GOD WILLING: Although six have been injured in an attack, passengers are braving the first direct voyage between Pakistan and India in more than a half-century
Passengers on a historic bus trip between the Pakistani and Indian portions of Kashmir crossed a bridge spanning the de facto border yesterday, the halfway point on a voyage both sides hope will lead to lasting peace on the subcontinent.

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CONFIRMATION?: As a recovery operation gets under way for the worst helicopter crash ever to befall the US in Afghanistan, differing explanations are given for its cause
A search and recovery operation was under way yesterday to find the bodies of two missing US servicemen after the worst American military helicopter crash in Afghanistan left at least 16 people dead.

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President Askar Akayev, who offered his resignation after fleeing Kyrgyzstan two weeks ago as protesters stormed his office, said in a taped address shown yesterday that his nearly 15 years in power would someday be seen as a high point in the country's history.

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Hong Kong caretaker leader Donald Tsang (曾蔭權) yesterday defended the government's move to seek Beijing's intervention to settle an ongoing dispute over the tenure of the next chief executive.

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POGROM: Yesterday was the 11th anniversary of the day when Hutu militiamen began hunting down Tutsis and moderate Hutus, killing more than 500,000 people
Rwanda marked the anniversary of the 1994 genocide yesterday with the beginning of a week of mourning for the more than 500,000 people who died in a frenzy of killing that remains fresh in the minds of the survivors.

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ENHANCEMENTS: A committee of surgeons will convene on Monday to determine whether silicone breast implants are safe enough to be approved for use in the US
In documents made public on Wednesday, US health regulators estimated that up to 93 percent of silicone breast implants ruptured within 10 years. The surprisingly high figure will further roil a debate next week about whether to lift the 13-year-old ban on silicone implants for breast enhancement.

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The warring factions in Ivory Coast have agreed to end hostilities, start immediate disarmament and make plans for new elections in a bid to prevent a renewed explosion of violence and chaos in the world's biggest cocoa producer.

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STOPPING ABUSES: The UN chief said a new human rights council with more authority is needed to restore the world body's credibility and its ability to act quickly
The UN needs a new, permanent human rights body if it is to prevent appalling suffering happening around the world, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said yesterday.

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Representative Tom DeLay, the US House of Representatives majority leader, on Wednesday angrily dismissed newspaper accounts that focused on political payments to his wife and daughter as well as additional trips taken by him that have come under scrutiny.

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Israeli security officials yesterday warned of plans by Jewish extremists to attack Jerusalem's most sensitive holy site in an attempt to prevent a withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

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CURVE BALL?: Questions are piling up about when and how doubts over a key source were handled
The CIA and members of Congress said they want to know how a presidential commission unearthed details on intelligence failures about Iraq's prewar weapons programs that previous investigations missed.

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■ China
Stress taking toll on men
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