INCRIMINATING OR INFLAMMATORY?: Pakistan's military intelligence director alleged yesterday that the chief justice ousted by the president had sought control of the country
Pakistan's top judge wanted President Pervez Musharraf to dissolve the government and install him as head of an interim regime several months before his ouster, the country's military intelligence director said yesterday.

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HUMAN TRAGEDY: Experts at a forum in Manila said governments throughout Asia need to do more to combat human trafficking, which they said is on the rise
Asian governments need to do more to combat people trafficking as children are increasingly victims of the illicit multibillion dollar global trade, an international forum was told yesterday.

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Police blamed Islamic insurgents for the killing of a Muslim policeman at a crowded outdoor market and the torching of several government offices and schools in restive southern Thailand yesterday.

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Cambodia is urging key donors to review their funding of Global Witness after the forestry watchdog accused Prime Minister Hun Sen's relatives and other elites of illegal logging.

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BRITTLE TRUCE: The international mediators asked the two leaders to join the talks after Mahmoud Abbas called off yesterday's meeting, citing Israel's unyielding stance
International mediators invited Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for talks in Cairo this month, stepping into the vacuum created by the Palestinians' last-minute cancelation of a meeting yesterday between the two men.

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A German man jumped a barricade on Wednesday and tried to board Pope Benedict XVI's open-top vehicle before being wrestled to the ground by papal bodyguards in St Peter's Square.

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Ditch-diggers discovered a mass grave believed to contain thousands of Jews slaughtered in Ukraine during World War II, a Jewish community spokesman said, a grim finding in a nation one Holocaust expert said had been "an enormous killing field."

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Islamist militants threatened yesterday to widen attacks if Lebanese tanks and helicopter gunships continued to pound their strongholds inside an impoverished refugee camp.

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25-YEAR MYSTERY: A Rome court decided that there was not enough evidence to prove the defendants played a role in Roberto Calvi's death
The death in London of a corrupt Italian financier known as "God's banker" because of his ties to the Vatican remained more of a mystery than ever after the acquittal on Wednesday of five people accused of his murder.

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A British television channel screened images on Wednesday taken immediately after the car crash that killed Princess Diana, defying a plea from her sons.

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SABER RATTLING: Turkey has been ratcheting up warnings that a large-scale operation in northern Iraq may be coming, which would leave the US in an unenviable position
Turkey's new incursion into northern Iraq to strike back at Kurdish guerrillas delivered a diplomatic warning shot to US and Iraqi leaders struggling to hold off a divisive conflict.

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The Group of Eight leaders were due to start their first day of joint talks yesterday with tough issues like climate change and possible independence for Serbia's Kosovo province in front of them.

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Police looking for clues in the yearlong disappearance of a 15-year-old girl said they found her pale but alive, locked in a hidden room in a home owned by an acquaintance of her parents.

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UNCLE SAM SLAMMED: The Venezuelan president denounced Latin American countries that co-operate with the US on defense and security
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called for the creation of a common defense pact between Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and Bolivia, while the leftist Latin American bloc announced the creation of a development bank to finance joint projects.

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■ China
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