors when stock prices fall , and that has been blamed for market turmoil .
-New rules from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that went into effect Thursday restrict certain types of so-called short-selling .
-Short-selling occurs when a trader borrows shares in a stock from a broker to sell .
-If the stock price goes down , the trader buys back more shares at a cheaper price , returns the broker 's portion and keeps the rest .
-Regulators in Great Britain have enacted a temporary ban on short-selling .
-New York state 's attorney general , Andrew Cuomo , says he is launching an investigation into instances of illegal short-selling , in which traders or brokers spread FALSE information about the deals .
-An international human rights group says Kuwaiti should stop arresting and deporting expatriate supporters of Egyptian pro-reform activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohammed ElBaradei .
-New York-based Human Rights Watch says Kuwait should release all of the Egyptians still in custody , and allow them and those already deported to return to their homes in Kuwait .
-Kuwaiti authorities released around 21 Egyptian residents of Kuwait Saturday , and deported them to Egypt .
-Human Rights Watch says some of the Egyptians were detained after they attended a meeting in support of ElBaradei on April 8 .
-Others were detained the next day during a meeting to discuss the arrests .
-ElBaradei , a former chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency , is leading a campaign for political reform in Egypt .
-He also has expressed a willingness to run against President Hosni Mubarak in an election next year on condition the vote is free and fair .
-Insurgents trying to derail Iraq 's January elections have attacked a voter registration center in Dujail , north of Baghdad , killing at least one civilian and wounding several others .
-Another attack Saturday in Mosul killed one person and wounded at least six others when a bomb exploded near a U.S. military patrol , but instead hit a passing school bus .
-Meanwhile , an Iraqi militant group claimed responsibility for the murders of two American contractors in an ambush December eighth near Baghdad .
-Joseph Wemple and Dale Stoffel worked on construction and engineering projects in Iraq .
-And Turkey 's foreign ministry has clarified that five Turkish security guards and two Iraqi drivers were killed in an ambush Friday near Mosul .
-An earlier ministry statement did not specify how many were killed , but some news reports had said four guards were killed .
-Israeli warplanes have dropped leaflets warning Gaza residents to stay clear of the border , after Palestinian militants fired at least 10 mortar shells at Israel .
-The leaflets warned residents not to come within 300 meters of the border fence , and to avoid involvement with weapons smugglers along the Gaza-Egypt border .
-The Israeli army says some of the mortar shells landed in Israel near the Kerem Shalom crossing with the Gaza Strip .
-There were no reports of casualties or damage .
-The development comes one year after Israel carried out a three-week offensive against Hamas militants in Gaza .
-Israel says the operation was aimed at halting rockets attacks into Israel .
-Palestinian militants have since carried out sporadic rocket and mortar attacks that have provoked Israeli military strikes .
-At least 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed in the fighting during Israel 's Gaza offensive .
-Venezuela has deployed troops in two opposition-led states , where final results from Sunday 's general election have yet to be released .
-Interior Minister Jesse Chacon says the National Guard troops were sent Tuesday to help prevent violence .
-In Yaracuy , troops surrounded the office of opposition Governor Eduardo Lapi , who vowed not to leave his post until final vote results are issued .
-He questioned if the troop deployment was a coup attempt against him .
-Security was also boosted in Carabobo state , where another opposition official , Governor Henrique Salas , is seeking re-election .
-Monday , election officials issued results for many regions , showing Mr. Chavez 's party had won 18 of the country 's 22 state governor posts that were being disputed .
-Officials say they plan to release final results in the next two day .
-Some of this information provided by Reuters .
-The largest U.S. automaker , General Motors , is getting its fourth new chief executive officer in 18 months , Dan Akerson .
-He takes over in September just as GM has posted its second consecutive profitable quarter .
-That is a major turnaround for the company that emerged from bankruptcy with the aid of $ 50 billion in emergency government loans .
-Akerson is a member of the GM board of directors , but most of his business experience is in running , buying , and selling major telecommunications companies .
-While the 61-year-old executive lacks manufacturing experience , analysts say he is well regarded on Wall Street , which will be helpful as the company gets ready to make a major stock offering .
-Described as quiet and private , Akerson is expected to become the face of GM in an industry where the CEO is often required to be the biggest salesman .
-Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has turned down a request by Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo to meet at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea .
-Japanese officials say Mr. Koizumi does not have time .
-Relations between the two countries have soured over former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori 's recent return to South America .
-Mr. Fujimori , a Japanese citizen , fled to Japan five years ago in the midst of a corruption scandal .
-He was arrested last week in Chile .
-If returned to Peru , he faces charges of corruption and of authorizing death squads .
-Last week , Peru recalled its ambassador to Japan after a Japanese consular official in Chile visited Mr. Fujimori in jail .
-Lima says Tokyo is interfering in Mr. Fujimori 's extradition process , but Tokyo insists it is treating him like any other Japanese citizen .
-Presumed U.S. Republican presidential nominee John McCain says Thursday 's U.S. Supreme Court ruling on detainees at Guantanamo Bay is one of the worst in American history .
-McCain said at a town hall meeting Friday in the U.S. state of New Jersey that detainees at Guantanamo are enemy combatants , and thus do not get the same rights as U.S. citizens .
-He said the ruling will lead to many lawsuits against the government .
-McCain 's Democratic rival , Barack Obama , praised the Supreme Court ruling .
-In a statement after the ruling was announced , he said the decision ensures that U.S. officials can protect the country and bring terrorists to justice , while also protecting core American values .
-Obama also said the ruling is an important step toward re-establishing the credibility of the United States as a nation committed to the rule of law .
-Afghan officials say a suicide bomber killed a police officer in eastern Khost province .
-Authorities say Friday 's blast wounded 15 other people , including eight civilians outside police headquarters in Khost .
-The Taleban claimed responsibility for the blast .
-Hours later , a second bomber blew himself up at a checkpoint in Khost .
-That explosion wounded the driver of a taxi the bomber in which the bomber was riding .
-There has been no initial claim of responsibility for the attack .
-Frequent suicide attacks blamed on Taleban militants have killed Afghan police and troops during the past year .
-President Bush says Taliban militants in Afghanistan were hit hard last year during military operations by U.S. , Afghan and NATO troops .
-During a news conference Thursday , Mr. Bush said troops were on the offensive against a resurgent and increasingly violent Taliban movement .
-However , the president also said it makes sense to review U.S. strategy in Afghanistan to figure out what works and what does not .
-This week , the U.S. military said it is going to assess coalition strategy in Afghanistan in the wake of rising Taliban attacks .
-Mr. Bush expressed concern that NATO allies might tire of what he called the hard work of securing Afghanistan and may want to withdraw .
-He said the U.S. objective is to give them options - other than combat missions - in Afghanistan and to remind NATO allies that the job of securing the strife-torn country will take time .
-U.S. President Barack Obama called India a critical partner during talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the G-20 summit in London .
-The leaders of the world 's two largest democracies affirmed their nations ' enduring friendship when they met for the first time Thursday .
-Mr. Obama called India a global power that will be helpful in dealing with climate change , poverty , science and innovation .
-The Indian prime minister called Mr. Obama a visionary leader who has given hope to all of " the oppressed people " of the world .
-Mr. Singh said India is ready to chart a new path of collaboration in diverse fields , including the challenges of terrorism .
-The Obama administration has said defeating Islamic extremism in South Asia requires a comprehensive , regional approach .
-Cuba 's top diplomat in the United States says ailing President Fidel Castro will soon return to power .
-Dagoberto Rodriguez told reporters Tuesday that Mr. Castro 's health has been improving daily and that he will soon assume his responsibilities again as president .
-Castro ceded power to his brother Raul Castro at the end of July after undergoing intestinal surgery .
-Since the surgery , Cuban officials have stated frequently that Mr. Castro was doing well as speculation swirled that his condition was worsening .
-Earlier this month , Raul Castro said his 80 year old brother was " not dying . "
-A key Israeli ultra-Orthodox religious party has agreed to join forces with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon , clearing the way for a unity government needed to push through Israel 's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip .
-Mr. Sharon 's Likud coalition lost its parliamentary majority last year , when some right-wing parties opposed to the Gaza withdrawal quit the government .
-Wednesday 's decision by the United Torah Judaism party to join with Mr. Sharon gives the Israeli leader at least 66 votes in the 120-member Knesset .
-Last week , the opposition Labor party also agreed to join the coalition .
-Hours after the United Torah decision , the prime minister said he expects to present parliament with a national unity government by next week .
-The withdrawal of 8,200 Israeli settlers from Gaza and four small West Bank enclaves is set to begin later this year .
-Venezuelan authorities have said they will redistribute more than 1,10,000 hectares of privately-held property to landless farmers .
-The land seizure is part of an agrarian reform effort led by President Hugo Chavez .
-Since his 1998 election , President Chavez has enacted controversial reform laws , including a 2001 land law aimed at narrowing the gap between Venezuela 's rich and poor .
-The law allows the government to redistribute unused land to the poor .
-Critics say the law violates property rights , and could lead to illegal land grabs .
-One of four estates to be redistributed includes a 13,000 hectare cattle ranch owned by a British company .
-The company has said it legally owns the property , and that the land is fully productive .
-Witnesses say an explosion has killed at least five soldiers in the Somali capital , Mogadishu .
-Residents say they saw the bodies of three Ethiopian and two Somali government soldiers lying in the street after the attack Tuesday .
-The witnesses say Ethiopian troops opened fire after the blast .
-There has been no word on additional casualties .
-Islamist insurgents launch almost-daily attacks on Somali government forces and allied Ethiopian troops .
-More than a year of fighting has killed thousands of Somalis and displaced hundreds of thousands more , mostly from Mogadishu .
-U.N.-sponsored peace talks in Djibouti last week ended with no progress toward an agreement .
-Ethiopian troops entered Somalia in 2006 to help the government oust an Islamist movement that had seized power in Mogadishu and other cities .
-Somalia has endured more than 17 years of chaos and conflict since the fall of the country 's last stable government in 1991 .
-The government of Kenya says it has targeted thieves , not political opponents , in a corruption investigation that has caused three cabinet ministers to resign their posts .
-Government spokesman Alfred Mutua said Sunday some have accused the government of witch-hunting , but Mutua said the government will not discriminate in its effort to bring thieves to justice .
-Mutua told reporters the signs of corruption were all around , citing holes in recently built roads .
-He said those involved in what he called " shoddy deals " would be held accountable .
-On Friday , thousands of protesters took to the streets of Nairobi , demanding the resignations of Vice President Moody Awori and civil service chief Francis Muthaura .
-Their names have been mentioned in connection with a multi-million dollar scandal known as the " Anglo Leasing " affair .
-Asian stock markets opened dramatically higher Monday morning , rebounding from last week 's losses .
-Japan 's Nikkei 225 Stock Average and South Korea 's Kospi Index each rose more than three percent early in the trading session , and Taiwan 's main stock index was up by four percent after 15 minutes of trading .
-U.S. and European stocks rebounded Friday immediately after the U.S. Federal Reserve cut the interest rate it charges on short-term loans to large commercial banks .
-Today was the first trading opportunity since then for Asian investors , whose stock holdings had suffered big losses through most of last week .
-The U.S. central bank 's interest-rate cut was intended to buffer the impact on world financial markets of a housing-loan crisis in the United States .
-Analysts say the Federal Reserve appears to have succeeded in easing investors ' fears that a credit crisis could hurt economic growth and profits .
-African Union officials say rebels in Sudan 's troubled Darfur region have released most of the 18 kidnapped AU workers following negotiations .
-The workers were taken Sunday in the town of Tine on the Chad-Sudan border .
-Officials say the 18 included military observers and civilian police , and an official from a Darfur rebel group , the Justice and Equality Movement .
-African Union spokesman Noureddine Mezni says it is unclear how many of the hostages were released .
-AU officials say the kidnappers are believed to be from a dissident faction of the Justice and Equality Movement .
-More than six-thousand African Union peacekeepers are in Darfur to monitor a cease-fire between pro-government forces and non-Arab rebels .
-Two AU peacekeepers from Nigeria and two civilian contractors were killed Saturday in an ambush the AU blamed on the main Darfur rebel group , the Sudan Liberation Army .
-A third peacekeeper died Sunday from wounds .
-NATO and Afghan officials say more than 90 insurgents have been killed during heavy fighting in southern Afghanistan .
-The officials say at least 78 insurgents were killed Saturday as coalition forces repelled an attack on a NATO outpost in southeastern Paktika province .
-Five NATO troops were injured in the fighting .
-The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force says troops called in airstrikes that helped beat back the assault .
-In a separate incident , an Afghan official says NATO and Afghan forces killed 17 insurgents during an operation in Helmand province Saturday .
-A provincial government spokesman says the fighting the Deshu district lasted about 12 hours .
-Also , NATO says a senior Taliban leader , Mullah Abdullah Kakar , was killed during an airstrike in southern Zabul province on Thursday .
-Tuesday has been a lucky day for the official U.S. national Thanksgiving turkey and its alternate .
-President Bush gave the national turkey , whose name is Marshmallow , and its alternate , Yam , the traditional Thanksgiving pardon in a ceremony at the White House .
-The two turkeys will be flown to Disneyland in California to be part of the holiday display , and will also serve as honorary grand marshals for Disneyland 's Thanksgiving Day parade on Thursday .
-They will spend the rest of their lives at a Disneyland ranch .
-For the past 15 years , the national Thanksgiving turkey and its alternate have been retired to a farm just outside Washington , DC in Virginia .
-On the Thursday Thanksgiving Day holiday , millions of Americans traditionally enjoy a roasted turkey meal , which often includes yams with marshmallows .
-The Communist Party of the Philippines says it has directed its armed unit , the New People 's Army , to go on an offensive nationwide .
-In a statement issued Sunday , the CPP also said it would consider forming an alliance with any of the parties seeking to oust President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo from power .
-The CPP said its list of potential allies include disgruntled military and police units and conservative political parties .
-On Friday , President Arroyo declared that government troops would observe four days of unilateral cease-fire with communist rebels to mark the Christian holiday season .
-The days of the cease-fire are Christmas Eve , Christmas Day , New Year 's Eve and New Year 's Day .
-The government and communist rebels have been engaged in armed conflict for more than 40 years .
-Turkey 's military says troops killed four Kurdish guerrillas in operations Friday night near the border with northern Iraq .
-Military authorities said Saturday the clash occurred in southeastern Hakkari province .
-The banned Kurdistan Workers ' Party ( PKK ) has been fighting for autonomy for ethnic Kurds in Turkey 's southeast since 1984 .
-More than 30,000 people have been killed in the conflict .
-Authorities in Haiti have killed at least one person during a protest by supporters of ousted former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide .
-Thousands of protesters marched in the Bel-air section of Port-au-Prince to demand the return Mr. Aristide , who has been in exile in South Africa since last February .
-Authorities opened fire on the crowd as they entered an intersection in Bel-air .
-Few other details were given .
-Violence in Port-au-Prince 's pro-Aristide slums has killed more than 200 people in the last four months .
-Philippine President Benigno Aquino has launched his first executive order , creating a truth commission to investigate possible corruption by the administration of former President Gloria Arroyo .
-Mr. Aquino announced the order Friday , saying the move would bring " necessary closure to allegations of official wrongdoing and impunity . "
-The commission will probe allegations of corruption in a deal with a Chinese company to provide broadband Internet access in the Philippines , among other questions .
-The commission has until the end of 2012 to finish its investigation .
-Mr. Aquino campaigned for the presidency on an anti-corruption platform .
-Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario Davide has been selected to head the commission .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has replaced his vice president and justice minister just days before he is inaugurated for a second term .
-Mr. Chavez said in a television interview late Wednesday that the decision to replace Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel was not easy because he regards Rangel as a " star pitcher , " as in a baseball game , and respects him like a father .
-In talking about the replacement of Justice Minister Jesse Chacon , Chavez alluded to a recent rise in crime and prison violence in Venezuela .
-Psychiatrist and politician Jorge Rodriguez will become Venezuela 's new vice president , and parliamentary deputy Pedro Carreno will be the new justice minister .
-Mr. Chavez will be inaugurated for a second six-year term on January 10 .
-Mr. Chavez has said he hopes to merge all the political parties supporting him into one party .
-He also wants to re-write the constitution .
-Indonesia 's Health Ministry says a 12-year-old boy has died of bird-flu .
-Officials say the boy , who had tested positive for the H5N1 strain of the virus , died Saturday in a hospital in Tangerang .
-If confirmed by the World Health Organization ( WHO ) , it would bring to 88 the number of people who have died from the virus in Indonesia .
-More than 200 people worldwide have died from bird flu since the outbreak began in 2003 , mostly in Asian nations .
-Indonesia has been sharply criticized for being slow to act in its fight to control bird flu , which has spread easily in a nation where many people keep chickens and other birds in their backyards and homes .
-Bird flu is usually transmitted directly from infected birds .
-However , experts fear the virus could mutate into a form easily transmissible by human-to-human contact .
-The U.S. Treasury Department has taken action against three Saudi Arabian nationals suspected of raising money for terrorists .
-The three men , identified as Abdul Rahim al-Talhi , Muhammad Abdallah Salih Sughayr and Fahd Muhammad Abd Al-Aziz Al-Khashiban are accused of providing support to the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf Group , responsible for a string of bombings and kidnappings in Southeast Asia .
-Treasury department official , Stuart Levey , Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence says it is important to hold the men publicly responsible to deter other would-be donors .
-Wednesday 's action freezes assets belonging to the men .
-It also forbids U.S. citizens from doing business with them .
-Venezuela 's vice president says military officials at the U.S. embassy in Caracas helped pass state secrets to the Pentagon .
-Jose Vicente Rangel told reporters Friday that the Venezuelan government has confidential information proving the U.S. officials ' involvement .
-He also alleged that embassy officials were involved in a brief coup against President Hugo Chavez in 2002 .
-U.S. officials have long denied that charge .
-Rangel first said on Wednesday that some low-level Venezuelan officials , both active and retired navy officers , had been caught passing information to the Pentagon .
-The U.S. ambassador in Caracas , William Brownfield , said he has not been contacted by the Venezuelan government about the matter .
-He said on Venezuelan television Thursday that when Caracas presents the United States with a statement , he will respond .
-North Korea is criticizing the United States for keeping it on a list of nations that support terrorism .
-An annual U.S. State Department report on state-sponsored terrorism issued last month said North Korea is among several nations that maintain ties to terrorists .
-Pyongyang 's state-run news agency says the report proves the Bush Administration is frantic to overthrow the government of North Korea , and called the United States the kingpin of state-sponsored terrorism .
-A South Korean newspaper , Chosun Ilbo , said Tuesday that U.S. spy satellites have spotted activity that could mean North Korea is preparing for a nuclear test .
-However , South Korean officials are denying the report .
-Monday U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said there should be no doubt about the United States ' ability to deter a North Korean nuclear threat .
-Saudi Arabia 's King Abdullah has issued new rules regarding political succession in the country .
-The rules issued Monday outline who can become members of the Allegiance Commission , the body established last year to vote on future kings .
-The order also details what should be done if a member dies and how a crown prince should be chosen .
-Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932 by the Saud family .
-The country 's current leader , King Abdullah , came to power in 2005 .
-Saudi rule has traditionally been passed down to the sons of Abdul Aziz bin Saud , the founder of the Islamic kingdom .
-Palestinian factions have agreed to extend an open-ended truce with Israel in exchange for a halt to Israeli attacks and the release of prisoners .
-The Palestinian groups made the decision Thursday , following a meeting with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in Cairo , Egypt .
-In a statement , the groups said continuation of the cease-fire depends on Israel 's commitment to halt all assaults against Palestinians .
-Mr. Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared a cease-fire at a February 8 summit meeting in Egypt .
-Mr. Abbas met with Palestinian militants in Cairo to persuade them to join the cease-fire .
-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says Palestinians must disarm and dismantle the militant groups , in addition to agreeing to a cease-fire .
-Russia 's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is scheduled to meet later Tuesday in Washington with President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice .
-Among other issues , Lavrov is expected to discuss Russia 's attempt to negotiate a compromise on the Iranian nuclear situation .
-Meanwhile , the influential Council on Foreign Relations has released a report saying U.S.-Russian relations are heading in the wrong direction .
-The foreign policy organization says Russia is trying to curtail U.S. and NATO access to Central Asian military bases .
-It also accuses Russia of using energy supplies as a political weapon , and says Russian political institutions are becoming corrupt .
-The head of the independent task force that wrote the report later said Russia could be thrown out of the G-8 if it does not cooperate on major world problems .
-The G-8 comprises Britain , Canada , France , Germany , Italy , Japan , the United States and Russia .
-A Nigerian official says two children suspected of having the deadly bird flu virus are healthy and were probably never infected .
-A Kuduna state health official , Abdulhamid Abubakar , said Tuesday that the two boys have recovered after being treated for a fever and a cough .
-Officials are still awaiting test results to see if the boys were infected with the H5N1 bird flu strain , which can be deadly to humans .
-Nigerian authorities are on high alert for any outbreaks after the virus was discovered on four bird farms in northern Nigeria last week .
-However , an official with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization says restrictions on poultry trading are not being widely enforced .
-That official , Juan Lubroth , also says the H5N1 virus may have entered Niger .
-The French news agency quotes a Niger government spokesman as rejecting that assertion .
-Two new economic reports say U.S. consumer confidence fell in March while home prices dropped in January .
-Consumer confidence fell sharply , by 11.9 points to a reading of 64.5 , to a five-year low as consumers worried about tight credit , a troubled job market , rising prices , and falling home values .
-Economists watch consumer confidence because consumer demand drives about two-thirds of the U.S. economy .
-The bad news was reinforced by a separate report from a business group , Standard & Poor 's / Case-Shiller index , which said U.S. home prices fell around 11 percent from a year ago in the nation 's largest cities .
-Falling home values make it difficult for consumers to borrow money with the value of their homes as collateral .
-The problem can further slow consumer spending .
-Sinbad is alive and well .
-The 50-year-old actor-comedian says he " rose from the dead " last week , after Wikipedia mistakenly proclaimed his demise .
-An editor on the vast Internet site posted that Sinbad had succumbed to a heart attack .
-Email links of the erroneous page were forwarded nationwide before other members of the Wikipedia community corrected the mistake .
-Sinbad , whose real name is David Adkins , says he 's not upset at the error - although he would n't mind an apology from Wikipedia headquarters in St. Petersburg , Florida .
-President Bush has conveyed his greetings to Jewish Americans as they begin observing Rosh Hashanah , the Jewish New Year .
-Mr. Bush released a statement Friday , offering his best wishes for the occasion and the start of the Days of Awe , in which Jews reflect on the past year and welcome the year to come .
-At the sound of the Shofar , a musical instrument blown like a trumpet , Jews around the world are called to gather to celebrate Rosh Hashanah .
-Mr. Bush says the period is also a time to reflect on the history of the Jewish people , from the days of Abraham to the present .
-The president says throughout America 's history , Jewish Americans have strengthened and enriched the character of the nation .
-Investigators in Ethiopia say police killed 193 people during anti-government protests last year - a figure nearly triple the official death toll .
-VOA has obtained a report from an Ethiopian government-backed inquiry team charged with determining if police used excessive force in ending the June and November 2005 protests .
-The team concluded that police did use excessive force , employing means such as shooting , strangling , and beating demonstrators .
-It also says six police officers were killed in the protests .
-There has been no public comment on the report from Ethiopian officials .
-At least one member of the inquiry team , Judge Wolde-Michael Meshesha , has left Ethiopia for fear of political reprisals .
-The protests followed elections won by the ruling party that opposition groups say were rigged .
-The European Union and U.S.-based Carter Center expressed concerns over the vote and the post-election violence .
-Health officials in Turkey say a 12-year-old girl with symptoms of bird flu has died while her younger brother has tested positive for the virus and is in critical condition .
-The girl , Fatma Ozcan , had been hospitalized in the eastern city of Van with her five-year-old brother Muhammed for several days .
-Late Sunday , the Turkish Health Ministry said the boy has tested positive for bird flu .
-Doctors were performing tests to determine whether the H5N1 strain killed the girl .
-Initial tests were negative .
-Turkey previously found 18 people testing positive for bird flu , including three children from the same family who died in a village near Van last week .
-Those deaths were the first reported bird flu fatalities outside eastern Asia , where more than 70 infected people have died since 2003
-Authorities in Spain and Morocco closed airports Tuesday , as ash from an Icelandic volcano once again disrupts air travel .
-Spain 's air traffic control agency ( Aena ) said Tuesday that four airports in the Canary Islands and three airports in southern Spain have been shut down .
-Morocco closed several of its airports including Casablanca .
-The volcano continued belching ash on Tuesday .
-Officials say they do not know how long the eruption will continue .
-Volcanic activity has shut down sections of European airspace on-and-off for more than a month .
-The cloud of abrasive ash can damage aircraft engines and cause other problems for airplanes in flight .
-The European Union says airlines lost more than $ 3 billion when ash from the same volcano crippled air travel across Europe for nearly a week in April .
-The death toll from two bombings in Pakistan 's eastern city of Lahore has risen to six , with at least 26 others wounded .
-Local police say the first bomb placed under the seat of a bicycle went off Thursday near a national monument - Minar-e-Pakistan .
-Minutes later , a second device detonated in a crowded shopping district in a central part of the city .
-After the bombings , police stepped up security across the region while investigators said they were probing various leads .
-There has been no immediate claim of responsibility .
-In an unrelated development , Pakistani security forces arrested at least 10 suspected militants and recovered weapons in the remote North Waziristan region - the scene of a major military offensive last week against al-Qaida-linked militants .
-A U.S. State Department spokesman says North Korea 's chief nuclear negotiator Kim Kye Kwan and his U.S. counterpart , Christopher Hill , are expected to meet in New York later this week .
-Sean McCormack was responding to media reports that Vice Foreign Minister Kim will visit San Francisco on Thursday for a lecture at Stanford and then will head to New York for a meeting with Assistant Secretary of State Hill .
-He said the two sides were still working through the logistics and a date .
-The planned trip was first reported Saturday by South Korean media .
-Earlier this month , North Korea agreed to close its main nuclear facility in Yongbyong and allow atomic energy inspectors in the country within 60 days in exchange for energy aid .
-North Korea expelled IAEA weapons inspectors in late December , 2002 , and officially withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in January 2003 .
-President Bush Wednesday will attend six events related to his inauguration for a second term in the White House .
-Mr. Bush plans to make stops at a luncheon , a pop music concert , three candlelight dinners , and a reception for his Texas supporters called the " Black Tie and Boots Ball . "
-The concert , dubbed " A Celebration of Freedom , " features The Temptations , country singer Kenny Chesney , and a drop-in by the U.S. Army 's parachute team .
-Sub-freezing temperatures and a forecast of snow are not expected to put a chill on the celebrations .
-The president will take the oath of office Thursday outside the U.S. Capitol building , watched by unprecedented security and a crowd expected to number several hundred thousand people .
-The Israeli military says troops have shot and killed two armed Palestinian gunmen outside a Jewish settlement in the West Bank .
-The military said the shootings occurred Tuesday at a settlement near the West Bank town of Nablus .
-Reuters quotes Palestinian sources as saying the two men belonged to the militant al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades .
-Earlier today , Palestinians say a teenager was shot dead and another youth was wounded near Ramallah by Israeli gunfire during a stone-throwing protest against the barrier fence that Israel is building in the West Bank .
-Israeli sources say troops were not involved in the shooting .
-Reports from the Hurricane Katrina disaster zone Sunday say the American singer and musician Clarence " Gatemouth " Brown has died at the age of 81 , shortly after he was forced to leave his home just outside New Orleans .
-According to Associated Press , Brown died Saturday in Orange , Texas , the town where he grew up .
-He reportedly had suffered from both lung cancer and heart disease .
-For 50 years Brown 's career was based in New Orleans , where he played guitar and sang blues , country , jazz , zydeco and Cajun music .
-The nickname " Gatemouth " derived from Brown 's distinctive deep voice .
-His early blues hits included Okie Dokie Stomp and Ai n't That Dandy .
-George W. Bush
-President Bush is to deliver a speech in Washington Wednesday in which he will offer proposals aimed at reining in high energy prices .
-Senior administration officials say Mr. Bush will encourage construction of new nuclear power plants and propose making closed military bases available for new oil refineries .
-The lack of adequate oil refining capacity is often cited by experts as one reason for high gasoline prices in the United States .
-Officials say Mr. Bush will also call for the further use of hybrid automobiles and those that burn clean diesel fuel by adding them to a list of vehicles eligible for tax credits .
-The speech will be Mr. Bush 's second on energy issues in a week .
-A U.S. report has criticized the Federal Bureau of Investigation for missing key information about terrorists planning the September 11 , 2001 attacks , more than a year before the strike .
-The Justice Department issued the report Thursday , saying FBI officials had at least five chances to discover two of the airline hijackers as they prepared for the attacks , but failed to do so .
-In one case , it says an agent working for the Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA ) was blocked by a supervisor from sending information on the hijackers to FBI officials .
-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told NBC 's Today show that reforms have been made to increase intelligence sharing among U.S. authorities , following the attacks .
-Publication of the report had been stalled for a year , due in part to legal challenges by Zacarias Moussaoui , who pleaded guilty this year to a role in the attacks .
-Iraqi authorities say they have found a mass grave containing at least 20 bodies in Karbala , a holy city for Shi'ite Muslims .
-They say the grave was found by construction workers who were laying a pipeline near the mausoleum of Imam Hussein , which is the Shi'ites ' holiest shrine .
-Authorities are examining the remains , which they say include the bodies of women and children .
-They believe those in the grave were victims of Saddam Hussein 's bloody suppression of a Shi'ite uprising after the Gulf War in 1991 .
-More than 200 suspected mass graves have been reported since the fall of Saddam 's regime in 2003 .
-Most of them were found in Iraq 's Shi'ite-dominated south and northern Kurdish region .
-A senior Burmese prison official says more than 9,000 inmates promised freedom under the military government 's prisoner release program will be freed by the end of Friday .
-A senior official at Rangoon 's notorious Insein prison Zaw Win , told reporters about the mass release , Friday .
-Witnesses say they have only seen 1,000 prisoners released Friday .
-Sources tell VOA 's Burmese service that of those released Friday , only three were political detainees .
-Burma says the inmates were wrongly detained by the recently-disbanded security apparatus , the National Intelligence Bureau .
-The agency was headed by ousted Burmese Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt .
-Most of those already freed are ordinary prisoners .
-Iran says it is donating $ 50 million to the Hamas-led Palestinian government , to ease a Palestinian cash crisis spurred by Western aid cuts .
-Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki announced the donation Sunday during a conference in Tehran .
-The promise of funding comes after the United States and the European Union said they were stopping aid to the Hamas government because it refuses to renounce violence and accept Israel .
-Israel is withholding about $ 50 million in monthly payments of tax revenues it collects for the Palestinian Authority .
-Indian veterinary officials are killing thousands of birds this week to try to control the country 's latest outbreak of avian influenza .
-Authorities said Thursday that about 44,000 birds will be killed in West Bengal state 's Malda district .
-An outbreak of the H5N1 virus has killed about 1,000 chickens in Malda in recent days .
-West Bengal is struggling with recurrent bird flu infections .
-About 50,000 birds were slaughtered earlier this month after an outbreak in Murshidabad district .
-Another massive outbreak last January led to the slaughter of nearly four million chickens .
-The virus hit 13 of West Bengal 's 19 districts and was considered India 's worst bird flu outbreak .
-No cases of human infection have been reported so far in India .
-The Sudanese government is accusing Chad of sending troops into Darfur to supply rebels in the region .
-Sudan 's Information Minister Kamal Obeid issued a statement Wednesday saying Chadian troops took supplies to the rebel Justice and Equality Movement near the North Darfur capital of El-Fasher .
-He also accused Chad of providing protection to the rebels .
-The Reuters news agency quotes a statement from Chad 's communications minister denying the accusations .
-Chad and Sudan broke off diplomatic relations last year , with each accusing the other of supporting rebel assaults on their capitals .
-The countries re-established relations in November , but tensions between the two nations remain high .
-On Monday , Chad accused Sudan of supporting the formation of a new insurgent group opposed to the Chadian government .
-China says it will again call on the European Union to lift its arms sales embargo during upcoming talks with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and EU officials .
-Mr. Schroeder will be in China next week for talks with President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao .
-Afterwards , Mr. Wen will travel to the Netherlands to attend Wednesday 's China - European Union summit .
-Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue says Beijing should not be expected to make any concessions on human rights to have the embargo lifted .
-The European Union imposed the embargo in 1989 after China 's violent crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing 's Tiananmen Square .
-President Bush has outlined the agenda for his second term in office and has asked for the support of all Americans in his weekly Saturday morning radio address .
-Mr. Bush Saturday promised to reach out to friends and allies , including NATO and the European Union , to promote global development and progress , defeat terrorists and encourage democracy as an alternative to tyranny and terror .
-He said in order to create jobs he will propose what he called " practical measures " to help small business , including the elimination of so-called " frivolous " lawsuits he said drive up the cost of health care .
-The president also promised education and tax code reform and a revision of the U.S. Social Security system .
-The President said there is no limit to the greatness of America when its citizens work together .
-Mexican President-elect Felipe Calderon has called for reconciliation in his first mass victory celebration since his narrow election victory in July .
-Mr. Calderon told supporters in an open air bullring in Mexico City Sunday that he will work to create jobs , cut crime and fight poverty .
-Meanwhile , opposition candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has agreed to temporarily end a mass protest in downtown Mexico City .
-Lopez Obrador called for the halt to allow the army to hold its traditional September 16th military parade through the city center .
-He said Sunday that demonstrators , who are protesting alleged election fraud , have nothing against the military .
-Lopez Obrador also called for stepped up demonstrations on September 15th when outgoing Mexican President Vicente Fox is due to make an annual address to the nation .
-Last week Mexico 's top electoral court officially declared Mr. Calderon the winner of the disputed election .
-Orthodox Christians across the globe who retain the Julian calendar are celebrating Christmas Monday .
-For many , the holiday season often starts with a midnight Mass .
-In Russia , President Vladimir Putin attended Mass in a church north of Moscow .
-Mikhail Saakashvili , fresh from his victorious and controversial Georgian presidential bid , attended the same Mass as his political rival , Levan Gachechiladze .
-Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theofilos the Third welcomed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the midnight Mass at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem .
-Russia 's Interfax news agency says Christmas this year also will be celebrated in outer space .
-Yuri Malenchenko , the Russian flight engineer aboard the International Space Station , will mark Orthodox Christmas today with his two American crew members .
-Oil giant Shell has resumed production at two flowstations after Nigerian authorities intervened to resolve a dispute with villagers .
-Shell reopened the facilities Tuesday , nearly one month after a protest by members of the remote fishing village of Kula stopped the flow of some 1,00,000 barrels of crude a day .
-On December 5 , the villagers seized two Shell oil facilities and one from ChevronTexaco , demanding jobs and investment in the local community .
-The protesters left the flowstations several days later but threatened to attack again unless their demands were met .
-Last week , ChevronTexaco struck a deal , allowing it to resume oil production in the village .
-Multinational oil companies in Nigeria are routinely targeted by impoverished locals , who say their communities are deprived of the oil wealth pumped from their lands .
-Former U.S. President Bill Clinton has praised the lasting peace forged by the Dayton Peace Accords a decade ago , but urged Serbs to do more to bring top fugitive war crimes suspects in the Balkans to justice .
-Writing in Wednesday 's Wall Street Journal , Mr. Clinton said the U.S.-brokered agreement was not a perfect peace , but it ended Bosnia-Herzegovina 's ethnic conflict and provided for national security and a shared form of government .
-However , he stressed that Serb authorities must continue to work toward arresting and transferring all indicted war crimes suspects , especially , Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic , to The Hague war crimes tribunal .
-He said failure to do so will prevent the Balkans from breaking with the past .
-The tribunal indicted the two fugitives for their roles in attacks on civilians during the Bosnian conflict .
-The Netherlands has defeated Japan , 02-Jan while Benin and Australia played to a 01-Jan draw on the first day of the World Under-20 men 's football ( soccer ) tournament in the Netherlands .
-Ryan Babel scored one goal and set PSV Eindhoven striker Ibrahim Afellay 's goal for the Dutch .
-Sota Hirayama scored for Japan in the 68th minute .
-Meanwhile , Australia had to rally from one goal down to tie Benin , 01-Jan , after Razak Omotoyossi scored in the 32nd minute .
-Australia 's Nick Ward tied the match in the 59th minute .
-The top two teams in each of the six groups plus the four best teams among those ranked third after the first round qualify for the round of 16 .
-The winners in the round of 16 make the quarterfinals .
-The tournament final is scheduled for July 5th .
-Israeli police have removed a large group of illegal Jewish squatters trying to set up makeshift settlement outposts near the West Bank city of Hebron .
-Police say at least 150 Israeli youths were evacuated Thursday as they occupied several hilltops sites in the area .
-Authorities say the youths were removed before they were able to erect permanent structures .
-Israeli news reports say several people were injured during the evictions , including a deputy police commander who was hospitalized with an eye injury .
-Police say at least three of the settlers were arrested .
-The Yediot Aharonot newspaper says Army Chief of Staff Dan Halutz was sharply critical of the youths ' conduct .
-The paper quoted him as blaming settler leadership for encouraging what he called " thuggish " behavior by the protesters .
-The Fitch rating agency slashed BP 's credit rating drastically six steps from AA to BBB Tuesday , on concerns about the cost of cleaning up the firm 's Gulf of Mexico oil spill .
-U.S. political leaders are asking BP to set aside billions of dollars in a special fund to be sure claims will be paid .
-Some estimates put cleanup and other costs as high at $ 40 billion .
-Rating agencies give lenders guidance on how likely a particular borrower is to repay its debt , and a lower rating is likely to mean higher interest charges .
-A new Israeli public opinion poll indicates most Israelis want Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to resign because of the way he handled the war against Hezbollah in Lebanon .
-Results of the survey published Friday in the Yediot Ahronot daily newspaper show 63 percent of those questioned say Mr. Olmert should step down .
-A similar poll published a week ago showed 41 percent said they want Mr. Olmert to resign .
-The new survey also indicates that most Israelis view the U.N.-brokered ceasefire as a failure for Israel because Hezbollah leadership remained intact and the two Israeli soldiers , whose capture last month sparked the war , are still in captivity .
-The survey also indicates a strong swing toward the hard-line Likud party led by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and away from Mr. Olmert 's centrist Kadima party .
-A well-known Lebanese television journalist has been wounded by a bomb blast that damaged her car north of Beirut .
-Security officials say May Shidiac of LBC television has been taken to a hospital in serious condition .
-The bombing was the latest of several attacks against prominent Lebanese this year , including a journalist and a politician killed in separate attacks in June , and former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri who was assassinated in February .
-All were outspoken critics of Syria .
-Earlier Sunday , in Cairo , Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak urged his Syrian counterpart , Bashar al-Assad , to continue cooperating in a U.N. probe of the Hariri assassination .
-A Mubarak spokesman urged the international community to refrain from pre-judging any Syrian role .
-Four pro-Syrian former Lebanese security chiefs have been indicted in the killings .
-On Friday , U.N. investigators finished questioning several Syrian officials .
-It will issue a final report late next month .
-Police in Rangoon , Burma 's largest city , kept close watch Saturday outside the headquarters of Aung San Suu Kyi 's pro-democracy party , as it celebrated its 20th anniversary .
-Plainclothes officers took pictures of people arriving for the ceremony , attended by at least 200 members of the National League for Democracy , as well as foreign diplomats .
-The ceremony was also a homecoming for prominent journalist Win Tin , who was released from prison earlier this week after 19 years behind bars .
-He is Burma 's longest-held political prisoner .
-The NLD released a statement calling for the ruling generals to release all political prisoners , including Aung San Suu Kyi , who has spent 13 of the last 19 years under house arrest .
-The NLD was founded in 1988 , after the military crushed a pro-democracy uprising in Burma .
-Police say a NATO strike has killed a Taliban commander involved in the suicide attack on a USAID contractor in northern Afghanistan earlier this month .
-NATO says the Taliban commander , who was targeted Thursday in Kunduz province , openly claimed responsibility for the July 2 attack on the U.S. contractor 's compound in Kunduz city that killed five people .
-In western Farah province , NATO says a joint Afghan-international force killed a Taliban commander and a " number of " insurgents during a raid on a militant training camp on Thursday .
-The alliance says the commander , Mullah Akhtar , was responsible for brining foreign fighters from Iran into Afghanistan .
-NATO and Afghan forces are increasingly targeting Taliban leadership during operations throughout Afghanistan .
-NATO said Friday that at least 12 Taliban commanders have been killed or captured in the southern province of Helmand since May 1 .
-A top Spanish judge has approved a request by public prosecutors for a probe of suspected links between the Basque separatist group ETA and Colombia 's Marxist rebel FARC movement .
-National Court Judge Eloy Velasco acted on a petition prosecutors filed last month as they sought to indict five ETA members on suspicion of collaborating with the Colombian rebels .
-The prosecutors said the two groups have held joint training sessions in the use of explosives .
-They said FARC and ETA have a relationship stretching back to at least 1993 .
-ETA is blamed for more than 820 deaths in its 40-year violent campaign for the creation of an independent Basque state in northern Spain and southwestern France .
-The FARC is Colombia 's most powerful rebel movement .
-Colombia , the United States and the European Union designate the FARC as a terrorist group .
-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says Washington has no plans to have a military base in Tajikistan , or to increase its military presence abroad .
-Ms. Rice made the comment Thursday at a news conference in Dushanbe , following a meeting with Tajik Foreign Minister Talbak Nazarov .
-The top U.S. diplomat said that , on the contrary , the United States is reducing the number of its military bases across the world .
-Earlier in the day , Ms. Rice held talks with President Emomali Rakhmonov that focused on cooperation in democracy building and the war against terrorism and drug trafficking .
-Ms. Rice arrived in Tajikistan - the last stop on her Central Asian tour - from Kazakhstan , where she denied suggestions that Washington was putting its oil interests ahead of democracy in the Central Asian nation .
-Ralston Purina Co. reported a 47 % decline in fourth-quarter earnings , reflecting restructuring costs as well as a more difficult pet food market .
-The St. Louis company earned $ 45.2 million , or 65 cents a share , compared with $ 84.9 million , or $ 1.24 a share , a year earlier .
-Sales in the latest period were $ 1.76 billion , a 13 % increase from last year 's $ 1.55 billion .
-For the year ended Sept. 30 , Ralston earned $ 422.5 million , or $ 6.44 a share , up 8.9 % from $ 387.8 million , or $ 5.63 a share .
-This year 's results included a gain of $ 70.2 million on the disposal of seafood operations .
-Sales for the full year were $ 6.6 billion , up 13 % from $ 5.8 billion .
-Ralston said its restructuring costs include the phase-out of a battery facility in Greenville , N.C. , the recent closing of a Hostess cake bakery in Cincinnati and a reduction in staff throughout the company .
-The battery plant , which makes rechargeable nickel cadmium and carbon zinc products , will be closed over the next year or so , a spokesman said .
-Ralston attributed its fourth-quarter slump partly to higher costs of ingredients in the pet food business as well as competitive pressures , which required higher advertising spending .
-For the year , pet food volume was flat , the company said .
-Its cereal division realized higher operating profit on volume increases , but also spent more on promotion .
-The Continental Baking business benefited from higher margins on bread and on increased cake sales , it added .
-Ralston said its Eveready battery unit was hurt by continuing economic problems in South America .
-Ralston shares closed yesterday at $ 80.5 , off $ 1 , in New York Stock Exchange composite trading .
-The island - discovered by Christopher COLUMBUS in 1494 - was settled by the Spanish early in the 16th century .
-The native Taino Indians , who had inhabited Jamaica for centuries , were gradually exterminated and replaced by African slaves .
-England seized the island in 1655 and established a plantation economy based on sugar , cocoa , and coffee .
-The abolition of slavery in 1834 freed a quarter million slaves , many of whom became small farmers .
-Jamaica gradually obtained increasing independence from Britain .
-In 1958 it joined other British Caribbean colonies in forming the Federation of the West Indies .
-Jamaica gained full independence when it withdrew from the Federation in 1962 .
-Deteriorating economic conditions during the 1970s led to recurrent violence as rival gangs affiliated with the major political parties evolved into powerful organized crime networks involved in international drug smuggling and money laundering .
-Violent crime , drug trafficking , and poverty pose significant challenges to the government today .
-Nonetheless , many rural and resort areas remain relatively safe and contribute substantially to the economy .
-Despite being the smallest country geographically in Central America , El Salvador has the third largest economy in the region .
-The economy took a hit from the global recession and real GDP contracted by 3.5 % in 2009 .
-The economy began a slow recovery in 2010 on the back of improved export and remittances figures .
-Remittances accounted for 16 % of GDP in 2009 , and about a third of all households receive these transfers .
-In 2006 El Salvador was the first country to ratify the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement ( CAFTA-DR ) , which has bolstered the export of processed foods , sugar , and ethanol , and supported investment in the apparel sector amid increased Asian competition and the expiration of the Multi-Fiber Agreement in 2005 .
-El Salvador has promoted an open trade and investment environment , and has embarked on a wave of privatizations extending to telecom , electricity distribution , banking , and pension funds .
-In late 2006 , the government and the Millennium Challenge Corporation signed a five-year , $ 461 million compact to stimulate economic growth and reduce poverty in the country 's northern region , the primary conflict zone during the civil war , through investments in education , public services , enterprise development , and transportation infrastructure .
-With the adoption of the US dollar as its currency in 2001 , El Salvador lost control over monetary policy .
-Any counter-cyclical policy response to the downturn must be through fiscal policy , which is constrained by legislative requirements for a two-thirds majority to approve any international financing , and by already high levels of debt .
-Iran 's economy is marked by an inefficient state sector , reliance on the oil sector , which provides the majority of government revenues , and statist policies , which create major distortions throughout the system .
-Private sector activity is typically limited to small-scale workshops , farming , and services .
-Price controls , subsidies , and other rigidities weigh down the economy , undermining the potential for private-sector-led growth .
-Significant informal market activity flourishes .
-The legislature in late 2009 passed President Mahmud AHMADI-NEJAD 's bill to reduce subsidies , particularly on food and energy .
-The bill would phase out subsidies - which benefit Iran 's upper and middle classes the most - over three to five years and replace them with cash payments to Iran 's lower classes .
-However , the start of the program was delayed repeatedly throughout 2010 over fears of public reaction to higher prices .
-This is the most extensive economic reform since the government implemented gasoline rationing in 2007 .
-The recovery of world oil prices in the last year increased Iran 's oil export revenue by at least $ 10 billion over 2009 , easing some of the financial impact of the newest round of international sanctions .
-Although inflation has fallen substantially since the mid-2000s , Iran continues to suffer from double-digit unemployment and underemployment .
-Underemployment among Iran 's educated youth has convinced many to seek jobs overseas , resulting in a significant " brain drain . "
-Kazakhstan , geographically the largest of the former Soviet republics , excluding Russia , possesses enormous fossil fuel reserves and plentiful supplies of other minerals and metals , such as uranium , copper , and zinc .
-It also has a large agricultural sector featuring livestock and grain .
-In 2002 Kazakhstan became the first country in the former Soviet Union to receive an investment-grade credit rating , and from 2000 through 2007 , Kazakhstan 's economy grew more than 9 % per year .
-Extractive industries , particularly hydrocarbons and mining , have been the engines of this growth .
-However , geographic limitations and decaying infrastructure present serious obstacles .
-Landlocked , with restricted access to the high seas , Kazakhstan relies on its neighbors to export its products , especially oil and gas .
-Although its Caspian Sea ports and rail lines carrying oil have been upgraded , civil aviation has been neglected .
-Telecoms are improving , but require considerable investment , as does the information technology base .
-Supply and distribution of electricity can be erratic .
-At the end of 2007 , global financial markets froze up and the loss of capital inflows to Kazakhstani banks caused a credit crunch .
-The subsequent and sharp fall of oil and commodity prices in 2008 aggravated the economic situation , and Kazakhstan plunged into recession .
-While the global financial crisis took a significant toll on Kazakhstan 's economy , it has rebounded well .
-In response to the crisis , Kazakhstan 's government devalued the tenge ( Kazakhstan 's currency ) to stabilize market pressures and injected $ 19 billion in economic stimulus .
-Rising commodity prices have helped revive Kazakhstan 's economy , which registered 7 % growth in 2010 .
-Barring a dramatic decline in oil prices , strong growth is expected to continue in 2011 .
-Despite solid macroeconomic indicators , the government realizes that its economy suffers from an overreliance on oil and extractive industries , the so-called " Dutch disease . "
-In response , Kazakhstan has embarked on an ambitious diversification program , aimed at developing targeted sectors like transport , pharmaceuticals , telecommunications , petrochemicals and food processing .
-Lucayan Indians inhabited the islands when Christopher COLUMBUS first set foot in the New World on San Salvador in 1492 .
-British settlement of the islands began in 1647 ; the islands became a colony in 1783 .
-Since attaining independence from the UK in 1973 , The Bahamas has prospered through tourism and international banking and investment management .
-Because of its geography , the country is a major transshipment point for illegal drugs , particularly shipments to the US and Europe , and its territory is used for smuggling illegal migrants into the US .
-What is now Ecuador formed part of the northern Inca Empire until the Spanish conquest in 1533 .
-Quito became a seat of Spanish colonial government in 1563 and part of the Viceroyalty of New Granada in 1717 .
-The territories of the Viceroyalty - New Granada ( Colombia ) , Venezuela , and Quito - gained their independence between 1819 and 1822 and formed a federation known as Gran Colombia .
-When Quito withdrew in 1830 , the traditional name was changed in favor of the " Republic of the Equator . "
-Between 1904 and 1942 , Ecuador lost territories in a series of conflicts with its neighbors .
-A border war with Peru that flared in 1995 was resolved in 1999 .
-Although Ecuador marked 30 years of civilian governance in 2004 , the period was marred by political instability .
-Protests in Quito contributed to the mid-term ouster of three of Ecuador 's last four democratically elected Presidents .
-In September 2008 , voters approved a new constitution , Ecuador 's 20th since gaining independence .
-General elections , under the new constitutional framework , were held in April 2009 , and voters re-elected President Rafael CORREA .
-JUPITER ISSUED a proclamation to all the beasts of the forest and promised a royal reward to the one whose offspring should be deemed the handsomest .
-The Monkey came with the rest and presented , with all a mother 's tenderness , a flat-nosed , hairless , ill-featured young Monkey as a candidate for the promised reward .
-A general laugh saluted her on the presentation of her son .
-She resolutely said , " I know not whether Jupiter will allot the prize to my son , but this I do know , that he is at least in the eyes of me his mother , the dearest , handsomest , and most beautiful of all . "
-Have you been following this steroid scandal ? This is first time in baseball history that the players have more additives in them than the hot dogs .
-Normal people believe that if it is n't broke , do n't fix it .
-Engineers believe that if it is n't broke , it does n't have enough features yet .
-At least 12 people have died in Haiti after heavy rains caused flooding around earthquake-devastated Port-au-Prince .
-The floods over the last several days were particularly damaging to tent cities where people have been living following the powerful earthquake in January that destroyed much of the capital . Water and earth crashed through low-lying areas , damaging structures and scattering objects in their paths .
-At least two children are believed to be among the dead .
-Aid groups working on earthquake relief have been ferrying supplies to the flood victims .
-Experts have warned since the earthquake about the consequences of heavy rains on damaged areas .
-The Manila-based Asian Development Bank says it will provide a $ 5,00,000 grant for a major highway project in northeastern China .
-The money will be used to upgrade or build more than half of the 828-kilometer Jixi-Nehe highway , located in the province of Heilongjiang , bordered by Russia on the north and North Korea on the east .
-The ADB says the road project will boost the province 's economy .
-Heilongjiang has the largest cultivated land area in China along with heavy industry and timber resources .
-It is heavily dependent on foreign trade .
-The bank says inadequate transportation conditions in the province also hurt the rural poor by restricting their access to basic goods and services .
-The United Nations says fighting between armed militants and government troops has driven nearly 4,000 people from their homes in Congo 's eastern Ituri province .
-A spokesman for the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the region , Floruan Barbey , said the displaced people have taken shelter in a church and school in the town of Fataki , near the provincial capital Bunia .
-The spokesman said the militants and government troops engaged in sporadic fighting this week .
-It was unclear if there were any casualties .
-He says the fighters are apparently loyal to rebel leader Peter Karim .
-Talks are underway between Karim and the government over how to demobilize his forces .
-Congo 's government is struggling to rebuild following a civil war in which some four million people died , mostly from hunger and disease .
-The United Nations has about 17,000 troops in the DRC to assist the government and maintain peace .
-The White House has rejected calls by opposition Democrats for an independent commission to probe allegations of detainee abuse at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay , Cuba .
-White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters Tuesday the Department of Defense is already probing such allegations .
-On Tuesday , Congressional Democrats presented draft legislation that would create an independent commission , which they say would serve the national interest .
-Some lawmakers have called for closing down the Guantanamo prison , following recent reports by human rights groups of detainee abuse .
-President Bush has not ruled out the possibility , but Vice President Dick Cheney said last week there are no plans to shut it down .
-Last month , the U.S. military said it found five instances of mishandling of the Koran , the Muslim holy book , at Guantanamo .
-It said guards were punished in two cases .
-The All India Football Federation ( AIFF ) has appointed a new national team manager ahead of next month 's Asian Cup football tournament after Pradip Choudhury walked out , following reported differences with coach Bob Houghton .
-Raul Carmo Fernandes was named as the replacement after Choudhury left the Indian training camp in Dubai , United Arab Emirates .
-The loss of Choudhury , who was popular with players , has apparently negatively impacted the team .
-AIFF officials have announced they will travel to Dubai Wednesday in an attempt to boost morale .
-The team put out a statement saying it believed that Choudhury should have set aside his personal differences with the coach for the good of the team .
-India has been drawn into Group C at the Asian Cup -- where it will face Australia , South Korea and Bahrain .
-The tournament will be held in Doha from January 7 to 29 .
-At 17 , DeAndre Way became known around the world as Soulja Boy on the success of his number one hit , " Crank That . "
-The song was also number one for seven weeks on the iTunes digital download site in September 2007 .
-Despite the criticism from other rap stars like 50 Cent and Jay-Z , Soulja Boy says the numbers speak for themselves .
-Larry London caught up with Soulja Boy on tour in Washington .
-The New York Times says a controversial government surveillance program has monitored a handful of purely domestic communications .
-Unidentified officials say the National Security Agency intercepted the communications apparently by accident .
-The White House says President Bush 's order setting up the domestic surveillance program applied only to cases where one party on a call or e-mail message was outside the United States .
-But telecommunications experts say with the globalized nature of communications networks , it is difficult to pinpoint exactly where a message originated from .
-In a separate development , The Washington Post says a federal judge has resigned from the secret court that oversees government surveillance in intelligence cases , apparently due to deep concerns that the administration 's actions may have tainted the court 's work .
-World oil prices continued declining Monday as members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said they would consider raising oil output quotas to continue easing prices .
-Crude oil for May delivery dropped as low as $ 52.1 a barrel in New York trading on Monday .
-That is down sharply from a week ago when crude oil futures hit a record high price of $ 58.28 a barrel .
-The decline follows last week 's U.S. government report showing an increasing supply of crude oil in the U.S. market , and growing refinery operations to turn out gasoline .
-Meantime , U.S. retail gasoline prices hit a record high average of $ 2.29 a gallon or about 60 cents a liter .
-The lingering high prices are thought to reflect the time it takes to refine crude oil into gasoline .
-Japan 's foreign minister says his country and North Korea will resume bilateral talks on November 3 in Beijing .
-Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said Wednesday the talks will include North Korea 's nuclear weapons program and the abductee issue .
-The North has admited abducting 13 Japanese citizens to help train North Korean spies .
-Five of the abductees have returned to Japan .
-Pyongyang says the other eight are dead .
-Bilateral talks at government level have been held up since late last year when Japan accused North Korea of lying over the fate of the abductees .
-Mr. Machimura said he expects North Korea to also bring up the issue of reparation for Japan 's colonial rule of Korea , from 1910 to 1945 .
-Hundreds of people marched through downtown Hong Kong Sunday to protest Japan 's wartime atrocities .
-Demonstrators set out from an urban park and wound their way through some of the city 's busiest streets to government headquarters in the central business district .
-They carried banners denouncing Japanese militarism and calling for Japan 's withdrawal from disputed islands that are also claimed by China .
-Unlike some of the protests in mainland China in the past weeks , the march in Hong Kong was peaceful .
-Organizers said the march was meant to protest Japanese militarism and not the Japanese people .
-Many Chinese feel that Tokyo is not contrite enough about its wartime record in China , when Japanese troops slaughtered tens of thousands of Chinese .
-Finance ministers and central bank governors of the G-7 countries have called on the World Trade Organization to make significant progress toward a global trade agreement at a summit in Hong Kong later this month .
-In a statement at the conclusion of two days of talks in London , officials from the world 's seven leading industrialized countries said the WTO meeting will be a critical step in seeking agreement on a comprehensive package for developing countries .
-The G-7 countries are Britain , Canada , France , Germany , Japan , Italy , and the United States .
-Trade negotiators are working on a binding treaty that would expand the global economy by lowering trade barriers across all sectors .
-Disputes over agricultural subsidies are the major stumbling block in the current round launched in Doha , Qatar in 2001 .
-The London meeting expressed hope for a final accord by the end of next year .
-The U.S. military in Afghanistan says a U.S. Marine and an American solider were killed in separate insurgent attacks Monday .
-The military says the marine was killed when suspected Taleban insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades and mortars at a U.S. base near the eastern city of Asadabad .
-The military says the solider was killed when his unit came under similar attack near the southern city of Kandahar .
-The attacks occured just a week after Afghanistan held landmark general elections .
-The election took place without any major violence despite Taleban threats to disrupt the vote .
-Iraqi police say insurgents have killed at least 40 people and wounded dozens more in attacks just four days before a national referendum on a new constitution .
-In the deadliest attack Tuesday , a suicide car bomber struck a crowded market in the town of Tal Afar , near the Syrian border , killing at least 30 people and wounding 45 others .
-In Kirkuk , at least three people were killed in a drive-by shooting , and in Baghdad a suicide car bomber killed at least seven people at an Iraqi army checkpoint .
-U.S. and Iraqi officials have repeatedly warned that insurgents - many of whom are Sunni Arabs - will step up attacks to undermine Saturday 's constitutional referendum .
-Shi'ite and Kurdish political leaders have been pursuing last-minute negotiations with Sunni political leaders who are concerned their community will be sidelined under the constitution 's proposed federal system .
-James Brown , revered as the " Godfather of Soul " , will undergo surgery for prostate cancer next week .
-The 71-year-old musician said in a statement he has overcome a lot of things in his life , and he will overcome this as well .
-James Brown finished a two-week tour in Canada earlier this week .
-In January , he is set to release an autobiography entitled I Feel Good :
-A Memoir of a Life of Soul .
-The influential soul , rock , rap and funk musician has made more than 50 albums , selling millions worldwide , since he broke onto the scene with " Please , Please , Please " in 1956 .
-Egypt has begun the military trial of at least 33 members of the banned opposition group , the Muslim Brotherhood .
-Defense lawyers boycotted Thursday 's opening session because they say they were not informed that the trial was starting .
-The charges against the Muslim Brotherhood members are related to money laundering and terrorism .
-The defendants include the Brotherhood 's third highest ranking member , Khayrat el-Shater , who was arrested in December during a crackdown on the organization .
-The Muslim Brotherhood is officially banned in Egypt .
-But the group won nearly one-fifth of the seats in the lower house of parliament in 2005 by fielding candidates as independents .
-A published report says U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has created an espionage unit in the Pentagon that gives him wide authority over spy operations abroad .
-The Washington Post says the Strategic Support Branch reaches into what has normally been Central Intelligence Agency territory .
-The report in Sunday 's newspaper says the unit has been secretly operating for two years in Iraq , Afghanistan and elsewhere .
-A Defense Department statement released Sunday denies the existence of such a unit , but says it is consulting with other agencies in the U.S. intelligence community , including the CIA , to improve human intelligence capability .
-The Post says its information comes from interviews with participants , and documents obtained by the newspaper .
-The unit is said to deploy special operations forces and experts such as linguists and interrogators into both friendly and unfriendly nations .
-The man accused of masterminding Rwanda 's 1994 genocide says the accusation a malicious attempt to destroy his name .
-Colonel Theoneste Bagosora , the former director of Rwanda 's Defense Ministry , began testifying Monday before a United Nations war crimes court in Tanzania .
-He denied planning the government-sponsored killing of some 8,00,000 minority Tutsis and their Hutu sympathizers .
-The prosecution says Colonel Bagosora ordered military commanders to start the killings shortly after President Juvenal Habyarimana was killed in a plane crash in April of 1994 .
-Colonel Bagosora is being tried with three military codefendants on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity .
-The U.N. Security Council established the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in November , 1994 .
-It has so far convicted 22 people and acquitted three others .
-Oil futures are again breaking records after surpassing $ 110 a barrel on March 13 in New York .
-Despite evidence to suggest that high fuel prices are not justified -- weakening demand and growing supplies have been unable to stop skyrocketing prices .
-With gasoline prices expected to rise even more in the next few months , consumers are starting to lose patience .
-And as VOA 's Mil Arcega reports , it is not just average motorists who are hurting .
-President Bush will deliver a speech Tuesday outlining the administration 's goals for Iraq in the coming year .
-In a speech to a gathering of war veterans in Washington , Mr. Bush will discuss the ongoing process of rebuilding Iraq 's economy , establishing democracy and training Iraqi security forces .
-White House spokesman Scott McClellan says the president will talk about how the administration has " learned from experience " in all of these areas .
-He also says Mr. Bush will call on the international community to fulfill its financial pledges to Iraq .
-The president gave a series of speeches late last year aimed at restoring public confidence in his handling of Iraq , which has plummeted due to the ongoing violence and instability in the country .
-Mr. McClellan notes that 2006 will be " a time of more testing and sacrifice . "
-The Venezuelan government has taken over the Bancoro bank , the 13th financial institution the government has seized in the last year .
-Venezuelan Finance Minister Jorge Giordani , speaking Friday in Caracas , said that the government decided to intervene in the operations of Bancoro because of liquidity problems and significant financial losses .
-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says he will nationalize any bank that fails to meet government lending guidelines or is in financial trouble .
-The government began taking over small and midsized banks in November of 2009 , citing irregularities .
-In recent years , Mr. Chavez has nationalized firms in many sectors , including petroleum , communications , electricity , agriculture and banking .
-Critics say he is trying to model Venezuela on communist-led Cuba , but Mr. Chavez has said he is working to improve the lives of the country 's impoverished majority .
-A Kuwaiti oil and gas producer says it has discovered nearly 142 billion cubic meters of recoverable natural gas in the southern U.S. state of Texas .
-The company , Aref Energy , said Monday that its U.S. project manager is Texas-based energy giant Halliburton .
-Aref Energy holds a 50 percent share in the operation in south-central Texas .
-The company has not named its partners in the operation .
-Halliburton says it is taking measures to start gas production operations early next year .
-Aref says a survey by the joint venture indicates a total of 538 billion cubic meters of natural gas at the Texas site .
-Pakistan 's opposition has held a " black day " of protests across the country after President Pervez Musharraf 's decision to retain the powerful post of army chief .
-Members of an Islamic alliance and other parties took to the streets Saturday in all major cities and towns , where speakers denounced General Musharraf for breaking his promise .
-The rallies came two days after the Pakistani leader said in a televised address he had decided to retain both portfolios for the sake of the economic and political stability of the country .
-General Musharraf , who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999 , has angered the religious right by going back on a pledge he made to win its support for constitutional amendments that gave him sweeping powers .
-Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi is holding formal talks with political leaders Thursday , the first step in forming a new government .
-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi resigned Wednesday , two weeks after his center-right coalition suffered a crushing defeat in regional elections , losing 11 of 13 regions .
-One party pulled out of the coalition last week and another has threatened to also drop out .
-The president is expected later this week to ask Mr. Berlusconi to form a new cabinet .
-Earlier , the prime minister told parliament he is stepping down with plans to form a new and stronger coalition .
-He praised the outgoing government for what he called its " secure leadership " over the past four years which he says increased Italian prestige on the world stage .
-Indonesia says it will carry out a third nationwide polio vaccination drive in November to curb the spread of the crippling virus in children .
-Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari said Tuesday the next round of free vaccinations will be held November 27 .
-She said about 97 percent of children under five years of age were immunized during two earlier drives .
-Indonesia is battling its first polio outbreak in a decade .
-About 264 children have been diagnosed with the waterborne virus since it was detected in March .
-Officials today said a child in tsunami-devastated Aceh province , where thousands remain in refugee camps , is among the latest to develop polio .
-Health experts are concerned that the polio virus could spread from Indonesia to other parts of Southeast Asia .
-A British soldier facing court martial in Britain has pleaded guilty to committing the war crime of treating detainees inhumanely while serving in Iraq .
-Corporal Donald Payne entered his plea today on a military base southwest of London .
-He is one of seven British soldiers charged in the 2003 death of an Iraqi hotel receptionist held in British custody in the southern Iraqi city of Basra .
-The remaining six defendants pleaded not guilty to all charges .
-Authorities say the receptionist sustained more than 90 injuries .
-A second detainee was described as so badly beaten that he nearly died of kidney failure .
-Corporal Payne has pleaded not guilty to the more serious charges of manslaughter and obstructing justice .
-A military prosecutor told the tribunal today Tuesday his case will show systematic abuse and unacceptable violence against prisoners .
-The trial is expected to last at least four months .
-Mullah Mohammad Omar , the Taleban leader who fled to Pakistan after U.S.-led forces routed his fighters in Afghanistan , has resurfaced with a message asking all Muslims to join his fight .
-Mullah Omar dropped out of sight in late 2001 , but he is believed to be in hiding somewhere near the Afghan-Pakistani border .
-In a message distributed during the past several days in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar , his former stronghold , the Taleban leader said his forces are intensifying their fight against those whom he called foreign occupiers of their homeland .
-Football 's ( soccer 's ) world governing body FIFA has fined the Mexican football federation after two of its players were expelled from last month 's Confederations Cup in Germany following positive doping tests .
-In a statement Wednesday , FIFA said it fined the Mexican Federation more than $ 5,83,000 after Aaron Galindo and Salvador Carmona tested positive for the steroid nandrolone .
-The Mexican Federation tested the players before the tournament , which began on June 15 .
-However , the men were not expelled until June 22 , after they played in Mexico 's 02-Jan victory over Japan and 1-0 win over Brazil .
-Mexico lost to Argentina on penalties in the tournament semi-final .
-Pakistani officials say a roadside bomb killed seven Pakistani soldiers in the northwest Saturday , as the army pushed forward with its offensive against Taliban militants .
-Officials say the bomb attack occurred in the Khyber tribal area , home to the Khyber Pass , the main route for moving supplies to international forces fighting in Afghanistan .
-The attack came as Pakistani warplanes bombed Taliban bases in the tribal regions .
-The army said troops killed 33 militants in the latest operations .
-It said forces are closing in on key Taliban strongholds in the South Waziristan region , where it launched its offensive two weeks ago .
-The military 's latest report comes a day after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ended her confrontational visit to Pakistan .
-During her three-day trip , Clinton questioned why the country has not captured al-Qaida leaders , saying " somebody , somewhere in Pakistan " must know where they are .
-African leaders are mourning Pope John Paul , while praising his teachings and his leadership in the significant growth of the church on the African continent .
-South Africa 's President Thabo Mbeki said the pontiff 's guidance would continue to inspire people of all faiths and that he had strengthened the moral fiber of the world .
-Mr. Mbeki thanked John Paul for his support in the development and rebirth of Africa .
-Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo praised the pope for advocating religious tolerance and remembered his unwavering support for democracy while Nigeria fought against dictatorship in the 1990s .
-Nigeria has 20 million Catholics , the most of any African nation .
-Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze has been mentioned as a possible successor as pope , although analysts say there is no clear cut favorite .
-Hurricane Paula has now weakened into a tropical storm , as it continues to dump heavy rain along Cuba 's northern coast .
-The storm , with maximum sustained winds of 105 kilometers per hour , moved slowly ( 16 kilometers per hour ) Thursday over Cuba 's tobacco fields as it headed in a more easterly direction .
-At last report ( 1800 UTC ) , the U.S. National Hurricane Center said Paula was centered 115 kilometers west of Havana .
-It said the storm could weaken further and be classified as a tropical depression by Friday .
-Heavy rain could fall in parts of Cuba , with up to 25 centimeters in the western and central regions .
-Forecasters posted a tropical storm watch for parts of the Florida Keys , a chain of islands off southern Florida .
-Ukraine 's opposition has pulled out of talks with Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych on ending the country 's political crisis .
-The announcement came amid continued opposition protests over charges of widespread fraud after Mr. Yanukovych was declared the winner of the November 21 vote .
-Opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko says the vote was rigged and is challenging the results in Ukraine 's Supreme Court , which could order a new election .
-Talks collapsed Tuesday when the pro-western Mr. Yushchenko rejected an offer to become the new prime minister in a Yanukovych presidency .
-The disputed election is threatening to split Ukraine apart .
-Lawmakers in pro-Russian eastern Ukraine are threatening to declare autonomy if Mr. Yanukovych does not become president .
-European leaders are converging on Ukraine to mediate .
-They include European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski .
-President Bush has said the will of the Ukrainian people must prevail .
-Indonesian health officials say their tests show two women from the same area have been infected by the bird-flu virus .
-The two patients , both from a town just east of Indonesia 's capital , Jakarta , are being treated at a hospital there .
-The World Health Organization has not confirmed the results yet .
-So far , 23 people have been confirmed as having bird flu in Indonesia .
-Seven people who contracted the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus have died .
-Elsewhere , Africa 's first outbreak of the H5N1 virus strain was confirmed in Nigeria Wednesday .
-The ( Paris-based ) World Organization for Animal Health says the virus killed 40,000 chickens on a farm in Kaduna state .
-No human cases of bird flu have been reported in the West African nation .
-Avian flu has killed 88 people in southeast Asia , China , and Turkey since 2003 .
-Officials with the U.N. World Food Program , WFP , say a ship carrying food aid for Somalian tsunami victims has been hijacked and the ship 's crew taken hostage .
-The WFP issued a statement early Thursday , saying unidentified pirates boarded the freighter MV Semlow off the coast of Somalia earlier this week .
-The ship was carrying 850 metric tons of rice donated by Japan and Germany .
-The ship is registered in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and had a crew of ten .
-The WFP says it has appealed to local leaders and clan elders for the safe return of the crew and the food aid .
-Maritime officials say piracy has become increasingly common off the coast of Somalia .
-Vietnamese health officials say bird flu has been detected in ducks in the country 's south just one day after authorities lifted a ban on hatching ducks and other waterfowl .
-Authorities say tests showed 800 ducks in the Mekong delta province of Vinh Long were infected with bird flu , but it is not immediately clear if they had the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus .
-All the birds have been slaughtered .
-Earlier this week , authorities announced an outbreak of bird flu in the country 's north .
-Vietnam plans to begin a massive new poultry vaccination campaign in the coming week .
-Meanwhile , officials in Burma say crows and sparrows may have carried the H5N1 virus to a poultry farm in the suburbs of Rangoon sparking an outbreak .
-More than 160 people have died from bird flu worldwide since the outbreak began in late 2003 .
-German Chancellor Angela Merkel says the situation is " serious " as bird flu reaches the German mainland for the first time .
-Authorities Sunday found the deadly H5N1 strain in two wild birds in the north .
-Eighteen new cases were also discovered on the Baltic island of Ruegen .
-Meanwhile , French Agriculture Minister Dominique Bussereau is urging consumers to keep eating chicken , assuring them it is perfectly safe to eat properly-cooked meat .
-France reported its first bird flu case Saturday .
-Italy says it will ask for European Union aid for poultry farmers who have lost millions of dollars as chicken consumption there plummets .
-Also , India has begun killing chickens in western Maharastra state after reporting the country 's first bird flu case Saturday .
-No human bird flu cases have been reported outside of Asia and Turkey , where about 90 people have died since 2003 .
-Four U.S. financial giants have agreed to temporarily halt housing foreclosures .
-J.P. Morgan Chase , Bank of America and Morgan Stanley said Friday their mortgage institutions would not begin the foreclosure process on any owner-occupied properties until March 6 .
-Citigroup said its moratorium would last until March 12 , unless President Barack Obama finalizes his administration 's loan modification program at an earlier date .
-A key U.S. congressman , Barney Frank , had urged the industry to hold off on foreclosures until a new process for helping homeowners could be put in place .
-The Massachusetts Democrat is head of the House financial services committee .
-A White House spokesman , Robert Gibbs , announced Friday that President Obama will outline a plan to tackle the home foreclosure crisis during a visit Wednesday to the western state of Arizona .
-Two astronauts are back aboard the International Space Station after a spacewalk to conduct experiments and maintenance .
-Station Commander Leroy Chiao of the United States and Russian flight engineer Salizhan Sharipov spent a total of five hours , 28 minutes outside the orbiting station Wednesday .
-The U.S. space agency says the crew members installed a work platform , set up two experiments , and checked vents on systems that help control the station 's atmosphere .
-The spacewalk was the first for the current two-man crew , who arrived at the station in October .
-NASA says the crew members plan to conduct their second spacewalk in March .
-Hurricane Danielle is picking up strength as it moves over the Atlantic Ocean .
-The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the storm 's sustained winds increased to nearly 140 kilometers per hour Wednesday morning .
-It remains a Category 1 on the five-point scale of hurricane strength .
-Danielle is moving northwest in the open waters of the Atlantic .
-As of the last report , it was about 1,275 kilometers east of the Northern Leeward Islands .
-Meanwhile , in the Pacific , Tropical Storm Frank is also gaining strength as it continues on its path away from the southwestern coast of Mexico .
-Forecasters say the storm could become a hurricane later Wednesday .
-Its sustained winds were last recorded at nearly 110 kilometers per hour .
-As of now , neither storm is posing a threat to land .
-Usher is off the market .
-The multi-platinum R&B star is officially engaged to his longtime girlfriend , stylist Tameka Foster .
-Usher 's publicist Simone Smalls made the announcement March 30 , but provided no further details .
-Usher had previously announced the engagement to MTV News .
-The 28-year-old singer said he may be getting married by year 's end .
-A five-time Grammy Award winner , Usher has sold more than 35 million albums worldwide .
-The 34-nation Organization of American States ( OAS ) has postponed choosing a new chief , saying many foreign ministers who had planned to attend the election session here in Washington are instead heading to Rome for the pope 's funeral .
-The OAS Permanent Council had scheduled an election to choose a new secretary general on Thursday , but the vote will now take place April 11 .
-The top candidates for the post are Mexico 's conservative foreign secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez , Chile 's socialist interior minister Jose Miguel Insulza and a pro-business former Salvadoran president with close ties to Washington - Francisco Flores .
-The International Football Federation ( FIFA ) and the European Football Union ( UEFA ) have agreed to stage a charity match with the proceeds going to victims of last month 's devastating Indian Ocean tsunami .
-In a statement released Friday , FIFA said the two associations decided to organize the match " on a grand scale " in a major European stadium in February .
-Several national football associations -- including England , Germany , Greece , Portugal , Spain , India , and Malaysia -- have said they want to arrange charity matches .
-FIFA did not say who would play in the match , or where it would be held .
-Earlier this week , FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation called for famous players to help with aid distribution .
-FIFA and the Asian confederation also agreed to deliver football equipment to national associations in nations struck by the tsunami .
-Lawmakers in Spain have voted to send about 400 troops to join anti-piracy patrols off the coast of Somalia .
-The Spanish parliament approved the deployment on a vote of 311 to nothing Wednesday .
-Defense Minister Carme Chacon said the first 200 troops will leave for the Gulf of Aden on a frigate and supply vessel this Friday .
-The Spanish troops will join the European Union force sent to protect ships against hijackings and attacks by Somali pirates .
-The International Maritime Bureau said Somali pirates attacked at least 111 ships last year , an increase of nearly 200 percent from 2007 .
-The United States , China , and several other countries have also put ships on patrol in the Gulf of Aden and Somalia 's Indian Ocean coast .
-A Belarusian court has sentenced former opposition presidential candidate Alexander Kozulin , to 5 01-Feb years in prison .
-The judge cleared the courtroom before delivering the verdict after the accused called the proceedings unfair and a farce .
-Authorities had charged Kozulin with hooliganism and incitement to disorder in connection with mass protests by opposition activists over what they considered fraud in the vote .
-Belarus authorities arrested Kozulin a week after the March 19 vote in which authorities say President Alexander Lukashenko won a landslide victory .
-Demonstrators said the election was fraudulent .
-Prosecutors say more than 500 people were detained during the protests , but opposition activists put the number at more than one thousand .
-The United States and the European Union denounced the arrests , and enacted a visa ban on President Lukashenko and other top Belarus officials to protest the fraud .
-Chadian Prime Minister Pascal Yoadimadji has died in Paris at the age of 56 .
-Chad 's ambassador to France says Mr. Yoadimnadji died Friday from a brain hemorrhage .
-The prime minister was flown to Paris earlier this week after suffering a heart attack .
-Mr. Yoadimnadji was named prime minister in 2005 by Chadian President Idriss Deby .
-He had previously served in the government as agricultural minister , president of the national electoral commission and president of the constitutional council .
-China has confirmed an outbreak of the H5N1 strain of bird flu among wilds birds in western China .
-The Ministry of Agriculture said Friday that the outbreak was discovered in Qinghai province after 123 birds were found dead .
-The bird flu virus killed more than 1,000 geese in Qinghai last year .
-The province is located along a major Asian migratory route for birds .
-Researchers believe wild birds from the region may have carried bird flu along migratory paths to Europe .
-US computer maker Dell has says it plans to substantially expand its customer support and software development centers in India .
-Officials say the state of Texas-based company intends to add 2,000 more employees to its staff , bringing the total in India to 10,000 by January , 2006 .
-The company runs three call centers in India , with most of the operations centered in Bangalore , India 's " silicon valley . "
-Dell officials say they will open several more offices in India .
-Scores of Western companies have cut costs by shifting software development , engineering design and routine office functions to countries such as India , which has a large pool of English-speaking workers and low wages .
-Computer experts estimate that such outsourcing could create as many as 1.2 million jobs in India by 2008 and bring in revenues of at least $ 21 billion .
-NATO says it trained almost 1,500 Iraqi military officers in 2005 , and hopes to train a similar number this year .
-The organization says 1,000 officers were trained inside Iraq at a NATO college on the outskirts of Baghdad .
-Around 160 NATO personnel are based at the college , which opened in September 2005 .
-The remaining Iraqi officers , numbering about 500 , were trained at NATO facilities in Europe .
-NATO says the training effort is designed to teach Iraqi military officers modern leadership skills and democratic values .
-The organization also supplies military equipment to Iraqi forces and logistical support to Polish troops inside Iraq .
-But NATO has not engaged in any combat in Iraq because of opposition from NATO members France and Germany .
-The cholera outbreak in Angola continues .
-The medical aid group – Doctors Without Borders - says in all there have been about 32,000 cases over the past 13 weeks , with about 1,200 deaths .
-Richard Veerman is the group ’s head of mission in Angola .
-From the capital , Luanda , he gave English to Africa reporter Joe De Capua an update on the cholera outbreak .
-He says there are about 600 new cases a day in the country , about half of those in Luanda .
-That ’s down from over 900 cases a day about a week ago .
-However , Veerman says it ’s still too early to tell whether this means the outbreak is truly on the decline .
-Taiwan 's Defense Ministry says China 's military buildup and modernization is aimed directly at the island .
-A Taiwanese Defense Ministry spokesman made the comments Tuesday one day after China released a white paper on national defense .
-China 's Information Office of the State Council said the white paper is intended to illustrate China 's national defense policies and the progress made in national defense over the past two years .
-Taiwanese Defense Ministry spokesman Wang Shih-chien says the white paper shows that China is emphasizing the buildup of its air and amphibious forces , proving that Beijing is targeting the island .
-The Chinese policy document threatens to crush any attempt by Taiwan to become independent .
-Beijing considers the island part of its territory .
-Some members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries are calling for cuts in oil output .
-The comments come as officials of the 11 member cartel gather in Cairo for a meeting Friday to discuss oil supplies and prices .
-OPEC supplies about 40 percent of the world 's oil .
-Oil prices have fallen significantly from their record highs in October , and economists say a reduction in oil output would put upward pressure on prices .
-Crude prices soared this year due to strong demand from China and the United States amid worries that political problems , violence , or bad weather would disrupt oil supplies in some key producing nations .
-OPEC oil output has been close to 25-year highs , and exceeds the cartel 's self-imposed production quotas .
-Rebels in Sudan 's Darfur region say they clashed with government forces Wednesday , days before a scheduled new round of peace talks .
-The Sudan Liberation Army faction of Abdel Wahid Nur said its troops attacked the government-held Golo district in the Jebel Marra mountains .
-A spokesman said there were casualties on both sides .
-He did not give specific figures .
-The joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping mission confirmed there was fighting in the area .
-The rebels say earlier this week , Sudanese warplanes bombarded rebel-controlled areas in Jebel Marra and in Jebel Moun , near the border with Chad .
-Peace talks between Khartoum and Darfur rebel groups are due to resume later this month in Qatar .
-The United Nations says the fighting in Darfur has killed up to 3,00,000 people and displaced 2.7 million since 2003 .
-The government says 10,000 people have died in the conflict .
-Members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries are meeting in Vienna to consider offering as much as another two million barrels of crude oil a day to world markets .
-Oil and gasoline prices soared to record highs in recent weeks as Hurricane Katrina threatened oil production and refining capacity on the U.S. Gulf Coast .
-Some analysts say OPEC 's offer would have symbolic rather than practical impact because gasoline prices were driven upward by a shortage of refining capacity rather than a lack of crude oil .
-World oil prices have fallen from their record high of $ 70.85 , but rebounded more than $ 2 a barrel to $ 65.25 cents on the New York market Monday morning .
-Traders were reacting to news that another tropical storm is on a course that might hurt oil and gasoline production .
-Officials in Afghanistan say the United States has released 17 Afghan detainees from military custody at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba .
-Abdul Wakil Omari , a spokesman for the Afghan Supreme Court , said the men would be formally handed over during a ceremony at the court later Tuesday .
-He did not say how many prisoners had been released , but other officials put the number at 17 .
-It was not clear if the men will face charges in their home country .
-The U.S. military had no immediate comment .
-The United States has released more than 200 detainees from Guantanamo , but many , including dozens of prisoners sent to the United Kingdom , Russia , France , Morocco , Saudi Arabia and Pakistan , are freed on the condition they will be held by their home countries .
-Pakistan has officially raised the death toll from last month 's massive earthquake to 73,276 .
-The country 's head of relief operations , Major-General Farooq Ahmed Khan , said Wednesday the October 8 quake also left more than 69,000 people injured .
-On Tuesday , government officials had put the death toll at 57,600 , with most fatalities registered in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir .
-General Khan gave no reason for the abrupt increase in the death toll , but Pakistani officials say it could rise further .
-Meanwhile , the U.S. military said it resumed helicopter relief flights in northern Pakistan , one day after one of its aircraft is believed to have come under fire .
-U.S. officials say a suspected rocket-propelled grenade was fired on Tuesday at a helicopter delivering relief aid , causing no damage or injuries .
-Pakistani officials said the helicopter crew probably heard dynamite being used to clear landslides triggered by the quake .
-The U.S. Energy Department says Washington is prepared to tap its emergency oil stockpile to help oil producers and refiners in the path of Hurricane Katrina .
-The storm is lashing a part of the U.S. Gulf coast responsible for about one quarter of U.S. crude oil production .
-It is also home to key oil import facilities and refineries .
-The oil would be loaned to refiners and producers to lessen the effect of disrupted energy production .
-Worries about damage to energy production infrastructure have pushed crude oil prices up to record levels .
-A similar oil loan program aided oil companies after a hurricane disrupted production last year .
-Two exit polls are predicting victory for Ukraine 's pro-western opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko in Sunday 's presidential run-off election , though the polls differ widely on the margin of victory
-One exit poll , conducted by the Kiev Institute of Sociology and the Razumkov Center for Economic and Political Studies , shows Mr.Yushchenko ahead of Ukraine 's Moscow-leaning Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich by a double-digit margin
-But the Interfax news agency quotes another exit poll showing Mr.Yushchenko ahead by less than four percentage points .
-But both sides are claiming numerous instances of voting irregularities .
-In the first round of voting last month , neither candidate won a majority , but Mr. Yushchenko alleged voting fraud had cost him the election .
-Three Pakistani troops were wounded Monday when attackers fired rockets at their security checkpoint in a remote tribal area near the Afghan border .
-The troops were manning the post near the town of Miran Shah in the troubled North Waziristan region when the attack occurred before dawn .
-Soldiers returned fire with artillery and machine guns and a gun battle broke out .
-Three soldiers were hit by shrapnel from rockets .
-Islamic militants have been blamed for attacks on security forces in the region .
-Meanwhile , Pakistani security forces are pressuring tribal leaders to hand over suspected militants responsible for recent attacks on government forces that have claimed more than 22 lives , including at least eight soldiers at a checkpoint in North Waziristan .
-Tens of thousands of Pakistani forces have been deployed in the region to search for foreign militants .
-Thousands of Croatians have gathered in the city of Split to show support for war crimes suspect General Ante Gotovina .
-The demonstrators waved Croatian flags and posters of General Gotovina , who was arrested in Spain 's Canary Islands on Wednesday after being on the run since 2001 .
-The general was extradited to the United Nations tribunal in the Hague on Saturday to face charges involving the deaths of civilians during a 1995 Croatian army sweep through a Serb-held region .
-He is expected to appear before the court next week .
-Thousands of his supporters also gathered on Saturday in Croatia 's port city of Zadar to protest his arrest .
-They call General Gotovina a hero who helped free Croatia from the former Yugoslavia .
-The Taliban has claimed responsibility for killing ten people , including foreigners , after the bodies were found in dense forest in northern Afghanistan .
-The International Assistance Mission , a Christian charity providing health services to the Afghan people , said on its website Saturday the dead people are " likely " members of its eye camp team , who were returning to Kabul after working in Nuristan .
-U.S. officials in Afghanistan say at least two Americans were among the group of eight foreigners and two Afghans killed .
-Local officials said six Germans were among those killed in Badakhshan province .
-Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed told the French news agency a patrol confronted the " Christian missionaries and we killed them all . "
-One Afghan man survived the attack .
-The bullet-riddled bodies were discovered Friday .
-At least seven Indian police officers were killed Sunday when their vehicle struck a landmine in the eastern region of the country .
-Officials say they suspect the bombs were planted by Maoist rebels .
-The attack was in Orissa state , nearly 550 kilometers south of the state capital Bhubaneshwar .
-Indian officials say the long-running Maoist insurgency , which has spread to 20 of the country 's 28 states , is India 's most serious domestic security issue .
-The rebels , also called Naxalites , are demanding land and jobs for the poor .
-The media rights group Reporters Without Borders has recognized a Burmese-run television and radio network for its work , including coverage of September 's pro-democracy protests in Burma .
-The group says the Norway-based Democratic Voice of Burma was one of the few media that sent out images of the Burmese military crackdown on demonstrations led by Buddhist monks .
-Reporters Without Borders chose the station to receive its 2007 award recognizing " a media that exemplifies the battle for the right to inform the public and be informed . "
-The non-profit media organization was founded in 1992 by a group of pro-democracy students who escaped the massacres of a 1988 crackdown by Burma 's military government .
-The U.S. government has launched a new website designed to help new immigrants find information about federal government resources .
-The new site , welcometousa.gov , is an initiative of the interagency Task Force on New Americans established by President Bush in 2006 .
-The website provides information on how to become a U.S. citizen , how to get a driver 's license , and ways for new immigrants to find employment .
-Another objective of the website is to encourage immigrants and native-born Americans to engage in volunteer activities .
-Most of the website is in English , but it includes links to new immigration guides in 11 languages , including Chinese , Korean , Haitian Creole , Spanish , French , Russian , Vietnamese and Arabic .
-China has cut the size of its military by 2,00,000 soldiers to make it a leaner , more high-tech fighting force .
-The People 's Liberation Army newspaper said Monday the military had been reduced to 2.3 million troops as part of a three-year modernization program that ended last year .
-The program involved shutting down Chinese military farms and schools not involved in combat , and removing layers of military bureaucracy .
-China has been trimming the size of its military since the mid-1980s , when it had about 4.2 million soldiers .
-However , Beijing continued a sizable increase in military spending last year .
-Beijing has spent heavily on high-tech weapons in recent years to back up threats against Taiwan .
-Japan , South Korea and the United States have repeatedly expressed about China 's military build-up , and have accused Beijing of underreporting its defense spending .
-Spain and Morocco have called for a European-African summit to discuss the surge of illegal immigration from the North African country to Europe .
-The announcement was made in Rabat Tuesday by Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos .
-Earlier Tuesday , Morocco flew 140 illegal migrants back to Senegal .
-Other flights to Senegal and Mali are planned .
-Spain has been sending Africans who have illegally entered its enclaves in Melilla and Ceuta back into Morocco , which has started sending them home .
-More than 1,000 migrants have scaled the razor-wire fences surrounding the enclaves since August , seeking a better life in Europe .
-At least 14 have died during the attempts .
-Amnesty International has accused the European Union of failing to protect refugees .
-Indian novelist Kiran Desai has become the youngest female writer to win Britain 's Man Booker prize - one of the world 's most prestigious literary awards .
-Desai was selected the winner of the $ 93,000 prize Tuesday for her novel The Inheritance of Loss .
-Judges called it a " magnificent novel of humane breadth and wisdom , comic tenderness , and powerful political acuteness . "
-It is the story of a retired judge who moves into an isolated and crumbling house in the Himalayas hoping to live in peace when his orphaned granddaughter unexpectedly comes to live with him .
-The 35-year-old Desai was born in India and educated in the United States and England .
-She is the daughter of novelist Anita Desai , who has been nominated for a Booker prize three times .
-The U.N. war crimes tribunal in the Hague has overturned a conviction for complicity in genocide against a former Bosnian Serb army officer .
-In 2005 , Vidoje Blagojevic was convicted on several war crimes charges for giving logistical support to the 1995 massacre of more than 7,000 Muslims in the Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica .
-Blagojevic appealed the conviction .
-Wednesday , appeals judges let most of the convictions stand but ruled he should have been acquitted on the genocide charge .
-The judges said it was impossible to show that he had knowledge of the " genocidal intent " of the massacre 's perpetrators .
-The tribunal judges cut his sentence Wednesday , from 18 years in prison to 15 years .
-The massacre happened after Serb troops captured Srebrenica , which the U.N. had declared a safe area .
-In 2004 , Bosnian Serb authorities acknowledged the deaths as a massacre for the first time .
-United Nations officials say some indigenous groups in Colombia face extinction because of ongoing political fighting that has forced them to flee their ancestral homes .
-Fighting between the Colombian army and guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia , FARC , in the past week has caused the displacement of an estimated 3,500 indigenous Nasa people in one southwest province .
-Observers say that if the fighting continues , the number of displaced could reach 5,000 .
-U.N. officials say the Embera people are also under threat .
-About 4,000 of them could soon be driven from their homes in the northwest .
-Colombia 's indigenous peoples have suffered heavily during the civil war .
-Illegal armed groups have killed their leaders and conscripted young people into the ranks .
-The National Indigenous Organization of Colombia estimates that more than 20 indigenous leaders have disappeared or have been murdered so far this year .
-A published report says the Bush administration has initiated a top-level internal review of its anti-terrorism policy , with the aim of moving away from hunting al-Qaida leadership and towards a broader strategy of dealing with violent extremism .
-The Washington Post in its Sunday edition says the new strategy has evolved as al-Qaida has become increasingly decentralized since the attacks of September 11 , 2001 .
-White House officials tell the newspaper a new anti-terrorism model must emerge to cope with the rapid global spread of pro-al-Qaida Islamic jihadists .
-Officials say hitting al-Qaida in Afghanistan after the 2001 attacks was a logical tactical maneuver .
-But they say the new leadership among terror groups is difficult to target as they adapt and blend into multiple societies .
-The reported policy shift is the first major change in anti-terrorism strategy for the Bush administration since the attacks .
-President Bush has called the ideology of Islamic radicals the great challenge of the 21st century .
-The president spoke Friday in Norfolk , Virginia , home to the world 's largest naval base , to a receptive audience that often broke into applause .
-The president compared Islamic radicals to dictators from the past including Hitler and Stalin .
-He said such militants must be taken seriously and stopped before their crimes multiply .
-He said protecting the freedoms of others in the world protects freedom in the United States .
-Mr. Bush stressed that Islamic radicalism is very different from Islam .
-During his speech , a protester in the audience yelled , " Mr. President , war is terror , " and revealed a shirt saying " Dump Bush . "
-He was escorted out of the auditorium , as other audience members voiced their disapproval of him .
-Afghan authorities say a roadside bomb in Afghanistan 's southern Kandahar province killed two police officers and wounded three others .
-A provincial spokesman said the intelligence chief of the capital city of Kabul was in the convoy , but the bomb missed him because he was in another car .
-Separately , coalition and Afghan forces killed more 30 Taleban fighters in the southern Afghan province of Zabul Saturday .
-No Afghan or coalition troops were hurt in the battle .
-In another incident , an Afghan army commander said fighting in Zabul left two Taliban dead and at least two others captured .
-The Taleban ruled Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001 , when they were toppled in a US-led invasion .
-They are now waging an insurgency against the government and its allies .
-Nigerian health officials say a deadly strain of bird flu has been detected for the first time in the southwestern state of Ogun .
-Officials Saturday said H5N1 was found at a single farm in that state .
-They said further testing and decontaminating processes are under way .
-Health experts fear the disease could spread from Ogun to nearby Lagos , home to more than 13 million people .
-Also Saturday , Poland confirmed a second outbreak of H5N1 among wild birds .
-The nation 's chief veterinary officer told reporters that a dead infected swan was found in a western town bordering Germany .
-In recent days , dead swans with H5N1 were discovered in the central Polish town of Torun .
-Avian flu has spread from Asia to Europe , Africa and the Middle East .
-The World Health Organization says bird flu has killed 97 people since 2003 , mostly in Asia .
-U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama met Sunday with T. Boone Pickens , a billionaire oilman and Republican , to discuss the future of U.S. energy policy .
-Before the meeting in Reno , Nevada , Senator Obama dismissed questions about Pickens 's involvement in the 2004 presidential election .
-Pickens contributed $ 3 million to a group called " Swift Boat Veterans for Truth , " which sought to discredit the Vietnam war service of then-Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry .
-The attacks were seen as a factor in President George Bush 's 2004 victory .
-Pickens has endorsed neither Obama nor Republican candidate John McCain .
-Pickens is promoting a national energy plan that relies on natural gas to cut U.S. dependence on foreign oil .
-Pickens met last week with Senator McCain , who had no public appearances scheduled Sunday .
-U.S.-based Muslim groups have joined governments and organizations around the world in condemning Thursday 's deadly bombings in London .
-In a statement , the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned the attacks as " barbaric crimes , " which it said " can never be justified or excused . "
-The group has said in the past that those who commit acts of terror in the name of Islam are betraying that religion 's values .
-In a separate statement , the Muslim Public Affairs Council extended condolences to the families of the victims and to the British people .
-It called the bombings an " attack against humanity . "
-An Iranian exile has accused Tehran of building a secret underground facility for enriching uranium at the Parchin military complex in northern Iran .
-Ali Reza Jafarzadeh , who has previously revealed accurate information about two hidden nuclear sites in Iran , told VOA Thursday that the Parchin facility was recently completed .
-Mr. Jafarzadeh cited what he called sources inside the regime .
-He said the new facility has the capability to enrich uranium using laser technology .
-In certain forms , enriched uranium can be used to fuel nuclear weapons .
-In January , international nuclear inspectors visited Parchin , but Tehran denied a second request to revisit the facility .
-The United States has alleged that Iran is engaged in secret nuclear weapons research at Parchin , a charge Iran denies .
-Mr. Jafarzadeh previously was the spokesman for the National Council of Resistance of Iran , which Washington has designated as a terrorist organization .
-Iraqi officials say anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has returned to Iraq , after a nearly three-year absence .
-Sadrist officials say the radical and influential figure returned to his family home in the city of Najaf on Wednesday .
-Al-Sadr has been living in Iran , and it is unclear how long he plans to stay in Iraq .
-The cleric emerged as a key U.S. foe after the 2003 invasion of Iraq , leading two uprisings carried out by his Mehdi Army against American forces .
-Al-Sadr 's political movement was a key player following last year 's disputed elections in Iraq .
-The cleric 's bloc worked out a deal to be part of the new Iraqi government , and its support helped Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki secure a second term .
-The Sadrists won 39 out of 325 seats in parliament in the March , 2010 , elections .
-British director Ken Loach 's The Wind that Shakes the Barley - a drama about the struggle for Irish independence in the 1920s - has won the Palme d'Or , the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival .
-The runner-up prize , The Grand Prix , was won by the French film Flanders .
-Other winners in this year 's Cannes festival include Mexico 's Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu as Best Director .
-The female cast of the Spanish film Volver won collectively as Best actress - and the Best Actor award also want to a cast for Days of Glory , about North African soldiers defending France during World War II .
-Witnesses say a group of Palestinian policemen firing in the air took over the parliament building in Gaza City Monday .
-Eyewitnesses say about 30 policemen entered the compound and closed the gates behind them .
-Some policemen were seen taking up positions on the roof .
-It was not immediately clear why they took over the building .
-Last week , Palestinian police and Fatah party activists held protests across the West Bank and Gaza Strip following the defeat of the long-dominant Fatah faction by the militant Hamas group in Wednesday 's parliamentary elections .
-Protesters demanded that Fatah leaders resign , and also warned against allowing Hamas to take control of Palestinian security forces .
-The European Union has submitted a package of proposals to Iran aimed at ending a long-running standoff over Tehran 's nuclear program .
-The offer was transmitted Friday by the ambassadors of Britain , France and Germany , which have been negotiating with Tehran to seek guarantees that its nuclear program is peaceful .
-Details of the plan were not immediately known .
-But diplomats quoted by the New York Times said Europe planned to offer Iran a sweeping proposal allowing it to acquire nuclear reactors and fuel and achieve a full economic relationship with the West if it ends its suspected weapons program .
-The report says the proposal seeks a pledge by Iran to end any uranium conversion and enrichment activities .
-A spokesman for the International Atomic Energy Agency said Friday a special session will be held Tuesday to discuss Iran 's threat to resume sensitive nuclear fuel cycle work .
-Three bombings in northern Iraq killed six people Saturday , including one child .
-In one attack , police say a roadside bomb exploded about 80 kilometers south of Mosul , killing two police officers and one soldier .
-In a second attack , a roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol exploded about 25 kilometers south of Mosul , killing the child and one soldier .
-The third bombing took place in Fallujah , about 50 kilometers west of Baghdad .
-Police say two bombs exploded near the home of a former police officer , killing a woman .
-Insurgent attacks remain common in some areas of Iraq , although such violence has dropped significantly since reaching its highest levels between 2005 to 2007 .
-The International Committee of the Red Cross says one of its aid workers has been killed in Haiti .
-In Geneva Friday , a spokesman for the aid agency said Joel Cauvin , a Haitian staff member , was found dead Thursday .
-He said Mr. Cauvin was abducted Wednesday night near his home in Port-au-Prince .
-The ICRC said it has no information that the killing was targeted at the agency .
-It said it will continue its humanitarian operations in Haiti .
-Political and gang violence has plagued the country since President Jean-Bertrand Arrested was ousted in February 2004 following an armed revolt .
-Last week , the United Nations Security Council agreed to add another 1,000 soldiers and police to the peacekeeping mission ahead of elections later this year .
-That would bring the number of troops in Haiti to 7,500 .
-Colombian police say suspected leftist rebels have executed at least seven farm workers involved in coca harvesting in the southwest of the country .
-Authorities say the attack was carried out Wednesday in the province of Narino by gunmen from Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia , or FARC .
-They say the rebel group killed the farm workers as part of its battle for ownership of lucrative coca fields used in the production of cocaine .
-FARC militants have been fighting a long-running conflict with far-right paramilitaries in the region , with each side trying to control drug smuggling routes to Central America .
-U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has left Washington on a trip scheduled to take him to several Asian and European nations .
-His first stop is China , where he is scheduled to meet with his counterpart General Cao Gangchuan and Chinese President Hu Jintao .
-Talks are expected to focus on military relations between the two nations .
-Relations have been strained in recent years over the Taiwan issue , China 's rapid military buildup and the 2001 collision between a U.S. surveillance plane and a Chinese fighter jet .
-Mr. Rumsfeld is scheduled to tour the headquarters of China 's Second Artillery Corps , which controls the country 's strategic missiles .
-Chinese officials denied a request to visit the national military command center .
-The Defense Secretary is also scheduled to visit South Korea , Mongolia , Kazakhstan and Lithuania .
-The United Nations ' special envoy for human rights has visited with prisoners in a northwest Burmese jail .
-Officials say Tomas Ojea Quintana traveled to the northwestern state of Rakhine to meet Wednesday with detainees being held at the Butheetaung prison near the border with Bangladesh .
-He is also expected to visit Burma 's infamous Insein prison near Rangoon , and travel to Naypyidaw , Burma 's administrative capital , to meet with several officials from Burma 's military government .
-He is scheduled to leave Burma on Friday .
-Ahead of his trip to the region , the military released National League for Democracy vice chairman Tin Oo , after seven years of detention .
-NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi remains one of 2,100 political dissidents being held in Burma .
-She has been under some form of detention in Burma for 14 of the past 20 years .
-The son of professional wrestler Hulk Hogan has been released from a Florida hospital , after being involved in an August 26 car crash .
-Police in Clearwater , Florida say Nick Bollea was driving his Toyota Supra sports car at a high rate of speed when it hit a median , flipped , and struck a tree .
-Clearwater Police spokesman Wayne Shelor said the car was destroyed .
-Bollea and a companion , 22-year-old John Graziano , were extricated from the vehicle and airlifted to Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg .
-Bollea was released from the hospital on August 27 , while Graziano is reportedly in critical condition .
-Shelor said alcohol did not appear to be a factor in the crash , with excessive speed the likely culprit .
-Seventeen-year-old Nick Bollea appears on the reality TV show Hogan Knows Best with his father , mother , and sister .
-An Iraqi man convicted in the 2004 kidnapping and killing of a British aid worker may have escaped from prison .
-A lawyer for former Care International worker Margaret Hassan told the French news agency that Ali Lutfi Jassar al-Rawi did not appear at a Thursday appeal hearing .
-Hassan 's lawyer says Iraqi officials have told him Jassar is missing from prison and his whereabouts are unknown .
-Last year , a Baghdad court sentenced Jassar to life in prison for his role in Hassan 's death .
-Iraqi officials had sentenced a second man , Mustafa Salman al-Jibouri , to life in the case but later reduced his sentence on appeal .
-Hassan had lived in Iraq for 30 years and served as the head of Care International in Baghdad .
-After she was kidnapped , she appeared in several videos appealing for British forces to withdraw from Iraq .
-Investigators have not found her body .
-The United States says it is monitoring the situation closely regarding Iran 's controversial presidential election , including reports of voting irregularities .
-White House spokesman Robert Gibbs says the U.S. is impressed by the " vigorous debate and enthusiasm " the election generated , particularly among young Iranians .
-Speaking Saturday in Canada , U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States hopes the outcome of the Iranian election reflects the " genuine will and desire of the Iranian people . "
-She said like the rest of the world , the U.S. is waiting and watching to see what the Iranian people decide .
-Standing alongside Clinton , Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon said his country is " deeply concerned " with reports of voting irregularities in Iran .
-He called on Iranian authorities to conduct a " fair and transparent " counting of the ballots .
-U.S. Olympic speedskater Joey Cheek is following through on his promise to lend a helping hand to children in Africa .
-Cheek met with U.S. lawmakers Tuesday to promote the work of the humanitarian aid group Right to Play .
-The gold and silver medalist made headlines during the Olympics when he donated his $ 40,000 Olympic bonus to support the group 's work in Sudan 's violence wracked Darfur region .
-The organization , founded by Norwegian Olympic champ Johann Koss , emphasizes sporting and recreational activities for children in 23 countries , 14 of them in Africa .
-Cheek told VOA 's English to Africa service that he plans to visit Zambia in April to observe some of the group 's projects .
-They include AIDS awareness and prevention , and vaccinations against diseases .
-Mexican federal police say they have captured a regional leader of the Zetas drug gang , who allegedly trafficked drugs from the Dominican Republic and Panama to the United States .
-Security official Luis Cardenas said Thursday that Eduardo Ramirez Valencia was detained Wednesday along with an accomplice in Hidalgo state .
-Cardenas also said Ramirez was thought to have collaborated closely with Heriberto Lazcano , an alleged Zeta leader .
-Authorities have blamed the Zetas , in part , for an escalation in violence in northeastern Mexico this year .
-Mexico 's northern border is being rocked by violent crime and clashes involving groups battling for control of drug-trafficking routes into the United States .
-About 30,000 people have been killed in Mexico 's drug war since President Felipe Calderon took office in late 2006 and began cracking down on the cartels .
-Britain 's Prime Minister Tony Blair says last week 's terrorist attacks in London were probably carried out by Islamist extremists .
-Speaking to parliament , Mr. Blair declined to give details on an ongoing police investigation .
-But he praised the work of police and emergency services after the blasts on underground trains and a double-decker bus .
-Opposition leader Michael Howard said he hopes the government in coming weeks will try to uncover possible security flaws exploited in the attacks .
-Meantime , police say the confirmed number of dead in the bombings has risen to 52 , with about 700 people injured .
-Forensic experts say it may be weeks before all of the victims are publicly identified .
-London Mayor Ken Livingstone became the first to sign a book of condolences for the victims , writing " the city will endure . "
-New Zealand occupied the German protectorate of Western Samoa at the outbreak of World War I in 1914 .
-It continued to administer the islands as a mandate and then as a trust territory until 1962 , when the islands became the first Polynesian nation to reestablish independence in the 20th century .
-The country dropped the " Western " from its name in 1997 .
-Guam was ceded to the US by Spain in 1898 .
-Captured by the Japanese in 1941 , it was retaken by the US three years later .
-The military installation on the island is one of the most strategically important US bases in the Pacific .
-After three decades as part of the UN Trust Territory of the Pacific under US administration , this westernmost cluster of the Caroline Islands opted for independence in 1978 rather than join the Federated States of Micronesia .
-A Compact of Free Association with the US was approved in 1986 but not ratified until 1993 .
-It entered into force the following year when the islands gained independence .
-Burkina Faso is a poor , landlocked country that relies heavily on cotton and gold exports for revenue .
-The country has few natural resources and a weak industrial base .
-About 90 % of the population is engaged in subsistence agriculture , which is vulnerable to periodic drought .
-Cotton is the main cash crop .
-Since 1998 , Burkina Faso has embarked upon a gradual privatization of state-owned enterprises and in 2004 revised its investment code to attract foreign investment .
-As a result of this new code and other legislation favoring the mining sector , the country has seen an upswing in gold exploration and production .
-By 2010 , gold had become the main source of export revenue .
-Burundi 's first democratically elected president was assassinated in October 1993 after only 100 days in office , triggering widespread ethnic violence between Hutu and Tutsi factions .
-More than 2,00,000 Burundians perished during the conflict that spanned almost a dozen years .
-Hundreds of thousands of Burundians were internally displaced or became refugees in neighboring countries .
-An internationally brokered power-sharing agreement between the Tutsi-dominated government and the Hutu rebels in 2003 paved the way for a transition process that led to an integrated defense force , established a new constitution in 2005 , and elected a majority Hutu government in 2005 .
-The new government , led by President Pierre NKURUNZIZA , signed a South African brokered ceasefire with the country 's last rebel group in September of 2006 but still faces many challenges .
-THREE BULLS for a long time pastured together .
-A Lion lay in ambush in the hope of making them his prey , but was afraid to attack them while they kept together .
-Having at last by guileful speeches succeeded in separating them , he attacked them without fear as they fed alone , and feasted on them one by one at his own leisure .
-Union is strength .
-THE SWALLOW and the Crow had a contention about their plumage .
-The Crow put an end to the dispute by saying , " Your feathers are all very well in the spring , but mine protect me against the winter . "
-Fair weather friends are not worth much .
-I just read that last year 41,53,237 people got married .
-I do n't want to start any trouble , but should n't that be an even number ?
-Burma 's second ranking official has arrived in Bangladesh for talks that will focus on border issues and a possible land leasing deal for Bangladeshi farmers .
-Vice Senior General Maung Aye brought an entourage of 55 officials with him , including seven ministers , for the three-day visit .
-During meetings with Bangladeshi officials the delegation will discuss sea border issues , cross-border road projects and a plan to lease border land to farmers in Bangladesh for cultivation .
-The establishment of a cross-border road is expected to top the agenda .
-The road is part of a plan to create an overland link between Bangladesh and China .
-The European Union 's top military advisor says a lack of equipment , including helicopters , may delay the bloc 's peacekeeping mission to Chad .
-General Henri Bentegeat says the mission also needs medical support and logistics assets .
-He is to discuss the issue with EU defense ministers on Monday in Brussels .
-The EU plans to send about 3,000 peacekeeping troops to Chad to help secure refugee camps along Chad 's border with Sudan 's troubled Darfur region .
-Violence from the Darfur conflict has spilled into Chad , displacing tens of thousands of people .
-The first EU troops are expected to arrive in Chad in December .
-China and India reported new human deaths from the deadly H5N1 strain of the avian flu on Friday , as authorities in Azerbaijan and Nigeria moved to contain newly reported cases among birds .
-China 's Health Ministry said a 20-year-old woman from the central Hunan province died from bird flu last week .
-Indonesian officials also reported that a woman has died from bird flu .
-They said a second woman suspected of having the virus is in critical condition at a Jakarta hospital .
-Azerbaijan on Friday became the latest country to report an outbreak of the virus among waterfowl .
-Health officials said lab tests revealed the deadly H5N1 strain among wild birds found dead near the Caspian Sea .
-The first cases in Africa were detected earlier this week on poultry farms in Nigeria .
-Foreign governments and aid organization have promised to help Nigeria contain the virus , which has killed nearly 90 people worldwide since 2003 .
-The European Parliament has urged European Union states to maintain their almost 16-year-old arms embargo on China in light of what lawmakers call Beijing 's lack of progress on human rights .
-A resolution approved Thursday in Strasbourg also notes China 's adoption of a so-called anti-secession law that authorizes the use of force against Taiwan if the island moves towards declaring formal independence from Beijing .
-The European Union imposed the embargo in 1989 following Beijing 's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators .
-But late last year , EU member states agreed in principle to lift the restrictions by the end of June .
-In Berlin , German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder again backed plans for lifting the ban .
-He told parliament the embargo is unnecessary , because China has changed much in the past 15 years .
-An environmental organization says several countries are refusing to cooperate with an investigation of the deadly strain of bird flu .
-Dutch-based Wetlands International is the non-governmental agency commissioned by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization to research H5N1 in wild birds .
-Wetlands International says Iran , Nigeria , Sudan , Tunisia and Turkey have refused to grant access to researchers .
-The organization says it believes the refusals are the result of concerns by those countries about the potential impact on poultry exports and tourism if the virus is found in wild birds .
-Meanwhile , European Union countries are dealing with millions of dollars in lost revenue as demand for poultry products falls off sharply .
-Bird flu has spread from Asia to Europe , Africa and the Mideast , killing 94 people since 2003 .
-Five Sudanese men have been formally charged with murdering a U.S. diplomat and his driver last year .
-The men , who could face the death penalty if convicted , entered pleas of not guilty during a hearing in a Khartoum court Thursday .
-The men are accused of killing John Granville , an officer with the U.S. Agency for International Development , and his driver , Abdelrahman Abbas Rahama .
-The two were shot and killed in Khartoum in the early hours of New Year 's Day , 2008 .
-Prosecutors say the alleged assailants were Islamic extremists who decided to attack foreigners .
-The men have said they were tortured into confessing to the crimes .
-Venezuelan prosecutors want Colombia to extradite businessman Pedro Carmona , who assumed power in Venezuela during a brief coup against President Hugo Chavez in 2002 .
-Prosecutors provided evidence Monday detailing their accusations against Carmona .
-They have requested that he be charged with civilian rebellion .
-Venezuelan military officers arrested President Chavez in April 2002 and announced his resignation after at least 17 unarmed protesters were shot and killed during an anti-government rally .
-Coup leaders installed Carmona as interim leader .
-He was forced out two days later when military leaders withdrew their support and returned President Chavez to office .
-Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says Israeli and Palestinian negotiators will meet Monday to begin talks on issues that must be resolved for a peace treaty .
-Speaking in Ramallah Sunday , Mr. Abbas said teams from the two sides would hold talks on issues including the status of Jerusalem , Palestinian refugees and the borders of the future Palestinian state .
-Also Sunday , Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert criticized the continued presence of unauthorized Israeli settler outposts in the West Bank .
-Mr. Olmert told a group of political allies that it is a " disgrace " the settlements are still standing some four years after Israel pledged to dismantle them .
-In other news Sunday , Palestinian medical sources said an Israeli missile struck a car in the Gaza Strip , killing two Palestinian militants and critically wounding a third individual .
-Israel 's army confirmed the strike .
-Gunmen in Nigeria have killed at least five police officers in an attack on a police station in the restive southern oil region early this morning Sunday .
-Police spokeswoman Ireju Bares said the unidentified gunmen also stole arms and ammunition from the station at Bonny in the southern Nigerian state of Rivers .
-A leading group of American pediatricians says some children with high cholesterol should take cholesterol lowering medications .
-Some doctors criticize the recommendation .
-Other support it .
-There is no doubt , it has stirred up a furious debate .
-VOA 's Carol Pearson reports .
-The price of crude oil hit a new record high above $ 122 a barrel in Tuesday 's New York trading .
-Prices rose more than $ 2 to go as high as $ 122.73 a barrel .
-Prices have soared on concerns that supplies might not meet growing demand after recent militant attacks on Nigeria 's oil facilities hampered exports from the world 's eighth largest oil exporter .
-Tensions in Iraq and between Western nations and Iran reinforced supply worries .
-The price of oil has nearly doubled over the past year .
-The Tibetan spiritual leader who teaches age-old principles of peace and tolerance has gone high-tech , joining the online messaging service Twitter .
-The Dalai Lama 's office in India set up a Twitter account this week under the name @dalailama .
-The Buddhist leader has not personally written any messages , but his office has posted Web links to the Dalai Lama 's interviews and photos during his visit to the United States .
-The Dalai Lama signed up for his online account Monday , a day after meeting Twitter founder Evan Williams in Los Angeles , California .
-Williams says the Dalai Lama laughed at the idea of using the social network service .
-But as of Tuesday , the spiritual leader has attracted 69,000 followers .
-The Dalai Lama was in Florida Tuesday giving a speech on global compassion .
-United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan says a peace agreement that ended the civil war in southern Sudan appears to be floundering .
-In a report released late Tuesday , Mr. Annan said many important pledges have not been fulfilled .
-The Khartoum-based government and the southern Sudan People 's Liberation Army signed the peace agreement in January 2005 , ending 21 years of civil war .
-Mr. Annan says both sides have been observing security commitments " reasonably well , " but they have not embraced all the provisions of the pact .
-He says plans for elections , as well as power and wealth sharing , have not been met .
-The U.N. secretary-general also notes that international donors have only provided a fraction of the money needed to rebuild southern Sudan .
-Mexican authorities are investigating a report that a violent drug cartel has obtained anti-aircraft missiles that could be used to kill President Vicente Fox .
-The Mexican newspaper El~Universal says a U.S.-based private intelligence firm , Stratfor , has issued a report saying the Soviet-era weapons were purchased on the black market by a group of ex-Mexican army commandoes now working with drug traffickers .
-The weapons were said to have been first acquired by Nicaragua during its civil war in the 1980s , and some could have been passed on to drug-smuggling groups .
-A Mexican prosecutor says the report lacks credibility , but says his country is contacting U.S. authorities to determine if the report is TRUE , or , in his words , " taken from a movie script . "
-President Fox has launched a massive crackdown on drug traffickers to combat a surge of drug-related violence .
-Doctors in northwest China say they have performed the country 's first face transplant on a Chinese man who was mauled by a black bear .
-Xijing Hospital in Shaanxi province 's Xi'an city announced it had attached a new cheek , upper lip , nose and eyebrow to a 30-year-old man .
-A single donor provided the parts for the 14-hour operation on Friday .
-Xinhua news agency reports the director of the plastic surgery department said it would be six months before the patient has feeling in his new face .
-Xinhua says the man was attacked by a bear in Yunnan province two years ago and has since lived as a recluse because of his disfigurement .
-Earlier this year , surgeons in France performed the world 's first partial face transplant on a woman whose lips and nose were ripped off by a dog .
-The leader of Nepal 's Maoist insurgency says he thinks the king will ultimately be exiled or executed to make way for a republic in the world 's only Hindu monarchy .
-In a BBC television interview broadcast Monday , top Nepali communist leader Prachanda said King Gyanendra , who seized total power a year ago , had not left any room for compromise .
-The reclusive 52-year-old Prachanda has been living underground ( in hiding ) for more than two decades .
-Last year , he forged a loose alliance with the main political parties to topple the king and restore democracy .
-The Maoists have been fighting since 1996 to overthrow Nepal 's government and install communist rule , a war that has killed about 13,000 people and shattered the economy .
-Leaders in South Asia are expressing sadness at the death of Pope John Paul .
-Indian President Abdul Kalam said Sunday the world has lost a church leader and a statesman who tirelessly worked for peace .
-Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said the pope had brought people of different faiths closer .
-In Afghanistan , President Hamid Karzai said Pope John Paul was a man with concern for all human beings .
-Pope John Paul 's travels to South and Central Asia reflected his stated belief that spreading the Catholic faith and dialogue with other religions were not mutually exclusive but complimentary .
-During his long papacy , the pontiff took trips to Pakistan , Bangladesh , Kazakhstan and , twice , to India .
-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice leaves Sunday on a five-day trip to the Middle East .
-Rice is expected to meet with Saudi King Abdullah in Jeddah and hold talks with Egypt 's president Hosni Mubarak and foreign minister Aboul Gheit .
-Later , she will meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert .
-President Bush said he is sending Rice to the region to lead a diplomatic effort to engage moderate leaders , to help Palestinians reform their security services and to support the Israeli-Palestinian peace process .
-Ms. Rice last visited the region in July , during the 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon .
-Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi faces a political crisis as one key ally has demanded that he put his government to a confidence vote while another has raised the possibility of withdrawing from his coalition .
-Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini issued the call for a confidence vote next week as Mr. Berlusconi met with his coalition allies to discuss strategy after a crushing defeat in local elections last week .
-Mr. Fini heads the National Alliance , a junior partner in the ruling coalition .
-Officials of another junior partner , the Union of Christian Democrats , said its leaders are considering a withdrawal from the cabinet .
-Mr. Berlusconi is struggling to keep his government together , and is suggesting a cabinet reshuffle and review of the government 's program .
-Coalition parties went down to defeat in 11 of 13 regional elections .
-Previously , the coalition controlled eight of the regions .
-The Pakistani military says its troops killed 30 militants in the country 's northwest Saturday , in an operation that also killed six soldiers .
-Both ground forces and helicopters took part in the operation in the Orakzai tribal region near the Afghan border .
-Military officials say security forces captured six insurgents after the fighting and also took control of important heights around the Bezoti area , a militant stronghold in the region .
-Pakistan 's military launched an offensive in Orakzai in March to flush out Taliban insurgents who are believed to have fled an earlier military offensive in South Waziristan .
-The military says more than 100 militants have been killed in the Orakzai operation , but that figure can not be independently verified because access to the remote area is limited .
-Pakistan 's Supreme Court has declared unconstitutional a bill passed by a staunchly Islamic province to enforce Islamic values on society with the help of so-called religious police .
-The Supreme Court ordered the governor of North West Frontier Province not to sign the bill in its present form .
-The bill was passed by the provincial assembly where hardline religious parties are in a majority .
-But it must be approved by the provincial governor , who is appointed by Islamabad , before it can become law .
-The issue was referred to the Supreme Court by President Pervez Musharraf who has vowed to rid society of Muslim extremism .
-The court spent four days on the federal government 's challenge to the legislation .
-The nine-member bench ruled that many of the provisions in the bill violate the country 's 1973 constitution .
-Astronauts at the International Space Station have completed the second spacewalk of five , during the shuttle Endeavour 's 11-day mission at the station .
-Astronauts Dave Wolf and Tom Marshburn undertook a 6-hour , 53-minute spacewalk Monday to conduct maintenance work at the station .
-The walk coincided with the 40th anniversary of man 's landing on the moon .
-Wolf and astronaut Tim Kopra completed the first spacewalk of the mission during a 5.5-hour operation Saturday .
-They installed an external platform on the massive Japanese lab at the space station .
-The lab is known as Kibo , or " hope . "
-The platform will allow scientists to conduct experiments in the vacuum of space .
-With the shuttle crew 's visit , there are 13 astronauts aboard the space station , the most ever .
-Kopra is taking the place of Japan 's Koichi Wakata , who has been on the space station since March .
-Brazil and Argentina have announced they will build a pharmaceutical plant to produce AIDS drugs and other medications .
-Argentine officials made the announcement Wednesday in the Argentine capital , Buenos Aires , after a meeting there between the two countries ' health ministers .
-The $ 10-million drug plant is expected to be located on Argentine territory , but both nations will contribute to the project .
-The announcement came as Argentine President Nestor Kirchner met with his Brazilian counterpart , Luis Inacio Lula da Silva , in Brasilia .
-President Bush has again urged Congress to approve his plan for adding private investment accounts to the national retirement system known as Social Security .
-In Saturday 's weekly radio address , Mr. Bush repeated his warning that the system will soon run short of money because the amount collected in taxes is far less than the money needed to pay benefits .
-He stressed that if Congress does not act , the government could be forced to dramatically increase taxes , borrow money or reduce Social Security benefits .
-Under Mr. Bush 's plan , younger workers would be able to divert some of their Social Security taxes into private accounts that could be invested in stocks or bonds .
-Speaking for the opposition Democratic party , US Senator Charles Schumer , of New York said the federal retirement program only needs fine-tuning .
-He said Mr. Bush 's plan will not fix the system 's long-term financial problems .
-A new industry claims to let you peer into your medical future and see what diseases you are likely to get .
-The industry is at-home genetic testing .
-VOA 's Carol Pearson has more .
-Peru has withdrawn its ambassador to Japan , Luis Macchiavello and warned Tokyo against interfering in Lima 's effort to extradite former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori from Chile .
-After Peru announced the decision to recall its ambassador , the foreign ministry issued a statement saying such interference by Japan would be unacceptable .
-Japanese officials say they can not comment because they have yet to be officially informed of the decision .
-Earlier this week , Mr. Fujimori left Japan after five years in exile and flew to Chile with the intention of returning to Peru to run for president next year .
-He was arrested in Chile at Peru 's request .
-Mr. Fujimori fled to Japan in 2000 amid charges of corruption and human rights abuses stemming from his 10 years in office .
-Mr. Fujimori is recognized as a citizen in Japan , which refused to extradite him to Peru .
-A new United Nations report by some of the world 's top scientists says global warming is " very likely " man-made and that the world can expect higher temperatures , rising sea levels , and erratic weather .
-The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will formally release its report Friday in Paris , where experts from more than 100 nations have been meeting .
-The panel defines the term " very likely " as meaning there is a 90 percent chance that man-made pollutants are causing the Earth to warm up .
-A draft of the report forecasts global temperatures rising up to four degrees Celsius by the end of the century .
-Some scientists believe natural weather patterns may be causing climate change and say the future will not be as dire as some experts predict .
-A top international economic organization says Turkey is " at a crossroads " , noting that the country has done much to enhance its economic stability , but needs to do more .
-The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development presented the report Thursday during a visit to the French capital by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan .
-The report says Turkey had made efforts to improve governance , macroeconomic policy and investor confidence , following an economic crisis three years ago .
-However , the OECD report says the Ankara government should do more to enhance long-term economic growth by guaranteeing property rights and improving the justice system .
-It also says the large size of Turkey 's informal , or underground , economy remains a problem as it narrows the country 's tax base .
-French filmmaker Eric Rohmer , a founding director of the French " New Wave " movement , has died at the age of 89 .
-Rohmer died Monday in Paris .
-Relatives say he was hospitalized a week ago , but gave no further details about his condition .
-Rohmer 's films explored relationships and love affairs from a philosophical perspective .
-Rohmer achieved critical acclaim in the late 1960s and early 1970s with films such as My Night at Maud 's and Claire 's Knee .
-French President Nicholas Sarkozy said the filmmaker created the " Rohmer style " that will survive for years to come .
-British Prime Minister Tony Blair has met separately with Northern Ireland 's two rival political leaders , for the first time since the Irish Republican Army was declared disarmed .
-The head of the Protestant Democratic Unionist Party , Ian Paisley , Thursday gave Mr. Blair a 64-page document outlining measures needed for talks with the IRA to resume .
-They include an agreement for Britain to retain at least one battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment in Northern Ireland .
-Gerry Adams , who leads the IRA 's political wing , Sinn Fein , told Mr. Blair it is vital to restore power-sharing institutions in the British province .
-Meanwhile , Britain 's Assets Recovery Agency today said it raided 250 properties worth more than $ 50 million in an investigation focusing on the financing of IRA activities .
-Canadian General John de Chastelain , who oversaw IRA disarmament , said last week the group has scrapped all its weapons .
-Former U.S. President George W. Bush , in a rare public appearance , said Saturday the mission in Afghanistan is " necessary for peace and stability . "
-Speaking at a leadership conference in India 's capital , New Delhi , Mr. Bush warned that if the Taliban and al-Qaida take control of Afghanistan , the people there will " face a return to a brutal tyranny . "
-Mr. Bush ordered U.S. troops into Afghanistan in late 2001 , after the September 11 attacks on the United States .
-The invasion to fight militants quickly ousted the hardline Taliban government .
-The former president has made few public appearances since leaving office in January .
-top U.S official has called for unifying Bosnian government institutions that have remained divided on ethnic lines since the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement halted the conflict in the country .
-U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns told reporters in Sarajevo the Dayton agreement has served its purpose and the time has come to transform Bosnia-Herzegovina into a unitary state .
-He urged major constitutional reforms that would lead to creation of a single Bosnian presidency , a stronger government and an effective parliament .
-The Dayton Agreement left Bosnia with a collective presidency , made up of Croat , Muslim and Serb members and divided the country into a Serb Republic and Muslim-Croat Federation .
-Each has its own administration and parliament under a weak central government .
-Sarajevo is the first stop of Mr. Burns ' Balkan trip , which also will take him to Pristina and Belgrade .
-Armenia says it could take part in a commission with Turkey to study decades-old allegations of Turkish genocide against Armenians during World War I and other issues , but first calls for improved ties .
-Armenian President Robert Kocharian said the proposal would only work if the two countries improve bilateral relations .
-The neighbors share a border , but have no diplomatic ties .
-Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul earlier this month said Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made the offer in a letter to the Armenian president .
-Turkey has refused to establish diplomatic ties with Armenia because of Armenia 's campaign to gain international recognition of the World War One massacres as genocide .
-Armenia says 1.5 million of its nationals were slaughtered by the Turks during the final years of the Ottoman Empire 90 years ago .
-Turkey says 3,00,000 Armenians and thousands of Turks were killed during a Russia-backed Armenian uprising against Ottoman rule .
-Ukraine 's parliament has voted to dismiss the country 's foreign and interior ministers , dealing another blow to President Viktor Yushchenko .
-The resolution to fire Foreign Minister Borys Tarasyuk secured 247 votes in the 450-seat assembly Friday .
-Minutes later , 248 lawmakers voted to oust Interior Minister Yuri Lutsenko - who had barely survived a parliamentary attempt to dismiss him Thursday .
-Lawmakers then named economist Vasil Tsushko the new interior minister .
-Mr. Tarasyuk later called the vote illegitimate and said the question of his dismissal will be resolved by Ukraine 's Supreme Court .
-The two dismissed officials were some of Mr. Yushchenko 's staunchest supporters .
-The Ukrainian president is in a power struggle with Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych .
-Mr. Yushchenko won Ukraine 's 2004 presidential election after Ukraine 's Supreme Court threw out an earlier victory by Mr. Yanukovych because of what it said was massive fraud .
-Justin Timberlake has a message for U.S. celebrity journalists : drop dead .
-Speaking to Details Magazine , the 26-year-old entertainer says he despises tabloids for turning his personal life into gossip fodder .
-" They create soap operas out of people 's lives ... it 's a spin game , and I choose not to take part in it , " Timberlake said .
-He takes particular exception to speculation about his relationships with Britney Spears and Cameron Diaz .
-He and Britney ended their three-year relationship in 2002 .
-He and Diaz , who had dated since 2003 , confirmed their split in January .
-The lawyer for former Iraqi deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz says his client has refused to testify against Saddam Hussein at a future war crimes trial .
-The lawyer said he met Thursday for the first time with Mr. Aziz , who is in U.S. custody somewhere near Baghdad .
-He said his client appeared in good health and spirits , despite 20 months of confinement .
-During their four-hour meeting Mr. Aziz also reportedly denied any wrongdoing in the United Nations-run oil-for-food program , which allowed Iraq to sell oil to buy food and medicine for its people .
-Tariq Aziz and 11 of Saddam 's other top lieutenants face charges including crimes against Iraq 's Kurdish and Shi'ite communities .
-The presidents of Russia and Ukraine are expected to meet next week in the wake of a dispute between their countries over the price Kiev pays Moscow for natural gas .
-A Kremlin spokesman says Russian President Vladimir Putin will confer with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko January 11 in Kazakhstan on the sidelines of the inauguration of President Nursultan Nazarbayev .
-Russian news reports say Mr. Putin and Mr. Yushchenko also exchanged Orthodox Christmas greetings by telephone late Friday .
-Russia 's state-run natural gas company , Gazprom , cut off exports to Ukraine Sunday after Kiev refused a contract that increased the price by 400 percent .
-On Wednesday , the two sides agreed Ukraine will pay nearly double the price for natural gas it paid in 2005 .
-The United States on Thursday announced $ 190 million in aid for victims of last year 's devastating floods in Pakistan .
-The pledge was made by the acting U.S. special representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan , Frank Ruggiero , who said it fulfills a promise made by his predecessor Richard Holbrooke , who died suddenly in December .
-Speaking to reporters in Islamabad alongside Pakistan 's Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh , Ruggiero said the money will be put into a cash compensation fund for the estimated 1.6 million families worst-hit by the floods .
-Ruggiero also signed an agreement to provide Pakistan with $ 66 million to help complete two dam projects .
-Last year 's floods , which were caused by unusually heavy monsoon rains , affected 21 million people and are considered to be Pakistan 's worst natural disaster .
-At least 10,000 people , including current and former lawmakers , have rallied in Tokyo to protest proposals that would allow a woman to assume the imperial throne .
-Speakers at Tuesday 's rally said efforts to alter the royal line threaten the nation 's most sacred traditions .
-Japan has the world 's oldest continuous monarchy .
-The imperial family has not produced a male heir since 1965 , prompting Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to propose a bill recommending that the emperor 's first-born child - regardless of sex - ascend to the Chrysanthemum throne .
-The proposal was put on hold after an announcement last month that the wife of the second son of Emperor Akihito is pregnant with her third child .
-A recent poll indicated a wide majority of Japanese favor allowing a woman to inherit the imperial throne .
-Russian media say the country 's Strategic Missile Forces have successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile .
-The media quote Colonel Alexander Vovk , a spokesman for the missile forces , as saying the RS-12M Topol ballistic missile was launched Saturday evening from Kapustin Yar firing range in southern Russia .
-The spokesman said the aim of the test was to confirm the stability of this class of missile .
-The launch comes amid U.S. plans for a missile defense system based in Europe which Russian President Vladimir Putin says will destabilize the region and lead to a new arms race .
-The United States wants to deploy 10 missile interceptors in Poland and guidance radar in the Czech Republic , to counter what it says are threats from such nations as Iran and North Korea .
-The new speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives has met in Islamabad with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf .
-Nancy Pelosi 's talks with General Musharraf focused on the war on terrorism and the situation in Afghanistan .
-Pelosi 's visit to Islamabad comes as U.S. lawmakers consider a bill to link military aid to Pakistan 's commitment to fighting Islamic extremists and Taleban militants .
-Pelosi and her congressional delegation are expected to visit Afghanistan Sunday .
-The U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan , Ronald Neumann said Saturday that Afghan and coalition forces have the means to successfully fight the Taleban this year .
-Earlier this week , NATO officials said the U.S. would extend the tour of 3,000 troops in Afghanistan by four months to help fight resurgent Taleban fighters .
-Pope Benedict XVI has told Venezuela 's President Hugo Chavez that he is concerned about religious reforms in the largely Catholic nation .
-The pontiff and Mr. Chavez met at the Vatican Thursday .
-A Vatican spokesman says Pope Benedict was worried about a proposal to ban teaching religion in Venezuelan schools .
-He said the pope expressed his hope that Santa Rosa Catholic University can maintain its religious identity .
-The pontiff also asked that the nation 's health programs " respect life , " an apparent reference to abortion , which the church opposes .
-The Venezuelan leader assured the pope of his commitment to " overcome every tension in respecting the legitimate rights of all . "
-Mr. Chavez often quotes from the bible during speeches .
-But he has clashed with the Catholic leadership in Venezuela , referring to it as a " cancer . "
-The hurricane-damaged city of New Orleans is celebrating the final weekend of its famous Mardi Gras festival .
-Thousands of people gathered to see decorated vehicles , called floats , parade through the city 's streets Saturday and catch strings of beads thrown from the floats and nearby buildings .
-More parades were scheduled Sunday .
-Some of the city 's social clubs had rescheduled their activities because of rain .
-The Mardi Gras festival often draws more than one million visitors to the city , but fewer were expected this year because of flooding and other damage caused by Hurricane Katrina in August .
-City officials agreed to carry on with the annual tradition , in part to attract tourists and help rebuild the city 's economy .
-The celebrations culminate February 28 , on what is known as " Fat Tuesday , " the last day before the Christian Lenten season of fasting begins .
-Residents of flood-stricken California are bracing for more rain Monday .
-Earlier rains and winds pushed rivers out of their banks in northern California and killed at least one person .
-While the western state of California is being hit by too much rain , the southwest of the United States has been hit by wildfires driven by high winds and hot dry weather .
-Authorities ordered residents of a section of Oklahoma City to evacuate Sunday .
-In some cases , people had just minutes to packs and flee their homes .
-A number of houses burned to the ground .
-Fires have burned tens of thousands of hectares of grassland in New Mexico , Oklahoma , and Texas since last week .
-Mexican authorities say federal riot police will stay in the town of Oaxaca until order is restored .
-Police took control of the city Sunday , ending five months of sometimes violent protests by striking teachers and other groups who took over streets and buildings and called for the resignation of the state governor .
-Witnesses say at least one person was killed as police broke through street barricades and turned water cannons on demostrators .
-President Vicente Fox ordered federal action after a U.S. activist-journalist and two Mexican men , one of them a teacher , were shot and killed Friday near the site of the protests .
-Leaders of the teachers union said Monday they plan further marches .
-They had earlier agreed to go back to work , but it is unclear if classes have resumed for the more than a million public school students in Oaxaca state .
-Canada 's Food Inspection Agency - which confirmed the results Sunday - had suspected last week the cow was infected with the disease based on preliminary testing .
-The agency said at the time that human food and animal feed supplies were not affected .
-The confirmation comes just days after the United States announced plans to reopen its border in March to nearly all Canadian beef and live cattle .
-U.S. officials banned the import of Canadian cattle in May , 2003 , after Canada found its first case of the disease .
-Mad cow disease attacks the central nervous system of cattle and can be harmful to humans if tainted meat is consumed .
-Russia has added more world champions to compete at next month 's European figure skating championships .
-Irina Slutskaya , Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin were named Thursday to skate alongside men 's star Evgeny Plushenko , the 2002 Olympic silver medalist .
-The three skaters are likely to be the same the Russian figure skating federation sends to the Turin Olympics .
-The exception will be in the men 's category where Russia will be allowed only two entrants .
-The women 's entries include world champion and 2002 Olympics silver medalist Slutskaya , Elena Sokolova and Viktoria Volchkova .
-World champions Totmianina and Marinin were also selected despite withdrawing from the Russian national competition .
-Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov , Russia 's world champion ice dancers , head the list for that event .
-Palestinian lawmakers say Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia has agreed to change his proposed cabinet to include more reform-minded ministers .
-Several legislators from the dominant Fatah faction had threatened Monday to vote down the original cabinet list , saying it had too many ministers associated with corruption .
-They say Mr. Qureia is expected to soon present a revised cabinet that includes more technocrats and reformers .
-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is also facing a challenge from Israeli lawmakers who have reservations about the plan to remove Israeli settlers from Gaza .
-Some 26 of the right-wing Likud party 's 40 parliament ( Knesset ) members have signed a petition calling for a referendum on the Gaza pullout .
-This year , the price of oil has soared , in recent weeks reaching a new high of $ 135 a barrel .
-This has sparked protests in many countries , including Britain , where truck drivers recently blocked roads in several cities to protest the price of fuel .
-For some , the high cost of fuel has prompted more creativity .
-A growing number of motorists are making their own bio-diesel with recycled cooking oil .
-It 's only cheaper , but greener too .
-Catherine Drew visited a course near Oxford , England to see how it is done .
-South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and his Mexican counterpart , Vicente Fox , met in Mexico City Friday for talks covering economic cooperation .
-President Roh is eager for Mexico to eliminate legal restrictions that prevent South Korean construction firms from bidding on large public works projects .
-President Fox wants to equalize the trade flow with South Korea and for Seoul to further open its markets to Mexican farm products .
-Currently , Korean exports dominate the exchange , valued at approximately $ 5.4 billion annually .
-South Korea is Mexico 's sixth-largest trading partner .
-The two leaders also signed a variety of small accords covering such topics as customs procedures and unfair trade practices at the National Palace in Mexico City .
-President Roh leaves for Costa Rica on Sunday .
-A Georgian policeman has been shot and killed near the breakaway province of Abkhazia .
-Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said the policeman was shot and killed Saturday when shots were fired from the direction of a nearby Abkhaz-controlled checkpoint .
-The incident occurred on the same day that Russian forces left key positions in western Georgia as part of a deal brokered by France .
-Georgian authorities confirmed that Russian troops have left posts around the Black Sea port of Poti .
-Russian forces pushed into neighboring Georgia last month after the Georgian military tried to retake control of the breakaway region of South Ossetia .
-Russia has recognized both South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states .
-Although the Russians have withdrawn from several positions in Georgia , they continue to maintain a security zone around the separatist region .
-Jane Fonda reportedly scolded her co-star Lindsay Lohan about her antics on the set of their film Georgia Rules .
-The veteran star is said to have sent Lohan a note taking her to task for widely-publicized bad behavior .
-Fonda 's publicist denies reports that Lindsay Lohan is not welcome at the film 's May 7 premiere .
-Held in Atlanta , Georgia , it will benefit the non-profit organization G-CAPP , which Jane Fonda co-chairs .
-At least seven coal miners were reported killed and 19 were missing after an explosion at a mine in the eastern U.S. state of West Virginia .
-State mine safety director Ron Wooten says the blast happened Monday afternoon at Massey Energy 's Upper Big Branch South Mine mine in Raleigh County , about 50 kilometers from Charleston , the state capital .
-Rescue efforts are under way and state Governor Joe Manchin , who was away on a personal trip , is returning home .
-Massey Energy told the Charleston Gazette there is little information yet on what happened .
-West Virginia is the state where 12 miners died after an explosion in the Sago coal mine in January 2006 .
-That accident trapped 13 men underground for two days .
-One miner survived , while the rest died of carbon monoxide poisoning .
-The World Health Organization has reported another bird flu death in Indonesia , confirming Monday that a five-year-old boy who died last month was infected with the virus .
-Officials said the victim died June 16 in East Java province .
-He was believed to have come into contact with infected chickens .
-Scientists have diagnosed more than 120 bird flu fatalities since late 2003 .
-Most of them have been in Asia .
-Scientists worry that human-to-human transmission of the virus could spark a global pandemic .
-In late June , the WHO said it believed one Indonesian family became infected through such human-to-human transmission .
-But health officials say that the specific H5N1 virus strain that killed seven of eight family members died out with its last victim .
-European Union and Mediterranean officials at a summit in Barcelona , Spain , have reached a last-minute agreement on a code of conduct in the war against terrorism .
-At an often fractious conference that ended Monday , diplomats worked into the night Sunday trying to agree on how to define terrorism .
-Some Arab delegates wanted to distinguish between terrorism and what they call " resistance movements , " but European officials insisted that the code reflect that terrorism is never justified .
-First reports indicated that a compromise was worked out .
-The summit marked the 10th anniversary of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership , which includes all 25 EU states , Israel , the Palestinian Authority and eight mostly Arab Mediterranean countries .
-But only the Mediterranean leaders from Turkey and the Palestinian Authority attending the Barcelona summit .
-Others were absent for various reasons .
-Britain 's Prince Charles and his new wife , Camilla , have visited the site of the 09-Nov terrorist attacks in New York City , as they begin a weeklong trip to the United States .
-After visiting the World Trade Center site Tuesday , the couple traveled to a nearby memorial garden to unveil a stone marker for British victims of the terrorist attacks .
-Television reports say few onlookers turned out for a glimpse of the Prince of Wales and his longtime companion , the Duchess of Cornwall , whom he married earlier this year .
-Prince Charles also met with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the United Nations .
-On Wednesday , Prince Charles and Camilla travel to Washington to visit President and Mrs. Bush at the White House .
-Friday , the royal couple will visit New Orleans to meet with victims of Hurricane Katrina , which devastated the Gulf Coast in August .
-Estonian President Arnold Ruutel has formally approved the country 's new government , three weeks after the previous ruling coalition collapsed .
-The president 's action followed a parliamentary vote confirming Andrus Ansip and his coalition government .
-The 48-year-old Mr. Ansip was the minister of economics and communications minister in the previous government .
-The new coalition brings together Mr. Ansip 's Reform Party , the Centre Party and the People 's Union .
-Estonia 's previous prime minister , Juhan Parts , resigned last month after lawmakers voted no-confidence in his justice minister .
-Tickets have gone on sale for the International Football Federation 's all-star match to raise money for the victims of last month 's devastating Indian Ocean tsunami .
-Tickets for the so-called " Football for Hope " match February 15 in Barcelona will cost between $ 13 - $ 38 .
-All proceeds will be donated to the Tsunami Solidarity Fund set up by FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation .
-FIFA player of the Year Ronaldinho of Brazil and European player of the year Andriy Shevchenko of Ukraine will captain the two teams .
-Other stars slated to appear include Brazil 's Ronaldo , David Beckham of England and Frenchman Zinedine Zidane .
-The Israeli cabinet has postponed a vote to open a key border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt .
-Israeli radio linked the delay to a disagreement over the role of European security monitors at the Rafah crossing .
-Last week , the Israeli security cabinet voted to reopen the crossing under Egyptian and Palestinian control , with Europeans monitoring the flow of people .
-But the radio report says the European Union is balking at Israel 's demand that its monitors arrest anyone suspected of arms smuggling .
-Israeli forces left the Gaza Strip in September after a 38-year occupation , but they still control the borders of the Palestinian territory .
-European delegates and Israeli negotiators met Sunday in Jerusalem in a push to resolve the dispute .
-The Europeans are to meet with Palestinians later in the day and Monday in Ramallah and Gaza City .
-A strong earthquake has hit southern Iran .
-Officials expect some damage , but there are no reports of casualties .
-Iranian officials say the magnitude six quake was centered in a lightly-populated rural area north of Bandar Abbas , a major port on the Persian Gulf .
-Iran 's state-run news agency reported at least two aftershocks , the strongest measuring 4.8 magnitude .
-Last November , a quake of 5.9 magnitude struck Qeshm island , south of Bandar Abbas , killing nine people and injuring scores of others .
-Shuttle astronauts are more than half way through a record sixteen day construction mission to the International Space Station .
-Endeavor is docked for the International Space Station , where it will remain until next Wednesday when unhitches for the return to earth .
-VOA 's Paul Sisco has today 's mission update .
-Ukraine 's defense ministry says it will begin a three-stage withdrawal of its troops from Iraq next week .
-The Interfax news agency reports Saturday that 150 of Ukraine 's more than 1600 soldiers will leave Iraq on Tuesday .
-A full withdrawal should be complete by October .
-Meanwhile , Bulgaria says U.S. forces have admitted responsibility for the " friendly-fire " death of a Bulgarian soldier in southern Iraq a week ago .
-The Bulgarian defense ministry said the U.S. military said the shooting was " unintentional , " but that U.S. troops failed to carefully identify the target and opened fire without warning shots .
-There was no immediate confirmation from the U.S. military .
-In a separate incident , the U.S. military says it is investigating whether six American soldiers mistreated two Iraqi detainees they were transporting to a detention facility last month .
-Both detainees sustained minor injuries .
-Top officials of the U.S. central bank held a key interest rate steady at two percent Tuesday .
-Some economists had been expecting the U.S. Federal Reserve to cut interest rates in an effort to ease the current financial crisis by making it easier for businesses and consumers to borrow money .
-In a statement explaining their decision , Fed officials said they were not changing rates in part because the danger of inflation is still high .
-The statement did say that strains in the financial markets have increased " significantly " and labor markets are weakening .
-The Fed often lowers interest rates in an effort to stimulate the economy , and raises them to fight inflation .
-China 's foreign ministry has denied reports that Chinese banks loaned six billion dollars to a Russian bank to buy the main oil production unit of the Yukos energy company .
-Russia 's finance minister said Wednesday that Chinese funds helped a Russian bank and the Roseneft state-owned oil firm buy ex-Yukos unit Yuganskneftegaz .
-But after his comments , Roseneft and the finance ministry said the Chinese funds were used to buy oil , not to buy Yugansk .
-The Chinese foreign ministry Thursday confirmed that it did not provide any loans for the Yugansk deal , but it did not say if the funds were used to purchase oil .
-The Yugansk company was sold last December to a mysterious buyer in a $ 9 billion deal that President Vladimir Putin 's economic advisor called " the fraud of the year . "
-Yukos has challenged the sale in U.S. courts .
-Reports from Somalia say two people were killed and six others wounded when a bomb exploded in the capital , Mogadishu in what officials believe may have been an attempt to attack an African Union delegation .
-Witnesses say the blast went off early Thursday on a road near where the AU delegation was scheduled to pass .
-The officials say the explosive device had been attached to a motorcycle which had been parked by the side of the road .
-The AU team has been in Somalia to asses security for a regional peacekeeping force .
-Somalia 's new government had asked for AU peacekeepers to defend officials as they begin moving home from their current base in Kenya later this month .
-The campaign of Barack Obama says the Democratic presidential hopeful is about to choose a running mate and wants his supporters to be the first to know .
-Campaign manager David Plouffe has notified backers that they can sign up to receive an e-mail or text message " the moment " the decision is made .
-The Obama campaign has used technology , especially the Internet , to build an on-line community of two million volunteers and to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign funds .
-Obama is vacationing in the U.S. Pacific state of Hawaii , two weeks ahead of the Democratic National Convention , where he and his vice presidential running mate will be formally nominated .
-Republican presidential candidate John McCain campaigns Tuesday in Pennsylvania and New Jersey .
-The veteran Arizona lawmaker is to be nominated as his party 's candidate in the first week of September at the Republican National Convention .
-The head of Iran 's nuclear negotiators has warned that the country 's incoming president may reverse an agreement to freeze uranium enrichment activities .
-Hassan Rohani told an Iranian daily he believes elected President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will remain committed to nuclear talks with the European Union .
-But he says the new president has a different view on the enrichment freeze , and may implement a change in a new round of talks with EU diplomats next month .
-Tuesday , Mr. Ahmadinejad vowed " new measures " in nuclear talks when he takes over Iran 's government on August 3 .
-EU officials have been offering economic incentives if Iran agrees to end uranium enrichment , amid fears the Islamic Republic may develop a nuclear weapon .
-Tehran insists its program is for peaceful ends .
-Sri Lankan government negotiators and Tamil Tiger rebels have agreed to resume their cease-fire talks in April and to restrain the level of violence between them .
-Norwegian mediator Erik Solheim said the agreement came during two days of talks in Geneva that ended Thursday .
-Earlier , Solheim had played down expectations of a breakthrough , saying confidence was low .
-Sri Lanka wants to make some changes to a 2002 ceasefire accord signed by the rebels .
-But the Tamil rebels say they will only discuss implementing the existing ceasefire deal .
-Both sides blame the other for a surge in violence in December and January that killed at least 150 people .
-In the latest incident , Sri Lanka 's military accuses Tamil rebels of killing a Muslim man in the east of the country on Wednesday .
-Recep Tayyip Erdogan
-Turkey 's prime minister says his country will not agree to new conditions for European Union membership .
-In comments Sunday , Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey was in no position to renegotiate so close to the start of EU accession talks , which are scheduled to begin this October .
-Mr. Erdogan said that would not be " honest politics . "
-Last week EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the bloc should have an open debate on Turkey 's candidacy .
-But British Prime Minister Tony Blair warned against shutting the EU to new members like Turkey , remarks welcomed by Mr. Erdogan .
-Opposition to the largely Muslim nation 's membership in the European bloc contributed to the defeat of the EU constitution in recent referenda in France and the Netherlands .
-The U.S. military says four American soldiers have died in separate attacks in Baghdad .
-Three of the soldiers were killed Monday in east Baghdad , where U.S. and Iraqi troops have waged intense battles with Shi'ite militiamen .
-The fourth soldier was killed by indirect fire during a separate incident in western Baghdad .
-Earlier , the U.S. military reported it had killed seven militants in Baghdad 's Sadr City district .
-The casualties came during a combined air and ground assault launched in response to small arms fire directed at U.S. troops .
-On Sunday , Iraqi and American troops killed 38 suspected militants in Baghdad , in the fiercest fighting in weeks .
-Officials said gunmen took advantage of a sandstorm that blanketed the Iraqi capital to launch apparently coordinated assaults .
-The sandstorm grounded American helicopters , the main weapon used by U.S. forces to hunt insurgent rocket-launching crews .
-Car bombs killed at least 24 people in Iraq Sunday and police found the bullet-riddled bodies of 42 men in Baghdad .
-In the deadliest blast , at least 15 people were killed in the southern Shi'ite holy city of Karbala .
-In Baghdad , a car bomb near an army patrol in a Sunni neighborhood ( Adhamiyah ) killed eight people and wounded 15 .
-At nearly the same time , another blast ( in the Waziriyah neighborhood ) killed one person .
-And a U.S. Marine died from wounds sustained during an operation in al-Anbar province .
-To the north , Kurdistan 's parliament formally unified the autonomous region 's two local governments .
-In southern Iraq , Basra was reported calm and an overnight curfew was lifted after Saturday 's clash between Shi'ite gunmen and British troops who were trying to recover a downed British military helicopter .
-The number of Indonesian children infected with the crippling polio virus has risen to 155 , with the discovery of 33 new cases in the last two weeks .
-The World Health Organization says the new infections were found in areas on western Java island , where the disease originally broke out earlier this year .
-The polio outbreak - Indonesia 's first in 10 years - has prompted authorities to vaccinate 6.5 million children .
-Another 24 million will be immunized in new rounds of a vaccination campaign on August 30 and September 27 .
-Polio is usually spread through polluted water .
-It affects the nervous system , causing paralysis , muscular atrophy and death .
-Police have arrested four more suspects in connection with July 's train bombings in Mumbai ( formerly known as Bombay ) that killed nearly 200 people and wounded more than 800 others .
-Authorities identified the men as Mohammed Shafi , Shaikh Mohammed , Mohammed Majid and Abdul Vahiuddin .
-Police arrested three of the suspects in Mumbai and the fourth in the eastern city of Calcutta .
-This raises the total number of arrests in the case to more than 15 people .
-Indian officials say they suspect the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba militant group was behind the attacks .
-The group , which is fighting Indian rule in Kashmir , has denied involvement .
-The explosions on packed commuter trains in Mumbai prompted police raids on the city 's Muslim ghettos and the questioning of hundreds of people across the country .
-The head of the Organization of the Islamic Conference has rejected calls by a Pakistani cleric for the murder of Danish cartoonists who drew depictions of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad .
-Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said in Pakistan Tuesday that the death treats and violent reaction against the cartoons are un-Islamic .
-Meanwhile , a United Nations spokesman says Secretary-General Kofi Annan has made a last-minute decision to visit the Middle East to try to calm Muslim anger .
-Mr. Annan will speak at a previously-scheduled U.N.-sponsored meeting in Qatar Sunday on how to bring civilizations closer together .
-The 12 cartoons first appeared in a Danish newspaper in September and have been reprinted in other European newspapers .
-One of the cartoons depicts Muhammad as a terrorist .
-Islam forbids any depictions of the prophet .
-The U.S. ambassador to Venezuela says the United States could suspend flights by Venezuelan airlines if Caracas carries out a threat to ban or restrict U.S. carriers flying to the South American nation .
-Ambassador William Brownfield made the remark Tuesday , saying that under that situation , neither Venezuela nor the United States wins .
-Last month , the Venezuelan government said it would cut the number of airline flights by U.S. carriers , saying the U.S. has not complied with bilateral aviation accords between the two countries .
-The U.S. put restrictions on flights from Venezuela 10 years ago because of security concerns .
-Caracas has been trying , unsuccessfully , to get those restrictions removed and threatens to limit U.S. flights as of March 30 .
-The Venezuelan ban would put an end to flights between the two countries by Continental Airlines and Delta Air Lines and restrict some by American Airlines .
-A prominent politician and a candidate in Kyrgyzstan 's upcoming presidential election has survived an attempt on his life .
-Wearing a bandage over his nose , Bayaman Erkinbayev told parliamentarians he was shot and wounded in the face in an assassination attempt late Thursday .
-He said the shots were fired by assailants from a car in the capital , Bishkek .
-Mr. Erkinbayev said he believed that his candidacy was the reason for the attack , but a Kyrgyz police official said the shooting may not have been politically motivated .
-A wealthy businessman from southern Kyrgyzstan , Mr. Erkinbayev and his supporters were the catalyst behind mass popular protests which forced former President Askar Akayev from office on March 24 .
-Bishkek mayor and former security chief Felix Kulov and interim President Kurmanbek Bakiyev are considered the front-runners in the July presidential elections .
-The death toll from five days of fighting in Somalia rose to more than 120 on Thursday , as the United Nations said weapons are flowing into the country despite an arms embargo .
-Islamic militias and an alliance of warlords have been fighting for control of parts of Mogadishu , mainly in the northern Sii-Sii neighborhood since Sunday .
-Witnesses say most of the casualties have been civilians caught in the crossfire .
-Meanwhile , the United Nations says it is investigating claims that an unnamed country is funneling weapons into Somalia in violation of an international embargo .
-Somalia has suffered 15 years of sporadic violence since the ouster of former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 .
-A California man has filed a lawsuit against Sean " Diddy " Combs , claiming the rap mogul punched and pushed him and his girlfriend in a Hollywood nightclub .
-Gerard Rechnitzer claims he and his girlfriend encountered Combs in Hollywood 's Roosevelt Hotel on February 25 .
-The lawsuit states Combs was speaking to Rechnitzer 's girlfriend .
-As Rechnitzer approached , Combs yelled at him and pushed him into a parked car .
-The March 2 lawsuit asks for unspecified damages .
-An attorney for Combs called the suit " completely baseless . "
-Sri Lanka 's international financial backers have met with the country 's president to try to salvage the 2002 ceasefire between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels .
-Envoys from the United States , European Union , Norway and Japan met with President Mahinda Rajapakse Monday in Colombo to express their concern over the escalating violence that has claimed hundreds of lives this year .
-The diplomats discussed the need for an immediate halt to the bloodshed .
-They also discussed the humanitarian crisis in the northern Jaffna peninsula , which is cut off from the rest of the country following battles between the two sides .
-Meanwhile , the foreign ceasefire monitoring mission says it is temporarily retreating to Colombo because neither the government nor the rebels are allowing its monitors access to the battlefield in northern Jaffna peninsula .
-A new public opinion poll finds President Bush 's approval rating sinking to an all-time low .
-Only 39 percent of those surveyed in the Washington Post-ABC News poll said they approve of the president 's overall job performance .
-That figure is down from 42 percent in the Post-ABC poll last month , and down from 52 percent the week of Mr. Bush 's second inauguration in January .
-The poll of 600 Americans was taken Friday and Saturday , after former top White House aide Lewis Libby was indicted on criminal charges related to the probe into who leaked the identity of a secret CIA operative .
-The poll found that 55 percent of Americans believe the Libby case indicates broader ethical problems in the White House .
-Forty-one percent said the case was an " isolated incident . "
-The survey has a four-point margin of error .
-Pakistani security officials say some 150 militants stormed five checkpoints in northwest Pakistan Friday in a coordinated attack that left 11 soldiers and 24 militants dead .
-The clashes took place overnight in the Mohmand tribal region near the Afghan border .
-A Taliban spokesman disputed the casualty figures , claiming the militants killed about 12 soldiers .
-U.S. officials say the region has become a base for Taliban and al-Qaida militants responsible for deadly attacks against coalition forces in Afghanistan .
-A recent review of the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan called for greater cooperation with Pakistan , to deny safe havens to terrorists who operate in the border regions .
-In the southwestern city of Quetta Friday , a bomb planted on a bicycle exploded killing a police officer and wounding several others .
-Officials say the bomb was detonated by remote control as a police vehicle passed by .
-Independent Senator and former Democratic vice-presidential nominee Joseph Lieberman is endorsing Republican Senator John McCain 's presidential bid .
-Lieberman said his support for the Arizona Senator is based on McCain 's military career and legislative experience and their common view of U.S. foreign policy .
-Both men backed the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 and have supported the war ever since .
-Lieberman was former Vice President Al Gore 's running mate in the 2000 presidential election .
-In the years since , the Connecticut senator distanced himself from the Democratic Party over the war in Iraq and became an independent , frequently voting with Republicans on foreign policy and national security issues .
-The U.S. presidential campaign primary season is entering its final stage in the coming weeks , when voters in the states of Iowa and New Hampshire vote in early January for the candidates who will represent the Democratic and Republican parties in the November 2008 election .
-Tropical depression Gamma is expected to dissipate Monday after battering the coasts of Honduras and Belize , killing at least 14 people .
-In the storm 's wake , U.S. military helicopters have joined Honduran aircraft in flying aid to survivors along the Caribbean coast who have been cut off by flooding and mudslides .
-At least 11 people in Honduras have died and 13 others are missing .
-The bad weather is also blamed for a plane crash that killed the pilot and two passengers in Belize .
-The plane was heading towards a resort lodge owned by U.S. filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola .
-The U.S. National Hurricane Center says the center of Gamma is about 135 kilometers northeast of Limon , Honduras , carrying maximum sustained winds of 55 kilometers an hour .
-Gamma is the 24th named storm of this year 's record-breaking Atlantic hurricane season .
-Members of the party of Liberian presidential candidate George Weah have threatened to boycott parliament to protest alleged fraud in last week 's presidential run-off .
-The lawmakers-elect from the Congress for Democratic Change issued a statement Monday vowing not to take their 18 legislative seats if Mr. Weah 's complaints of fraud are not addressed .
-They won their seats in Liberia 's first post-war general elections last month .
-The National Election Commission says it will hear Mr. Weah 's complaints starting on Tuesday .
-Hundreds of Mr. Weah 's supporters marched peacefully through the capital , Monrovia , Monday .
-Former Liberian Finance Minister Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf won about 60 percent of the vote , to 40 percent for Mr. Weah , a former soccer ( football ) star .
-International observers say there is no evidence of widespread fraud .
-And leaders from several African countries praised the run-off as peaceful , transparent , free and fair .
-Authorities in Kenya have filed charges against 150 people arrested in an ongoing crackdown against a militia in the western Mount Elgon region .
-Judicial sources said Tuesday that the suspects appeared before a court in Sirisia on Sunday and were charged with promoting " war-like activities . "
-Most of the suspects are said to be under 30 years of age and are accused of supporting the Sabaot Land Defense Force , a militia that has been fighting the government over land disputes .
-The government blames the militia for the deaths of more than 500 people over the past two years .
-Security forces backed by helicopters began attacking targets in Mount Elgon last week .
-At least eight people have been killed in the fighting .
-Local officials have criticized the operation as being too heavy-handed .
-The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency says Iran is insisting that some of its uranium enrichment centrifuges be exempt from a freeze of its nuclear program .
-Mohamed ElBaradei told reporters in Vienna Thursday , that he would report to the IAEA board that Iran has frozen most of its uranium enrichment activity , except for 20 centrifuges .
-Iran 's new request is partial reversal of a recent agreement with the European Union to suspend all enrichment activity .
-The IAEA chief says said he hopes the dispute will soon be resolved .
-The IAEA board is meeting to decide whether to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions over its nuclear program .
-The United States says Iran is secretly developing nuclear weapons - a charge Iran denies .
-Palestinian officials say Israeli troops have killed at least seven Palestinians and wounded 20 other people in the Gaza Strip .
-Security officials say the violence erupted early Monday in the town of Beit Hanoun , in northern Gaza .
-Witnesses say the Israelis appeared to be looking for a member of the militant Popular Resistance Committees .
-The Israeli army said troops opened fire on Palestinian militants in the area attempting to launch rockets at southern Israel .
-In other news , the leader of a hard-line Israeli party says he has decided to join the government of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert .
-Avigdor Lieberman , head of the Yisrael Beitenu party , said he agreed to join the goverment , giving it 78 seats in the 120-member parliament .
-Tajikistan and the United Nations are appealing for $ 5.3 million in international aid following deadly floods and mudslides that killed at least 40 people .
-The U.N. Resident Coordinator in Tajikistan , Michael Jones , launched the appeal Wednesday to provide relief to the thousands affected by the May 7 flash floods in the town of Kulyab and surrounding districts .
-The floods , and resulting mudslides , displaced 4,500 people and destroyed homes , schools and roads .
-At least 33 people remain missing .
-Jones said Tajikistan was counting on the international community 's help to support those displaced and the affected communities .
-The U.N. appeal includes projects aimed at providing food and basic social services to those living in tents .
-The plan also intends to restore drinking water and sanitation in Kulyab and surrounding areas .
-The mountainous country is impacted by mudslides every year as snow begins to thaw in the spring .
-The U.S. unemployment rate increased to a four-year high in July .
-A Labor Department report issued Friday shows 5.7 percent of the U.S. workforce is unemployed , a slight increase from June .
-Meanwhile the number of jobs fell by 51,000 , marking the seventh straight month of losses .
-White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said the administration is " displeased " with the report .
-But she said the economy remains resilient .
-The manufacturing and construction industries cut the most jobs .
-The two sectors have been hit hard by a housing slump and credit crisis .
-Analysts say job cuts , combined with high energy costs , could impact consumer spending , which drives about two-thirds of the total economy .
-A roadside explosion in southern Afghanistan has ripped through a coalition convoy , killing one Romanian soldier and wounding another .
-It was not immediately clear if the explosion was from a recently planted device , or the vehicle ran over ordinance from a past conflict .
-Earlier reports indicated the blast late Sunday near the city of Kandahar killed an Afghan soldier .
-But the U.S. military later confirmed the explosion hit a vehicle with Romanian soldiers inside .
-In a separate incident Sunday , in the capital , Kabul , a car bomb exploded on a road near a crowded residential area , causing material damage but no injuries .
-Interior Ministry spokesman , Lutfullah Mashal , told reporters at the scene , the explosion was the work of the enemies of peace and stability .
-The inhabitants have traditionally earned their livelihood by fishing and by servicing fishing fleets operating off the coast of Newfoundland .
-The economy has been declining , however , because of disputes with Canada over fishing quotas and a steady decline in the number of ships stopping at Saint Pierre .
-In 1992 , an arbitration panel awarded the islands an exclusive economic zone of 12,348 sq km to settle a longstanding territorial dispute with Canada , although it represents only 25 % of what France had sought .
-France heavily subsidizes the islands to the great betterment of living standards .
-The government hopes an expansion of tourism will boost economic prospects .
-Fish farming , crab fishing , and agriculture are being developed to diversify the local economy .
-Recent test drilling for oil may pave the way for development of the energy sector .
-One of the poorest countries in the world , Guinea-Bissau 's legal economy depends mainly on farming and fishing , but trafficking narcotics is probably the most lucrative trade .
-Cashew crops have increased remarkably in recent years .
-Guinea-Bissau exports fish and seafood along with small amounts of peanuts , palm kernels , and timber .
-Rice is the major crop and staple food .
-However , intermittent fighting between Senegalese-backed government troops and a military junta destroyed much of the country 's infrastructure and caused widespread damage to the economy in 1998 ; the civil war led to a 28 % drop in GDP that year , with partial recovery in 1999 - 2002 .
-In December 2003 , the World Bank , IMF , and UNDP were forced to step in to provide emergency budgetary support in the amount of $ 107 million for 2004 , representing over 80 % of the total national budget .
-The combination of limited economic prospects , a weak and faction-ridden government , and favorable geography have made this West African country a way station for drugs bound for Europe .
-Present day Benin was the site of Dahomey , a prominent West African kingdom that rose in the 15th century .
-The territory became a French Colony in 1872 and achieved independence on 1 August 1960 , as the Republic of Benin .
-A succession of military governments ended in 1972 with the rise to power of Mathieu KEREKOU and the establishment of a government based on Marxist-Leninist principles .
-A move to representative government began in 1989 .
-Two years later , free elections ushered in former Prime Minister Nicephore SOGLO as president , marking the first successful transfer of power in Africa from a dictatorship to a democracy .
-KEREKOU was returned to power by elections held in 1996 and 2001 , though some irregularities were alleged .
-KEREKOU stepped down at the end of his second term in 2006 and was succeeded by Thomas YAYI Boni , a political outsider and independent .
-YAYI has attempted to stem corruption and has strongly promoted accelerating Benin 's economic growth .
-Hungary has made the transition from a centrally planned to a market economy , with a per capita income nearly two-thirds that of the EU-25 average .
-The private sector accounts for more than 80 % of GDP .
-Foreign ownership of and investment in Hungarian firms are widespread , with cumulative foreign direct investment worth more than $ 70 billion .
-The government 's austerity measures , imposed since late 2006 , have reduced the budget deficit from over 9 % of GDP in 2006 to 3.2 % in 2010 , with a target of less than 3 % in 2011 .
-Hungary 's impending inability to service its short-term debt - brought on by the global financial crisis in late 2008 - led Budapest to obtain an IMF/EU/World Bank-arranged financial assistance package worth over $ 25 billion .
-The global economic downturn , declining exports , and low domestic consumption and fixed asset accumulation , dampened by government austerity measures , resulted in an economic contraction of 6.3 % in 2009 .
-In 2010 the new government implemented a number of changes including cutting business and personal income taxes , but imposed " crisis taxes " on financial institutions , energy and telecom companies , and retailers .
-The economy rebounded in 2010 with a big boost from exports , especially to Germany , and growth of more than 2.5 % is expected in 2011 .
-Unemployment remained high , at more than 10 % in 2010 .
-The economy was formerly based on agriculture , mainly sheep farming , but today fishing contributes the bulk of economic activity .
-In 1987 , the government began selling fishing licenses to foreign trawlers operating within the Falkland Islands ' exclusive fishing zone .
-These license fees total more than $ 40 million per year , which help support the island 's health , education , and welfare system .
-Squid accounts for 75 % of the fish taken .
-Dairy farming supports domestic consumption ; crops furnish winter fodder .
-Foreign exchange earnings come from shipments of high-grade wool to the UK and the sale of postage stamps and coins .
-The islands are now self-financing except for defense .
-The British Geological Survey announced a 200-mile oil exploration zone around the islands in 1993 , and early seismic surveys suggest substantial reserves capable of producing 5,00,000 barrels per day ; to date , no exploitable site has been identified .
-An agreement between Argentina and the UK in 1995 seeks to defuse licensing and sovereignty conflicts that would dampen foreign interest in exploiting potential oil reserves .
-Political tensions between the UK and Argentina rose in early 2010 after a UK company began oil drilling activities in the waters around the Falkland Islands but abated somewhat when the drilling operation failed to discover commercially exploitable oil reserves .
-Tourism , especially eco-tourism , is increasing rapidly , with about 30,000 visitors in 2001 .
-Another large source of income is interest paid on money the government has in the bank .
-The British military presence also provides a sizeable economic boost .
-AN EAGLE , flying down from his perch on a lofty rock , seized upon a lamb and carried him aloft in his talons .
-A Jackdaw , who witnessed the capture of the lamb , was stirred with envy and determined to emulate the strength and flight of the Eagle .
-He flew around with a great whir of his wings and settled upon a large ram , with the intention of carrying him off , but his claws became entangled in the ram 's fleece and he was not able to release himself , although he fluttered with his feathers as much as he could .
-The shepherd , seeing what had happened , ran up and caught him .
-He at once clipped the Jackdaw 's wings , and taking him home at night , gave him to his children .
-On their saying , " Father , what kind of bird is it ? ' he replied , " To my certain knowledge he is a Daw ; but he would like you to think an Eagle . "
-A LION demanded the daughter of a woodcutter in marriage .
-The Father , unwilling to grant , and yet afraid to refuse his request , hit upon this expedient to rid himself of his importunities .
-He expressed his willingness to accept the Lion as the suitor of his daughter on one condition : that he should allow him to extract his teeth , and cut off his claws , as his daughter was fearfully afraid of both .
-The Lion cheerfully assented to the proposal .
-But when the toothless , clawless Lion returned to repeat his request , the Woodman , no longer afraid , set upon him with his club , and drove him away into the forest .
-It happened that a Countryman was sowing some hemp seeds in a field where a Swallow and some other birds were hopping about picking up their food .
-" Beware of that man , " quoth the Swallow .
-" Why , what is he doing ? " said the others .
-" That is hemp seed he is sowing ; be careful to pick up every one of the seeds , or else you will repent it . "
-The birds paid no heed to the Swallow 's words , and by and by the hemp grew up and was made into cord , and of the cords nets were made , and many a bird that had despised the Swallow 's advice was caught in nets made out of that very hemp .
-" What did I tell you ? " said the Swallow .
-Destroy the seed of evil , or it will grow up to your ruin .
-I had someone ask for an aisle seat on the plane so that their hair would n't get messed up by being near the window .
-A senior Iranian cleric says Iran 's suspension of its nuclear program is temporary .
-Former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani told worshippers during prayers Friday , Iran could resume enriching uranium within six months .
-Mr. Rafsanjani , the head of the Expediency Council , Iran 's final arbiter on legislation , said Iran has the right to enrich uranium at low levels to fuel nuclear power stations .
-Earlier this week , the International Atomic Energy Agency spared Iran the fate of being referred to the United Nations Security Council for possible sanctions after Tehran agreed to suspend its nuclear program .
-The United States has accused Iran of secretly seeking to develop nuclear weapons .
-An explosion at the home of a Hezbollah official in a small Lebanese village has killed at least two people .
-Officials say the blast happened Monday evening in Tayr Filsi , a village near the coastal city of Tyre .
-Authorities are investigating the cause of the explosion and have not said whether the Hezbollah official was among the casualties .
-In July , an explosion at a suspected Hezbollah arms depot in southern Lebanon near the Israeli border raised concerns about the group 's weapons caches .
-The militant Hezbollah movement fought a 34-day war with Israel in 2006 that killed about 1,200 people in Lebanon and 160 in Israel .
-Medics treating cases of Marburg fever in Angola say a hospital at the center of the outbreak should be closed to all non-emergency patients to stop the disease from spreading .
-Doctors Without Borders , a global relief organization , recommends suspending non-emergency services at the hospital in Angola 's northwestern Uige province , where victims of the fatal virus are being held in isolation .
-The organization 's emergency coordinator in Uige says this step is necessary to reduce infection risks .
-So far , Marburg fever has killed at least 192 of the more than 200 people known to be infected .
-The Ebola-like hemorrhagic fever spreads through contact with bodily fluids , and can kill rapidly .
-The World Health Organization has sent in teams to remove bodies and trace contacts with infected patients .
-A private funeral for the late United States Chief Justice William Rehnquist will be held Wednesday at Arlington National Cemetery , near Washington D.C. Memorial observances began Tuesday for the conservative chief justice in the Great Hall of the Supreme Court building in Washington .
-President Bush paid his respects to the late chief justice , pausing for a moment of silence beside his flag-draped coffin .
-The public memorial continues until noon today .
-Mr. Rehnquist died of cancer Saturday at the age of 80 .
-He was first appointed to the nine-member court by President Nixon in 1972 .
-President Reagan appointed him chief justice 14 years later , in 1986 .
-President Bush has nominated federal appeals court judge John Roberts to be the next chief justice .
-Senate confirmation hearings for Mr. Roberts are scheduled to begin Monday .
-Hurricane Katrina has battered the southern part of the U.S. state of Florida with high winds and heavy rain , leaving four people dead as it crossed the state to move out over the Gulf of Mexico .
-Forecasters say Katrina is now likely to get stronger and perhaps make a second landfall in the Florida Panhandle early next week as a major hurricane .
-The 11th named storm of this year 's Atlantic hurricane season came ashore Thursday between Hallandale Beach and North Miami Beach , packing 130 kilometer-per-hour winds .
-It knocked down trees , flooded streets and left more than one million people without power .
-The U.S. Coast Guard is searching for a family of five who went out boating Thursday morning and never reached their destination Cape Coral on Florida 's southwest coast .
-A group of retired U.S. military officers is expressing " deep concern " about President Bush 's nominee to lead the U.S. Justice Department .
-The officers want Attorney General nominee Alberto Gonzales to explain his views on torture , and his role in crafting Bush administration policy on the treatment of terror suspects .
-As the White House legal counsel , Mr. Gonzales wrote a January 2002 memo advising Mr. Bush that prisoner of war protections in the Geneva Convention were " rendered obsolete " by the U.S.-led war on terror .
-He later approved a separate Justice Department memo suggesting some legal defenses U.S. officials could use to defend themselves against prosecution for torture .
-The group of officers includes retired Army General John Shalikashvili , who was chairman of the military 's Joint Chiefs of Staff .
-Mr. Gonzales faces a Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday .
-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says countries without diplomatic relations with Israel should not participate in the U.N. peacekeeping force for Lebanon .
-Those countries include Bangladesh , Indonesia , and Malaysia - three Muslim nations that have already offered to send troops .
-Meanwhile , Mr. Olmert says Italy may be ready to take a significant role in the U.N. peacekeeping force .
-He spoke with Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi by telephone Sunday .
-Italy has already approved plans to send as many as 3,000 troops to Lebanon .
-But it is unclear if it will lead the force .
-The United Nations plans to deploy up to 15,000 soldiers to boost a peacekeeping force already in southern Lebanon .
-Lebanon has also started deploying the first of 15,000 troops it plans to send to the area .
-Iraq 's neighbors have called on all Iraqis to vote in the January 30 polls , saying they must determine their future through democratic means .
-The joint statement was issued at the end of a day-long meeting Thursday in the Jordanian capital Amman .
-It tacitly encouraged Iraq 's minority Sunni Muslims to vote , saying " all segments " of the Iraqi people must go to the polls .
-Some Sunni groups have urged a boycott in the face of escalating violence .
-Iraq 's neighbors also reaffirmed their respect for Iraq 's sovereignty and territorial integrity , and pledged not to interfere in Iraq 's internal affairs .
-When the participants convened earlier , Jordan 's foreign minister said the election is a " golden opportunity " for Iraqis to get their country on the right track .
-Pakistan 's ruling parties are deliberating the future of the coalition as a deadline looms for the reinstatement of deposed judges .
-Aides close to the Pakistan Muslim League ( N ) say party leaders will meet Monday to decide whether to stay in the coalition with the Pakistan People 's Party .
-Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif , the head of the Pakistan Muslim League ( N ) , has indicated his party could join the opposition if the PPP does not agree by Monday to restore judges fired by former President Pervez Musharraf .
-Analysts say PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari is reluctant to reinstate the judges because of concerns they could reopen old corruption cases against him .
-Zardari announced plans Saturday to run for president , after Mr. Musharraf stepped down to avoid impeachment charges this past week .
-A smaller coalition partner , the Awami National Party , announced its support for Zardari today .
-Final results from Sunday 's Ukrainian parliamentary elections show the pro-Russian party of former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych won the most votes followed by two reformist groups .
-The central election committee announced the results Thursday showing Mr. Yanukovych 's Party of Regions with more than 32 percent of the vote .
-The liberal bloc of former Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko won more than 22 percent , while supporters of President Viktor Yushchenko came in third with just under 14 percent .
-Only two other parties , the Socialists and Communists , managed to clear the three percent barrier to gain parliamentary representation .
-Wednesday , Ms. Timoshenko urged Yushchenko allies to band together to keep the opposition from returning to power .
-The former prime minister , one of the leaders of the 2004 Orange Revolution that brought Mr. Yushchenko to power , called Sunday 's vote Ukraine 's first honest election in 15 years of independence .
-The head of U.S. homeland security , Michael Chertoff , says officials remain vigilant for terrorist attacks after a plot to blow up airliners was uncovered last week .
-Chertoff told Fox News Sunday U.S. officials are concerned that some people involved in the alleged plot may still be at large .
-He says there also is concern that other groups may try to carry out attacks because they think U.S. officials are distracted by the situation .
-Chertoff added there is no evidence that planning or operational activities took place in the United States .
-British authorities detained 23 people last week .
-U.S. officials raised the security alert level on flights from Britain to the United States after the plot was uncovered .
-Chertoff says officials planned to announce new security measures for flights today .
-The European Union has banned the import of live birds and feathers from Turkey because of the threat of bird flu .
-EU officials say the ban is needed after tests confirmed the presence of an avian virus in Turkey , where thousands of birds are being killed in an effort to prevent its spread .
-The officials say they still have not determined which strain of bird flu it is .
-But Turkish officials say the outbreak is contained in a small area of the western province of Balikesir .
-The European Union is also monitoring the situation in Romania , where tests are underway and more than 1,000 birds have been killed after a suspected outbreak of bird flu .
-Bird flu has killed more than 60 people in Asia since 2003 .
-A longtime donor for U.S. Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama went on trial Monday , accused of money laundering and extorting bribes .
-Prosecutors charge that Antoin " Tony " Rezko tried to extort millions of dollars in kickbacks from investment houses that wanted to do business with Illinois state boards .
-Jury selection started Monday .
-As Rezko sat in a Chicago courtroom , Illinois Senator Obama was campaigning in Texas and answering questions by reporters about his relationship with Rezko .
-Obama said Rezko was a friend and supporter for many years , but that the charges facing him are not related to the senator .
-Obama allegedly received $ 10,000 from a Rezko associate , which the senator 's campaign team later gave to charity .
-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has rejected the idea of holding talks with Iran and Syria about reducing violence in Iraq .
-Rice told the Washington Post newspaper she opposes the bipartisan Iraq Study Group 's recommendation to engage the two countries .
-She said she will not allow Syria to interfere in Lebanon or let Iran obtain a nuclear weapon as a price for their help in bringing peace to Iraq .
-The secretary said that if the two countries had an interest in stabilizing Iraq they would do it anyway .
-President Bush is to announce his decision on a new strategy for Iraq in early January .
-Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says he favors talks with the United States .
-He told an Italian newspaper , La Repubblica , that Washington should hold talks with his country and Iran on stabilizing the Middle East .
-At least one person was killed in the Somali capital of Mogadishu Monday when unidentified attackers threw grenades at Ethiopian troops searching for weapons and insurgents .
-Several other explosions were also heard in the city .
-Government and Ethiopian soldiers began the house-to-house search on Sunday in an effort to reduce attacks by Islamist insurgents .
-Dozens of people are reported to have been detained .
-Earlier Monday , soldiers searched the Horn-Afrik radio station in the middle of a news broadcast , but they did not interrupt any of the programs .
-Last year the Islamic Courts Union took control of Mogadishu until troops supporting an interim government backed by Ethiopian forces kicked them out .
-The chaos in Somalia has been going on for 16 years .
-The violence started in 1991 when warlords overthrew dictator Mohammed Siad Barre .
-The United Nations helped form a government in 2004 , but it has not been able to restore peace .
-President Bush addressed the nation Tuesday evening in a major speech outlining his military and political strategy for winning the conflict in Iraq .
-His speech marks the one-year anniversary of U.S. transfer of sovereignty to Iraq .
-It comes as a new poll Washington Post-ABC News released shows a majority of Americans ( 56 percent ) disapprove of Mr. Bush 's handling of the war .
-A clear majority , however , say they are willing to see U.S. forces remain in Iraq for an extended time until the country is stabilized .
-Before his speech at a large military base in North Carolina , Mr. Bush is set to meet privately with some of the family members of the more than 1,700 U.S. service members who have died since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003 .
-The chariot of one of Egypt 's most famous ancient pharaohs is heading to New York City this week to join the Discovery Times Square Exposition exhibit of the boy ruler .
-Egyptian antiquities official , Zahi Hawass said Monday the trip will be the first time the chariot of King Tutankhamun has traveled outside of Egypt .
-King Tut 's chariot was found in his tomb when Howard Carter discovered it in 1922 .
-Officials say the chariot 's extremely worn wheels could indicate it was used for hunting .
-An antiquities official suggests that King Tut may have fallen off this chariot during a hunting trip , in an accident that could ultimately have led to his early death .
-The chariot was originally slated to join the exhibit in April but was delayed by travel complications .
-Police in Argentina have arrested at least 87 people after a mob of angry commuters rioted at a train station on the outskirts of Buenos Aires .
-Commuters were angered Tuesday morning when service was interrupted because of technical problems .
-During some five hours of violence , the rioters set fire to at least 15 rail cars and parts of the train station .
-They also overturned at least one police car .
-Riot police fired rubber bullets to break up the crowds .
-At least 13 people , including policemen , were injured .
-The violence comes just days before the start of the 34-nation Summit of the Americas , to take place at Mar del Plata , some 370 kilometers south of Buenos Aires .
-The head of the Arab League says Syria will " soon " take steps toward withdrawing its troops from Lebanon .
-Arab League chief Amr Mussa made his statement Monday after meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus .
-Mr. Mussa said the Syrian leader stressed " more than once " his intention to implement the 1989 Taif agreement and withdraw the 14,000 troops .
-The Taif agreement , which ended Lebanon 's civil war , committed Syria to move its troops to Lebanon 's Bekaa Valley ahead of later talks on a complete pullout .
-Mr. Mussa spoke as thousands of protesters rallied in Beirut to demand the troops ' departure and the resignation of Lebanon 's pro-Syrian government .
-The demonstration came a week after the car bomb attack that killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and at least 14 others .
-Lebanon 's opposition politicians blame Syria for the killing .
-Syria insists it was not involved .
-The Beijing skyline has undergone massive transformation in preparation for the Olympics .
-The people who were evicted from their homes to make way for some of the new development are not happy , though , and were among the first to publicly protest this week , even before the games began .
-Stephanie Ho reports from Beijing .
-Chinese authorities say they have punished 31 officials and fired 12 others because of their poor handling of relief supplies and response to the country 's massive earthquake last month .
-China 's top anti-corruption official , Ma Wen , told reporters Monday that most of the demerits and firings were a response to complaints about misuse of tents and improper distribution of food and other goods .
-China 's May 12 quake killed nearly 70,000 people and left millions homeless .
-The government has previously warned that it would come down hard on those who misused aid funds or relief supplies .
-Corruption is rampant across China , and there is concern about the use and destination of donations .
-During Monday 's briefing for correspondents in Beijing , a top finance official reminded government departments to cut spending by five percent this year to help with the quake relief effort .
-Rights group Amnesty International has accused China and Russia of breaching a United Nations arms embargo by letting weapons into Sudan that were then used in the Darfur region .
-An Amnesty report published Tuesday expresses dismay that two permanent members of the U.N. Security Council were allowing weapons to flow into Sudan .
-Russia and China have dismissed the allegation .
-Amnesty International urged the U.N. to strengthen the existing arms embargo on Darfur .
-The Amnesty report also accuses the Sudanese air force of operating airplanes and helicopters painted white to resemble U.N. aircraft .
-A U.N. report that was leaked to the media last month found that Sudan was using disguised airplanes to carry out bombing raids in Darfur .
-Sudan rejected the charge .
-More than 2,00,000 people have been killed in Darfur since rebels began an uprising against Sudan 's central government in early 2003 .
-Four-time champion Argentina has defeated Colombia , 02-Jan , while Nigeria blanked Ukraine , 1-0 , to reach the quarterfinals of the World Youth football ( soccer ) championships in the Netherlands .
-In Emmen , Julio Barroso 's goal in injury time gave the under-age-20 Argentines the win after his team came back from a 1-0 deficit .
-Colombia 's Harrison Otalvaro had opened the scoring in the 52nd minute .
-Argentina 's Lionel Messi tied the match six minutes later .
-Argentina takes on Spain , which scored a 3-0 win over Turkey .
-Meanwhile in Doetinchem , Nigeria defeated Ukraine , 1-0 , on Taye Taiwo 's 80th-minute goal .
-In the final eight , Nigeria faces the host country , which beat Chile , 3-0 .
-The other quarterfinals have Germany playing Brazil and Morocco taking on Italy .
-A top Russian prosecutor says he will not open a criminal investigation against security forces involved in last year 's deadly hostage crisis at a school in the southern city of Beslan .
-Deputy Prosecutor General Vladimir Kolesnikov Thursday rejected arguments made by relatives of the victims .
-Relatives blamed security forces for using flame-throwers and starting a fire that caused the roof to collapse as they moved on the school , seized by Chechen militants .
-They said the rescue attempt was chaotic and caused many of the 331 deaths , most of them children .
-Children and teachers were held for three days as hostage takers demanded Russian forces leave Chechnya .
-Australia and Indonesia have agreed to negotiate a new security pact to replace one that was scrapped in 1999 .
-The proposed treaty will cover a wide area including defense , police cooperation , counter-terrorism , and the territorial integrity of the two countries .
-Foreign ministers Hassan Wirajuda of Indonesia and Alexander Downer of Australia announced the proposal Friday at the end of a bilateral ministerial forum in Canberra .
-Mr. Downer says the treaty could be concluded within months .
-The two countries forged a treaty in 1995 , but Indonesia abandoned it in 1999 in retaliation for Australia leading a U.N. peacekeeping force into what was then the Indonesian province of East Timor following violence surrounding its vote for independence .
-A former bodyguard for Osama bin Laden says he is boycotting legal proceedings against him at the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba .
-Yemeni national Ali Hamza Ahmad al-Bahlul is accused of conspiracy to commit terrorism .
-He admitted during a previous hearing that he was a member of bin Laden 's al Qaida .
-Al-Bahlul announced he was boycotting Wednesday 's hearing because he is not being allowed to defend himself .
-Also Wednesday , a separate panel at the Guantanamo tribunal will hear the case of a Canadian-born teenager accused of killing a U.S. military medic with a hand grenade in Afghanistan four years ago .
-Meanwhile , a former Guantanamo Bay prisoner who was handed over to France a year-and-a-half ago , Nizar Sassi , has been released from custody in Paris .
-The price of crude oil declined after the U.S. government reported an increase in U.S. inventories of oil and gasoline .
-Wednesday 's report from the Department of Energy says crude oil reserves rose by 1.7 million barrels to nearly 347 million barrels last week .
-Gasoline reserves rose more than two million barrels to 202.7 million .
-The larger inventories may ease concerns that U.S. fuel supplies might fall short during June , July and August when many Americans drive long distances on vacation .
-The price of crude oil for June delivery declined nearly $ 1 to $ 73.85 a barrel in New York trading .
-Oil prices have surged 21 percent this year .
-One factor is concern about the dispute about Iran 's nuclear program .
-Iran is the world 's fourth-largest oil exporter .
-German lawmakers reflected on the pains of the holocaust Friday and urged the world to learn from the past on this first international Holocaust Remembrance Day .
-German Parliament Speaker Norbert Lammert said recent statements by Iran 's president describing the Holocaust as a " myth " show the need for this day of remembrance .
-He said time will never diminish the need to commemorate the millions of Jews and others who died at the hands of the Nazis .
-In Poland , leaders also participated in ceremonies to mark this day , 61 years ago , when Soviet troops liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp .
-In November , the United Nations declared January 27 the International Day of Commemoration .
-U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has called those who deny the Holocaust " bigots . "
-He said the Holocaust must always be remembered with shame and horror .
-Venezuela has freed 11 Colombian soldiers who had been detained after entering Venezuelan territory without authorization .
-Colombia 's government says the soldiers were turned over to consular officers Thursday at a military base in Venezuela 's Apure state .
-The soldiers were taken into custody Sunday while entering Venezuela in a taxi .
-Colombia says the soldiers were using Venezuelan territory as a safe travel corridor to avoid leftist rebels on the Colombian side of the 2,200-kilometer border .
-Colombia 's ambassador to Venezuela , Enrique Vargas Ramirez , thanked Caracas for the soldiers ' release , saying it showed the advances that the two governments have made in security efforts .
-The two countries recently resolved a dispute sparked by Bogota 's admission it paid bounty hunters to seize a Colombian rebel in Caracas and return him to Colombia .
-A new report shows consumer spending in the United States dropped for a record sixth consecutive month in December - another sign the economy is deteriorating .
-The report from the Commerce Department says spending fell one percent in the month .
-The drop is significant because consumer spending is the major force behind the U.S. economy .
-Falling consumer demand has forced American companies to cut workers in an effort to save costs .
-The rising wave of unemployment has put pressure on American households to spend less money .
-The report also shows Americans are saving more money , as they brace for the possibility of further job cuts .
-British police have released pictures of the four London suicide bombers in the hope of gathering new information about their final movements before the attacks .
-British media Sunday have been showing surveillance camera footage of the four bombers with backpacks as they enter a train station ( Luton ) north of London the morning of the attacks .
-Police believe the men rode the train to London ( King 's Cross station ) , then split up to carry out the bombings on three subway trains and one bus .
-Authorities on Saturday confirmed the identities of all four bombers as investigators in Britain , Egypt and Pakistan pursued leads in the case .
-Meanwhile , British Prime Minister Tony Blair called on the world to confront what he called the " evil ideology " of Islamic extremism .
-The death toll from the terrorist attacks stands at 55 , and is expected to rise .
-The company that owns the Chilean mine 33 men were trapped in for more than two months has agreed to sell its assets to avoid bankruptcy .
-Judge Rocio Perez said Thursday creditors have given the San Esteban mining company 15 months to repay its debts .
-Thirty-three of the company 's miners were rescued last month from a mine in northern Chile after a tunnel collapse on August 5 left them trapped for 69 days .
-Chile 's Radio Cooperativa reports some of the money will be used as severance pay for the 300 miners of the San Jose mine who lost their jobs after the collapse .
-The mining company also owes the Chilean government between $ 10 and $ 20 million for the rescue operation .
-Chilean courts are holding the company 's total wealth , which amounts to about $ 10 million .
-Philippine military soldiers have clashed with Islamic extremists Tuesday , killing at least one and wounding a senior leader of the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf group .
-Military officials say they believe that Abu Solaiman , a wanted Abu Sayyaf leader , was injured during the fighting .
-Solaiman is wanted by the United States for his alleged role in kidnappings and terror attacks .
-The U.S. government is offering a $ 5 million reward for his capture .
-Army soldiers clashed with 60 Abu Sayyaf extremists in a mountainous town on the southwestern Philippine island of Jolo .
-Officials say they found bomb-making materials at the camp after members of the group fled .
-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has arrived in Haiti for a one-day visit aimed at showing U.S. support for elections scheduled there for November .
-Ms. Rice is to meet Tuesday with U.N. peacekeepers and leaders of the interim government , including President Boniface Alexandre and Prime Minister Gerard Latortue .
-The elections in Haiti will be the first since a political crisis in 2004 drove then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from office .
-Haiti has been torn by gang warfare and political violence since Mr. Aristide 's departure .
-The United Nations , which has 7,000 peacekeepers in Haiti , and the 15-member Caribbean community have offered to help ensure the balloting is free and fair .
-Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is in Kashmir , hours after soldiers killed two suspected separatists near the stadium where the Indian leader plans to deliver a speech Wednesday .
-The rebels were killed in a gunbattle that broke out in Kashmir 's summer capital , Srinagar , after troops surrounded a building where authorities had learned the militants had taken up positions .
-After arriving in Kashmir under heavy security for a two-day visit , Mr. Singh visited a Muslim holy site and spoke to students at a medical college .
-He repeated his offer to hold talks with all Kashmiri separatist groups in an effort to resolve their decades-old dispute .
-Earlier , Indian troops began pulling out of Kashmir in the first phase of a gradual withdrawal of half the soldiers stationed there .
-Hundreds of Afghans have marched through the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif to protest the killing of a candidate in the country 's recent legislative elections .
-The protesters were demanding the arrest and trial of those responsible .
-National Assembly candidate Mohammad Ashraf Ramazan and his bodyguard were gunned down last week by unidentified attackers .
-Although the Taleban claimed responsibility for the killings , the protesters blamed the local administration .
-Mr. Ramazan was the first candidate killed since the September 18 parliamentary polls .
-Meanwhile , the chairman of the joint U.N.-Afghan election body says ballot boxes from about four percent of 26,000 polling stations were being checked for reported irregularities .
-But Peter Erben said the cases of fraud are localized rather than widespread , and will not affect the overall integrity of the landmark vote .
-A U.S. diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks on Wednesday says Israel 's blockade of Gaza aimed to " keep Gaza 's economy on the brink of collapse . "
-The document says Israeli officials repeatedly confirmed the embargo 's goal was to keep Gaza 's economy functioning " at its lowest possible level without getting a humanitarian crisis . "
-The newly released cable was published by Norway 's Aftenposten newspaper .
-The document was dated November 3 , 2008 , just weeks before Israel launched an offensive in the Gaza Strip to stop Hamas militants from firing rockets on Israeli towns .
-Israel says the blockade seeks to weaken Hamas .
-Humanitarian groups argue the embargo is taking the heaviest toll on civilians , while Hamas militants continue to smuggle in building materials , weapons and cash through tunnels under the border with Egypt .
-Attorneys have said U.S. authorities will deport a former Florida professor and Palestinian rights activist who was acquitted on terrorism charges in December .
-Attorneys involved in the case of Sami al-Arian say he has reached an agreement with prosecutors to plead guilty to a terrorism-related charge .
-A jury in Florida found him not guilty last year on eight counts , including conspiracy to murder people overseas .
-The jury deadlocked on nine other charges .
-Al-Arian had been accused of helping to finance the activities of Islamic Jihad , a militant group blamed for terrorist attacks in Israel .
-The University of South Florida fired al-Arian from his position as a computer science professor after he was indicted in 2003 , saying he used his academic position for noneducational , improper purposes .
-He has been in jail since the indictment .
-A suicide bomber disguised as a soldier has blown himself up in front of police headquarters in Afghanistan 's southern Helmand province , killing himself and four policemen .
-A police chief in Helmand says the bomber dressed in an Afghan army uniform detonated his explosives after police stopped him as he tried to enter the station in Lashkar Gah , the province capital .
-At least one other policeman was injured .
-NATO forces have launched a major offensive in Helmand , Afghanistan 's top opium producing region where Taleban militants have staged attacks .
-NATO and Afghan forces say they have killed dozens of Taleban fighters in recent days .
-In other news , U.S.-led coalition forces and Afghan troops arrested four men and seized weapons in a raid on a compound in Jalalabad in the eastern province of Nangarhar .
-U.S. President Barack Obama has urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to find out all the facts of the deadly raid on a Gaza-bound international aid flotilla .
-The two leaders spoke by telephone Monday shortly after Mr. Netanyahu canceled his visit to Washington because of the raid .
-They had been scheduled to meet Tuesday at the White House .
-The White House said Mr. Obama expressed deep regret at the loss life in the raid and said it was important to learn all the circumstances surrounding the event .
-Mr. Obama said he understood Mr. Netanyahu 's decision to return to Israel immediately .
-The two agreed to reschedule their meeting at " the first opportunity " .
-The United States has acted against two Iranian companies suspected of helping to proliferate weapons of mass destruction through involvement in Iran 's nuclear program .
-The U.S. Treasury Department Wednesday ordered American banks to freeze any accounts or other financial assets in the United States belonging to the Novin Energy company and Mesbah Energy company .
-Officials also are prohibiting Americans from doing business with the two companies .
-The Treasury Department said the Novin Energy company has transferred millions of dollars on behalf of Iran 's atomic energy agency to entities linked to the country 's nuclear program .
-The department said the Mesbah Energy company is a state-owned entity that has been used to obtain products for Iran 's heavy water project .
-A heavy water reactor has the potential to produce high-quality plutonium , a key component for a nuclear weapon .
-Officials in Afghanistan say U.S. and Afghan troops have killed eight suspected Taleban fighters and captured 16 others in a firefight in a mountain area south of the capital .
-An Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman said Tuesday the fighting occurred in the Dai Chopan district of southern Zabul province .
-Independent confirmation of the details of the fighting in the remote area was not immediately available .
-The U.S. military had no immediate comment .
-Guerrilla activity in Afghanistan has increased after a winter lull , but activity is down compared to past years .
-U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taleban after they refused to hand over al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden , the architect of the September 11 attacks on U.S. cities .
-Election officials predict a large turnout Sunday as Thailand 's 44 million eligible voters deliver what is being seen as a judgment on the policies of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra .
-At one final campaign rally , Mr. Thaksin urged the crowd to give him a strong mandate so that his Thai Rak Thai party can govern without coalition partners .
-Opinion polls give Mr. Thaksin a commanding lead and the opposition is appealing for at least two hundred of the five hundred seats in the national assembly .
-They say this will allow them to maintain checks and balances in government .
-Official results are expected within 30 days but a preliminary tally has been promised by Monday .
-Fighting continues in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo , where a joint force of United Nations and Congolese troops is trying to subdue Ugandan rebels .
-Reports of new clashes Monday follow a battle in North Kivu province Sunday .
-The United Nations says at least 35 rebels were killed , along with three Congolese government troops and an Indian U.N. peacekeeper .
-A U.N. spokesman , Major Hans-Jakob Reichenm , says about 3,500 Congolese troops and 600 U.N. peacekeepers are battling an estimated 1,000 Ugandan rebels .
-U.N. and Congolese forces are trying to assert government control in North Kivu and other areas dominated by local militias and foreign rebels using eastern Congo as a base .
-The offensives were launched after Congo 's constitutional referendum last week .
-Partial results from the vote show the new constitution heading toward overwhelming approval .
-Turkish leaders , concerned that new political power for Iraqi Kurds could lead to their control of the oil-rich province of Kirkuk , have received reassurance from a visiting U.S. official that Kirkuk is a matter for all Iraqis to decide .
-The Pentagon 's Douglas Feith told Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul Monday the United States is committed to preserving Iraq 's territorial integrity .
-The defense policy official said the issue of Kirkuk is not a matter for one group to decide , but for the Iraqi people in general .
-Turkey is worried that Kurds in northern Iraq might use their increased influence to press for independence , and that could inspire Kurdish separatists living in southeastern Turkey .
-On Monday , Mr. Gul said if ethnic unrest were to erupt in Kirkuk , the Turkish public would pressure the government to respond .
-Some infomation for this report provided by AP and AFP .
-The Israeli newspaper Haaretz says the number of Jewish settlers in the West Bank has topped 3,00,000 .
-In a report Monday , Haaretz said as of June 30 , there were 3,04,569 settlers living in the Palestinian territory , an increase of 2.3 percent since January .
-The paper said the figures came from an Israeli government report .
-The settlement issue is one of the main obstacles in the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process .
-The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama has repeatedly called on Israel to halt all settlement activity as part of efforts to revive the peace process .
-Three top U.S. officials , U.S. special envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell , Defense Secretary Robert Gates and National Security Advisor James Jones , are holding talks in Israel this week and are pushing for a settlement freeze .
-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far refused the demand , creating tensions with Washington .
-Afghan officials say a suicide bombing outside a northern police station has killed one civilian and wounded at least 27 others .
-No one claimed responsibility for the attack that took place Thursday in the town of Faizabad , in northern Badakshan province .
-Separately , Afghan officials say armed men kidnapped two Germans and at least two of their Afghan colleagues Wednesday in central Afghanistan .
-It is unclear who was behind the abductions .
-Authorities in Afghanistan say they are investigating .
-In late June , a German national and his Afghan translator were abducted in southern Afghanistan .
-They were freed a week later .
-A strong , 7.5 magnitude earthquake has struck near India 's Nicobar Islands , initially triggering a tsunami watch for all areas of the Indian Ocean .
-There were no immediate reports of damage or injury , and the tsunami warning was eventually lifted .
-The quake , which struck early Sunday , was centered 150 kilometers west of Mohean on the Nicobar Islands at a depth of 35 kilometers .
-The Nicobar Islands make up a small chain that runs across the Andaman Sea near southern Thailand .
-Elsewhere on the globe , earthquakes took place in Japan and California Sunday , but no injuries or building damage were reported in either location .
-A 6.1 magnitude quake jolted northern Japan , while a 4.4 earthquake was felt in the southwestern U.S. city of San Diego .
-The outgoing president of Georgia 's Abkhazia region , Vladislav Ardzinba , has fired his chosen successor and warned of a possible civil war in the breakaway area .
-Mr. Ardzinba removed Prime Minister Raul Khadjimba from his post Wednesday and replaced him with a former Russian emergency ministries official , Nodar Khashba .
-He also blamed opposition candidate Sergei Bagapsh for the region 's current political problems that began after Sunday 's presidential elections .
-Mr. Bagapsh has already claimed victory against Mr. Khadjimba .
-Election officials say latest returns put Mr. Bagapsh in the lead .
-Mr. Khadjimba wanted the election voided because of alleged fraud .
-Electoral officials say the southern Gali district will hold a re-vote on October 17 because of voting problems .
-The contest was the first open presidential election in Abkhazia since the area declared independence from Georgia in 1993 .
-Georgian officials say the vote was illegal .
-India says its security forces have killed 11 suspected Islamic militants who infiltrated into Indian-controlled Kashmir from the Pakistani part of Kashmir .
-Military officials say the 11 were killed during a gunbattle early Friday .
-Officials say the militants opened fire after Indian troops ordered them to surrender .
-India accuses Pakistan of arming and funding Kashmiri rebels , a charge Islamabad denies .
-Both nations claim all of Kashmir and have fought two of their three wars over the Himalayan region .
-The two sides have been engaged in a peace process since January 2004 to resolve all of their disputes , including Kashmir .
-Saudi Arabian security forces have arrested 17 suspected militants with ties to al-Qaida .
-An interior ministry statement carried Saturday by Saudi media said the group was arrested during simultaneous early morning raids of 12 homes in the capital , Riyadh , and two nearby districts , Kharj and Majmaah .
-All of the suspected militants are Saudi nationals .
-In addition to the arrests , security forces seized weapons , ammunition , electronic equipment and assorted militant literature and documents .
-The oil-rich kingdom has been battling supporters and sympathizers of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden for the last two years .
-It has been nearly a year since the last terror attack on Saudi soil .
-Since then , security forces have made significant progress , arresting and killing dozens of suspected militants .
-North Korea has lashed out at Japan 's new defense guidelines .
-An editorial in the official Rodon Sinmun newspaper Sunday says Japan has adopted the so-called " U.S. vicious hostile policy " toward North Korea , and is joining in U.S. efforts to " stifle " the Pyongyang government .
-Japan 's new defense plan , adopted in December , eased a ban on weapons exports , allowing the country to pursue a missile defense program with Washington .
-The plan also singled out the threats posed by North Korean missiles .
-The North Korean comments follow a meeting in Washington Saturday top diplomatic and defense officials from both the United States and Japan .
-The two sides issued a joint statement saying North Korea 's nuclear program poses a serious challenge to the international Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty .
-Somaliland 's interior minister has ordered foreign Islamic clerics and other non-natives to leave the breakaway region immediately , following the arrest of several alleged al-Qaida operatives .
-Ismail Osman Aden says his order was prompted by security concerns .
-Police detained at least one al-Qaida suspect in an overnight raid in the region 's capital , Hargeisa , bringing to at least seven the number arrested over the previous two days .
-Mr. Aden says the suspects had traveled from the Somali capital , Mogadishu , and were planning attacks against senior officials and foreign workers in an effort to disrupt next week 's elections in Somaliland .
-The breakaway region , which is not internationally recognized , split from Somalia after the country descended into anarchy following the overthrow of Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 .
-The United States and other western intelligence agencies see Somalia as a potential safe haven for terrorists .
-Hamas ordered all smuggling tunnels along the Gaza border with Egypt to be immediately closed , cutting the flow of critical goods into the Gaza strip .
-Hamas , which controls Gaza , temporarily shut the tunnels at Egypt 's urging , after Israel warned tourists in the Sinai peninsula to immediately leave because of a terrorist plot to kidnap Israelis .
-Security officials say Israel warned that the tunnels could be used in the kidnapping plot .
-The Associated Press quoted a Hamas official who said Gaza leaders feared Israel could launch new airstrikes on the tunnels .
-Israel and Egypt sealed their borders with the Gaza Strip in 2007 to prevent Hamas militants from getting weapons .
-But the blockades also have slowed efforts to rebuild Gaza and prevented Palestinians from accessing basic necessities .
-Smugglers have skirted the blockade by bringing in goods through the tunnels .
-Officials in Niger report a new outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu .
-Government officials Friday said tests have confirmed the presence of H5N1 in the village of Boko Maigao , in southern Niger .
-Thousands of birds were slaughtered after scientists detected H5N1 in two other parts of southern Niger back in February .
-Several west African countries are grappling with outbreaks of the disease , including Niger 's neighbors Nigeria and Burkina Faso .
-No human cases have been detected in the area , though the disease is believed to have killed at least 124 people around the world since 2003 .
-A public opinion poll released in Paksitan on June 20th shows that 58 percent of Pakistanis support talks with the tribal militants , and that anti-U.S. sentiments remain negative .
-The pollsters found more than half of the respondents blame the U.S. for the violence occurring in Pakistan while few hold al-Qaida responsible , but that the U.S. has an opportunity to turn public opinion in its favor .
-The survey was conducted in Pakistan by two Washington-based not profit organizations :
-Terror Free Tomorrow and a think tank , the New America Foundation .
-VOA 's Ravi Khanna has more .
-The U.N. Security Council is considering a draft statement condemning North Korea 's long-range rocket launch earlier this month .
-The Council 's five permanent members and Japan reached an agreement on a draft statement Saturday and presented it to the full Council within hours .
-The draft " condemns " the April 5 launch and says North Korea must comply fully with Security Council Resolution 1718 , which banned such launches .
-It also says the Security Council will demand North Korea not conduct any further launches .
-And it calls for an early resumption of six-party disarmament talks with Pyongyang .
-Japan had been seeking a Security Council resolution -- a measure seen as a stronger response .
-But Tokyo now says it would consider a Council presidential statement instead .
-The Security Council had been deadlocked for almost a week over how it should respond to the North Korean launch .
-The South Asia Free Trade Agreement , or SAFTA , came into effect Sunday , paving the way for free trade of goods among the member nations .
-India 's Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said implementation of the accord will benefit the entire region - a home to 1.5 billion people .
-Under the agreement , the more developed member countries - India , Pakistan and Sri Lanka - will reduce their customs duties to between zero and five percent by the year 2013 .
-Less developed Bangladesh , Bhutan , the Maldives and Nepal have until 2018 to do the same .
-Leaders of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation , or SAARC , agreed to forge ahead with the free trade zone at their summit in Pakistan in 2004 .
-Lebanese officials say a suspect in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has been taken to a Beirut hospital .
-Former Lebanese intelligence chief Raymond Azar , who was arrested in August , was moved from his prison cell to a hospital intensive care unit .
-Officials say he is suffering from a heart problem .
-His arrest , along with three other Lebanese generals , was on the recommendation of the United Nations commission investigating Mr. Hariri 's killing .
-The head of that commission , German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis , had been expected to interview five Syrian officials Tuesday in Vienna .
-But a U.N. diplomat says they are likely to be questioned next week .
-Last month , Mr. Mehlis issued a report implicating top Syrian officials in the February assassination .
-Syria has repeatedly denied any role , and has pledged to cooperate with the U.N. investigation .
-Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko says his country must strengthen its military defenses and step up efforts to gain membership in the NATO military alliance .
-Mr. Yushchenko spoke Sunday in Kyiv , in an address marking Ukraine 's 17th anniversary of independence from the former Soviet Union .
-He spoke as Russia , which strenuously opposes the NATO aspirations of both Ukraine and Georgia , continued its occupation of Georgian territory .
-Mr. Yushchenko condemned what he called the " aggression " of Russian forces in Georgia , while pledging that Ukraine will not become Moscow 's next target .
-The Yushchenko address was followed by a rare parade of Ukraine military hardware , including tanks , armored personnel carriers and missile launchers .
-Military jets flew overhead in formation .
-In Moscow , Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin marked the Ukrainian anniversary with statements calling for closer bilateral relations .
-The head of the U.S. central bank is warning Americans not to assume that recent soaring home values will continue forever .
-On Friday , Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told economists gathered at a resort in Wyoming that increased buying power fueled by higher home prices could disappear if investors turn cautious .
-Huge numbers of U.S. homeowners have taken out loans against the increased value of their homes to pay for renovations and other purchases , fueling much of the recent growth in the economy .
-Mr. Greenspan also warned that growing trade protectionism and bloated government budget deficits will make it more difficult for the U.S. economy to weather the kind of problems that would follow an abrupt fall in asset prices or other economic shocks .
-President Bush has repeated his vow to work together with the new Democrat-controlled Congress on spending measures and education .
-Mr. Bush said in his weekly radio address Saturday some Democrats agree with him that balancing the budget is a top priority .
-He also called on Congress to reauthorize his " No Child Left Behind " Act , which establishes testing and benchmarks for measuring a student 's progress .
-Democrats say the former Republican-controlled Congress has not authorized the money needed to fully fund the law .
-Meanwhile , in the Democrats ' weekly response , Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of the southwestern state of Nevada spoke out against troop increases in Iraq that Mr. Bush is expected to announce in the coming week .
-Reid called any such increases " a serious mistake . "
-He called instead for phased redeployment of U.S. troops from Iraq in the next four to six months .
-A presidential commission says U.S. intelligence agencies were completely wrong in most of their pre-war judgments about Iraq 's weapons of mass destruction .
-The commission report being released Thursday makes scores of recommendations for improving the U.S. intelligence community 's performance .
-Proposals include creation of a separate national counter-proliferation center to fight the spread of chemical , nuclear , and biological weapons .
-The report blames the failures in Iraq on an inability to collect good information , errors in analysis , and a failure to make clear how much of that analysis was based on assumptions rather than evidence .
-It also says U.S. intelligence still knows " disturbingly little " about the nuclear programs of what it calls the world 's most dangerous countries .
-President Bush is due to make a statement on the report after meeting with the commission today .
-Palestinian medical officials say one militant has been killed and at least 14 other Palestinians have been wounded during an overnight incursion by Israeli forces in the southern Gaza Strip .
-Witnesses say the Palestinians were wounded after troops backed by at least 25 tanks and armed bulldozers and aircraft entered an area east of the town of Khan Younis .
-They say the militant , from the Islamic Jihad movement , was killed in an Israeli air strike targeting a house where several Palestinians were meeting .
-Witnesses say the Israeli air force carried out at least two air strikes on the area .
-Israeli forces regularly raid the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip to stop Palestinian militants from firing rockets into southern Israel .
-Indonesia has received permission from Swiss drug giant Roche to locally produce Tamiflu , the drug thought to be most effective in treating bird flu in humans .
-Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari made the announcement Friday , in Jakarta .
-Indonesia is the second country to get the go-ahead to produce the anti-flu medicine , along with Vietnam .
-Thursday , Indonesian agriculture officials said hundreds of chickens infected with the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus died in Aceh province .
-And in Vietnam , public health officials said a 15-year-old boy from the northern port city of Haiphong tested positive for the same H5N1 strain .
-The findings have not yet been confirmed by the World Health Organization .
-Elsewhere , China also reported a new outbreak of the deadly strain in poultry in the northwestern region of Xinjiang .
-More than 60 people have died from bird flu in Asia since 2003 .
-The International Olympic Committee has announced it will review its procedures for the Olympic torch relay after a series of protests marred the Beijing flame 's worldwide journey .
-IOC president Jacques Rogge said Tuesday the tradition of lighting the Olympic flame in Ancient Olympia and starting the torch relay in Greece will continue .
-But he said the IOC 's executive board could limit future torch relays to within the borders of the Olympic host nation .
-Angry and sometimes violent protests of China 's human rights record took place as the flame traveled through San Francisco , London and Paris .
-In his opening speech at the three-day IOC session on the eve of the Beijing Games , Rogge said that his organization respect protests and freedom of expression , but violence is against the Olympic spirit .
-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says she welcomes the invitation by Iraq 's independent electoral commission to international monitors to review complaints of fraud in this month 's parliamentary vote .
-Ms. Rice said Thursday that the panel has " again demonstrated its commitment to fair and credible elections that meet international standards . "
-She says the United States strongly backs the review process and looks forward to final results that she says reflect the will of the Iraqi people .
-Sunni Arab and secular Shi'ite political factions have alleged widespread fraud in the December 15 election .
-Initial results show that Shi'ite candidates won 130 seats in the 275-seat parliament .
-Many Sunnis have held street protests demanding a re-vote .
-The U.N. representative to Iraq 's election commission has said the parliamentary elections were transparent with relatively few instances of fraud .
-Bulgaria 's center-left government has survived a no-confidence vote prompted by a suspension of European Union subsidies .
-All 150 representatives of the three-party ruling coalition voted against the motion , which won the backing of 84 deputies .
-The European Commission , last week , suspended nearly $ 800 million in aid to the government .
-EU officials said Bulgaria 's push against corruption and criminal gangs is not producing needed results .
-Prime Minister Stanishev acknowledged what he called " serious problems " in many Bulgarian institutions .
-But he also cited " positive steps " in recent months , including new laws on conflict of interest .
-The no-confidence motion was the sixth against Mr. Stanishev , since he took office in 2005 .
-Russia says it again has presented to Iran a proposal for reprocessing uranium in Russia from Iran 's nuclear plants .
-The Foreign Ministry , in a statement , said its embassy in Tehran Saturday presented Iranian authorities with a note saying that its offer for setting up a joint Russian-Iranian uranium enrichment facility remains valid .
-Iran has turned down previous Russian suggestions , insisting it has the right to enrich uranium and produce nuclear fuel domestically despite international efforts to curb its nuclear program .
-The United States and the European Union have expressed grave concerns that Tehran will use its nuclear program as a cover for developing atomic weapons .
-Under a deal signed earlier this year , Moscow agreed to supply enriched uranium fuel for Iran 's Bushehr reactor .
-But it also demanded the return of spent fuel , to prevent Tehran from reprocessing it into bomb-grade material .
-A retired U.S. Army general and former director of the National Security Agency has called on President Bush to sign a war funding bill passed by Congress this week that would authorize the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq .
-In the Democratic Party 's weekly radio address Saturday , former lieutenant general William Odom said he generally does not favor congressional involvement in foreign and military policy .
-But he said Mr. Bush has allowed the United States to squander its influence , money and blood in the Iraq war .
-Odom said the challenge now is not how to win in Iraq , but how to recover from the mistake of invading Iraq in the first place .
-President Bush has promised to veto the funding bill , which requires the U.S. to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq by October 1 .
-Sub-freezing temperatures have killed scores of people throughout eastern and central Europe in the past week , as natural gas shortages compounded the bitter chill in several countries .
-Ukraine 's health ministry Thursday said the Arctic cold has claimed at least 181 lives and led to more than 2000 hospitalizations since Saturday .
-Weather-related deaths also have been reported in Russia , Croatia , Romania , Bulgaria , Serbia , Poland and the Baltic countries among others .
-The situation remains critical in Georgia , where gas shortages and power outages compounded the bitter cold .
-In a statement Thursday , Russian oil giant Gazprom accused Ukraine of diverting gas meant for the rest of Europe .
-When faced with similar allegations earlier this week , Ukraine said it was meeting all transit requirements .
-In hopeful news , the icy temperatures that have gripped much of Eastern Europe for the past week have begun to ease up Thursday .
-The White House has released new details of President Bush 's planned May trip commemorating the end of World War II in Europe with stops in Russia and three other countries .
-A White House statement released Thursday , said President Bush will meet the presidents of Latvia , Estonia and Lithuania in Riga , Latvia May 6 .
-In the Netherlands President Bush is is expected to take part in commemorations of the end of World War II in Europe on May 8 .
-He will then travel to Russia , which commemorates the end of the war on May 9 , and meet President Vladimir Putin .
-Mr. Bush will conclude his visit in Tbilisi , Georgia , where the White House says he plans to " underscore his support for democracy . "
-Cuban President Raul Castro says he is open to direct talks with the incoming U.S. president , saying he believes Barack Obama is an honest and sincere man who could improve relations between the two countries .
-However , Mr. Castro says he is in no hurry , and is not sure Mr. Obama can change what the Cuban leader called the " overall hostile U.S. policy " towards Cuba .
-President-elect Obama has said he would be willing to speak with Cuba 's leaders .
-But he also says he will keep the long-standing economic embargo as a way to push for democratic change .
-Mr. Castro 's comments , aired Friday on state television , came the day after Cuba marked the 50th anniversary of the revolution that brought his brother Fidel Castro to power .
-President Bush has rejected calls for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq , saying it would be a " huge mistake " at this point .
-At a news conference Monday , Mr. Bush said that leaving the country now would send the wrong message to reformers in the Middle East , and embolden Iran and extremists .
-He added he is committed to securing peace in Iraq and strengthening its government , saying a failure in Iraq would threaten the security of the United States .
-The president said U.S. military commanders are continuing to adjust their tactics to prevent attacks by terrorist groups and end violence among sectarian groups .
-Some U.S. lawmakers have been calling on the president to set a date for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq .
-In Baghdad , U.S. military officials said a service member died in a roadside bomb attack Monday .
-Human Rights Watch is urging the United States to use its Security Council presidency to create a new U.N. force in Sudan 's troubled Darfur region .
-The New York-based group says such a mission should have a strong mandate to protect civilians .
-The rights group says the African Union troops now in Darfur have acted with great resolve and courage , but lack manpower and resources .
-It says the deteriorating situation in Darfur demands a major new international effort to save lives there .
-Human Rights Watch says the United States should use its presidency of the Security Council in February to jump-start this effort .
-Violence against civilians in Darfur has surged in the last three months .
-Human Rights Watch blames militias sponsored by Sudan 's government .
-News reports said a small aircraft that crashed in northeast China may have been a North Korean fighter jet .
-Beijing 's official Xinhua news agency said the aircraft went down Tuesday in Fushun County , located in Liaoning province .
-An unnamed government source told Xinhua the jet " might be " a North Korean plane .
-Xinhua did not identify the pilot or the aircraft .
-South Korea 's Yonhap news agency said intelligence sources believe the aircraft appeared to be a Soviet-era jet fighter , after earlier reporting said it may have been a helicopter .
-The anonymous sources said the pilot could have lost his way while flying to Russia .
-Yonhap said the pilot , who was the only person on board the aircraft , was killed .
-Fushun is located about 150 kilometers from the North Korean city of Sinuiju , where a military airbase is located .
-Hundreds of protesters marched through the streets of Guatemala City Friday to voice opposition to the Central American Free Trade Agreement with the United States .
-The protesters said the pact , known as CAFTA , will benefit only large companies and harm the poor .
-Supporters say the deal will help lift the region out of poverty .
-The trade agreement was supposed to take effect on January 1 , but was delayed .
-U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman , however , recommended Friday that the accord with El Salvador take effect on March 1 .
-The other countries that make up CAFTA have not yet met rules proposed by the United States .
-CAFTA also comprises Costa Rica , Honduras , Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic .
-Costa Rica is the only country within CAFTA that has not yet ratified the agreement .
-President Bush has congratulated the Congolese people for what he called " their deep desire to embrace democracy " - because of the country 's constitutional referendum .
-A White House spokesman , in a statement , said the referendum represents an important step in the democratic process in the Democratic Republic of Congo .
-Polls closed Monday after a second day of voting on a new constitution designed to end years of war and chaos .
-Officials say turnout was high for the referendum .
-Final results are not expected for several days .
-If approved , the constitution would pave the way for Congolese elections next year .
-The DRC is struggling to emerge from decades of political instability and violence .
-The country 's most recent conflict , which ended in 2003 , drew in armies from six neighboring states and left nearly four million people dead .
-One of the world 's top think-tanks says the Middle East is more secure than a year ago , in part because of U.S. policies promoting democracy in the region .
-But the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies also says that al-Qaida terrorists continue to use the U.S. presence in Iraq as a recruitment tool across much of the Muslim world .
-In its annual survey , the IISS hails progress in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict , the promise of multi-party elections in Egypt , and the popular uprising against Syria in Lebanon .
-It calls U.S. policy " fairly effective " in encouraging political reforms throughout the region .
-The report calls the November , 2004 death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat the tipping point in the push to end the Israel-Palestinian conflict .
-It also notes President Bush 's use of U.S. influence to bring the two sides together .
-Indian police say a bus and van collision has killed 34 people , including the bus driver , and injured more than two dozen other people .
-Investigators say the van was returning from a funeral with mourners Saturday when the crash occurred near Badaun , in Uttar Pradesh state .
-The World Health Organiation says India has the highest number of road fatalities in the world .
-Authorities say more than 1,10,000 people die each year on India 's roads , due mainly to speeding , bad roads and poorly maintained vehicles .
-Iraqi police say insurgents have carried out at least four more car bomb attacks in Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul , killing nine people and wounding nearly 30 others .
-The attacks are part of a sharp upsurge in bombings since Baghdad 's new government was announced last week .
-More than 100 people , most of them civilians , have been killed since Friday .
-In Monday 's deadliest attack , a car bomb exploded in a south Baghdad market area , killing six pedestrians .
-At least two other people were killed in a second attack in the capital .
-To the north , U.S. officials say two suicide bombers in Mosul blew themselves up , killing a child and wounding 15 others .
-Sunday , bombings killed more than 30 people , including 25 Kurds attending the funeral of a slain local Kurdish official in the northern town of Tall Afar .
-A Pakistani immigrant accused of plotting to bomb a subway station in New York City took the stand in his own defense Monday .
-Shahawar Matin Siraj told a Brooklyn , New York courtroom that he planned the attack only after a police informer stoked his anger against the United States .
-The 23-year-old defendant said he came up with the plot to bomb the busy Herald Square subway station in 2004 to impress the informer , Osama Eldawoody .
-Siraj says he viewed Eldawoody as a brother figure , and maintains Eldawoody was the leader of the bombing conspiracy .
-The defendant said he backed out of the plot when he realized civilians could be hurt .
-Manhattan 's Herald Square is a central shopping district , and includes department store Macy 's famed flagship store .
-President Bush has welcomed congressional approval of a plan to allow the United States to ship civilian nuclear fuel and technology to India .
-In a statement issued Saturday , the president said the deal will help both nations meet their energy needs without increasing air pollution and greenhouse gases .
-He said it also promotes clean development and non-proliferation .
-U.S. lawmakers voted overnight Saturday to approve the measure , which requires India to open its civilian nuclear facilities to international inspection .
-India 's government welcomed the agreement .
-But the foreign ministry expressed concern about terms of the U.S. law that call on India to oppose Iran 's nuclear ambitions .
-Ministry officials said India 's foreign policy will be determined only by national interests .
-Pro-democracy supporters protested across Egypt Wednesday to demand political reforms and an end to President Hosni Mubarak 's decades-long rule .
-Protesters are demanding multi-party elections and restrictions on the number of terms any candidate can run .
-Mr. Mubarak , who has already served four terms , said in an interview Tuesday that he has not yet decided whether to run in elections expected in September .
-Witnesses and protest organizers in Cairo , Suez and several other towns say police detained dozens of demonstrators carrying the banner of the Kifaya Movement .
-In March , Mr. Mubarak 's 41-year-old son , Gamal , ruled out running for the presidency , and denied his father ordered multi-party amendments to the constitution so the son could run .
-A college professor and his wife in Florida have been accused of spying for Cuba for decades .
-In an indictment made public Monday in Miami , prosecutors said 61 year-old Carlos Alvarez and his 55 year-old wife Elsa had been sending to Cuba information on U.S. government officials and anti-Castro exile groups .
-Prosecutor Brian Frazier said Carlos began spying for Cuba in 1977 , and Elsa began in 1982 .
-Frazier said the couple used short wave radio and encryption equipment to send messages to Cuba .
-An agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation said there was no evidence they provided classified or military information to Cuba .
-The couple was employed at Florida International University .
-The judge in the case ordered them held without bail and scheduled another hearing for January 19 .
-President Bush has extended his greetings to Muslims observing Ramadan in America and around the world .
-In a White House statement released Friday , Mr. Bush said Ramadan is the holiest time of the Muslim year and an important holiday .
-He said Ramadan observes the delivery of God 's word , in the form of the Qur'an , to the prophet Muhammad .
-The president also said the holiday is an opportunity to gather with friends and family and to show thanks for God 's blessings through works of charity .
-Mr. Bush said Ramadan and the upcoming holiday seasons are good times to remember common values that bind all people together .
-He added that Muslim Americans enrich U.S. society .
-Israel says Syria has test-fired three Scud missiles - the first such tests since 2001 .
-Israeli military officials said their air defense systems detected the missile launches from northern Syria last Friday .
-They said one missile broke up over Turkey , showering debris on two towns .
-Turkish officials say Syria has informed them that the incident was an accident that happened during a military exercise .
-Turkish authorities say no injuries were reported .
-There has been no public comment from Syria .
-Israel 's military described the tests as an act of defiance toward the United States and the United Nations , which pushed Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon this year .
-Israeli officials also expressed concern that the missiles could carry chemical weapons capable of hitting Israeli targets .
-Nigerian police say four people have been detained for allegedly stealing election machines at the Lagos airport .
-Police say the suspects were taken into custody overnight Friday .
-They allegedly stole 20 of what are known as " direct data capture machines " after being unloaded at the airport Monday .
-Authorities say 16 of the machines have been recovered .
-Police are investigating whether others may have been involved in the heist .
-Officials say the thefts will not impact voter registration set for January 15 and lasting two weeks .
-Nigeria will hold elections for president , parliament and state level races in April .
-A leading international human rights group says Russia 's new law restricting non-governmental groups is repressive and it is asking the Group of Eight industrialized nations to make it a key issue on the agendas of future meetings .
-Moscow takes over the rotating leadership of the G-8 , the world 's seven leading industrialized nation plus Russia , on January 1 and President Vladimir Putin is expected to sign the bill into law before the end of this year .
-New York-based Human Rights Watch says the legislation is broad and ambiguous , giving Russian government offices an unprecedented level of discretion in regulating non-governmental organizations .
-It notes that Russian leaders insist the limitations are necessary for Russia 's security .
-However , the organization says enactment of the law will not only severely restrict NGOs , but will also undermine the rights of all Russians .
-The international agency that suspended millions of dollars in AIDS grants to Uganda last week says it likely will resume funding by October .
-A spokesman for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS , Tuberculosis and Malaria , Bradford Herbert , said Wednesday that Uganda has taken quick steps to resolve concerns about the mismanagement of agency funding .
-He told reporters in Kampala the suspension will be lifted as long as progress continues .
-Just days after grants to Uganda were suspended , the government appointed an international auditing firm to oversee its AIDS programs .
-Ernst and Young will run Uganda 's Project Management Unit - which disburses grants .
-Mr. Herbert said three Global Fund staffers will stay in Uganda to monitor the project and make sure that life-saving drugs are distributed .
-A top Ugandan finance ministry official , Chris Kasami , said the government is committed to recovering any money that may have been stolen .
-Indian families have begun to bury relatives killed by a series of bomb blasts in the western part of the country , as security forces patrol to avoid further violence .
-Several funerals were held overnight in the city of Malegaon , as Muslims celebrated a religious festival called Shab-e-Barat .
-Officials said at least 31 people were killed and 100 others were wounded in the attacks Friday near a burial ground , a mosque and the town square .
-The head of India 's ruling Congress Party , Sonia Gandhi , arrived in the town to visit with the wounded and relatives of the dead .
-Authorities imposed a curfew on Malegaon , amid concern that the blasts might spark clashes between the local Muslim and Hindu communities .
-There have been no claims of responsibility for the attacks .
-Russia 's Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov says the Russian military plans to deploy a new intercontinental ballistic missile system .
-A successful test launch of the system was conducted Friday .
-Mr. Ivanov said the military expects to begin buying the new mobile Topol-M missiles in 2005 , and to put them in service by January , 2006 .
-Mr. Ivanov said this latest test was the final one for the new weapon , which he said was easier to fire and had greater accuracy and range than the current model .
-Mr. Ivanov added that Russia will keep its nuclear capability equal to that of the United States and other nuclear powers in technological sophistication , but not in the actual numbers of weapons .
-The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission [ CPSC ] has launched a new program to screen toys and other imports for potential safety hazards .
-Working with U.S. Customs agents , the new import surveillance program plans to test selected products at various ports in the United States to make sure the products are safe before they enter the U.S. market .
-VOA 's Mil Arcega reports .
-A strong winter storm has caused trouble for travelers , downed power lines to thousands of homes and caused deadly accidents in the midwestern United States .
-In Dallas , Texas , icy conditions on Sunday prompted the cancellation of about 300 airline flights .
-The storm also prompted the governors of Missouri and Oklahoma to declare a state of emergency .
-Police in Oklahoma say icy roads were to blame for a head-on crash between a minivan and a tractor trailer truck that killed seven occupants of the van .
-The seven were Mexican nationals .
-Five other occupants of the van were taken to the hospital .
-Investigators said the minivan was hit after it skidded across the median of the divided highway Sunday morning about 180 kilometers west of Oklahoma City .
-Spain says it will lift immigration restrictions for workers from the European Union 's new Eastern European member states .
-Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said Thursday that beginning May 1 , the government will open the Spanish labor market to workers from Poland , the Czech Republic , Latvia , Lithuania , Estonia , Hungary , Slovakia and Slovenia .
-Workers from the two other new EU members , Cyprus and Malta , already have free access to Spain .
-The decision brings Spain into line with some EU countries such as Britain , Ireland and Sweden , which have no restrictions on workers from Eastern Europe .
-Spain 's move follows an immigration amnesty begun last year that granted nearly 8,00,000 new residence permits and moved thousands of undocumented workers out of the country 's underground economy .
-A tribal chieftain in Sudan 's Darfur region says at least 55 people have been killed and more than 80 others wounded in fighting between the south Sudan army and Darfuri Arab tribes .
-Rizeigat tribal leader Mohamed Eissa Aliu said the fighting occurred Friday .
-He said reinforcements from both sides are converging on the area near the border of the southern state of Western Bahr al-Ghazal .
-Aliu 's account to Western reporters has not been confirmed .
-The south Sudan army confirmed Saturday it had come under attack , but it said the assault came from the northern-based central government army and not Rizeigat tribesmen .
-Tensions in Sudan remain high following the country 's first multi-party elections in 24 years .
-The polls earlier this month were boycotted by several opposition parties and marred by a series of technical and logistical problems .
-Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz says progress in peace talks with India hinges on progress in resolving the Kashmir dispute .
-Mr. Aziz spoke to reporters after talks with his Indian counterpart , Manmohan Singh , in New Delhi Wednesday .
-Mr. Aziz said Pakistan believes the " core issue of Kashmir " needs to be addressed , and progress on other issues will be made in tandem .
-New Delhi says further improvements in relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbors should not be held hostage to their decades-old dispute over Kashmir .
-Mr. Aziz , who arrived in New Delhi Tuesday , has had separate meetings with Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh and Muslim separatist leaders of Indian Kashmir .
-The Pakistani prime minister is in India as part of a South Asia tour as the outgoing chairman of a regional grouping - the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation , or SAARC .
-An explosion during a parade of the militant Palestinian group Hamas has killed 15 people and wounded 80 others , including children , in the Gaza Strip .
-Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas 's Fatah faction blamed Hamas for the casualties for holding a military parade in the densely populated Jebaliya refugee camp .
-Witnesses say a truck carrying homemade weapons accidentally exploded .
-But Hamas blamed Israel , saying a drone flying over the area fired a missile at the vehicle .
-Israel quickly denied any involvement .
-Earlier Friday , an Israeli raid in the West Bank town of Tulkarem turned violent and three Islamic Jihad members were killed .
-Islamic Jihad retaliated , firing several rockets into Israel that did not cause casualties or damage .
-Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat condemned the Israeli raid and urged calm on all sides .
-A new constitution took effect in Kyrgyzstan Friday , as officials announced the final results from the country 's referendum .
-Central Election Commission official Akylbek Sariyev said over 90 percent of voters on Sunday backed the new charter , which establishes Kyrgyzstan as a parliamentary republic .
-Sariyev said interim leader Roza Otunbayeva was officially approved as interim president until the end of 2011 .
-She is expected to be sworn in during an inauguration ceremony on Saturday and parliamentary elections are set for October 10 .
-Kyrgyzstan 's interim government has struggled to impose order since it took power following the April 7 deadly uprising that ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiyev .
-An estimated 2,000 people were killed during ethnic clashes between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks that erupted in June in the southern cities of Osh and Jalalabad .
-Populated for centuries by aboriginal peoples , the island was claimed by the Spanish Crown in 1493 following COLUMBUS ' second voyage to the Americas .
-In 1898 , after 400 years of colonial rule that saw the indigenous population nearly exterminated and African slave labor introduced , Puerto Rico was ceded to the US as a result of the Spanish-American War .
-Puerto Ricans were granted US citizenship in 1917 .
-Popularly-elected governors have served since 1948 .
-In 1952 , a constitution was enacted providing for internal self government .
-In plebiscites held in 1967 , 1993 , and 1998 , voters chose not to alter the existing political status .
-Close ties to France since independence in 1960 , the development of cocoa production for export , and foreign investment made Cote d'Ivoire one of the most prosperous of the West African states , but did not protect it from political turmoil .
-In December 1999 , a military coup - the first ever in Cote d'Ivoire 's history - overthrew the government .
-Junta leader Robert GUEI blatantly rigged elections held in late 2000 and declared himself the winner .
-Popular protest forced him to step aside and brought Laurent GBAGBO into power .
-Ivorian dissidents and disaffected members of the military launched a failed coup attempt in September 2002 .
-Rebel forces claimed the northern half of the country , and in January 2003 were granted ministerial positions in a unity government under the auspices of the Linas-Marcoussis Peace Accord .
-President GBAGBO and rebel forces resumed implementation of the peace accord in December 2003 after a three-month stalemate , but issues that sparked the civil war , such as land reform and grounds for citizenship , remained unresolved .
-In March 2007 President GBAGBO and former New Force rebel leader Guillaume SORO signed the Ouagadougou Political Agreement .
-As a result of the agreement , SORO joined GBAGBO 's government as Prime Minister and the two agreed to reunite the country by dismantling the zone of confidence separating North from South , integrate rebel forces into the national armed forces , and hold elections .
-Disarmament , demobilization , and reintegration of rebel forces have been problematic as rebels seek to enter the armed forces .
-Citizen identification and voter registration pose election difficulties , and balloting planned for November 2009 was postponed to 2010 .
-On 28 November 2010 , Alassane Dramane OUATTARA won the presidential election , defeating then President Laurent GBAGBO .
-GBAGBO refused to hand over power , resulting in a 6-month stand-off .
-In April 2011 , after widespread fighting , GBAGBO was formally forced from office by OUATTARA supporters with the support of UN and French forces .
-Several thousand UN troops and several hundred French remain in Cote d'Ivoire to support the transition process .
-Monaco , bordering France on the Mediterranean coast , is a popular resort , attracting tourists to its casino and pleasant climate .
-The principality also is a major banking center and has successfully sought to diversify into services and small , high-value-added , nonpolluting industries .
-The state has no income tax and low business taxes and thrives as a tax haven both for individuals who have established residence and for foreign companies that have set up businesses and offices .
-Monaco , however , is not a tax-free shelter ; it charges nearly 20 % value-added tax , collects stamp duties , and companies face a 33 % tax on profits unless they can show that three-quarters of profits are generated within the principality .
-Monaco was formally removed from the OECD 's " grey list " of uncooperative tax jurisdictions in late 2009 , but continues to face international pressure to abandon its banking secrecy laws and help combat tax evasion .
-The state retains monopolies in a number of sectors , including tobacco , the telephone network , and the postal service .
-Living standards are high , roughly comparable to those in prosperous French metropolitan areas .
-Economic activity is limited to providing services to the military and their families located in Akrotiri .
-All food and manufactured goods must be imported .
-Colombia was one of the three countries that emerged from the collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830 ( the others are Ecuador and Venezuela ) .
-A four-decade long conflict between government forces and anti-government insurgent groups , principally the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia ( FARC ) heavily funded by the drug trade , escalated during the 1990s .
-The insurgents lack the military or popular support necessary to overthrow the government , and violence has been decreasing since about 2002 .
-However , insurgents continue attacks against civilians and large areas of the countryside are under guerrilla influence or are contested by security forces .
-More than 31,000 former paramilitaries had demobilized by the end of 2006 and the United Self Defense Forces of Colombia ( AUC ) as a formal organization had ceased to function .
-In the wake of the paramilitary demobilization , emerging criminal groups arose , whose members include some former paramilitaries .
-The Colombian Government has stepped up efforts to reassert government control throughout the country , and now has a presence in every one of its administrative departments .
-However , neighboring countries worry about the violence spilling over their borders .
-In January 2011 , Colombia assumed a nonpermanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2011 - 12 term .
-DURING the Civil War a Patriot was passing through the State of Maryland with a pass from the President to join Grant 's army and see the fighting .
-Stopping a day at Annapolis , he visited the shop of a well-known optician and ordered seven powerful telescopes , one for every day in the week .
-In recognition of this munificent patronage of the State 's languishing industries , the Governor commissioned him a colonel .
-A KANGAROO hopping awkwardly along with some bulky object concealed in her pouch met a Zebra , and desirous of keeping his attention upon himself , said :
-" Your costume looks as if you might have come out of the penitentiary . "
-" Appearances are deceitful , " replied the Zebra , smiling in the consciousness of a more insupportable wit , " or I should have to think that you had come out of the Legislature . "
-THE Dog , as created , had a rigid tail , but after some centuries of a cheerless existence , unappreciated by Man , who made him work for his living , he implored the Creator to endow him with a wag .
-This being done he was able to dissemble his resentment with a sign of affection , and the earth was his and the fulness thereof .
-Observing this , the Politician ( an animal created later ) petitioned that a wag might be given him too .
-As he was incaudate it was conferred upon his chin , which he now wags with great profit and gratification except when he is at his meals .
-The U.S. space agency is making final preparations to launch the first direct space probe to the distant planet of Pluto .
-NASA 's New Horizons probe is scheduled to blast off from Cape Canaveral , Florida , early in the New Year .
-If all goes well , the spacecraft - the size of a grand piano and weighing about half a ton ( 454 kilograms ) - will reach Pluto in 10 to 15 years .
-The $ 650-million mission calls for an extensive study of Pluto and its primary moon , Charon .
-The New Horizons probe will photograph Pluto and gather data about its atmosphere , surface geology and temperature .
-After flying past the frozen planet , the spacecraft is to explore a distant part of the solar system known as the Kuiper Belt , an area where scores of Pluto-like objects have been discovered in recent months and years .
-U.S. and Afghan forces have killed a suspected Taleban commander and three of his fighters in southern Afghanistan .
-A U.S. military spokesman says Payenda Mohammed , who was thought to have led about 150 rebels , was killed in a battle in Kandahar province Wednesday .
-He was believed responsible for numerous rocket attacks , ambushes and other guerrilla-style assaults .
-At least three other militants were killed and 15 wounded as U.S. warplanes and helicopters rocketed caves along a ridge where they were hiding .
-Afghan and U.S. forces have stepped up attacks in recent months to flush out militants and boost security to prevent the Taleban from carrying out threats of subverting next month 's parliamentary polls .
-Final results show the president of Niger , Tandja Mamadou , has won a second five-year term in office .
-Niger 's electoral commission said Tuesday that President Tandja won 65.5 percent of the vote in the run-off balloting on Saturday .
-It says opposition candidate Mahamadou Issoufou received 34.5 percent of the vote .
-President Tandja had been heavily favored to win a new term after four opponents who lost in the first round decided to back him .
-The president is the first elected leader of Niger to complete a five-year term without being assassinated or deposed in a coup .
-Results from the Niger 's parliamentary elections , also held Sarturday , have not been announced .
-The U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan says its forces have killed at least 24 militants during two separate battles .
-In a statement Friday , the coalition says Afghan and U.S. forces killed at least 12 militants , after an attack on a coalition base in the Shahidi Hassas district of southern Uruzgan province on Thursday .
-Also Thursday , the coalition says its forces killed another 12 militants while on patrol in eastern Paktika province .
-U.S. officials say troops came under attack , while looking for militants who were transporting foreign fighters between the two countries .
-On Thursday , the U.S.-led coalition said its troops killed more than 100 militants during four days of fighting in southern Afghanistan .
-Also , officials say three civilians - a woman and two children - were killed late Thursday after German and Afghan forces fired at a car that failed to stop at a checkpoint in the northern province of Kunduz .
-Police in Pakistan say a suicide car bomber attacked an army checkpost in the country 's northwest , killing four soldiers .
-The attack took place Monday in the Khawaza Khela area of the restive Swat Valley .
-Officials say at least three other people were also wounded in the blast .
-Militants control large parts of the Swat valley region .
-Government officials signed a peace agreement in May with militants in Swat to try to end months of fighting that began in late 2007 .
-Soon after it was signed , militants resumed burning schools and blowing up barbershops , and the government stepped up anti-insurgent operations .
-Pakistani security forces are said to have killed up to 2,000 militants since early August in the Swat district and the Bajaur tribal region on the Afghan border .
-Syria has expressed " deep regret " over an Iraqi statement that Damascus is not taking serious steps to prevent insurgents from crossing into Iraqi territory .
-Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabr Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabr told the Associated Press Sunday that he was not optimistic Damascus would crack down on the insurgents .
-He said he has photographs and addresses of insurgent leaders in Syria but indicated they had not yet been captured .
-Syria 's state-run SANA news agency quotes an unidentified foreign ministry official as saying Mr. Jabr 's interview " contradicts " previous agreements with Baghdad .
-The official added that Syria is committed to good relations with Iraq and to helping stop violence in that country .
-The official was also quoted as saying Syria has deployed what he described as a " great number " of soldiers to the border and increased the number of checkpoints .
-A senior Palestinian negotiator says Israel plans to hand over the first of five occupied West Bank cities this week , after the resumption of stalled talks on security .
-Those talks resumed Sunday with generals from each side meeting to discuss Israel 's conditions for handing over the cities .
-Palestinian West Bank commander Hajj Ismail Jabber later said they agreed to hand over Tulkarem to Palestinian control this week .
-The Israeli side confirmed that Tulkarem will be the first to be turned over , but officials did not say when they expect that to happen .
-These withdrawals are part of pledges made by Israel during an Israeli-Palestinian summit early last month .
-The two sides resumed talks that were suspended in the wake of a Palestinian suicide bombing that killed five Israelis in Tel Aviv two weeks ago .
-Indian police say they have arrested a key suspect in the July train bombings that killed nearly 200 people and wounded more than 800 others in Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay .
-Police say they arrested Asif Khan , who used the alias Junaid , in the Indian city of Belgaum in Karnataka state Tuesday .
-They say he is one of the organizers of the attack .
-He is the 16th person to be arrested in connection with the Mumbai blasts , and was scheduled to appear in court Wednesday .
-Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says Saturday 's bombings in New Delhi are linked to foreign elements .
-During a phone conversation Monday with Pakistan 's President Pervez Musharraf , he urged Mr. Musharraf to act against terrorism directed at India .
-Mr. Musharraf said Pakistan stands with India against what he called a " dastardly terrorist attack . "
-The bombings killed almost 60 people and wounded more than 150 others as Hindus prepared for the Diwali festival .
-Tuesday , marks the height of Diwali , also known as the festival of lights .
-Responsibilty for the attacks has been claimed by the little-known Islamic Revolutionary Front .
-Indian officials say it has ties to a Kashmiri separatist group outlawed in Pakistan .
-Pakistani officials say they have no evidence that Pakistani groups were involved in the attack .
-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has criticized Russia 's behavior towards Georgia , saying it is adding to tensions in the area .
-As she arrived in Prague Tuesday , Rice noted that the former Soviet republic of Georgia is an independent state , and called on both Russia and Georgia to avoid " provocative " actions .
-U.S. officials have been dismayed by a series of Russian actions involving Georgia 's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia .
-Meanwhile , Georgian Defense Ministry officials say four Georgian servicemen detained by South Ossetian authorities near the administrative border of the breakaway area earlier Tuesday have been released .
-Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili had threatened action unless they were freed .
-Abkhazia and South Ossetia declared independence from Georgia in the early 1990s , sparking fighting and the dispatch of Russian peacekeepers to the region .
-Georgia has vowed to bring the territories back under central government control .
-North Korea says the United States has conducted some 200 spy flights over the country this month .
-The official Korean Central News Agency said Tuesday the alleged spying shows the U.S. is scared by Pyongyang 's recent nuclear test .
-KCNA said the U.S. has conducted 20 more spy flights this month than in October last year .
-North Korea shocked the world October 9 by detonating an underground nuclear device .
-The country said it had to test the weapon to strengthen its defenses against what it considers U.S. aggression .
-KCNA quotes a military official as saying the spy flights further underscore the need for North Korea to bolster its war deterrent .
-The U.S. has not yet commented on the report .
-Washington has repeatedly said it has no intention of attacking North Korea and is urging a resumption of stalled multilateral talks aimed at disarming Pyongyang 's nuclear program .
-Outgoing Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has bid farewell to the nation he led for eight years .
-In a nationally televised address Monday , Mr. Obasanjo gave himself high marks as a civilian ruler , saying that under his leadership , Nigeria became stronger and more united .
-He praised his successor , Umaru Yar'Adua , a little-known governor from the far northern state of Katsina , who is set to assume office on Tuesday .
-Yar'Adua scored a landslide victory in last month 's disputed presidential elections .
-International observers said the polls were not credible .
-Monitors reported many instances of vote-rigging and violence .
-Last week , the opposition filed a lawsuit seeking a court annulment of the polls .
-Tuesday 's handover is the first from one civilian administration to another since Nigeria 's independence in 1960 .
-Fourteen Muslim men went on trial in the Netherlands Monday , accused of plotting the murder of Dutch politicians .
-Dutch police arrested the men after the murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh in November of 2004 by Mohammed Bouyeri .
-Bouyeri was sentenced to life in prison earlier this year .
-He and most of the other defendants are Dutch-born offspring of North African immigrants .
-After acquittals in other prominent cases , the trial will be a test for new Dutch laws that supporters say should make it easier to convict extremists .
-The first witness , a woman identified as the former wife of one of the accused , refused to speak in court , but a statement she had given to police earlier was read out .
-The court is also scheduled to hear testimony Monday from an expert on Islamic fundamentalism .
-Energy officials from India , Iran and Pakistan have failed to reach an agreement on a gas pricing formula for a multi-billion dollar joint pipeline project under consideration .
-They met for two days in Islamabad and have agreed to meet again in July in New Delhi .
-Iran first proposed the $ 7-billion project in 1996 , but hostilities between India and Pakistan kept it dormant .
-Talks have revived as warming relations between the two countries in recent years have reduced India 's fears about the 3,000 - kilometer pipeline 's security in Pakistan .
-The United States has long opposed the pipeline because its differences with Iran over that country 's nuclear ambitions .
-The Ford Motor Company says sales of its products in China are booming .
-In a statement Monday Ford says sales rose 46 percent last year to more than 82,000 vehicles - a record .
-If Ford 's affiliated brands - like Mazda - are added to the total , the company sold 2,20,000 vehicles in China last year .
-Ford is the second largest U.S. automaker , and number three in the world after General Motors and Toyota .
-In China , Ford is outsold by both GM and Volkswagen .
-Officials say four policemen were killed and three seriously injured Monday when their vehicle hit a landmine near Agadez , in northern Niger .
-Officials say the landmine was planted by the ethnic Tuareg rebel group , the Niger Movement for Justice .
-The Niger Movement for Justice , known by its French initials MNJ , came to international attention earlier this year after the rebels launched a number of attacks against government and foreign interests in northern Niger .
-A previous Tuareg rebellion broke out in Niger in the early 1990s .
-The rebel group contends that Niger 's government has failed to live up to a 1995 peace deal that promised a degree of autonomy for the group .
-At least 11 members of the military police have died in similar attacks in the last two months .
-The National Guard is dropping hay bales from helicopters over the western U.S. state of Colorado to feed stranded cattle , while officials in surrounding states work to restore power after two powerful snowstorms hit the region in two weeks .
-Guard members began this week to drop hay over snow-crusted pastures where cattle are immobilized in deep drifts .
-Authorities say they could soon die of starvation or dehydration if not fed .
-That would deeply hurt the state 's economy .
-The operation is hampered by the fact that many of the Guard 's larger helicopters are in use in Iraq .
-Meanwhile , officials in Colorado , Nebraska , Kansas and Oklahoma are working to restore electricity to tens of thousands of homes and businesses .
-Emergency workers are searching for people trapped in their homes without food or power .
-Many residents are staying in emergency shelters to keep warm .
-New U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has cast his first decision on the nation 's highest court , refusing to let the state of Missouri execute a death-row inmate contesting lethal injection .
-Alito broke ranks with the court 's conservatives late Wednesday , siding with the majority in a six-to-three vote rejecting a last-minute request to allow Missouri to execute Michael Taylor .
-Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas supported allowing the execution to proceed .
-Taylor pleaded guilty to kidnapping , raping and murdering a 15-year-old girl in 1989 .
-He has challenged his death sentence by lethal injection as cruel and unusual punishment .
-The Philippine military has placed the country 's troubled south under " extreme alert " after a string of deadly bombings .
-Military chief General Hermogenes Esperon said Thursday , government troops and police have intensified security patrols because of the possibility of more terrorist attacks .
-He noted specific concerns about operations by the local militant group Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah , a Southeast Asian terrorist network linked to al-Qaida .
-Three bombs ripped through the southern island of Mindanao Tuesday and Wednesday , killing at least six people and wounding 29 .
-Philippine forces have been fighting Abu Sayyaf on the southern island of Jolo .
-The militants are believed to be aiding Dulmatin and Umar Patek , two key members of Jemaah Islamiyah wanted in connection with the 2002 bombings in Bali , Indonesia .
-Brazil says it is sending a team of investigators to Britain next week to look into the killing of a Brazilian man who was fatally shot in the London subway last month after being mistaken for a terrorist .
-The announcement Friday came some 24 hours after the head of the independent British panel investigating the death of Jean-Charles de Menezes said London Police Commissioner Ian Blair tried to stop the probe .
-Police shot and killed Mr. de Menezes on a London subway July 22 saying he was acting suspiciously and ignored orders to stop running .
-But Britain 's ITV television , citing security video and witnesses , said Mr. de Menezes was behaving normally .
-Commissioner Blair has rejected calls by Mr. de Menezes ' lawyers and family for his resignation and denied allegations of a cover-up .
-Police in Nepal have detained some 185 Tibetan exiles who demonstrated outside the Chinese embassy in the capital , Kathmandu .
-Sunday 's arrests come after Saturday 's detention of 450 Tibetans who held a similar demonstration .
-The protests are the latest in the almost-daily demonstrations by Tibetan exiles in Kathmandu since March , when deadly clashes broke out between protesters and Chinese authorities in their homeland , Tibet .
-They temporarily suspended demonstrations in Nepal after the earthquake in China , but recently have restarted protests .
-Nepal , which regards Tibet as part of China , is home to some 20,000 Tibetan refugees .
-China and Japan say the six-nation North Korean nuclear disarmament talks will resume next week in Beijing as scheduled .
-China 's chief negotiator , Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei , met with his Japanese counterpart Kenichiro Sasae Wednesday , in Tokyo .
-The diplomats discussed Pyongyang 's nuclear weapons program and North Korea 's relations with Japan .
-Tokyo says it wants to include the issue of the kidnapping of several Japanese citizens by North Korea in 1970s and `80s within the framework of the nuclear talks .
-Pyongyang returned to the negotiations earlier this month after a one-year boycott .
-The talks were recessed earlier this month after disagreements surfaced over North Korea 's insistence to retain a civilian nuclear program .
-The chief U.S. negotiator in the talks Christopher Hill , says the issue is not a " show stopper " that could potentially derail the talks .
-Media reports from Tehran quote Iranian officials as saying Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi will be released within days .
-The reports indicate that Iranian officials have completed their investigation into her case .
-Saberi 's family in the U.S. alerted media to her detention last week .
-Iranian officials then confirmed the 31-year-old journalist is being held in Tehran 's infamous Evin prison , saying that she worked illegally in the country after her press credentials had been revoked .
-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Thursday called on Iran to release Saberi , who has been in prison for the past month .
-Clinton added that the United States is working through Swiss officials to request information on the journalist .
-The French parliament has thrown out a bill that would have allowed farmers to grow genetically modified crops .
-Lawmakers narrowly rejected the bill Tuesday 136 to 135 .
-Protesters against the bill , some wearing hats shaped like corn cobs , cheered when the results were announced .
-French Prime Minister Francois Fillon says he plans to submit a new bill to parliament .
-Genetically modified crops have had their DNA engineered to make them resistant to disease and pests .
-Surveys show many French oppose such foods , saying their safety is still not assured .
-In February , France imposed a temporary ban on genetically modified corn approved for sale by the European Union .
-The corn is produced by the U.S. company Monsanto .
-The European Union 's top security official says erecting new walls will not hold back the flood of African immigrants seeking to enter EU countries .
-EU Security Commissioner Franco Frattini told EU Justice and interior ministers meeting in Luxembourg that 30,000 would-be migrants are waiting in Algeria and Morocco to enter their countries .
-He was referring to Spain 's North African enclaves of Melilla and Ceuta , where more than one thousand migrants have scaled razor-wire fences to enter Europe since August .
-At least 14 have died during the attempts .
-Participants at the talks called for debt relief and economic support , as well as closer cooperation with Sub-Saharan African states to address the immigrant issue .
-African Union President Alpha Oumar Konare , who attended the meeting , called for closer coordination in efforts to deal with the crisis .
-U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has rejected charges that he was " detached " from the disastrous flooding of Hurricane Katrina .
-Chertoff told a Senate panel Wednesday that officials were aware of the danger ahead of time , but said his department was simply overwhelmed by the catastrophe .
-The committee chairwoman , Republican Senator Susan Colllins , said Chertoff seemed strangely detached in the aftermath of the storm that devastated New Orleans and other areas of the U.S. Gulf Coast last August .
-A congressional report due out later today strongly criticizes the Bush administration 's response to Hurricane Katrina .
-Excerpts say the government had a clear indication of how bad the damage to New Orleans would be , but failed to act .
-The report says Chertoff enacted emergency response programs late or ineffectively , and President Bush failed to use his power to cut through government bureaucracy .
-The U.S. government has chartered three of Carnival Cruise lines ships for the next six months to provide temporary housing for victims of Hurricane Katrina .
-Carnival officials say the ships will be able to provide shelter for as many as 7,000 people displaced by Katrina .
-Two of the cruise liners will be based in Galveston , Texas and the other will likely be docked in Mobile , Alabama .
-Indian officials say a bomb blast killed eight people and wounded at least 12 others Sunday , a day after the device was discovered in the eastern state of Bihar .
-Police in the Aurangabad district say the bomb was found Saturday but could not be immediately defused .
-Local officials believe the bomb was planted by Maoist rebels who had called for a boycott of Saturday 's state legislative elections .
-A Mexican police chief has been ambushed and shot dead in the border city of Nuevo Laredo .
-Authorities say Commander Victor Berrones died Tuesday when gunmen attacked the vehicle in which he was traveling .
-Another officer with him was also killed , along with at least one of the suspected assailants .
-The incident took place on a highway leading to the airport in Nuevo Laredo .
-Authorities recovered at least 100 bullet casings as well as rifles at the scene .
-Nuevo Laredo has been plagued for years by violence between gangs fighting for control of lucrative drug smuggling routes into the U.S.
-Thai police say a Lao couple has been found beheaded in southern Thailand , the latest victims of suspected Muslim separatist violence .
-The bodies of the young migrant workers were found Saturday in Pattani province , one of the three Muslim-dominated southern provinces where more than 700 people have died in violence since January of 2004 .
-The couple left Laos about two months ago to work on a Thai chicken farm .
-Muslim militants have carried out almost daily bombings , murders and arson in the provinces of Yala , Pattani and Narathiwat .
-Southern Thai Muslims have complained for years of discrimination by the central government , particularly in jobs and education .
-China says a gas explosion in an illegal coal mine in the country 's north has killed 20 people .
-The official Xinhua news agency said Monday that the blast occurred Sunday evening in Shanxi province , while miners were trying to mine coal secretly .
-Xinhua gave no further details .
-China 's mining industry is the most dangerous in the world , with numerous fires , floods and other disasters every year , despite repeated government promises to improve safety .
-Many of the accidents are in small , illegal mines , where safety procedures are often ignored .
-An average of 13 Chinese workers die every day in mining accidents .
-Pope Benedict XVI returned to Rome Monday , after his six-day trip to the United States .
-The pope 's U.S. visit included a meeting with President Bush , outdoor Masses , and a visit to one of the sites attacked on September 11 , 2001 .
-During his trip , the pope repeatedly referred to the sexual abuse scandal that has wracked the U.S. church .
-He had an unprecedented meeting with victims of abusive priests .
-Benedict celebrated Mass Sunday at a New York City baseball stadium packed with 57,000 worshippers .
-The pope was met with loud cheers when he arrived at Yankee Stadium .
-Some in the crowd waved handkerchiefs in the Vatican 's colors - white and yellow .
-A Hungarian government spokesman says the deadly strain of bird flu virus has been found in the southern part of Hungary .
-Spokesman Andras Batiz said Tuesday three wild swans found last week have tested positive for the H5N1 virus .
-German veterinary officials Tuesday confirmed 22 new cases of flu in birds on the island of Ruegen , bringing the total in the country to 103 .
-Croatia has confirmed the H5N1 virus in a wild swan found dead last week .
-Tuesday , France and the Netherlands petitioned European Union animal health experts to allow them to vaccinate their poultry .
-However , after a day of debate , the experts failed to reach agreement but decided to continue the discussion Wednesday .
-Bird flu has killed more than 90 people since 2003 in Asia .
-Long before the Olympic games in Beijing dazzled the world , China had generated interest among filmmakers .
-One of those filmmakers is Sue Williams , who has produced a number of documentaries about China in the last two decades .
-Her latest work " Young & Restless in China " has been broadcast on Frontline , a program which airs on PBS , an American television network .
-VOA 's Yi Suli talked recently with Sue Williams about her interest in China .
-Elaine Lu narrates .
-The Lebanese army says it is closing in on militants inside a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon .
-Lebanese troops bombarded Islamic militant positions Saturday and the Fatah al-Islam militants responded with artillery and rocket fire .
-Military sources say militants launched eight Katyusha rockets at positions outside the Nahr el-Bared camp , near the city of Tripoli .
-No military casualties were confirmed from today 's violence .
-But military officials say a soldier who was wounded in clashes Friday died today .
-At least 11 soldiers have been killed in fighting since Thursday .
-More than 170 people , including at least 96 Lebanese soldiers , have been killed since the standoff began May 20 .
-Nearly all of the Palestinian refugees living in the camp have fled .
-Last month , Lebanese officials claimed victory in the fighting , but daily firefights have continued since then .
-An Indian army spokesman says troops have shot dead a top rebel leader in Kashmir .
-The spokesman said Saturday the militant , identified simply as Saad , was a local administrator and financial controller of the Lashkar-e-Toiba group .
-Lashkar has not commented on the army statement .
-Indian authorities have blamed the Pakistan-based group for a series of attacks in the mountainous region .
-Both India and Pakistan claim ownership of Kashmir .
-The region is suffering from a 17-year insurgency that has taken more than 45,000 lives .
-Various rebel groups are fighting for independence from New Delhi 's control or a merger with Pakistan .
-The former chief of Russia 's giant Yukos oil company says he has transferred his majority stake in the Group Menatep holding company to a fellow shareholder .
-The lawyer for Mikhail Khodorkovsky says the transaction was made after December 's government-ordered auction of the main Yukos production unit Yuganskneftegaz .
-Mr. Khodorkovsky transferred the 60 percent stake in Group Menatep to Leonid Nevzlin , who is wanted in Russia on charges of a role in several murders .
-He is said to be living in exile in Israel .
-Yukos has been the focus of an extensive government investigation .
-Russian officials say the company owes billions of dollars in back taxes .
-Mr. Khodorkovsky is in jail on trial for tax evasion and fraud .
-Critics say the actions against him and his former company are retaliation for his support for the political opposition .
-Kremlin officials deny this
-Israeli forces have handed over control of some checkpoints around the town of Jericho to Palestinian security forces , but a last-minute legal hitch apparently has stalled the formal transfer .
-Officials at the handover said a dispute arose Wednesday over several documents that needed to be signed .
-It is not clear when that situation will be resolved .
-Israeli forces have dismantled one roadblock and Palestinian forces have taken up positions inside the town .
-Two other checkpoints will remain in place for a one-month trial period to test the Palestinians ' ability to ensure calm .
-Jericho is the first of five towns - Tulkarem , Qalqiliya , Ramallah , Bethlehem - that Israel plans to turn over to Palestinian control .
-Meanwhile , in Cairo , Egyptian and Palestinian officials and Palestinian militant leaders are discussing a proposed one-year halt to Palestinian attacks on Israeli targets .
-Iran 's chief nuclear negotiator says Russia 's proposal to carry out sensitive nuclear fuel work outside Iran is not sufficient for the Islamic country 's energy needs .
-Ali Larijani , secretary of Iran 's Supreme National Security Council , told reporters Friday in Tehran the plan can be considered as part of a package , but that alone it is insufficient .
-Moscow 's idea to have Iran enrich uranium in facilities in Russia , where the work can be closely monitored , is seen as a way out of a growing crisis over Tehran 's nuclear ambitions .
-It has been backed by the United States , China and the European Union .
-White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Friday Iran " appears to be playing more games with the international community " in its shifting positions on the Russian proposal .
-Israel 's Likud Party chairman Benjamin Netanyahu says his party 's remaining Cabinet ministers will resign from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon 's government on Sunday .
-Mr. Netanyahu announced Tuesday morning that Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and three other Likud ministers will quit the government at the next weekly Cabinet meeting .
-Despite Likud 's departure , Mr. Sharon 's caretaker government is expected to remain in office until elections later this year .
-Mr. Netanyahu was elected to lead Likud last month , after Mr. Sharon left the party .
-The prime minister has faced strong opposition from right-wing Likud members over his decision to withdraw from the Gaza Strip last year .
-Shortly before the party leadership election , Mr. Netanyahu had pledged all Likud ministers would leave the Sharon government as quickly as possible .
-Mr. Sharon has formed a new party , Kadima , to contest the elections on March 28 .
-The United Nations says peacekeepers have launched a major military operation in eastern Congo , where militiamen killed nine peacekeepers last month .
-U.N. officials said Friday at least 500 peacekeepers are involved in the operation in Congo 's troubled northeastern Ituri region .
-A U.N. military source told Reuters news agency the troops are trying to catch the militiamen , believed to be ethnic Lendu fighters , who are suspected of ambushing the Bangladeshi peacekeepers .
-Earlier this month , U.N. soldiers killed at least 50 militiamen in Ituri province .
-That battle was the most serious involving the U.N. Congo mission since it began deploying in 1999 .
-The United Nations has been under fire for failing to stop ongoing ethnic violence in Ituri .
-This month , the mission pledged to step up its operations .
-A strong earthquake rocked Indonesia Friday , even as recovery efforts continued from last month 's devastating quake there .
-The earthquake made buildings sway in the capital Jakarta and caused panic in some villages , but there were no immediate reports of injuries .
-Officials said the 6.4 magnitude quake struck in the Sunda Strait , off the western coast of Java island .
-A 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck West Sumatra September 30 - killing at least 1,000 people , collapsing buildings and triggering landslides .
-Indonesia frequently experiences earthquakes because it sits on an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin .
-The family of former French prime minister and prominent economist Raymond Barre says he has died at the age of 83 .
-Relatives said Barre died Saturday at the Val-de-Grace hospital in Paris , where he had been hospitalized since April with heart problems .
-Mr. Barre served in the Industry Ministry from 1959 through 1962 during President Charles de Gaule 's administration .
-He was prime minister of France from 1976 through 1981 , and also held the posts of vice president of the European Union , French economics minister and mayor of Lyon .
-He retired from politics in 2002 .
-Iraq 's prime minister says he is prepared to present his national reconciliation plan to the Iraqi parliament as violence continues elsewhere in the country .
-Iraqi police said a roadside bomb killed a local intelligence chief and his two guards in the northern city of Kirkuk Saturday .
-In another development , the U.S. military says an American soldier was killed Saturday in a bomb attack in central Baghdad .
-North of the capital , in Tikrit , protests erupted after U.S. forces detained a top Sunni religious leader and at least two of his sons .
-Sheikh Jamal Abdel Karim al-Dabaan and his sons were released several hours later .
-Meanwhile , political sources say Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki will announce his national reconciliation plan to parliament Sunday .
-Mr. al-Maliki 's office said the 28-point plan will offer some insurgents amnesty in an attempt to bring militant groups to the negotiating table .
-Lebanese officials say Israeli warplanes have again violated Lebanon 's airspace .
-Security officials said Thursday , that Israeli fighter jets flew over the southern town of Naqoura and the eastern city of Baalbek .
-A large United Nations peacekeeping base is in Naqoura .
-The international community has criticized Israel for such overflights .
-It says they violate the ceasefire agreement that ended a month-long war between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon .
-Earlier , the French Foreign Ministry summoned Israel 's ambassador over a similar incident .
-French officials say Israeli warplanes aggressively dove toward French peacekeepers in southern Lebanon .
-A spokeswoman for the Israeli embassy in France said the overflights must continue to prevent arms from being smuggled to Hezbollah .
-French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said Wednesday the incident nearly caused a catastrophe .
-She said French troops were seconds away from firing anti-aircraft missiles at the warplanes .
-Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni will extend his 20-year hold on power with an inauguration ceremony Friday .
-African heads of state gathered in the capital Kampala for the swearing-in , as Mr. Museveni begins a new five-year term in office .
-Mr. Museveni was declared the winner of disputed February elections - the African country 's first multiparty elections in 25 years .
-Mr. Museveni garnered 59 percent of the vote , compared to 37 percent for opposition leader Kizza Besigye .
-The opposition party had asked the high court to overturn the results , charging they were distorted by bribery and government intimidation .
-Officials in Iraq say two bomb attacks in the country have killed at least seven people and wounded about 20 others .
-In the deadliest attack Sunday , a bomb exploded in a market in the eastern town of Khalis in Diyala province , killing four people .
-Officials say the bomb targeted the town 's mayor , whose condition was unclear .
-Diyala province still sees frequent insurgent attacks despite significant drops in violence elsewhere in Iraq .
-In the other incident , a female suicide bomber blew herself up at a hospital near the western town of Fallujah in Anbar province , killing three people .
-Anbar is a former stronghold of al-Qaida insurgents .
-U.S. forces handed over security control of the province to Iraqi forces two months ago .
-The White House has expressed concern about reports that the U.S. military paid Iraqi newspapers to run pro-American stories about the war and rebuilding effort .
-Spokesman Scott McClellan Thursday said the White House is seeking more information from the Defense Department .
-The Los Angeles Times on Wednesday first reported the program to plant articles in Iraqi media .
-It reported that American soldiers wrote the articles and presented them to Iraqi media as unbiased accounts from independent journalists .
-The Defense Department said it is looking into the matter .
-Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said he sent inquiries to military officials in Iraq about the alleged activity .
-He added that , if TRUE , some of the activities are troubling .
-The United States and South Korea have signed a new cost-sharing agreement for funding the American military presence on the peninsula .
-And for the first time , Seoul 's share of the expense has been cut .
-Under the deal signed Thursday , South Korea will pay about $ 676 million - nearly 9-percent less than last year - to help finance the U.S. military presence for 2005 and 2006 .
-Some 32,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea but that number is set to decline as part of Washington 's worldwide redeployment of forces .
-The United States has maintained a military presence in South Korea since the 1950 - 1953 Korean War , which ended in a cease-fire , leaving the two Koreas technically still at war .
-Leaders of the African Union have begun a three-day summit during which they are expected to address the situation in Darfur and the issue of African unity .
-Police monitored the streets of Accra , Ghana , as more than 30 heads of state gathered for the summit .
-The agenda includes discussion of the idea of a United States of Africa .
-Proponents of the plan argue a federation of African nations could exercise more influence and better address problems facing the world 's poorest continent .
-But regional powers like South Africa favor a more gradual consolidation of regional economic groups .
-The idea of a united Africa was conceived four decades ago by Ghana 's first president , Kwame Nkrumah .
-Afghan authorities say security forces are hunting for an Indian telecommunications worker kidnapped by Taleban insurgents .
-Officials say the Indian contractor , who was working for the Afghan telecommunications company Roshan , was kidnapped Friday on a main road in the southern province of Zabul .
-A Taleban spokesman said the Indian was healthy and that higher authorities within the Taleban would soon decide on the captive 's fate .
-Afghan security forces clashed Saturday with Taleban militants hiding in a cave complex in southern Helmand province , killing two of them and seizing weapons .
-U.S. and Afghan opposition forces drove the Taleban from power in late 2001 after the extremist Islamic government refused to hand over Osama bin Laden .
-Russia 's lower house of parliament , the Duma , on Friday gave preliminary approval to a historic nuclear weapons reduction pact with the U.S. Final ratification is not expected until next year .
-Lawmakers voted 350-58 in favor of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty in the first of three required readings of the accord .
-The two additional readings are not expected to happen until January 2011 .
-Senior lawmaker Konstantin Kosachev , says further work on the treaty will continue once the Duma resumes meeting in January .
-He has been quoted as saying START as it was voted for by the U.S. Senate this week contains a large number of interpretations that require study and response from the Russian lawmakers .
-The U.S. Senate voted 71-26 in favor of the accord .
-PepsiCo , the U.S. company that markets Pepsi and other beverages , has selected a woman born in India to be its next chief executive officer .
-Indra Nooyi will assume control of the company on Oct. 1 , PepsiCo announced Monday .
-Nooyi was born in Madras and earned her undergraduate and master 's degrees in India .
-She is also a graduate of the Yale School of Management in the United States .
-The business magazine Forbes included Nooyi in a list of the 100 most powerful women in the United States last year .
-She has worked for PepsiCo for the past 12 years , most recently as the company 's chief financial officer .
-The value of the company 's stock rose slightly after her promotion was announced .
-New data show the U.S. trade deficit grew slightly in June as imports rose for the first time in 11 months .
-The U.S. Commerce Department says the deficit reached $ 27 billion in June , up from $ 26 billion in May .
-The increase reflects a 2.3 percent jump in U.S. imports of goods and services in June - the biggest increase this year .
-U.S. exports rose 2 percent in the same month .
-A trade deficit occurs when a country imports more than it exports .
-The widening U.S. deficit indicates increased demand by American consumers - a sign the recession is starting to ease .
-The U.S. central bank , known as the Federal Reserve , is wrapping up a two-day meeting on the economic situation .
-Officials are scheduled to publish their closely-watched economic assessment Wednesday afternoon , Washington time .
-Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says his recent comments that Israel should be " wiped off the map " reflect Iran 's long-standing policy and do not mark a change in its position .
-Speaking Sunday in Tehran , Mr. Ahmadinejad said his words were the same ones used by the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini nearly 27 years ago .
-The president 's latest comments , reported by Iran 's news agency , follow a string of international condemnations of his remarks against Israel .
-On Friday , the United Nations Security Council backed a statement from Secretary-General Kofi Annan warning Iran that threats against another country violate the U.N. charter .
-The United States and the European Union said Mr. Ahmadinejad 's comments on Israel added to Western fears about what they believe is Iran 's quest to develop nuclear weapons .
-The man who guided the world 's largest economy for the past 18 years today presides over his last meeting of the committee that sets the key U.S. interest rate .
-Economists and politicians say 79-year-old Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan is world 's most influential economic figure .
-Greenspan was first appointed to head the U.S. central bank in 1987 by President Ronald Reagan .
-Since then he has built a reputation for skillfully fighting inflation and helping the U.S. economy weather stock market declines , terror attacks and recession .
-Most economists say Greenspan and his colleagues will probably raise U.S. interest rates again Tuesday as they near the end of a campaign of boosting rates to fight inflation .
-Former White House economic advisor Ben Bernanke is set to be confirmed as Greenspan 's successor .
-Defense lawyers for former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein say an unidentified man attacked the ousted leader during his appearance at a court hearing in Baghdad Thursday .
-The Jordan-based legal team said in a statement Saturday the man attacked Saddam as he stood to leave the courtroom , and the two exchanged blows .
-The lawyers did not say if Saddam was hurt .
-The statement says the head of the tribunal did nothing to stop the assault .
-Saddam appeared in court to answer question about the repression of a Shi'ite uprising in 1991 .
-Earlier this month , he was formally charged with the killings of Shi'ite Muslims in the village of Dujail in 1982 , but no date has been set for his trial .
-The U.S. Embassy in Beijing has issued a warning of a possible terrorist threat against U.S. interests in China .
-An embassy statement Friday says the U.S. government has received unconfirmed information of possible threats , especially in the cities of Beijing , Shanghai and Guangzhou .
-The embassy says the threat may exist in places where Americans congregate such as clubs , restaurants , schools or outdoor recreation events .
-The warning advises U.S. citizens in China to be aware of their surroundings and remain alert to possible threats .
-Citizens living or traveling in China are advised to register with the U.S. Embassy or nearest consulate through the State Department Web site .
-The registration will make them easier to contact in case of emergency .
-A suicide bomber wearing an Iraqi army uniform killed 26 Iraqi soldiers Wednesday at an army dining hall north of Baghdad .
-Military authorities say the bomber waited until lunchtime at the base in Khalis before entering the dining hall and blowing himself up .
-In Baghdad , a suicide bomber killed 10 people , mostly police , when he attacked a police patrol .
-To the north , near Kirkuk , gunmen killed two senior anti-terrorism police .
-And mortar attacks killed five Iraqis outside Baghdad .
-In other developments , Iraqi and U.S. troops found and freed an Australian hostage , six weeks after his abduction in Baghdad .
-The U.S. military says troops discovered Douglas Wood and an Iraqi hostage during a routine search operation in Baghdad .
-Three people were detained .
-Mr. Wood , a 63-year-old engineer , later issued a statement thanking his rescuers .
-Afghan authorities say security forces in southern Helmand province have shot and killed four suspected Taleban insurgents planting land mines intended for counter-narcotics forces .
-Helmand is Afghanistan 's largest grower of opium poppies and a hotbed of insurgent activity .
-In other violence Tuesday , in neighboring Nimroz province , unidentified gunmen shot dead a district intelligence officer as he was driving in his car .
-Meanwhile , U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan say they are investigating whether an American and a Canadian soldier killed in a battle against Taleban rebels last week were victims of friendly fire .
-Five coalition troops , an American , three Canadians and one Afghan , also were wounded in the battle in Helmand province .
-The U.S. military says coalition troops killed 32 Taleban insurgents in the operation .
-Uzbekistan has canceled the accreditation of German broadcaster Deutsche Welle 's correspondents in the Central Asian state , the latest foreign reporters to have their credentials revoked .
-The country has taken an increasingly tough line with foreign media since they reported eyewitness accounts of troops shooting on a crowd in the town of Andijan last year and killing hundreds of civilians .
-Under a new media law introduced this month , it is illegal to work as a reporter in Uzbekistan without accreditation from the Foreign Ministry .
-The law says accreditation can be revoked for a range of reasons including interfering in the country 's internal affairs .
-Earlier , the Uzbek government shut down local offices of the BBC and U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty .
-The moves followed the bloodshed in Andijan , which led to European Union sanctions against Uzbekistan and criticism from former ally Washington .
-Health officials in Thailand say they have confirmed that a woman outside Bangkok is the 20th person in the country to contract bird flu since it hit Thailand two years ago .
-Officials say the 50-year-old woman was hospitalized with the deadly H5N1 flu virus on Saturday after cleaning up chicken excrement .
-Elsewhere , Vietnamese officials are calling for more international assistance to help fight avian influenza .
-They made the appeal at a meeting of health and disaster officials from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Brisbane , Australia .
-Meanwhile , health officials from African nations are meeting in Kigali , Rwanda Monday to discuss ways of dealing with migratory birds that may carry the virus to the continent .
-Sunni Muslim mosques in the Iraqi capital are closed Saturday , to protest sectarian violence .
-Sunni clerics ordered the three-day closure to protest what they call deliberate killings of some of their preachers by members of a Shi'ite militia .
-The militia has denied the charge .
-Meanwhile , Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari wrapped up a visit to neighboring Turkey .
-Mr. al-Jaafari discussed a wide range of topics with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other officials .
-Turkey is especially concerned about Kurdish separatists in northern Iraq , and Mr. al-Jaafari pledged that Iraq will not allow " any group to harm " Turkey .
-He also said Kirkuk will continue to reflect Iraq 's diverse demographic makeup and will remain a part of a united Iraq .
-For his part , Mr. Erdogan said Turkey seeks to end the use of Iraq as what he called a " virtual terrorism training ground . "
-Pakistani authorities say at least 30 people were killed and more than 50 others injured in a suspected suicide bombing near a Shi'ite mosque in central Pakistan Thursday .
-Police say the blast in the city of Dera Ghazi Khan occurred as a religious procession was passing the mosque .
-There was no immediate claim of responsibility , and the motivation for the attack is not clear .
-Most Pakistanis are Sunni Muslim , while Shi'ites make up about 20 percent of the country 's population .
-Also Thursday , Poland 's Foreign Ministry said Pakistani Taliban militants who kidnapped a Polish geologist last year have extended a deadline for the Pakistani government to meet their demands .
-The ministry did not provide further details .
-Piotr Stanczak , who works for Geofizyka Krakow , was abducted in Punjab province on September 28 .
-Three Pakistanis were killed during the kidnapping .
-A French investment banker , who invested with disgraced financier Bernard Madoff , took his own life in New York this week .
-VOA 's Barry Wood reports that the alleged 50 billion dollar Madoff fraud is only the latest in a string of pyramid schemes that have robbed millions of people of their savings .
-The schemes pay old investors with the funds of new contributors .
-They collapse when investors rush to get their money out , as happened in the latest New York scandal .
-Revelers in Brazil have gathered to celebrate the last day of Carnival celebrations , before the start of Lent .
-Authorities in Rio de Janeiro say more than 7,00,000 tourists have come to the city for the celebrations , which kicked off over the weekend .
-The largest parades took place Sunday and Monday nights in Rio 's Sambadrome where the city 's top samba groups , dressed in elaborate costumes , competed against each other to put on the best show .
-Organized into samba schools , the groups spend all year preparing and rehearsing for Carnival .
-After two nights of carnival parades , celebrations in Rio de Janeiro returned to the streets Tuesday for one last day of revelry .
-Celebrations are also taking place in other Brazilian cities .
-Ash Wednesday is the start of Lent , which for Roman Catholics opens the 40-day period of penitence , sacrifice and reflection .
-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice waves as she is escorted by Palestinian Foreign Minister Nasser Al Kidwa , second left as she arrives at the office of Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia in Ramallah
-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has launched a Middle East visit to help Israeli and Palestinian leaders prepare for Israel 's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip .
-Ms. Rice met Saturday with Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia in Ramallah , ahead of talks with President Mahmoud Abbas .
-Sunday , she is to meet Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Jerusalem .
-Before arriving , she told reporters that Palestinians must work to ensure security ahead of the Israeli withdrawal , set for August .
-She also expressed concern over Israeli plans to expand settlements in the West Bank .
-Meantime , the militant group Islamic Jihad says one of its fighters was killed in a clash with Israeli forces in southern Gaza .
-Iraqi political leaders representing the country 's different ethnic and religious groups held more separate consultations Thursday to work out key points of a new constitution .
-A draft of the document is due on Monday , but several issues are still not resolved .
-One of those is federalism , which the Kurds want to protect their self-rule in northern Iraq .
-The Shi'ites are divided , while Sunni Arabs are strongly against federalism .
-Meanwhile , the United Nations Security Council renewed for another year its Assistance Mission for Iraq ( UNAMI ) .
-That mission helps Iraqis draft the constitution and organize elections .
-In the northern city of Mosul , the U.S. military says one of its unmanned aerial vehicles crashed without harming anyone on the ground .
-But it says the vehicle has not been recovered because people on the ground carried it away after it crashed .
-A Kenyan High Court judge has formally dropped murder charges against a prominent white rancher accused of killing a game warden .
-Judge Muga Apondi Wednesday approved a request by the attorney general to drop the case against Thomas Cholmondeley , the grandson of one of Kenya 's original British settlers , Lord Delamere .
-Mr. Cholmondeley was charged with killing a plainclothes Kenyan game warden who was investigating allegations his ranch harbored illegal trade in game meat .
-The rancher said he thought the game warden was an armed robber .
-Judge Apondi said the court was sympathetic to the pain of the deceased man 's family but asked them to be patient and wait for the inquest into the killing .
-Mr. Cholmondeley 's ranch in the central Rift Valley is one of the biggest in Kenya .
-The U.S. military says American and Iraqi forces fighting insurgents in western Iraq have encountered strong resistance as they battle to secure the border region and prevent terrorist infiltrations from Syria .
-The military says coalition forces have encountered some of the heaviest fighting in the city of Ubaydi since Operation Steel Curtain began 10 days ago .
-Three Marines and 80 insurgents have been killed since coalition forces entered the city on Monday .
-They have found houses rigged with explosives , more than 100 explosive devices and mines , as well as 36 weapons caches .
-The operation is intended to restore security along the Euphrates River Valley ahead of next month 's parliamentary elections .
-Meanwhile , attacks in Baghdad and Kirkuk killed eight policemen Tuesday .
-And coalition forces say they captured a high level Baath Party leader Hamid Sharki Shadid in Diyala province .
-Despite the global financial crisis , Qatar has prospered in the last several years - in 2010 Qatar had the world 's highest growth rate .
-Qatari authorities throughout the crisis sought to protect the local banking sector with direct investments into domestic banks .
-GDP rebounded in 2010 largely due to the increase in oil prices .
-Economic policy is focused on developing Qatar 's nonassociated natural gas reserves and increasing private and foreign investment in non-energy sectors , but oil and gas still account for more than 50 % of GDP , roughly 85 % of export earnings , and 70 % of government revenues .
-Oil and gas likely have made Qatar the highest per-capita income country - ahead of Liechtenstein - and the country with the lowest unemployment .
-Proved oil reserves of 25 billion barrels should enable continued output at current levels for 57 years .
-Qatar 's proved reserves of natural gas exceed 25 trillion cubic meters , about 14 % of the world total and third largest in the world .
-Qatar 's successful 2022 world cup bid will likely accelerate large-scale infrastructure projects such as Qatar 's metro system and the Qatar-Bahrain causeway .
-Once the seat of Viking raiders and later a major north European power , Denmark has evolved into a modern , prosperous nation that is participating in the general political and economic integration of Europe .
-It joined NATO in 1949 and the EEC ( now the EU ) in 1973 .
-However , the country has opted out of certain elements of the European Union 's Maastricht Treaty , including the European Economic and Monetary Union ( EMU ) , European defense cooperation , and issues concerning certain justice and home affairs .
-The native Taino Amerindians - who inhabited the island of Hispaniola when it was discovered by COLUMBUS in 1492 - were virtually annihilated by Spanish settlers within 25 years .
-In the early 17th century , the French established a presence on Hispaniola .
-In 1697 , Spain ceded to the French the western third of the island , which later became Haiti .
-The French colony , based on forestry and sugar-related industries , became one of the wealthiest in the Caribbean but only through the heavy importation of African slaves and considerable environmental degradation .
-In the late 18th century , Haiti 's nearly half million slaves revolted under Toussaint L'OUVERTURE .
-After a prolonged struggle , Haiti became the first black republic to declare independence in 1804 .
-The poorest country in the Western Hemisphere , Haiti has been plagued by political violence for most of its history .
-After an armed rebellion led to the forced resignation and exile of President Jean-Bertrand ARISTIDE in February 2004 , an interim government took office to organize new elections under the auspices of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti ( MINUSTAH ) .
-Continued violence and technical delays prompted repeated postponements , but Haiti finally did inaugurate a democratically elected president and parliament in May of 2006 .
-A massive magnitude 7 earthquake struck Haiti in January 2010 with an epicenter about 15 km southwest of the capital , Port-au-Prince .
-An estimated 2 million people lived within the zone of heavy to moderate structural damage .
-The earthquake was assessed as the worst in this region over the last 200 years and massive international assistance will be required to help the country recover .
-Two neighbours came before Jupiter and prayed him to grant their hearts ' desire .
-Now the one was full of avarice , and the other eaten up with envy .
-So to punish them both , Jupiter granted that each might have whatever he wished for himself , but only on condition that his neighbour had twice as much .
-The Avaricious man prayed to have a room full of gold .
-No sooner said than done ; but all his joy was turned to grief when he found that his neighbour had two rooms full of the precious metal .
-Then came the turn of the Envious man , who could not bear to think that his neighbour had any joy at all .
-So he prayed that he might have one of his own eyes put out , by which means his companion would become totally blind .
-Vices are their own punishment .
-A LION entered a farmyard .
-The Farmer , wishing to catch him , shut the gate .
-When the Lion found that he could not escape , he flew upon the sheep and killed them , and then attacked the oxen .
-The Farmer , beginning to be alarmed for his own safety , opened the gate and released the Lion .
-On his departure the Farmer grievously lamented the destruction of his sheep and oxen , but his wife , who had been a spectator to all that took place , said , " On my word , you are rightly served , for how could you for a moment think of shutting up a Lion along with you in your farmyard when you know that you shake in your shoes if you only hear his roar at a distance ? '
-SOME Pigeons exposed to the attacks of a Kite asked a Hawk to defend them .
-He consented , and being admitted into the cote waited for the Kite , whom he fell upon and devoured .
-When he was so surfeited that he could scarcely move , the grateful Pigeons scratched out his eyes .
-It is well documented that for every mile that you jog , you add one minute to your life .
-This enables you at 85 years old to spend an additional 5 months in a nursing home at $ 5000 per month .
-The International Olympic Committee says several top athletes are considering a boycott of this year 's Beijing Olympics as a protest against China 's crackdown on activists in Tibet .
-However , IOC members and senior government officials in several European countries said Sunday that they oppose any boycott of the games beginning this August .
-France 's Foreign Ministry expressed concern Sunday over recent events in Tibet and asked Chinese authorities to recognize the importance of protecting human rights in advance of the Olympics .
-Hundreds of pro-Tibet activists in The Hague and Paris clashed with police Sunday outside China 's embassies in those countries .
-The protesters managed to pull down the embassies ' Chinese flags and raise Tibetan banners .
-Tibetan exiles and their supporters in other European cities and around the world organized another day of protests Sunday .
-Some called for a boycott of this year 's Olympics , but Tibet 's exiled spiritual leader , the Dalai Lama , says he does not oppose Beijing 's role as host of the summer games .
-Chinese Olympic Committee officials said Sunday that the unrest in Tibet will not affect their plans to bring the Olympic torch through Tibet and up to the summit of Mount Everest during May .
-During the past week , many world leaders have called on China to exercise restraint in dealing with Tibetan protesters .
-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has called on Chinese authorities to release detained demonstrators and hold talks with the Dalai Lama .
-The head of Russia 's state arms trading agency says Russia has signed contracts to sell Venezuela 24 jet fighter planes and 53 military helicopters .
-Details of the deal were not immediately clear .
-But the head of Russia 's arms export agency said the two countries have signed contracts for Venezuelan purchase of some $ 3 billion worth of military equipment over the last 18 months .
-His comments came as Russian President Vladimir Putin and Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez met in Moscow .
-The newly acquired Russian fighter planes are expected to replace a fleet of U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets .
-Venezuelan authorities say they have not been able to buy spare parts for the F-16s since Washington imposed an arms embargo on Venezuela earlier this year .
-Mr. Putin said Thursday the contracts are not directed against other states .
-He said they are aimed at developing the economies of the two countries .
-Continuing concerns about European economies sent gold prices up and pushed stock and oil prices down sharply on Friday .
-The euro currency also dropped sharply .
-Debt problems in Greece and other nations have prompted governments to slash spending , which could slow economic growth .
-Worried investors sold euros and sought the perceived safety of gold investments .
-The precious metal rose to a new record high of nearly $ 1,250 before declining .
-Oil prices fell as traders calculated that slower economic growth would cut energy demand .
-Those same concerns pushed the major French stock index down more than four percent and slashed Spanish stocks more than six percent .
-Israeli and Palestinian officials met Friday to discuss the agenda of an upcoming summit between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas .
-Officials on both sides characterized the talks in Tel Aviv as " positive , " and said a second preparatory session is planned , possibly for Sunday .
-King Abdullah of Jordan said this week that Mr. Abbas and Mr. Sharon would meet next Tuesday , but Israeli and Palestinian officials say that is only likely if an agreement can be reached on the meeting 's agenda .
-Palestinian officials say they will use the summit to ask Israel to release Palestinian prisoners , ease roadblocks and withdraw troops from West Bank towns .
-Israel wants the Palestinian Authority to disarm militants .
-The two leaders were originally scheduled to meet this past Sunday .
-But the summit was canceled in the wake of renewed violence .
-U.N. special envoy Terje Roed-Larsen has met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to press international demands for a full and rapid withdrawal of all Syrian troops from Lebanon .
-A spokesman for the U.N. envoy said Mr. Roed-Larsen and Mr. Assad have been meeting Saturday in the northern city of Aleppo .
-The spokesman gave no details of the discussions .
-Mr. Roed-Larsen was expected to tell the Syrian president his country faces political and economic isolation if he does not quickly withdraw all Syrian troops .
-The meeting came after a large convoy of Syrian forces returned home Saturday from positions in northern Lebanon .
-However , thousands of Syrian troops are still located elsewhere in the country .
-Afghan police say a roadside bomb exploded near a military convoy in western Afghanistan Sunday , killing two civilians .
-Authorities say the blast took place as the two men were passing a Western military convoy in Herat province .
-There were no reports of anyone injured in the convoy .
-On Saturday , Afghani Pajhwok news agency said an Italian photojournalist had been kidnapped by the Taleban in southern Afghanistan .
-The news agency identified the journalist as Gabriele Torsello and said a call to his mobile phone Saturday had been answered by someone who said the Taleban abducted the foreigner on charges of spying .
-Also Saturday , in neighboring Kandahar province , two NATO soldiers from Canada were killed and three others wounded when militants ambushed their unit .
-Haitian Prime Minister Gerard Latortue has unveiled some new initiatives in memory of Jacques Roche , a local journalist who was kidnapped and murdered in Port-au-Prince last week .
-In an interview with VOA 's Creole Service , Mr. Latortue said he will consult with Minister of Interior Paul Magloire on an initiative to name the street where the journalist 's body was found after Mr. Roche .
-He also said the country will observe a day of mourning on July 21 , the day of Mr. Roche 's funeral .
-Haitian authorities discovered Mr. Roche 's body last Thursday , four days after armed gunmen abducted him .
-On other issues , Mr. Latortue said there is no doubt a presidential election will be held later this year despite on-going violence .
-Haiti has seen a mounting wave of violence ahead of the election .
-Hundreds of people have been killed since September .
-Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter has left a Cleveland , Ohio hospital , where he had been treated for a stomach ailment .
-A statement from the medical center in Cleveland says Mr. Carter left the hospital after midday Thursday .
-The statement says he thanked his medical team for the care and treatment he received during his stay .
-The 85-year-old former president had been admitted to the hospital Tuesday after developing an upset stomach during a flight to Cleveland .
-Doctors had determined he had been suffering from a viral infection and kept him in the hospital for two nights to monitor his health .
-Mr. Carter has been traveling across the country to promote his new book , White House Diary .
-The hospital says he will resume his schedule with a meeting in Washington .
-Mr. Carter served as U.S. president from 1977 to 1981 .
-Georgia 's defense minister says his country will reduce its military presence in Iraq to 300 soldiers by next summer .
-Davit Kezerashvili told reporters Friday the planned cut is part of a previous agreement with the United States .
-Kezerashvili says no reduction is expected before mid-2008 .
-Georgia currently has 2,000 soldiers in Iraq .
-The number was increased from 850 in July after Georgia 's parliament approved a proposal by President Mikhail Saakashvili .
-The Georgian president and the ruling party have been working to build closer ties with the United States and other western nations in a bid to gain NATO membership .
-Pakistani officials say 40 people were killed and at least 40 others wounded in fierce sectarian clashes in a remote northwestern town .
-A military-imposed curfew is in place in Parachinar , in the semi-autonomous Kurram region , after gunbattles erupted Friday between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims .
-The cause of the violence has not been independently confirmed .
-But residents have said the trouble began when one group held a demonstration denouncing the other sect .
-An official in the tribal region , Sahibzada Mohammad Anis , Saturday told reporters that army helicopters are patrolling the area .
-Authorities say soldiers have been given shoot-on-sight orders .
-The town of Parachinar is located about 250 kilometers southwest of Peshawar , the capital of North West Frontier province .
-Thousands of people have been killed in sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shi'ites in Pakistan since the 1980s .
-More than 100 people have died in the central Democratic Republic of Congo , in what health officials suspect is an outbreak of hemorrhagic fever .
-The chief health official for Kasai Occidental Province , Jean-Constatin Kanow , says a total of 217 people in four villages have come down with the illness .
-Kanow says the outbreak appears related to the funerals of two village chiefs in early June .
-The U.N.-funded IRIN news service quotes him as saying all the people who assisted with those burials have died .
-Medical teams dispatched the region plan to take blood samples to better identify the illness .
-In the past , the Democratic Republic of Congo has endured outbreaks of both Marburg and Ebola , two types of hemorrhagic fever caused by viruses that can attack the central nervous system and cause bleeding from the eyes , ears , and other parts of the body .
-The Russian men 's ice hockey team has stormed into the Olympic tournament quarterfinals in Turin , Italy with a dominating 09-Feb victory over Latvia .
-After dropping the opener to Slovakia , 05-Mar , Russia has won three straight games by a combined score of 15-Feb .
-Ilya Kovalchuk scored four goals Sunday with two in each of the first two periods .
-Russian goaltender Evgeni Nabokov posted consecutive shutout victories over Sweden and Kazakhstan with 48 saves .
-Although he allowed one goal by Latvia , he faced only seven shots in two periods before being replaced by his back-up .