INTERMEDIARIES: A former Taliban commander and a number of tribal elders and clerics have been negotiating with the militants for the release of the South Koreans
Two lawmakers -- one of them a former Taliban member -- and several influential elders have joined negotiations with the hardline militia to step up pressure for the release of 22 South Korean hostages, an official said yesterday.

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DIFFERENCES: While some member countries pushed strongly for a human rights commission, others feared it might violate the group's policy of non-interference
Southeast Asian envoys struggled yesterday to settle their differences over the creation of a human-rights body under a proposed regional charter, delaying its completion.

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Beleaguered Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pleaded yesterday with voters to trust him to carry out reforms, on the eve of an election predicted to hand a crushing defeat to the conservative leader.

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China has announced plans to double spending on improving energy efficiency and slashing pollution in an effort to combat its dismal environmental record.

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Southeast Asian nations will look at toughening security rules for atomic energy when they meet this week to review a treaty on keeping nuclear weapons out of the region, diplomats said yesterday.

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A Chinese court has sentenced two men to death for masterminding a plot to steal oil from an underwater pipeline that went wrong, causing tens of millions of dollars in damage, a state news agency reported yesterday.

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An Indian doctor cleared of involvement in failed British car bombings left Australia for his homeland yesterday after authorities handed back his passport, his lawyer said.

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NO MAGICAL PLAN: The French foreign minister reaffirmed the need to build trust in Lebanese communities and reminded local leaders that the solution is `in their hands'
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner arrived in Lebanon on Friday on a delicate mission to follow through with a French initiative to end a standoff between the country's political parties.

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Britain's royals visited the scene of the country's worst floods in 60 years on Friday as emergency teams battled to cope with the crisis -- one week after it struck.

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JUST BACK: A Serbian from a small village had recently returned from Austria where he worked before feuding with his wife and opening fire on innocent bystanders
Police early yesterday arrested a gunman who killed nine people in a shooting spree in eastern Serbia.

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The hotel's bridal suite is free, but guests be warned: Oversleep, and you're likely to find yourself surrounded by several hundred shoppers checking out the bed linen and prodding the mattress.

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One man was killed and two others were injured, one of them a 14-year-old boy, after a night of gun violence in the northwest English city of Manchester, police said yesterday.

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Eritrea on Friday rejected fresh UN allegations that it is the main arms supplier to Islamist insurgents in Somalia in violation of a 15-year UN embargo and demanded to see the evidence.

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CHECK LIST: The bill implements major recommendations made by the independent 9/11 Commission, which issued a report in 2004 with 41 measures to improve security
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi used the Democrats' weekly radio address yesterday to tout her party's passage of legislation to implement major recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.

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Planes resumed landing and taking off at the main runway of Congonhas, Brazil's busiest airport, 10 days after a TAM airlines jet crashed there and killed 199 people in the country's worst aviation disaster.

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The US House of Representatives on Friday passed a massive farm bill packed with consequences for global trade, despite a veto threat from US President George W. Bush.

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A pair of US TV helicopters covering a police chase collided mid-air on Friday, then crashed to the ground in a blaze of fire and smoke, killing all four people on board, police said.

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Two men were charged with plotting to extort more than US$1 million from Tom Cruise for the actor's stolen wedding photographs, federal authorities announced.

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PAY UP: Brian Mulroney was accused of accepting money to help establish an arms factory in Canada but not following through on his business promises
Former conservative Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney has been ordered by a court to pay C$470,000 (US$444,000) to former business associate Karlheinz Schreiber.

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