DEADLY ATTACK: A Tamil Tigers spokesman said that insurgents had completely overrun a navy camp before making their escape by boat
A flotilla of rebel boats raided a navy camp in northern Sri Lanka early yesterday, killing as many as 35 sailors, hours before a bomb exploded near an army bus in the capital and wounded seven people.

[ FULL STORY ]

Indonesia lifted a brief tsunami warning after a strong earthquake hit off the eastern island of Sumbawa, officials said.

[ FULL STORY ]

A leading international rights group yesterday urged the Afghan parliament to reinstate a female MP who was suspended after saying her colleagues were "worse than cows and donkeys."

[ FULL STORY ]

The US and India are "90 percent" of the way toward sealing a landmark deal on nuclear energy, a top US official said on Wednesday ahead of pivotal talks in New Delhi.

[ FULL STORY ]

DELUGE DANGER: Vast amounts of snow have melted on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau where the Yangtze river originates, according to a newspaper
Melting Tibetan glaciers could cause the worst flooding on the Yangtze since 1998, when more than 3,000 people were killed as China's longest river overflowed, state media said yesterday.

[ FULL STORY ]

RAID: Israeli soldiers also went deeper into Gaza early on Wednesday, searching several homes about a kilometer from the border and briefly detaining seven Palestinians
Israeli troops in the West Bank arrested more than 30 senior Hamas members early yesterday, the army said, including a Cabinet minister, legislators and mayors. The roundup came hours after Israeli planes struck what the military said were money changing offices and other businesses in Gaza which were channeling funds to Hamas.

[ FULL STORY ]

OUTLAWS: The Kurdistan Workers' Party, which led a 22-year campaign for self rule in Turkey, has denied involvement in the attack that killed six people
Kurdish rebels may have staged a powerful blast in Ankara which killed six people to warn Turkey to lay off from ever attacking their bases in northern Iraq, experts say.

[ FULL STORY ]

Momentum is building to start South African-brokered talks to resolve Zimbabwe's deepening crisis, opposition officials said.

[ FULL STORY ]

Pakistani UN peacekeepers charged with disarming Congolese militia instead engaged in gold and weapons trafficking with militia members, the BBC reported on Wednesday.

[ FULL STORY ]

Fears were growing on Wednesday night that Moscow's refusal to extradite the man wanted in connection with the murder in London of Alexander Litvinenko would seriously fray diplomatic ties with Moscow and damage British businesses working in Russia.

[ FULL STORY ]

IRAQ ABDUCTION: Joseph Anzack vanished along with the two others after their combat team was ambushed outside Baghdad. Al-Qaeda later claimed responsibility
A body recovered by Iraqi police from the Euphrates River south of Baghdad was identified as one of three US soldiers abducted in an ambush claimed by al-Qaeda, a relative said.

[ FULL STORY ]

FIDEL FEELS BETTER: The statement was the 11th signed by Fidel Castro in recent weeks, most of them panning US-backed plans to use food crops to produce biofuels
Cuban President Fidel Castro said his recovery from intestinal surgery 10 months ago has been delayed because the first of several operations went badly, but now he is eating solid food and improving after "many months" of intravenous feeding.

[ FULL STORY ]

CONTRADICTORY EVIDENCE? : Monica Goodling said for the first time that Alberto Gonzales did review the story of the firings of prosecutors with her at a meeting
A former Justice Department official said Attorney General Alberto Gonzales tried to review his version of the dismissals of eight federal prosecutors with her at a time when lawmakers were homing in on conflicting accounts. Gonzales had testified he had not spoken with witnesses.

[ FULL STORY ]

A sharply divided Texas appeals court on Wednesday threw out the death sentence of a woman convicted of killing her newborn son.

[ FULL STORY ]

A 14-year-old student was shot and killed at a Toronto high school on Wednesday, forcing frightened teens to stay in their locked-down classrooms for hours as police searched the place into the evening.

[ FULL STORY ]

■ INDONESIA
[ FULL STORY ]