RESCUE ATTEMPTS: Two people died as firefighters struggled to rescue people trapped in a 13-story office building housing several TV and media companies
At least two people died yesterday and scores more had to be plucked to safety by helicopter as a fire swept through a packed office block in the Bangladeshi capital, officials said.

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FRIENDLY REMINDER: The White House is set to remind the US' staunch ally that more effort is needed in combating insurgent groups or crucial cash assistance could be cut
US President George W. Bush has decided to send an unusually tough message to one of his most important allies, President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, warning him that the newly Democratic Congress could cut aid to his country unless his forces became far more aggressive in hunting down operatives with al-Qaeda, senior administration officials say.

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INDONESIAN TRAGEDY: Rescuers began searching for more bodies after the ferry that caught fire last week suddenly sank leaving one man dead and three missing
Rescuers searching for victims following a deadly ferry fire focused on two separate sites yesterday after the charred vessel sank suddenly with investigators on board.

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Malaysian officials -- who have accused foreign workers of boosting the crime rate, seducing local women and eating pet cats and dogs -- are calling for them to be ghettoized and tracked, a news report said yesterday.

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China's entrepreneurs are becoming more eager to play a role in politics, as the elite replace traditional workers as the dominant force in private business, state media said yesterday.

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At least 11 people died and more than 100 people were injured at an annual spring festival in eastern Pakistan celebrated with the flying of thousands of colorful kites, officials said yesterday.

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French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen launched his fifth bid to become president on Sunday, promising to reintroduce the death penalty, reduce the criminal age to 10 and create a so-called National Guard.

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PLANNED HIT: Police authorities suspect that the drug cartel believed responsible for ordering the murder of three politicians last week was behind the jail murders
Drug hitmen murdered four imprisoned Guatemalan police officers in their cell on Sunday, eliminating key suspects in the grisly killings last week of three Salvadoran politicians, police said.

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Slavery has made a "horrific" return to modern Britain, the most wide-ranging study of the secret world of forced labor yet published showed.

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RELATIVES: The group of 11 plaintiffs is also asking for an official apology and each one of them is suing the Japanese government for a symbolic sum of 1 yen
A group of South Koreans filed a lawsuit yesterday against a Tokyo war shrine criticized for glorifying Japan's militaristic past, demanding it remove relatives' names from the list of war dead honored there.

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Union chiefs have announced they will end a crippling two-week nationwide strike in Guinea, saying embattled President Lansana Conte had given in to a key demand and agreed to appoint a new consensus prime minister.

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SWEEP: Tens of thousands of Palestinians were confined to their homes in the poor section of Nablus as soldiers conducted the largest search for militants in months
The largest Israeli raid in the West Bank for months entered its second day yesterday, with tens of thousands of Palestinians confined to their Nablus homes as soldiers searched the crowded, poor section for suspected militants.

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PROPOSALS: The London meeting was likely to include topics such as adding a travel ban on senior Iranian officials and new conditions for non-nuclear business
US, Russian, Chinese and European diplomats were to meet in London yesterday to discuss tightening UN sanctions on Iran amid a flurry of tough and sometimes colorful talk between Washington and Tehran over the Islamic Republic's nuclear program.

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Seymour Hersh's reputation as an investigative journalist means his latest report on US policy in the Middle East will fuel worries that, despite Washington's insistence on using diplomatic means to end the nuclear crisis with Iran, confrontation is still on the cards.

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Iraqi President Jalal Talabani is suffering from extreme exhaustion and dehydration but his life is not in danger, his office said yesterday, a day after he was flown to Jordan for medical tests.

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As a marketing promotion, it seemed like a splendid idea: hide a coin worth US$10,000 in a well-known place, and tantalize treasure hunters by offering the finder a chance to win up to another US$1 million. But even the most well intentioned public relations plans sometimes come a cropper, and on Sunday Cadbury Schweppes was forced to apologize for its "tasteless" stunt.

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A CALL FOR UNITY: The 73-year-old leader of the black Muslim group told thousands that Jesus and Mohammed would embrace each other
Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan on Sunday angrily denounced the war in Iraq and called for the impeachment of US President George W. Bush in an appearance billed as his final public address.

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■ Indonesia
Bali bombing film banned
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